Colt huffed a humorless laugh. “Fuck you. She’s mine. I raised her from a baby.”
“Did you?” Ramsey asked, cocking his face the other way.
“Yeah, you feathered mother fucker. I did! Get your own squirrel. The answer’s hell no.”
Ramsey’s smile was hard as stone and looked like a death oath in itself. “Think about it, Warmaker. She’s just a squirrel, and you can barter your Clan’s safety. You can barter an ally.”
“Oh, you’ll be our ally now?” Colt’s voice was a deep, gravelly rumble, and she could smell his fur over the smoke. “You attack our Clan for no reason, and you think I would give a shit about having a fair-weather ally?”
Karis squeezed his hand and spoke up. “Can we have time?”
At Colt’s fiery glance at her, Karis stepped forward and asked again, “Can we have time to think about the trade? It’s your word, right? You’re trading our Clan peace for Genie? This is a shocking offer, and we need time to get off this trail ride and discuss it. Genie is a part of our Clan—”
“She’s a squirrel,” the long-haired man gritted out.
“And we would ask for the same amount of time if you were asking for a horse from our stable. You attacked us in our own territory, allied with the Darby Clan, drew me into the woods and ripped apart our cabin. Surely you can understand us not chomping at the bit to give you whatever you want. Two days, and you’ll have an answer.”
“And until then?” Ramsey asked.
Colt let off a soft, rattling snarl as he dragged his gaze back to the crow shifter. “Until then, you leave us the fuck alone, or this death oath stands.”
There were three breaths of silence before Ramsey spat on the snow and nodded. “Two days, and then we’ll be burning a bear into the snow.” In an instant, the three men took a step back and shifted into their crows. Beating their big, black wings, they lifted up on the snowy wind currents until they disappeared into the night, leaving Karis and Colt to watch after them in the heat of the burning raven.
Chapter Ten
It was cold. Karis never got cold. It made her irritable. She hunched deeper into the cardigan she’d only brought along to look human and glared at the snow between Remedy’s twitching ears. Her butt hurt from riding all day, but Colt had said it would be good for her to get some time in her own saddle. Her legs also hurt. And she was hungry again. And cramping because any second now it was her lady-time, as Colt liked to call it.
And she was sick. Her bear was now invisible, and she’d spent two days worrying silently that she’d somehow gotten Genie’s animal-sickness and now wasn’t a shifter at all. She couldn’t even see or hear that well. The injuries from the war with the Darby Clan had stopped healing, and her whole body hated her.
Everything was stupid.
And for the hundredth time, she glanced over at Genie, who was lying across Ranger’s neck like a dead squirrel as Colt rode silently beside her. In front of them, the Ives family chattered happily with Trig and Ava, but here in the back, there was a cloud of gloom over them.
“I’ve thought about it,” Trig said, stopping his horse on the side of the trail to wait for them to catch up.
“Thought about what?” Colt asked quietly.
“I think we should give them Genie.”
“Fuck you, man.”
“Colt, look at her. She’s practically dead. Give them the sick squirrel, and we can focus on the ranch, trail rides, and for fuckin’ once, not have to worry about a war with someone. The trade solves a lot of problems.”
“If you trust the word of a crow,” Colt growled.
“What choice do we have?” Trig asked. “Especially when something so simple could give us peace.”
“Fuck peace. Have you thought about why they want her, Trig? Huh? Why would they want a wishing squirrel? To use her powers, that’s why. They’ll drain her. I only wish for important stuff.”
“Bullshit. Last month you wished you could get your beer for free at the GutShot for a night.”
“And she granted my wish.”
Trig rolled his eyes. “We got in a fight so Eric threw us out and forgot to charge us for the drinks.”
“It’s still a wish granted.” Colt ran his finger behind Genie’s little ear. “Trig, she got me through some tough times. I can’t even imagine handing her over to those crows. I’d rather she was free in the wild somewhere.”
Genie canted her head weakly and looked up at Colt with her soft brown eyes. Karis would do just about anything to hear that little rodent’s thoughts about now. How much did she understand?
Trig ran his hand down his face and said, “Look, I know she’s special to you—”
“Do you, Hairpin? Do you know how special she is? You’re talking about giving up one of our Clan to the crows without even knowing the real reason they want her.”
“She’s a squirrel.”
“She’s Clan! She’s been there for me since she was a hairless little blob fallen out of a tree. She’s gone to war for me, man. She’s put her teeth on I-don’t-know-how-many people she thought were threatening me, and you saw her in that Darby war. I know you did. She was going after everyone who was coming for Ava and Karis. You owe her sanctuary, but you’re telling me to give her up to people who don’t deserve a bone thrown to them? Fuck them crows, and fuck you too, Trig.”
“That’s enough!” the Alpha growled, power blasting against Karis’s skin with the force of those words. “You’ll watch how you talk to me.”
“And you’ll watch how you talk to your Clan. You want loyalty? This little squirrel is the epitome of it. I’m not givin’ her up. Let them burn a death oath. I don’t give a shit. Let them come for us.” Colt jammed a finger at Trigger. “Grizzly.” He pointed at himself. “Grizzly.” Karis. “Polar bear.” Ava. “Polar bear.” He flicked his fingers toward the sky. “Birds. Fuck Red Dead Mayhem. They gave me two days to think about it. I thought about it. They can pry my squirrel from my cold, dead grizzly paws.”
“Fuck, Colt.” Trig looked pissed, his teeth all gritted, muscle twitching in his jaw, eyes on fire, cheeks red from the cold or from fury, Karis didn’t know which.
Trig turned his attention on her. “Have you figured it out yet?”
She pulled her cardigan even tighter around her stupid shivering body. “Figured what out?”
“Why you feel like shit.” His eyes locked on hers, Trig kicked Harley, and the horse bolted forward. “Hyah!”
The Alpha took off and left Karis staring after him, wondering what the hell that crazy man had just gone off about.
“What is he talking about?” Colt asked.
“Hell if I know!”
“Well, why does Trigger know stuff about you that I don’t?”
Karis growled. It sounded pathetic and human, which pissed her off even more. She went to make her epic exit like Trig had done, but when she kicked Remedy and yelled “Hyah!” the horse swatted her in the leg with her tail and then reached around and tried to bite her ankle. And she kept walking at the same dang pace!
When Colt snorted, Karis looked for something to throw at him, but all she could muster was the pink mittens Ava had given her last week. She missed his stupid face with the first one, so she threw the other one too, kicked Remedy a bunch of times, but drew about six inches ahead of Colt’s horse. And then she had to ride the rest of the way home, sulking and ignoring Colt’s amused chuckles beside her.
Hang it all, those crows weren’t getting Genie. Genie was her friend and wasn’t pissin’ her off at the moment.
Ramsey could have Colt instead.
Chapter Eleven
Colt sat in his truck right outside of Red Dead Mayhem’s clubhouse. He’d gone back and forth on what to do the entire thirty-minute drive here. He’d even turned the heavy metal music down just to hear himself think, but it hadn’t helped.
He was putting himself at risk by doing this, but it was a meeting he had to handle alone. Why? Because Trig would just order
him to give up Genie, and he wasn’t bending on this one.
Back at the ranch, Trig and the girls were saying their farewells to the Ives family. Good on the humans. They survived a bunch of bear shifters. Maybe they could do this trail riding business after all. But first, he had to take care of something. Colt had to give Ramsey an answer that he could live with.
The clubhouse was small with two hangar doors open. In the shadows were rows of rusted tool boxes and two old motorcycles someone was rebuilding. Looked like an old Softtail on the right and a Sportster on the left. When those were finished, they would be dreams to ride during warmer weather.
On the sign above the shop, there were no words, just a rough crow someone had put up there with red paint that had dripped down the sign. Looked like blood. Red Dead Mayhem.
If it wasn’t for the dozen Harley’s parked in a row out front, he would’ve thought the place was empty. Looked like a snowy ghost town. The few shops on this old street had closed and been boarded up, probably because crows were poison. Who would want to run a business anywhere near this place?
One by one, the Clan of crows filed out the front door and stood in clusters, staring at him. With height, muscle, battered knuckles, tattoos, and leather motorcycle vests, these weren’t men a sane person would mess with. Colt had never claimed to be sane though, and they’d fucked with his people.
He shoved open the door of his truck and stepped out, splayed his legs, and lifted his chin, staring at Ramsey down his nose as the Alpha came out of the door last.
His eyes were black as tar. Asshole had never been good at hiding the crow. If anyone got shifters busted to the public, it would be Ramsey. He was even less careful than the mountain lions. Even less careful than the bears.
“You have an answer for me?” Ramsey asked.
Colt let him have his devil’s smile. And then without a word, he sauntered to the back of his truck and pulled out a sloshing red gasoline can. He strode toward the crows, cutting the distance between them in half before he dropped the gas can on the icy ground. And as Ramsey stared at him with a frown of confusion, the Warmaker pulled a book of matches from his back pocket and tossed them, flicking his wrist so the small parcel spun end over end until it landed at Ramsey’s feet.
“What is this?” Ramsey gritted out.
“It’s for you to burn your own death oath.” Colt strode back to his truck and yanked open the creaking door. “The answer’s no, Ramsey.” Colt smirked. “War on.”
And then he got in his truck and slammed the door beside him. He locked his eyes on the furious gaze of the Alpha as he coasted out of the parking lot.
Fuck the crows.
Genie was Clan, and Clan had each other’s back—always.
Chapter Twelve
Okay. Karis could do this. Her stomach was in knots as she made her way to the barn. The boys had chopped down trees from the ranch and taken them to a lumber mill in town. Sure, they’d had to spend some of the money they’d earned on the trail ride, but it was a heckuva lot cheaper than buying the wood to rebuild. They had been working out here for two days, and so far, they had the framework and one wall up. And though they had a long way to go, fixing the barn was step one in rebuilding this place.
This morning, Karis had realized just how important it was to keep this home. Because it wasn’t going to just be her and Colt, Ava and Trig, and the animals anymore. Now there would be someone extra. She was already tearing up, and she hadn’t even gotten to the Clan meeting that Trig had called.
She didn’t stay as warm anymore, so she zipped her jacket and flipped up the collar to shield her neck. Over the last few days, she’d missed her bear terribly bad, but now everything made sense, and she was relieved to know this disconnect was temporary. The bear just had to make room for someone else. Someone important. Someone Karis had wished for all her life, and Colt—her Colt—had given her the greatest gift.
She could do this.
There wasn’t a door on the barn anymore, so she walked inside, right past the corral of horses out front. Trigger was holding a long two-by-four steady, and Colt was sitting up on a rafter nailing it to a long support beam. He was frowning and looked lost in thought, but when he saw her, the two nails between his lips twitched as he smiled a greeting. And wow, that man’s smile for her. Bright-white, big, with genuine happiness for her presence, existence, all of it. The grin lifted the scarred side of his face, so she knew he was having a good day.
Ava exited Norman’s stall. “Hey, Karis!” She looked at Karis’s face though, really looked, and then frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“I…” God, where did she even start? She was still in shock from the three tests she’d just taken in her and Colt’s cabin. “I was going to buy this little…” A tear slipped to her cheek, and feeling embarrassed, she dashed her knuckles across it.
Colt jumped down from the rafter and landed with little impact on the dirt floor in front of her. “Karis, what’s going on?” The fury in his eyes was instant as he did a quick scan outside and back to her. “Is it the crows?”
Trig chuckled. “Nah. They’re gonna make us wait before they make a move. That’s their style. I think Karis finally figured it out. About damn time, too. I was tempted to spill the beans, like fourteen million times.”
“What the fuck are you talkin’ about, man?” Colt asked, wide-eyed. “This ain’t the way it’s supposed to go. You said you wouldn’t give her hints!”
Wait, what? Karis pursed her lips and then asked, “How what is supposed to go?”
Colt puffed air out of his cheeks and pulled her left hand to him, kissed the little zip tie ring he’d given her after the Darby War. They couldn’t afford anything else, but she proudly wore that little plastic ring every day.
He glanced up at her, trapped her in his serious gaze, and then pulled the black plastic ring off her finger.
“No,” she murmured. “That’s mine. I love it.”
“Well, I was hoping you would love this one even more,” he said, slipping a thin silver band with a sparkling diamond onto her finger.
“What?” she whispered, eyes burning as she stared at the ring. “How? When? What bank did you rob to get this?”
Colt chuckled and said, “I have to make payments on it still, but now that we have a couple more trail rides booked, I can. I got it right after I proposed, but they had to re-size it because your fingers are the size of a shrimp’s.”
“Do shrimps have fingers?” Trig asked.
“Shut up, man.” He searched Karis’s eyes. “Do you like it?”
Her mouth was hanging open in shock. She’d come in here on a mission, not knowing Colt had a sweet mission of his own.
“I love it so much. And I just…just…feel like the luckiest girl in the whole world.”
Colt held her at arm’s length, his smile uncertain as he searched her damp cheeks. “Woman, that’s a lot of girl-tears for a diamond this small. Did I do good or did I do bad?”
Her shoulders shook and, helpless to find her voice, she nodded. “Better than you even realize,” she croaked out.
“Well, tell me. What’s wrong?”
“Not a thing. Everything is right. For the first time in my life, everything is right, and it’s because of you. My heart is so full I don’t even know how to process everything. No one person has a right to be this happy—”
“Babe, what’s happening?” Colt looked panicked now.
“I’m gonna give you a baby,” she whispered.
Colt flinched, his hands squeezing her arms, and then he froze. Three breaths, and he thawed out quick. His grin stretched his scars. It was the real smile she loved the most. “Say it again.”
“I’m gonna give you a baby.”
“You pregnant?” His voice shook.
Karis nodded, and now the tears were making rivers down her face. Colt’s eyes filled in an instant. He took a few steps back and threw his hat up at the ceiling with a loud, “Whoop!” He walked a tight circl
e, hands linked behind his head, his green eyes brimming with moisture. She’d never seen him look so happy or so handsome.
Ava sniffed loudly, and Trigger said, “Just what we need. A little Warmaker Junior runnin’ around. Probably gonna burn this place to the ground.”
“I wanted to get a little black onesie with Daddy’s lil Outlaw on it, but I couldn’t wait to have the printer make it. I had to tell you now. I’m no good with secrets!”
“You’re sure?” Colt asked, his voice pitched higher than his usually deep timbre. “You took tests?”
“Three. All positive. And my bear disappeared. I didn’t know what that meant. I thought I was sick, but I called my mom last night crying over it and she told me that’s what happens when a shifter gets pregnant. The animal goes to sleep, so I can’t Change until I get the cub here safe.”
“Holy shit,” Colt said, rushing to her. He picked her up off the ground and hugged her, burying his face against her neck. “I’m gonna be a dad. I’m gonna be a dad, Karis. A dad.”
Well, now she was sobbing.
“What if I suck at this?” he murmured against her neck.
“You won’t,” Ava said, tears running her mascara down her cheeks as she approached. Ava threw her arms around them both and said, “Colt, you aren’t anything like Dad. You were the best big brother raising me. You’ve got this. Easy as pie. You were born to do this.”
Colt’s breath hitched, and he wrapped his arm around his sister too, hugging up his girls so tight. “Come here, big guy,” he called to Trigger, who was leaning against the newly nailed two-by-four.
“Pass.”
“Bring it on in,” Colt said.
Trig muttered, “Polite decline,” but a smile was slowly stretching his lips.
“Group hug.”
“If I do this, can we get back to work?” Trig asked.