by H. D. Gordon
On top of that, Jake was the one who had been facilitating the transport of the moonshine from the mountain to Lukas’s location nearer to Borden, along with a handful of his rebel friends. And Rocco was as dumb as a box of rocks, but he was also loyal, and that was all that mattered.
But the thing that really saved us was the ladies and the system Kyra had worked out during the creating of the last batch of shine. She had watched the ladies working, directing them as they did so, assessing their strengths and weaknesses, moving them around in accordance with these things. Other than our long standing friendship and her magical abilities as a Sorceress, she was as sharp as a tack when it came to organizing and managing things.
Like me—and pretty much the rest of us who made up my mismatch group of moonshiners—Kyra had developed very specific skills for survival, and among those skills was handling people.
She integrated the males into the fold with a gleam in her violet eyes, as though she knew exactly where to apply the extra labor so as to maximize production time.
“We should just make it,” she’d told me at the start of the third day. “But it’s gonna be tight.”
And she was right, on both accounts.
We did make it.
Just barely.
There would be no Winter Harvest celebration for me.
I had to make the drop to Lukas in an hour, and I should have been calculating various things, but instead, I was fantasizing about the old mattress in the back room of our house, about collapsing atop it and sleeping for a week straight.
“You sure you got this?” Kyra asked me as we watched Jake and the others loading the last barrels of moonshine into the back of a large wagon, the two horses in front stomping their hooves in anticipation of the trip ahead. “Don’t you think someone should come with you?”
I shook my head. “It has to be me. I don’t want anyone else involved with Lukas.”
Kyra eyed me from her position beside me, folding her arms over her chest and raising a dark brow. “From what they say about the male, I don’t think any of us want to be involved with him, either.” She paused, and when she spoke again, her voice was much lower. “And because I love your crazy ass, I don’t particularly like the idea of you being alone with him.”
In a million moons, I would never have admitted it, but Kyra’s words, along with the memory of the challenge behind Lukas Borden’s dark gaze, caused a shiver of real fear to crawl up my spine.
The following silence told me my friend was waiting for some kind of response, so I smirked and said, “You love me?”
This earned me a scoff and a small shove as the Sorceress rolled her eyes at my dismissal of her concern. “I’m being serious,” she said, and once again spoke only loud enough for me to hear. “Maybe this should be the last batch for all of us. Maybe we should consider quitting while we’re ahead. After this, we’ll each have enough to take us halfway across the world, if that’s what we want.”
Pulling my gaze away from the darkening sky beyond the Murdock Mountains, I turned and met the eyes of my old friend.
“I have seven mouths to feed beyond my own, Kyra,” I said. “When I quit, I want to quit for good. I want to leave it all behind for good.”
After a long moment, Kyra sighed and nodded, clapping me on the shoulder. “Better be on your way then, boss. We don’t want to keep Mr. Borden waiting.”
That, we very much agreed upon.
She wandered back into the cavern, where the others had retreated to drink to the victory of completing the order in time, and then it was Devon’s turn to express his concern.
“I should go with you,” my older brother said, patting one of the waiting mares on the side of her neck.
I adjusted my guns around my waist and climbed up into the driver’s seat of the wagon, taking the reins from him. “I’ll be fine,” I told him.
“You don’t know that.”
My fatigue was wearing on me, and while I appreciated the fact that he cared about my wellbeing, I was also starting to develop a headache due to the intense labor and lack of sleep.
“None of us know that, Devon,” I said. “We could all die at any moment. Now go home and get some sleep. I’ll likely return before you even wake up.”
“And if you don’t?”
I suppressed a sigh, snapping the reins and coaxing the horses into motion.
“Then don’t come looking for me.”
Now, as I trundled along the dirt road in my wagon full of illegal moonshine, I replayed this conversation in my head.
Darkness had fully fallen, and a sky full of twinkling stars had appeared in the heavens above. The lavender wheat fields rolled on endlessly on both sides, their lulling scent filling my nose and tugging at my already weary consciousness.
I slapped at my own cheeks and reached into my suit jacket, removing a flask full of coffee that Kyra had brewed me. She’d added extra sugar, and though I didn’t like the sweetness, I was glad for the small zing of energy it provided as I drew nearer and nearer my destination.
Just make the drop, and then I could hightail it home and sleep the entire stupid Winter Harvest Celebration away. Not even the howls of the drunken Wolves in The Mound would be able to wake me.
The wheels of the wagon, the clicks and chirps of the night bugs, and the clomping of the horses were the only sounds, but as I got closer to the edge of Borden, I could hear some of the early revelers shouting their excitement out over the Zouri.
I was not going directly into town, however, but rather, to a nearby storehouse where Lukas would receive the last of his order. Most of the product had already been delivered, as this had been Devon’s and Jake’s job while the rest of us had continued to produce back at the cavern. We only had two horses and one wagon at our disposal (something that I would remedy soon) and so Kyra had suggested we transport the shine in smaller batches as soon as it was ready to go. This had worked, and by the grace of the Gods the ten barrels the horses were now lugging behind us was all that remained to be delivered.
This last delivery was when Lukas had agreed to hand off the money, and I wasn’t sure if it was the coffee and the sugar going to work inside me, or if it was the bundle of nerves that had woven in my belly, but as I steered the carriage off the main road and down an overgrown path leading into a lavender field, and the storehouse came into sight, I was suddenly very much alert and awake.
The possibility of Lukas Borden killing me and stealing the shine rather than paying me had not failed to surface in my mind, nor had the concerned warnings of my friends and family.
In fact, I suspected that the only thing that might keep him from doing so would be if he thought I could earn him more money if I were alive than if I were dead.
So, yes, nervous may have been a bit of an understatement.
Cold-hearted Dita, I reminded myself. There is a reason they call you Cold-hearted Dita.
If there was ever a time to wear that label like a shield, now was it.
As the horses approached the front of the storehouse, I saw that the large doors had already been rolled open, and shadows peeked out from within. I tugged on the reins and the carriage slowed, the horses coming to a stop just before the mouth of the building.
A breeze pushed through the field, rustling the high stalks and shushing the insects, as if the very world were intent upon listening to the rapid beating of my heart.
Two male Wolves the size of mountains stood at either side of the storehouse’s large entrance. Poorly concealed weapons hung at their waists and over their backs, crossbows and knifes and other instruments with uses I did not wish to discover. The two males watched me in utter silence, their gazes and postures as stoic as living statues.
A small show of might, to be sure.
“Miss Silvers,” Lukas said, appearing from within the shadows cast by the storehouse. He checked the shiny gold watch at his wrist. “You made it.”
From the smug little smile on his face and the gleam
in his dark eyes, I knew without a doubt that he had been betting on my failure. Whether he was just surprised, or surprised and disappointed that I had succeeded, was yet to be seen.
I cast a dismissive look at his guards and adopted my own version of a smug smile. “You sound as if you doubted I would, Mr. Borden,” I replied as I hopped down from the carriage.
He wore a new suit, as he did every time I saw him, tailored precisely to his measurements, and adorned with a scarlet pocket square that was folded ever so neatly. His black hair was cut short on the sides, but was longer on top, and he’d slicked it back in his usual style. If it were not for the predator that always lurked behind his dark gaze, Lukas Borden might be considered handsome.
“Why would I doubt you?” Lukas asked as he took my outstretched hand, and instead of shaking it, brought it to his mouth and kissed the back of it.
This made his two mountainous guards smirk while they held their positions, though they didn’t dare utter a sound.
It took a good amount of effort not to jerk my hand away and punch Lukas Borden in his most delicate part, but I managed, forcing myself to hold his stare.
“This is the last of it,” I said, jerking my chin toward the wagon. “Ninety barrels, as requested.”
Lukas walked around to the side of the cart and ripped open the top cover of the nearest barrel. A smile came to his face. “Clever of you to use the lavender wheat as a disguise in case the Hounds stopped you.”
Removing the top of the barrel had revealed only the fine grains of the lavender crop, a layer only deep enough that a handful would not reveal that it was a farce, a decoy to disguise the moonshine filling the barrel below.
“Just taking appropriate precautions,” I replied.
Lukas nodded, and then snapped his fingers at the two males near the storehouse door. They immediately went into motion removing the moonshine from the back of the cart. As they did this, Lukas Borden said, “Good work, Miss Silvers.”
And then the son of a bitch turned back toward the storehouse, giving me the rear of him, striding away in utter dismissal.
My mouth was moving, the words falling out before I could think better of them. “Mr. Borden,” I said. “I believe you owe me some money.”
The two males removing the barrels from the cart paused, their eyes going to their boss, to me, and back again. The world seemed to pause along with them, the insects occupying the sea of lavender fields around us falling silent.
Lavender fields that were vast enough to swallow the sound of gunshots, or a scream.
Lukas Borden also stopped in his retreat, his large form halting mid-step. The top half of him was already cast in shadows, as he had been moving into the storehouse.
Slowly, he turned back to face me, and there was nothing I could do to keep the chill from crawling up my spine as the depthless dark in his gaze met mine. I held very still, my hands resting loosely on the irons concealed at my sides.
Lukas Borden spread his hands. “How silly of me,” he said, his voice colder than the heart others claimed I owned. “Of course I do… Evon, get the lady her money, please.”
Inside my pocket, my right hand twitched, and I had all of a split second to realize that I might never see my siblings again.
That it all might end. Right here. Right now.
At that moment, another Wolf appeared from the shadows within the storehouse, his fur a brindle I had never seen the likes of, and his size large enough to rival that of my father. One of his eyes was black like his brother’s, and the other was a cloudy bluish-silver.
Though I had never made his personal acquaintance before, I knew who it was.
Lucian Borden. Lukas’s only older brother.
The Mad Wolf himself.
When I looked into that one cloudy silver-blue eye of his, I saw nothing but death and darkness there, and used monumental effort to suppress the shudder that wanted to overcome me.
But, then, Evon, the larger of the two males, returned and brought me an open case. Inside, there was the money I’d been promised. When I nodded, he closed the case and handed it to me. My movements felt forced and robotic, but I was careful to keep my shoulders relaxed, my expression neutral.
With as much ease as I could possibly portray, I climbed back up into the driver’s seat of the wagon, taking the reins and getting the beasts into motion. I tipped my head to Lukas, who now stood in the entryway to the storehouse. He leaned casually against the frame, and touched two fingers to his forehead in farewell.
I did not look at the Mad Wolf again, and am not ashamed that it was fear that kept me from doing so. But I could feel his eyes on me, like the slow caress of a lover.
“Travel safely, Miss Silvers,” Lukas said.
And it was with these words that I realized without a doubt that at some point in the near future, Lukas Borden was going to run out of use for me, and then, he would simply get rid of me.
That this had, in fact, always been the plan.
Chapter 17
The trip back to the Mountain was longer than it had ever been. I quite literally sat on the edge of my seat the entire way, drawing down on every damn noise that reached my sensitive ears, damn near shooting a squirrel by accident as it darted across the dirt road.
Perhaps Kyra had been right when she’d suggested quitting while we were ahead. Perhaps this whole operation had been a fool’s errand from the start. I looked at the case of money resting between my feet. It wasn’t enough for forever, but it was enough to get my siblings and me far away from Borden and The Mound if it came down to it.
Sleep. First, I needed to sleep. Then, I would decide what to do next.
When I reached the Murdock Mountains at last, I found Demarco and Kyra waiting for me. The relief that flooded over their faces revealed that they had been partially expecting not to see me again alive. I forced a triumphant smile to my lips as I approached, seeing no need to reveal just how close I’d come to fulfilling that expectation.
I handed the reins to Demarco and the money to Kyra, giving them both kisses on the cheeks and promising to discuss how things had gone down after I got some sleep.
By the grace of the Gods, neither of them argued. I shifted into my Wolf form and raced back to The Mound using the dregs of my energy reserves. By the time the little shack we called home came into sight, I was so exhausted that I was seeing double.
Around me, the Harvest Celebration was in full swing. Wolves roamed around drunk and howling, fighting and laughing, dancing around burning barrels and chasing each other like children. I slipped away from the chaos and into the house, shutting the door behind me.
Devon sat by the hearth, but he rose as soon as he saw me, the same relief that had been on Demarco’s and Kyra’s faces flooding over his. He moved to me quickly and pulled me into a fierce hug.
“Thank the Gods,” my older brother whispered.
I pulled out of his hold, ready to collapse on my feet. “How’re the girls?” I asked.
Devon sighed, running his gaze over me as though he still couldn’t quite believe I’d made it back alive and well. “They’re fine,” he said. “Sleeping. I fed them dinner and we did their weekend homework. Everything is all good.”
I nodded. Shuffling toward the back bedroom with shoes that felt as heavy as lead.
I was just about to shut the door behind me when Devon asked, “Everything is all good… Right, Dita?”
Meeting my brother’s blue eyes, I nodded. “Yes,” I lied. “Everything is fine.”
The final look he gave me before I shut the door revealed that I wasn’t fooling either one of us.
I slept like the dead.
Right through the revelry of the first night of the Winter Harvest Celebration, and right through the following day as well. I didn’t wake up until the sounds of the partying the following night dragged me out of dreamland, and the twins came bouncing into the room, claiming the mattress I had crawled onto at some point while I’d slept.
“Dita!” Ana said, jumping up and down on the mattress on one side of me.
“Dita!” echoed Ada, jumping up and down on the other side of me.
I swatted blindly at them, earning twin giggles and more jumping. When I realized there was literally no other option, I finally peeled my eyes open. A Wolfish growl rumbled low in my throat, and this only earned me more gleeful chortles.
The heaviness that was always in my heart eased a bit at the sound. For all the bad cards I’d been handed in life, my little sisters were not one of them. Their laughter could soothe a soul, even one as dark and frozen as mine.
“We want to go see the fire show, Dita,” Ada said, grinning at me with her perfect little face.
“Yes,” Ana added, “we want to see the fire show! So wake up!”
Then they began to chant, Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
Devon’s laugh sounded from the doorway. “I tried to stop them,” he said.
Finally, I pulled my achy body upright and rolled my neck. “Sure you did,” I grumbled.
Devon’s handsome face lit up in a small grin. “They didn’t want you to miss the show.”
I found my feet, stumbling back a little bit when the twins leapt up and hung onto my legs as if they were the trunks of trees, completely appropriate for climbing.
Devon sputtered another laugh, which repeated when I cast him an annoyed glare. He spread his hands. “They love their big sister Dita,” he said.
Somehow, I coaxed the twins out of their death-grip on me, and managed to slip away long enough to evacuate and wash up a little. By the time I made it back inside, the twins were practically chomping at the bits, ready to go.
Delia and Demarco said they would also join us, and my father and Jodi showed up rather conveniently as well.
My father caught me when I was returning from the stream, feeling a little fresher and a lot more awake since I’d shifted into my Wolf form and jumped in the freezing water for as long as I could stand in hopes of washing myself clean.