His mouth landed on mine again, humid and suffocating. I slapped at his shoulder, once, twice. I fisted my hand, but before I could figure out where to punch him, his body was suddenly wrenched away from mine. I staggered, falling back against the wall, and looked up to see—Caleb?
His face was a mask of pure rage. His dark eyes seemed to gleam with some inner fire, making them shine like amber. Caleb threw Isaac back against the other wall, then turned to me. He caught me by the elbow, steadying me. His touch was as hot as an iron. I gasped and flinched away from it.
He immediately drew back, giving me space. “Are you okay?” he demanded, his voice a raw snarl.
Heart pounding, stomach sick, I nodded mutely.
Isaac suddenly lunged forward. Caleb twisted to meet him, slamming him back against the wall again. I shrank back from the fight, wedging myself against the far corner.
“Argh!” Isaac wrestled against Caleb’s hold. “Get your own woman!” he growled.
Two more men appeared, rushing down the hall to help Caleb subdue Isaac. “Hey now,” one of the other men scolded. “What’d you do this time, Isaac?”
“Grace?” Harlan stood at the other end of the hall, Lucia next to him. A crowd had gathered behind them. “Are you okay?”
Caleb and the others had successfully pinned Isaac. I slipped past them and sprinted out of the hallway. Lucia caught me by the arms. Her touch was a warm glow against the cold that filled me. “Hey, Grace. It’s okay,” she soothed. “Let’s get out of here.” She glanced up at Harlan.
He was staring down the hall at Isaac, his handsome face turned harsh and cold.
“Harlan,” Lucia prompted.
He looked back at us. After a second, he smoothed his expression. “Sure. Let’s call it a night.”
The crowd parted for us. Pitying looks were cast my way, which only made everything worse. If I could’ve dropped through the floor and tunneled my way out of Longtooth, I would’ve done it.
Alone in my room, I sat on the edge of my bed in the dark and stared out at the street. I could see The Blue Moose up the road. The lights spilled through the bar’s front window, casting a pale rectangle on the street. Shadows and silhouettes moved within it, made by the people who’d seen my inglorious departure—they were probably still talking about it.
Just as cold as ever, I turned away from the sight, tried to put it out of my mind. But I couldn’t.
I’d hoped coming to Alaska would give me a reprieve from the darkness that had plagued me in Chicago. I’d thought getting away from the claustrophobia and anonymity of the city would give me a chance to reset, to recover myself. But I was just as messed up here as I’d been there. I couldn’t handle one pushy guy in a small-town bar without being completely overset.
I wanted to leave Longtooth. But I didn’t know where else to go. Not back to Chicago. Not back to my little hometown. I didn’t belong anywhere. I definitely didn’t belong here. But what else was there?
My mind raced in circles, replaying the events at the bar, replaying my last few months in Chicago. Twisted up by memories I didn’t want, I crawled beneath the covers and faded into panicked dreams.
Alex had always been handsome. Tall and muscular, with a jawline that could cut glass, thick hair like spun gold, and piercing blue eyes. I’d been lost at first sight. That handsome face stared at me now, forehead creased with concern.
“Where are you, Grace?” he asked. His voice was faint, distant.
“Leave me alone,” I begged.
We stood in darkness, just the two of us. No earth, no sky. Just endless black, and the penetrating gleam of Alex's lovely blue eyes. I was afraid to look into those eyes. I’d always been a sucker for their soulful depths.
“Please, Grace.” He tried to step closer, but I stumbled back, keeping the distance between us.
“Go away, Alex.” I backed up more.
“Grace, please. Just tell me—”
“No!” I staggered back another few steps. I didn’t dare turn my back on him. But I stumbled further and further away, the distance between us growing.
“Grace!” his voice was fainter now.
Still, I scrambled backward.
“Grace!” I almost couldn’t hear him.
I finally turned away from him, ready to run for all I was worth. But when I turned around, there he was. He reached for me—
I woke abruptly to the jarring tone of my morning alarm. I was slicked with sweat, heart pounding and breath whistling as if I’d run a marathon.
You’re safe. He can’t find you.
Sitting up, I silenced my alarm. I walked to the shower on trembling legs.
It took me a few minutes to work up the nerve to go down for breakfast. I knew how small towns worked. By now, all of Longtooth would be buzzing over what had happened at the Blue Moose last night. I was going to have to suffer more pitying looks, nosy questions. People like Harry Lance were bound to take Isaac’s side.
The dining room fell quiet as soon as I appeared. The usual morning crowd was all there, plus the extras who came by for breakfast on Saturdays. Harlan and Lucia were at the counter, with no space to sit near them. Caleb Kinoyit was seated at a small table by the windows, his assessing gaze traveling dispassionately over me. I blushed hotly—a mixture of both embarrassment and anger. Squaring my shoulders, I made my way to the counter and took the open seat between Wade Evers and Jessica Taaltsiyh.
“Hey, Grace,” Jessica said with a studied casualness.
“Morning,” Wade said to me, also studiously mild.
“Good morning,” I said to them both. Around us, conversation gradually resumed.
Natasha appeared in front of me. She made no effort to disguise the concern in her eyes. Mercifully, she didn’t ask me about last night. “Good morning, Gracie. Coffee?”
I nodded. “Yes please.” Aware of the entire dining room’s scrutiny, I was already sweating. “Can I get scrambled eggs, too?” I had no appetite, but I was determined not to let anybody see how off-kilter I was.
“Of course.” She poured my coffee and disappeared into the kitchen.
“We’re supposed to get snow on Monday,” Wade said, cutting into his fried moose steak.
“Yeah?” I picked up my coffee mug. I was already wired. I probably should’ve asked for decaf. But that would’ve been admitting my nerves to everyone, so I took a hearty slug.
“Just a few inches. Nothing terrible,” Wade said.
I cupped my frozen hands around my mug. “I like when it snows,” I said inanely. “It’s cozy.”
“Cozy?” Harry Lance’s voice cut through the air, three seats down from me. “Wait until you see a real Alaskan snowstorm,” he warned. “You won’t think it’s so cozy then!”
Any other day, I would’ve been struggling not to tell Harry to go fuck himself. Today, his abrasiveness was a soothing balm amidst the walking-on-eggshells pleasantness of everyone else. “What’s so tough about Alaskan snowstorms?” I asked, needling him. “Are there Ice Giants?”
“You laugh now. You won’t be laughing when there’s ten feet of snow dumped on you overnight! And minus-forty air temps! And—” Harry ended his tirade on his own, something I wouldn’t have guessed to be possible.
I realized that the entire dining room had suddenly gone silent. I twisted in my seat, looking around. A few feet away, Caleb rose from his seat, and for a moment, I thought he was the cause of the sudden silence. But then I saw the figure standing in the lobby entryway, and my stomach plunged.
Isaac. He walked into the dining room, coming straight for me. Out of the corner of my eye, I could still see Caleb, standing, watching. Behind me, the kitchen door swung open, and Natasha sidled out, arms crossed.
I sat frozen in my seat, rigid as a corpse, watching Isaac approach. He stopped in front of me. There was a mottled purple bruise around his left eye, still swollen, and a scabbed-over split in the middle of his bottom lip. His expression was devoid of the obnoxious cheerfulness from
last night. Above the edge of his beard, his cheeks were flagged with color.
“Grace,” he said, his expression somber. His deep voice carried through the absolute silence of the dining room. “I apologize for mistreating you last night. I was drunk—”
“Is that a fucking excuse?” Harry growled, surprising me.
The red in Isaac’s face deepened. “I was completely out of line and it won’t happen again. If there’s anything I can do to make it up to you, let Natasha know, and it’ll be done. Anything.” His words were stiff, uncomfortable. He glanced at Natasha. Her face was hard as stone as she stared him down. Finally, she nodded.
“I’m sorry,” Isaac said. “I’ll leave you alone.” He turned and left.
I watched him go, sweaty and tense all over again. All around me, conversation resumed. Caleb sank back down into his seat. The air was different somehow. The walking-on-eggshells feeling gone.
“That’s what happens when the aunties get you,” Jessica said, licking her fork.
I glanced sideways at the small table where Caleb sat with William Freeman. He suddenly looked up, straight at me. His expression was cool, his dark eyes completely unreadable. Neither of us could seem to look away, until finally, Natasha called my attention with my plate of eggs.
I talked distractedly with Jess while I replayed Isaac’s apology in my mind. While I picked at my eggs, I saw Caleb head out to the garage. With no time to grab my coat, I dashed into the cold after him.
“Why are you following me?” Caleb demanded flatly, his back to me. He reached his truck and disconnected the block heater.
“I never thanked you for last night. So, uh, thank you. And I know you had something to do with Isaac’s apology. So thank you for that, too.”
Caleb whipped around to face me, anger writ across his face. “Don’t insult me by thanking me for basic decency,” he snapped.
Taken aback, I found myself reacting with anger instead of my usual exhaustion. “Well fuck you, then. I was just—”
“I didn’t do anything for you,” he interrupted me. “I was stopping my cousin from making a huge fucking mistake. The aunties are the ones who took a strip off his hide. So why don’t you go throw them a parade for having moral standards.”
I stared at him, completely at a loss for how to respond to such unwarranted hostility. “I have no idea what your problem is,” I said, backing away. “But I’ll be sure not to insult you with my presence again.” I turned and left him.
Back inside, I made my way up the stairs to my room, thinking about Isaac’s shiner and split lip. Somehow, I doubted the aunties had done that to him. And he hadn’t had those injuries when I’d left the bar last night. Caleb obviously didn’t like me, but he’d still dished out a punishment in my defense. And I hadn’t missed the way he’d stood and watched when Isaac entered—he’d made certain I got that apology.
Outside my door, I paused, key in hand. That didn’t mean he wasn’t a prick. It just meant he was a prick with principles. There was no reason for me to be slightly turned on by the fact that he’d beaten an apology out of Isaac. Seriously. It was primitive and uncivilized. I was not going to think about how big and strong Caleb was.
Shit. Alright, so he’s strong. But there’s no need to wonder what all that strength looks like shirtless.
Goddamn it.
Or naked.
Fuck.
Chapter Six
I’d been determined not to be a stereotypical, unprepared, lower-48 outsider when I arrived in Longtooth. I was a veteran of brutal winters and frigid cold. I knew how to drive on icy roads. I was fully aware of how dangerous wild animals could be—even if my experiences with skittish black bears and whitetail deer didn’t quite compare to grizzlies and moose. I’d grown up in a rural town, and I understood the social undercurrents of small, tightly-knit communities, even if I hadn’t really integrated into this one.
But despite all that, city life had softened me just a little. I’d gotten so accustomed to certain conveniences that I’d forgotten they were luxuries and not standards. Like when I’d been taken aback to find out there was no espresso machine, and I would therefore not be having my usual double-shot macchiato. Instead, I had three cups of black coffee with an omelet. The old GMC Jimmy I’d bought did not have remote start—or remote anything—and so the first morning I had to drive to school without heat because I’d forgotten to go out early and warm it up.
More crucially, it hadn’t occurred to me that I couldn’t get twenty-seven used copies of Watership Down delivered affordably to the interior of Alaska a week before I needed them for my freshman class. The ubiquitousness of free same-day delivery had really skewed my sense of logistical realities. So far, I’d managed to keep my occasional blunders to myself. But I was looking at a minimum of three weeks before I’d have the next books for my freshman classes, which meant I was going to run into trouble getting books for my other classes, too.
Margaret Huditiltik’s office was in the secondary school building, in the small administrative hub where the guidance counselor, Lynn Daaldinh, and the school secretary, Joanne Lance—Harry’s wife—also had offices. I knocked on Margaret’s open door and stepped inside.
She looked up at me and her eyes lit up. Margaret’s approval continued to surprise me. At my last school, the administrators had seen me as a self-righteous nuisance who couldn’t follow simple guidelines.
“Gracie! Come in. What can I help you with?”
“Hey, Margaret. Just a quick question. Is there a way for me to get books shipped quickly from Anchorage to Longtooth?”
She frowned thoughtfully. “How many books?”
I tried not to cringe as I admitted, “Uh, probably around a hundred and twenty-six.” The exact number of students at Teekkonlit Valley High.
Margaret’s frown turned into a fond smile. “The kids are enjoying your classes, Grace. You’re doing a good job. Submit an expense request to Joanne on Monday, and I’ll make sure it’s approved. You can go with Caleb on his next flight down to Anchorage and get the books you need.”
“With him?” I balked. I wasn’t a huge fan of that tiny plane. And the pilot radiated palpable dislike whenever he had to be in my presence.
“Yes.” Margaret steepled her fingers and regarded me over them, smiling faintly. “Is that a problem?”
“No. Of course not. That’ll be great.” It was a relief to know I wouldn’t be paying for all those books out of pocket. It hadn’t occurred to me to have the school pay for the books. My last school would only provide books approved by the curriculum, so I’d gotten accustomed to buying my own copies of the books I wanted for my students. With Teekkonlit Valley being so small, I hadn’t expected to be given any sort of budget for my unconventional reading list.
“Good. I think Caleb’s running to Anchorage tomorrow.” Tomorrow being Saturday. “I’ll get in touch with him and then give you a call with the details.”
“Perfect. Thanks, Margaret.”
“Thank you, Grace.”
I had returned to my classroom and switched my indoor shoes for my snow boots when I remembered that I had a question for Margaret about the state testing coming up in the spring. I was nearly to her door when I realized she was on the phone with somebody else. I leaned against the wall outside her office, waiting for her to finish.
“—exactly why we wanted her,” Margaret said patiently to whoever was on the other line. She listened quietly for a moment. “I am taking your concerns seriously,” she responded, and her patience was beginning to sound a little thin. “But nobody else is picking up on what you’re sensing. I think you’re letting the past color your judgment.” A brief silence. “Alright, listen to me, pup, because this is an order—you are escorting Grace Rossi to Anchorage tomorrow.”
Outside the office, I stiffened. She was talking to Caleb. About me. And, even without hearing his side of the conversation, it was obvious he wasn’t happy. Any hope that his apparent dislike was all just in my
head instantly evaporated.
“And you will treat her with respect. Consider her my ward.”
What? I considered marching into her office to demand an explanation but decided I didn’t want her to think I’d been eavesdropping. I backed away silently and made my way out to my truck. As I drove the short distance back to The Spruce, Margaret’s conversation replayed in my head.
What “concerns” was she taking seriously? What concerns could Caleb possibly have about me? Was he still mad because I wasn’t a social butterfly? Was he mad about my students’ reading lists? It was the only thing I’d done since arriving in Longtooth that could be considered even remotely controversial. Somehow, I doubted Caleb cared that my students were reading modern sci-fi and fantasy novels instead of Hawthorne and Faulkner. So, for whatever reason, he somehow considered me a danger. Which was absurd. If Natasha wasn’t so persistent, I’d spend all my free time holed up in my room, bothering nobody and doing nothing.
When I pulled into The Spruce’s garage, my phone began to ring. It was Margaret.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Grace. Caleb said to meet him in The Spruce’s dining room at six tomorrow morning. You can ride with him to the airstrip.”
Oh boy! We’d get to spend even more time together! I swallowed my dismay. “Okay…” I said, still baffled by the conversation I’d overheard.
“Is that alright?”
“Um. Yeah. Yes.”
“You okay, Gracie?”
“Fine. I’m good. Looking forward to picking up some books.”
In the morning dark, we drove in silence to the airstrip. I stood uselessly to the side while Caleb pulled the big canvas covers off the plane and began a minute inspection of every part. This plane was bigger than the one he’d flown me from Anchorage to Longtooth in. It was banana yellow, with a row of square windows down each side of the fuselage. It sat on the gravel runway, wheels protruding from massive aluminum pontoons. Caleb stood on one of the pontoons, examining something on the wing. I pulled my fleece dickey higher over my face and watched him work. It was minus-twenty, but there wasn’t much wind, so it was almost tolerable. I concentrated on not shivering, so Caleb wouldn’t be able to judge me for being a fragile outsider.
Cold Hearted: An Alaskan Werewolf Romance Page 6