Page 16 of Dark of Winter (Wild Haven 1)

Davis

Iwas a huge dick last night. I’d behaved as if a demon took possession of my body. All common sense and decency had drained out like I had flushed it down a toilet. My reaction was impulsive, but I’m not one hundred percent sure I should have acted any differently.

Miri Wilds should not be on Wild Haven Island.

There’s a reason her mom shipped her off in the middle of the night. There’s a reason Dani hid her away. Neither one of them ever told me why, but I’m pretty sure they were being hunted by someone. And if I had to put money on it, that someone was from our little island.

I don’t know why Miri’s mom left Wild Haven all those years ago. I was too young to find out before my mom died, and besides Dani, I’m not sure anyone else would talk about it. Even Dani doesn’t like to talk about the past, though, so it’s not like I can easily get answers from her without showing that I give a damn. Besides that, sometimes I think Dani can’t talk about it. As if she’s been spelled to keep her mouth shut. Which only reinforces that she’s hiding something dangerous.

I have a strong suspicion that Miri’s life is in danger now that she’s here on the island. Does she have no sense of self-preservation, no sense of what her mother gave up to keep her safe? Just thinking about it has my irritation spiking again.

I spent half the night pacing around my cabin, trying not to think of fresh ways to curse her out when I should have been sleeping. My mind kept drifting to how I could punish her, which had invariably ended up with thoughts of spanking her perfect ass. That just left me with a raging hard-on, adding to my torment.

“Davis, man, you are going to grind your teeth into pegs if you don’t stop. What’s up?” Ezra lazily casts his line into the water. Somehow my friend knew I needed to get out of my own head today. He’d shown up with sandwiches and a cooler full of these artisan fucking sodas that he likes and said we were going fishing. The guy is half insane lumberjack, half low-key hipster, but I love him like a brother. We’re all a little screwed up in the head after our childhoods and Ezra’s no different.

So now we’re out on the water in my fishing boat, not catching any fish.

“You have the ugliest cast I’ve ever seen,” I grumble instead of answering his question.

“Yeah, well, pretty casting doesn’t seem to be catching you any fish today either, so who cares. Archer said you were in a pissy mood last night, too,” Ezra prods, flinging his line like he’s waving at someone. It physically hurts to watch.

“Archer needs to stop gossiping so much.” I flip open the cooler and take out a bottle, popping off the top and taking a sip. “What the fuck? That’s disgusting.” I grimace, reading the label too late. Peanut butter and jelly. What fresh slice of hell is this?

My friend has close cropped dark hair, light brown skin and amber-colored eyes that all the girls from grade school through high school obsessed over. He’s a walking contradiction, an identity crisis come to life, wearing a red and black flannel shirt over his vintage Blondie t-shirt, topping it all off with his trapper hat. Somehow, he makes it work for him.

“But it’s like, his happy place or some shit like that.” Ezra shrugs, finally content with his line in the water, and sits back in his chair. “And that soda is fantastic. Tastes like childhood.”

Maybe that’s why I don’t like it, because my childhood tastes like stale cigarettes and broken bones. Actually no, that’s just revolting.

I grunt, but don’t offer any other acknowledgement. “Why weren’t you there last night? I’m assuming you also got the sixty-five thousand messages from Archer.”

I lean back in my chair, propping my feet up on the edge of the boat, inhaling the fresh air. It’s colder than death, but I don’t care. That’s what layers are for. The sun will set in another hour, and it’s already started to dip in the sky, but it feels good to be out here. The water always calms and centers me, and even though I just got back from spending a few days out where no one could bother me, I’m still restless and irritated.

More so after seeing Miri.

God, everything about her makes my skin feel electric and my blood sing. Her scent, the fierce look in her eyes when she told me off. We don’t talk much about our magic, my friends and I, but ever since yesterday it’s been buzzing in my chest, and I know it’s because Miri’s near. She does things to me, and I know I should get her off this island for her own safety, but it’s been a long time since anyone made me feel as much as she does. I know I’m taciturn and closed off, but for the first time in forever, I don’t know if I want to be.

“I had an emergency patient come in. By the time we wrapped up at the office I figured you guys would have already left.”

I grunt again, because while I admire Ezra’s career path, there’s no way I could stomach it. Cooped up indoors half of the time, not to mention every woman of marriageable age and their mother’s throw themselves after him. I swear the women—and more than a few men—in town have bought an animal of some kind since he set up his veterinary office in town. Just so they have an excuse to see him. No fucking thanks. He’s a damn masochist.

My diversion tactics don’t distract Ezra, and he circles right back around like a vulture. “Don’t think I forgot my original question, Davis. You are not as tricky as Mrs. Bunchen. She keeps trying to get me to date her daughter by setting up house calls for her cat Priscilla. And then accidentally forgets to be there so it’s just me and Bernice. Trust me, there’s no comparison.”

I make a noncommittal noise in the back of my throat and try not to laugh. He’s constantly dealing with that shit, and just when I think Ezra is going to wheedle it out of me, my phone rings. I smirk at him and wave my phone before swiping to answer without bothering to look at who’s calling.

“Davis, I’m surprised you answered. What are you trying to avoid?” The teasing tones of my nana come echoing through the phone.

“Birdie, I always answer when you call.” I put on my best-behaved voice and the woman just snickers at me.

“You can’t bullshit a bullshiter, Davis. I know you too well.”

“Alright, you’ve got my number. What’s up?”

“I’m going to need you to come by for dinner tomorrow. Six o’clock. Bring a pie.”

I groan, because Birdie always makes me bring pie when she has me over for dinner. One time in middle school I made an apple pie in home ec and brought it over to my nana’s house because I knew my dad would lose his shit if he saw it. I didn’t feel like getting my ass beaten as a byproduct of the stupid class assignment. So, I took it to Birdie. She declared it the most delicious thing she’d ever eaten and insisted I make it time after time.

Until I got away from my dad, I had to go to her house to make it, but I hadn’t minded. By then my mom was already dead and Birdie’s was the only place I felt safe. My bastard of a father refused to give me up and the corrupt sheriff saw to it that there was no way Birdie would get custody of me. She did her best to protect me when she could. Short of kidnapping me and living on the run, she couldn’t have done much else.

“Of course. I’ll see you then.”

Birdie is the only person in my life, besides my friends, and my mom that has ever cared about me with no strings attached. Despite my failings, despite the terrible consequences of my actions, she still loves me unconditionally. I can never say no to anything she wants from me, because I don’t deserve her love and support. Going over for dinner when she asks is the very least I can do.

Thoughts of Birdie, Miri, my mom, all swirl around inside the darkness of my head, burying me in a foul mood. As if to echo my plummeting emotions, dark clouds move swiftly across the sky. With an ominous rumble, the sky opens up and a vicious sheet of freezing rain dumps on us.

“Fuck me! Are you doing this, Davis? You didn’t have to answer my questions, asshole.” Ezra reels in his line and tosses his pole in the boat, while I do the same and get the engine started.

“Not on purpose, man,” I shoot back, my face pulled down into a mask as icy as the stinging rain. It’s not a lie. I didn’t mean to make it rain, and it’s been a really long time since I’d unintentionally used magic. I’m pretty sure I know why there’s a new surge of power thrumming through me, and this is just another reason why she needs to leave Wild Haven. For all of our sakes. I have no way of knowing for sure, but something deep in my gut tells me Miri being here is a countdown to something inevitable.

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