Page 98 of Strictly Forbidden

Fuck.

It was a goddamn snowmobile.

Which could go in excess of one hundred and fifty miles per hour. If I didn’t get to her quickly, I wouldn’t stand a chance.

And neither would she.

Thank God I was in decent shape, but the wind was impeding my advancement. Max sprinted ahead of me and I pushed myself to try to follow closely behind him. I was jumping over logs, trying to avoid all the pitfalls snow could hide.

As Max flew through the air once again, my attention was drawn to the forest to the right. Fucking Jesus. Rage unlike the shit I’d experienced before tore through me. Joel had Noel in front of him on the snowmobile, preparing to take off. She was struggling but I sensed the man had her in a stranglehold.

I couldn’t let them get away from me.

Before I could react, Max took off at full speed. This time, as he flew through the air, I could swear the boy was ten feet off the ground.

Joel had already started to head off, the snowmobile still running at the moment of contact, Max knocking both him and Noel into the snow. There was no time to waste. As Max snarled and yelped, Noel was screaming once again.

Sirens were blaring.

But it was my heart beating rapidly that I concentrated on. It allowed me to know that I was very much alive.

I rushed forward with full force, barely missing the still advancing vehicle as it rolled forward from the momentum. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Noel trying to get away, fighting to crawl through the ice and snow.

When Joel wrapped his hand around her ankle, Max jumped on the man’s torso, baring his teeth as he growled and barked.

“Kage,” she managed, her voice full of agony.

I’d never been one to fall into moments where time was slowed, but in this case, I was grateful it had. The phenomenon allowed me to calculate every move as I flew through the air, tumbling down on the fucker dead set on following through with a horrific crime. I managed to smash his face with the side of my gun, but the guy was strong and quick, getting off two hard punches to my jaw.

“Move. Move!” I yelled at Noel, praying to God the sound of my voice wasn’t muffled. I also hoped Max would ease back, taking care of his master instead of fighting a monster of a human being determined to strip lives away.

I got off two punches myself as we pitched and rolled, the bastard stupid enough to try to yank the weapon from my hand. We rolled again and I’d be damned if the asshole almost knocked the Glock from my hand.

We were both grunting but the evil son of a bitch was also laughing. He was enjoying this. I managed to get from his grasp, backing away then taking aim at his stomach. Issuing one brutal kick, I send him flying by several feet, his body slamming against a tree.

I heard Max snarling and barking. I threw a look over my shoulder, the slow motion still occurring. Noel was several feet away, doing her best to hold onto Max’s collar.

When she screamed, the sound as muffled as every other one occurring around us, I snapped my head back in the direction of where I’d pummeled Joel’s body. The fucker was almost on me. All I had time to do was throw my weapon face forward, firing off a single shot.

Now the sound was deafening.

Then it seemed all was quiet, not a peep happening in the dense forest.

Without a second thought, I rose to my feet, holding out my weapon as I approached the fallen man. When I took aim at his head, I heard the lovely voice of the woman I was falling in love with directly behind me.

“Don’t. Please don’t, Kage. He’s not worth it. Think of our life. Think of our love.”

Love. The woman could love me after all this shit?

I cracked my neck as I turned it once again, trying to weigh the sense of what I wanted to do versus the ramifications. I decided the man needed to die. “I need to do this, Noel. Please forgive me.”

With my finger on the trigger, I also realized we were surrounded.

“Put down the weapon, sir. We’ve got him. It’s over.”

Over.

Someone would need to explain to me how and when it would truly be over.

---