Page 22 of Snowed In With the Grizzly

I retrieve my phone from my back pocket. A dart of alarm goes through me. “No, it’s my sister. I have to take this.”

There’s one bar of signal. I stay still, willing it not to disappear.

“Hey, Charl. Are you okay?” I say, my anxiety already building. She said she wouldn’t call unless it was an emergency.

“Why have you been ignoring my calls and my messages?!” a deep voice bellows.

My gut tightens. Not Charlie, but my father, of course.

“I’ve been trying to relax and enjoy this weekend, Dad—”

“Don’t be a smartass. There’s been a change of plan,” he barks. “I need you back here on Sunday instead of Monday.”

“B-but, we agreed—”

Silence greets me on the other end. He’s hung up on me. Again.

Noo. My heart plummets. This time with Jaxton is short enough, without losing a day. Throat convulsing, I turn and look for him.

He’s pacing up and down, and I can sense his animal, just below the surface. His head snaps toward me.

“Jaxton, I have to—” I break off. Everything is so perfect right now. Here with him in this little microcosm. I can’t stand to spoil it.

He takes a step toward me, face taut with anger. “Your father’s bullying you to come back early?”

“Yes,” I admit. “He took Charlie’s phone, because he knew I’d only answer her call.”

A growly, snorty sound bursts out of him. “Give me the phone.”

“W-why?”

“So I can give him a piece of my mind.”

I gulp. As much as I’d love for Jaxton to speak to my father, who knows what effect it’ll have on him. To my knowledge, no one’s ever stood up to him before.

“Let me deal with him, Rowan,” he says in a softer tone.

I close my eyes and something burns in my chest. Something bright and new and real.

I pick up my phone again and dial Charlie’s number.

“Yeah?” comes my father’s familiar sound of choked rage.

“Please don’t cut me off when I’m speaking to you. It’s very disrespectful. And I’ll be back no Monday night, as agreed.”

Before he can reply, I end the call and turn my phone off.

And a huge weight lifts from me.

7

Jaxton

My first instinct is to throw my arms around my beautiful, brave girl. But instead, I give her some space while I keep hauling things into the cabin. She’s perched on the back of an armchair, staring out of the window and muttering to herself. I can tell that what she just did was big.

She’s never stood up to her father before—that asshole, who thinks he’s going to sell her like a used car. Because he’s used her love for her sister to manipulate her into doing whatever the hell he wants. I clench my jaw, tense my muscles to keep my animal from breaking through my skin.

I’m so mad right now, but so glad I’ve gotten the truth out of her. This poor sweet girl. So brave, so self-sacrificing. Even more of an angel than I realized.

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