Free True North (The Bears of Blackrock Book 4) by Michaela Wright, Alana Hart

wooden staircase into the space below. Darrell pulled the door shut behind him, latching it as the plastic that lined the inner walls clapped overhead.
    It was a winter greenhouse. The dirt floor was dug into the earth at least ten feet to avoid the freeze, and the wooden shed overhead was lined with lights. Buniq was beaming up at them both as she moved around the space. Buniq squatted down beside a framed wooden box and pried the bottom board loose.
    A moment later she pulled three massive potatoes from within the box. “It worked! Dar, look at them. They’re huge.”
    Darrell gave Theron the side eye as he moved across the dirt floor. The space was half lined with these wooden frame potato boxes. The other portion of the dirt floor consisted of different breeds of lettuce and other manner of cold crops.
    Theron stared at the small farm with sincere awe. “This is amazing. How did you set this up? Where’d you find the wiring?”
    Darrell squatted down with Buniq, prying a good dozen potatoes from the lowest layer of the potato box. He shot Theron a sarcastic glare. “I know right? Me with no college degree and all.”
    Theron’s brow furrowed as he tried to find words to respond to this. Instead of reacting, he ignored them, pressing onward.
    “Is that all the wire you have out there? Haven't they noticed the power drain? How long have you had this setup going?” He said. Whatever bad blood Darrell and he harbored toward one another, Theron didn’t have time for it. Darrell had managed to engineer something amazing in the middle of nothing, and Theron wanted to know everything.
    Darrell tossed a handful of potatoes into a nearby bin and glanced back toward the ground above just as the plastic clapped again in the winds.
    “That and what I used to connect the houses.”
    Theron remembered walking through the small collection of houses that afternoon. There were six in this part of the Extension, another seven down toward the school house.
    “So these houses aren’t run on generator?” Theron asked, cringing when Darrell gave him a hard look.
    “No. They left us with two generators, one for each section. Wasn’t enough to keep the houses warm through the winter so – I made due.”
    “And they haven’t noticed?”
    Bunny ran up to Theron with a massive yellow potato in her hand. “Grandma Pearl is going to be so happy.”
    “Ah, Bun. I think you underestimate Aanak’s need to be disappointed in me.”
    Buniq turned, her long black braids swinging around her and slapping Theron’s hand. Buniq didn’t speak, but watched Darrell sort through the potatoes and return the smallest ones back into the box to seed the next crop.
    Theron remembered the word ‘Aanak.’ It meant grandmother. He’d heard his mother use it to refer to Grandma Pearl many times.
    The wind picked up outside with such purpose, Theron braced for the plastic to be torn right off the walls. Even Buniq seemed to cower a little closer to Theron as she stood with him by the stairs.
    “You just gonna stand their stealing oxygen? What do you want?” Darrell asked, barely looking up from his work.
    Theron stepped toward Darrell, making sure his boots didn’t crush the new leaves of lettuce underfoot. “I was hoping you might be willing to show me your wiring set up. How you got this running, how far it goes? How are you monitoring the drain on their grid?”
    Darrell stood up, smacking his hands against his jeans in frustration as much to clear the dust. “Look -”
    The world went black. The plastic clapped and thundered overhead, and Buniq shrieked as the lights went out. Darrell and Theron stood there a long moment, glaring at each other in the dark. Then, as though they’d read one another’s minds they both turned for the stairs and took off out into the storm.
    “Dar, where are you going?” Buniq cried, chasing after them. Theron headed back around the house, ducking his head low into his jacket collar.
    Darrell led her up the