Page 55 of Saved By the Mountain Man

Rae fought Burke every step of the way. She screamed and kicked and clawed and bit… until he hit her over the head and her body slumped over.

He threw her over his shoulder.

I stepped out again, this time ready to get her back. It was just him and her—no one else was around. Not yet.

The sound of a car made me stop. Burke had headed in a different direction, away from Silver Ridge, and a service road wound through this area of the forest where there were fewer trees. The car was a big black SUV with tinted windows, and when Burke opened the back door, I heard at least two other voices as he stuffed Rae into the car.

“Oh, boy. You better hope she remembers when she wakes up, asshole,” one said.

“Jethro is going to be pissed. He likes to do the dirty work himself.”

“The bitch bit me,” Burke snapped.

I would be outnumbered. I could fight, but I had no weapons with me. I hadn’t even grabbed my knife as I’d wanted to go after Rae as quickly as I could.

“Jethro is at that shitty inn,” the first voice said. “But we’ll take her to the warehouse—”

The door closed as Burke got in after he’d managed to prop Rae up against the seat, and I couldn’t hear anymore.

The car pulled off, and I watched it leave, still hiding behind the trees.

The inn?

The warehouse?

They were right here, in town. The inn had to be Lauren’s place. But the warehouse… I had no idea.

I turned and headed through the trees back to my cabin as the flurry of snow turned into a storm. Soon, everything would be covered in a pristine sheet of white, the roads blocked, the world transformed.

Maybe that would slow them down.

Enough for me to get her back. Rae was my woman, and she was carrying my baby.

Fuck Jethro and fuck my past.

I was going to bring her back.

15

RAE

Iwoke up shivering, the cold seeping into my bones. My head throbbed with a dull ache, and it took a moment for me to figure out where I was. I tried to move, but my wrists and ankles were bound, tied tightly to a hard wooden chair. Splinters bit into my wrists, the rope chafed around my ankles. Panic surged through me, and my breathing sped up as I looked around, taking in my surroundings.

The warehouse was large and empty, the concrete floors and sheet metal roofing giving it a lifeless, desolate feel. The air was frigid, my breath turning into clouds in the dim light filtering through the dirty, cracked windows. In some spaces, the glass had long broken, and there were only holes where the cold blew in.

I strained against my bonds, but they held fast, the rough ropes digging into my skin.

A door creaked open, and I tasted my heart in my throat. For a moment, I wondered if I should pretend I was still passed out, but then Jethro stepped into the room. He looked almost the same as I remembered—tall, well-dressed, with that sameunsettling charm in his eyes. I’d fallen into those eyes once. I’d bought into his charm, thought he was someone who could become the man of my dreams when everything I’d had before shattered.

Now, Jethro’s charm was twisted with malice, and I finally—albeit far too late—recognized the danger beneath the surface.

“Well, well, well,” he said, his voice smooth as silk when he saw I was awake, his eyes locking on mine. “Look who decided to join us.”

I swallowed hard, trying to steady my racing heart. “Jethro,” I said, my voice trembling. I had questions.

How did you find me? What are you going to do with me? What do you want?

But I knew what he wanted.

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