Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 119597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
“Which part should go?” I shove again. “My emotions? The tears in my voice? The distrust in my gut? The hurt in my heart?”
“What about my hurt?” He roars. “I lost my brother! A huge gutting part of my soul!”
“I lost him, too.” My sinuses steam, his grief prying me open, exposing the deep, yawning void where Wolf’s essence lingers, where he dwells, unforgotten, ever near.
Shadows stir behind Kody, and he spins, thrusting a finger at the intruder.
“No!” He bellows at Leo. “This doesn’t concern you.”
“You’re cornering my girl, snarling in her face.” His footsteps advance. “I’m about to send you through the goddamn wall.”
If I don’t intervene, he’ll do exactly that, spilling blood and wasting precious calories.
“Leo.” My breath fogs in the boiling space between me and his brother. “I have things to say to him. Let me say them.”
“Not like this. Not with his face that close to yours.”
“Yes. Exactly like this.” I stretch up on my toes, meeting Kody stare for stare. “You said Denver took years off your life when he looked at me. Imagine how I felt when I found you in that cage with him, naked, restrained, and yelling at me to get out. You broke my heart. Broke my trust. Broke everything inside me. I don’t know how to recover from that. I lost my mind. Lost my humanity. I almost lost you.” Tears well, and I swat them away. “So when you say this is an attitude problem, I say that’s a goddamn shortcut to thinking.”
Slowly, he reaches out and strokes a thumb across my wet cheek. He loves my tears as much as he hates them.
“You got what you wanted?” I smack his hand away.
“Yeah.” His jaw tightens. “Got my fighter. Knew she was in there, hurting, holding it all in instead of letting me have it.” He releases a clouded breath. “Need you to hit me over the head with it. The anger, the tears, the words—I want all of it.”
An honest request on demanding lips.
He’s not asking for forgiveness but a chance to earn back my trust.
I find Leo’s stony gaze a few paces away. He looks entirely too invested in this conversation, angry and conflicted, with his braids coming loose and his chest heaving like he just outran a bear.
“Kody made that bargain for you.” He flexes his hands. “But you have every right to be angry. I’m angry, too. We agreed to make decisions together, and he went behind our backs.” His throat bobs, his voice rough. “But he did it for you because…we do terrible things for love.”
A hollow sensation hits my stomach. “That’s what Wolf said the night he made the devil’s bargain. I couldn’t stop him from going through with it, and he never recovered.”
Kody’s eyes go wide. “Frankie, no.”
“If he hadn’t made that bargain, he would still be here. He would still be alive. I’m certain of it. And I keep thinking, what if I hadn’t broken into the workshop in time to stop Denver with you? What if Denver had hurt you the way he hurt Wolf? Would you have followed Wolf off the cliff? Would I have lost you, too?” Heartache shatters my voice. “I know you endured Denver’s pain before, but do you really think you could’ve survived it again? After everything you’ve been through? Everything you sacrificed? The kin punishments, the women who died before me, the months you slept on the couch, trying to stay away from me—you did it all so you would never have to surrender to him like that again. So tell me the truth, Kodiak. Would you have survived a winter in his bed?”
His expression empties, the cords going taut in his neck.
“I didn’t think so.” I drop back on my heels, exhaustion setting in.
“Better me than you.” His posture, stiff and unyielding, seems to grow taller. “Not going to change my mind on that.”
I get it. I had the same justification when I sold my soul to the devil.
We deceive and manipulate those we love, out of noble intentions or for our own misguided hearts. Love endures because of one true and constant element. Forgiveness.
“There will be no more secrets between us.” I find his hand and twine our fingers. “Not one. That means no more lone ranger mentality. Every decision will be made collectively with everyone’s agreement.”
“I swear it.” Conviction etches his granite face.
“No matter how bad it gets.” Leo nods.
A chilling promise.
The darkest nights are yet to unfold, and the price of our survival might be higher than any of us dare to imagine.
A week later, I discover a sickening revelation.
“Holy fuck.” Crouched in the utility room off the kitchen, I drop my head in my hands and bellow, “Kody!”
The heavy thud of boots echoes through the cabin, the wood bones groaning under his strides.