Cold Foot Komodo (Wreck’s Mountains Book 2)

Reed stood and watched Sasha leave out the window.

Her truck was a good one for this terrain. She had that slow leak in her right front tire, but it would hold for a quick trip to the store. He had supplies in his truck to fix it, and would get to it when she got back.

She drove a silver Tacoma that still had the temporary tags in the back window. It was pretty new, it looked like—lifted a couple inches, with thick tread on the oversized tires, and a camper shell on the back. Nice rig. He was going to have to remember to tell her that the trip to the hospital would probably be more like a forty-five minute trip in the weather that was going to hit this part of Montana this week.

He’d wanted to go to the store with her, but he was pretty sure Sasha hadn’t noticed all the damned dead spiders in the kitchen, and he wanted to clean them up before she got back. She didn’t need to know about the spider problem until spring, when she would likely have a little explosion of them. Wintertime here though, it was quiet on the bug-front. He would spray this place way before it warmed up again.

Now, he didn’t know for sure if she had a problem with spiders, but some of these were damn-near the size of crop duster planes. He frowned down at a spider carcass on the fireplace mantle. He’d seen a broom in the garage, so he retrieved it and went to work cleaning out all the rooms.

This place was rough, but Henderson had texted him back that five hundred a month was fine and that he’d emailed the new contract over to Sasha. In the notes on his phone, he made a list of things he would need to make this place more comfortable for her.

And as he typed out laminate flooring, it struck him.

Wreck hadn’t ordered him to fix up the house. Only to unpack her. He didn’t have to do any of this, so why had he dove right in to this project?

Maybe it was because he hadn’t done any handyman work since the construction days of his old life. Or maybe it was just something interesting to put his mind on in the middle of the chaos of settling down. Or perhaps it was because he was bored. More likely though, it was because of this instinct deep inside of him to help out Timber’s sister. No, that didn’t feel right. He didn’t care that Sasha was Timber’s sister. He just wanted to help Sasha.

She was kind of funny, and bubbly, and a breath of fresh air. The Crew was heavy sometimes, with all their experiences in Cold Foot Prison. Truth be told, he got tired of talking about the same shit he was trying to escape from.

It was interesting hearing little tidbits of how this woman was out here in an unfamiliar place, figuring her life out too. Like him.

Not that he was interested in her. Sure, she was pretty. A stunner, actually. She had brunette waves hanging loosely from under her dove-gray beanie, a matching scarf over a fitted pink sweater, and leggings under some comfy-looking snow boots. Her eyes were a soft brown, the color of good whiskey, and she had a light smattering of freckles across her cheeks that said she wasn’t wearing much makeup. She was just a natural beauty. She was lean for what he was usually attracted to, but that was probably from bustling around hospitals all day. On her, lean looked pretty. It was graceful. Her legs were long and toned, and her ass had enough meat on it…oh my God, stop thinking about her ass.

This was Wreck’s sister-in-law. She was off-limits. Wreck had already said that in the meeting he’d called last night.

Garret didn’t have those same rules on him though.

A low rumbling sound emanated from Reed, and he took the trash bag full of dust and spider carcasses out to the trash can he’d seen sitting by the dilapidated garage. He glanced at Garret’s house. He would tell the Crew about him. He hadn’t sensed Dylan was a shifter when he’d met him last week, so that meant Garret was either not his full brother, or he had been Turned. Either way, he wasn’t on the list Damon Daye had given them of shifters in the area.

He didn’t know why, but he didn’t like Sasha living alone out here, unprotected, and this close to an unregistered bear shifter. Or whatever he was. He was big and dominant and stank of fur. Grizzly? Polar bear? It just didn’t feel right. What were the damn odds that she’d rented a house next door to him?

Reed turned to head back into the house.

“What are you?” Garret called.

Reed smiled to himself and scratched the corner of his mouth as he turned. “You first.”

“Does she know?” Garret asked. The polite smile he’d worn for Sasha was nowhere to be found now.

Reed debated on how much to tell this asshole. It was rude to ask a shifter what his animal was.

Reed inhaled and leaned on the garage, crossed his arms over his chest. “Does your brother know?”

The empty smile that graced Garret’s lips didn’t reach his eyes. “Touché. We’ll both be keeping secrets then, yeah?”

“I was never big on secrets. Sasha knows about me, and she knows about you, too. She’s protected.”

“By who? You?”

Reed chuckled and shook his head. “By something much scarier than me.”

Garret glanced in the direction of the mountains where Wreck’s territory was. Oh, he knew then.

“Yep,” Reed said simply.

“But she’s human.”

Reed pushed off the garage and made his way back toward the front door. “Let’s keep it that way.”

“I’m a bear,” Garret called after him.

Shhhit. He must’ve been newly-Turned. The idiot shouldn’t be talking about this outside, much less to a stranger like Reed. His Maker should’ve taught him shifter etiquette. “I know.”

Reed pulled his phone out of his back pocket and opened up the text thread to Wreck. There is a new-Turn bear shifter living next door to Sasha. I don’t like this. Send.

Name? Wreck texted back immediately.

Garret. Brother’s name is Dylan Hoffman. I’m guessing Garret Hoffman. Send.

I’ll look into it.

Reed shoved his phone back into his pocket and cast one last glance over to Garret, who was standing in his front yard watching him, then pulled open the front door and went inside.

Wreck could look into it all he liked.

Reed already knew everything he needed to know.