Page 29 of Betrothed to the Yeti

Walk my wife out of Alpha and return her to me. Immediately and by force if necessary.My darkness answers the Seer, but for once, I’m in complete agreement. While the predators circle outside the fences, Jaya is in more danger inside them. Her sister isn’t the girl Jaya left behind at the wedding ceremony. Jaya doesn’t realize Nima has the power to lock her in the brothel. What would happen to her between the time she’s taken to when I retrieve her? If anyone touches her, my darkness will rip the village to shreds.

The sooner Jaya is in my arms, the sooner my focus will shift to rescuing our lambs. As long as the prissy sister has them—not the butcher’s wife—there is a chance they won’t be harmed. Why didn’t I speak up about keeping the little goats? I was so concerned about giving Jaya authority over them when I should have gifted them to her. I bet no one has ever given her a gift before she met me. The way she beamed at me every time I found more discarded bags of seeds for her garden… I should have stolen feral lambs—filled our home with lambs, food, and love.

Food.

Didn’t Jaya say she must give them up because she feared they would starve? This was never about weaning, Ku Huang, the butcher, or her sisters. Jaya’s fear of starvation pushes her to give up the lambs she desperately wants to keep. Now half my family’s in danger. I assumed supporting her meant allowing her to make her own decisions regarding them. Instead, she missed a teachable moment where I could have stepped in and helped her through her fears—a mistake I won’t make again.

Jaya doesn’t fight the Seer’s grip until they are outside Alpha’s small door beside their large cart entry gate. I pull Jaya to my side and crush her to my chest. She sobs in loud wails and soaks my fur with her tears. The wet locks freeze solid when exposed to the biting wind. I fold her knees to carry her in a protective ball over my heart. Inside me, the darkness bangs against my skull as if he can break through bone. The creature is bloodthirsty and craves revenge.

“Help please,” she whispers. The pathetic whimpers surrounding the words shatter my heart.

“Where did the lambs end up?” I whisper to the Seer as we walk toward Delta, the closest village to Alpha. Our pace is brisk. Despite the four dead wolves I left at Alpha’s gate, we are surrounded by howling beasts. When the Seer doesn’t answer, I scold her, “The lambs! Who has the lambs—the butcher or the witch?”

“Supreme Leader Rinzen took them behind the ‘cultured wall.’ I presume she went home since her arms were full of tithes.”

“Village Leaders receive tributes, too?” My outraged voice roars despite my best efforts at stealth. Jaya burrows deeper in my embrace. More yelling is the opposite of what she needs. “If the people starve to tithe to the Gods, how do they manage to give to Leaders, too?”

“Oh yes,” the Seer says with a brighter mood. She doesn’t hide her interest and how she couldn’t care less about Jaya and her lambs. “There is a group of people behind the ‘lower wall’ who desperately need your help. They couldn’t make the um, payments, so she put them in a pen of sorts. They have homes, safety, and one another—but no crystals for heat and light.”

“Were those Jaya’s former neighbors I saw within the locked enclosure?” When she doesn’t answer, I add, “I’ve imprinted on Jaya and watched the visit.”

“We need to help them,” Jaya says between sniffles. Her voice is muffled by how tightly I hold her. “We can’t leave them when it’s my fault.”

“How can it be your fault when you lived with me for months? We aren’t helping anyone,” I snap. “You two shelter in Delta while I save our lambs.”

“Yes, sire,” answers the Seer.

“Like hell, I will,” Jaya snaps. She kicks out of my embrace and flings herself into a snowdrift. Snow whirls around her as she bounces to her feet and slaps her skirts. “Those are my neighbors. My lambs. My corrupted sisters. My fault for pushing your opinion on Alpha until you took half the providers away. If someone must clean this mess, it should be me.”

“Jaya,” the Seer scolds.

“What do you suggest, my treasure?” I will argue with her after she’s secure in Delta. She has several plans, with each one increasing in violence swirling around her mind. I don’t like the direction of her thoughts, but my darkness dances with glee. Whatever course of action we choose, we must hurry. The wind has picked up significantly, and the temperature has plummeted. An icy geyser must have erupted by the mines because tiny snowflakes swirl around us.

“Will Delta accept the people behind the ‘lower wall’ temporarily—just until they reunite with their family members? Most will go where the healthy ones went—Gamma, right, my love?” I choke when Jaya’s endearment reaches my ears. My eyes fill with tears that threaten to freeze my eyelashes into icicles.

“They would,” answers the Seer with vigorous head bobs.

“How do we get the people out from the ‘lower wall’ without someone from the upper class seeing? The Leaders punish anyone who dares to question them—let alone try to escape Alpha. They need the extra people—even if their bodies are to feed the predators who follow the hunters and miners outside the walls. My former neighbors don’t have the strength to fight. They are malnourished to skin and bones,” Jaya says before chewing her lip in contemplation.

“I’ve got it,” I say, grabbing their hands.

We shuffle through the snow around the side of Alpha to the wall outside of the ‘lower wall’ compound. I kneel to dig around the base of one of the posts. After a few scoops, the Seer and Jaya join me. We claw away snow and frozen mud until we reach the tapering bottom. They continue to clear away debris while I kick the post from side to side.

At first, the post wiggles but then shifts in its base as the mud mortar crumbles away.

Crack!

I hope the Leaders don’t investigate that noise. I have no doubt the ‘lower wall’ residents heard the pillar split. I lean the loose top onto my shoulder and slowly backpedal from Alpha. The stone glides along my fur as I lower it to the ground with care. A two-foot-tall, icy stump sits in a well of exposed mud, with a collection of muddy faces with wide eyes above it.

“Father?” Jaya’s question is whispered behind her furry mitten. A skeletal man with pointy features resembling hers reaches his hand in her direction. She steps back to avoid his touch as if accepting his affection would be forgiving him.

“Oh, Great Protector, you have come at last,” says a woman as she reaches a grimy hand through the opening.

“Oh, I—”

“He has come to take you to your family members who didn’t come home from work. Please follow the Seer quietly,” Jaya interrupts. With a wink just for me, she grabs the woman’s hands. The woman braces a foot on the stump before pulling on Jaya to climb over.

Knowing they have a Protector God who loves them kept them alive. I can’t squish their hopes, so let’s play along.The sweet, mental caress of my wife warms me until I swear the ice collected on my fur melts.

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