AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Cian threw his head back and howled as Eros zipped down the hill, and I held on for dear life. Boys would be boys, wouldn’t they? Cian caught up to Eros and then left him in our dust, with Eros shaking his fist at us.
We stopped in a spot where the ground was more level and hopped off. Eros grumbled about Cian cheating, and Juliet poked him in his side.
A few thrown snowballs later, Juliet and I took a stab at driving. I nibbled on my bottom lip as I pressed the throttle. It wasn’t helping that Cian was glued to my back, his arms tight around me. My mind was back in our bedroom with him on top of me, not on riding this snowmobile.
“Just ease into it, little star. You got this.” He kissed my cheek. The snowmobile vibrated between my legs, jerking slightly as I put more pressure on the throttle. A second later, we were zipping across the flat ground, Sophie and Thora cheering as we sped past them on the lake. The longer I drove, the more my confidence built, and I turned to grin at Cian as we went down a baby hill.
A little while later, we met back at the house for lunch and warmed up with some hot cocoa. Felix had apparently fallen on the ice and twisted his ankle slightly. I sucked in a breath at the purple mark running down his foot, while Miss Longfellow gave him an ice pack. He seemed out of his element, and I couldn’t help but feel bad for the guy. Thora ruffled his hair, and he offered a small smile.
I grabbed a plate of food and shuffled through the thick snow down to the cabin Milliani was staying in. The wind whipped around me, and I lowered my head so I wouldn’t get blasted in the face again. The cold in Montana was completely different than the cold in Chicago, and I didn’t know if I could ever get used to it. Cian said there was a small chance a blizzard might roll through tonight, but it was too early to tell how bad it was going to be. I hoped it wasn’t going to be bad enough to keep Grams, Archie and Owen from flying in tomorrow morning. I’d been able to get cell service for a few minutes and I’d called her, making sure everything was all set.
When I got to Milliani’s cabin, I stomped my feet on the steps to get the snow off and knocked on her front door. After she didn’t answer, a few moments later, I peeked my head through the window to see if she was sleeping, but the room was pitch black. I debated leaving the food at the door but decided against it, since Cian said there were not only elk, but possibly bears nearby.
Eros and Valik were out front having a snowball fight, and they waved to me on the porch. Just when I was about to give up, Milliani opened the door and popped her head out.
“Oh, hi, Nova. I thought I heard someone at the door. Come in.” She held the door open, and I took a step inside the dark room. These cabins were quaint, each with a large living area with its own fireplace, a small kitchen and a bedroom in the back.
“Thought you might be hungry.” I placed the food on the table and turned to find her right behind me, making me gasp in surprise. “Shit, you scared me,” I chuckled and stepped around her. “How’s your head doing?”
She rolled her neck and sat down on the sofa, pulling out a cigarette. “Want one?” She held her hand out, and I scrunched up my nose.
“No, they make me sneeze for some reason.” I sat down across from her as she lit the cigarette and blew the smoke above her head. My heart pounded in my chest as the light from the window shone on her face. At that moment, she looked exactly like Kaviathin. The realization made me somewhat uncomfortable.
“Is everything OK?” I asked after a few seconds of silence. “Your head’s been bothering you?”
She sighed and stubbed the cigarette out in the ashtray. “A lot of things on my mind. I’ll feel better in a few days when this has all passed.”
I didn’t know what she meant, but something in her tone made me not ask her to elaborate. Did she mean after the wedding had passed and she could go home? Guilt coursed through me at the thought she didn’t even want to be here. Maybe Valik was right, maybe she was having second thoughts about being here with us, with him. But that wasn’t my place to ask her, so I just nodded and acted like I understood.
“Are you excited about tomorrow?”
“Absolutely.” My cheeks hurt from smiling so much over the last few days. “I can’t wait to marry the love of my life. Even if he does snore sometimes.” I grinned from ear to ear.
Her eyes glistened, and I immediately wanted to kick myself for being so stupid. It wasn’t that long ago that she had been sobbing over losing the love ofherlife. And now here I was, practically rubbing it in her face. Ugh, total asshole move.
She smiled and stretched her hands over her head. “I think I’ll shower and then come up to the house in a while to help decorate.” OK, so maybe she wasn’t fazed by my comment, and I was overreacting. She stood, and I followed her to the front door.
“You know if you ever need to talk about anything you can always talk to me, right?” I offered her a smile, and she grinned. It was the unspoken elephant in the room, the one thing we had shared together—both of us had been attacked by Ryzen and survived—but it didn’t seem like she was ready to talk about it. I just hoped that it wouldn’t be the thing to break her spirit.
“Oh, I’ll be fine. Nothing a few aspirin won’t take care of.” She patted my back, and I let her be.
A little while later we marched out to the hunting shed because Valik was convinced he was going to be able to shoot a bow and arrow, even though he had never shot one before. Snow swirled around us and fell a little bit heavier, and I shivered. Cian flipped on the lights in the shed, showing off a crazy amount of hunting weapons and gear inside.
One wall had a bunch of guns, including rifles and shotguns. Eros picked one up and whistled. “This is for long-range game, like elk,” he said to Juliet, who seemed one hundred percent not interested, not that I could blame her. Hunting had zero appeal to me. There was also a wall with compound bows, which Valik promptly picked up and admired.
Cian pointed out the assortment of bows below, from traditional wooden ones to high-tech crossbows with a scope on them. There were shelves with boxes of ammo, camouflage and something called a scent lure, which almost made me want to gag.
Juliet and I watched from the sidelines as Valik, Eros and Cian all had target practice with the bows and arrows, and I even tried it myself after a while, which I totally sucked at.
I huddled under Cian’s arm as the snow really started to come down. By the time the sun set, you weren’t able to see more than twenty feet ahead of you. Ugh, I would feel so guilty if Grams couldn’t make it because of the stupid snow.
We were all surprised when we got back to the main lodge and Orin was back, with none other than Elsie sitting next to him on the couch as she flipped through the channels on the television as best as she could with her hands still handcuffed together.
“What happened?” Cian arched an eyebrow as he started taking off his jacket.
“That fucking small-town sheriff can’t take her. Said there’s no room and to try Shelbyville almost thirty miles east.” Orin stood and put his hands on his hips. “But there’s a damn blizzard coming through and he warned me not to even try it or I would likely get stuck out there.”
Elsie smirked from the couch, and he shot daggers at her. “I’m sorry, Nova. I don’t want to ruin the wedding by having her here, but I can’t take her until the storm passes.”
