Page 23 of Like a Hurricane

“My wife won’t be riding anything,” He growls.

I huff, “Jesus fuck, Tor, you ever gonna stop pissing on the girl? We get it, she’s yours. This one,” I jerk my chin to below deck, “is mine.”

He grunts, reminding me of the long five years when my brother was a mere shell of himself.

“Does she know that?” He finally says.

“She will.”

“Lord give me strength,” Torin hisses in a breath before he begins to steer the boat away from the docks and the immediate danger. I settle onto the bench, breathing in the frosty sea air. It’s pitch black out here on the water, the lights of the city and the docks mere blips on the horizon behind me, like earthbound stars but the sky… fuck the sky was beautiful. A black canvas full of bright white twinkling stars, the ocean somewhat calm considering the wind is blowing like a bitch, biting at my skin.

We’re on the water for over an hour with only the sound of the ocean and the wind. Torin was focused on getting back to the small island and the tiny town of Ravenpeak Bay safely, and I was trying to come up with a plan to keep Arryn safe, while also trying to figure out how to handle the hit on her pretty little head.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t as simple as getting it taken off. This only ended when she was dead.

And I wasn’t going to let that happen.

“And just what do you expect to do from here, Everett?” Torin sighs, his back to me as he ties a rope, the boat bobbing idly on the water around the docks. Ravenpeak Bay is quiet this time of night, it’s a sleepy town through and through, with its rustic charm and sprawling forests that climb the many peaks that act like sentinels around the island. And then there was the peak that gave this town its name, shaped like a raven, it overlooks the mouth of the bay like a protective God, watching the boats and the town beneath it.

“The cabin is still good,” I heft the duffel onto the dock, “It’ll be a good spot to keep her until I can figure this shit out.” I turn back to grab the rest of the supplies when I catch a glimpse of dark mused hair ascending the stairs, slow and clumsy but fuck, Arryn was awake an hour too damn soon.

“Shit!”

She reaches the deck, clinging to the narrow frame of the door and her wide, terrified eyes land on me right before she lets out an ear-splitting scream.

“What the fuck!” Torin curses.

I grab the syringe filled with the sedative and lunge for her, fighting off her scarily accurate punches aimed at my head considering the girl is still half dosed from all the pain meds. I manage to restrict her arms as she continues to wail before I plunge the needle into her neck.

“I’m sorry, little storm,” The sedative is quick to take hold, slowing down her thrashing and relaxing her body, “I really didn’t want to do that.”

“I – I – I’m going – t – to–” She slumps, and I catch her before she can hit the ground, hoisting her into my arms.

“Kill me?” I finish what I assume she was going to say, “Yeah princess, I know.”

Torin laughs, “Good luck brother, I ain’t having shit to do with this.”

“Fuck you, man!” I curse, maneuvering carefully out the boat and onto solid land, “I fucking helped you with Maya and now you’re leaving me in the shit!? I fucking took a bullet for her and a damn coma, and this is how you repay me.”

“For fucks sake,” Torin grunts, “You’re a real pain in my ass, you know that?”

“Just fucking get me up the peak to the cabin.”

“It’s still a thirty-minute trek, the other trails aren’t big enough for the truck.”

“Thirty minutes is better than two fucking hours, if not longer since it’s dark.”

“Wait here,” He grunts and storms off before he returns with his truck. I lay Arryn down in the back seat, stealing a thick blanket from the cab to place over her before I launch the duffel and other bags into the bed. “You’re not dressed to hike, Torin.”

“I am not hiking.”

“You damn well are, I can’t carry her and the bags.”

Torin grumbles like a grumpy old man the entire thirty minutes it takes us to hike from the truck he parked halfway up the only drivable trail leading up the peak. The cabin was in the deepest part of the woods, two hours on a direct path up the trail behind Torin’s house. I’d had it built when we all discovered the island, but it’s been practically abandoned these past five years.

It would need a deep clean and I’ll use my leverage on Torin some more to get him to bring me supplies. He was my older brother; I was allowed to manipulate him after I helped save his wife, and almost died in the process.

I get the cabin unlocked, fucking cold and tired but there was a lot to do before I could sleep. I needed to get Arryn warm, get this place straightened and try to explain to the girl exactly what’s going on now.

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