Page 16 of Cold Foot King

A soft knock sounded at the door, and it surprised her. It had been a couple hours since she’d left the meeting. She’d begun to think King wasn’t going to come back to the room, but that was just hope talking.

She debated not opening the door. He could sleep outside for all she cared.

She inhaled deep and shook her head. Why had she gone back for him? Why had she released him in the first place? And why had she said all of that outside in front of everyone? She had practically begged for a place for him with some new Crew, but why did she care?

Another knock sounded, softer this time. She pushed off the counter and scrunched her wet hair with the towel as she went. When she reached the door, she pulled it open and stepped aside.

King was there, leaned against the frame, glowing gold eyes soft.

He was a massive man.

“You can have the bed. I’ll sleep in the bathroom,” she told him as she retreated inside.

King came in and tossed her a paper bag that smelled deliciously of hamburger. “I got you dinner. Figured you could use some food.”

He made his way to the bed and gave her his back, pulled his flannel off, and folded it across the back of the single chair at the small table near the bed. He removed his beanie and set it on top of the dresser.

Curious, Katrina opened the paper bag. Sure enough, there were hamburgers inside. And French fries. And also the small box of…She read the label as she pulled it out slowly. It was a pregnancy test.

She could feel him watching her—gauging her reaction, perhaps.

“I don’t think I am,” she murmured.

“I want to be sure,” he rumbled. His voice still wasn’t back to human.

She held the box up. “Where did you get the money for this?”

“Oh.” He pulled something out of his back pocket and handed it to her. It was a sealed envelope, and when she opened the flap, inside, there was money. A quick count said there was a hundred dollars in twenties. Next, he handed her a small phone that looked really simple and old school. “They have them programmed to only connect with the people here. We’re in Deadhorse. The prison isn’t even that far away.”

Confused, she asked, “Why wouldn’t they take us farther away? There will be media and cops all over that place. They’ll come here to look for us. I don’t know much about Alaska, but I’m pretty sure there aren’t that many places to rent a room.”

The bed creaked loudly as King sank down onto the edge. He rested his elbows on his massive thighs and shook his head. “I don’t think they’re worried about the guards or media. Wreck told us Damon targeted the prison to drag human attention to what was going on inside.” He cracked his knuckles. “We don’t have to talk about it, ever, but you should know, Damon caught wind of the experiments they were doing, and he’s trying to put a stop to it. He needed the humans to report on it, and question the security of the prison, and to dig deeper on what is happening there. Wreck said if we turn on the TV, it’ll probably show Damon being interviewed on the news.”

“Pretty sure he won’t be telling the human public he broke thirteen of us out of there.”

King huffed a laugh and shook his head. “I’m guessing he’ll leave that part out.”

“Thanks for the food. It’s not what I would spent my money on though.”

“I didn’t spend your money. I spent mine.” Truth. “Wreck gave us all a phone and cash. Said we could go to the general store. I was going to get you snacks, but I don’t know anything about you. Figured you could go later if you need some space from the room.” He cleared his throat. “If you need space from me.”

She was quiet so long, unsure of how to respond to his understanding, it became awkward. She lifted the box. “I’ll get it over with then.”

He gripped his wrist with his other hand. She’d seen him doing that out at the meeting. “Why do you do that?” she asked him.

“To check where my pulse is. My gorilla reacts to adrenaline. Sometimes I can tell if he’s coming by my heart rate. Sometimes not. It’s nice to think about having some kind of warning, or control, though.”

“You don’t have control of your animal?” she asked.

“Sometimes yes, sometimes no.” Truth.

“Great.”

“I won’t hurt you.”

“Chh.” She didn’t know why what he’d said brought on the flash of anger. She hugged the box to her chest and made her way into the bathroom without looking at him. She’d never done one of these tests before, and she was nervous, so she had to read the instructions three times before she understood.

She set the pregnancy test on the counter, upside down because she couldn’t stand looking at the little blinking hourglass that told her the result wasn’t ready yet.