Page 8 of Rawest Venom

Max interrupts her. “Yes, he needs to marry Arianna before Strauss calls her up to marry him. She’s beenorganizing their weddingfor weeks now. He isn’t a patient man. He’ll want to marry her sooner rather than later. We need to get Ace on board as quickly as possible, but he’s been too drunk to leave the casino to marry my sister.” The floppy hair on Max’s head waves as he nods in my direction.

Carefully, I chew a bite of mushroom shepherd’s pie. Savoring the gravy and fresh winter asparagus from the manor’s restored gardens, I pause as the three bears stare me down. Waiting.

“Would it be the worst thing if Arianna married Strauss?”

A clang breaks the silence in the air with a snap as Max drops his heirloom silver fork on the Wedgewood plate. Pushing my mashed potatoes to one side, the blackand gold bear of the Freidenberg crest reveals itself underneath.

“Yes, Cal. It would be.” Max’s teeth resonate as he growls at me.

“What are you saying, Cal?” my sister asks, cutting off the end of her husband’s sentence.

“I-I don’t want to marry Strauss,” Arianna’s tiny voice rings out, reverting to her innocent defense mechanism. Like she’s not letting Wyatt’s tongue swirl her pink butthole every Saturday night in the estate’s abandoned tobacco barn.

Clearing my throat, I peer at each of them in turn. “I apologize. My intention was not to ruin this lovely family meal we’re having.” Eyeing Max directly, I say, “Brother, I’ll talk with Ace for you. I know my role in this, to help facilitate a smooth transition for Arianna, for her safety. She’s my family now, too. Ace wants to know who killed his sister, and you want to save yours from sexual slavery. I don’t wish that upon anyone.”

And I wouldn’t. That’s what this whole thing has been about. Freedom.

Unfortunately, the citizens of Gnarled Pine Hollow, including my family here, have no idea what it will take to stop the machine. Somehow, I have to help set them all loose from their restraints.

Before I can stop it, the vision of taking that little girl’s dirty hand in mine, the nails black with coal and blood and skin invades my mind. Sweat pours down my back and my muscles tense as I begin to shake. The dinner rolling around in my stomach threatens to make its way back up.

Livia reaches over and grabs my arm while still holding on to Max, joining us all together. The sight of her delicate fingers wrapped around me relieves the growing fear. “Thank you,” she says.

“And Cal?” Max still hasn’t calmed down, the tone of his voice gritty. “Make sure he’ll treat herwell.”

Placing my utensils down on the plate in a crisscross pattern, I tell him, “Max, I will certainly try my best. It would help if I could move my product into your area. Ace would see that as a united front for the fox and bear clans. It would put pressure on him to comply.”

A corner of Max’s full bottom lip scrunches into a smirk as his hand raises to brush back his hair. “Sure. But you know what I’m going to say to that?”

Peering directly into my friend’s deep-set brown eyes, I say, “That you need to moveyourproduct intomyarea. Which I specifically asked you not to do… And which you have done anyway.” His face falls as he stares at the table. “Iam asking your permission. As a trusted brother.”

Livia’s voice breaks the tension like a tranquil brook. “Yes, Cal. That will be fine. We’ll accept your product without any difficulty and let all our team know not to engage with your men if they spot them.”

My tongue crawls over my front teeth, trying to contain a grin that I know would only upset Max as well as show my hand at play here. Is this the first sign of the new world? Livia making decisions for the head of the bears along with her husband? Is this the first time the wife has been allowed to make a decision for a house?

Hope is an extremely dangerous thing, but aglimmer of it hits my heart as I stare into my sister’s amber-colored eyes. This is exactly what I had been wanting, what I had set into motion. A different world.

“Max?” I ask to poke the bear, to see if this is truly what has happened here tonight.

Max squeezes his wife’s hand and nods assuredly. “If Mrs. Freidenberg says so, then so be it.”

And with that final statement, history has just been made.

Three

JANE

The air smells like the dead of winter, but there’s a light breeze telling us that spring will soon be arriving. A happy sigh escapes me. I love spring. Fresh and new, starting over, turning over a new leaf and all of that.

“I’m so sorry, Jim. I forgot cash today. Can I hit you up for double tomorrow?”

“Don’t you worry, Miss Jane. You always take care of me. You and Miss Livy are so kind. Someday, I’ll buyyoua cup of coffee.” Jim sits under his newspapers in front of the store, but just to the side so he doesn’t bother anyone. He’s still wearing the blue cap and mittens I knitted for him during downtime between customers.

As I unlock West Tech’s glass door, my lips broaden into a grin at seeing Cal’s strapping back leaning over the counter, hard at work. He must have arrived early today. My nose tingles in anticipation of his patchouli and orange scent.

“Oh wow, you’re here early!” I say brightly, but he doesn’t even flinch, only sparing me a cursory glance.

“Hey, Jane. Yeah, I had to do some bookkeeping. How have you been? Did you enjoy your weekend?”

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