Page 48 of Cold Foot King

Timber and Wreck stood with their backs to the northern lights and posed, smiling.

“All riiiight,” Katrina drawled out. “Go on, kiss her.”

Wreck cast his mate a look and then scooped her up, held her under her ass as she bent one leg and rested her forearms on his shoulders. Timber leaned down and kissed him, and Katrina clicked away.

“Hold!” She advised them. The shutter speed was slowed because of the dim lighting, and if they froze, she could get a good shot of them.

She kept clicking as Wreck let his mate slide down his chest and settled her in the snow. His eyes were so soft on her, and gah, this was inspiring. The phoenix had fallen for a human mate, turned polar bear, and he was building a family around her. Katrina could see it so clearly.

This was the way love was supposed to be.

“Why are you touching your scar?” King asked low from beside her.

Katrina let her hand fall to her side. “I didn’t realize I was.”

His eyes were glowing gold, like his gorilla was riled up, but his gaze was soft on her.

“Everything is just different than I thought,” she admitted.

In front of them, Wreck pulled Timber tight against his side, and they watched the Northern Lights together. Katrina took another picture of them from the back. She hoped they liked the pictures when they reviewed them later.

“It was not like that for me,” Raynah said from beside Katrina.

She frowned over at her cellmate. “What do you mean?”

She shook her head, denying an answer.

Katrina stared at her as Raynah stared up at the green lights in the sky. “Your animal didn’t bond to the Jackal. Right?”

She didn’t answer. Didn’t move. Didn’t flinch.

Oh shit. Katrina draped her arm around Raynah’s shoulders and pulled her in close. “We’re all messed up, aren’t we?”

A full minute passed before Raynah spoke. “It happened to you, too.”

“Huh?” Katrina asked, unsure of exactly what she’d said under her breath.

Raynah twitched her chin toward King. “It happened to the two of you, too. It’s the medicine they gave us. It makes you bond.”

In horror, Katrina stared at her. No. No. That wasn’t right. She and King liked each other.

He had broken out of that prison to protect her. He was still here protecting her. Making sure she was good. Because they were a good match, not because the medicine had made their animals bond. They were in control of themselves now…right?

She looked up at King, but he was staring at Raynah with such a troubled look in his eyes.

Katrina slid her hand to the inside of his elbow. “Stop. We’re different.”

King’s chest rose and fell faster as he stared straight ahead, and then up at the northern lights. Katrina had never seen a more uncertain look in a man’s eyes. She didn’t like it. They were okay. They were out, and they were okay!

“Stop,” she whispered again, slipping her hand into his. “Please.”

He squeezed her hand once, but the uncertainty didn’t leave his eyes. He’d spoken to her of overthinking, and now she could so clearly see him doing that.

“That’s it,” she muttered, squatting down. She scooped a handful of snow and balled it up quick, then pelted it right at his face.

The look of uncertainty etched into his face turned to that of shock.

“Ooooh!” one of the other shifter crowed. He squatted down and started making a snowball.