Page 26

CHAPTER 26

DECEMBER, LAST YEAR

J uniper dabbed beneath her eyes with a crumpled tissue as she stood outside, turning away from the frigid breeze sweeping across the tundra.

She still couldn’t believe her parents were no longer here. Everything seemed surreal, like a bad dream she couldn’t wake up from.

But she knew it wasn’t. Her parents had been brutally murdered. Now she had to face the future without them.

She stroked Starla’s face again as the reindeer stared at her on the other side of the fence, waiting for a treat.

Everything was always better when Starla and Tundra were around.

Her dad had nicknamed her Snow White because all the animals liked her. She was a favorite of the canines at the camp—they liked to follow her everywhere. The reindeer came running to the fence whenever she appeared.

Then last summer when a dark-eyed junco had landed on her shoulder, that had seemed to seal the deal. Snow White was her forever nickname.

She didn’t mind the description. She’d do anything to hear her dad call her that now.

She’d wanted to go to college—maybe become a veterinarian. She definitely hadn’t planned on taking over operations of this place at her age.

She supposed she could let Uncle Tim take the reins. It was what he wanted. But she didn’t think that was what she wanted. Though she and her parents hadn’t always seen eye to eye, she still wanted to honor them.

Caleb had encouraged her to not give up either.

Both Caleb and Pepper had been such a support to her since her parents’ deaths.

Sure, she had other friends, people she met up with on occasion when she liked to go into the city to have a little fun. They were mostly people she knew from high school or from scouts.

But right now, the thought of hanging out with them wasn’t appealing. She’d just lain her parents to rest. Probably two hundred people had shown up at the small church her parents often attended.

Everyone had looked truly sorrowful. Several had looked scared.

The December Dismemberer was only supposed to be a legend, a killer other people encountered somewhere far away. He was never supposed to be a reality here. That fact had shaken this community to the core.

The hardest part was returning back to life as normal. Because nothing felt normal. Usually in a time like this, Juniper would have relied on her parents.

Now, that was no longer an option . . .

Tears flooded her gaze, and she quickly wiped them away before they froze.

She looked up as footsteps crunched in the snow toward her. It was Caleb . . .

“Hey.” He paused beside her, his gaze soft with compassion. “How’s everything going?”

She shrugged and reached for the reindeer near the fence. “Starla is keeping me good company.”

“You know I’m here for you if you need me,” he reminded her.

“I know. And I appreciate that. Truly.”

Caleb and Peppermint were the only ones who knew her secret.

Had that secret gotten her parents killed?

A sob lodged in her throat.

It had, hadn’t it?

How could she ever live with herself?

Caleb pulled her into his arms and began to stroke her back. “It’s going to be okay.”

Juniper wanted to relax against him, but she couldn’t. “Someone might see us.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” he murmured. “Your parents were the only ones who cared if we dated. Now they’re not here to stop us.”

His words sent a chill through her. Caleb almost sounded as if he were glad her mom and dad were gone, like their deaths had worked out in his favor.

She stiffened and took a step back. What kind of person said something like that?

“Juniper . . . I didn’t mean it like that. You’ve got to know that.” Caleb reached for her again, an apologetic look in his gaze.

She took another step away from him. “Then how did you mean it?”

“I just meant we don’t have to keep things so complicated. No one is going to judge us for dating.”

She wasn’t so sure about that. Her uncle Tim wasn’t going to love this.

And she didn’t even want to think about romance right now.

Not after everything she’d lost.

But Caleb’s words still echoed in her mind.

He didn’t have anything to do with her parents’ deaths . . . did he?