Page 46 of Cold Foot King

“Damon’s doing a good thing,” Katrina uttered. “I can’t believe I’m saying anything nice about the blue dragon. I was trained to dislike his Crews, but if he’s really in there exposing the secrets of Cold Foot, then good. He didn’t have to lift a finger to help, but he is. Not everyone would do that.”

“I agree,” Raynah murmured. “I know I wasn’t on the list of potential Crew, but if you guys wouldn’t have come busting in there to pick us up, my life would’ve ended up really different. I like that even if I don’t make the cut, Wreck is going to let me stay out of Cold Foot. I’m gonna get to raise my kid. I’m gonna get a chance to figure it out. You guys will never know how grateful I am. I don’t have the words, but if at the end of this, I go on my own way, if you ever need anything…” Raynah smiled. “Well, my crocodile is pretty gnarly. When I get her back, she’s yours as a favor.”

“I appreciate that,” Timber murmured. Her eyes were full of something deep, and as she pulled something out of her backpack, chills rippled up Katrina’s spine. She recognized that box. “Oh my gosh,” she murmured, her eyes burning as she sat up on her knees so she could see better.

“What’s this?” Raynah asked.

“This morning we got a call from Lucia Novak. Well, she’s Lucia Fuller now. She said she sees you.”

Raynah took the box gingerly in her grasp and shook her head. “I don’t…I don’t understand.”

“Lucia is one of the seers of Damon’s Mountains. She has her sight on the new Crew. Maybe you weren’t on the list of who we were supposed to take, but she sees you in Montana, with us.”

Raynah dropped her head, and Katrina could so clearly see a tear drop down onto her lap. She pressed the little box to her belly and let off a long, shuddering sigh. “It’s just been a long damn time since I got good news, you know?”

Katrina crawled over her seat just as Timber was crawling from the back one, and they sat on either side of Raynah and hugged her up tight.

“Even if Lucia didn’t see you, I would’ve fought to keep you,” Timber whispered. “I can only imagine what you and Katrina went through, and I can only imagine the fear of having that sweet baby taken from you. I’ve talked to Wreck about both of you. I want you with us. I know we don’t know each other well yet, but we will, and I’m going to do my best to make the transition into this Crew as smooth as I can. The boys are up to Wreck, but I had the final say on you two. Silver helped, but I wanted both of you. I saw that conversation between the two of you in that gas station. You were stating your differences in opinion without fighting, but you didn’t back down in the moment. And then I saw you both thinking about what the other said later, in moments you had with other people. I don’t want females in the Crew who just go with it. I want us to be able to call each other on our shit, because Lord knows no one is perfect. Growth is going to be so very important to the Crew as we build up. It’s going to be hard. And confusing, and frustrating, and the boys will piss us off sometimes, but I really think we can do this. I have been thinking all these weeks about the two of you. I just couldn’t imagine your faces. Katrina, I didn’t see you in the war. I don’t know you like that, and I’m not going to hold it against you. I’ve just been mentally preparing for a leadership role that I didn’t sign up for, you know? I was human not long ago.”

“What are you now?” Raynah asked softly.

Timber eased back from hugging her and gave her a lopsided smile. “My Maker is Riyah Daye, mate of Vyr Daye.”

“Holy shit,” Raynah said. She laughed and looked at Katrina, slack-jawed. Again she said, “Holy shit!” only louder this time. “You’re a freaking polar bear?”

Timber laughed thickly, hung her head, and nodded. “My life, like your lives, has not gone to plan. I think we can maybe understand each other better if we keep in mind that we’re all pretty new at this Crew stuff.”

And Katrina could see it—Timber was good. She was the mate of the Alpha. The wife of the phoenix. If this was a Pride, she would be Queen. And she was a good person. Deep down to her bones, she was good, and she cared. That’s where Katrina had gotten it all wrong. She’d wanted to be Queen for the power of it. Others couldn’t talk down to her anymore if she was at the top of the food chain. She’d forgotten the part where she was supposed to care, and be a leader, and to inspire. Prides didn’t work like that. Power was important, and that was all.

Raynah opened the lid of the small, rectangular box, and pulled out a matching pocketknife, made by the silver bear himself—Beaston. She opened the blade carefully and read the Wreck’s Mountains inscription, and then Katrina pulled her own knife from her pocket, and Timber did the same. They clinked the blades together and laughed as they folded them back safely into place. Girls liked things that matched.

“I brought something to celebrate,” Timber murmured excitedly. As she pulled her backpack out of the back seat, thetinkingof bottles sounded.

“Ummmm, Alpha-Lady, I can’t drink,” Raynah reminded her, hand on the small swell of her belly.

“Duh. That’s why I got us sparkling grape juice. And I also got us cheese cubes, crackers, and grapes, like we’re fancy.”

“Oh my gosh, I’m starving,” Raynah huffed through a relieved laugh.

The sun sank fast, and as the shadows of night stretched across the cold Alaskan woods, the trip turned into something special. It became them talking easily about where they were from, what they had done for work, what their old lives had looked like, and their hopes for their new lives. Timber hadn’t seen the Crew territory in Montana yet, so they would all be seeing it for the first time together.

She wanted to ask Timber if the seer had seen King in her visions, but this was Raynah’s moment, and she had faith that he would be picked. He had to be. He was good, too.

So Katrina kept the question tucked deep in her chest and just settled into the comfortable ride, snacking and chatting with the women who were destined to become important to the trajectory of her life.

Now, she felt like she could care about what Timber was saying, and she dared to feel excitement over the coming of Raynah’s baby. She would be around for it.

For the rest of her life, she would never forget this trip into the wilderness, or the last couple of days with King in that little hotel room. She’d gone from hopeless, to limitless possibilities in the span of a couple days, and though the enormous changes left her feeling breathless at times, and a little scared, it was also very exciting.

She wished Rook could see her now, and realize he hadn’t broken her after all. God, if only he could see he’d failed. If only he could witness her smiling so easily, her grin stretching that damn scar he’d left on her face.

Rook hadn’t broken her at all. Not even close.

That thought touched her mind as they pulled to a stop in a clearing. It was full dark, and there were a million twinkling stars, but that’s not what Timber was pointing out as she pressed against the window.

It was the green lights in the sky.

“Is that the Aurora Borealis?” Katrina asked on a stunned breath. It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.

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