AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, I do.” I snatch a piece of meat from his plate and ask Frankie, “Who’s the best guitarist of all time?
“Jimi Hendrix.” She stares back with fire in her eyes. “I’ll fight you over that.”
“Right you are, baby. Hendrix was the man.” My chest swells, and my hands tingle. I want to grab her face and kiss the fuck out of her. “You couldn’t be more perfect.”
“I know.” She grins. “Please, tell me Kody didn’t say—?”
“Eddie Van Halen? Yep.”
She groans. “I need to educate him.”
“No need.” I shrug. “I knocked some sense into him.”
“Knocked him right off the roof.” Wolf taps the scar on Kody’s leg. “Denver did a shit job with the stitches.”
“Jesus.” She inhales deeply and turns her attention to the scar on Kody’s elbow. “What about this one?”
One by one, we tell her the stories of every scar Kody collected over the years. Then we move onto our own menagerie of wounds. Not all of them are fun to recount. Some dredge up nightmares, especially when kin punishment played a part. The stabbings, hot coals, broken bones—those are the worst.
By the time we finish, the mood is as dark as the black sky.
“You did good earlier.” She gives me a gentle smile. “I know it wasn’t easy to keep your cool. I want to kill him, too.”
“You’re not a murderer, love.”
“Not yet.” Her expression hardens as she runs a hand through Kody’s hair, sweeping it off his brow. “We need to talk about our plan. He won’t get those supplies until I give him what he wants. Surrender is his price.” Her voice lowers to a whisper. “I haven’t missed a pill. I can do this. One more time.”
“No.” I shoot upward, seething. “You fucking won’t. I don’t want to hear you ever offer yourself again.”
“Then we’ll starve.”
“Will Kody recover without the supplies on your list?” I shove off the bed and pull on the first sweatshirt I pluck from the floor.
“Barring any complications? I think so. Where are you going?”
“There’s a perfectly edible wolf out there.” I locate Kody’s boots—same size as mine—and shove them on. “I’m going to retrieve it. We can’t afford to waste the protein.”
Her face pinches.
“You too good for wolf meat, sweetheart?” I tie up the laces.
“Nope.”
“Yes, you are.” Wolf nudges her. “That shit is nasty. Also, I’m not a fan of rationing, so don’t sign me up for that. And more importantly, I’m out of ciggies, so… We need a plan that gets that plane in the air.”
“Good idea.” I stride to the door. “Let me know when you figure that out. In the meantime…”
“I won’t leave her side.” He hauls her against him, making her laugh. “She’s stuck with me.”
I head down the hall to my room, grab the things I need—guns, knives, outdoor gear—and return to them.
“Here.” I hand him one of my loaded pistols. “If that fucker walks in here, put a bullet in his head. No conversation. No hesitation. Shoot first. Got it?”
“Yep.”
I trust him. He does a shit job protecting himself, but I have one-hundred-percent faith in his ability to protect her.
“I won’t be long.” With a warning look at my danger-prone girl, I head out.
Downstairs, I find Denver on the couch, drinking his usual nightcap of whiskey.
“I’m collecting the wolf.” I amble past him without slowing. “If you walk up those stairs, you’re a dead man.”
Grabbing a coat and gloves on the way out, I step into a blast of snow and wind.
It takes several hours to haul the wolf back to Hoss. Thank fuck, I brought shovels and tethers. The beast is heavier than I thought and buried beneath a foot of snow.
Looks like she stabbed it all to hell. Managed to hit it with the crossbow, too. I won’t be able to salvage the pelt, but there are viable pieces of meat that make it worth the effort.
Once I have it dressed out and strung up in the smokehouse, I reek of blood and sweat and can barely see through the grime on my face.
As I trudge back to the cabin on leaden feet, the lights click off in Denver’s bedroom, darkening the window. No surprise, he waited up for me, making sure I returned safely.
Sometimes I think he could’ve been a great father.
If he weren’t a raping psychopath.
My gait quickens as my thoughts leap to the woman upstairs. As tired as I am, there’s an urgency in my steps. I can’t wait to see her, crawl into bed with her, and hold her through the night. It’s the best feeling, one I’ve been missing my entire life.
Now that I have her, I’m never letting go.
Creeping through the cabin, I hit the stairs at high speed and remind myself to stop before barging through the door. That would suck if Wolf shot a hole through my chest.
