“Why not?”
He grins, and for a moment, I can see precisely why Cypress calls him his wolf. “Because we like it.”
It’s midday by the time I pull Cerberus to a stop on the ridge, surveying the surrounding hills as they drift on and on and on. Endless and inviting.
“Which way is calling out to you this time, Cy?” Aiden asks, coming up next to me on Helios. Waiting on my answer, he already has an old map in one hand and is fishing a pencil out of his pocket with the other.
“Could go farther west,” I suggest. “Was thinking Cora might be the type to want to see the ocean.”
Aiden nods, the hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. “Might be.” He starts sketching a path of travel. “That what you’re going to tell her we’re heading for? The ocean, instead of the man who killed her father?”
“Who’s to say we can’t aim for both?”
“You’re not being honest with yourself, Cy.”
“Well if it isn’t the pot calling the kettle.”
“As if you aren’t standing in a glass fucking house with thatfucking kettle. Things have changed.”
“Thanks be to God,” I say with a grin as he glares at me. “Even so, she’ll still be wanting justice.”
“I told you what I found out,” Aiden counters with a frustrated sigh. “He’s a damn bounty hunter, Cy. And a particularly mean motherfucker to boot. My contact was certain of it. Frank Clancy. Said he’s seen him come through near to a dozen times for one job or another.”
“I still think a bounty hunter for a farmer seems excessive.”
“Cora said her father was behind in his payments. Perhaps someone was hoping to collect?” He sighs. “But you can’t collect from a dead man.”
“You can,” I refute. “More easily sometimes, too. What happened to their land after her father died?”
“I’m assuming it went to whomever he owed. Didn’t pass to Cora. And she has no other family to speak of out here. Cora’s never said who her father bought it from?”
I shake my head. “I don’t think she knows. More like he came home one day and the deal was done.”
“Bad deal to land them on a useless plot of land outside Preston.” Aiden shifts in his saddle. “Doesn’t ever seem to be much good that happens around there.”
“Either the law there is ineffective…”
“Or involved,” he finishes for me. “How do we even know that deputy was trying to help her at all with a bounty hunter? Hell, he could know Clancy. Would explain why they kept pushing her off.”
“Sounds fairly nefarious. He seemed pleasant enough when I took his money.”
“You think anyone who doesn’t immediately try to kill you ispleasant.”
“I don’t usually have much else to go on.” I frown, thinking over what all Aiden said. “Are you going to try to convince her togive it up?”
“I’m not saying that. I’m only saying…it may not be as simple as the man who pulled the trigger is the guilty one. And there’s also the simple matter of geography.” He drags a hand over the back of his neck. “Say we do find him and he was hired by someone out in Boston. We gonna follow him there?”
“I thought you believed it was best for her to go back to Boston,” I remind him, arching an eyebrow in his direction.
“Things have changed,” Aiden says again. “I don’t want to find him only to end up losing her in the process.”
I look away, hiding my smile at precisely howmuchhas changed before I try to put his mind at ease. “We’ll figure out a way not to lose her. And we’ll also figure out a way to help her. Whatever she decides. Whether that be acceptance or vengeance.”
“Right.” He turns to look back in the direction of the wagon, staring like he thinks he’ll actually be able to see all the way back to camp and the person we left there.
We had offered to bring Cora with us, but she decided to stay behind and pack up camp ahead of the next leg of our journey, not seeming to mind at all the prospect of another day spent traveling.
More than I could have ever hoped, she has clicked so neatly into our lives, into what Aiden and I have together. Finding her place as if it has always been saved for her.