AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But I’d left my hat. I could guarantee I’d never get back there and get it without him on my tail. Not to mention the sound ofrain was slowing. I’d make a brand-new trail of my scent if I went back there. I was doomed either way.
I took a long, slow, measured breath. “I like to take walks, and I might’ve gotten startled by something and left my hat behind.”
“How startled were you?”
I bit my lower lip, trying to keep it from trembling.
“It’s all right. I’ve been in some pretty startling situations.”
He cupped my cheek. Without thinking of what I was doing, I leaned into it for a second before I jerked away. I couldn’t be careless until I understood what I’d done. I could kill someone.
He backed away, giving me a few feet. “Okay, well, I’m going to leave and stretch my legs. Any suggestions on a good trail?”
It was a leap of faith to tell him anything, but coming here at all had been a gamble. If I hadn’t, Charlie would be dead. I couldn’t overthink it. I had to trust my gut. Kicks had already checked the flask for poison. He wanted me alive, which was more than Groza could claim. Duncan couldn’t be depended upon with her hovering over his shoulder.
“I like going out by the back gap in the entrance and wandering northwest for a bit shy of an hour.”
He was gone before I could say anything else, leaving me to wonder what would happen after he found my victims.
Chapter Thirteen
I was lyingin my bed, struggling to sleep. Buddie had dropped off Charlie, and not one word had been mentioned about missing men. It couldn’t be a thing yet if he hadn’t mentioned it.
But itwouldbe a thing. Groza would make it a thing, and then she’d come looking here.
“Stop thinking about it and get some sleep. You barely hold it together when you’renotexhausted,” Jaysa said from where she was sitting on the chair in my room.
“Telling her she has to fall asleep is the exact wrong thing to say if you want to help her,” Widow Herbert said, her knitting needles clicking as she sat on the trunk.
If I wasn’t so rattled about what else was going on, having two ghosts sitting with me would be freaking me out.
The bedroom door opened, and I jerked up. Kicks walked in, his face hidden by the darkness. I grabbed the matches by my bed and lit the oil lamp. I had to see him, see if there was revulsion filling his eyes.
The room lit up with a warm glow as he walked over and sat on the edge of my bed.
I’d been so eager to see his face, and now I was terrified to look at him. Crossing my arms, I glanced at the floor, his shoulder, my hands. Now that it came down to it, it was hard to meet his eyes knowing what he’d seen. That I was guilty of the mess he’d just witnessed.
“It’s done. I got themsituatedso no one will ever find them.”
He didn’t sound like he was disgusted. Would he still want me in his pack after this? Even be in the same room as me?
“Oh, well, that’s—good.” He’d buried my victims, or done something else with them. I guessed it was good—for me, anyway, if no one else.
They’d tried to kill me. I’d killed them—maybe in an unnatural way, but they’d deserved it.
I finally got up the nerve to look him in the face.
There wasn’t the disgust I’d expected. No, he looked more intrigued than anything else. Had he stumbled upon some other victims? Someone else’s dead bodies? A year ago, that might’ve been absurd, but people were getting killed all over the place lately.
“So, you definitely sawmysituation?”
“Yes, I did. They seemed to have experienced some unusual conditions, if that’s what you’re referring to. To be honest, I’ve never seen that kind of situation before,” he said.
Oh yes, he’d found mine. Now that the revulsion hadn’t materialized, I got to my feet, finding the situation even more awkward.
“Well, I’m glad you had a productive walk. Can I get you a drink or anything?” I stepped toward the kitchen. Trying to act like Martha Stewart was a push, but it was an easier mantle to wear than “co-conspirator in a gruesome murder.”
He stood, following me, but I had a feeling it wasn’t out of thirst. Still, I poured him a glass so that I had something else to do.
