Cold Foot Komodo (Wreck’s Mountains Book 2)

“Where is everyone?” Raynah asked as she slid out of her little two-door Ford Ranger. Her cute baby belly led the way as she tromped across the yard.

“You’re the first one here,” Sasha called from the open doorway. She’d heard her truck pull up into the driveway.

Something caught Raynah’s attention halfway, and she stopped and waved over at Garret’s house.

Sasha came on out and wrapped her arms around herself to ward off the cold. In the week that had passed since they’d received the news of Farrah’s deceit, the Crew had enjoyed a break in the snow, but now the weather was getting bad again.

“Hey neighbor,” Garret greeted Sasha. He waved at Raynah. “Hey, neighbor’s hot friend.”

“Pregnant friend,” Raynah corrected him.

Garret was wearing dark-gray coveralls and a black beanie. He stood up and canted his head at Raynah. “Still hot.” He was in his driveway with three chainsaws lined up. One was in pieces, and the other two were sitting next to a fuel can. “What are you ladies up to tonight?”

Raynah usually had a fast response with the boys up on the mountain, but she seemed frozen after Garret’s compliment, so Sasha answered. “Probably not partying as hard as you with your chainsaws, ya fuckin’ serial killer.”

He let off a booming laugh, and scratched his dark beard as he stared down at his chainsaws. “It does look bad, doesn’t it? A tree fell right in front of my truck today, and my damn chainsaw wouldn’t start. Figured I need to give them some attention. It’s the windy season. Trees go down a lot out here. You ladies should both be carrying them in your trucks. They have the small ones you just turn on with a button. You can clip a battery pack right into it and go.”

“Why don’t you get one of those?” Raynah asked. She had meandered closer to study his chainsaws.

“Because my dad taught me to take care of the stuff I own, so I won’t have to buy new shit all the time. Stuff. Things. Sorry for the cussing. I’m usually around roughneck dudes.” He cleared his throat and gestured to Raynah. “I’m not used to being around ladies as much.”

Raynah leaned forward and sniffed him. “Bear?”

Garret’s dark eyebrows arched high under his beanie. “Uh, I’ve been told recently that it’s rude to ask that stuff. I’m just…me.”

“Hmm. Crocodile.” Raynah made her way back into Sasha’s yard.

“I’m not a crocodile,” he called in a confused voice.

“Of course you aren’t, silly,” Raynah said, walking backward so she could look at him. “I am.” She turned back around, and Sasha got a great view of Garret’s face going completely blank.

Pregnant or not, Raynah could get a man’s attention just fine. Sasha was giggling by the time they made their way back inside.

“Did he watch me leave?” Raynah whispered after she closed the door behind her.

“Yes. Why are you whispering?”

“Because that big ol’ homegrown boy is a bear. I know he is. He can hear a pin drop down at the end of the street. Why didn’t you tell me he was a shifter?”

Sasha shrugged. “I’ve been distracted by someone else.”

“You mean dick-stracted.”

“Oh my gosh, that is not appropriate.”

Raynah pointed toward the kitchen. “Your phone is going off.”

“It’s probably the Crew loop going off. Kat and Timber are meeting us at the bar. Their boys too. Cash, Kade, and Reed should be here any minute. Well, if Reed didn’t get caught up at work. Bad-weather days drag out his shift sometimes.”

Raynah frowned at her own phone. “I’m in the Crew loop. There’s no messages other than Timber saying they’re twenty minutes out.”

“Oh geez,” Sasha grumbled as she made her way to the kitchen. It was probably her mother, throwing her bi-daily tantrum. She would need to block her for the night if she didn’t stop, so Sasha could enjoy the evening with her friends. She was getting dangerously close to blocking her long-term.

When she picked up her phone though, the texts weren’t from a number she recognized.

Image after image had been sent to her. When she opened the first one, she gasped in shock. The man wore longer hair pulled back into a topknot, and was dressed in dark jeans, expensive-looking boots, and a trench coat. He was walking, looking at the camera as if he’d just glanced over at it. There was no smile, and his jaw was shaven clean. She knew those eyes though. Those bi-colored eyes. A woman was in the foreground, cheesing for the camera at a selfie angle. She had dark hair and light-teal eyes, olive-toned skin and high cheekbones.

Farrah.

The next picture was of Reed sitting at a table in someone’s home, elbows on the table, hands clasped in front of him, with a long claw mark down his face. His eyes were glowing lighter, and he was glaring right at the camera as Farrah leaned on him from behind, arms around his chest as she laughed over at someone out of the frame. The next was of Reed sleeping in a bed with white sheets and comforter and pillows. It looked like his bed now. The early-dawn light was highlighting his cheekbones, and he wore two-day scruff in this picture. Again, his skin was criss-crossed with battle injuries. The next was him walking, from behind, looking off to his right. His lips were set in a grim line, and his hands were shoved deep in his pockets, like he still did when he was deep in thought. His hair was shorter in this one, and the sides had been shaved.

Oh, he used to look and dress like a model in his old life. He was almost unfamiliar.

She backed out of the pictures and scrolled past a dozen more to read what Farrah had just texted her. He isn’t single. He isn’t yours.

“What is it?” Raynah asked, looking over her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

“His ex,” she said, and dropped her phone with a clatter onto the counter, desperate to rid herself of the touch. Her hands shook as she backed away, mind racing. Farrah was pretty, and they looked like a striking couple.

“Ha,” Raynah laughed.

“It’s not funny.”

Raynah took a Twizzler from the open package that sat out on the counter and chewed on it, scrolling with a lingering grin on her face. “It’s kind of funny.”

“It really, really doesn’t feel funny at all.”

“Dude, have you seen Reed’s face in all of these pictures? He looks miserable.”

“What?”

Raynah zoomed in on one. “I bet in this one he’s thinking, ‘We’re broken up, why are you taking a picture of me.’ This one he’s thinking, ‘I barely tolerate you.’”

Sasha took the phone back slowly, and looked at the pictures in a different light.

“Now go back and look at your lock screen,” Raynah suggested. “It’s disgusting how happy he looks. Gag.”

Sasha did as she said, and looked at the selfie they had taken together on her lock screen. It was a snow picture. They both had beanies on—him dark brown, her hot pink. She was kissing his cheek through a smile, and he wore this happy, confident smile as he looked right at the camera. She had her arms thrown around his neck. He had snapped the picture in the parking lot of a café near the hospital the other day when they’d grabbed lunch on her break. The smile filled his eyes.

He looked good in his old pictures. Very serious, very put-together, very dialed-in. But now? With his short beard and clear eyes, and the muscle he’d put on in Cold Foot? She liked this version of him better.

Raynah was right. She’d had a moment, and she’d let Farrah get to her for a split second, but she was his past. Sasha was his present and future.

Tell him to unblock me. Right now. Farrah’s text made her laugh. She read it to Raynah, and her friend laughed with her.

She didn’t need to get into a pissing contest with this toxic woman. Sasha was good, and she had better things to do with her time. So she texted Farrah the picture of them from her lock screen and repeated her words. He isn’t single. He isn’t yours. You have a cute kid. Little young to be Reed’s though. Cat’s out of the bag, honey. Time to move on.

She could see the dots going immediately that indicated Farrah was typing, but Sasha had no interest in this. She blocked the number before Farrah could send her whatever bullshit text she was typing.

You know what, while she was at it? She blocked her mother too. Tonight was going to be fun, and no one was allowed to wreck her peace, or that of Reed’s. They were doing good. They were working on themselves. They weren’t hurting anyone. No more negativity allowed, and this damn phone was loaded with it. She would bring it out to snap pics with Reed, and of her friends playing pool and singing karaoke tonight, but other than that, it would stay in her purse.

Raynah pointed to the door, and around the Twizzler hanging from her mouth, she said, “The boys are here.”

“How do you know?”

Raynah pointed to her ear. “Croc super-hearing.”

“Okay, tell me more about that. I’m intrigued. Can crocodiles in the wild hear well too? Or is that sense amplified in shifters?”

Raynah frowned at the door. “Never mind. The truck started up again and drove away.”

“Maybe the boys are turning around at the cul-de-sac?” Sasha guessed.

Raynah shrugged. “Shifters have even better senses. Do you see wieners at your job?”

“What?”

“Do you have to see like, gross men’s wieners? When you are doing nursing? Like when you are saving people’s lives, do their wieners flop out?”

“Oh my gosh,” she said with a laugh. “Yes, but I don’t notice. I’m completely desensitized. Doesn’t even register.”

“Okay, but what if like, a hot guy came in. Six-pack. Perfect nipples. Maybe some tattoos. Maybe some bicep veins. And his wiener flopped out of his hospital gown. Would you notice then?”

But before Sasha could answer, Raynah stood and glared at the door, listening. “The truck is back, but from the wrong direction.” She made her way to the front window and looked outside. “You know anyone with a blue Chevy Colorado?”

“No.”

“They’re parked right behind our trucks, on the street. Blocking the entire driveway.”

“What the hell?” she muttered, yanking open the front door.

The woman who came around the front of that truck extinguished her anger. Shock froze her in place. The woman was tall and lean, and her dark hair hung in frizzy, unkempt waves down her shoulders. Her eyes were blazing a frost blue, glowing oddly in the porch light as she strode for her. Farrah?

“No, no, no, you can’t be here!” Raynah yelled.

“Get out of the way or I’ll kill you too,” she told Raynah.

“Wait, wait!” Raynah yelled, holding her hands out. “Think about this.”

“Oh, I’ve thought about it more than you can imagine. Her time is up.”

“Fuck, okay!” Raynah screamed. She stepped out of the way, and Sasha could see the fear in her eyes.

“Komodo,” she whispered to Sasha on a shaking breath.

“Move!” Farrah screamed. She jammed a finger at Sasha. “You texted me that fucking picture. You sent me that fucking picture. You don’t know him. You don’t know my Reed. You don’t know what he did for me. You don’t know how destroyed I was when he was locked up.”

“Then why did you call the police on him?” Sasha asked. She had to keep her talking. Keep her calm. Raynah had abandoned her, and yeah, she felt the sting of that betrayal, but she understood. Raynah had a baby in her. She couldn’t Change.

Sasha’s damn phone was inside on the counter.

“You don’t understand anything.”

“Make me understand. This is your chance. Get it off your chest.”

Fuck, where were the boys?

Farrah’s face looked sharper, and as she smiled, her teeth all had sharp points. “Killing you will get it off my chest. He’s a weapon. Has your Crew figured that out yet? He can get my crown back. He’s not just a peacemaker, you dumb bitch. He’s my goddamn grenade.”

She’d known it was coming, so Sasha had been backing into the house, but when that monster ripped out of Farrah’s body, she was horrified. She screamed and tried to slam the door closed, but the Komodo dragon busted right through, taking half the wall with her. Sasha went flying backward and slammed against the kitchen cabinets. She gasped at the pain and tried to drag air into her lungs, but the monster was scrabbling for purchase on the sub-flooring. Her hips were stuck in the framework of the house.

“Get up!” Raynah ordered. And she was there, dragging Sasha toward the open back door.

She couldn’t breathe! Couldn’t drag air into her body! The wind had been knocked clean out of her when she’d hit the cabinets, but the dragon was free and scrabbling this way in a sickeningly graceful, snake-like motion.

She stumbled down the porch stairs and screamed as a claw raked across her back. She wasn’t okay. She could tell she wasn’t okay, but Raynah was dragging her toward the trees behind the house.

“The Crew is coming. Just have to keep us alive until they get here,” Raynah cried, ducking a low-hanging branch.

Warmth trickled down her back, and Sasha looked back in horror. Time slowed as she took in the sight of Farrah breaking through the wall. She had to be fifteen feet long, and fast as a cobra strike. Her claws were six inches long, and each razor-sharp. She had a blue sheen to her armor, and a forked yellow tongue that scented the air as she charged for them.

“Raynah, go!” she gasped out on the first wisp of breath she was able to inhale.

Farrah wanted her. Raynah needed to get away from here, protect her baby. Farrah was on them, and all Sasha could do was cover Raynah’s body with her own and hope it would save her friend.

They hit the snow as Farrah went airborne, and she knew this was the end. Her back was soaking wet, and Farrah had the promise of death in her glowing eyes, and…bam!

Just as the Komodo dragon’s claws grazed her arm, the earth shook with something powerful. Stunned that she was still alive, she looked up in time to see an enormous grizzly bear shaking the monster in his powerful jaws.

“That’s Garret. He’s buying us time! Run!” Raynah yelled, yanking her upward.

The Komodo dragon twisted on him and latched onto his shoulder, and the roaring of the bear followed them into the woods. Raynah looked skyward. “Where is Wreck?”

“Raynah,” Sasha gasped out.

“Keep going!” She dragged her harder, but Sasha didn’t feel good. The pain was too much.

“Raynah,” she said softer as her legs dragged.

“What, what, what?” her friend asked in desperation, turning for her. “Fuck, what’s wrong?”

Sasha fell to her knees, nodding. “It’s going to be okay.”

Raynah shook her head, confused. She pulled Sasha forward and looked at her back, and murmured a soft curse.

She stood, looking around. “Help!”

“She’ll hear you,” Sasha whispered. “Shhh.”

“Help me!” Raynah screamed, pacing back toward the house, then back to Sasha. “I can’t Turn you, Sasha, I can’t Turn you. Crocs bites can’t Turn. Wreck!” she screamed to the sky. Fear touched every word.

“It’s okay,” Sasha whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks. It wasn’t fair, but she didn’t want to leave Raynah with a bad last memory of her. She wanted to make it as easy as she could.

She’d seen injuries like this. She knew what this was. She felt the life draining from her, soaking the snow behind her.

“Fuck!” Raynah said, looking at something behind her. “No, please. Please don’t!” She screamed at the Komodo dragon weaving through the trees for them.

Two things happened at once. Something massive came barreling through the trees like a torpedo and slammed into the monster just as an enormous bird swooped from the sky and latched its talons around Sasha’s arms. The great snowy owl beat its wings hard enough to blow the snow under him clean away, and lifted her into the air.

A second, bigger Komodo dragon was fighting savagely with Farrah.

Reed. Reed was here. He’d come. She got a glimpse before she was whisked away on the wind. Two more beats of his powerful wings, and the owl swooped down toward the back of her house. Wreck and Kade were there, working on the body of the still grizzly in the red-painted snow. Timber stood near Wreck, green flames licking at her fingertips.

Katrina was the one to catch Sasha as the owl released her arms. The enormous bird flew up sharply and barely missed the roof. He pulled a tight circle above them and headed back for the woods as Katrina laid her down in the snow.

She turned her slightly. “Shhhit. Timber.”

“Little busy,” Timber said, her hands flaming green on the body of Garret. Wreck was enveloped in green flames that were consuming the body of the grizzly.

“Your sister’s bleeding out!”

Timber’s concentration wavered, and she was blown backward with a shriek.

“Raynah is in the woods,” Sasha told Katrina. Why couldn’t she stop shivering? Shock, probably. She’d seen patients do this sometimes right before the end. Now she understood it from this side. Now she knew what it felt like.

“Cash will get her,” Katrina promised.

“She tried to help me.”

“Bear or lioness?” Katrina rushed out. Her face was blocking out the sky, and there was something tragic about that. It was too late. Couldn’t she see it was too late? Even Sasha with her dull human senses could smell the blood.

“Bear or lioness!” Katrina yelled in her face. “You are not done here!” There was fury in her eyes. “Choose!”

“Bear,” Sasha whispered, thinking of Garret’s sacrifice.

A roar ripped out of Timber, and she saw her sister’s animal for the first time. She was huge, and covered in white fur. Her nose was black. It matched her claws as the animal charged for her. Sasha closed her eyes and prepared for pain, but nothing could’ve prepared her for what happened next.

Her sister killed her.