Page 117 of The Warrior
CHAPTER 30
Alaska
Magni
I had come to Alaska to make the pain stop.
But even though the shitty, small cabin I’d moved into three weeks ago provided cover from the cold, the snow, and the wind, it did nothing to stop the pain of defeat.
My pride was hurting, and my sense of justice was destroyed.
For as long as I could remember, Khan and I had fought to expose anyone who was a threat to the rule of the Northlands. Any talk about democracy was considered treason and the person spewing such poisonous thoughts would be dealt with as a rebel.
So how the fuck did my brother end up marrying a woman like Pearl? Others had died for whispering about change. She spoke the words out loud like a proclamation of doom, and Khan allowed it.
Tramping through the snow, my warm breath stood out in clouds of moisture. I had to turn around soon or find my way back in the darkness.
Hungry and feeling angry with the world, I kept going. The days of breakfast buffets, room service, and delicious dinners prepared by the chefs at the Gray Mansion were gone.
Alaska offered the solitude I’d wanted, but my diet had become meager and unvaried. I’d never thought I’d miss vegetables.
For three weeks I’d survived on melted snow and a deer I shot on my first day here. Now, I was out hunting again, freezing my butt off, and hating life.
For the last three weeks, I’d been going over how everything fell apart from the moment Christina Sanders crossed into the Northlands. In hindsight, we should have sent her back as soon as we learned she was a woman.
I blamed Christina for putting thoughts into Laura’s head.
I blamed Laura for running away to the Motherlands and for lying to me about becoming a Motlander.
I blamed Pearl for manipulating my brother into marrying her.
I blamed Khan for being weak and not seeing through Pearl’s soft words.
My list was long and right now, I blamed myself that I hadn’t gone fishing instead of hunting for meat. The snow was too fucking deep and I hadn’t seen any signs of deer or elk today at all.
Turning back, I reached down and scooped a handful of snow into my mouth. It wouldn’t do much for my hunger and I’d have to find another way of getting food. People who lived up here had spent the summer stocking up to survive the winter. Only a moron or a desperate man would come here with nothing but his clothes and boots. The last description fit me.
How long have I been out hunting?
My reflex of looking down to my wristband hadn’t left me despite the fact that it’d been three weeks since I took my wristband off.
Khan would have been able to track me with it, and I wanted to be left alone. That’s why I had parked my drone further south and bought an old drone to take me here.
As I climbed over a fallen tree, my eyes caught something that made me sneak closer to investigate. The roots of the large tree formed a cover and inside it lay a hibernating bear.
My stomach rumbled and I lifted my gun, pointing it at the bear’s head.
With my finger on the trigger, I hesitated as a pair of large blue eyes popped into my mind. Mila would be devastated if she could see what I was about to do.
Swallowing hard, I focused on my hunger, but it still didn’t feel right to kill a sleeping animal.
Who might be pregnant, a voice that sounded a lot like Mila’s pointed out in my mind. It wasn’t long ago we had talked about bear cubs and how they were born around the end of January while their moms were still hibernating.
This is such bullshit. Mila might love animals, but she wouldn’t want me to die of hunger either.
As if I’d lost my fucking mind, I began talking out loud to myself.
“I can’t eat a whole fucking bear and it would be too heavy to drag back to the cabin anyway.”
