Page 1 of Locked In Ice

Chapter One

“Well, well, well…isn’t this quite the predicament?”

Lane Lawson stopped jerking at the ropes that bound his wrists.His hands had been tied behind his back, the ropes twisted and knotted as they held him prisoner.His head stayed bowed for a moment as that warm, feminine voice washed over him.

And he didn’t justhearthat voice.He felt it sinking into every cell of his body.

Sonofabitch.

His head slowly lifted.Blood trickled down his forehead.

The door had opened, and light spilled into the little room.The light surrounded her, showing off Ophelia Raine in all of her glory.And, truth be told, she was a pretty glorious sight.Correction, a trulygorgeous sight.Long, thick hair that was raven black.Curves in all the right places.She wore black—Ophelia’s favored color—and the pants hugged her hips and the top cradled her high, round breasts.

“I am so disappointed.”Ophelia stepped into the room.Shut the door with a soft creak of sound.She kept her husky voice low as she told him, “You have this rep of being such an incredible escape artist.”Her booted feet made no sound as she eased across the floor toward him.“I mean, you broke out of a maximum security facility.You were the infamous inmate who busted out when it should have been an impossible feat.”A sigh.A rather forlorn one.“I had such high hopes for your skills.Yet here I find you, bound and gagged, in a three-bedroom ranch house in the suburbs.So sad.It’s always unfortunate when someone doesn’t live up to the hype.”

If he could have talked, he would have fired a response back at her.Told her that the asshole hadtasedhim and knocked him in the side of the head with the butt of a gun.The only reason that Lane believed he was still breathing?

I’m not the freak’s preferred type.So the guy wouldn’t get off on killing Lane.

No, the jerk’s preferred type had managed to get away, thanks to Lane.He’d intervened before the killer could hurt another teenager.The cheerleader had rushed for safety while Lane had been getting hit with at least 50,000 volts from the bastard’s taser.

The scent of roses teased Lane right before Ophelia brushed against him.“You are so lucky I spotted him dragging your sorry hide in this house.”

Howhad she spotted him?They hadn’t been working this case together.In fact, he’d been on a solo mission.Following up a hunch that had paid off in a rather brutal way.

Four teenage girls had been killed over the last two years.They’d vanished on their way home from school, only to be discovered days later.Mutilated.Murdered.The cops had reached dead end after dead end.So some of the family members had reached out to the Ice Breakers for help.

The Ice Breakers.Lane didn’t know if the crime-solving group was his salvation or his damnation.Lane simply knew that working with them gave him a sense of purpose, more than just the fury that coursed through his blood so often.I need more than fury and vengeance.

“I swear, you’re only like, a junior Ice Breaker.”Her breath whispered over him just before her silken fingers skimmed over his cheek.“Why the hell are you even here?”She tugged the gag from his mouth.

He swallowed.Worked his tongue.Wet his lips.“Figured out who the killer was,” he rasped.

“Um.Yes.I guessed as much when I saw him dragging your unconscious body inside his amazingly normal-looking home.”Since she’d shut the door, total darkness reigned again, and Lane couldn’t make out her features.Not that he needed to see her to know what she looked like.Ophelia’s face was pretty much burned into his memory.

Fucking perfection.A delicate jaw.Slanting cheekbones.Small, straight nose.Curving brows that often arched over her incredibly pale, blue eyes.Eyes that seemed such a startling contrast to her dark, dark hair.She tended to wear bright red lipstick that just made her full lips appear even sexier.She often smiled.A wide, flirtatious grin that he was convinced she used just to disarm—and charm—those around her.

“Worried you might be dead at first,” she added as her fingers skated over his jaw once more.“You were kind of just flopping like a fish while he tossed you around.”

A growl built in his throat.“I wasunconscious.”

“I thought you’d been getting Ice Breaker lessons.Lesson one clearly should have been…don’t get your ass knocked out by the bad guy.”

Lane locked his jaw.“Untie me,” he gritted out.Because the bad guy in question would be coming back.Actually, Lane wasn’t sure that the creep had even left the house.

A gunwasn’tthe man’s normal choice of weapon.But he had tased the other victims.Marks had been found on their bodies that proved that horrible truth.So when the sonofabitch had pulled out his taser that afternoon as he crept up behind the young girl in the blue and white cheerleading outfit…

I had to stop him.

Only Lane had wound up getting tased in her place.

Ophelia’s hands slid away from his face.He felt a shift in the air and knew Ophelia had moved to stand behind him.She tugged on the ropes around his wrists.“What a clusterfuck,” she muttered.“There is nountyingthis, by the way.I’ll have to cut you out.”

“Then get to cutting!”Why was the woman acting as if they had all the time in the world?Aserial killerwas in the house.Probably heading back toward them at any moment.

She tugged again.“Where is your gratitude?Where is your thanks?Because here I am, risking myself to save your amateur ass.I was worried you were being cut into pieces, dissected while you were still alive, so I rushed to the rescue, risking myself to saveyou.And all I’m getting for my trouble is grief.”

“We are both going to be cut into pieces if you don’thurry.” Lane kept his voice whisper soft.“Tell me that you have a knife on you.”

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