Wilder (The Wild Ones Book 3)

by C. M. Owens

  She won’t even talk about him to Sally. Now I know she’s hurting worse than she let on, just because I see her wiping her face as she goes like no one is looking.

  She’d be pissed if I saw her like that, so I look away, giving her the space I know she’ll want if she’s upset even a little bit.

  All he did was touch her long enough to pull her out of the way, and that made her cry.

  Shit.

  Kai pulls me out of my thoughts as he threads our fingers together and starts dragging me away from the fight that makes zero sense.

  Someone starts playing Born to be Wild very randomly over a set of speakers, and the brawl seems to intensify as Nila starts cheering for Killian and her brothers. Krysta starts cheering her brothers on.

  Mrs. Nickel starts singing over the music, her voice ridiculously loud. “Blood and sweat and tears and joys! We all love rain like we love our boys! Rain! Rain! Bring on the rain! End our struggles with cold wet pain!”

  Vick shouts, “Turn off that damn fight song or they’ll never stop!”

  Instead, Born to be Wild only plays louder, drowning out most of the chaos as we get farther and farther away.

  We pass Sally, who is wide-eyed and clutching her heart.

  “I get it now,” she says on a weary breath, sagging against a tree. “I get it now,” she repeats.

  My lips curl up in a grin that seems to dumbfound her, as I continue walking away with Kai.

  “The axes just get thrown to get them out of the way before they hurt someone,” Kai tells her like that’s the only issue at hand, never slowing down as he drags me away.

  I glance back to see her gawking at him like he’s sprouted a second head.

  Born to be Wild gets even louder.

  “Turn it off!” Vick shouts through what sounds like a megaphone. “Who’s playing that damn song?!”

  My fingers tighten on Kai’s, as he guides me through the woods, and I struggle to keep up, even with my new, practical boots.

  There’s a small shack just up ahead, and he quickly guides me into it, shutting and locking the door behind us. Then he pushes me against the door as his mouth finds mine, and I drink him in as I scramble to undo his jeans.

  It’s bitter cold, but I don’t care as I push his jeans down, and then shove his shirt off his shoulders.

  I never thought I’d call such a small, incredibly crazy place my home with so much pride.

  Wild Ones Tip #5

  We don’t ask you to take the stick out of your ass, so don’t ask us to be normal.

  Epilogue

  KAI

  *******

  “They’ve spent all winter together! I don’t think it’s right to look the other way every winter just because it’s too troublesome to take action!” Chester Perkins gripes as he turns that traditional red-face angry color he turns at every town meeting.

  Piper leans against me, eyes bouncing around like she’s intrigued by the whole setup.

  Vick drops his head to his arm.

  “I need a vacation,” Vick says on a tired breath.

  “You can’t take a vacation! No one else will do this job,” Chester argues.

  “That’s the only thing I will ever agree with Chester about,” Bill states with a firm nod, crossing his arms over his chest.

  Vick glares at him. “Of course that’s what you agree on.”

  “Vick only loses his cool this bad and gets really cranky during the winter,” Hale explains from the other side of Piper.

  “They aren’t even sitting in their own sections!” Chester shouts, growing enraged.

  I roll my eyes and resume whittling the chunk of wood, trying to mold it into a deer for Piper.

  She kisses my shoulder like she’s worried I’m going to get mad at Chester while holding a knife.

  She doesn’t know I’m usually holding something bigger and sharper at these things. I can’t stand idle hands.

  I get in too much trouble when I have idle hands.

  “Why does it smell like rotten fish in here?” she whispers.

  I snort, surprised and caught off guard by the question, and Nila turns around to look back at us, gesturing at me.

  “My brother is an asshole. Congratulations. You bagged yourself a real winner.”

  Just as she turns around, a guy I barely remember faces her, having just come back to Tomahawk for the first time since he was a kid.

  “Hey, you’re Nila, right?” he asks her with a smile too wide for his face.

  My eyebrows bounce up in surprise at the brazen audacity to speak to my sister with a smile like that right in front of me.

  Killian cracks his knuckles, but…Nila squeaks out a sound.

  She follows up that sound with, “Hibbida. Hibbida. Hargara.”

  Piper’s eyes go wide in confusion, as the guy’s smile slips quickly. He stares at her like he’s waiting on her to make sense.

  I smile to myself, glancing back down. Nila has issues talking to guys she finds attractive. Killian hates the fact she can talk to him. I don’t have to worry about my sister ending up in anyone’s bed. And my girl is on my arm instead of across the country.

  Life is good.

  Nila stands, ducks her head, and then darts out of the aisle, racing toward the back door when the guy continues staring.

  Killian still has that murderous look in his eyes, but I’m all smiles now.

  The guy turns around just as Vick bangs his gavel on the podium. “Let’s move on before I get a migraine. Someone will get locked up if I get a migraine, and it’ll be the first person who pisses me off.”

  He glares at Chester like he’s daring him to argue. Chester curses as he drops back down to his seat.

  “Anything else to bring forth?”

  Ma stands, and I stop whittling, curious what she’s going to say. She never speaks much at these things.

  None of the Wilders do.

  “I need to call dibs on the town square on the fifth of next month,” she tells him.

  Why the hell does she need the entire town square?

  “Why could you possibly need the entire town square?” Vick asks her.

  I hate that I just had the same thought as Vick.

  I need a shower now.

  “For my boy’s wedding, of course,” Ma tells him.

  The knife tumbles out of my hand, stabbing into the wooden floor beneath me.

  “I don’t want everyone on our land, so it’d be easier just to do it in the square,” Ma adds.

  Piper looks over at my two brothers like she’s confused.

  “Which one is getting married?” she asks me.

  “For a wedding, something can be arranged,” Vick says with a shrug.

  I don’t answer Piper, even as she tugs at my sleeve.

  “Damn it, we need to also discuss these Wild Ones going after all these unsuspecting men and women who don’t know no better. They think it’s all fun and games, never seeing what hell awaits them!” Chester says, picking a new fight since he lost the last one.

  “Can it, Chester,” George Malone barks.

  Chester glares at him. George glares back.

  They’ll end up in lock-up before the meeting ends.

  “Kai, you have to follow the fucking law and do all the premarital things required for it to be a legal marriage,” Vick tells me like I’m some sort of idiot…or rebel.

  I wouldn’t say I’m either, honestly.

  I just don’t like all the rules that I break. I follow them when I like them or have no choice, damn it.

  Piper goes stiff beside me.

  “What?” she blurts out.

  Vick gestures at her. “You too, Piper. Also, you’ll need to start using a flag at other Wild One residences when you go to visit, no matter what Kai tries to tell you,” Vick tells her.

  I shake my head.

  “Don’t do it. It’s too controlling,” I argue, glancing down at her.

  Her eyes are really wide. Clearly the wedding is taking her by
surprise. But for once, I see no reason to argue with Ma.

  Two months is enough time to decide to marry her. Technically three months, if you count the first five weeks when I was accidentally falling in love with a girl who I’d have never imagined belonging in Tomahawk.

  “That’s cheating!” Penny crows.

  “You had your niece hogtied and kidnapped to attend her wedding, and then you dragged her down the aisle. How is that not cheating?” Greta fires back at her.

  “Rain is pure and light and magical. Let’s do things more sporadical,” Ivory Nickel sings, standing up to do her rain dance that isn’t really a rain dance.

  Ivory is one of a kind.

  Sometimes she makes it rain. Well, actually it’s hard to say. Since she rain dances regularly, it could just be a coincidence that it rains sometimes.

  To be fair, she’s not insensitive. She just really wants to represent her husband’s heritage and loves it a little too much sometimes. The problem is, she thinks she has the power to make up her own ‘powerful’ songs to go with her own ‘powerful’ dance moves…

  “Why are they talking about us getting married?” Piper asks, while Ma and penny argue a little more about who is doing what wrong.

  Usually Piper gets more distracted when Ivory does one of her dances and chants.

  Ma should have just surprised her like Penny did Lilah. We can always kidnap her and drag her down the aisle later.

  “Because we’re getting married. Don’t worry. I won’t get you pregnant any time soon,” I assure her, since that’s been Lilah’s biggest concern since the beginning.

  I’m not a completely oblivious idiot. I do pay attention to some things.

  “When the hell did we decide this? Did I get drunk and forget about getting drunk? Because we’ve never even discussed the future. I hardly think now is the time to be reserving wedding venues,” she hisses.

  “Does she even want to get married?” Vick asks, back to massaging his temples.

  “Do you see how dangerous they are? Kidnapping, forced marriages, and—”

  “Shut up, Chester,” almost everyone says at one time.

  Chester drops to his chair. “I’m not wrong this time! You can’t force a girl to get married!”

  “Worked for Lilah and you didn’t care then! You just want to win an argument,” Ma snaps, glaring at Chester.

  “Piper, blink three times if you’re being held against your will,” Vick says.

  Piper stares wide and unblinkingly at him, her lips moving but no sound coming out.

  “See? She’s marrying me by choice,” I tell Vick, annoyed that he’s trying to step on my dreams.

  What have I ever done to him? Well, aside from all the things he gripes about that I’ve done, I mean. Other than those things, I haven’t done anything at all.

  “I-I-I—”

  “Lilah’s my own flesh and blood! I knew what was best for her, and just look how much she loves being married!” Penny shouts, back to arguing with Ma. “Piper is a city girl with rich parents who might take issue with their daughter getting dragged down the aisle.”

  “You kidnapped Benson too! You had your boys hog tie him and bag his head until time for the ceremony,” Ma carries on.

  “Is this for real right now?” Piper asks, her nails digging into my arm as she bounces her gaze from Lilah and Benson, who seem more interested in each other than the argument going on, and back to Ma and Penny.

  “Benson wasn’t resistant, from what I saw,” Vick states dryly, looking at Ma.

  Penny fist-pumps the air like she’s winning something. Ma puts her hands on her hips, getting her ‘serious’ expression. I grin, because we’re about to win.

  “That girl moved all the way across the country to be with my boy. Either she’s crazy or she’s just crazy in love,” she tells him.

  Piper buries her face against my shoulder, muttering something about drinking the water.

  Leaning over, I kiss the top of her head, and then I put my arm around her shoulders, drawing her to me. Her face gets pressed into my chest like she simply can’t be seen right now.

  “Why don’t we talk about the skunks that Wilder fool put in all the homes on my side of the lake three weeks ago?! Everyone had to bathe in tomato juice for a solid week,” Chester gripes. “We keep having more and more of these meetings, and they keep getting away with more and more!”

  Vick drops his head back, and he groans.

  “The skunks only went into the homes of the men I saw trying to steal my girl with their mommas’ cooking,” I remind him. “I mean…I didn’t do that. Skunks are wild animals that sometimes get into homes…”

  “How can I stand for this?” Chester snaps.

  “One thing at a time, Chester,” Vick grumbles.

  “You’ve got a Wild One asking a law enforcement officer’s permission to kidnap a woman, and I’m the one you’re frustrated with?” Chester harps.

  Vick pauses, and then he looks over at Ma. “He has a point for once.”

  “I’m just asking for the square,” Ma defends, standing a little taller and more primly as she flashes a smile toward Vick. “Look the other way that day, and Kai will start raising his flag like he’s supposed to.”

  Vick’s eyes widen, and I decide it’s a reasonable concession if I get to marry Piper without any outside interference coming to talk sense into her.

  He taps his chin, seeming to consider that.

  I nod in agreement with the deal.

  “Well—”

  “You can’t let them kidnap a girl just to get a flag raised!” Chester says as though he can’t believe this.

  “She’s not going to resist. It only took her five weeks to fall so head over heels for my boy that she moved across the country to be with him,” Ma argues.

  Piper whimpers against my chest, tucking herself closer to me. It only helps my case when everyone sees her practically inching into my lap.

  “By the time the wedding rolls around, she’ll be in fit form and raring to go,” Ma assures Vick.

  “Deal,” Vick tells her, and he points the gavel at me. “Raise that flag every time you’re supposed to.”

  Grinning, I nod. It’s a small concession for the prize.

  “You can’t be serious!” Chester barks.

  “Can it, Chester!” George snaps.

  “You’ve got your priorities, and I’ve got mine,” Vick states dismissively, banging the gavel. “The Wild Ones have been in one place for too long. I’m afraid all other issues will have to wait until the next meeting.”

  “We still need to talk about the skunks,” Chester says, but Vick is already ushering people out.

  Releasing Piper, I stand up on the chair, cupping my hands around my mouth to make my voice carry.

  “There are still a lot of dishes in the lost-and-found boxes at the diner that need to be claimed,” I call out to them.

  “As if they’re going to claim them now that you’ve skunk-bombed the others,” Nila says as she comes back in, snatching her bag from under the chair she abandoned. “Bye, future sister! I can’t wait until you’re in our family.”

  Piper just stares in confusion at the whole scene.

  “That wasn’t for real, right? It was some sort of funny hazing? You know, because I’m the new girl in town or something?”

  I tuck her against my side, kissing the top of her head, as I smile and steer her out. I’ve got plenty of time to make her want to walk down that aisle.

  It’s going to be a damn good year.

  I guess I need to go buy a ring and figure out a way to make my bride less resistant to marry me.

  Thunder rumbles overhead just as we get outside, and rain immediately drops out of the sky like icy bullets.

  “I made it rain! Honey, I made it rain!” Ivory Nickel shouts as she leaps into her husband’s arms.

  Welcome to Tomahawk. They say not to drink the water. I think the rest of the world is crazy and we’re the only ones who’re s
ane.

  To each his/her own.

  THE END

  Thank you for reading Wilder! More Wild Ones are coming! I’m just not exactly sure who will be next. I guess I’ll see who wants to be written the most. <3

  Author Note:

  This book was fun and maddening to write. The characters’ personalities always develop on their own. Kai was very inexperienced with relationships. Piper was inexperienced with guys who were inexperienced…

  Yeah…

  Anyway, Piper was fun, simply because she was trying really hard to grow and be a better, more accepting person. Tomahawk is sort of removed from the progressive society (and a little bit from the chaos of the world) and boasts its own values and priorities.

  Kai wasn’t burdened by his father’s memory, but he did sometimes reflect on his past and worked extremely hard not to be as selfish and over-the-top reckless as his father was. Much like Kylie, he’d been hurt by someone who should have loved him more, and he never wanted to be the sort of person his dad was.

  They were two very different people who slowly moved into some common ground. This book is a little longer than the others (and longer than I meant for it to be) simply because the relationship took a lot of fleshing out, and this was the first out-of-towner who saw Tomahawk for the first time in their own respective book.

  It was fun feeling them both fighting something they knew would be too powerful to walk away from. Piper thought she had to return to her family. It didn’t take too terribly long to realize she needed to make her own happiness a priority at some point, and she wasn’t very happy after leaving Kai behind in Tomahawk.

  Love actually sneaks up on us from time to time when we don’t even realize it for ourselves.

  That element plays into Tomahawk a lot, because the Wild Ones are a family that may fight a lot, but they love each other, pay attention to each other, and step in when they see too much struggle going on, much like Penny did with Lilah. Lilah paid it forward, and tried to reel Reese and Piper back in, only succeeding with one…for now. ;)