Page 54 of Beneath the Mountain Sky

I flash a dirty look at his back. “They’re best friends.”

He glances over his shoulder and raises his dark brows. “Like that would stop her? You’ve seen the stuff she posts about us, about anyone else on the mountain. That woman’s a goddamn terror.”

“I don’t disagree with you. But I also don’t think she’d ever intentionally hurt Willow.”

Not the way I did.

She may be pushy and abrasive.

She might set Connor, me, and just about everyone else in town off with her stories.

But she’s been a great friend to Willow.

The sole person who has stood by her through thick and thin her entire life.

They might as well be sisters.

Connor can hate her all he wants, but Willow needs her. That means I have to set aside my animosity toward the woman, and he needs to make an effort to do the same.

For Willow’s sake.

And ultimately, that’s all that matters now, giving her what she needs to get better, to rebuild the life she lost.

Whether answers come or not, Willow will need everyone she loves at her side, and that includes Raven.

It just might not include me anymore. Not once I’m forced to come clean with her about why she left and how badly I hurt her.

In the dark last night, wrapped in my arms, she may have wished we could pretend the last year never happened and go back to how things were before, but that can’t happen.

The truth will come out eventually—on all fronts.

And it will undoubtedly mean nothing but pain for Willow.

7

KILLIAN

Raven looks up from her computer as I step into the cabin and close the door softly behind me.

My gaze immediately moves over the small space, my eyes seeking out Willow the same way the rest of my body and my heart do, but there isn’t any sign of her. “Where is she?”

The feisty blonde who looks less than pleased to see me points down the hallway. “She was exhausted and went to bed hours ago.”

I wince at the reproach in her voice.

Like I somehow abandoned Willow when I was really out trying to help her.

Just let it go.

It doesn’t do any good to argue with Raven right now, not when I’m as exhausted as it sounds like Willow appears to have been. And I have to follow my own advice when it comes to the woman on my couch and do what’s best for Willow, which means at least pretending to get along.

I reach down to untie my boots and toe them off as Raven closes her computer, slides it into a bag, then climbs to her feet. “How was she today?”

She releases a long sigh. “Okay, I guess? She had me take her to town.”

My back stiffens as my blood runs cold. “It isn’t safe.”

A blond brow rises sharply at me, and Raven crosses her arms over her ample chest. Her toe starts tapping as she gives me the same how-dare-you-question-me look she always has. “You think it’s safer for the two of us up here alone at your remote cabin than it is on Main Street with dozens of people around us? Most of whom have known us our entire lives.”