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He wrapped his arms around his mom and held her close. She’d been his rock all his life and he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed her too.
“I missed you too, Mom.”
Aidyn grinned as his dad neared. "Nice to see you, son. I've missed you, too."
His mom sniffed as he put her down, happy tears swimming in her eyes, and he realized he felt whole now, with them here.
He hugged his dad and whispered back, "I missed you too." After they collected themselves, his mom turned to the room and the work they’d been doing. “Your dad and I felt you all should have a shooting range here. I know you can go out to the base, but this is here. You can blow off steam, practice without foreign eyes watching your every move.”
“Wow. That’s fantastic. Thank you so much.”
His dad grinned. “I’ve always found shooting a great way to think through some of my issues. Your mom does too, of course, plus she makes money at it. So there’s that.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, I find shooting a good way to practice while I’m sorting out my thoughts, too. This will be well-used and loved here. Thank you both so much.”
His dad nodded. “Go on and settle in. We’ll all have dinner together tonight and catch up.”
“Thanks, Dad.” He hugged his mom briefly and stepped out of the gun range to unpack his suitcase. The excitement that coursed through his body was hard to contain. It seemed to melt the tension of the past few months away in the few minutes he’d been here.
The activity inside was electric as he stepped through the back door. Despite the job of moving, his teammates were laughing, giggling, and excited about all the new things Sophie, Gaige, and his parents had added to their new home. He couldn’t wait to share this with them.
ChapterSix
Elena tossed and turned all night. Her nerves felt like tiny pinpricks on her skin. Her body couldn’t lie still. Every time she thought about getting up and working on her seeds and plants, she reminded herself she needed to rest. Her head needed to be clear when she spoke to Craig.
Her muscles ached from the tension of the past few months. Mostly since Craig had become president. His changes kept them all on the razor’s edge. Uncertainty was the worst form of stress.
Rolling to her left side, she watched her mom sleep for a while. She tried to match her breathing pattern to her mom’s, praying it would put her in a state of rest. It didn’t. At all.
Rolling to her back, she studied the ceiling in the muted glow of the fire, listened to the crackling of the wood as it burned in the fireplace. She had a good idea what Craig wanted to speak to her about. She’d been dreading it for some time. Everett had spoken to her about it once in the past, but let it drop when she promised to keep brewing the elixir and gathering the roots and plants needed to brew it.
But Craig was a different animal. He had a hard edge. He was angry all the time. He wanted revenge on the townies, and he wouldn’t rest until they’d gone to war with them. She didn’t relish a life up here with any of these men. They were mostly like Craig. Hard scrabblers who wanted to fight and keep the breach with the townies alive.
The other thing Craig was adamant about was their numbers. He wanted their people to have babies and keep their population from dwindling to nothing. He felt they had a good chance of staving off the townsfolk in any war as long as they had at least a hundred and fifty people. After all, they lived up here. They knew the land. They could hunt and forage and fight and have the advantage should it come to that. But they needed the numbers.
Elena wasn’t against marrying or having children. But there was no one up here she wanted to tie herself to forever. Her stomach twisted at the thought of Craig forcing her to marry one of these men. To have to live with their rules. To share a house with one of these fellas who wanted war. Who didn’t understand peace. Who felt the townsfolk were taking advantage of them.
And then there was Aidyn. She wanted to know more about him. He wasn’t like these men up here. He made her want more. That was likely the biggest danger of them all.He made her want more.
But she couldn’t leave the mountain. Her mom couldn’t make the trek down the mountain, and what would they do to survive?
As far as the outside world was concerned, she was uneducated and poor. She could live off the land, but how long would her mom survive while she tried to build them a shelter and forage for food?
They had a school up here and she knew how to read.
She’d read each book that had found its way up here. She never asked how they got them. She knew of course. But she relished having them. It helped her to read and write and it helped her escape this world and believe in others. She’d read about vampires and werewolves. Those gave her nightmares, but she read those books again and again. She’d read about people’s lives. Jackie-O. Johnny Cash. Mark Twain and his friends. She loved them the most.
She felt like a caged animal with no way to break free.
A tear slipped from the corner of her eye and trailed across her cheek before merging with her pillowcase.
A loud crack forced her to bolt upright in her bed. Glancing at her mom, she saw her eyes fly open and seek her out.
Elena put her finger to her lips. Pulling her covers back, she slipped on her heavy wool stockings and her shoes before silently padding to the door. They had two windows in their cabin and both of them had material hanging from the tops to block out the light and nosy people. Moving one of them would no doubt alert someone that she was awake.
The loud crack sounded again, and she jumped and held on to the back of one of their chairs. Putting her ear to their door she listened as voices grew louder. People were leaving their cabins to investigate. But she wasn’t about to run into Craig.
Then she heard his voice. “What the hell is going on?”
