There All Along by Megan Hart, Lauren Dane Page A

marked with inks and tattoos.
    “Their teeth are filed so they can tear into people when they attack.”
    She’d heard but had hoped it was rumor.
    He turned to her and saw Tobin standing behind. “Go back to the garrison barracks. Tell them two score and five. They’ve got the usual weapons. I want full lights on that bridge and the sentry fires set immediately.”
    Tobin raced off.
    “What next?”
    “The sentry fires will be set along the walls. That’ll let them know you see them.”
    “Obviously we can because they’re standing out in the open!”
    He turned, taking her hands. “I’m not going to let anything harm you.”
    She swallowed her fear back. There were twenty-five of them and at least five hundred fighters, more if everyone took up arms who had them and could use them. She could use a weapon. She was all right. They’d be all right.
    He caressed her face. “I’d never let anything happen to you. I swear it.”
    Loyal Alsbaugh wasn’t the kind of man she expected sweet words from, though certainly he said lovely things to her from time to time. But he made her feel safe. In a world like theirs, it meant everything to feel that way.
    “You’re not helpless. Even if I wasn’t here, you’d be safe.” He paused for several long beats. “But I’m grateful I am. If I’d been elsewhere and got the news, if I hadn’t been here knowing you were under siege?” He swallowed and she stood, held by his words, the breeze sending her skirts swaying around her legs, catching a stray curl and bouncing it from her cheek. She could smell his skin. Woodsmoke and gun oil.
    The sun was up somewhere, not quite there yet. But the promise of it lightened the sky and she looked up, caught by the masculine lines of his features.
    “I’m grateful you are too.”
    He brushed his lips against hers. “I’m going to send someone up here to keep watch. I want you back inside. Please,” he added after she’d given him a look.
    “Can I be of help anywhere else?”
    He chewed his lip for a time and sighed, deciding to just be blunt. “If you’re safe in your house I’ll be able to work better. I’ll worry if you’re out anywhere. I need to focus and gods help me, you’re on my mind so much as it is.”
    The fierce look she’d been wearing softened. The fear and anxiety were gone, replaced by a smile that shot straight to his gut.
    But she didn’t push it. She nodded.
    He escorted her back and resisted re-checking her weapons. He’d already done so when she hadn’t been watching.
    “You know all the warnings. If there’s any emergency communication, use the whistle and we’ll send a runner. I don’t think they’re going to get over the bridge. But it’s best to be smart and prepared.”
    She nodded again. He pulled her close, kissing her until she lost all the stiffness in her spine. Until he throbbed with each heartbeat with the need to take her to the floor and fuck her senseless.
    No time for it though.
    He tore his mouth away. “I have to go.”
    She followed him to the door. “Don’t get hurt or I’ll be vexed.”
    He grinned and jogged away.
    •   •   •
    H e was pleased to see his orders being carried out; the sentry torches lined the entire wall surrounding the garrison and could be seen from the highway.
    “You think that’s it?” Haldeman tipped his head toward the bridge where the brigands had begun to gather.
    “I wouldn’t count on it. They can travel in bands of several hundred. They often send out smaller raiding parties to reconnoiter the prey.” He’d sent out three scouts to see if there were others hidden elsewhere on the way up to the garrison and expected them to report back soon. If they had indications there was a large gathering of brigands he’d put in a blip and send for soldiers from Table Mount.
    Otherwise, they’d be expected to repel the offensive force themselves. It wasn’t expedient or even possible to have the central government in Shelter City