“No. I don’t think so. It’s just… she asked to keep it secret.” Ned rubbed his eye, staining his cheek with blood in the process. What a fucking mess.
Cole briefly hid his face in his palms, only to peek through his fingers when Dog whined like a baby. “What about him?” he asked softly, staring at the beast’s broken leg and the blood already soaking through the fabric wrapped around it. As hard as this was, Cole had been there with Thunder. Sometimes, it was mercy to let an animal die.
This time it was Ned who whined as he lay down by his beloved pet. “He has a chance. We should take him to a doctor. I know a quick route down the mountain to a little village where we could get help. There’s no snow to slow us down. I just… I don’t have any money, Cole.”
Cole wanted to argue against this. The doctor, or anyone in that village, could have seen their faces on the gallows. Risking their lives for a dog was foolish, but when he looked at the poor thing, the ice cap covering his heart started melting. The beast had saved him. Didn’t it deserve the same courtesy in return?
His gaze wandered to the cabin engulfed by fire. They were far enough for it to not pose immediate danger, but they couldn’t stay at the homestead overnight. Everything would be gone come morning.
Ned had nothing.
Nothing but the few things he’d carried through the tunnel.
“I’ll pay. I owe him that much,” Cole said and gave Dog’s trembling head a gentle pat.
The smile stretching Ned’s face didn’t fit the blood smeared on his cheek. “Hear that? You just gotta push through, and we’ll take care of you.”
Which also meant Cole would be sticking around with Ned that bit longer. But with the house burning down, it was impossible to make any plans for the future. It wasn’t as if he could leave Ned homeless and without the means to feed himself and his animals.
And then, there was the issue of the boy.
Ned sat up and ran his fingers through his hair. One side of his face was illuminated by the raging fire, while the other half hid in the shadow. This was how Cole saw Ned. He might think he knew everything there was to Ned, but a piece of this man was always obscured and out of his grasp.
Ned got up with a deep exhale, but fuck only knew what was going on in that red head. After the stunt with the wood carving, he might as well have been a walking stick of dynamite. “I’m sorry for this,” he muttered, picking up Dog as gently as possible but the animal still whimpered, twitching as if he wanted to be lowered.
“We better move now, before the fire spreads,” Cole said in a soft voice. It seemed like all the fury he’d felt toward Ned less than half an hour ago had been left in the burning house.
As he stepped toward Carol’s stall, intending to saddle her up, a soft groan made all the hairs on his body bristle. He turned around to look at Zeb’s prone form.
The bastard’s fingers twitched.
Cole swallowed and met Ned’s gaze. “He’ll follow wherever we go. We shouldn’t leave a loose thread,” he said, even though the words stung his throat as if they were cacti.
Ned lowered his head, as if he were smelling Dog’s fur. “I… I’m done with revenge, Cole. Let’s leave him to fate.”
Cole bit his lip so hard it hurt. Was he done with revenge? He could never love Ned again the way he had in the past, but he didn’t seek to kill him anymore. He may not have forgiven Ned but was ready to let go of hate.
Words pushed at his lips, but he couldn’t bring himself to say them, so he just nodded.
“We can’t leave him though,” Ned said as they both turned their attention to the boy.
“Thank you for stating the obvious,” Cole said with a tired exhale. “What’s your name?”
Just as expected, Lotta’s child signed in the same way she used to.
[Tom.]
Cole was sensing an incoming headache.
Chapter 17
It only took a momentary lapse of attention for the frigid animal that Tommy was to scurry away and rush off between the trees, into a darkness so dense even the best eye couldn’t have discerned his shape. But his legs were short, his coat—too large on him, and Cole caught up with the boy before he could have gotten lost in the wilderness.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he snapped, pulling on the boy’s collar and sinking to one knee to face him.
When Tommy spun back, the glow of the newly started fire caught the dampness in his eyes, and Cole’s anger dispersed right away. What the hell was he doing yanking on a small child like that? Then again, what did he know about children and their needs?