CHAPTER TWENTY
Valdez
I'd meant to leave after breakfast, but Ellie had talked me in to helping her go through some of the things Minnie had told her to pick up if she ever made it to Alaska after she passed. I'd sat down on the couch to make a few calls for the businesses, and passed out after checking in with Connor about the dogs. Ellie had covered me with a blanket. I woke up to her burning lunch. I tried to shoo her out of the kitchen, but she insisted on sitting on the table and watching me as I made food.
Kenai texted to remind me we had a job to do. For a moment, I debated calling Koda and asking her to keep an eye out on the Hayes house and Ellie, but then I’d have to explain what was going on. I didn’t even know what was going on. Ellie would be gone in a few days. I needed her to go. This place wasn’t safe.
Glancing back up at the second-floor window. Ellie’s shadow moved behind the curtain.
I didn't like leaving her at the house by herself. Especially knowing the werewolf I’d killed last night had pack mates.
The pit in my stomach deepened as I started the truck. I had told her to stay in the house and keep the doors locked. I had to trust she’d be safe.
I headed to Kenai’s cabin.
It was tiny and had originally been Uncle Simon's place. Our uncle had built it himself, but it sat empty for nearly a decade after his death. When the Ravenwhite twins left Alaska seven years ago, Kenai busied himself with rehabilitating it. He’d said it was his way of working through everything that had happened. He'd even gone so far as to rig the roof with solar panels a few years ago to supply the little electric he needed.
When I got out of my truck, Zom came bounding out the open cabin door.
“We're not taking your truck,” my brother growled at me as he walked out of his tiny cabin. “We’d be stopped before we got there.”
My beat-up truck had one headlight, a missing grill, and a cracked windshield. I was lucky one of Chief Matthew’s men hadn’t stopped me on my way there.
Zom bounced at his feet until Kenai snapped his fingers. My damn dog sat still and at attention.
That dog never even did that for me.
Kenai zipped up his jacket, mismatched eyes meeting mine as he pulled the door to his cabin shut. His playful nature from earlier had gone, replaced by a no nonsense hunter. “Your head in this, or you want to go back to playing house?”
“Playing house?” I felt the rumble in my chest as I spoke. “You want to talk about playing house, little brother? You should have told me about you and River before she wound up dead.”
“No.”
“We could have watched her—”
“I said no, Dez. I’m not talking about it.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, the bite of the cold making it through my thin coat. I’d sacrifice warmth for mobility to hunt Others any day. “We could have kept her safe.”
“You don't think I don’t know that?!” he yelled at me.
I blinked at him. He shook his head and raked his unruly hair out of his eyes before pulling on his knit hat.
“Look, Dez. Let it go. Nothing will bring her back. We don't have time for this thanks to you dragging your feet all day with the Hayes girl. Get in the damn truck.”
For the first time in a long time, I gave my brother what he wanted as he climbed in his pickup.
Kenai drove in silence, but my mind wouldn’t focus as I stared out the window. The flint of his lighter ground, the flame popping to life as we rounded a corner. The spicy clove scent filled the cabin as he exhaled.
His voice was barely audible above the engine noise and creaking metal.
“I still hear her.”
When he didn't continue, I tried to find some words.
“You going to tell me what happened?”
He shrugged and took a drag of his clove cigarette. The smell filled the cabin of the truck, and it took me back to hunting with our father.
“There’s nothing more to tell, Dez. I woke up and she was gone.”
I stopped myself from grumbling at him. It was no time to doubt him. Not before a hunt. Neither of us needed that distraction.
“I'm sorry she's gone,” I managed with a deep breath.
Kenai glanced over at me, those mismatched eyes weary. “You sure about that?”
It was the first time I'd acknowledged his loss. How good of a sibling had I been? It was probably a bigger divide between us than I had realized.
“Yeah. I am. I remember how Pop was—” The rest of my words died on my tongue, leaving a bitter taste in my mouth as I remembered walking in on our father the day before the funeral. “Kenai, I’m sorry.”
“That Hayes girl is good for you. One night and you’re almost a decent person.”
“She’s not staying.”
He parked the truck and fiddled with the steering wheel as he finished his cigarette. “River asked me to give up fishing. She said it was too dangerous and that she knew better than to ask me to give up hunting. We talked about me looking for a job doing carpentry work.”
That warmed my heart a bit. I’d never given River much credit. I’d barely known her in passing. When I did run in to her in town, she’d been as annoying as Koda. But she’d known my brother. He was good with his hands and with carving wood. He’d be a great carpenter.
“Why did she ask you to give up fishing?”
He heaved out a sigh and looked out his own window. “We were talking about starting a family, Dez.”
We all knew too well what it was like to have family ripped from us.
“If I go fishing again, I'm not coming back, Dez. I know that.”
“Just like Pops.”
The words rolled like fog off my lips. First time I’d acknowledged aloud how similar my brother and father were. Probably why we fought so much, too.
“Just what Fate has for me. I've seen it.”
“The fish told me that you were glowing when the loup garou attacked. Care to explain that? What magic are you messing with?”
He shook his head. “I'm not doing anything, I swear. It has to be something to do with Cy. Every time he shows up, I don't feel right.”
“You've gotta give me more than that.” I pulled the duffle bag from behind the seat and started rooting for weapons. I still hadn’t found my knife in the Hayes house. I was going to have to check Minnie’s wrecked truck.
“I don't know what you want me to tell you. It’s part of the black outs, but when Cy is there and I have one, it's shorter. Maybe a few minutes. But the others, I've lost hours of time.”
“We need to figure out who or what this Cy is.”
“I’ve been looking. I can’t find any solid leads. The little I can find is based on what he’s said and how he looks. He’s most likely an old god. Osiris seems the most likely. None of our contacts have come across him. So why he’s here now, I don’t know.”
“Willow was behind the loup garou. Does she have a hand in this, too?”
“After finding out about the loup garou, that was my first thought, too, but there is nothing to link the two together. That first night, Dez, Cy said there were only three of our family left. By my count, there are four.”
“Five with Koda and the seal’s kid,” I corrected.
“Already counted him. I know Connor’s not our blood.”
I stared at him, my heart racing. I wanted to try to keep up the lie. The only one I’d ever shared that secret with was Minnie. My name had been on the birth certificate. Mom had been right, Marie had been up to something, but I wouldn’t change my decision. “How long have you known?”
“Since he came back to Alaska. He said Marie told him in an effort to keep him from coming back.”
That explained why Marie stopped returning my calls.
“I don’t want you poking around. Does Koda know?”
“No. But she should.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but my phone rang. My little brother took the opportunity to climb out of the truck as I fished the annoying piece of electronic from my pocket. I didn’t even look at the number. I just answered it.
“Sesi.”
There was no answer from the other end. I pulled the phone away from my ear to check the number and sighed heavily. I should have known; the timing was impeccable as always. I should have looked before I answered the phone. I didn't need his bullshit.
“It figures you would actually return my call.”
“Yeah? I don’t know why you bothered to call me anyway.”
It had been years since I’d actually heard that voice and not just left him voicemails.
“You coming to Cordova, or don't you give a shit about your son anymore, Brian?”
“Wouldn’t matter a thing to Connor if I did or not. Is that all you wanted?”
Heat flushed my face as anger raced through me. “I shouldn’t have called. I don’t know why I even bother trying to keep you in the loop.”
There was the usual apathy in his heavy silence. I couldn’t stop the rumble in my chest. He’d walked away from his family. That cut me deeper than the loss of the friendship from years ago.
“Slept with Ellie.”
I don't know what I was expecting to accomplish by telling him that, but it felt good. Felt like a bit of payback
“She's younger than your brat sister. She could be Connor's girlfriend.”
“There's a thought. Cousins shouldn't date, should they?”
Brian growled on the other end of the line. I was glad he hadn't come to Alaska, I would have probably decked him. Actually, there was no probably about that. I owed him one for the shit he’d pulled through the years.
“That was a courtesy call, Brian. Minnie’s house is mine at the end of the week. Only reason I bought it was because it should stay in the family. It will go to Connor if he wants it. But, until then, I’ll enjoy it. Ellie, too.”
“Val, don't. Don't get her involved.”
“Like you didn't with Connor?”
“I’m sure Connor can defend himself. He’s seen you all his life.”
I snorted, pain shooting across my nose. “You don't have the first clue about how inept my kid is because of your threats, do you?”
“You're gonna get Ellie killed,” he shot back.
“That's what you're worried about? Not your kid?” I should have been yelling, but my voice was a deep rumble. “You're the reason he wasn't taught to hunt, because you threatened Marie that you'd take him if I ever taught him to hunt. Now he is asking to hunt. He's way behind on the curve, a liability if we take him on a hunt, and you don't give a shit?”
“He's an adult now. Let him make his own choice.”
“Come home and say that to my face.”
“Stay away from Ellie. You'll get her killed.”
“Maybe.”
I didn’t bother to end the call before I threw the phone on the dash.