Page 35 of Cold Foot Curse

“What’s the bet?”

“Ten bucks. So far, we’ve just been betting on it by minutes. Katrina thinks ten minutes, Timber said they’ll make it half an hour. Harley said thirty seconds after they get through the door, and she bets Cash will send her an ‘I miss you’ text.”

Jess snickered. From what Raynah had said about her female Crewmates, they seemed fun. Way more fun than the females in Sister’s Edge. “I’ll be curious on who wins that bet.”

“I’ll text you the results,” Raynah promised.

They left the pizza place, and Raynah drove her back down the street to her house—errr, her rental temporary house. Jess waved her off and made her way inside grinning like a lunatic. That was the most fun she’d had with another girl in as long as she could remember. Raynah was an easy talker and seemed so chill. Oh, she felt big, and dominant, and her animal was probably a monster, but Jess liked that about her. When she’d been able to Change into her animal, Jess had been a monster too. It was nice to be around a woman who harbored a beast and knew her power, and had confidence, and not one who had been badgered into thinking she was smaller than she really was.

It made her even more curious about the Cold Foot Crew. She kind of wanted to meet more of them.

She hoped Kade would get off work soon. She was starting to build up things she looked forward to.

Coffee mornings on the back porch with the firepit turned on.

Picking her outfit from the ton of clothes Raynah had sent over, fixing herself up, liking herself a little more each day, realizing no one was here to tell her what to do.

Then she usually biked around town and explored little shops and restaurants, and today, she’d excitedly told Raynah some good news pretty much immediately after talking to her for the first time, and that’s why Raynah had taken her out—to celebrate. And now she got to tell Kade? Who had apparently been asking his friend about her?

That had to mean something, right? He liked her or something? At least as a friend, and that was pretty cool. Sure, he was a murderer, and probably a liar about that murder, and because of her lineage, she could never really fall in love, but she was putting that in the back of her mind so she could just live in the moment here.

She was experiencing happy moments, and it had been so damn long since her heart had smiled like this.

Her phone rang, but when she jogged into the living room to check it, her heart hit the floor. Misty was calling. Again.

Jess considered answering, but she knew how the conversation would go. It would go like her texts and her voicemails. It would be guilting her into coming back. Shaming her for wanting more than the adequate life she’d had.

The call stopped, and then another came through. This time, it was a Facetime call from Derek, and there was that pull of the bond to her Alpha. She tried to resist answering. She tried so hard, but she couldn’t force herself to put the phone down.

Heart hammering inside of her chest, Jess accepted the call and sank slowly onto the couch as her Alpha’s face showed up on the screen.

“I tried to do this the nice way,” he said as his greeting.

“What do you mean?” she asked softly.

“I tried to have you make contact with Misty, whom you have formed a friendship with.”

Had she? Misty was Crew first, and Jess’s feelings dead-last, but okay. She was her sister-in-law though, so she could see how Derek would think that.

“Is there something you need?”

Derek’s eyes flashed brighter, and he bared his teeth, which were too sharp. The terrifying expression lasted for just a moment before he composed himself and relaxed his face once more.

“Would you like to ask questions?” he asked.

“What kind of questions.” God, she hated playing games, and that’s all the Sister’s Edge Crew did. Wait. That’s all that they did. She frowned. Jess had never realized the amount of game-playing until right now, at this moment.

“Perhaps you should want to ask about how your Promise is doing? Ask me how Connor is? Ask if he lived?”

Dread washed through her. Had he died from his injuries after all? Had Kade killed him? “Is…” She swallowed hard. “Is he alive?”

Derek waited five seconds before he answered. “He’s fine.”

“What the fuck,” she said on a breath, turning the phone away from her as she rested back into the couch, and then sat up again to face her Alpha. Why had he done that?

“Connor is not my Promise,” she said, trying to control the shake in her voice. “I have no signed Promise contracts right now.”

Derek narrowed his eyes. “And yet you left with your former Promise. Any more questions for me?” he asked, like she was supposed to read his mind on where he wanted to take this conversation. “Like maybe you should ask how your house is. It’s demolished. And your brother? And your sister-in-law? Your family? They are homeless.”

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