Page 39 of In the Cover of Darkness

“What's going on?”

“No one but me,” he repeats firmly.

Looking at the dogs he tells them to guard before shutting the door to the ensuite.

“Lock it. Now, Mila,” he tells me, as I move to click the lock into place.

He tries the door handle, shaking it slightly.

“Baby. I …” desperation staining his voice. “I … got to go.”

The thud of his footsteps disappears until I'm left with only the sounds of the dogs panting, standing guard at the locked door.

Chapter 31 - Dante

"Tell me everything,” I snap at Ace as I enter his office.

“Is she secure?”

"Yes, she is fucking secure. She's locked in the ensuite with the dogs and a knife becauseyoudon't have a safe room. Now tell me what the fuck has happened!” almost shouting at this point.

“One of the perimeter sensors has been triggered. I don't have cameras that far back but nothing else has been activated. It's probably an animal but ..." not bothering to finish the sentence, because I know what he's thinking. Yes, it could be an animal, but it could also be Trevor, and I'm not willing to risk her safety on a possibility.

Ace moves toward the small cupboard door to the side of his desk and enters a code near the handle to unlock it. Not yet opening it, he turns to me.

“If it's him, we need to at least try and keep him alive for the sheriff to come out and assess the state of him.”

“No,” I growl, “let me make myself perfectly clear when I say if it is him, the woman beating, manipulative, controlling, fucker is going to die. He will not get another chance to hurt her Ace. Ifit was Nova we were trying to protect, would you really be saying that?”

Aces looks at me for a moment, it's not often his face is completely blank. It's almost as if he's short circuited and needs a jump to get going again. As quickly as it came, his expression changed again, and his usual grin appears. Shrugging his shoulders at me, and in a tone far more animated than it should be, he says, "Oh well, I tried. Now let's go and hunt this fucker."

He opens the cupboard door to reveal an arsenal. Not overly large but enough for one or two people to make a dent in a firefight. Making sure we're completely covered in black, we load up on at least half the weapons available and head out into the night. Thankful that winter is almost over and enough of the snow has melted. Also, with there being no moon tonight, we have the cover of darkness to hunt.

It's taken longer than I would have liked to trek across the meadow to where the sensor was triggered but we eventually get there, making sure to note and observe any abnormalities. It's unusual that we haven't come across any animals by now, which makes the hairs on the back of my neck stick up. They must have been spooked before we got here.

We've been watching the fenceline for the past 15 minutes and there's no sign of anyone. Ace is lucky in that the land around his house is relatively flat, but we are still far enough away from the house that it's just a glowing spot in the distance. I'm glad that I can see it but would feel better if we were a little closer.

“This is basically the end of my land here. This fence line curves around at the base of the mountain peak and continues on further.”

Making our way toward the fence we can both sense that if someone was here, they are gone now. Hopefully, it was just ananimal who got stuck but I still can't completely relax until I know for sure. We switch our flashlights on, making sure to keep the red light engaged and scan the fence. With every step, I can feel my shoulders easing from the stress ofwhat if.

Mila is safe, it was just a false alarm. I can go back and maybe we can pick up where we left off. I can still taste her on my lips. The way she was dripping for me made my cock harder than it has been for years.

“Fuck,” Ace snaps.

Cursing myself for getting lost in a fantasy right at this moment. Moving close to Ace I see the problem, there's blood on the barbed wire fence, and hanging off it is a scrap of torn fabric.

“It's him. It's got to be. We have to get back to the house.”

Not wasting a moment more, I turn and start running back, checking to make sure Ace is following behind.

The house looms in the distance, taunting me as I approach, and I can faintly hear the dogs barking. He lured us out and we fell for his trap, hook, line and sinker.

Suddenly the screeching of car tyres cuts through the night air, and gravel is flung all around us as we round the house, the car's tail lights seen speeding off down the drive.

Not willing to spend time trying to get to my truck and follow him, I race inside the house, almost breaking down the front door to get inside.

“MILA,” I scream as I run up the stairs toward the ensuite, the dogs’ barking getting louder as I approach.

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