Page 20 of Rot In Knotty Pieces

“We have to keep going,” Blaze says, interrupting our little meeting.

Merle looks up and meets his eyes. I don’t know what he sees in her, but it has him gritting his teeth and reaching for his pack. I grab mine from where I abandoned it and swing it up on my shoulders, pausing only to watch her press close to King, staring up at him.

Whatever wordless commune they are having, it is theirs and theirs alone.

Rolly gets everyone moving, then he and Daega disappear as they double back to check our tracks and make sure we aren’t being followed.

Blaze and Sage are ahead of us, picking the trail, which leaves me with King and Merle.

I can feel her watching me, and as much as I want to ignore her gentle summons, it’s Merle, and I can’t.

She’s staring at me. She can’t possibly know, yet it feels like she does. Like I can’t hide it. I need to confess to her. So she knows who I am.

“I killed someone.”

She flinches.

“I killed them because they were bad men.” My voice hardens with resolve. “They were trying to get to Dove.”

She makes a sound in the back of her throat.

King is watching me, too, now.

“I will kill them all,” I vow to her.

She rests her head on King’s shoulder, still staring at me, but I think she’s smiling. I can’t see her smile, but I can feel it.

If I can make her happy, then everything is okay. It’s all worth it. I can find my center, and this can be right. Perhaps my moral compass just needs to be reset a bit.

We walk in silence, and then we reach the rafts. It’s getting darker, but Sage and Blaze work in tandem, pulling a raft out and dragging it to the river.

Merle stands with her arms wrapped around herself, looking too small. Too scared. Too traumatised. Everything in me wants to scoop her up, drag her into my arms, and make it all go away.

I vividly remember the cuts on her back and Dove’s trusting eyes as I gently cleaned what she couldn’t feel. Every day, twice a day, she just smiled while I tried not to throw up on her. I’d wondered who I was hurting, even though, deep down, a part of me knew it was most probably Kestrel.

Rolly and King climb into the raft, arranging all the bags, then Daega jumps in, Blaze, and finally, it’s just me, Merle, and Sage.

She inhales deeply, and her shoulders shift, her body stance is different. I’m staring at her from behind, but I know, I just know someone else took over. Who?

“Hey, baby,” Raptor purrs, shifting her hips with a seductive sway as she leaps right into Pix’s arms and kisses him hard.

He growls into her mouth and pulls her down so she’s straddling him. When they pull apart, they are both panting, but the tension between us alphas is feral.

Sage lets out a deep sound, and her head snaps towards him, focusing in. Zeroing in.

“Hello, my little trained killer,” she purrs and stands up, pulling herself free as Sage wraps his arms around her.

“We’ve missed you, Raptor,” Sage says hoarsely. He pulls back, cupping her cheeks. “Are you okay?”

Her expression darkens. “It was a trap. They knew we were coming. We didn’t have a chance. Fuckers.”

I let out a deep sound that rivals a grizzly’s growl.

She frees herself, reaching back over her shoulder, feeling the tender flesh. “Fucking Kestrel, you don’t have to do everything alone!”

She searches the raft arrogantly, her fingers sliding through Rolly’s hair, yanking his head back so they are almost mouth to mouth. Their kiss is fierce and passionate. And then she’s wrapped around King.

“Where are we going?” she asks when they come up for air.