“Cock flea?” Kamp asked.
“Where’s the lunch I made you?” Remi called after him.
“I’d rather eat rabbit shit! See you in an hour when I quit my shift extra early because I don’t obey traitor rats!”
“My bear will be waiting for you!” Remi yelled.
Crossing her arms over her chest, she frowned up at Kamp, but his lips were pursed. He wouldn’t look her in the face.
“Why are you laughing? It’s not funny.”
“He really just called me a cock flea. Look…bright side, Rhett is up almost on time and headed to his machine. You’ve got two out of three off to work.”
“Yeah, and where’s the mighty Alpha?”
Kamp’s face darkened, and he turned away. “The Reaper is in the woods.”
“How do you know?”
Right before he disappeared into the trees, Kamp said, “Because he was up all night fighting.”
And then it hit her. His gate wasn’t hitched from confidence. Kamp had been hurt. She inhaled quickly and caught the scent, just over the smell of his cologne—the lingering, faint trace of blood. He must’ve bandaged up his wounds and hidden the smell.
He hid pain better than anyone she’d ever known.
Fucking Grim.
With a growl, she changed the gears on the ATV and gunned it out of the clearing. She mother-effing dared him to jump out of the woods and attack her right now. “Gettin’ on my damn nerves,” she muttered.
There was a trail that was close to overgrown but still drivable that led down the mountain. She’d even frozen a bag of marbles in the freezer last night to dump on any of the boys who didn’t wake up in time. Escaping from frozen marbles was impossible to do. She knew because it’s how her brother, Weston, used to wake her up when she was running late for school. If she was honest, a little part of her had been excited about the prospect of dumping them on one of the boys. But Grim was off gallivanting in the woods at the crack of dawn like Count Psychopotamus and she was left worrying about the new injuries Kamp was hiding and wishing she could avenge him.
This quad could move. She changed gears and hit the gas. The wind was cold against her cheeks, but the bite wasn’t uncomfortable. It woke her up. She cut to the left with the trail, then back to the right, her back tires skidding across the soft ground. Okay, she was getting the feel of this thing now. How long had it been since she’d ridden one of these? She’d forgotten how fun it was. How free she felt testing how fast a machine could go, how well it could maneuver. Before she knew it, her cheeks were hurting, but still not from the sting of the cold. It was from the giant grin plastered to her face.
Up ahead was the main road, and she zoomed down a steep incline and hit the brakes hard, skidding to the side and rocking to a stop right beside the mailbox. “Whooo!” she yelled, her happy voice echoing through the mountains.
Heart pounding, she dismounted and grabbed the stack of mail that was shoved into the box. There were four identical letters that were hanging out, and the top one had her name on it.
What the heck?
Remi set the pile of mail onto the seat of the ATV and ripped into the one addressed to her.
It was a check for $952. The address was some corporation in New York, but when she read the messy cursive signature, chills blasted up the back of her neck. To anyone else, it would be unreadable, but she’d grown up with this reclusive dragon.
Vyr Daye.
The son of Damon Daye had written her a check.
There was a piece of folded notebook paper behind the check, and with trembling hands, she opened it and read it out loud.
“Dear Remi,
Here is your first paycheck. I hope it is the first of many. These are my mountains, though I don’t publicly claim them. I want Grim to be who I know he can be. Who Beaston says he can be. Kamp and Rhett, too. I’ve been patient as I watch them flounder. Watch them fail. I’ve been waiting for your father to give me the go-ahead to push them. It’s time. You’re the push. Bring them in line, Remi. Make them want to live again. Give them purpose. Bind them to my mountains and find happiness and purpose for yourself. I always knew you were special. From the time I was little, that first time Beaston brought you to my father’s house, this tiny infant screeching at the top of her lungs, the little grizzly in you growling, it was such a profound memory for me. Your father looked at you like you were the world. I was perhaps seven when he told me for the first time of your destiny and the part I would play in it. We were bound from childhood. I just couldn’t see things clearly until I found my own mate. I hope you find yours. Save them.
-Vyr
p.s. If you would like me to kill Kagan, and/or drain his bank accounts, have him fired from his job, burn him and devour his ashes, or just break both of his knee caps, just say the word. Nox, Torren, and I have been looking for an adventure. Fuck him. It’s time for your metamorphosis, Novak Butterfly.”
Blinking back tears, she read it again, silently this time. All the puzzle pieces seemed to be falling into place.
It was pointless to call her father and ask what he was up to. He would reveal his plans in his own time. It was his way. Whatever vision he’d seen had convinced him she needed to be here, even from when she was a child. Apparently, he had just been waiting for the right time.
Vyr Daye. The Red Dragon himself. He was the keeper of these mountains? A tear slid down her cheek, clung to her jawline for just a moment before it fell to the gravel road with a soft splat. With every day that passed, all things seemed to point to this beautiful place. To Kamp. To Grim and Rhett.
If Vyr was boss here, then Remi really needed to motivate the lion Crew. Or Pride. Or whatever they were. These would be Vyr’s first mountains for logging. And he’d been through Hell. He’d been the brunt of a shifter witch hunt that got his dragon temporarily and painfully ripped from him. But he’d come back to lead his own Crew and their mates so well. She’d been so proud of him, and here he was expanding. Taking this last chance Crew and giving them another shot at a good life.
She sagged onto the seat of the ATV, right on top of the pile of mail like a momma chicken on her eggs, and she cried. She cried for everything. For the person Kagan had made her into, for the loss of herself for those years, for the loss of her stability in the city. She cried for the pain her bear had endured from her decisions, and she cried for how much her father really cared for her. Beaston was the best dad in the whole world.
She cried for Vyr’s triumph in not only being here and keeping his volatile dragon in line, but for being big-hearted enough to give other broken shifters a chance.
She cried because she was the only one who saw how truly broken this lion Crew was. She cried for how much pain they must’ve endured to end up here, and she cried for Kamp’s refusal to be bitter after the hand he’d been dealt.
Here…she felt everything.
She’d never been meant for the city.
All this time, she’d been destined for mountains.
Chapter Fifteen
I’m gonna forfeit my man-card and tell you something mushy. Ready?
Remi grinned down at the text from Kamp and responded. I’m super ready. Mush me. Send.
I miss you.
Awwwwww! Butterfly emoji, butterfly emoji. Send
I’m so damn ready to finish this lane and head home so I can see you. I’m on lunch. Rhett took his lunch at the same time and sat right next to me. Right. Next. To. Me. He’s watching me eat. And also write you this text. He says I need to send you a dick pic.
Tell Rhett he is a genius. And that I will be a better friend. Send.
He says you’re a liar, but he likes that about you. Also his stomach just growled, and he said he should’ve brought the lunch you made him. Then he stole half of my sandwich. I think I’m on a date with Rhett. He just saw I typed that and said, “Fuck you, cockroach.” I guess I’ve upgraded from cock flea. I think we are becoming friends.
Remi was cracking up outside of the grocery store. I’m going to buy party supplies. I’ll be home soon. Work hard, hit numbers. I have something so cool to tell you tonight about who owns these mountains. Send.
I love that you just called it home.
Huh. She had called it that. Strange.
