Page 95 of Montana Mystery

The new stillness only lasted for a second.

“Are you all right?” Daniel called.

“I’m fine.” I was already moving.

He looked toward the cages and startled. “Get these women out of the cages first,” he shouted.

No one would get Kate out of that fucking cage but me. I would tear it open if I had to. Jude intercepted me on the way, handing me bolt cutters, and I sheared off that fucking lock, practically ripping the door off the hinges before I could drag her out.

She was here. She was alive. She was in my arms. Her feet didn’t even touch the floor as I carried her away from the blood and the cages. To the opposite wall, where I could press her against it and assure myself that this was real.

Kate sobbed once into my neck, fingers digging into my shirt almost as tightly as I was holding her against me. “I love you.” The words were muffled, but audible. “I love you. For days I’ve been wanting to say it and I didn’t, and then I was afraid I wouldn’t get the chance.”

I cut off the words with a kiss. As long as I lived, I would never get enough of her lips and the way she tasted. Sweet and fruity and absolutely fucking perfect. “I lost my mind,” I said to her. “When I found out. And I knew. I love you. So fucking much.”

This time the kiss was softer. Warmer. Like we weren’t surrounded by death and the aftermath of all of this. I wanted us to be home. In our bed. It wasn’t just mine anymore, and I was going to do everything I could to make sure it stayed that way.

“Brandon,” I said. “He’s alive.”

She gasped, tears flooding her eyes. “Really?”

“He’s the one who called me. On your phone. Told me what happened. He’s in surgery, but the doctor felt good about it.”

Kate sagged against me, leaning her head on my chest. This whole time, she’d thought he was dead, I realized. “Thank you.”

I pulled her closer. As far as I was concerned, I was never letting her go again.

“Noah.” Daniel’s voice came from behind me, and I turned with Kate still pressed to my body. “You all right?”

“I’ll have some bruises, but I’ll live.”

His eyes shifted to Kate. “And you?”

“I’m alive.”

Daniel took a breath. “I want to apologize. If I’d gone with you, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”

“You didn’t know,” she said quietly.

“The ranch is okay?” I asked.

He nodded.

“What happened to the ranch?” Kate asked.

I answered. “Simon sent people to burn it to the ground. I’m not sure what his plan was after that, but he clearly wanted to draw us there.”

Daniel laughed. “We weren’t even there when we got the call that Evelyn, Grace, Lena, and the fire department had it under control.” He looked at me, amusement dancing in his eyes. “You know who made that call?”

“No.”

“Mara.” He laughed, joy and disbelief on his face. “It’s the most that I’ve ever heard her speak.”

Liam stood behind Daniel, and the look on his face—both stunned and proud—that was different.

“Liam has the license plates of the trucks that already left,” I said. “We’ll need to find those.”

“I already put them on it,” Liam said. “This is going to be a whole mess. Simon got away.”

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