They talked for a while, but before long, Tristan’s soft snores in her ear let her know he was out.
Tristan wasn’t the only one she was worried about. Their new friends and everyone in their vicinity were in danger. The serial killer had not been caught. If he’d been bold enough to club Tristan over the head, attack Maureen, kill two of the girls in their groups, and still had the gumption to stay in the area, then they were in deep trouble. He told her he was sure that it wasn’t a night crawler that had attacked him. They didn’t tend to knock someone out and leave them alive. Avery wondered if it was more than one person. Tristan had suggested it was possible. That made her worry even more. What if it were six or ten or fifty men bent on barbary and mayhem?
She shook her head and tried to erase such thoughts. That just didn’t make logical sense. Her hormones were getting the best of her. At best, it was two men, surely.
What was he surviving on, though? He had to be lodged in somewhere. No human could’ve survived this winter without shelter. That made her think of her father and if he was still alive out there somewhere. More negative thoughts invaded her mind, so she scowled and shook those away, too.
Tristan whispered, “Got to sleep, Angel.”
She nodded but did not let up on her inner worries. He often did that. One minute he was asleep and the next talking to her as if he hadn’t been asleep at all. He was a strange bedfellow.
“Stop worrying,” he murmured and kissed the side of her neck. “Everything’s gonna be okay.”
Avery nodded again and tried to settle in for a restful night’s sleep. It didn’t come. There were more than just serial killers, night crawlers, family worries, stress about Tristan, the state of the world, and everything else that was wrong that was weighing on her mind tonight. She’d not told Tristan what was bothering her most.
Avery hadn’t told him that she’d had some spotting earlier in the bathroom after dinner, again in the shower, and then again afterward when she went to the bathroom before bed. Avery wondered if God was about to punish her for those selfish, albeit brief thoughts of miscarrying this baby. It was what she deserved, no doubt, but the baby did not. Therefore, she tried to reconcile the fact that God would not take their baby because she’d been an entitled, frightened brat. And that was the biggest reason she’d wanted to miscarry anyway. She was just plain scared.
She prayed for a long time for forgiveness, prayed to her mother for guidance, and prayed her body held onto this pregnancy. Life had found a way, and she didn’t mean to squander that gift by demeaning it and wishing for an alternative. Their baby deserved a chance, and she had every intention of giving it one.
Chapter Thirty-three
Tristan
He rolled swiftly out of their bed, landed softly on his feet so as not to disturb Avery and padded lightly to their bathroom. Donning his thermal underwear, jeans, wool socks, and a heavy sweatshirt, all of which he’d stashed hidden away earlier in the bathroom behind the stack of towels in the linen closet, Tristan was ready to go. He knew she’d never want him to go, so sneaking was his only option. He tiptoed from the bedroom, his back met by the soft snores of Avery, who seemed to sleep a lot deeper and for longer periods of time since she got pregnant.
When he got downstairs, he pulled on his winter hiking boots and donned his Carhartt and a warm hat.
“I’m going, too,” Kaia stated forcefully and caused him to damn near jump out of his skin.
“Kaia!” he practically yelled. “Damnit!”
“Sorry to scare you,” she apologized unemotionally. “I’m going. I heard you talking to Spencer and Abraham.”
Tristan sighed, “Go back to bed. I don’t need this right now.”
“Good, me neither,” she said as she pulled on her hat and coat. She already had her boots on. “I can watch your back.”
“That’s what Spencer’s going to be doing. And me for him,” he pointed out.
She was carrying her bow but also had a pistol on her hip. “Well, now ya’ got two of us to help. You can’t go out alone. You’ve got a concussion. Spencer’s just now back to being able to use his arm. I’m going. Abraham’s staying to keep the place safe.”
Her brother walked up to them in the foyer, which caused Tristan to scowl. They’d apparently been scheming this up.
Tristan really didn’t have time to argue, either, which they both knew. It was already after two a.m.
“Fine,” he stated angrily. “You stay close, ya’ hear?”
She nodded, her light brown eyes intense and serious. He’d taken her with him a few times, but something about taking the girls on runs for supplies or into the woods just didn’t sit right with Tristan. It went against his natural instincts to protect them. Also, she was Avery’s sister. Getting her killed, even if it wasn’t his fault, would not help their relationship any. Plus, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself, either. Her siblings had wriggled their way into his heart just like their damn sister.
“Lock up,” he told Abraham and left with Kaia.
Spencer was waiting up by the barn under the overhang and sent a single lift of his chin in greeting. His friend didn’t even say anything about Kaia but gave her the same greeting. Being quiet was imperative at night. This was their time, not the humans.
They climbed the driveway, which was still covered in snow, and set out down the road. The river that ran between their property and Gyles’s log home continued traveling south to a lake somewhere that Gyles had told him about. He didn’t think they’d need to go that far,
