soothing. "And I want to enjoy time with you during moments of peace. I think we deserve that. So, let's fight for that now and worry about the rest later."
I cleared my throat. "You’re pretty fucking good with words, Jacob Compass."
It was hard to choke out anything else as my emotions overwhelmed me.
Thankfully, we appeared to be reaching the end of our road, so there was no time for more words. The rainbow bridge was exiting into a shimmery wall, and hopefully beyond that was the one place we needed to be.
Earth.
29
Jacob Compass
Justice wasn't the best at hiding her true feelings. She thought she was, but I was learning how to read between the lines of what she said and did. I saw her, and even though she was fearful for the future, she was also ready to fight for it.
We’d fight for it together.
As the bridge ended, we found ourselves sprinting through a shimmery wall. My grip on Justice’s hand tightened.
"Wow," Grace said, when we stepped into the other side of the veil. "That rainbow bridge knew exactly where we wanted to go."
We were back in Stratford, and not on the outside of the borders—the protective shields usually stopped magic from directly entering—but near our house. Braxton and Maximus's energy hit us a second before they both appeared.
"Thank fuck," Braxton roared, half shifted into his beast form. "We thought you were trapped in Faerie. I had no idea if we could fix this without the four of us to elevate our power."
"Fix what?" Tyson asked, all business. "We don't know exactly what’s happening, just that the ley line that connects the worlds is in danger."
Maximus nodded. "Yep, it’s in big fucking danger. Louis just got back from the Supernatural Academy. He’s inside and was briefing us when you arrived.”
“We called for you yesterday,” Braxton added, “the time difference appears to be slowing between the two worlds as the line grows compromised."
I caught the worried expression dancing across Justice's face. If the time difference was slowing, something major was going on, and she had people she cared about on both sides. I still didn’t know if this was about the president, but if it was, I was going to really enjoy killing him.
We were all silent as we filed into the house; the living area was already filled with supes. Jessa and Mischa were at the back door, their kids waving goodbye from the arms of my parents. They often ended up taking them during these crises, and we were damn lucky to have them.
Tyson and I hurried over to hug Jo and Jack Compass. "Stay safe out there," my mom said fiercely, her energy dancing across her skin. She held Lily closer, like she could keep her safe with her embrace alone.
"We have faith in you all," Dad said, his eyes golden as his shifter side came out to play. "You're going to show them that they should never have messed with our family." He had the twins in his arms, and at his side was Nash, their adopted son and our little brother.
I ruffled the young shifter’s hair, giving him a hug as well. The kid was really shooting up now, standing almost near my shoulders. He'd been through a lot in his life and deserved a break as well. Hopefully one day soon we’d just get to live a normal supe existence, one not fraught with end-of-world danger.
With final hugs and teary goodbyes from parents to children, the room got a little emptier.
Louis was front and center, his mate, Tee, at his side. Those two took the term "power couple" to an entirely new level.
"Thank fuck you made it back," Jessa said, throwing herself at Tyson and me. We caught her, hugging her close, before releasing her. "Brax said that you might not be able to break through the closing barrier, but I knew you'd get back to us."
"Our pack sticks together," Mischa added, looking more and more like her twin every day. She was confident and strong and powerful, wearing it as a cloak of armor. "And together we will win."
There were shouts around the room, many powerful members of our community were here, including Jonathon and Lienda, the twins’ parents.
Louis cleared his throat, bringing all attention back to him. "I'm going to quickly run over the basics of what I found out again, catch up our new arrivals who just got through the closing barrier from Faerie.” His eyes caught mine. “They'll be able to