<h4>Chapter 1137: Chapter 1137</h4>


    Around him, the women formed a tight circle, breaths catching, eyes shifting between the glowing mark and one another. The message pulsed faintly in the dirt, warm underfoot. Not watcher-made. Not runes. Something older. Something personal.


    Sophie was the first to speak, her voice hushed. "She’s letting go... or pretending to."


    "Yours," Lucy repeated, walking around the circle, the word rolling off her tongue like it tasted wrong. "But not forever. That’s not surrender. That’s a promise."


    Rose crouched by the edge of the mark, her fingers hovering just above the glow. "It’s not from her. Not directly. This wasn’t written in desire. This was written in pain."


    Scarlet stepped beside her, arms wrapped around herself. "Is it a warning?"


    "Or a clock," Grace murmured. "Something’s ticking."


    They stood there, unsure whether to erase it or protect it. Finally, Jude moved forward and stamped his heel down hard on the end of the script. The golden light vanished instantly, like a breath held too long finally exhaled.


    The silence that followed was heavy but not empty.


    Then Natalie spoke, soft and strangely sure. "She saw somethingst night. Something she can’t control. That’s why she’s changing tactics again."


    Ste lifted her brow. "What? Our orgy?"


    "No," Susan said. "Our choice."


    Zoey crossed her arms and looked toward the forest edge. "She saw love. Real love. Not a hunger she could manipte."


    La smirked and leaned her shoulder against Jude. "Or maybe she just couldn’t handle watching us make out with her favorite boy."


    Sophie rolled her eyes, but her smile betrayed her. "He’s not hers."


    "No," Jude said, pulling her in by the waist. "I’m ours."


    The mood softened. They all felt it, like the sun finally breaking through a storm. It didn’t mean the danger was gone, it never would be. But it meant for now, they had a space to breathe, to recover.


    And they used it.


    That afternoon, they rebuilt the fire. Jude cut fresh wood with Susan while Lucy and Grace collected herbs. Rose and La took a skinful of water to the river, giggling over whose hips had gotten rounder since arriving. Emma, Zoey, and Scarlet guarded the perimeter, arms slung over shoulders, quiet but at ease. Ste and Natalieid out nkets and dried fruit while Sophie wrote small watcher marks around the stones, not for protection, but for remembrance.


    When Jude returned, arms full of firewood, he found the others already waiting. Rose took a bundle from him, her fingers brushing his a little longer than necessary. "I’m not letting her touch me again," she whispered. "But I might let you."


    He grinned. "Good."


    They lit the fire at sunset, the warmth curling between them like memory. It was smaller than before, but more focused. Clean. Their eyes flickered in the glow, reflections of everything they’d seen, survived, held together.


    Later, when the moon hung high and the mes had burned low, Sophie tugged Jude toward the treehouse. He followed without question, though he caught the glint in Lucy’s eye as she watched them go, and the mischievous curve of Susan’s lips as she leaned into Grace’sp.


    Upstairs, the world was soft. Wood beneath bare feet. Moonlight spilling through the leaves above. Sophie turned, pulling him close, her kiss slow and deep.


    "I keep thinking," she murmured between kisses, "that someday she’ll ask again. She’ll tempt you. Us. With something that looks like what we want."


    "She already did," he said, tugging her dress loose.


    "And what did you do?"


    "I turned away."


    She smiled against his lips. "Do it again."


    Their clothes fell in a gentle tangle, bodies folding into each other like pages in a well-worn book. Jude moved slowly, every touch worshipful, every breath shared. Sophie’s legs wrapped around him, her hands in his hair, her mouth finding the hollow of his throat. They rocked together in rhythm with the night, no urgency, no fear. Just the rhythm of them, heart to heart, skin to skin.


    When they finished, tangled and breathless, she rested her head on his chest and listened to the quiet thump of his heart.


    "I still feel her sometimes," she admitted. "In the silence. In the way the ind watches."


    "I know," he said. "Me too."


    "She’lle back."


    Jude stroked her hair, kissed the crown of her head. "Then we’ll be ready."


    In the morning, they woke to birdsong and the scent of roasted fruit. Down below, the others had gathered around the fire,ughing quietly, sharing pieces of their dreams. No watchersigns. No duplicates. Just the warmth of each other.


    Jude climbed down and joined them, Sophie on his heels.


    "Any strange signs today?" Zoey asked him with a smirk.


    "Nope," he said. "Just beautiful women and breakfast."


    "Speaking of beautiful," Lucy said, nodding toward the river path.


    Rose and La emerged with wet skin and damp hair, their dresses sticking to curves still glistening from the morning dip. "Water’s safe," Rose announced. "And cold. I approve."


    Grace raised a brow. "We should all go."


    "Later," Emma said. "After we check the perimeter again."


    "No watchersigns," Scarlet reported. "No eyes in the trees. Just us."


    They all looked at each other for a moment.


    And breathed.


    For once, the ind wasn’t shifting beneath them.


    Not yet.


    They didn’t know how long it wouldst. An hour. A day. A week. But they had this.


    And in the flickering light of the rekindled fire, they chose to live.


    The breeze that morning was warm but gentle, the kind that curled around the ankles and teased the edge of skirts and loose wraps as the women moved about the camp. Jude stood at the edge of the clearing, shirt half-buttoned, hands on his hips, watching the treeline as the sunlight filtered through like melted honey. The ind was still, but not asleep, its silence felt deliberate. Intentional. The kind of calm that came just before something shifted.


    Behind him, the others were slowly waking. Rose stretched like a cat beside the fire, her dress sliding dangerously up her thigh before she noticed Jude watching and offered a wink.