CH 1-10

Summary

In a world where meteorites caused a second ice age, Morgan has to keep her small group safe, but will it be at the expense of her own happiness or safety?

Prologue

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“As the first snowflake settled, it whispered secrets of a winter tale waiting to unfold.”

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This story is set in a post-apocalyptic world around 2030.

A meteor shower has plunged the world back into a second ice age. Billions of people died during the crash of the meteorites and billions more died in the years that followed.

The remaining humanity tried to build a new existence by establishing small settlements in underground shelters, underground stations, bunkers and all, as the icy cold made it difficult to survive above ground.

Most settlements wanted to survive and keep the peace among themselves, but as always, this was not true for everyone.

Small gangs of robbers looted the more peaceful settlements of their food and livestock, and young, fertile women were not safe from these looters either.

In one of these settlements, Morgan lived with her 17-year-old daughter Reah, her 14-year-old son Viggo and 12-year-old stepdaughter Elise. Morgan’s husband had died during the meteor shower five years earlier. Although life in the new era was tough, they were happy.

Until one day, now three days ago, a gang of robbers turned their lives upside down again.

Together with her children and elderly couple Steve and Mads, Morgan managed to flee.

1.

An unexpectedly strong, icy wind knocked him backwards and he disappeared into the three-metre deep snow. Large, thick, icy lumps of snow slid under the brim of his hoodie, along the collar and into his jacket.

“GOD DAMN IT!!! FUCK! FUCK!!! FUCK!!!” Cursing aloud, Nox tried to turn around.

But it was difficult. The snow was deep and there was nothing to hold on to. When he finally managed to get on his hands and knees, the punishing wind made it difficult to stand up, and it was only after the fifth attempt that he managed to do so and stay standing.

Exhausted and badly irritated by the struggle, Nox began to make his way back to his home. Hunched over and using his bow for support, he ploughed his way through the deep snow. At one point, after what seemed like endless white torture, Nox looked up. Lifting the brim of his fur-lined hat to see if he was still on the right track, he saw the grey outline of the old factory through the thick, chasing snow, and heaved a deep sigh of relief. Home sweet home!

Once inside, he locked the large sliding door and staggered, cold and stiff, into their small, heated shelter, collapsing with a thud on the small wooden bench near the entrance.

“Well…? Did you find anything in the traps?” His brother’s dark voice came from somewhere in their living quarters.

Without looking up or answering, Nox began to remove his isolation clothes. As he hung the coat on the hook to dry, he shook his head regretfully. The isolation jacket had definitely seen its best days. There were holes everywhere, the seams were coming loose and although Nox had done his best to patch it up with bits of old cloth, the coat offered little protection.

Nox looked down at his wet sweater. It too had seen better days, he thought to himself.

After hanging up his wet insulating trousers to dry and setting aside his soaked boots, Nox changed into dry clothes and stepped into the warm living quarters.

“Is it too much trouble to answer?” Nox looked at his brother who was repairing a wooden chair leg at the dining table.

As he walked to the fireplace to warm up his frozen limbs, his gaze slid to his brother who had been busy at the dining table.

Despite being blind, Shane was an incredibly handy bastard, Nox thought to himself as he saw the almost finished leg in the man’s hands.

“Yeah… it is…”

With an angry gesture, Shane threw the wooden chair leg onto the table with a loud slap.

“You really are a piece of shit, Aidan! You know that!” Nox snickered. Shane always called him by his real name when he had pissed him off.

Although Nox knew full well that Shane couldn’t see him, he slowly turned to look at him. “If I had something in the traps, don’t you think I would have brought it in first to give it to you, my dear blind little housewife…” He replied mockingly.

With a dark, unearthly growl, Shane jumped up, knocking over his chair. Although he had been blinded in an accident while working as a police officer six years earlier, he was certainly not dependent on his brother, and with deadly precision he threw his razor-sharp chisel at Nox, who managed to dodge the sharp tool just in time.

“DON’T FUCKING MOCK ME, ASSHOLE!”

With his large hands clenched into fists, Nox moved towards his brother, coming to a halt in front of him. His face was now so close to Shane’s that their noses almost touched, and suddenly he felt a small trickle of blood run down his right cheek. Shane clearly had a perfect sense of direction, the chisel had just grazed the side of his cheekbone.

“Pull a stunt like that again, Shane, and I’m going to bash your head in!” The tree-high man growled.

Suddenly a sound reached their ears, coming from the main entrance, and both men froze.

“What the fuck?” Nox whispered.

At the same moment, Ace, their German shepherd, who had been watching the argument from a distance, began to growl. The hairs on his back stood on end. Ace was not the only dog the two men had, they also had a small pack of five sled dogs, but these five were used to living outside. Nox had built an entrance on the other side of the building so that the dogs could go inside when a blizzard hit. This way the dogs could go in and out whenever they felt like it.

But at the moment, Ace was the only dog whose attention had been caught by a strange noise. With his eyes fixed on the door, his head down and his legs stiff, the big dog walked slowly towards the living room door. There it stopped and began to sniff at the underside, a low growl rising from its throat.

Quickly, Nox looked around to see where his weapon was. Even though he no longer used it for hunting, as bullets were scarce, he would not hesitate to use it on uninvited guests, and he suspected that this might be the case now.

To his relief, the rifle was still neatly hanging on the hook by the door, where he had left it last time after cleaning and re-oiling it.

With a few long strides, he stood by the door, took the rifle from the hook and pushed the dog aside with his knee. “Stay here, lice ball!”

Behind him, he heard Shane grab something from one of the cupboards and turned his head slightly to look at his brother out of the corner of his eye.

To his surprise, Shane was twirling a large hammer around in his hands, and there was a devilish grin on the corner of his mouth. Nox chuckled inwardly. Apparently, Shane was in the mood for a brawl too….

“I’ll go along the outside wall, you take the way around the back of the stairs? Ohh and stay in the shade and out of sight, then we can surprise any visitors nicely.”

As stealthily as possible, the brothers crept towards the main entrance. The howling of the storm was almost deafening, but the sound of the main door slamming with a loud bang was impossible to miss, and then there was silence.

Suddenly he heard soft whispers from several people and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Nox could not hear what was being said, but he could make out the voice of at least one male and several female voices.

Carefully, he placed his weapon on his shoulder and stepped out of the shadows.

“What are you doing here?” He watched as a jolt of fear went through the small group of people standing in front of the large steel door. Startled, the small group turned around and he saw six pairs of eyes staring at him fearfully.

“Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot! We mean you no harm! We didn’t know this place was inhabited. We were just looking for a place to hide, nothing more! Please don’t shoot!”

To his surprise, he saw a small figure breaking away from the group and placed itself in front of the others. As if its small size could protect the others, Nox thought scornfully.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw his brother emerge from the shadows and walk towards him. Annoyed, he shook his head. Why didn’t that idiot stay in the shadows?

He turned his attention back to the small group of people. “Pack your stuff and get the hell out of here! We’re not a hotel, find somewhere else to stay!”

Shane had moved closer and bent his face towards him. “The group is mostly women and children, Aiden… I only heard one male voice and it’s an older voice too… It’s storming, you can’t just send them away.” Though his brother’s voice was no more than a whisper, Nox could hear him clearly above the roar of the storm, but he was not prepared to play the Good Samaritan.

“GET THE FUCK OUT!!!” And he pointed the barrel of the gun at the group.

“NOX!” But his brother did not listen and instead kept his gun pointed at the group.

The small figure who had stood protectively in front of the group walked cautiously towards them, palms raised to show that he or she was unarmed. The click of a rifle being cocked made the figure pause for a moment before continuing on its way. Halfway through, the person slowly reached for the brim of the fur-trimmed hat and pushed it back, revealing the pale face of a woman.

2.

A small, pale face with large, frightened eyes looked up at him pleadingly. Slowly, Nox let his gaze sweep over the petite woman. His eyes narrowed as he noticed a large bruise on the side of her jaw, a blue eye and a split upper lip. Someone had punched her hard in the face. Nox clenched his jaws tightly. Whatever she had been through was not his problem!

Before the woman could say anything, Nox took a big step forward and placed his large body inches from hers, forcing her to tilt her neck all the way back to look at him. “Which part wasn’t clear to you?”

His voice was gruff and dark, hoping it would scare her off. But it didn’t.

“Please… there are three children with us and Mads, the older woman, is badly injured…. If you send us out into the freezing cold again… she won’t survive!

Look, I’ll do anything, but please let us stay! I can cook, clean, hunt, you name it! And, and… Steve may be old, but he can still help… with various chores… and the kids can do their bit too! Please let us stay! I’ll do anything… Anything! As long as you let us stay!”

Nox looked at her with narrowed eyes. Despite being beaten black and blue, she had a sweet face, and he shifted his gaze from her to the small company behind her.

If he decided to let them stay, he would have no choice but to go hunting again tomorrow in this bloody storm… Besides, their supply of canned goods was running low and they had no fresh stuff… but… a few extra hands were actually more than welcome…. His eyes slid back to the woman in front of him, who looked at him expectantly. All this time, to his surprise, Shane had remained in the background, for which he was grateful.

“Everything?” Nox’s voice was low and deep.

The woman nodded her head vigorously. “Yes!”

Nox said nothing, just tilted his head and looked at her intensely. He watched her eyes grow wide as the ambiguity of his question slowly dawned on her.

As expected, the woman looked away nervously and began to rub her hands restlessly. To give her time, he glanced back at the group behind her. He saw that they were eyeing him suspiciously. Nox expected her to reject his offer anyway, but to his surprise she suddenly took a deep breath and straightened her back.

Her gaze found his again and she looked at him with big, uncertain eyes.

“I agree, but I have two conditions…” There was a slight tremor in her voice. Nox squeezed his eyes into slits but kept his mouth shut.

“The two girls are off limits…”

A snarl escaped Nox’s throat. “Of course they are!”

The woman just nodded and continued to look at him seriously. “…And secondly… I don’t want the others to know about this… ‘deal’…”

Nox shrugged and chuckled. “Fine by me… Gather the rest of your group and follow me…” Deliberately rude, Nox turned his back to her, signalling that their conversation was over.

His gaze rested on Shane as he did so. His brother, much to his surprise, had been silent the whole time.

Nox watched as Shane’s eyes slid past him, as if they could follow the woman. He grinned, although the man was blind, he knew his brother was probably following the woman’s footsteps until she was out of earshot.

It was only when Shane was sure the woman was out of earshot that his eyes slipped back to his brother. Even though he could not see Nox, he could sense his brother grinning.

“Are you out of your fucking mind? You actually told her that if she and her group wanted to stay here, she should fuck you! What the hell are you doing?”

Though he knew his brother could not see it, the scornful grin appeared on Nox’s lips, and with an elegant swing he slung the rifle over his shoulder. With his other hand, he gripped his brother’s shoulder tightly as he leaned his face forward to his brother’s ear. “If the idea disgusts you so much, Shane… why didn’t you just open your mouth? Hmmm? Oh yeah… wait… you’re going to get laid too! So don’t be such a hypocrite! Blaming me for a simple condition of their stay. We both haven’t been with a woman for years, and now that the opportunity has presented itself, I just took it. She could have said no, it wasn’t like I held a knife to her throat…” and without waiting for an answer, Nox walked back to their quarters.

“What was that all about, girl?” Even though Steve hadn’t been able to understand what the tall man had said to the young woman, Steve had clearly seen that whatever the man had said had caused a shocked reaction in Morgan and he didn’t like that at all.

“There’s nothing, Steve… We… were just discussing some terms of our stay.” Morgan gave the older man a forced smile, hoping he wouldn’t elaborate.

“Don’t talk nonsense, Morgan! That big idiot… said something to you, something that startled you! I may be old, but I am not blind, girl! What did that bastard say?”

A warm glow went through her at the suspicious look in her old friend’s eyes, and the forced smile gave way to a sincere one.

“Nothing, really nothing Steve, he didn’t say anything in particular… They just don’t have much and I promised we would help them restock…” She quickly raised her hand at the shocked look on his face. “Don’t worry, I didn’t say anything about the seeds! That’s our secret until we’re sure these two can be trusted. Perhaps we can leave as soon as Mads has recovered sufficiently. …. For now, I have only agreed that we will help them with the daily chores, hunting and repairs to the factory…”

The frown on his face told Morgan that Steve didn’t believe her, but to her relief he didn’t insist on it any further, at least for the time being.

“Are you coming with me or are you going to stay at the entrance? Because otherwise you better get out of here!” The tall man’s thunderous voice echoed through the large, cold machine hall.

Quickly, the small group gathered their belongings and followed the two brothers up the stairs to the men’s living quarters.

The two men’s living quarters were small to say the least. They had converted two offices into a living room and a sleeping area, and with wood, insulation material and old blankets that Nox had found on his scavenger hunts, they had tried to insulate the rooms as best they could. But the factory was old and draughty, and though Nox did his best to keep things as warm as he could, the factory was too big for one man to handle. The freezing cold was rotting the walls and it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep things warm, even in the two offices.

After hanging his gun back before removing the bullets, he watched with folded arms as the small group scurried past him towards the fireplace. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a tall figure stop and come up beside him.

With a sideways glance, he watched as the old man kept his eyes on the two women and the three children.

“I don’t know what you said to her or what kind of deal you two made, but I’ll be keeping an eye on you and if you or your brother ever have the guts to hurt her in any way… by God, I’ll kill you…” Before Nox had a chance to answer, the old man had walked over to join the others.

A grin crept across his face; the old bastard had a lot of guts, Nox had to give him that. Not many men would have dared to threaten him so openly.

3.

Even though he had long since gotten used to his blindness and had learned to cope with his disability, right now Shane wished with all his heart that he could have his sight back.

The woman’s voice had been sweet. Uncertain and frightened, but sweet. And he had heard children’s voices. Not the voices of little children, thank goodness, but of teenagers. At least Shane thought they were teenagers, and teenagers were hope, hope for a future. There were, if he had heard correctly, two girls and a boy in the small group that had joined them. And there was an older couple among them, he had heard the man talking to his brother. Well, talking, Nox got an obvious warning from the old man. Shane couldn’t stop himself from chuckling. His brother was a big, mean-looking guy, always had been, and to hear the old man challenge him…. Frankly, it was a relief to hear other voices. It had been just the two of them for years, and having these people around now felt like a weight lifted off his shoulders.

He had tried to help Nox as best he could over the years, but his disability had made things difficult. But now that these strangers were here, there was a chance to start a new community, something he had hoped for so long. He had never told Nox of his hopes. His brother had been a loner and had no need for others. That he had allowed this small group to stay was a miracle, but probably had everything to do with the woman whose voice sounded so sweet. God, he would love to see her… What would she look like?

The image of his fiancée, Jenaifa, loomed before him. Her long, black, curly hair. Her dark skin with the full red lips and broad smile… But most of all, her long, slender legs and thick ass! Oh man, what a hot body that woman had!

“What are you grinning at?” Nox’s gruff voice snapped him back to the here and now.

Shane sighed and shook his head. “Nothing that concerns you… But won’t you go and help our guests clear out the office next door? We can’t all camp out in our bedroom, can we now?”

His brother’s bawdy laughter irritated him immensely, but not at the moment he wanted to sneer at him did he hear Nox walking towards the unused small office.

“Hey! When all of you are warmed up, you can start cleaning your new bedroom…” With a swing, he threw open the door to the third room.

As the room was unheated, a chill came in, making Shane shiver.

As she warmed herself by the crackling fire of the homemade fireplace, her eyes glanced over at her travelling companions. The two girls stood shivering, staring into the fire with their arms around each other, but Morgan could see that the warmth of the fire was already warming them up quite nicely. Viggo was on his knees in front of the fire, with Mads and Steve behind him. Almost all of them had a tired but relieved look on their faces.

A smile formed on Morgan’s lips at the sight.

As inconspicuously as possible, her eyes slid to the two men standing on the other side of the room, leaning against an old dining table. The resemblance between the two was unmistakable. Both men had unkempt dark medium-length hair with grey to almost white streaks, and both wore beards, although the blind man’s was much shorter than his brother’s. Morgan guessed they were both much older than she was, but not as old as Steve, more like ten years her age.

A shiver ran down her spine as the cold grey eyes of the taller of the two men caught her gaze and he began to grin. Quickly she looked away, unaware that Steve was watching her in silence.

A trembling sigh escaped her. As much as she did not regret the deal she had made with the man, she had to admit that she was terrified of him. Not only was his unkempt appearance unattractive, but everything about him radiated danger. His cold grey eyes that seemed to be watching everything, his huge, long, massive body and his colossal hands that seemed capable of breaking anything, including her neck. But most of all, his aura frightened her. This was a man who was used to being in control and would not hesitate to kill anything or anyone that stood in his way. Not that he seemed untrustworthy to her, not at all, but dangerous… life-threatening.

His brother, on the other hand, also looked unkempt, and his pale blue blind eyes were eerie, but he exuded something friendly, something calm.

The gruff voice of the taller of the two men startled her, and she quickly turned her gaze to the three children, who looked back, startled.

The office the man had in mind for them was not a very large one, but it would do for the time being. Not that they had much choice…

Most importantly, they had found a place where Mads’ injuries could heal in peace.

That afternoon, under the watchful eye of the larger of the two brothers, Morgan and the others cleared the area to create simple sleeping areas.

The man himself had made no offer to help them. His brother, on the other hand, had first pushed a chair near the fire for Mads before sitting down at the dining table himself and continuing to sand a piece of wood. Even if the man had wanted to help, his disability would have prevented him from doing so anyway, Morgan thought.

Halfway through, when they had removed most of the rubbish from the room, the tall man arrived with a large pile of old insulation boards and finally started to help. Together with Steve, he screwed the old squares to the wall. All the time he said nothing. But to Morgan’s surprise and relief, his eyes were no longer fixed on her.

4.

Morgan looked around the room as the two men set the plates down on the wall.

The men’s living area was not large, but it was comfortably furnished. It was a hodgepodge of things the men had collected over the years and most of it was in need of major refurbishment.

The rectangular room contained a small kitchenette and an old, ramshackle sofa. There were two old leather chairs by the fireplace in which the two girls sat comfortably, and on the other side of the room, against the wall that led to the large factory hall, was a dog basket in which, to Morgan’s surprise, Viggo was curled up asleep against the large German shepherd.

Her eyes slid to the dining table where the other man was busy sanding what appeared to be a table leg. The corners of her mouth turned up slightly at the sight of a sleeping Mads. Next to the table stood a large wooden bench, covered with several thick blankets and cushions where the blind man had placed the old woman. After that he’d seated himself down next to her, and as if it was meant to be, Mads had placed her head on the man’s lap. Morgan saw how the man occasionally brushed away the old woman’s grey hair from her face with a gentle gesture.

Slowly Morgan walked towards the table. She hadn’t spoken to him before and was curious if he would react the same way as his brother, something she couldn’t quite imagine, given the sweet scene.

“What can I do for you…” Morgan started to laugh softly, surprised that he had already noticed her.

Now that he was speaking directly to her, she could clearly hear that he had a pleasant, deep and baritone voice. Although he had a rugged face like his brother, his blind eyes were alert but kind, the opposite of his brother’s.

“Um… since we’re allowed to stay, and… well… we haven’t eaten yet, maybe I can fix us something. I mean, we brought some food with us. We don’t want to abuse your hospitality. To avoid waking Mads, Morgan kept her voice low. But something told her, even if she could not see it, as she was standing with her back to him, the bigger brother was listening to their conversation.

To her surprise, the blind man began to grin. “That wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Between you and me, Nox is not much of a kitchen princess, and frankly, I would love having a nice meal again!”

It was not lost on Morgan that the last three words were clearly said much louder, but… at least she knew the big man’s name now and that was nice too.

“If you found my cooking so horrible, than why didn’t you start cooking yourself…” Nox’s gruff voice sounded awfully close and Morgan felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

Quickly, she took a step forward and immediately looked back.

With a sideways glance at her, the man walked past her, his lips pressed into a thin line.

“If you are going to cook for eight people, you are going to need a lot more than what you have in your backpacks. Follow me.” And walked towards the door.

Uncertain, Morgan looked around, but there was no one she could turn to. Mads and the children were asleep, and Steve was still in the process of putting things in order in their new room.

Her heart pounding, Morgan hesitantly approached the man. A shiver ran down her body as he opened the door and a blast of freezing air entered the room, she wondered if the shiver was from the cold or something else…

“Well, don’t just stand there, let’s go!”

At a steady pace, the man made his way through the factory, not caring if Morgan could keep up with him. They walked through several corridors and smaller factory halls and an uneasy feeling came over her. What if he wanted to rape her here and now?

“I have to feed the dogs first…”

So lost in her own thoughts, Morgan hadn’t noticed the dogs barking and her eyes widened to see the small pack of sled dogs.

Her surprise grew when she saw the man kneeling among the dogs, who greeted him enthusiastically, whimpering and wagging tails.

“There are several large sacks in that iron box over there. Hand me one…” Stunned by his harsh command, Morgan did as he asked and walked over to the large box on the other side of the room.

A foul smell hit her as she opened the box and she had to hold her breath if she didn’t want to throw up. Inside the box were several bags of half-frozen meat. Carefully, she grabbed one and, holding it as far away from her as possible, walked back to him.

“I didn’t think you were such a wuss…”

His condescending remark made her anger flare. “I’m not a wuss! This stench is just disgusting!”

The only reply she got was a contemptuous huff.

After the feeding of the dogs, they walked further into the factory until they came to a halt at some sort of fold.

Though the shelves weren’t fully stocked, there was enough food for a couple of months, at least for two people… Morgan thought to herself. Now that they were here too, that supply would quickly dwindle.

“Take what you need for two days and hurry… I’m freezing my ass off!”

The uncertainty took over again, now she had to walk past him and into the room. Was he going to make a move on her?

“I’m not going to rape you, if that’s what you think!” His cold eyes narrowed to slits.

“We made an agreement, but I won’t force you, I’m not a monster. But I expect you to keep your word…” His piercing eyes seemed to bore deep into her soul and Morgan’s cheeks began to burn with embarrassment.

She quickly lowered her gaze. “I will… but I need some time, if that’s all right?” Her voice was soft and tentative. From her vantage point, she noticed the man clenching his hands into fists.

“Like I said… I won’t force you!” He shoved a bag into her hands, then turned and walked out of the room.

Morgan gasped for breath. She hadn’t realised she was holding her breath.

5.

After a few shaky breaths, Morgan walked over to the shelves and let her eyes wander over the tins, bags, jars and boxes. Most of the tins, though torn and faded, still had the label on them, so at least she knew what was inside. The jars also revealed their contents after some inspection. At least the glass jars, the stone jars she left alone as the lids were sealed with wax. One day she would ask one of the men how or what was inside.

To her surprise, the jars contained several kinds of vegetables. She saw potatoes, onions, garlic and some old winter carrots. It would make a hearty soup, she thought, and quickly put the vegetables into her bag.

Curious, she walked over to the sacks. Carefully, she opened one and saw that it contained a thick towel with something heavy wrapped inside. She quickly opened the towel and to her surprise saw a jar inside with ‘flour’ written in large letters. Morgan’s heart leapt. Could it really be…?

Lifting the lid of the jar, she let out a squeal of delight. It was flour! Real flour! It had been more than two years since she had held flour in her hands. Flour was worth more than gold these days.

“Be careful with that!” Startled by his sudden warning, Morgan almost tipped the pot, but was able to hold it up in the nick of time with her chest.

A small white cloud rose from the pot, and although she had been terrified by the man’s gruff voice, the smell of the flour made her smile again.

“Don’t worry, I will be very careful with it, but can I take some with me, I would like to bake a loaf of bread again…”

Almost pleadingly, she looked at the man who was watching her with a grim face from the entrance.

“Do you have any experience of baking bread over an open fire?”

She nodded excitedly. “Yes! And thanks to Mads, I’m quite good at it!”

Morgan saw his eyebrows rise at her enthusiasm, but he remained silent. Finally he nodded.

“Just take the whole jar… If you’re as good as you say you are, you can make a few more and we can freeze the rest.”

Her eyes began to shine with pleasure, and for a moment she forgot about their deal….

Nox could have kicked himself for asking the woman to follow him to their stockpile. What was he thinking? That she would stop being afraid of him?

With his back to the cold wall of the corridor, he stood at a distance, watching the woman with narrowed eyes as she took in the contents of the large shelf with surprised eyes.

A smile formed on his lips at the sight of her growing enthusiasm and he relaxed a little.

Until she reached the burlap sacks.

Tense, Nox stood up, his body ready to react if necessary.

So when the woman let out a scream, he shot towards the door, but to his relief, her scream was not because she had almost dropped the precious flour, but probably out of surprise that there was flour in the jar at all.

After they’d returned and Nox had dropped her off in the living quarters, he’d gone back downstairs to get a supply of arrowheads and shafts. Now that there were more of them, the meat supply would undoubtedly need to be replenished. He quickly glanced at the barometer on the wall by the door.

Satisfied with what he saw, he went back to the large steel cupboard where he always kept his hunting equipment. He took out two solar pans and placed them next to the door. If all went well, tomorrow would be sunny with little wind and he could recharge the batteries.

But if the small group stayed longer, it would be useful to find more panels. Nox sighed, that was a worry for later…

As he gathered his equipment, he heard someone coming down the metal stairs and from the sound of it, it had to be the old man. Nox had already noticed a slight limp in the man’s gait.

“What?” He knew he didn’t have to be so rude, but it was the only way he knew how to communicate with strangers, to keep them from getting too close. He didn’t like people getting too close, it was an unnerving feeling, Nox always had the feeling that they were testing him, watching him, looking for his weaknesses. And according to his parents, family and friends, he had plenty of them. Well, flaws or no flaws… he was alive and they weren’t… being antisocial had its advantages, … oh yes, that’s not right, he wasn’t antisocial, he had autism… as his brother so nicely explained to everyone.

Nox couldn’t care less. Antisocial or autistic, he just didn’t like people with all their emotions, their lies, their backstabbing. He always tried to do the right thing, even if people didn’t see it that way.

And now the old man came to him… It probably had something to do with the woman, what else could it be?

“What’s your business with Morgan, Pall?”

Slowly Nox turned around.

The old man, arms crossed and chest puffed out, stood behind him, glaring at him angrily.

Nox cocked his head slightly to one side. He had become an expert at reading people and this old man wasn’t going to stop pestering him until he knew what he wanted to know.

“None of your business, old man. I made a deal with her, not with you… If you want to know what our deal is, just ask her. But I guess you already did, and she didn’t tell you either, did she?”

The old man huffed. “I will find out, mark my words. But if you hurt her…”

Annoyed by the old man’s meddling, Nox strode over to him, stopping only inches away.

“I have no intention of hurting anyone, so back off!” He growled, shoving the man roughly aside and striding up the stairs in a rage.

6.

Back in the brothers’ living room, she saw that Steve had already made Mads’ bed and blew the old man a kiss, which he accepted with a big grin.

Morgan quickly placed the overstuffed bag on the worktop of the small kitchen before walking over to a still sleeping Mads.

“Um, sir…” Morgan suddenly realised that she had no idea what the blind man’s name was.

She could see the corner of his mouth curl into a grin, but he remained silent.

“Um, I would like to examine Mads for a moment… Uhh… could you please move aside?”

The grin around his mouth widened and a gleam of pleasure appeared in his blind eyes.

“No problem Morgan,” he said and moved to the other side of the sofa, standing up and giving her space to crawl behind the table to join a still sleeping Mads.

“Shane…”

Surprised, Morgan looked at the man. “Excuse me?”

“Shane, the name is Shane. I’ve already mentioned my brother’s name, so you already know him…”

Unintentionally, Morgan began to smile. Underneath his wild beard and despite his rugged appearance, the man had a friendly face. “Nice to meet you, Shane, and thanks again for letting us stay.”

Morgan saw his smile fade at her words and she could well have kicked herself for that last remark.

“Yeah… about that…”

It was at that very moment that the door burst open and Nox walked in with a dark expression on his face.

“Nice that you two are getting along, but isn’t it about time you kept your promise, Morgan?”

Morgan’s eyes flew open at the remark and her heart started to beat like a madman. Surely he didn’t mean…?

“The food… …that you were going to prepare…” The shocked look on the female’s face hadn’t gone unnoticed, a look that somehow annoyed Nox immensely.

What the hell was she thinking? He was no Perv! They’d made a deal, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t cash in right then and there, he wasn’t that much of a dick!

Relief crept across her face, and her cheeks began to blush as well, something that hadn’t escaped the attention of one of her children, Nox noticed.

“Are you OK, Mum?”

The eldest of the three children looked worriedly at her mother. The girl’s eyes slipped to Nox, taking him in suspiciously.

Nox’s eyes slid to his brother who listened to the whole conversation with a tense expression on his face, knowing full well that Shane despised him for the deal he made with the woman.

A small clicking sound behind him made him turn around. There was a small red light on the side of the door and it was blinking softly.

“What’s that?”

Nox turned his head back to see the woman looking at the red light with curiosity.

“Nothing you need to worry about!” He bit and saw that she blushed deep red at his sneer.

“Aiden!” Annoyed by his brothers rude behaviour Shane turned his head to the sound of his brothers voice.

“No need to act like an asshole!”

Nox looked at his brother with disdain.Had that fool still not learned not to trust just anyone? “Whatever… I’ll check the traps on the east side in the morning.” Then he disappeared into their sleeping quarters.

After checking the wounds on the elderly woman’s body and applying a new bandage to one of them, she began to prepare dinner. Her eldest daughter helped her peel and cut. Though the young woman kept her mouth shut, Morgan knew Reah was burning with curiosity. But out of decency, so as not to draw the rest of the group’s attention to the awkward situation, she remained silent. Something for which Morgan was grateful.

The rest of the evening passed without incident. Steve, together with Morgan and Viggo, helped Mads to their new sleeping place.

From a distance, Morgan saw Elise busy telling Shane how to do his job better. She admired the man’s patience. If it had been up to her, she would have sent the girl away a long time ago.

Her eyes slid to the sleeping quarters of the two brothers. Nox had disappeared straight back into the bedroom again after dinner, closing the door behind him.

Morgan shook her head. The tall man was a strange sort and the deal she had made with him did not please her, but the welfare of the small group of people she felt responsible for and loved dearly had not made her hesitate, she would have made a deal with the devil for their safety. She had to admit, though, that despite the deal to have sex with him, something that had initially made her think he was just a creep, his promise not to force her had made her look at him in a different way. She still thought he was a strange man, but she was no longer so afraid of him.

A soft rumbling in the living room made Morgan sit up. What the hell was that? Intruders? No…the dog would have barked…

She crawled carefully on her hands and knees to the door after a quick glance at the sleeping group. As this was an office, the door had a louvered window. Carefully, she pushed the slats open a little. At first she saw nothing, until her gaze fell on a hunched figure in the chair by the door.

Nox…

She watched as the big shepherd walked up to his master, hoping for a pat on the head, and sat down beside him, his tail wagging lazily, as if the dog knew exactly what was going to happen.

After Nox had pulled on his boots, man and dog stepped out into the dark of the factory.

Minutes passed as Morgen remained crouched behind the door. She was curious where they had gone, but when the man and the dog had not returned after ten minutes, and she had grown stiff with cold, Morgan crawled back under her blankets and fell asleep. As a result, she didn’t hear that Nox and the dog had returned at some point in the night.

7.

The next morning, Morgan was up early again. To her surprise, the fire in the fireplace was already burning high and the icy chill had disappeared from the living room. However, there was no sign of the two brothers and curiously she made her way to the men’s bedroom.

“Shane? Nox?” She knocked softly on the door.

But when there was no answer after the second time, she pushed the door open carefully.

No one…

Even when she opened the door to the factory hall, there was no sign of the two men. The whole of the factory was shrouded in silence.

Doubtfully, Morgan looked around. She could not imagine that the men had simply disappeared, but past events had taught her something. Raiders liked to play games with innocent people, and these were not games without deadly consequences.

Nox might be a big, scary man, but ultimately he was just a man ….

A few hours earlier…

“And…?”

Nox shook his head. “Nothing special. Missy had just escaped from her enclosure again and was feasting on the chicken feed.”

Shane cursed softly. “Bloody beast… I’m telling you, if that bitch escapes again, I’ll kill her myself! She’ll eat anything she can get her teeth into! When we killed the goats, I thought we’d be rid of this hassle, but now it seems that this rooting bitch has taken over their habits!”

The big man looked at his grumbling brother with a grin. He knew that Shane hated the pig. Ever since she had sunk her teeth into his shin, he had wanted to get rid of her. Nox understood exactly why. Missy was a smart animal, he had to be careful with her too. She had made several unsuccessful attempts to bite him too, only he could tell from her body language when she was up to something, but being blind, his brother couldn’t.

To avoid giving Missy any more chances to bite Shane, they had moved the greenhouses to another location, which in retrospect had worked out much better than expected. The small hutch was unexpectedly warm, and the mirrors they used to let in the sunlight were much easier to fix. All in all, Missy’s attack had been a stroke of luck.

Even if they hadn’t been able to grow much due to the lack of seeds, it had allowed the two of them and the animals to live a pretty decent life, combined of course with what Nox would find in his traps.

But now that the strangers had arrived, the little stock they had built up would soon be gone, and Nox’s grin disappeared at the thought.

“I’ll go outside and check the traps… You take care of the plants, ok?”

After putting on his gear and harnessing the dogs to the sled, Nox left in the early morning.

The weather station had not disappointed him with its forecast. Although it was still quite dark, the sky was clear and the wind was calm, all in all it would be a beautiful sunny day, Nox thought to himself.

After checking the traps and being six rabbits richer, he set off for the old town buried deep under the snow. A few months ago he had discovered the entrance to an old underground car park. He had been exploring it regularly, whenever the weather allowed. But he’d never dared go too far. If anything happened to him, Shane would be in a lot of trouble. His brother might be handy and good with a knife, but he would be no match for a gang of robbers, even with the dogs nearby.

But now, with the small group of people around… maybe he could venture a little deeper into the garage this time and see if anything useful was still there.

Arriving at the entrance, which was again hidden by the snow of the past few days, Nox tied the sledge to a tree, released the dogs and cleared the snow from the entrance. Cautiously, holding his searchlight in front of him, he crept through the opening into the darkness.

The garage smelled musty, which was remarkable since the whole world was frozen under a thick layer of snow and ice. Musty meant damp, and damp meant heat….

After scurrying around a bit, a noise further down the garage made him stop. With his head tilted and his ears pricked, Nox tried to make out the source of the sound and what it might have been, but there was nothing more to be heard.

After a quick glance at his watch, he made his way back to the entrance, relieved to see that both the sled and his dogs were still where he had left them.

The sun was already high in the sky and he was curious to see if the small group had done anything of their own.

To his surprise, he returned to find the old man and the young boy busy hauling wood for the fireplace. The wind of the past few days had cleared a number of tall trees of snow, and the old man and the boy had made good use of it. A small smile involuntarily appeared on the man’s face. Maybe it was not such a bad idea to let the small group in after all…

When the old man saw him, he gave Nox a dark look, which made Nox’s smile turn into a grin. Oh, he and the old man were no friends and probably never would be.

“Hey, sir! Have you caught anything yet?” With a wide smile, the young boy looked at him. His face was flushed with cold and there was a droplet already frozen on his nose, but the boy’s eyes twinkled with joy as he walked towards Nox.

After the tall man got off the sledge, he rummaged through one of the bags he’d attached to the front of the sledge.

“Take this boy and give this to Shane or your mother,” he said. And handed the rabbits to Viggo.

When the boy saw Nox’s catch, he started screaming with joy and ran into the factory with the rabbits high above his head.

Nox could not suppress a grin, so contagious was Viggo’s enthusiasm.

“At least you’re a handy bastard, I’ll give you that…” Steve’s voice made Nox turn and his grin faded.

“What?” but Steve just looked at him and said nothing.

Just as Nox was about to sneer at the old man, he heard someone come out and turned around.

“Mum asked if you wanted to come in, she has dinner ready.” The youngest girl stood with Shane’s thick coat around her shoulders and looked at the two thugs with a frown.

“I think she’d like it if you two wouldn’t fight and she’s not the only one…” With the arrogance that only an adolescent girl can display, she turned and walked in with her head held high.

“You heard her old man, you need to behave…” With his mouth agape, Steve looked after the younger man as the man walked back to the sled to untie the dogs.

“Bastard…” He grumbled softly, but a small grin had appeared around his mouth.

8.

After Nox left, Shane began his daily routine. Well daily…, it was just past midnight. Usually he wouldn’t be here for at least another seven hours or so, but with the new group around they didn’t have a choice.

A smile formed on his mouth as Shane dug his fingers into the moist soil.

Though the light had been gone from his eyes for years, the feeling of rooting his hands in the earth and growing something was wonderful, and his knowledge of it had only increased.

Even as a child he had had green fingers. So the best memories of his childhood were the summer holidays he spent with his aunt and uncle. Aunt Femke and uncle Diederick lived in the Netherlands in a wooded hamlet somewhere in the Achterhoek.

They had a small nature campsite with a huge vegetable garden, some chickens, goats, a few calves and a fat old pig they called Ingrid, after Uncle Diederick’s sister. The name had been a joke, something Shane hadn’t understood as a child because Ingrid had been an extremely thin lady.

It was only later, when he was a bit older and had been to her house once on a shopping trip, that the joke became clear to him. Her house had literally been a pigsty. Everywhere he had looked there had been rubbish. Dirty dishes were piled high on the kitchen counter, the living room looked as if it hadn’t been dusted or vacuumed in months, and when he’d sat down on the sofa, he’d sagged through it. Fortunately, despite her disinterest in housekeeping, his uncle’s sister had been a cheerful and good-natured woman, and had dismissed the couch mishap with a simple ‘oh well, I can go back to scouring the free pick-up sites for something new’!

He had loved it there, unlike his brother. It wasn’t that Nox had hated it, not at all, but where he, Shane, had loved wandering around his aunt’s vegetable garden and digging his hands into the soil, his brother had been mostly busy fixing the showers, electricity and all the other odd jobs that were needed on the campsite, not to mention the animals.

Even though his brother wasn’t very good with people, he was quite the opposite when it came to his aunt and uncle’s animals. Even the stubborn goats listened to him, but especially the three dogs the couple had. From the moment the two boys arrived for the holidays, the dogs never left his side. Needless to say Nox had been heartbroken when his favourite dog, a big, jet-black old German shepherd called Silas, died.

Their childhood interests had saved their lives after the earth had completely frozen over.

Nox had found a small cache of undamaged seeds and some soil in a ramshackle gardener’s farm near the factory and carried it home. He had lined the walls of one of the least draughty rooms with insulation and plastic, built tall containers for Shane to plant a vegetable garden in, and placed mirrors in strategic locations to provide daylight for the vegetable garden.

It was on his poaching trips that he had come across the animals they now had, much to his surprise and delight, and now, after three years, they were practically self-sufficient.

Shane’s mind wandered to the newcomers. The old man was a lively fellow, Shane liked him, at least he was not, as was usually the case, afraid of his brother. He hadn’t really spoken to the old woman yet, she slept a lot and he didn’t want to burden her with questions.

The young woman, Morgan… she had definitely caught his attention with her sweet voice and her friendliness. Her laughter had sounded like music to his ears, but that might have been because he had been used to the sound of Nox’s gruff voice for years.

Once Shane had finished his activities, he made his way back to the living quarters.

The top of his watch clicked open with a soft click and Shane gingerly ran his fingertip over the face to see what time it was. Quarter past six… He had worked longer than he thought.

Feeling exhilarated, he walked further up the stairs. Nox had said it would most likely be sunny today, maybe the old man and the children could help find and chop wood for the hearth fire, then maybe Nox could start repairing the roof on the side where the sled dogs slept. The last heavy snowstorm had caused part of the roof to collapse due to the thick layer of snow on top.

Footsteps in the living room made him stop halfway up the stairs and listen intently. It was the young woman.

Carefully, he continued up the stairs, pausing outside to listen to what the woman was doing. He heard her move the chair closest to the fireplace, followed by the crackle of someone taking a seat, which meant she was sitting with her back to him.

Grinning, he opened the door. “You’re up early.”

An icy scream was his answer and he heard something flying towards him. But before he could do anything, he felt something hit him hard, making him stagger. Surprised, Shane reached for his forehead and his eyes grew wide as he felt the injury on his forehead.

“OHHH! I’m so sorry!!! I thought you were a… a… robber.” Shane heard an awkward rumble from someone who almost tripped over the dog basket.

A few moments later he felt a small hand grasp his, pulling it away from his forehead. Then cool, soft fingertips began to gently stroke the skin of his head.

The soft scent of femininity penetrated him and a shiver ran down his spine. She smelled delicious… A soft, sweet, musky scent entered his nose and he closed his eyes to savour it. It had been so long since he had seen or felt a woman and he couldn’t even remember a scent.

“Are you all right?” The concern in her voice didn’t escape him and a smile played around his lips.

“Yeah…I just wonder why men always said women had no sense of direction…. Judging by my forehead, there’s nothing wrong with your sense of direction.”

There was a moment of silence and Shane wondered if he had said something wrong when suddenly there was a gurgle of laughter. Her laughter was so infectious that Shane broke into a wide grin, suddenly realising how much he had missed interacting with someone other than his brother.

It did not take long for the rest of Morgan’s group to wake up. After everyone had eaten and the tasks had been distributed, everyone got down to work.

Together with Reah, Morgan tended to Mads’ injuries. Elize helped Shane to fix the broken chair and Steve and Viggo had gone outside to look for wood for the fireplace, something Shane had hinted at during breakfast.

Having been allowed by Nox to bring enough flour the day before, Morgan had gone back to making bread when the barking of the dogs reached her. Nox was back and a knot began to form in her stomach.

9.

An excited Viggo came running up the stairs, and in his raised hands she saw a bunch of bunnies, their hind legs tied together, dangling over his head like a trophy. Morgan grinned. Even if the catch was not much, considering there were eight mouths to feed, it was still a welcome addition.

Smiling, she watched as the boy hurried back outside to help the old man continue chopping wood for the fireplace.

Perhaps it would be wise to sit down with the two brothers and see if they would be willing to let her and her little group stay here permanently. The factory offered enough space to start a small community. Morgan suspected it would not take much effort to persuade Shane. The blind man seemed genuinely happy to be in their company. Nox, on the other hand, might be a problem. The man seemed annoyed by everything, even though they had only been there a day. Perhaps it would only be a matter of time, but she doubted it.

The fact that their little group already annoyed him, starting a new community would completely drive him grazy.

Morgan sighed. Even though it would probably be in vain, she would still go and try to convince him, after all, she had succeeded before, hadn’t she?

The barking of dogs in the distance caught her attention and she turned to Shane to see if she had heard correctly, but the man didn’t look up and she wondered if she had imagined it.

Morgan shrugged and continued with what she was doing.

Suddenly, despite the hustle and bustle around her, Morgan heard heavy footsteps on the metal stairs announcing Nox’s arrival and a lump formed in her stomach.

Quickly, she called herself to order. Nox had given her his word that he would not force her, and something in her told her that he was not the kind of man to break a promise. …but he is a bit scary… another small voice squeaked.

As the door to the living quarters opened and the tall man stepped inside, goosebumps slid down her arms and back. Morgan quickly dismissed them as the result of the cold seeping in through the open door.

Out of the corner of her eye she watched him walk past Shane and Elise’s table, glancing at them as they worked on a new project, repairing an old wooden blanket chest.

Morgan’s heart began to beat faster as he came to stand beside her.

“So, what are you going to do with the rabbits?” His dark voice made her stomach churn.

“As soon as I finish this…” and she gestured to the stew on the fire. “I was going to ask you or Shane where I could skin the rabbits, so we can use the skin later to repair broken clothes and the meat I was going to smoke…” Seeing his raised eyebrows, she quickly continued, her heart pounding.

“One of the women from our old community taught me how to smoke meat, and since we are in a factory, I suspect I can find materials to make a smoker.”

Nox looked at her silently, and it suddenly struck her that despite his cold gaze, he had bright green eyes. Morgan felt the blood rise to her cheeks at his penetrating gaze and quickly looked away.

Nox hadn’t failed to notice the red flush that was slowly colouring her cheeks. Confused, he turned and headed for the bedroom he shared with Shane. Why had she started to blush? Women…, Nox shook his head, he didn’t understand anything about them. They could be friendly one minute and bitchy the next. And they often said one thing when they meant something else.

Deep in thought, he changed his clothes and didn’t hear anyone enter. It was only when the door closed softly that he became aware of someone behind him and, with his shirt half pulled over his head, he turned, expecting to see his brother standing there.

After Nox had left, Morgan put the knife down and took a deep breath. If she wanted to start a conversation with him, she had to do it sooner rather than later. The longer she put it off, the harder it would be.

Determined, but with trembling hands, she walked towards the brothers’ bedroom.

The sight of Nox pulling his dry trousers over his hips and buttoning them made her heart skip a beat. The thick sweaters he usually wore made him look fat and unkempt, but now that he was standing here in front of her, half-naked and with his back to her, all she could see was how broad and toned his body was. His broad shoulders tapered to a slim waist and she had just managed to catch a glimpse of a pair of firm buttocks that were usually hidden by ugly, shapeless trousers.

She closed the door behind her with a trembling hand, and immediately regretted her carelessness as the man, half hidden by his jumper, turned to face her. This gave her an unobstructed view of his shapely torso, and a faded Marine Corps tattoo caught her eye.

“What the hell is this?” Surprised to see the young woman instead of his brother, Nox stiffened and stopped, his head half hidden in his jumper and one arm in the air.

Morgan’s eyes flew up to meet his. Immediately, a blush of shame appeared on his cheeks. “I, uhh, I…uhm… Can you put your sweater on, please?” At a loss for words, her gaze fell on her trembling hands.

She heard the rustle of fabric as he pulled the jumper further over his head. Cautiously, she looked up and saw, to her relief, that he had continued to pull on the knitted, pale green jumper.

“Well? What is it?” Nox knew full well that he was being unnecessarily rude again, but the sight of the woman looking at him with open admiration had been so unexpected that he did not know what to say.

“I, um…” Morgan’s courage almost collapsed at the sound of his rough tone.

She took another deep breath and looked the big man straight in the eye.

“I want to ask you to let us stay here permanently!” Morgan heard her voice tremble, but she had no choice but to try.

“I… We have nowhere to go. I have no idea where we might find other settlements, and I think we can help each other. That the two of you have made it this long can be called more luck than wisdom, but you know damn well that if something happens to you… Shane will have a very, very big problem! If something happened to you…, I mean, suppose you broke your leg, with us around, the traps would still be emptied and the wood would still be cut! Suppose part of the roof collapsed, that could be fixed right away!”

She looked at him almost pleadingly.

Silently, he looked at her as a strange feeling began to stir in his stomach.

“Have you spoken to Shane about this?”

Morgan shook his head. “No, not yet, I wanted to discuss it with you first. I haven’t even discussed it with Steve and Mads…”

Nox looked at her with narrowed eyes. “Why not? Why not talk to Shane first? He’s not the one who’s going to be difficult… Why with me?”

“Precisely because of that.” She looked at him in genuine surprise. “You’re right, I think Shane will have no problem with us staying here, but I have a suspicion that you see us as intruders.” Gathering her courage, she looked away for a moment, glancing around the two men’s surprisingly tidy bedroom before looking back at Nox.

“Even though we made a ‘deal’, I’m pretty sure you’d rather get rid of us than have us around… Right? But if I can convince you to let us stay… Besides, you’re the one who makes the decisions here. Not that Shane doesn’t have a say, but he goes by what you say, you’ve been his eyes all along!”

He liked her directness, she was not the tame female he had taken her to be in the first place.

A clammy sweat broke out in Morgan as he continued to stare at her in silence.

In a last attempt to persuade him, she reached with trembling fingers for the zip of her padded orange vest and slowly pulled it down. Morgan watched as his eyes widened in surprise.

“Close the vest!” He growled through clenched jaws. “Just because we have a deal doesn’t mean you have to take your clothes off to get something from me!”

With a blush of shame on her cheeks, Morgan zipped the vest back up furiously. Tears of shame welled up in her eyes. Why wasn’t he clear about what he expected?

Seeing the embarrassment and dismay on her face, Nox realised that he had behaved rudely, as he had always done with women, and stepped forward so that he was now standing a few inches away from her.

“Our deal still stands…”

The tone of his voice was softer now and Morgan lifted her head to look at him.

“…But that doesn’t mean you should suddenly start spreading your legs for me right now. True, it’s been a long time since I’ve had sex with a woman, and yes, I won’t deny that I don’t fantasise about being between your legs, but again…. I won’t force you and I don’t need to be persuaded with sex.

He felt the tension between them grow and quickly backed away a little.

“I’ll talk to Shane about it, but as you said, I don’t think he’ll have much trouble with you staying. But I’ll let you know tomorrow!”

He walked past her brusquely and Morgan heard him almost pull the door out of its hinges as he opened it. The door to the factory hall opened and closed, and quick, heavy footsteps sounded on the steel stairs.

Still trembling, Morgan turned and shook her head in surprise. She had known many eccentric men in her life, but Nox certainly took the crown.

10.

“She asked me this afternoon if she and her group could stay… Permanently…”

Surprised by the unexpected announcement, Shane turned his head in his brother’s direction. Even though he couldn’t see the gruff man, it was still a habit from the days when he wasn’t blind.

Of course, he had noticed that the woman had followed his brother into the bedroom, but he had assumed that they were going to have sex. After all, that was the deal she had made with the Nox. The fact that his brother had rushed out of the room a little later, he had chalked up to his brother being unable to get a hard-on. In any case, this had not occurred to him.

Even though he had seen the question coming, he had expected her to ask him about it so that he could have the discussion with Aiden.

It was to her credit that she had chosen the hardest way and that she had not tried to take advantage of him for it.

“So? What did you say? That she could fuck off?” Shane was already preparing for a heated argument with his brother.

“I said I would discuss it with you…. What?!”

The sight of his brother looking at him with big, bulging eyes and an open mouth immediately irritated him.

“I’m not a lout!”

Shane burst out laughing at his dismissive words.

“Dude! You’re a master lout pur sang! I’ve seen a lot of louts in my time as a cop, but you take the crown! It’s because you’re my brother and I know you better than you know yourself, otherwise I would have kicked your ass long ago!”

Still laughing, he continued. “But I don’t quite understand… You didn’t want them here in the first place, so what changed? Is it this female? What exactly does she look like, because frankly, you’re making me curious now!”

Annoyed by his brother’s nagging, at least in his eyes, Nox picked up one of the growing trays and walked with it to the corner where he kept all the empty trays. This was the sixth tray in a short time where nothing had grown, and at this rate they would soon run out of vegetables.

“Aiden?”

Sighing, Nox closed his eyes. Whenever Shane called him by his real name, he was either angry with him or worried, and it wasn’t too hard to figure out which he was now.

“Stop nagging me Shane… Now tell me, do you want them to stay or should I throw them out when the old woman is on the mend?”

“I don’t mind if they stay, but tell me Aiden, what does she look like? I’m really curious now…”

Unfortunately for Nox, but fortunately for him, Shane couldn’t see the deadly look his brother was shooting at him.

“Like a battered Tinker Bell, okay!” Angrily, Nox rubbed his hands clean on an old piece of cloth hanging from a hook on the wall.

Shane’s eyebrows shot up. “What do you mean, beaten up?”

Nox shrugged. “Exactly what I said. She was probably beaten up just before they escaped… Hey! You don’t think…?”

Shane raised his hand with a dismissive gesture. “No, of course not! You’re an idiot, but I also know you wouldn’t hit an innocent woman.”

Angrily, Nox headed for the door.

“Does she really look like a Tinkerbell?” Shane’s curiosity was piqued now.

A smile appeared around Nox’s lips. “Jup, a soft, round Tinkerbell with bright green eyes…”

After their return, Nox had managed to sleep for a few more hours until the soft chirping of voices woke him.

Listening to the soft murmur coming from the living room, the tall man stretched out like a cat and recalled the previous day’s conversation. Now that he and his brother had more or less decided that the small group could stay, space had to be made. There was still enough office space on the ground floor to create sleeping quarters, then they could keep this living room for common use, at least for the foreseeable future.

Nox stretched again and then got up with a groan. The freezing cold did his muscles no favours.

After getting dressed, he opened the door to the living room.

The feeling of ice water being poured over his head made him hold his breath for a moment as everyone fell silent at the sight of him.

What had he thought, that things would be different now? Nox immediately regretted that he had left it to his brother to make the decision for the group to stay with them. Nothing had changed. Everyone still looked at him with suspicion. They still found him scary, strange and weird…. Even now that half of humanity had been wiped out, nothing had changed, he still didn’t fit in.

“Hey! You’re awake, great! I was just about to wake you. Breakfast is ready!”

Surprised, Nox turned his head in the direction of Morgan’s voice, who slipped past him at that very moment with a large old tray in his hand. The cups clinked softly together as she placed the tray on the table. Nox’s mouth watered at the sight of the bread and leftovers from yesterday’s meal and his stomach began to growl.

“Steve, will you take Mads her breakfast?” And without waiting, she shoved a plate with a cup, a slice of bread and some of yesterday’s food into his hands.

The old man took the plate with a broad smile and got up from his chair. His smile faded as he walked past Nox.

“Hmm…”

Unwillingly, the corners of Nox’s mouth curled up at the sound of the grunt the old man let out in greeting, and he quickly slid onto the bench that stood behind the dining table and grabbed one of the mugs, trying to hide the grin that was now forming around his mouth.

After breakfast, Nox waited until everyone had finished their chores before grabbing Morgan by the arm and pulling her gently towards him. “We need to talk.”

Seeing her horrified face, he sighed inwardly. “About your request…”

But apparently his words had not completely allayed her fear, for her pale face continued to look at him anxiously.

After they’d put on their thick coats, Morgan followed the man down to where the sled dogs were. A tight knot formed in her stomach. Was he going to tell her they had to leave? She hoped not. Even though the factory was old and Nox was an eccentric man, everything felt right and safe here.

When he came to a sudden stop, Morgan bumped into his back with a parry and stumbled backwards just as quickly from the impact. Had Nox not immediately turned and grabbed her swinging hand, she would have landed hard on her buttocks.

“Sorry…” She squealed and looked away from the ferocious-looking man, her head flushed.

He looked at her in silence, and only when Morgan began to feel increasingly uncomfortable did he speak.

“I spoke to Shane… You can stay…” Seeing her disbelief, his eyebrows furrowed. Surely that was what she wanted?

“Are you serious?” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Nox nodded. “Yes. As expected, Shane wasn’t at all difficult, but…” Before he could speak, Morgan had jumped up and wrapped her arms around his waist.

Frozen, Nox just stood there, not knowing what to do next, listening to her unexpected sobbing while she had her arms tidily around his waist.

When, after some time, she raised her face to look at him, he saw that her eyes were red and full of tears, but a broad smile framed her beautiful lips and her eyes shone with happiness. “Thank you… You don’t know how scared I was about having to face the cold again. I’m in no doubt that Steve and Mads would not have been able to make it through another journey.”

It was not that he had never held a woman in his arms, far from it. When he was in the army, there were plenty of women who wanted to share his bed, and as long as he didn’t expect anything from them and they didn’t ask anything of him, it was fine. Sex always went well. Intimacy, that’s where things went wrong….

The twinkle in her eyes and her hands still around his waist made his stomach turn and he felt himself slowly stiffen. Quickly he grabbed her shoulders, pushed her off him and stepped away. “Yeah, yeah! It’s all right.”

Trying to control himself, he twisted his neck and looked away from her for a moment.

Surprised by his unexpectedly brusque action, Morgan opened her mouth to ask him what she had done wrong when he looked away from her and began to twist his neck as if there was some stiffness that needed to go away. Her eyes widened as the pieces of the puzzle suddenly fell into place.

“I’m sorry, Nox.”

With an angry glare he looked at her again. “What are you sorry for?”

Morgan shook her head and gave him a small smile. “Doesn’t matter… But I take it you didn’t bring me here just to tell me that?”

Surprised at the sudden change, he let his eyes glide over her face, searching for some kind of betrayal. But there was nothing. She was still looking straight at him, something he still found difficult, but which had always given him a great deal of clarity about the nature of the people he was dealing with. But Morgan had no hidden agenda, at least not as far as he could see.

“Have you spoken to the old man about this?”

A grin appeared around her mouth. “Yes, I spoke to Steve about it yesterday and he too hoped you would consider my request.”

Nox nodded. “Good. The downstairs offices can serve as your new sleeping quarters after a few adjustments. Then we will keep our living room for general use for the time being. That way we can keep things better heated. We will have to hunt more to feed everyone though… That’s also why I brought you here.” And pointed with his thumb to a door behind him.

“Follow me…”