Page 57
Raine leans in close and whispers, “She didn’t check our eyes.”
Confusion courses through me, making way for paranoia. I try to remember if they required that when we came through, but I can’t recall. Surely, they would have, right?
Ferris walks behind Raine and me, head swiveling every which way while his scent becomes sharp with anticipation. Can his wolf feel the weird energy like mine can? As if reading my mind, he crowds in closer behind us, leaving very little space as we walk toward a large, weathered boat floating in the small waves, its solar panel larger than the cockpit’s roof.
The beta calls out toward the boat, “Gar! Got some passengers for you!”
A man pokes his head out from the back of the open cockpit, staring us down with enough malice that I’m surprised we’re not scorched. When he fully emerges, I can smell his sour and metallic alpha scent. His graying brown hair is long and thinning on top, revealing a sunburned scalp that matches the rest of his mottled, pale, and red-burned skin. He eyes us, gaze lingering a little too long on Raine for comfort, before he rumbles, “It ain’t free.”
“What’s your price?” I ask, hoping that he doesn’t say something outlandish, or worse, crude.
He narrows his yellowed gaze on me. “I don’t want nothing from you, wolf, or your mutt,” he spits, eyes flicking to Ferris. I freeze, stunned. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. You been watching these waters as long as I have and you learn a few things. I could smell the beast on yous the moment y’all stepped on the dock.”
“So, are you refusing us passage?” Ferris growls.
“I ain’t said that. I’ll deal with your handler, boy.” His eyes settle on Raine, and I have to fight my wolf to keep control. Ferris isn’t as lucky, and a small rumble vibrates up his throat.
“Very well,” Raine says. “What is your price for safe passage to the other bank of the river for me and my two companions?”
“Smart one, you are,” he chuckles. I see his eyes flick to the beta woman who has yet to leave, and he gives her a barely perceptible nod. “A story,” the man says. “That’s my price.”
The captain, Gar, remains in the cockpit at the helm as he navigates us away from the dock. Raine is tucked between Ferris and me on a bench right behind the cockpit, where she looks back at the shrinking river village. Ahead, the sun sets on the water, and it feels like we’re drifting right into its golden rays. It would be beautiful if not for the suspicion I can’t quite shake.
“Should we be crossing in the dark?” Raine asks, worry evident on her face.
“It should only take about an hour to cross, and then I’ll shift and scope out somewhere nearby to camp for the night,” I explain, trying to comfort her. She silently nods and scoots closer to my body.
“I don’t like this,” Ferris says in a rough voice.
“We just have to make it to shore,” I remind him.
None of us relax fully until we see the shadow of the near distant bank on the horizon. Gar hollers out of the cockpit, “How about that story now?”
Raine rises from her spot between us, scent dampened. “Fuck him,” Ferris growls.
She reaches a hand out and pushes his curls out of his eyes. “I’ll be right back.”
Ferris and I watch on high alert as our omega walks into the cockpit with the old alpha and tells him a story as payment. We follow every single movement, and I flex my wolf hearing to monitor what is being said.
Ferris scoots closer to me, so close that his thigh grazes my own. I breathe deeply, pulling the citrusy tang of his scent into my lungs. He leans in, breath whispering in my ear, and asks, “What is she saying?”
I shiver at his proximity. “She’s telling him about the time her and River fought their way out of a gas station bathroom that their mother had made them wait in while she went scouting.”
Ferris makes an unhappy grunt. “You know, one of the reasons I was so reluctant to accept that she was my match is because I didn’t want to banish her to the Wilds again. She and River endured more than anyone else I know, and I never wanted that hardship for her again.”
“Things are different now than they were even ten years ago,” I tell him. “In another ten years, things will have become even more different. The dangers that she faced as a child still exist, but she’s stronger, wiser, and she has us.”
He nods solemnly. “I see that now.”
Raine returns to us just as the boat shifts, sending her into our laps. We hold her tight, her ass in Ferris’s lap and her thick thighs draped over my own, as we try to calm her with our scents. Gar docks the boat, and we help her up and grab our things.
“Pleasure doing business with y’all,” Gar says. “I’ll be docked ’til morning if you need anything.”
None of us respond, but I feel his eyes on us until the moment we disappear into the dark.
[ 39 ]
RAINE
