I had reached her in time to watch the fierce green fire die in her eyes. She was mortally wounded, but there was no revenge, hatred, or malice in her eyes. She could not focus properly on me. Her poor body had gone into convulsions. Her mouth was open, but no sound was coming from it.
I realized there was nothing I could do for her, but offer her an escape from her terrible pain.
I reached down and kissed her cheek, I swear her eyes swiveled and looked at me. In that moment we learned more about each other than ever before. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d shed a tear, but I couldn't stop them pouring down my eyes. We both knew in that moment what needed to be done.
She was ready to go.
She had crawled as far as her wounded body would allow her to, to get back to me. Now it was my turn.
“My brave Cepti. Don’t you worry none. I’ll take care of everything. No more suffering for my beautiful girl.”
I swallowed my pain, lifted her head, and snapped her neck quickly like it was a twig.
Her lifeless body lay in my hands. It had been years since I’d lost anyone of value in my life, and I’d almost forgotten how that felt. Now I’d lost one of my family. The pain was indescribable. Chepi was young and so full of vigor I had even imagined she’d outlive me, and worried what would happen to her when I was gone, but she’d been cruelly robbed of her best years.
Suddenly, the pain was too much and I roared an almighty scream of anguish. I’d dabbed the tears away and with my almost frozen crimson hand, I yanked the arrow in one clean thrust out of her chest. Her blood was already becoming solid in the freezing temperatures.
For a second I stared at the arrow. A Tac arrow!
I knew then this was no accidental killing. Whoever shot Chepi was a professional hunter with one of the most expensive and accurate crossbows available. Its bolt speed is so incredible that no animal in the world would have time to react before it hit. Its power was such that it would penetrate any fatty tissue and shatter any bones in its way at eighty plus yards.
Considering it had felled a wolf, it was probably a PSE Tac Elite. My grief quickly turned to the kind of black rage that completely engulfed my senses. An owl hooted back in the spruce, a tree cracked sharply with the frost as the rest of my family members started appearing all around me. Andak, Adam, Rolak, Koa, Lobo …
One by one they had come to pay their last respects. I heard a sound and whirled around, more animal than human. I had forgotten about her. Lara was standing in the middle of the snow holding a blanket in her shaking hands.
“Kit,” she cried out, her voice filled with fear.
“Don’t come any further,” I said. My teeth were chattering.
Instead of turning away and going back to the house, she came forward, one arm outstretched, her feet sinking into the snow. I pulled Chepi’s still warm carcass into my lap and heaved her up as I got onto to my feet.
Carrying the dead body of my daughter, I walked towards Lara.
As we reached Lara, her hand connected with my arm. Instinctively and quickly she threw the blanket over my shoulders. Then we ploughed back to the house through the thick snow where I laid Chepi on the floor of my living room.
My feet were blue and I was shivering uncontrollably.
Lara came close to me and pressed her body to mine. I had been alone for so long. Closed off to everyone. Then this woman came, brought a sweetness I had never known and … an enemy.
Someone who doesn’t want me to be with her.
Thirty-five
Lara
We buried Chepi that morning. The air was still and bitingly cold, and I could hear the wolves milling about. Kit said wolves could smell death from an awful long distance, but I don’t know if they completely understood that Chepi was gone forever. They must have known something serious was happening though, because the mood was somber.
Kit cried for her last night.
He left the bed before dawn and quietly crept downstairs to sit with her. When I went down an hour later I crouched down beside him and held his face in my palms. His tears wet my hand. It was as if he lost a child.
“I’m so sorry,” I said.
“Her suffering was short,” he said quietly.
I never realized just how much he loved that wolf, but I knew how he felt. I had lost the ones I loved before, and I knew that there was not a single thing anyone could say that would have made things better for me. Only time could slowly make you forget the worst of the pain. I just held him tightly in my arms and cried for him.
Now as I stood in the cold, still air, listening to the sound of the earth falling on poor Chepi, I didn’t feel sad. I felt fury. I knew exactly who had done this. I couldn’t tell Kit because that could escalate everything out of control. Sawyer, being the coward he was, would simply deny everything. Everyone else, except, maybe Elaine, would think I was a fantasist looking for attention.
Who in their right mind would even believe that a handsome man, engaged to the belle of the town, would be so infatuated with a blind girl he would come out in the middle of a freezing night and kill a wolf belonging to her lover? It sounded unbelievable and crazy even to me.
“Come on. Let’s go in,” Kit said.
I turned towards him, my hands outstretched. “I love you, Kit.”
He drew in a ragged breath. “I hope the day never comes that you regret you ever met me.”
I frowned. “Why should I regret loving you? You’re a good and kind man.”
“I hope you’ll always remember that,” he said sadly.
“What is it, Kit?” I asked worriedly.
He took my hand in his and placed his cold lips lightly on my cheek. “Let’s go back inside. You’re freezing.”
“Are you hiding something from me, Kit?” My voice came out hushed and frightened, even though I was not. Not even a bit. I trusted him with my life.
“For what it’s worth, darling, I’d rather die than lie to you, or see harm come to you. Let’s not talk of that now. It will all come out one day.”
His hand tightened around mine and my insides churned as he began to lead me towards the house.
Thirty-six
Kit
Sheriff Bradley was a man with sly eyes. You could find men like him all over America. Corrupt excuses for men, who were not interested in the truth or upholding the law. They were only interested in being the lapdogs of the richest families in their counties, going to extremes to help them maintain their wealth. In return they get to play a little power trip game called “I’m The Sheriff” for as long as possible.
The Sheriff squinted his eyes at the bloody arrow I had placed on his table. “So no one actually threatened you?” he said. There was something challenging about his voice.
It made my blood boil, but I controlled it. Nothing was going to bring Chepi back, but I needed to send a warning to my enemies. They had fucked with the wrong guy. “No.”
“So it could be kids messing about with arrows.”
“It could, but it’s not. It happened at 3.00 a.m.”
“Could be hunters then.”
“Wolves are protected by law. No one is allowed to hunt them down … Sheriff.”
His glance flicked at me, then away. “I’ll investigate of course, but it’ll be hard to find someone based on an arrow. A lot of people have crossbows these days.”
I took a step closer and watched his body make an involuntary start in fear. “It belongs to a very expensive weapon. At a guess, I’d say it was a PSE Tac Elite, but since you’ve got the arrow you don’t need me to tell you that. You can track it down easily. And once you find out that it is a $3,000 weapon, I’d start with the grand families of this fine town.”
He sucked his teeth. “Like I said, I’ll investigate, but I don’t hold out much hope. As you’re probably aware, crossbow owners are not required to have licenses.”
“There are tire and boot marks outside my property.”
“I’ll get my deputy to go on by and check the evidence.” The way he said evidence set my teeth on edge, but there was not a thing I could do about it.