Page 28 of Tusk's Fury

“Unfortunately, your vehicle is a piece of shit. It doesn’t even have snow tires on it.”

She seems to shrink a bit before telling me in a small voice, “I’ve been meaning to take care of that. My car does okay in the snow.”

“No need to take unnecessary risks with someone else’s child. I’ll change the car seat over to my rental. Give me five minutes, then come on out.”

“Alright, fine. I don’t want to spoil our visit arguing about details.”

I hold up five fingers to remind her to give me a few minutes to get the car seat sorted. “The rental has heated seats. Don’t pretend like that’s not gonna be great in this weather, than freezing your ass off in your old rust bucket.”

I finally get a smile outta her. “To be honest, that sounds amazing.”

Tex follows me out to the car. The minute we get to her vehicle, he starts whispering again. “You have no goddamn clue what the ever-loving fuck is going on here.”

“Calm the fuck down, brother.” Turning to look at him, I tell him in no uncertain terms, “I’m gonna nail whatever asshole broke her window.”

Tex makes a disgruntled sound. I glance over my shoulder to see him rubbing his face again. I turn back to the task at hand, reminding him, “Dermatologists say you shouldn’t touch your face so much. It transfers germs and bacteria, and that’s not healthy.”

He says, “You know what, I can’t with y’all anymore. Not right now. I just fuckin’ can’t.”

When the seat finally comes loose, I turn to find him stomping back off into the cabin. I have no earthly idea what has my club brother so stressed, but when we get to the hotel, I’m sure as fuck gonna find out or die trying.

As I’m securing the car seat into the back of my rented SUV, I’m vaguely aware that voices are being raised inside the cabin. I don’t get an opportunity to see what’s up, because no sooner do I get the seat strapped into place, than Brittany comes out.

I move out of the way to give her a chance to do her thing with the baby and begin carrying her luggage off the porch where Tex left it. After it’s all stowed in the trunk, I climb into the driver’s seat to find her sitting in the passenger seat, staring at me.

I can’t help but smile. Yeah, she left me, and that stressed me the fuck out. But I managed to find her. Starting the engine, I tell her, “I’m so goddamn glad to finally find you, baby. I missed ya like crazy.”

She glances away. “Let’s not talk about personal things just yet.”

I reach over to grab my seatbelt and snap it into place. I should probably be disappointed, annoyed, or downright pissed off that she doesn’t want to talk about us, but I’m not. I find that I’m just so damn happy to finally find her, that I don’t care about anything else. I’ll give her all the time she needs to ease into being with me again.

“We don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to do, baby. We’ve got all the time in the world to sort out our relationship.”

I get a text from Clara with the address of the hotel they booked. I just arrived a few hours ago, and I know they got in late last night, slept in, and ate before heading to Brittany’s cabin. I put the address into my GPS and pull the SUV out onto the road before trying to make small talk.

“How do you like living in Alaska?”

“It wasn’t my first choice, but it grew on me after a couple of months.”

I grin at her tone of voice. “It looked like a pristine wilderness retreat from the air when my plane landed.”

“It always does when there’s fresh snowfall.”

We come across a caribou who doesn’t move, even when I flash my high beams.

“Fuckin’ hell. These things literally have no fear of humans.”

“They tend to prance around the road without a care in the world. Turn your lights off entirely—sometimes that works,” she advises. “I prefer them mesmerized by the headlights, because when they panic, it can get dangerous.”

“I guess that means no honking my horn, right?”

“I wouldn’t advise it. They are by far the most annoying wildlife I’ve met. They get really aggressive during rutting season and sometimes attack cars.”

“Showing off for the ladies, no doubt.”

A smile ghosts across her face. I don’t know if it’s because of my lame-ass joke or because the caribou finally moved his fat ass off the road.

“They’re territorial animals. And they have sharp hooves.”

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