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CHAPTER TWELVE
Seff pulled my truckover, close to the tree line. The big tires crunched through the freshly accumulated snow. After checking out our surroundings, I opened the back door and watched as my parents jumped from the truck and raced into the forest. They’d make their way into Red Lodge, to the truck and trailer they’d parked out of sight. The plan was they would meet us at the outskirts of town, where I’d start making the necessary calls to the other packs.
I climbed back inside the warm truck and closed the door. Seff found my hand, pressed his lips to my knuckles, and gave me a small, comforting smile. Then, we were off again. When we had reached the spot where I knew I’d get a good signal on my phone, I pointed.
“Anywhere around here will work.”
He steered the truck to the side of the road. I unfastened the seatbelt and glanced back at the twins. “We have to make a few calls. Stay in here where it’s warm.”
Two pairs of dark brown eyes stared back at me. Though they didn’t speak, I saw the concern on their sweet faces. Seff opened my door, and with his hands on my waist, helped me from the cab. The icy breeze swept away the warmth I’d enjoyed as we drove down the mountain and seeped into every little crevice of my clothing, making me shiver. I tugged off a glove and pulled the list my dad had given me from my pocket. The slip of paper fluttered in the breeze, hiding the way my hand trembled.
Seff’s fingers closed over mine. “Des, let me make the calls.”
I shook my head. “I should do this.” But dear gods, I did not want to.
“Not gonna lie, darlin’. Having to explain what happened over and over again will tear you up.” He lifted my chin. His coffee-colored eyes were full of concern. “You’re not weak. If you were weak, we wouldn’t be standing out here on the road in the freezing cold having this discussion. If you were weak, you’d be rolled up like a doodlebug, hidin’ in your bed. You don’t want those two little females see you cryin’, and I get that.” He leaned in and lowered his voice to a whisper. “You gotta know, seeing you cryin’ tears me up, too.”
I stroked my hand over his short, soft beard. Warmth rushed through me, making my breath catch.
“Seff,” I murmured his name like a prayer. “I’m so glad it’s you here with me.”
“I feel your strength,” he said as he pounded his chest with a fist. “Right here, down deep in my soul.”
Seff held out his hand and I gave up the list of names my dad had given me.
He wrapped his arms around me as his lips pressed against my forehead. For those few moments, the weight of loss fell away. The act of carrying on as if nothing had happened, as if I hadn’t lost almost everyone I’d known, as if I hadn’t probably killed another of my kind—that horrible burden seemed lighter somehow.
He whispered against my temple, “Go ahead and cry, sweetheart.”
And I did. I cried for Coleman and Lucy and all my pack. I cried for the twins’ uncertain future. I cried because I was terrified someone might take them from me. I cried because I’d met a male I held an undeniable connection to, shared a bond I never dreamed I would share with another.
A warning growl rumbled through Seff’s chest. “Does any of this crying have to do with Deck? Because, I swear, I will beat the hell out of him.”
I sniffled. Yes, my brother deserved every beating he got.
“I’m crying for so much more than what my brother has done.” I sniffed again, taking in more of Seff’s wonderful scent.
“We’re gonna have a conversation about why you and your brother are not on good terms.”
His order raised the tiny hairs on the back of my neck.
I grumbled. “Keep telling me what to do, and we won’t be having any conversations at all.”
“I have thirteen siblings. I’m on good terms with every one of them. We have each other’s backs, no matter what. Hell, they even stuck by me when I...”
He tensed in my arms. I glanced up to catch a strange look on his face, almost regretful.
“Seff?” I had an idea what he might have been reluctant to say. His siblings stood by him even though the exile from his pack had marked him as a wolf without honor, an unworthy male. If I wasn’t ready to talk about my relationship with Decker, I could understand if Seff wasn’t ready to talk about his exile.
