Bending Steele by Sadie Hart

and he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to
him. Steele closed her eyes, but she refused to lean into him. “I
just watched her die. I didn’t run like my father, but I just sat
there and let that bastard kill her.”
    “There was nothing you could do for her.”
    “I could have slashed open his throat before
he butchered her. I could have killed him before he skinned her.”
    A sharp gasp sounded from her and she leaned
into him, a tremble running straight through her. “I could
have...”
    “Steele.” He breathed her name out, one hand
slipping behind her head to hold her to him. “How old were you? The
woman I’m holding now, she’d have done everything you said. But a
little girl?”
    He dipped his head to brush a kiss over her
temple. Along her jaw.
    “I was eight, but I’ve known how to use a
knife since I was six. My mother always taught me—”
    “You were eight . That’s still a
child.” He pressed his face against hers, felt the cool touch of
her tears against his cheek. “There was nothing you could have
done. Not against a grown man. An armed man.”
    He curved his hand around the back of her
neck, his thumb traced along the edge of her jaw before he pulled
away, tilting her face up to meet his. Her gray eyes were wet with
the sheen of tears. Hexe wanted to kiss them all away, but this
wasn’t a pain he could ease.
    “And you’re nothing like the bastard that
left her to die. Your father...” He shook his head, a growl trailed
up his throat but he held it back. “He could have done everything
you want to do now. He should have stayed and protected his
daughter. You were a kid, Steele. You couldn’t save your mom, but
he damn well should have been there to save you.”
    Hexe leaned into her, his forehead touching
hers before she could protest.
    “And you have never let her down. I promise
you that. She wanted you safe, not dead. She’d be damn proud of the
woman you are now.” His thumb traced the edge of her lips. “A woman
who’s going to a hunt a man just like the bastard that killed your
mother. That’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
    There was a heartbeat where she did nothing
but stare up at him, a small tear trailing down her right cheek. He
didn’t know what to say or do that would make her believe him.
Wounds that old wouldn’t heal just because some man wrapped his
arms around her and told her what he thought she needed to
hear.
    Then she stretched up onto her tip toes and
pressed her lips to his. They were wet with her tears and it took
everything Hexe had not to deepen the kiss. His hand tightened
around her neck, holding her close, but he let her go the moment
she pulled back.
    “Thank you.”
    And everything in her metal colored eyes told
him she meant it.
     
     

Chapter
Six
    Exhausted, Jacks hauled himself over the top
of the ledge, his gloves scrabbling for purchase in the snow as he
hurried away from the edge. He knelt, head upturned to the sky,
watching as his heavy breathing came out in white puffs that faded
into the darkness. It was dangerous to keep hunting this late, but
it finally looked as if he’d found flat ground for awhile.
    And so had his prey.
    The wind ran ragged up here, violent gusts
tossing up snow, but he could still see the faint outline of her
tracks. Distant thunder called, a rolling sound that shook through
the air, revitalizing him. “You can run, sweetheart...”
    Jacks staggered to his feet, his legs shaky.
Breathless and exhausted from the climb and the thinning mountain
air, he stood there breathing deep into the dark. Snow buffeted
around his legs and he shifted his rifle to his other shoulder,
eyes scanning the shadows around him. This would all be worth it in
the end. Enough money to make his family happy for forever. All he
had to do was haul ass for a little bit longer, nab his cat, and
then buckle down for one more night in this winter hellhole.
    The furs from these shifters were damn near
unheard of. Even the best