Raven's Hell - Jenika Snow Page 0,36

body that she was here with him, pressed close to him, and not going anywhere.

For several moments, all they did was lie there, neither saying anything. The sound of an infected groaning close to the church had him bringing his guard up and slowly rising. He kissed her on the forehand and moved to the loft. Once he was at the top, he moved over to the window that was cracked and allowed him to see outside.

One infected was moving around the property and then moved back into the woods.

After climbing back down and seeing Rebecca standing and putting her clothes on, he moved quickly toward her and grabbed her around the waist. She breathed out, rested against him, and he kissed the top of her head.

“It was just one, and he moved on,” he said softly against her ear. “Lie down with me and let me hold you, baby.” When they were both lying on the pallet again, he pulled her close.

“Are you afraid, Collin?” she whispered softly.

He thought about her question and answered without hesitation. “No, because fear is a weakness I can’t afford to have.”

She nodded and lifted her hand to hold his. He held her until she fell asleep, and continued to hold her until the nightmares of this world didn’t try to take Rebecca away from him.

Epilogue One

The sun was high, bright, and hot as hell. It was June, and although this high up in the mountains of Colorado, she shouldn’t have felt as though it was full-blown summer.

Today, it felt just like that. Rebecca picked up the shirt she was washing in the creek they found in the woods by the church. She wrung out the excess water, stood, and put it on the clothesline they erected.

Rebecca dried her hands on the towel by her feet and stared at the church. Over the last several months they had been here, they had done a lot to the property.

Collin had rigged up these infected warning traps, just empty cans and pieces of metal they had broken down from some of the furniture, and it had done well in alerting them to the stragglers that had come through the woods.

But they had both taken out their fair share when the infected had come too close, or when they ventured to the surrounding towns that were a good couple days’ walk from them.

She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and looked around. The scent of dirt, fresh air, and of the fish she caught earlier today filled her nose. There was a small garden off to the side, right beside the church.

The vegetables were still inside in the little greenhouse they erected on the second level, because frost still covered the ground on occasion.

They found the seeds when they’d gone scavenging. The place had been overrun with at least a dozen infected, but they kept to the shadows, been as quiet as they could manage, and had taken out what they needed when they were attacked.

The towns were always picked over, but they had been lucky on a few occasions and found supplies. The smaller cities were also less scavenged than the bigger ones, which helped in trying to find things to survive with.

Collin was over by the chopping block, stacks of dead wood by his feet, and the axe he found while they’d been going through the things on the second level was tightly grasped in his hand. He was shirtless and stacked the last of the lumber by the side of the church.

Sweat glistened off his body, and the sight of his muscles bulging had Rebecca on edge with desire and heat.

She moved over to the edge of the woods, walked past the evergreens and blue spruces, and stopped at the grave of the reverend who they found at the church all those months ago.

Rebecca had come to this spot numerous times since being here, maybe to pay her respects for a man who had clearly killed himself, maybe unable to handle the stress of a new world that probably felt like hell itself.

She hadn’t ever been a religious person, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t give her respects and say a little prayer of thanks to the man who had clearly built this church and called it home.

When she moved away from the grave, she saw Collin was now stacking several logs against the church. They had reinforced it to the max, and she had never felt as safe as she