Page 204 of Burn the Wild

Ford’s voice fades and blissful oblivion sweeps me up.

“Ford, you need to be prepared.”

“Don’t.”

A long pause.

“If she doesn’t—”

“Don’t.”

“Reese.”

A growl.

“You want to die, you do it on your own time. You hear me, Birdie? You ain’t doing it here. Not while you got me. You got me, baby. Whether you like it or not, you got me.”

Lips sweep across my palm. My brow.

“Where’s my Bluebird? Where are you?”

The world tilts as I sit up in bed, weak and confused. My blurry vision clears as I look around the room. I’m not in a hospital or a black hole. I’m in a bedroom with pastel walls. On the nightstand, coffee cups and a stethoscope. Above me, an IV pole with a bag and tubing.

Outside the window, bluebird skies and the rugged terrain of Runaway Ranch. The storm is over. Like it never happened.

Joy sparks when I spy the small black cat curled beside me. Mouse yawns, flexes her sharp claws. Smiling, I reach out and pull her into my arms.

That’s when I see white bandages wrapped around my arms from wrist to elbow. Marveling, I trace fingertips over the length of them.

My heart skips a beat and then resets itself in my chest.

I survived.

Gavin, the storm, the lake—I survived it all.

I pull back the covers and place both feet on the cool hardwood. I’m dressed in an oversized Runaway Ranch T-shirt and the silk underwear I only wear for Ford.

Ford.

Pushing through exhaustion, I stand, swaying ever so slightly. After steadying myself, I pad across the floor and open the bedroom door.

I gasp.

Ford stands there, hand outstretched for the knob. His body tenses when he sees me.

I brace a hand on the doorframe, drinking in his handsome face. The dark shadows beneath his eyes, the scruff he’s let grow in. And that mussed lionlike mane he’s clearly been running his hand through—his telltale sign of worry.

“Ford,” I whisper, raspy.

His broody amber eyes are unreadable as he scans my face. “Reese.”

He says my name like a prayer. Like I’m everything.

Tears build in my eyes. My heart hammers.

And then—

One big stomp and he’s in my space.

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