Frostbite & bruises

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.