This Violent Reckoning (The Thunder Ridge)

Prologue

EVIE I feel her body succumb to the magnetic forces that always seem to drag us towards one another.

I pull her as close as I can, the weight of a sleeping child between us, and let my hand drift from her trim waist to gently cup the side of her face. She goes stiff, like she’s waiting for me to see all the ways she thinks she’s broken.

But I don’t back off.

I don't scare that easily.

To me, she’s not broken—she’s battle-scarred, stubborn as hell, and stronger than anyone I've ever met. Her amber eyes lock on mine, and the whole damn world drops away.

No noise. No past.

Just her.

I rest my forehead against hers, breathing her in, steady as a God damn rock.

She can fight it all she wants, build her walls as high as she can.

I gently begin swaying to the soft beat that fills the lodge, and with every sway our bodies make, I try to speak with my body what my mouth can’t put into words.

I’m still here.

And I know the truth.

She was never broken.

She was built to survive.

And she’s mine.

She’s always been mine.

We’re not even dancing anymore, but I don’t move.

I stand there, wrapped in the quiet of her presence, and for the first time in what feels like forever, she doesn’t seem out of reach.

She’s not lost to the pain and devastation that’s kept us apart, that’s built itself into a wall I haven’t been able to climb.

And I’m begging her—silently, desperately—to come back to me.

A throat clears behind us, snapping the moment in half.

Lou blinks slowly, and I feel it—the walls she’s worked so hard to build slamming back into place.

She steps away from my touch, and just like that, the space between us stretches wide again as she turns and walks toward the exit.

My heart drops, but I force myself to keep it together.

"Please don’t go, wildflower," I beg, my voice rough and desperate.

And then I feel it—my mama’s hand on my arm, light but firm, a quiet anchor in the chaos. She doesn’t speak, but her touch says everything—she’s here, watching, understanding this moment better than I ever will.

I pass Bash to my mama, and she looks me dead in the eye. “Go after her.”

I don’t think twice. I’m already moving, catching up to Lou just as she slips outside. Her damn hair glows in the moonlight like a beacon, pulling me toward her, no matter how much space she tries to put between us.

“Louisianna! Stop fucking running from me!”

She moves even faster, looking to escape me, but she can’t.

She can’t escape this.

She can’t escape me.

I close the distance between us in a heartbeat, my hand catching her arm and gently, but firmly, spinning her around to face me.

Before that sharp, vicious tongue of hers can cut me down, I step in, crowding her, pressing her back into the cool night air.

I silence her with nothing but the weight of how close I am, the space between us now charged with something impossible to ignore.

The night air bites at my skin, sharp and crisp, a reminder that the world is still and cold around us.

The lake stretches out behind her, a dark mirror reflecting the pale moonlight, its surface rippling softly as if it, too, feels the tension between us.

The silence hums, broken only by the rustle of leaves and the distant call of night birds, while everything else fades into the background.

But I don’t let go. Not for a second.

Because when someone is your beginning and your end, you don’t let them go without a fight.

Louisiana Wright is the beginning of everything for me.

I’ve loved this infuriating woman for most of my life, and I am done riding shotgun while she throws a decade-long temper tantrum.

I am tired of pretending—of this whole damn charade between us.

Watching Evie and Maddox today made it clear: I want that too.

Not with just anybody…I wanted it with her.

My body is flush against hers, every inch of her warmth sinking into me. I lean down, breathing her in—her scent wraps around me, familiar and intoxicating. It’s her skin, her hair, all of her. And just like that, the world drops away as I gaze down at her.

There’s only the pounding of my pulse and the fire that’s always burned hot and untamed between us.

“I’m done letting you walk away from me.”

She squares her shoulder and lifts her chin defiantly. “I don’t give a fuck what you’re done with.”

“Good because I don’t give a fuck what you want.” I snake an arm around her waist and pull her flush against me. She pushes at me and tries her best to wiggle free, but it does no good. I’m not giving up that easily. Then it hits me—that scent, it slams into me.

Freshly bloomed Magnolias and a hint of paint. Fucking hell. That scent is 100 percent her. I drop my head and breathe it in like I need it to stay upright, hell maybe I do.

“Fuck,” I growl against her slim throat. “Keep doing that, wildflower. I dare you.”

Lou goes completely still, her breath catching as it grows shallow. In that moment, I can feel it—she’s just as affected by me as I am by her. Her nails catch my shoulder, sharp and defiant. It stings, but it lights something in me—something desperate, something hungry.

“All this back and forth makes me so damn hard.” I trail my nose against her jawline and I can feel her tremble slightly against me. “God damn, I want you. I want to tie you up and taste every inch of this fucking body again with my tongue until it’s burned into your skin.”

A cold, humorless laugh slips from her lips. “Don’t forget my favorite part,” she sneers, making her full top lip curl. “The part where you look at me and tell me I’m a mistake. Or will you at least wait until your cum is done drying and trickling down my leg before you say it this time?”

I release her and step back. Angry at myself for being a stupid fucking kid and at her for pretending not to know me better than that.

She lifts her chin, eyes locked on mine. Amber—bright, wild, furious. Lou doesn’t flinch or blink, just tightens that jaw like she’s daring me to deny it.

She crosses her arms across her chest. “Don’t leave me in suspense, I’m dying to know how it will play out this time.” I clench and unclench my fist at my sides as she tries to flay me open.

“I was a stupid kid, Louisiana,” I confess, my voice thick with regret as I pinch the bridge of my nose.

“I thought I was doing the right thing. I just wanted to give you a chance to live life, figure out who you were. You’ve always been too big for this place, Lou.

” Too big for me; I don’t say it but it sits on my tongue all the same.

“So, you thought what, you fucking idiot?” Her pale brows knit, mouth twisted in something dangerously close to heartbreak. “To obliterate what was left of my already shattered world?”

“Lou—”

“No, Henry. You broke me,” she whispers, her voice barely audible, and I watch as a tear slides silently down her face, glistening in the moonlight.

“Do you have any idea what it’s like to grieve someone who’s still alive?

To have to keep seeing them, to be so damn deeply woven into their family that you can’t escape?

And then, because you decide you want me, I’m supposed to shove all this devastation aside and bend to your will? ”

She squares her shoulders, ready to tear into me again—but a quiet voice cuts through the air. I glance past her.

Two figures stand just beyond the clearing. Maddox’s glasses glint under the moonlight, unmistakable even from a distance.

Shit. I remember where I am. Today isn’t about us, and even though everything in me wants to stay locked in this moment, I know I can’t. Not like this.

Still, I can't walk away without saying it. Not this time.

“No, Lou,” I say, quieter now, but every word tight and raw. “I don’t want you to bend.”

I step closer, hands trembling as I reach up, thumbs brushing her cheeks like I might never get another chance. “I just want you. It’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted in my God damn life.”

She doesn’t move. Doesn’t speak. But the frantic pounding of her pulse against my fingertips tells me everything.

“You fight me so damn hard because you love me, wildflower. And it hurts like hell because you know it’s real. You know me better than anyone, and the fact that you can’t see through all this bullshit and just see me standing right here, loving you…”

My throat burns. I press my forehead to hers for just a breath.

“…breaks my fucking heart.”

For a heartbeat, I feel the world stop. Then just as quickly, I pull away.

I turn on my heel, the sound of my boots crunching against the dirt sharp in the stillness. This time, it’s me leaving, and I don’t look back.

Not even when I know she’s watching.