Page 1 of Defending Our Ever After

Prologue

Looking up, I notice two things as my vision clears.

The first thing I notice is that his finger is wrapped around the trigger guard, which might buy us a moment. By ‘us’, I mean that Julia is the second thing I notice, but I don’t think he knows she’s there; her bow is angled so the arrow is pointed just above his head.

“You’re really going to do this to your family?” I ask, trying to focus on something other than the ringing in my ears and the intense pain from what is undoubtedly a broken rib or two.

“You finally got something right,” Jace snarls, his eyes darkening as he straightens the arm holding the gun. “It’s my fucking family. Not yours. You’re a fucking interloper who was never supposed to be here. Now, if they want something, they’ll have to come to me first, won’t they?”

“Tyton doesn’t give a shit about you. He’s going to suck that town dry, take everything he can from this land, and roll onto the next one. Tell us what they’re planning so we can stop them—together,” I plead with him. “Be someone your kids can admire.”

“Don’t lecture me about my children! You, Shelby, and the others, always fucking badmouthing me to them while I’ve spent every dime I’ve ever made trying to get ahead for my kids. Tyton sees who I am, he’s going to leave me in charge of Dayton when theyroll out.He’s going to need it as an outpost,” Jace insists, finally sliding his finger around the trigger.

“Dad!” Julia calls out. She’s down on one knee in the snow with her arrow now aimed directly at him. “Drop the gun. Let’s go back to the house and talk about this.”

“You go on ahead, baby. I’ll be right behind you,” he calls over his shoulder; talking to her like she’s a child and will overlook the fact that he’s on the verge of killing someone she cares about.

I wish I could say I kicked up at his wrist, or something heroic in that moment he was distracted, but I’m in too much pain to even consider it.

“If you shoot him, there’s no going back to the house for you, Dad,” she says, and I can hear her voice tremble under the weight of her words.

Words no child should have to say to their father.

“Julia…”

“No, Dad! We’ll never forgive you for this!” Julia screams, cutting him off.

Almost immediately, all my senses are engaged.

I hear the loud crack of a gun being fired, nearly deafening me.

There’s spray of blood across my face and a sharp impact over the center of my chest.

It feels like my chest is caving in and I can’t breathe, my mind registers Julia’s screams before everything goes dark.

Chapter 1

December 2019, a few months after the solar flare

Shelby

“I can’t believe how warm it stays in here,” Aiden says, sighing as he curls up next to me on our bed.

As Julia predicted, Eddie and his daughter, Sara, ended up in my old room with Dad and Elsbeth deciding that her age trumped my pregnancy.

Which was perfectly fine with us, we’re enjoying the privacy of a hastily built cabin. The only thing I cared about was having a functioning toilet, but soon realized that I would have to agree to a composting toilet if that was going to be achieved.

“We were lucky to have so many hands to pitch in to get it done,” I agree with him, but still wish we had enough dry days to be sure the roof material set properly. “I snagged a couple large tarps that we can use in case it starts to leak this winter.”

“Have I told you, recently, how grateful I am that you let a couple strays follow you home?” Aiden whispers the question against my earlobe and even though it raises goosebumps on my neck, I’m too tired to wiggle my ass back against him.

“Hmm, well, you looked like you’d be good for some manual labor around here,” I tease him, and he groans.

“I thought I had worked hard my whole life—but then I got here. Jesus, the amount of shit your dad planned out is mind-blowing,” Aiden says, his calloused hand slides down to cup my stomach.

“Thankfully, Eddie’s getting stronger again,” I state the obvious, thinking about how awful my ex-husband’s ex-best friend looked when he made it here with his infant daughter. “I’m hoping you guys will be able to make real progress on the fence around Elsbeth’s place now that he’s healthier.”

“What areyouplanning now?” Aiden asks after letting out a grunt.

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