Page 37 of Thexan

I had been necessary to missions before.

Useful. Effective. Expendable when the objective required it.

I had never been chosen like this.

My arm tightened around her by a fraction before I registered the movement. Not enough to restrain. Only enough to confirm she was still there.

Mine was not the right word.

It was too small for what she had become to me, too close to ownership when nothing about Brynn could be owned. She was not something I had taken. She was someone whose trust I had been given the chance to earn, whose life I wanted to protect, and whose side I hoped she would allow me to remain at.

That realization created purpose.

Shifting my attention outward, the external environment had not changed.

That was the first confirmation.

The second was that the absence of change meant the hunters had not yet committed to immediate engagement. They were still advancing, still narrowing their approach, but they had not accelerated beyond the pattern I had identified earlier.

They remained within a controlled perimeter.

That would not last.

“They are still outside the outer boundary,” I said.

Brynn lifted her head slightly, her focus sharpening as she followed the shift in my attention.

“You can tell that now?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“That’s new.”

“Yes.”

She studied me for a moment, then nodded once, accepting the answer without requiring further explanation.

“Then we don’t have much time,” she said.

“No.”

The connection between us had not yet released. I could feel the final phase maintaining its hold, a biological constraint that would resolve on its own within a measurable interval. Until then, movement would remain limited.

Even though it wasn't ideal, it was manageable.

“We will adjust the timing,” I said.

“Meaning?”

“We do not wait for optimal positioning. We move as soon as separation occurs.”

Her gaze held mine, assessing the statement, calculating the implications.

“You’re assuming they won’t close the distance before that happens,” she said.

“I am calculating the probability that they will not.”

“And if you’re wrong?”