I let her go. Watch her move through the snow-dotted grass, the borrowed jacket catching in the wind. Above us, a hawk circles, lazy spirals riding thermals.
She stops about fifty yards away, crouches down near another cluster of weeds. From this distance, she could beanyone. A hiker. A ranch hand. Just a woman enjoying a winter day in the high country.
Not a prisoner. Not my wife. Not the woman I was supposed to kill to protect my family.
I give her the space she needs and move to the next damaged section of the fence. All I can hear are her words echoing in my ears.Coward.
Maybe she’s right. Perhaps I am afraid. Not of Roman, not of consequences, but of what happens if I stop lying to myself about why I really kept her alive.
I’m hammering in the last staple when I hear her cry out.
My head snaps up, and I’m moving before conscious thought, crossing the distance in seconds. “What happened?”
“I was just…” Her voice shakes. “I-I saw a wolf.”
I tug her back over to sit on my toolbox. “Just stay here. Don’t worry, they won’t come over here.”
“Thank you,” she whispers. “I wasn’t scared, just startled.”
I look up and find her watching me with an expression I can’t read. Not gratitude exactly. Something more complicated. Something that makes my chest feel too tight.
“What?”
“Thank you for bringing me out here. For not leaving me in that cabin to go crazy.” She glances around at the mountains, the valley, the endless sky. “I needed this. Needed to remember there’s more than just four walls.”
The honesty disarms me. “The land helps,” I say finally. “When everything else is shit, the land is still here. Still real.”
“Is that why you come here? To remember what’s real?”
“Something like that. We should head back. We’ve done enough work today.”
She nods and climbs to her feet. We gather the tools in silence and start the walk back to the cabin. But something’sshifted between us. Some small crack in the foundation of captor and captive, Bishop and James, monster and victim.
I tell myself it doesn’t matter. Come the rodeo, everything changes anyway. We’ll go to town, face Roman, and whatever this is, this strange understanding growing between us, will either strengthen or shatter completely.
We’re halfway back to the cabin when I hear the engine. Distant at first, then growing louder, unmistakable on the narrow access road that only members of my family know about.
My hand goes to the gun at my hip, body shifting into a defensive stance. “Get behind me,” I tell Saint.
“What? Why… ?”
“Just do it.”
She obeys without argument, and I position myself between her and the road, watching as Kade’s black truck appears through the pines, kicking up dust, moving too fast for the conditions.
He parks next to the road, kills the engine, and climbs out with that loose-limbed grace that makes him lethal in close quarters. His eyes find me first, then slide past to where Saint is half hidden behind my shoulder.
“Didn’t know you were coming,” I say, keeping my tone neutral.
“Didn’t know I needed permission to visit my own family’s property.” He leans against his truck and pulls out a cigarette, then lights it. “Thought I’d check on you. Make sure you’re still thinking straight.”
“The plan hasn’t changed. We go public at the rodeo. Roman finds out with everyone else.”
“Yeah, about that.” Kade’s gaze slides back to Saint, assessing. “Levi’s been dropping hints around town like you asked. Starting to build the narrative. But Roman’s not stupid,Calder. He’s going to have questions when you suddenly show up with a wife he never approved.”
“That’s why we’re doing it publicly. Make it a done deal before he can object.”
“Is it?” Kade’s eyes narrow. “Because from where I’m standing, this whole situation looks fucked.”
