Saxton’s torso curled around as he looked behind at what was coming at him.
“Too late to run,” Blay growled as he ripped open his button fly.
Falling upon the male, he was rough with his hands, tearing through the layers that kept him from what he was going to take. When there were no more barriers, he bared his fangs and bit down on Saxton’s shoulder through his clothes, locking the male beneath him even as he grabbed those wrists and all but nailed them to the leather blotter.
And then he pushed in hard and let out everything he had, his body taking over… even as his heart stayed far, far away.
The cabin, as Xhex called it, was a very modest accommodation.
As Autumn walked around its interior, there was not much to get in the way of her path. The galley kitchen was nothing but cabinets and countertops. The living space offered little more than a view of the river, with only two chairs and a little table for furnishings. There were only two bedrooms, one with a pair of mattresses, another with a larger, singular sleeping platform. And the bathroom was cramped but clean, with a single towel hanging from the shower rod.
“Like I told you,” Xhex said from the main room, “it’s not much. There’s also an underground facility for you during the daytime, but we have to access it from the garage.”
Autumn came back out from the loo. “I think it’s beautiful.”
“Tha’s okay, you can be honest.”
“I mean what I say. You are a highly functional female. You like things to work well, and you don’t like to waste time. This is a beautiful space for you.” She cast her eyes around once more. “All the fixtures that carry water in and out are new. So are the radiators for the heat. The kitchen has plenty of space to cook on, with a stove that has six burners, not four—and is gas powered, so you don’t have to worry about electricity. The roof is slate and thus enduring, and the floors don’t squeak—so I assume the undercarriage is as cared for as everything else.” She pivoted from one corner to the next. “From every angle there is a window to look out of, so you will never be caught unaware, and I see that there are copper locks everywhere. Perfect.”
Xhex took her jacket off. “That’s, ah… very perceptive of you.”
“Not really. It’s obvious to anyone who knows you.”
“I’m… I’m really glad you do.”
“Myself as well.”
Autumn went over to the windows that faced the water. Outside, the moon cast a bright light down upon the snowy landscape, the refracted illumination reading blue to her eyes.
Autumn focused on her daughter’s reflection in the glass. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Do you want to tell me what happened between you and Tohr?”
Xhex had yet to take off her weapons, and as she stood there, she was so powerful, secure, strong… She would bow before no male and no one, and wasn’t that wonderful. Wasn’t that a blessing beyond measure.
“I am so proud of you,” Autumn said, turning around to face the female. “I want you to know that I am so very, very proud of you.”
Xhex’s eyes dropped to the floor, and she brushed a hand through her hair as if she didn’t know how to handle the praise.
“Thank you for taking me in,” Autumn continued. “I shall endeavor to earn my keep for the duration I am here, and contribute in some small way.”
Xhex shook her head. “I keep telling you, you’re not a guest.”
“Be that as it may, I shan’t be a burden.”
“Are you going to tell me about Tohr.”
Autumn regarded the weapons that as yet hung from those leather holsters, and thought the gleam of the gunmetal was very much like the light in her daughter’s eyes: a promise of violence.
“You are not to be angry with him,” she heard herself say. “What transpired between us was consensual, and it ended for… a proper reason. He did nothing wrong.”
As she spoke, she wasn’t sure what she really thought about it all, but she was clear on one thing: She was not going to create a situation where Xhex went after the male with all guns blazing—literally.
“Do you hear me, daughter mine.” Not a question, a command—the first she had ever made that sounded as a parent to a young. “You are not to find cause with him, or speak of this to him.”
“Give me a reason why.”
“You know the emotions of others, correct?”
“Yeah.”
“When was the last time you met someone who had made themselves fall in love with somebody else. Who had willed their feelings in a given direction, when in their natural state, their heart cleaved unto someone else.”
Xhex cursed a little. “Never. It’s a recipe for disaster—but you can still be respectful of the way you phrase things.”
“Gift wrapping one’s words does not change the nature of truth.” Autumn looked back out to the snowy landscape and the river that was partially frozen. “And I would rather know what is real than live a lie.”
There was silence for a while between them. “Is that enough of a ‘why,’ daughter mine.”
Another curse. But then Xhex said, “I don’t like it… but yeah, it is.”
SIXTY-FOUR
Tohr sat in that parking lot for God only knew how long. Had to be at least a night and a day and then maybe another night or two? He didn’t know, and didn’t really care.
It was rather like being back in the womb, he supposed. Except his ass was numb and his nose ran from the cold.
As his epic anger faded and his emotions smoothed out, his thoughts became as a band of travelers, passing through sections of his life, wandering around the landscapes of different eras, doubling back for the reexamination of peaks and valleys.
Long fucking trip. And he was tired at the end of it, even though his body hadn’t moved in hours upon hours.
Not surprisingly, the two places most revisited were Wellsie’s needing… and Autumn’s. Those events, and their respective aftermaths, were the mountains most climbed, the different scenes like vistas flashing in an alternating sequence of comparison until they blurred together, forming a pastiche of actions and reactions, his and theirs.
After all the ruminations, there were three resolutions he kept returning to, again and again.
He was going to have to apologize to Autumn, of course. Christ, that was the second time he’d taken a hunk out of her, the first being way back nearly a year ago at the pool: In both cases, his temper had gotten the best of him because of the stress load he was under, but that was no excuse.
The second was that he was going to have to find that angel and do another set of I’m-sorrying.
And the third… well, the third was actually the most important, the thing he had to do before the others.
He had to make contact with Wellsie one last time.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and willed some relaxation into his muscles. Then, with more desperation than hope, he commanded his weary mind to be free of all thoughts and images, empty of everything that had kept him awake for all this time, devoid of the regrets and the mistakes and the pain.…
Eventually the order was complied with, the relentless mental trekking slowing down until all that Lewis-
