Page 22 of Kodiak's Heart

Chapter Seven

Laramie kept them outside until late-afternoon. They grilled a late lunch, and everyone spilled into the yard as the smell of food enticed them. Jaeda, Sidia, Xandra and Emersyn took turns playing with Ruby. The tiny girl seemed to have boundless energy. Laramie considered it time well spent. By the time Ruby started winding down, she’d decided she liked all three of her aunts and would keep them.

“I think someone is getting sleepy,” Emersyn announced when Ruby yawned and rubbed her eyes.

“I not seepy,” Ruby argued around another yawn.

“Hmm, I thought maybe someone would like a bubble bath followed by a movie and popcorn,” Emersyn suggested.

“Yay!” Ruby jumped up and down with excitement. “I yikes boobbles and poppy cown.”

“I have a huge tub in my room,” Jaeda offered. “And Sidia has some bubble bath.”

“Why don’t we have a slumber party?” Xandra offered.

“I yikes pawties.” Ruby clapped her hands together. “What’s a sumba pawty?”

“A slumber party means we all sleep in one room with lots of junk food and movies,” Xandra answered.

“We did it a lot when we were younger,” Sidia added.

“Yike me?” Ruby asked.

“Yes,” Jaeda agreed. “Want to hang out with your aunts tonight?”

Ruby glanced at Emersyn, eyes big and round and pleading.

“I think we could do that,” Emersyn offered.

Ruby turned to Sidia and grabbed her hand. “I has boobbles now, peas. Yots of bubbles.”

The look on Sidia’s face made any discomfort Emersyn might have during the night worth it. These were Malachi’s sisters, Ruby’s aunts, and they deserved the chance to get to know each other, for Ruby to get better acquainted with them and feel more comfortable around them. If there was a tiny bit of jealousy at the thought of sharing Ruby, then Emersyn would deal with it.

“Em.” Laramie stood beside her, hand at her back. “Why don’t you walk with me while they get things set up?”

“I—”

“We still need to talk,” he reminded her. “You and Ruby needed today to settle in. So did Sidia, Jaeda, and Xandra. I understand that, but we still need to discuss everything.”

Emersyn had been hoping to put that off until after she spoke with Malachi. Knowing his sisters were alive, that they were here with the Holloways, made Emersyn think she might be able to leave Ruby with them and go help Malachi. Her father deserved justice, and as his only child, she wanted to give it to him. Blood for blood. That was the way of the Kodiak. She wanted to spill the blood of the person responsible for taking her father from her.

The one thing holding her back was Ruby. Even watching her little girl warm up to the new family she’d discovered didn’t ease the ache Em felt at the thought of leaving her. Maybe, love was stronger than vengeance. Or maybe, she was trying to focus on the living instead of the dead. Either way, a decision would need to be made soon.

“We’ll take care of her,” Jaeda assured Emersyn, and she realized she’d been lost in thought too long.

“And we’ll talk later,” Xandra said, her voice firm and unyielding.

“In the morning,” Laramie suggested. “Spend tonight with your niece, Xandra.”

She opened her mouth as if she were going to argue with Laramie, then Ruby’s giggles carried their way. Jaeda had joined Sidia, and the twins each held one of Ruby’s hands, swinging her between them.

“In the morning,” Xandra agreed and turned to follow her sisters.

“Come with me,” Laramie urged and grasped Em’s hand again, tugging her in the opposite direction Ruby had gone.

She watched his brothers, Koby and Jensen, cast looks of censure their way, but Laramie never broke stride. His thumb rubbed over the back of her hand where he held it, and it drove her crazy.

She tugged it away and strode quickly ahead of him, trying to think, to figure out what to say to him. She’d tell him about the attacks, about Titus, and ask him what had happened with his den. Was Malachi correct in assuming they were related?

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