Page 152 of Mountain Men Heroes

Reaper had been wrong about the brother he thought died. Miracle number one thousand of the night. All six of Reaper’s siblings had survived, including his old man. In all the hustle, adrenaline and fear, Reaper had missed finding a pulse much to his relief.

Damon had called the sheriff while she and Reaper worked to save his other brothers.

Still, her heart ached for the violence. No one deserved to have their home, their family, their town in danger. It being Christmas drove that feeling home all the more.

Propped up on the doorway, she sipped at a cup of warm cider Reaper offered her and Damon now that the commotion died down. Reaper slipped out to check the perimeter, leaving her and Damon alone to see over the injured in Reaper’s massive log home.

When they pulled up hours ago bodies dotted the property, and from a distance they resembled toy soldiers forgotten by an absent-minded child. As they had gotten closer to the aftermath of the battle realization painted a far uglier picture.

Fact: Death happened. It wasn’t her fault.

An involuntary tremble racked her body. So callous and cold. According to Damon he recognized several of the faces belonging to the traffickers out in the snow. When the law arrived it would be fairly easy to piece together what went down.

She pressed a hand to her forehead. Houston seemed like a lifetime ago from where she stood over the makeshift beds spread out over the plush carpet of the living room. She’d insisted on keeping everyone together.

The blood had been cleaned up hours ago and it almost seemed unreal such a thing could happen on Christmas Eve.

“You saved them.” Damon pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head then pulled her in to wrap his arms around her. Gathered in the large family room three times the size of her tiny two-bedroom apartment the soft glow of the fire blanketed the entire home in warmth. A real home. She half imagined a cave in the side of an icy wall on the drive over. Half frozen when they arrived, Reaper ushered them in and she immediately set to work washing, bandaging and stitching all the while amazed by the kindness from the people she heard were no better than wild mountain men.

“This isn’t the first time they’ve murdered to get what they want, but hopefully it will be the last.”

Her eyeballs grew wide and a thousand questions wanted to come out all at once, but now didn’t seem like the time to pepper Damon with questions about his past. “What happens now?”

“I’ll contact my old Sergeant. Fill him in on what’s been going on. They’ll put in another undercover cop and take the new group out like they did when I was the undercover cop. Or, they’ll pull in the bigger guns depending on how big this organization has gotten.” Damon answered, his eyes flashing with a lethal edge.

Reaper strolled back in covered with snow and like he wasn’t wounded. Men never changed.

“Thank you,” Reaper offered, shaking her hand. He lifted it to his lips and pressed a kiss to the back of her knuckles. “If you find yourself in need of help, you know where to find me.”

She smiled.

“It’s time for us to leave too.”

“Before you leave there’s something you must know about yourself, Ivy.” Reaper cupped her smaller hand in his larger one. “You have a healer’s heart in you. I noticed it the first time I met you and tonight you have proven it. If not with my family, with the simple change I see in our mutual friend. Thank you.” He looked at Damon. “Not much can change a man’s heart but you’ve found a way.”

She didn’t know what to make of that. What he said struck a nerve and rang true but when faced with patients fear gripped her heart and wouldn’t let go. Here, tonight, she acted and looking back realized she did what these people needed of her without a drop of fear or hesitation.

She connected gazes with Damon, who had never left her side since walking through Reaper’s front door hours ago. He’d even helped her set up a Christmas tree to help bring a little peace for Reaper’s family as they healed.

She looked around. If not for her help tonight many more lives would have been lost. She knew that as fact and facts never let her down.

Fact: Her instincts screamed for her to run far and fast. She almost agreed. Almost.

Tonight she’d learned something no Texan knew.

Fact: no one can run when snowbound.

Ten

“Where are we going?”

Ivy could barely hear her own voice over the rip of the snowmobile’s loud motor. The wide headlight beam cut through the forest as Damon dodged the machine around felled trees and suspicious-looking hillsides that looked like trouble spelled with a huge freaking capital T. She didn’t dare look back so she couldn’t say for sure. Besides, she had her glasses tucked inside her jacket and blissfully let him steer them to wherever they were going. Since he detoured away from where she knew he had parked the truck, she leaned forward and asked again.

“Are we lost or what?” With only a small headlight from the snowmobile, it was possible.

A warm rumble of laughter carried through her hands. It was the only sign she had that he actually registered what she had said.

Darkness rapidly swallowed up the space immediately behind the bright spotlight like a headlight and all she could see to the sides and rear of them were massive pines, their branches hung low like craggy arms reaching for them through the night. She shook herself mentally. After the events of the night she was waiting for a hoard of cloaked men to jump out.

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