Page 58 of Savage Secrets

Oh god. They had to get out of here. She had to get Rainie.

Zach shot a look at the truck. Their gazes met briefly, then he took a detour to the garage.

Her hands trembled. He must be getting a tool to try to fix the—

The bright light of the blast blinded her. The truck windows rattled and small cracks spread through the glass.

She screamed and braced her arms over her head to protect herself, but that was the least of her worries.

She threw herself out of the truck and took off at a sprint for the garage. It was destroyed—black and smoking.

“Zach!” she screamed sharp and loud.

“Opal! Get back to the truck!”

“Where are you?” She flung her arm up to shield her eyes from the black smoke roiling out of the cavernous structure and searched for him.

“Here.” His voice was a croak.

She looked down at her cowboy on the ground. The orange pumpkin patch shirt was black from the soot, its smiling face singed.

But the huge chunk of wood sticking out of Zach’s thigh had her stomach hitting rock bottom. She landed on her knees next to him, extending her shaking hand toward his impaled thigh.

“Don’t touch it. I got this.” He grabbed hold of the wood and before she could stop him, he ripped it out of his thigh.

She shoved her fist against her mouth to stifle her keening. “You’re going to bleed out!”

“It’s not in a dangerous spot.” He gazed down at the open wound visible through the ragged edges of his torn jeans, his face a mask and his voice detached. “But I am bleeding. I need something to wrap it with. Quick—give me your sweatshirt.”

Fumbling with the zipper on the front, she managed to get the garment off and wrap it around his leg.

“Knot it tight, darlin’. That’s it.” He winced when she yanked it hard but didn’t make a sound.

The heat from the garage fire seemed to melt her T-shirt onto her back, but she didn’t care right now. Her only thought was getting the man she loved to safety.

“You have to get back to the truck, Opal.”

“Not without you!” She grabbed under his shoulders and tried to heave him up. As a forest ranger, she’d lifted dead animals, even one of the wolves they’d tranquilized in order to study it after the foreign pack was wreaking havoc on the local cattle. But she couldn’t budge two hundred pounds of pure muscle.

Luckily, Zach got his good leg under him and he shoved to his feet with her arm around him for balance. When he looked around again, her blood froze over like an icy pond in the winter. Someone was here—or had been. What else had they tampered with?

He limped a little, but not as much as she thought he would for having that wooden plank lodged in the meat of his thigh and then yanked out. The navy-blue sweatshirt she’d tied around his wound flapped with every step he took, and the copper tang of blood flooded her nose. When she glanced down, she saw a fresh smear of blood staining his jeans.

“What are we going to do? We don’t have a way off the ranch!”

“The guys are on their way.”

“They can take you to the hospital!”

He shook his head. “We’ll take one of their trucks.”

“Are you crazy?” Her cry got snatched by the wind so she could barely hear it herself.

Dark eyes fastened onto hers. “We’re going after Rainie.”

Oh god. Her daughter could be the next target.

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