Page 8 of Rescued By the Brooding Mountain Hero

"Jade!" I bellow her name into the howling wind, praying for any response. "Jade, can you hear me?"

My heart pounds against my ribs, a sickening dread building with each passing minute. I've seen what these storms can do to the unprepared. Images of Jade broken and bleeding, battered by the merciless hail, flood my mind. I shake my head violently, trying to banish the nightmarish thoughts.

I have to find her. I have to get her to safety. Nothing else matters.

The trail steepens, and I dig my boots into the slick earth, ignoring the burn in my legs as I climb higher. Rainwater streams down my face, blurring my vision. The ground beneath me starts to look like a river.

I swipe at my eyes with a gloved hand, squinting into the tempest. A particularly vicious gust of wind nearly rips me offmy feet. I stumble, catching myself on a boulder. The rough stone scrapes my palms even through my gloves. Gritting my teeth, I push off and keep moving, refusing to let the storm beat me.

"Beau, come in. Have you found her yet?" Liam's voice crackles over the radio, barely audible above the raging storm.

I press the talk button, shielding the device from the driving rain. "Negative. No sign of her. Visibility is shit out here."

"Listen, we checked the topographical map. There's a rocky outcropping about a quarter mile up the trail from your position. She might have taken shelter there."

A surge of hope floods through me. "Copy that. Send me the coordinates."

I wait impatiently, every second feeling like an eternity. Finally, the radio beeps, and I check the screen, committing the location to memory.

"Got it. I'm Oscar Mike." I clip the radio back to my belt and break into a run, my boots pounding against the muddy earth.

The trail gets even more treacherous the higher I get, a winding serpent of rocks and roots made even more perilous by the relentless deluge. I leap over fallen logs and dodge low-hanging branches, my breath coming in ragged gasps. The coordinates Liam gave me pulse in my mind like a mantra, urging me forward.

I round a bend, and there it is - the rocky outcropping, a hulking mass of stone jutting from the mountainside. I scramble up the slippery slope, my heart in my throat.

"Jade!" I shout, my voice raw and desperate. "Jade, are you there?"

For a moment, there's nothing but the roar of the wind and the pounding of the rain. Then, faintly, I hear it - a weak cry, almost lost in the chaos of the storm.

"Help! I'm here!"

Relief crashes over me like a tidal wave. She's alive. Hurt, by the sound of it, but alive.

I clamber over the final boulder, and there she is, huddled against the rock face. Her once vibrant eyes are wide with terror, her face pale and streaked with mud. She's shivering violently, her clothes drenched and clinging to her curves.

"Beau?" she whispers, her voice trembling. "You... you came for me..."

I'm at her side in an instant, pulling her into my arms. She collapses against me, her body racked with sobs.

"I've got you," I murmur, stroking her soaked hair. "I've got you, Jade. You're safe now."

I help Jade to her feet, steadying her as she wobbles unsteadily. She winces, her face contorting in pain.

"My ankle," she gasps, clutching my arm for support. "I think I twisted it when I was running."

Damn it. An injury is the last thing we need right now. I open my mouth to reassure her, but before I can get a word out, a blinding flash of lightning strikes a tree barely fifty feet from us. The crack of thunder is deafening, the force of it shaking the ground beneath our feet.

Jade screams, burying her face against my chest. I instinctively wrap my arms around her, shielding her from the falling debris.

"We have to move," I shout over the howling wind. "It's not safe here."

Jade nods, her eyes wide with fear. She tries to take a step and cries out, her leg buckling beneath her.

I don't hesitate. In one swift motion, I scoop her up into my arms, ignoring her startled yelp of protest.

"Beau, what are you doing?" she demands, her voice high and panicked. "Put me down! I can walk!"

I snort, shifting her weight over my shoulder. "Like hell you can. That ankle needs to be kept off the ground."

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