Page 50 of Thunder Pass

This was some scary shit.

He glanced over at Ruth, who’d been quiet ever since they’d left the Hiland Correctional Center. They were driving down a long stretch of nearly empty highway, traveling through the Matanuska Valley with its wide, winding river and vast farms. “You okay?”

“Mmm. I’m worried. Naomi wasn’t able to guarantee that the kids won’t be in danger from whatever Luke is doing. I wonder…” She trailed off, looking more troubled than he’d seen her this entire trip. She was in the middle of braiding her hair, her fingers moving deftly through the thick mass of curls.

“You wonder what?”

“Well, Kelly asked us to figure out who the new people are at the compound. One way I could do that is to move back. If I’m living there, I have a better chance of protecting the kids from whatever’s going on.

“No.” His reaction came so fast and sharp that it surprised him. “You can’t move back.”

She looked over at him in surprise, fingers pausing near the end of her braid. “Why not?”

“They won’t accept you. It would be like…like a baby chick who’s been handled by a human. The hen won’t take it back.”

She burst out laughing. “I can’t believe you’re using a chicken metaphor! You know chickens are my favorites, right?”

“I did not. Chickens? Not cats or dogs or, I don’t know, horses?”

“Do any of them give you breakfast every day?”

He conceded with a smile. “Okay, fine. Chickens rock. Anyway, you have to admit it’s a good metaphor.”

“No, it’s not, because I’m a full-grown hen myself. Basically a mother hen to those kids.”

“But the Chilkoots won’t trust you. Would they even let you move back?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But I can ask. I can beg. Whatever it takes.”

What a terrible plan. He hated everything about it. Once she was on Chilkoot property, he wouldn’t be able to protect her. He wouldn’t even know what she was doing. They’d be completely out of touch, with no cell service and no WiFi.

Unacceptable.

“If Luke let you back in, he wouldn’t let you see anything important. And if he caught you spying on his people—” His stomach clenched.

A soft hand touched his arm. “You know I can take care of myself, right? I lived there for the first twenty-seven years of my life. I know how to survive there.”

“Yes, but that was before.”

Before what? He wasn’t sure. Before…before he’d felt this way about her. This fierce, protective, touch-her-and-you-die way.

“Gunnar.”

He looked over at her, seeing understanding on her face, but also determination. “I won’t be able to live with myself if I don’t do what I can to protect the children.”

He got it then—Ruth wouldn’t be Ruth if she didn’t put herself between her younger siblings and danger. Maybe that was why he…cared for her so much. “There has to be a better way. You can’t go back there, it’s not safe. What about Sarah? She needs you, too. So does Martha. And the sheep.”

And me. I need you.

“We can talk about it later,” she finally said. “I was thinking we should probably stay another night out here, so we’re not completely exhausted when we get home. Maybe in Blackbear?”

Now this plan, he could get behind. Maybe he could convince her not to go back to the compound by blowing her mind in bed.

“Sure. The Wagon Wheel usually has rooms.”

“And do they have, you know…” She lifted her eyebrows suggestively. It took him a moment to catch on, but then he laughed.

“Uh, no. But any drug store will.”

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