Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
I reached for him—for his hand, specifically—and when I hooked my index finger around his pinky, he closed his fist, trapping it there. Trapping me there. Not that I fought to take it out, anyway.
“Do they have a reason to stay that I don’t know of?” Ilya asked curiously.
Henri squeezed my fingers. “Sure.” He exhaled deeply. “Me.”
My eyeballs had to be on the verge of bulging out of their sockets. The urge to snort and call BS climbed up the back of my throat with a little parachute, ready to jump out at a moment’s notice. But no one understood how important a united front was better than I did. Loyalty wasn’t just a word you used to describe standing by someone during big, important moments.
Loyalty was staying true to people even when they said dumb crap. You just waited until the right moment to tell them they’d lost their minds. That was loyalty.
And I might not understand Henri’s actions from time to time, but I did know that he was the only person here that I held an allegiance to, regardless of his feelings toward me. Because that was loyalty too.
So even if I wanted to roll my eyes, I kept from doing it—at least until we were alone again.
The man from Alaska made another sound in his throat before he caught my attention from around Henri’s shoulder. Something in his blue irises almost seemed amused. “You change your mind, I meant what I said,” he told me.
I might not want to move to Alaska unless I had to, but I appreciated his offer. So, so much, and so, I nodded… and I ignored the way Henri’s head turned toward me. Then I got down to business again. “I have two questions first. What is Duncan? And are you going to tell me who I need to talk to about that thing you mentioned?” I made sure not to side-eye Henri right then.
“Duncan’s heritage is not my news to confirm. My people in Alaska will come meet him to be sure. They should be who tell you.”
Dang it.
“And it’s Franklin you need to speak with,” Ilya announced, ripping the ground from under my feet with just that one name. I hadn’t actually expected him to tell me about my donut, but I figured I had nothing to lose by trying. But just as quickly as he’d dropped that bomb, Ilya moved on. “I’ll be gone in the morning. I’ll make arrangements for my people to visit soon,” the man went on before he focused back on my boy. “Goodbye, Duncan. I hope you visit when you’re older.”
Dunky, who hadn’t made a peep until then, let out a low “awoo” that echoed through the forest as Ilya walked off. Only I heard the “yes,” but I wasn’t going to worry about his future plans for now.
In that moment, I had something else to focus on. Multiple somethings.
I started with my immediate priority.
I poked Henri in the stomach. “What was that about?” I griped.
That frowl had returned to his face, half a frown, half a scowl, and his tone wasn’t much better as he tried to bite my head off with his, “What?”
I blinked. “That. What was that about? I appreciate you being protective, Fluff, but he was being nice, offering to let us stay with them.”
“You think that was him being nice?”
“Yes. That was more than anybody else has done for us,” I told him, not believing his BS. “If things don’t work out here, I don’t want to burn the only other bridge we might have.”
Henri’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead, and there went that bulging vein in his temple again. His voice came out like an earthquake. “Why would things not work out here?”
I scowled at him right back. “I don’t know. I’m just saying, what if—”
“There’s no ‘what-ifs.’”
“There’s always a what-if. I want things to work out here, but I have zero promises that things are going to—”
“I’m promising you that things will work out,” he had the nerve to argue while baring his teeth.
“You of all people, Fluff, can only promise me so much, and we both know it, and that’s okay.” I held up my hands. “I’m not giving you crap about it, but that doesn’t give you a right to sabotage my backup plans.”
His eyes became literal slits on his face, his nostrils flaring wider than I’d ever seen. “Going to Alaska isn’t a goddamn backup plan—it’s okay, Duncan, your mom and I are just having a discussion.” Henri whipped back and forth between talking to me and my donut. Did he sense him getting worked up? “You’re not moving across the country, Nina,” he barked, back to talking to me.
“What is happening?” I laughed, and not because I was amused, but because I wanted to strangle the thick neck in front of me. Just a little strangle, but still a strangle. “I don’t want to move across the country, but I will if I have to! Why are we even talking about this? Nothing happened!”