Wild Men of Alaska Collection - By Helmer, Tiffinie Page 0,138

release was fast and shattering, promising a new life, a new beginning.

He turned off the shower, dried them both off, and then bundled her up in a towel. As though she were something precious, he carried her to bed.

The night was silent, snow drifting on the air in fluffy flakes outside the window. Before joining her in the shower, he’d lit a fire in the fireplace. The flames had warmed the room and gave it a comforting glow.

For a Christmas scene it was pretty perfect.

“Do you think you could learn to like it here?” Sergei snuggled her into his arms. “Vill you consent to stay until you’ve experienced vhat I can show you about living on The Edge?”

“I don’t want to go anywhere, right now.” She burrowed against him, loving the heat of his body, the warmth of the bed, the promise of a treasured tomorrow.

A prickle of worry intruded. “What about the occupants of the lodge?” she asked. What would they think of her when they returned? Would she be welcomed?

His arms tightened around her as if to ward off her unnecessary worries. “Ve are a family of misfits, here on The Edge. You vill fit in beautifully. They vill love you as I do, Katja.”

A family of misfits. They sounded like her kind of people.

“And vhile I do love a brisk vinter, I’m not averse to visiting the tropics and little scraps of clothing decorating your luscious body.” He kissed her shoulder. “I have a bit of cash to spend.” He glanced around the room, eyeing what she’d done to the bed. “Shopping to do.” He lifted her left hand and kissed her ring finger. “A ring to buy.”

Her breath caught as her heart expanded in her chest.

“Katja, let me buy you the vorld.”

“I don’t want the world, Sergei. I just want you.” She proceeded to show him how much.

THE END

EDGE PREVIEW

COMING SOON!

PROLOGUE

Twenty Years Earlier

The knife reflected the setting sun on its upward arc, resembling a torch as well as the instrument that would end her life of twelve years. She struggled against the ropes tying her down until her skin tore and bled, slickening the rough stones on the altar she lay on.

All the while Jedidiah Dawson, leader of the Ascension, quoted bible verses.

Methodically, he sliced a length of her long, golden hair, and turned toward one of the nine homemade beeswax candles placed at strategic points around her body. Like a sick nursery rhyme the candles marked head, shoulders, knees, and toes, with her hips added in. The solstice sun highlighted his handsome, strong features, his smooth shaven face, adding shots of fire to his groomed maple-colored hair. Tonight he had donned a coal-black robe, embroidered with white and blue threads over his simple cotton, button-down shirt and jeans.

Praying for her deliverance, he brushed the burning locks of hair over her nude body. Sparks flared from the blaze, burning her skin where they fell.

Her hoarse screams went unanswered.

“Don’t,” she cried. “Please, don’t do this.” She’d done what they wanted. Stopped fighting them months ago, resigned to her fate from being a kidnapped victim to the prophesied daughter and wife to Jedidiah.

The knife trembled in his hand, and he tightened his grip. “You failed to conceive and therefore must be cleansed.” He brushed tears from her face with gentle fingers. “Now, hush. It’s time.” The knife rose above her and he closed his eyes, his voice ringing throughout the verdant forest. ‘Kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.’ Numbers 31:17.

Like that had been her choice.

He bestowed a look of caring patience upon her. “My child, I will make you sacred in order that you may ascend into the Kingdom of our Lord.”

“I don’t want to ascend. Let me go home. Please. I just want to g-go h-home.” Sobs shook her emaciated frame.

“I am sending you home, my daughter, my wife. Soon you will be with our Lord.” Tears filled his dark eyes. “‘O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.’ PSALMS 137:8.”

He kept repeating chapter and verse as though still teaching her. He brushed his lips across her forehead. “Know that I will miss and pray for you often as you prepare a place for me and our brothers and sisters in our Lord’s Kingdom.” The hand holding the knife rose above her again. The blade didn’t tremble as it sliced downward.

The thick forest embraced her screams and the rich