Winter's Edge (The Crimson Winter Reverse Harem Series Book 1)

by Lindsey R. Loucks

  “Sasha,” I said, grabbing up my bow, arrows, and a perfectly good walking stick from the forest floor, “we need to find your pack, but to do that, I need you so quiet, okay? Not even a peep.”

  She nestled closer to my breasts where my heart pounded out of control and remained silent.

  “Good girl.”

  I started up the hill towards a very literal wolf’s den.

  Chapter 15

  I went as fast as I could, digging my heels into the snow as I climbed. The cold air burned my lungs, and once I reached the hill's peak, so did the smoke coming off of Old Man’s Den.

  Once I reached the bottom of the hill, several shouts reached my ears that sounded like frantic calls for help.

  I sped my pace as I crossed the road into town, hoping the fire hadn't gone out of hand yet. If the brothel evacuated everyone, it would be impossible to find Jade in the chaos. As I neared it, tapping the snow with my walking stick, I could hear the fire up ahead devouring the old jail, feel the heat like a physical wall.

  My walking stick hit some steps, and I climbed my way into what I was sure was the brothel. It was as if I'd stepped into a different world, one where there wasn't a fire just up the street. Someone played piano from the far corner, an aggressively upbeat song with too many notes for me to handle right now. I stepped away from it and toward the sound of a heavy bottle tinkling something into a glass that smelled like it had only slightly fewer fumes than moonshine. Three women were gathered around the bottle and talking quietly, their voices whispery but distinct. It smelled like peonies in here. Peonies and sweat and liquor.

  I found the bar and then sank onto a barstool near the women so it appeared it looked like I knew what I was doing with myself here. Then I cleared my throat loudly to interrupt their conversation.

  "Who do I need to talk to if I have a question about one of the girls who works here?" I asked.

  "Hey, I recognize you," one of the women said.

  And I recognized that voice. It was the same smoky-voiced woman who'd told me I was walking on the wrong side of the road.

  "You're the one who shot off Lager's finger," she said, a smile in her tone.

  The other women laughed.

  Lager. The bald man. I filed that name away.

  "It was well-deserved, I’m sure,” the woman said. “The man’s a twat, but I'm not so sure it's good that you're here. He’s out for blood."

  "Then answer my question, and I'll leave."

  The silence stretched, and I could feel the women studying me, hear the swish and sigh of their dresses. They were probably beautiful—the dresses and the women.

  "Well, I guess depends on which girl you’re looking for,” the smoky lady said.

  "Jade and her brother, Lee. Jade has black hair, fifteen, and Lee has a disability. Really sweet, both of them. I think they were…sold…" My voice gave out, and it took some effort to push out the rest. "Sold to work here."

  "We don't do that kind of selling here,” she said. “I remember this Jade and her brother though. Lager tried to push them off on me, but I don't buy my girls and guys. My employees come to me of their own free will."

  "But you’ve seen them. Where are they?"

  "Gone."

  My heart splintered. "Gone where?"

  "Lager took them to Faust, and another of his men took them somewhere where there would be more buyers. I couldn't tell you where."

  My stomach hit rock bottom and then plummeted through that too. They weren't here. They could be anywhere, but with winter coming tomorrow, they wouldn't have gone far.

  "When did they leave?" I asked, the words shaky.

  "Two days ago?"

  Two days. Two days from here. But I had no time left to find them.

  "They were here though…" I fisted my hands on top of the bar, the smooth wood at odds with my cracked hope. "They’re kids, and you didn’t try to help them?"

  The two other women scoffed as if I’d just said the dumbest thing ever. One of them picked up the bottle off the bar and splashed more alcohol into her glass before setting the bottle down again in front of the smoky woman.

  "I don't interfere with Lager or Faust or any of those men's business just like I don’t let them interfere with mine. We're all trying to survive, aren't we." It wasn't a question, her tone as cold and harsh as outside.

  "I'm damn tired of trying to survive," I said, tears prickling my eyes.

  She gave a heavy sigh. "Aren't we all?"

  What was I supposed to do now? I couldn’t just pretend Jade and Lee weren't slaves and go on about my life, such as it was. But it looked like I would have to with winter coming. The thought churned in my gut, and I thought I might be sick.

  "I could offer you a job here, you know," the woman said, and put her hand on my knee.

  I jerked back, both from her and the idea. "I'm not a whore."

  "It's good money, especially for you with your long, silky hair and your exotic face and your"—she clicked her tongue—"disability. The men would pay well for you. Hell, the women would too. What else would a girl like you do?"

  "I'm not for sale." At one time, I'd half considered it, but now, I would rather fling myself into the roughest, most arctic weather than be a whore, no matter how much it paid. Doing nothing but lying there for sex seemed like a lateral move into only surviving. I was through with only surviving.

  "Well, maybe you'll see the light and change your mind." She laughed at my expense. I fucking did not join her. "And maybe you won't."

  "Well, maybe the fire will burn this place down." I swiped up the bottle next to her and stood. "And maybe it won't.”

  I walked out of there with my chin held high, like I damn well deserved to leave here with a free, almost full bottle of booze. She hadn't taken anything from me—nothing that I hadn't already lost anyway—but anyone who felt the need to tease the fact that I was blind and who'd implied I couldn't do anything else deserved to be brought down a notch. She didn't try to stop me either.

  Might've had to do with the bow and arrow slung over my shoulder and that I'd shot Lager's finger off. Just a guess.

  On my way out, my walking stick hit a chair, and when I shoved it out of my way, my fingers grazed fur. A long, luxurious coat, I realized. Yeah, that was now mine too.

  Outside, I shrugged into the coat and wrapped it around my old one. The fire down the street raged, growling like a murderous beast as it licked up into the sky. I could hear it there, looming over the shouts below it. The smoke siphoned into my lungs and stuck there like stinging barbs.

  Had Archer found Ronin yet? Why hadn’t Grady come back like he was supposed to so I could hand off Sasha to him before heading into town myself to find Jade and Lee? That had been our plan. Maybe they were at the rendezvous point, out of their minds with worry that Sasha and I weren't there.

  I started in that direction, leaving the fiery heat for the frigid temperature of Slipjoint Forest. Sasha wriggled, and I knew she had to be uncomfortable from being cooped up for so long.

  "Just a little longer," I whispered, speeding my pace.

  I hoped.

  But when I crested the hill and peered through Sasha's eyes that no one was there at the bottom by our sleigh, panic clawed up my throat. Why was no one where they were supposed to be, damn it?

  "Archer. Grady," I hissed, just in case they were hidden in the shadows. If they were here, they would've seen me.

  Something terrible had happened. I just knew it, or they would’ve been back by now.

  But if they were headed here now, I knew what they would want me to do—stay here. But if they needed help… I had to go back.

  "Sasha," I whispered, "just a bit longer, okay? I'm sorry, girl. I'm so sorry."

  I pushed her little head back down into my two coats and buttoned them both, my eyes stinging, my heart clamped tight in a vise. Pushing my lips together so I wouldn't cry, I set the bottle of booze on the sleigh, gathered what little courage I had left, and went back
down the hill toward town. I hated doing this. I hated putting Sasha in danger yet again, but something must've really been wrong if they hadn't come back yet.

  Skirting away from the main road where the fire was, I aimed my walking stick toward the first building on my right. A butcher, from the smell of pig’s blood and the chime of empty hooks clinking against the outside. I swept around the side of it and then to the back to follow the line of buildings toward Faust’s tavern. I might just have to climb in through the window with Sasha unless I found another way in. I imagined it was empty for the most part since it sounded like many men were battling the fire.

  Lager, too. I shivered. I hoped with everything inside me that tonight wasn't our reunion.

  Once I hit the edge of buildings on the far side of town, I quickly doubled back before I could be seen. I'd been a tad panicked and bleeding on my way out of here last time, so it took me a minute to find the window again.

  Open. This had to be how Archer had come in to get Ronin since that had been our plan.

  No sounds came from inside.

  I patted the lump in my coat. "I need to borrow your eyes again, sweet girl. Just for a second."

  That was a terrible idea. If someone happened by the little room and saw a wolf pup peering in the window…

  I had to risk it. I leaned my walking stick against the wall and dropped my quiver and bow to the ground. Then I unbuttoned my coats and hefted her up and then instantly back down again. Fast enough for me to see the room was empty, the door open.

  "Okay, we're going in." I untied the harness's knots from around me, but not from around her, and gently sat her in the snow. "Not a peep from you when we do, understand?"

  She seemed to get it since I was likely feeding every ounce of my urgency into her. She could smell trouble probably better than I could, and right now, it smothered us in smoky fumes.

  After lifting her again, I looped one hand around one of the long leather straps connected to her, then lifted her toward the window and lowered her down inside. The effort strained my ribs and shoulder and all my other annoying aches, but I ignored them. When she landed inside, her gaze locked on the open door, and her little nose twitched so much, I could see it in her periphery. Could she smell Ronin and Archer?

  After dropping my bow and quiver through next, I pulled myself into the window headfirst, many of my healing wounds stretching and grinding and ripping. Honestly, I was done with windows after this. No more. I landed in a haphazard pile next to Sasha, who still stared at the door. She hardly noticed as I stuffed her back inside my coats with her head poking out so I could use her eyes. Here, in this place again, I needed all the help I could get. If I saw or heard someone I didn’t want to, I’d button her back up again.

  Before we left the room, I closed my eyes so I could listen better. Nothing but eerie silence. What if Archer wasn’t even here? Or what if I found him but couldn’t find Grady?

  This whole plan was garbage. Something was definitely wrong if they weren't at our rendezvous. Which was why I had to make sure.

  We left the windowed room and entered the hallway. I knew my way to the front door, but beyond that, I didn't have a clue. So, this should go well.

  My heartbeat stormed louder into Sasha's body with every step I took. The tavern looked exactly like I thought it would with long crossbeams of sanded wood lining the walls and a sawdust floor. Flames danced shadows over the walls from inside glass lanterns hung on the walls every few feet.

  We came to an intersection, and to the left was the front exit, not the one I’d originally entered through, and the right led toward a mystery. And the sound of something heavy crashing to the floor. Not sure I wanted to head toward that either.

  Toward the left, the door opened.

  Shit. I couldn't be seen.

  I skirted right, using Sasha to guide me around the corner and into the large tavern area. All empty.

  Swift footsteps thudded toward me.

  I sped between the chairs and tables with cards and half-filled glasses strewn about them. None of them were tipped over like the sound I'd heard. Ahead, a set of stairs climbed up to the second level. A long bar stretched along the side wall with mirrored shelves sporting all kinds of liquor.

  The footsteps headed right toward me.

  I needed to hide, so I made a split decision. I aimed for the stairs since they were closer and made a sharp right turn out of sight a few steps up. As soon as I made the turn, I realized I'd made the wrong fucking decision.

  The footsteps followed.

  I made mine as light as possible, imagining myself filled with nothing but air and feathers, and then darted across the hall to the first open doorway. It was dark inside, and empty.

  The footsteps thudded past and entered another room.

  For fuck’s sake, that was too close. I counted to five and then poked my head into the hall. It was either go past the room he was in or go back downstairs. I drifted out into the hallway again to go down when the footsteps rushed out into the hallway again.

  My heart lurched into my throat. I dove back into the dark room I’d just come from.

  But not before I saw the wall lanterns reflect across the back of a bald head. Not before I saw a hand wrapped in gauze that had turned red.

  It was him. It was Lager.

  I slapped my hand across my mouth to contain my breaths as I sank back into the dark room. Goose bumps dashed down my back as my whole body turned to icy stone.

  "Where?" he shouted.

  I just about leaped out of my skin. He was looking for something. Just like me.

  Another voice answered him from far away but on this floor somewhere. Feminine, I thought.

  Lager thudded back down the hallway toward this room.

  Shit. No time to grab an arrow and kill the bastard. Just time enough to duck down behind a desk. The only thing in here. The thing he was probably coming in here to search.

  Shit. I should've killed him when I had the chance in the hallway, but I hadn't expected to see him. I'd panicked.

  His footsteps stopped in the doorway, and a lantern on the wall grew brighter. I stopped breathing and screwed my eyes closed so my other senses would kick in. He crossed toward the desk, and my ears homed in on which side he was angling toward. The right.

  I went left. Still crouched, I matched his speed, my hands seeking the wooden desk, my feet silent even to my own ears. When he stepped behind the desk, I was already pressed against the front of it, smelling a faint waft of his too-sweet honey smell.

  He opened a drawer, fished around in it, and slammed it closed. I jumped at the sound and cursed myself. Then he crossed back to the door, and I circled back around the desk so he couldn't see me. Before he made it to the door, I already had an arrow nocked. When I started to pull the string of my bow back, the bullet wound in my shoulder ripped itself open. Slowly. Pain rioted along every nerve. Colors spotted the backs of my eyelids with bursts of agony.

  I lowered the bow, realizing he’d already gone. I’d missed my chance. If I wanted out of here, I’d have to ignore the pain, damn it.

  A wolf's howl erupted through the entire tavern. Loud and pained, a replica of what I wanted to scream.

  Sasha squirmed violently, and I dropped into a crouch again to get her to calm down. Had that been Archer or Grady? But no, they wouldn't be that dumb to announce their presence, their exact location, like that in this town. Unless something was very, very wrong. And it would only get so much worse if the other pack had heard them over the raging fire outside.

  We had to get out of here. Right now.

  While I made my way to the doorway, I pressed half a dozen kisses to Sasha's head to help calm her, none of which worked. Slowly, I poked both our heads into the hallway to see which way Lager went. If we ran into each other again, I would put an arrow through his eye, my shoulder be damned. He wouldn’t hesitate to do the same. I kept my arrow nocked yet loose as we went right, my eyes open, even though Sasha bounced her
gaze every which way down the hallway. Vertigo turned my stomach on its side, but I tried to ignore it.

  The hallway turned left ahead, past the room Lager had first gone in. The light was still on inside, so I pressed my back to the wall outside of it and listened for any sounds. My heart tripping at the back of my throat, I turned and used Sasha to see inside, quick as a flash. A worn couch, another desk, and not much else. I tiptoed toward the bend in the hallway and stopped again. Loud voices came from below on the first floor, a whole flurry of them. And somewhere on this floor, I thought I heard a woman shouting.

  After two quick, steadying breaths, I whirled to face Sasha around to the next hallway. Empty except for more doors all the way down, all open and some lit. The sound of the woman grew louder. The sounds of the voices below drew closer. My bow and arrow shook in my hands as I strode forward, my pulse crashing wildly between my ears. Sasha and I checked all the rooms before we passed them, and I closed the doors as we did oh-so-gently. That way I'd hear them opening.

  Whoever's voices I'd heard down below now stomped up the stairs as a herd.

  I was about to have company. A lot of it.

  The shouting woman's voice came from the last room at the end of the hallway. "I'll drop it down as soon as I'm done," she yelled, and then softer, she said, "Thanks, Lager."

  I stiffened against the wall next to the room, clenching my bow and arrow in my hand so tightly I was afraid it would snap. Heavy footsteps sounded within the room. More steps came down one of the hallways. Any second, they’d turn the next one and see me.

  Now or never.

  Quiet as I could, I raised my bow and rounded into the room. Sasha's gaze landed on several things right after the other. Lager was stepping through another doorway off the side of the room. The woman faced the open window on the far wall, her arms moving frantically with something she held, her long red hair swaying down her back. And tucked into the far corner sat a wire cage with a wolf inside it.