Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 189782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 949(@200wpm)___ 759(@250wpm)___ 633(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 189782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 949(@200wpm)___ 759(@250wpm)___ 633(@300wpm)
Wolf regards me for a moment. Then he starts moving, meeting me halfway.
When I reach him, we fall into each other’s arms. The instant I feel his strong body against mine, I know I’m never letting go.
It’s not just an embrace. It’s everything we’ve lost, everything we’ve found, wrapped up in a hug. I hold him tight, my hands fisting in the back of his shirt. I feel him shaking, feel the emotion rolling off him.
Frankie’s sobs shudder through the room, but I can’t focus on anything other than my son, this miracle in my arms.
No words are needed. We just hold each other, father and son, united after so much pain, so much time lost.
My eyes burn with tears, hot and unstoppable.
When we finally pull back, I drag a knuckle across my wet cheeks.
I can’t believe this is real. I can’t believe he’s here.
Before I can process it, Leo and Kody crash into us, their arms wrapping around Wolf, lifting him off his feet in a tangle of limbs and laughter and grunts of deep emotion. It’s pure chaos, pure joy, and I can’t stop the tears from falling as I watch them—my son, my brothers, my family—together again.
My gaze finds Frankie, and I crook my finger.
She rushes forward, her hands framing my face as she pulls me down for another kiss, this one slow and sweet, filled with all the love I’ve been holding onto for her.
“I love you,” she whispers against my lips. “I love you so much, Monty.”
“Love you more.” I deepen the kiss, fisting my hands in her hair, gripping hard. “I’m sorry. I didn’t protect you. I didn’t—”
“I’m okay. We’re all okay. We survived.” She glances at the corpses sitting at the table and grimaces. “We have some fucked-up trauma to unfuck. Lots of therapy. All the therapy. But we’ll sort it out. We’re going to have the happiest life together.”
She leans back, her eyes glimmering with tears and glowing with a smile.
A hand smacks the back of my head, snapping my attention to Kody.
His lips curl back, flashing a chilling smile as he holds my gaze. “It’s time to hunt.”
67
Kodiak
—
In the armory, surrounded by tools of destruction, I feel the predator in me rising, taking over.
Tonight, we’re not hunting to survive.
We’re hunting to avenge.
Consuming rancor has eaten away my last shred of humanity. This thing inside me was born when Denver tore away my innocence. It grew with every lash he welted across my back.
It sucks on my bones, feeds on every thudding beat of my heart, and sets fire to the breath rasping through my lungs.
It’s primal, animalistic, and it wants blood.
Tonight, I’m going to let it out.
Tonight, I’m going to unleash hell.
I pull weapons from the walls, my hands moving with deadly purpose. My favorite crossbow remains in Sitka, but there are a few spares here. I grab a quiver loaded with bolts designed to puncture through bone and sinew. Knives, sharp and wicked, each a promise of the pain I’ll inflict. Ammo, gear, everything we need to turn this hunt into a slaughter.
Leo, Wolf, Monty, and Frankie are doing the same, their faces stony, determined, darkened with the same violent hunger that drives me.
Suddenly, Oliver appears in the room without sound, making Frankie jump.
“Fuck!” She spins, staring wide-eyed. “How did you do that?”
He gives her a tight smile. “I disarmed the bombs on the planes.”
“Okay, but question…” She holds up her hand. “On the island, I saw shit. Shadows. Silhouettes in the windows. We all saw things. Was that you?”
His smile stretches, twisting his features into a chilling mask.
Then his expression clears, and he turns away.
“Oliver.” Monty slings a rifle over his shoulder, his eyes hard. “Will you stay here and guard Frankie?”
“I’ll guard her with my life.”
“Thank you.”
“Let’s get this party started.” Wolf leans against the doorframe, flipping a knife in his hand. No guns. No ammo. Just a belt of sharp blades buckled around his waist. “He’ll wear himself out before we catch him.”
Frankie grabs a bear trap and places it in my hands.
“Butcher that monster until there’s nothing left of him to bring back. I don’t want to see any part of him again.” Calm, controlled, and stunningly fierce, she’s a force of nature.
But right now, she’s holding it back, letting us take the lead, letting us be the animals we’re meant to be.
“I love you.” I kiss her lips, but my mind is elsewhere, already in the tundra, hunting Rhett down, imagining all the ways I’ll carve him up.
She kisses the others and sends us off.
We step outside, the cold air biting into my cheeks. There were enough fur coats left behind to go around. It’s good to see Wolf in pelts rather than that bloodstained thing he’s had for ten months.
It’s good to see Wolf. Period.