Chapter Twelve

Montana sure was pretty.

Katrina had made a cup of coffee. By herself. In her new home. With her very own one-cup coffeemaker. With creamer that she’d bought for herself. She opened the door of her cabin, made her way to her front porch, and stood against the railing, looking out to one hell of a view of the Bitterroot Mountains.

She would never forget the moment she laid eyes on this place. It was one week ago to the day, and she’d ridden in a rental van with her new Crew, Wreck and Timber included. She would never forget the moment they had all piled out of the van. Raynah had clutched her hand so hard, and she had tear-rimmed eyes as she looked at the six A-frame cabins situated in a wide half-circle. There was a sprawling stone firepit in the middle, which Wreck had later explained was a tradition in Damon’s Mountains Crews. It was a gathering place for them, right in the middle.

This wasn’t the trailer park she’d expected. Instead of the single-wides she’d seen in Fastlander territory, this felt more like one of those vacation resorts she’d seen in the magazines.

Each of the A-frame cabins had the same floor-plan, and each had dark-stained big front porches, and the only way to tell the homes apart was that the very fronts of them were painted different colors. Wreck and Timber lived in the dark brown one on the end. Kade lived right next to them in the cabin with burgundy paint on the front. Katrina’s was the next one, painted navy, with dark trim around the windows. The roofs were made of green tin, and the backs of the cabins were traditional-looking logs, but instead of being made of wood, they were made of some type of new material Timber had explained was fireproof, because Wreck was a fire hazard.

Cash lived on the other side of her in the forest-green-front cabin, and he was already out sitting on his front porch, drinking a steaming cup of coffee too. Next was Raynah in the charcoal-gray-front cabin, and Reed was at the end in the light-tan-front cabin.

“Feels weird, huh?” Cash called from his porch.

She already knew what he meant without asking. “Sure does. I wonder if we will ever get used to this?”

He shook his head and took a sip of coffee. “Probably not. This is the nicest home I’ve ever had. Did you get the job?”

She grinned and took a sip, then answered, “Maybe.”

“That’s a yes.”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“Yeah it is.”

“It’s just a bartending job.”

“Will it cover your monthly rent?” he asked.

“Yeah. It should. If I’m friendly enough.”

“Uh-oh,” he joked.

“Shut up. I can be friendly.”

“Like a cactus.”

She snorted. “I’ll get better with practice.”

“Has he messaged you back yet?”

The question caught her off guard. “Fuck off, Cash.” She turned to go inside and escape the annoying asshole.

“I’m asking seriously.”

She hesitated, her hand on the door. He had tried to talk to her some, and did seem to care sometimes. She swallowed hard, shook her head, and made her way back to the rail nearest his cabin. “No. The text never went through. I keep checking.”

“He must’ve tossed the phone. I wouldn’t take it personally.”

“If he tossed his phone, he did it knowing he would never be able to talk to me again. How could I not take that personally?”

“Touché. I would be pissed. Well, it’ll get easier with time.”

“How do you know?”

“I don’t. I read that in the advice column of the Darby newspaper.”

She laughed. “Darby has a newspaper?”

“Of course. Population, what? Eight or nine hundred? People need their news. Did you know that last Sunday, an elk got into a fight with a trash can near the main drag of Darby? It did thirty-two dollars’ worth of damage. Reading is good for you, Kat. You should try it sometime.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ll get right on that.”

Cash stood up and frowned at the trees that hid the road. “Do you hear that?”

Sounded like a truck engine.

“Should I get Wreck?” she asked.

“I’m up,” Wreck announced from his front porch two cabins down.

Katrina startled hard. How long had he been out here? Timber bolted out of their house, her robe flowing behind her as she sprinted to the firepit. She was running in place in excitement. “What’s going on?” Katrina asked Wreck.

“We have some early visitors who are going to help us prepare for the party.”

“Party?”

“Every new Crew in Damon’s Mountains has one,” he said, jogging down his porch stairs.

“Who is coming to the party?” she called after him.

“Anyone who is willing to make the ten-hour road trip.”

Katrina snorted. “So, maybe four people?”

Wreck tossed her a grin over his shoulder. “Sure. Tell yourself that.”

A truck emerged on the single-lane gravel road, and she recognized the passenger in it.

“Silver?” she whispered, shocked.

Timber was jumping up and down now with her arms up in the air in celebration. Two more trucks made their way slowly into the trailer park, and Wreck directed them to a big field behind Reed’s cabin to park.

Silver was the first one out, running like a lunatic.

A huge laugh escaped Katrina as she sprinted down the stairs and straight for her old friend.

Silver caught her up in a hug, and then waved Timber to them and hugged them both.

“Oh my gosh!” Katrina exclaimed. “You’re really here!”

“I’m really here! We drove through the night!”

“We, who?” Owen asked as he walked tiredly by holding two quality, matching duffel bags, one black and one a muted pink. “She and Lucia and the baby slept like logs in the back seat. Me and Landon did the driving. I need sleep.”

Katrina laughed with absolute joy. “All of the cabins have sleeper sofas. You guys can have mine if you want! It’s the blue cabin.”

She didn’t know Landon from Adam, but he was over there giving Wreck a huge hug, so he must be all right.

“Hey, Wild Kat,” Owen, Silver’s mate, said in a familiar way that said Silver had probably told him all about her. She didn’t mind. He was Silver’s mate, and he’d healed her after being paired with Rook. Owen was just fine by her. She gave him a back-cracking hug and shooed him toward the others, who were filing out of their cabins.

Silver’s Fastlander Crew were filing into the clearing from the trucks, carrying luggage, and Katrina hadn’t smiled this much since the snowball fight with King.

A raven-haired beauty with bright-green eyes approached. She held a small baby in her arms, all swaddled in little teddy bear blankets. The baby was awake, and looking around with eyes that were the same shade of moss green as the woman.

Silver introduced them. “Katrina, this is Lucia. She’s the daughter of Beaston. She’s part of the reason you are here.”

Katrina had heard so much of Lucia over the last couple of weeks, and now she could finally put a face with the name. She couldn’t shake her hand, because Lucia was holding her tiny baby, but she rubbed her shoulder and said, “It’s really nice to meet you. And who is this?” she uttered softly, taking a closer look at the cutest little baby she’d ever seen.

“This is Easton,” Lucia said softly. “Named for my father.”

“Hi, Easton,” Katrina said gently, poking his little reaching hand with her finger. He gripped it, and she was surprised by the strength of his grasp.

“Strong boy,” Katrina said.

Lucia chuckled. “He’s going to be a monster.” She said the words with such adoration and reverence, it touched Katrina’s heart completely.

She’d thought for a little bit that she might be pregnant with King’s baby, and admittedly, she had a few secret moments where she would’ve been fine with that. She’d always loved babies.

“Well, if you need a babysitter while you get any sleep, or just want someone to hold him for a while, I’m your girl.”

“I know,” Lucia said quietly.

Katrina lifted her eyes to Lucia, and the woman was staring straight into her soul. “I’ve seen you for a while now. You have been in my dreams.”

Silver slung her arm over Katrina’s shoulders and told them, “Come on. I need coffee from that fancy coffeemaker you sent me a picture of.”

Katrina laughed and nodded. “I’m getting pretty good at it. Come on. I found blow-up mattresses in one of the closets, if you guys want to stay at my place.”

“You’re fine with us crashing for three days?” Silver asked.

“Ummm, yeah! I’m used to prison, where we have roommates. This cabin is so nice, but it feels really big. My voice echoes in it. Three nights now, I’ve dragged Raynah over to slumber-party just so it feels a little normal.”

“That feeling will ease up with time,” Lucia said with confidence.

“I hope so. I still feel like my life is in a whirlwind.”

“Has he told you yet?” Lucia asked mysteriously.

“No, I haven’t,” Wreck called across the clearing. “I was waiting until Silver was here.”

“Can I be there when you do?” Lucia asked.

Wreck nodded, and then twitched his head toward Katrina’s cabin. “Let’s go inside.”

She could tell Silver was confused too, by the look on her face. When Silver looked over at Katrina, she shrugged. She had no idea either.

They followed Wreck up the stairs, and a few others filed inside her cabin too—Owen, Landon, Lucia, Timber, Silver. Katrina came in last, and took a seat on the couch where Wreck gestured to, beside Silver.

He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and started poking buttons. “I know you’ve messaged King,” Wreck said softly. “He knows too, but he’s been unable to respond.”

“Why?” Katrina asked softly, so confused.

Wreck sighed and knelt in front of her and Silver, then turned the phone toward them. On it was a video. It was already playing. It had the time and date in the bottom left corner, like it was some kind of official video. She recognized the cafeteria of Cold Foot Prison. In the video, a massive man—King—dragged another man violently on top of one of the tables as the others gathered around. He slammed him down against it, and the man flopped like a ragdoll. Someone in the crowd said something, and King turned in a blur, asked him something, and the man threw up his hands and backed away.

King’s wide back blocked what he did to the man, but the screaming dragged a shocked breath from her lungs as she recognized the voice.

Holy shit.

Couldn’t be.

Couldn’t be!

Chills rippled across her entire body as she took the phone from him and brought the screen closer to her and Silver, who was watching in heavy silence.

“Is that…” Silver looked at Katrina. “Is that Rook?”

Wreck took the phone and scrolled over, then faced the phone toward them again, and the man in the picture was nearly unrecognizable. His face was horribly scarred on both sides, and bloodied and bruised, swollen. His eyes though. His eyes gave him away.

Rook.

Silver clasped her hands over her face and sank back into the cushion of the couch. “He gave him traitor marks.”

“One for each of you,” Wreck murmured low.

“He went back into Cold Foot?” Katrina whispered, staring at the picture of Rook. He would never escape what King had done. He would see it every time he looked in the mirror, like Katrina had to do. Like Silver had to do.

“For you,” Wreck said. “His letter was bullshit. He wrote it because he could get away with lies if he gave you a letter. You would’ve been able to hear the lie in his voice if he said goodbye in person. I told him I couldn’t give him a spot in the Crew, and he chose to hurt you so that you would stay. So you would be safe. So you could have a future.”

“And then he went back inside?” she whispered, shocked.

“He wasn’t going to able to live with that mark on your face, and no consequences for the man who did it to you. He was Karma, for you and for Silver.”

“How do we get him out?” Owen asked from where he sat on the other side of Silver.

“We can’t get him out,” Wreck said low.

“There has to be a way?” Katrina pleaded.

A slow smile stretched Wreck’s lips. “We can’t get him out, because the blue dragon already did.”

“I lied.” Lucia’s voice brought on a shocked silence.

“What?” Wreck asked.

Lucia held her little baby closer and looked at Katrina, then back to Wreck. “I lied,” she repeated. “I’ve seen King all along.”

Wreck stood, and a heaviness emanated from him. “Why would you do that?”

“Because of what I saw him doing.”

“What was he doing? Good God, Lucia, just spill it! Don’t make me ask all these questions. What is happening?” Wreck sounded furious.

“He was torturing himself and Katrina, thinking their bond was formed by the drugs they gave him at the prison.” She lifted her chin higher into the air, and looked utterly remorseless. “Now he can’t question it. He knows. He knows that bond is real. They both know.”

Chills, chills, chills.

“He’s mine?” Wreck asked, his skin catching fire. Flames consumed him, but the floor didn’t burn, and Timber stood and slipped her hand into his. Green flames traveled up his arm, and immediately his fire started to die down.

“He’s not yours,” Lucia murmured. “He’s hers .” She jutted her chin toward Katrina. “And because he is hers, he will be a great weapon for you. He will cut down anything that threatens her, and by default, he will cut down anything that threatens her people. You ,” she said softly.

“What do we do?” Silver asked.

“You do nothing,” Lucia said. “You stay here and take over planning the Crew party with Katrina, because they will be down an Alpha.”

“Say it!” Wreck barked. “What do I do with this?”

“You call the blue dragon and you tell him who your Second is, and if he argues still, you convince him. This is your Crew, Wreck Itall. You’re asking me what you’re supposed to do? You go get the Cold Foot King, and you give him to Katrina, and you plant his roots so deep in these mountains that anyone who comes for you not only knows they will die by your fire, but that they will be mutilated beforehand by the silverback protector of the Cold Foot Crew.”