Chapter 14 Morco #2
Caius lifted his boot and stomped down on what remained, splitting it in two.
“What?”
“And they destroyed Hanne’s garden.” Caius kicked the debris aside, back toward the fire. “We’ll have to start over now.”
My eyes shifted among all of them, trying to make sense of what they’d. But who would do that when it violated their own best interests? “Who?”
“It’s gotta be Krull,” Caius said. “Maybe Allegra…”
“Why would either of them do this?” Jealousy wasn’t a strong enough reason to do something that hurt the entire tribe as well as themselves.
“We heard…sounds…from Hanne’s cabin last night,” Liam said. “And we know you were in there.”
I shifted my gaze to Hanne.
She didn’t look the least bit embarrassed.
“I noticed Allegra leave like she was crying,” Caius said.
“And I know Krull was around,” Liam said. “I don’t remember his reaction, but he was there too.”
I looked at the broken and burned bow that Caius kicked aside, and I released a frustrated sigh. As if I didn’t have enough problems to handle…
Hanne released a sigh. “Guess we should have been more discreet.”
“We don’t have to be anything.” I wouldn’t hide my relationship with Hanne just because some asshole didn’t like it. “Help Hanne rebuild the garden. That’s the priority. We’ll work on the bows afterward, and we’ll store them in my cabin.”
“What are you going to do?” Caius asked.
“Handle this.” I walked off.
Caius quickly caught up to me. “Something you should know.”
I faced him, eyes narrowed.
“A couple days ago, Krull and Hanne had some kind of altercation. By the time I noticed something was going on, she’d drawn a knife on him.”
That’s my girl. “Good.”
“I told him off, and he left.”
“Why are you telling me this now?”
“Well, she asked me not to say anything.”
Fuck, she was proud. And fuck, I liked it.
I left Caius and found Krull first because I believed he was more capable of this than Allegra. She could be emotionally unstable, but not destructive and spiteful.
He sat at the table and watched me come closer, indifferent to the pissed-off look on my face. His arms were folded on the table in front of his empty bowl of stew, ready to face off with me in a stubborn fashion.
“Get up.”
He remained seated. “Do you have orders for me, Chief?”
“I said, get up.”
He didn’t move, his angry eyes full of resistance. “I didn’t do it.”
“Do what?”
“Destroy your little weapon and mess up your pretty garden.”
“You sound pretty defensive.”
“I’m just saying I didn’t do it.” His eyes moved to another table before they darted back to me. “Maybe you should ask your old toy over there.”
I lunged ahead and flipped the table over like it weighed nothing. The bowl flew through the air. The girls screamed and got out of the way as I barreled down on Krull, who’d fallen back in his chair in surprise.
I grabbed him by the front of the shirt and yanked him up before I clutched his neck and threw him hard on his back. “Say that again.”
He stilled, looking up at me with furious eyes like he wanted to lurch up and kill me.
“Fucking say it.” I stepped forward.
He quickly crawled back and fumbled to his feet.
The Gathering was dead silent, watching us face off in the light of the bonfire.
Krull looked at me with wild and open eyes, his nostrils flared with his labored breaths. We’d never seen eye to eye, but we’ve never openly opposed each other like this. It looked like he wanted me dead. “I said I didn’t do it. I’d fucking say it if I did.”
I came closer.
This time, he didn’t move back, his arms tense by his sides, ready to punch me if necessary.
We faced off with an audience that watched without taking a breath. “Come near my girl again, and I’ll burn you alive.”
His eyes flicked back and forth between mine.
“Look at her, and I’ll fucking do it.”
His lip was slightly curled in a snarl, looking just like the wolves I’d fought in the dark.
“If I find out you did this, I’ll banish you to the darkness.” I turned my back on him, tempting him to attack me because I’d love nothing more than a justification for the violence I wanted to unleash. But he let me go, burning holes into my back with his stare.
Hanne and the guys worked to salvage the garden.
Others joined in to help because everyone’s lives depended on its success.
I didn’t come for Allegra right away because that conversation needed to happen in private.
The last thing I wanted to do was humiliate her in front of the tribe. With Krull, he had it coming.
When hours had passed and the tension had settled, I found Allegra with the girls, all of them working with the fur they’d skinned from the coyotes to make more clothes for the tribe, along with baby clothes for the new arrivals.
She looked up at me before I arrived, like she knew this conversation was bound to happen.
I nodded toward the trees and walked off so she would follow me.
She came to my side, and the two of us walked down the path and left the Gathering. Hanne didn’t notice me leave, too absorbed in the garden. The seeds had been scattered when the dirt had been shoveled into a pile, so everyone was combing for every single seed they could find.
I noticed Allegra didn’t look at the garden when he walked by.
When we were far enough away that no one would hear shouts or see tears, I faced her directly.
I normally would have had a private conversation within the confines of my cabin, but the last thing I wanted to do was make Hanne uncomfortable by being alone with Allegra—in the place where I’d bedded her.
I wanted to come at her hard and start a relentless interrogation, but unlike Krull, I actually knew her. Knew her well. I knew I would have better success if I came at her gently. “Are you okay?”
The guard in her eyes dropped when she heard the question. Surprise came and went before the softness emerged. “Not really.”
I sympathized, but only so much. I’d already moved on, and I wished she wouldn’t guilt me for it. “I’m not sure how to make this better. We live in such close proximity that it’s not a relationship I can easily hide.” And it wasn’t a relationship I wanted to hide at all.
She crossed her arms over her chest, and her eyes dropped.
I waited for her to say something more, to help me resolve this. “I know she’s pretty and she’s smart…but I’m both of those things too.”
“You are, Allegra.” But there was no comparison between the two.
Allegra didn’t have an ounce of the bravery that Hanne possessed.
And Hanne was so proud that she never would have pursued me if their situations were reversed.
She would let me go because she knew she’d find something better.
She wouldn’t settle for less, and that was the kind of woman I wanted.
“I don’t want to justify my feelings. I don’t owe you an explanation.
Our relationship was purely physical, and there was no misunderstanding about that.
” I struggled to have a conversation I’d had so many fucking times, to be burdened by her feelings that I’d never asked for.
Now, I looked like the asshole, when I’d been honest with my intentions from the beginning. “I’m sorry that you’re hurting, but—”
“Morco, I love you. And I can’t pretend I don’t.”
Fuck. I did my best not to show my frustration, but it must have flashed across my face in a split second because she looked like she was about to cry.
“I’m sorry that’s such an inconvenience to you.”
“Allegra, what do you expect me to do with that? You know I’m not going to say it back, so you’re just making me feel worse when I’ve never intentionally tried to hurt you. It’s fucked up, honestly.”
Tears welled in her eyes, and she sniffled loudly as she blinked furiously to pull them back.
I tried to be gentle, but I’d somehow made the situation worse. “Allegra, did you destroy Hanne’s garden?”
She wiped her eyes with the backs of her forearms and sniffled again.
My eyes penetrated her gaze and dug for the information beneath the surface. “Allegra.”
“Give me a second.”
“It’s not a hard question to answer.”
She crossed her arms again and wouldn’t look at me.
I hadn’t believed she would do something like that, but now I didn’t know. “Allegra.”
“I didn’t do it,” she snapped. “You think I’d be capable of that?”
“If you didn’t do it, why won’t you look at me?”
She sniffed again, and after a moment, she looked up and met my gaze with a lack of conviction and confidence.
“You lied to me.” I could see it in her face, see the truth behind the lie.
“I didn’t do it.”
“The act is already unforgivable, but the lie is just unacceptable. Your actions can be a mistake, but a lie will destroy your reputation. There’s no coming back from that. So look me in the eye—”
“Fine.” She burst into tears, shameful ones. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I just… I snapped.”
“And the bow?”
She wouldn’t look at me again.
I’d falsely accused Krull in front of everyone, and if I didn’t hate him so much, I’d feel bad about it. But as a leader to the tribe, I had to rectify that wrongdoing with a conversation. But my other threat was still valid.
“She just came in here and took you away, and everyone likes her and—”
“How does destroying her contributions change anything?” I did my best not to yell, knowing it wouldn’t help the situation. I was so mad that I was beyond yelling, which was a dangerous level.
“Like I said, I just snapped.”
I’d told Krull I would banish him to the darkness as punishment for this treason, but it felt wrong to inflict that punishment on a woman who wouldn’t survive a day. Who’d given in to her grief and jealousy and did something irrational. “I have to punish you, Allegra.”
She sniffed. “I know…”
I was tired of this conversation. I didn’t want to look at her for another second. “I’ll make that decision at another time.”
I arrived at Krull’s cabin and sighed before I knocked.
My integrity led me here. Obligation made me clear his name when I didn’t want to look at his face. But it was the right thing to do, and I always tried to do the right thing.
He was pissed off when he opened the door, like he knew it was me before seeing me. “Here to banish me?” he asked sarcastically.
“No.”
“So you figured out who actually did it?”
“I did.”
“You should have asked Allegra first.”
I cocked my eyebrow. “You knew it was her?”
“I’m not a snitch.”
“How did you know?”
“I saw her.”
“And you did nothing to stop her?”
“Nope,” he said. “I would never cross a woman in a fit of female rage.” His hand remained on the door. “Going to banish me for that instead?”
This motherfucker was insufferable. “I came here to retract my accusation—and apologize.”
“Apologize? I’ve heard no apology.”
I pressed my lips tightly together and refused to say it. “Nothing has changed between us. Come near Hanne, and I’ll honor my threat.”
He gave me the coldest stare. “Allegra was your partner. Not Hanne.”
“She was never my partner.”
“As far as the tribe was concerned, she was. You were together for months. Just because Hanne drops from the sky doesn’t mean you get to switch.”
“She chose me—and I chose her. If you want a partner, Allegra is available.”
“I’m not interested in another man’s leftovers.”
“I don’t need a reason to kill you, Krull.
” And I had several reasons to put him out as bait and hunt the animals that came to sniff his corpse.
“You’re more trouble than you’re worth, and your contribution to our tribe is questionable at best. Hanne is the most valuable person here, and if you’re a threat to her, then you’re expendable.
Be gone from my sight and disappear from my mind—and I might just let you live. ”