Page 60 of Strictly Forbidden

It had been a long time since I’d been a runner and my muscle mass was much larger but I couldn’t allow her to leave. Not only would she likely kill herself going down the mountain but if she didn’t skid off a cliff, she would be killed within twenty-four hours.

What the hell did I need to do to get through to the woman?

I started sprinting, running parallel in the line of trees where it seemed I had a little bit more traction. She was doing everything in her power to try to outrun me, now slipping and sliding from her erratic driving. The woman had a goddamn death wish.

When I pulled her out of that truck, and I would, I would teach her that following the rules was in her best interest. She had no idea what could happen. None.

And I refused to let her kill herself or worse.

I pushed harder, finally getting in front. When I rushed out in front of the truck, waving my arms to ensure she’d see me, everything happened so fast it was like a blur. But I had seen the look of completely different fear the second she’d realized she was about to run into me.

She slammed on the brakes, which was the worst thing she could have done, the back end fishtailing, the vehicle skidding sideways, almost hitting me before it headed straight for a tree.

By the grace of some god, she didn’t smash the truck into the massive oak, destroying our only way out of here or getting both herself and Max injured.

Once the truck was settled, I took a gasping breath then ran to the driver’s door, throwing it open. As I pulled her out, I realized I was angrier than I’d been in a long time.

“What the hell is wrong with you? You could have gotten yourself killed.”

“Yeah?” she yelled. “What do you care?” Even after that, the woman had more strength left in her than I obviously did, slamming her palms into my chest.

She managed to drop me on my ass then called Max, both of them running off into the woods together.

I was getting way too old for this shit.

CHAPTER 17

Noel

This wasn’t the brightest idea I’d ever had. I’d almost wrecked Kage’s truck after almost running him over and that had been after I’d tried to punch him.

Here I was running into the surrounding forest having no idea where or if there might be another human being on this mountain. What I did know was that I was somewhere in a mountain range, maybe still in Colorado, maybe not. And there were bad men looking for both of us.

Yet I thought it a good idea to leave the warmth and safety of a cabin no one knew about to run away.

Yeah, I wasn’t working with every brain cell, but I was angry with the man, furious that he’d duped me. I had no doubt any longer that he was prisoner number four-eight-two-nine-seven-six of the Red Onion prison system. I’d written him a letter, for God’s sake. I’d been stupid enough to send him a picture of me.

While he shouldn’t have discovered my identity, given I’d come pretty close to discovering him, anything was possible. That meant he’d stalked me. He’d used me. He’d purposely put me in danger.

Maybe.

I didn’t know.

What I did know is that my mind, my heart, and now my body ached.

“Come on, Max. We need to find human beings. Somewhere. People must be somewhere. Right?”

I had no idea how far I’d gone but when I was finally out of breath, I turned around in a complete circle. Seeing nothing but white snow and trees everywhere, shadows already encroaching the area, I had to face facts.

I was fucking hopelessly lost and my savior no longer existed.

Or I was right and he really didn’t care.

As I reached for Max, I noticed his ears had perked up. He wasn’t growling but he was looking intently over my shoulder. I slowly turned around and there stood the man with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Do you really think you’re going anywhere, princess?”

“Why are you calling me a princess?”

---