Page 50 of Shielded Hearts

“I’m walking down now. He’ll find me.”

“I’ll call the hospitals. See if anyone brought Aspen in.”

“Carson, the guy who has her…she knew him. She said his fucking name!”

“Holy fuck.” His voice cracked. “You think someone followed you up there? What’s the name?”

“I can’t remember it. I just know she called out the name and said, ‘What are you doing here?’ Call the hospitals. Get Gray here.” His words sounded like a plea to his own ears.

“Consider it done. Colt, you’re not alone. You don’t have to do this alone. You never did.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose, fighting back the sting of emotion. “I gotta go.”

“I’ll let you know about the hospitals as soon as I hear.”

“Thanks, bro.” Before he lost his shit, he ended the call and pocketed the phone for safekeeping.

Focusing on the road that angled at a steady path down the mountain, he studied the tracks. Only the one set of tracks led down, and he could see a slightly overlapping set of tracks where the driver had driven up the mountain.

Who the fuck was this guy?

He mentally calculated the time it would take Gray to reach him. The Underwood cabin where he’d taken Aspen—and was now mere rubble buried under the snow—was on the other side of Willowbrook from the Black Heart Ranch. Half an hour, tops.

He walked faster, ignoring the dull pain in his knee. It was nothing compared to the pang he felt in his heart with every second that passed without Aspen.

He grew so desensitized to the road lined by trees and the endless tracks that carried Aspen away from him, that he didn’t acknowledge the vehicle speeding toward him until the driver braked.

The door opened, and a buzzed head popped out. “Jesus, Colt. You look fucking shellshocked. You okay?”

“Yes.” He didn’t want to talk about how he looked right now. Nothing mattered except Aspen.

He bolted to the passenger door and leaped in. Gray performed a multiple-point turn on the narrow pass to head back the direction he’d come from.

“No word from Carson on the hospitals?” he asked as soon as they got turned around.

Gray shot him a look. “All quiet.”

“I’ll text him now.”

Silence prevailed as he sent a message to his brother. Immediately, Carson sent one back.

Nothing.

Colt stared down at that word, trying to make sense of what it meant.

“She’s not at the hospitals. Take me to the airport.”

Darkness fell earlier at this time of year, and with it came a thick fog. The headlights glared off the white world, making all the trees and shapes popping up seem more jagged and nefarious.

He fisted his hand on his knee and tried not to bellow at Gray for their slow pace, knowing one wrong move in this fog could pitch them off the steep mountainside to their deaths. Long, tense moments passed.

“What’s at the airport, Colt? Talk to me. I can’t read minds.”

“It’s the only place I know to check. Aspen has a private jet that’s under repair.”

“Call ahead and check the status.”

They neared the end of the road that ran east and west. “Wait!” He leaned forward, staring at the tracks from the vehicle that passed before them. “He turned toward the airport. Go!”

---