Page 78 of Protected By the Mountain Man

“Phones. Out of your pockets, on the ground.” Owen's command was sharp against the howl of the wind.

I fumbled with my phone, its cold surface slipping from my numb fingers and clattering onto the trailhead marker. Livy's joined moments later. Owen lifted his boot and brought it down hard on the screens, a crunch echoing through the silence that followed. He seemed satisfied with the shards littering the snow.

“Walk,” he said, voice curt, gesturing with the knife.

We moved, our feet sinking into the calf-high drifts. Snow gathered on my lashes, each flake a tiny prickle against skin already raw from the cold. I could barely feel my toes. Livy was shivering so violently, I heard her teeth chatter. We weren’t dressed for this; even if Owen didn’t kill us, we would freeze to death.

“Keep moving,” Owen barked from behind us.

Maybe he just planned on leaving us here while he escaped like he said…but I doubted it. I fully believed he intended on killing us. I had to think, had to find a way out of this. But all I could see was white stretching in every direction. How do you protect someone when you're out in the open? When there's no place to hide?

And Gabe. God…Gabe. The thought of him tore through me, sharp as the wind. We'd just found each other.

Would he ever know what happened to me? To us? A sob caught in my throat, but I swallowed it down.

Tears would freeze on my face. Useless.

“Keep up, Kat!” Owen's voice, laced with impatience and something darker, pushed at my back.

I had to do something. For Livy. For me. For Gabe.

Then I saw it—a rock, its jagged edges barely peeking through a blanket of snow. It was big, solid. I glanced at Owen. He was focused on Livy, the knife still too close to her skin. This might be my only chance.

“Owen, wait,” I said, my voice shaking. “My foot's caught.”

“Damn it, Kat!” His annoyance was palpable as he stomped toward me.

I jerked my leg as if struggling, let out a grunt, and pitched forward into the snow. My hand closed around the rock—cold, hard, real. This was it. This was our chance. I had to make it count.

“Get up!” Owen reached down, his grip iron on my arm as he yanked me to my feet. “We don't have time for this!”

“Sorry, I just?—”

I didn't finish my sentence. As he pulled me up, I clutched the rock tight…

…and I swung hard.

It connected with a thud on the side of his head. He staggered, a burst of red staining his temple, the rock, the snow.

With any luck, he was dead.

But we hadn’t been all that lucky so far.

“Run, Livy!” I screamed.

We turned and bolted, our hearts pounding louder than our footsteps. Snow swirled around us, a blinding curtain. Panic clawed at my chest. Where were our tracks? The car was out there somewhere, hidden by the storm.

“Aunt Kat, I can't see!” Livy gasped.

“Keep going! Just run!”

The world was white, silent except for our frantic breathing and the crunch of snow underfoot. Everything else was erased, as though we were the only two souls left on earth.

“Stay with me, Livy!” I reached back, grabbed her hand, and squeezed it hard. We couldn't stop. Not now.

Livy's hand slipped from mine. She stumbled, her knees buckling on the unforgiving ground. “Kat!” Her voice cracked with fear.

“Get up, Livy!” I hoisted her to her feet, but she cried out in pain. Her ankle must have been messed up. That left me with two options—to carry her or distract him. If I carried her, it would slow us both down, so…

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