Raven looked torn.
Ash stepped forward. “She’s coming with me.” He reassured the group, “I’ll get her to the vehicles, and on these trails, I can move faster on my own. She hardly weighs anything.”
Mystic’s head snapped toward him, then her mother. She nodded.
Aaron’s body went taut — protective instinct flaring. But Aaron trusted his cousin with Helen. She was just as much Ash’s to protect now as family as she was Aaron’s.
Ash held up his hands peacefully. “I will carry her to the waiting transport. I will not harm her. My cabin is secluded. Kira is waiting. We can heal her.”
Mystic studied him — measuring, sensing, and weighing.
Finally, she nodded.
“Then take her.”
Aaron exhaled slowly, tension draining from his frame.
Ash knelt beside Helen and lifted her with careful strength
