His voice rolled across the clearing like thunder wrapped in velvet.
"I'm home."
And in that instant, his aura erupted.
A nova of force—equal parts thunderous and intimate—poured from him in a sweeping wave, but this time it wasn't just the raw pressure of a force ascended. No. This was something else.
Familiarity.
That signature aura they had once come to know so intimately: cocky, smirking, half-insolent in the way only he could be, intertwined with the majesty he now wielded.
The presence that had once stood beside them during life-or-death situations, that had given each of them the chance to lead life the way they wanted to, that had comforted them in the darkest nights, that had willingly carried their burdens with a smile on his face, was still there.
Still him.
It was his grin, that arrogant, shit-eating grin that always meant trouble was about to start… That was what shattered any doubt still clinging to their hearts.
That was Quinlan.
Their Quinlan.
