Page 261 of Heart of Frost and Scars

I know Wilson investigated this. Rhett’s flight plans checked out. But were all his flights confirmed? He must’ve been taking trips here, too.

How did he find Hoss? Leo and Kody searched and searched and couldn’t locate it.

They don’t know where I am.

They’ll never find me.

I try to move again, but my limbs lay like dead things. I look down and study the IV drip in my arm.

My mind races. Whatever he’s giving me only affects skeletal muscles. I feel every twitch, pulse, and breath in my body.

I can feel pain.

And wetness.

Wetness between my legs.

Did my bladder empty? Or is it something else?

Don’t go there, Frankie. Don’t think about it.

I’m wide awake. Fully aware. My brain is working, and I need to use it.

Rhett is my stalker.

He sent creepy messages and dismembered body parts to me.

Is he a serial killer? Or does he paralyze his victims the way he’s paralyzing me? Does he keep them alive, trapped in their bodies, while he tortures them?

Is that what he intends to do to me?

Silent tears slip down my temples.

He has Wolf’s body.

Tightness compresses my chest, my breath ramping into shallow puffs of air.

Sound comes from the arctic entryway. Doors open and close. Then Rhett appears, his expression unfamiliar, his eyes cold. Dead. I hardly recognize him.

“You’re awake.” He strides over in jeans and a thermal shirt, his hair windblown. Far removed from the heart surgeon I’ve known since my residency in Anchorage.

My only friend.

I glare at him with all the venom I can pour into my burning eyes.

You kidnapped me.

You’re sick.

Let me go.

Please, don’t do this.

The phone in his hand isn’t a typical smartphone. The fat antenna and bulky size suggest it’s a satellite phone.

It holds his attention as he approaches. When he reaches the couch, he shifts his gaze to me, a sad smile on his lips.

“Don’t look at me like that, sweetheart.” He sits on the couch beside my hip. “I’ve waited years for this. There’s so much I need to tell you. So much you don’t understand. But right now, all you need to know is that I love you. I’ve loved you since the day I met you in Anchorage.” He glances at the phone again, watching something on the screen. “I saw you first, you know. Before any of the Strakh men knew you existed, you were mine.”

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