Page 49 of My Three Mountain Men

Gray light woke me, the brightness piercing into my skull. Then the pain came, and I moaned out loud.

“Oh, don’t move!” Simone cried, her face appearing over me.

I withdrew into the pillow, stunned to see her in my bedroom.

“What are you doing in here?” I rasped. A coughing fit followed my words, and she backed away, hurt coloring her expression as I turned to follow her with my eyes.

Slowly, I became aware of the bandages around my ribs, my upper arm, and shoulder. I groaned again, and the memory of what had put me there hit me in full force. I stopped coughing and struggled to sit up.

“H-how did I make it back here?” I sputtered.

Simone handed me a cup of water, and I reluctantly accepted it.

“You don’t remember?” she asked, sounding disappointed.

“I wouldn’t be asking if I remembered,” I retorted sharply. “And you really shouldn’t be in my room. I don’t care that I got hurt.”

More pain touched her crystalline eyes, and she nodded stiffly. “Fine,” she mumbled. “I’ll go. Do you want me to get you anything before I do?”

The door opened unexpectedly, and Knox entered. My cousin froze when he saw me with the cup in hand. “Oh, shit! You’re alive!”

I smirked. “It’s going to take more than a few wolves to murder me,” I mumbled, smothering a shudder at the memory of how close I’d come to dying.

“Bro, how the fuck did you escape that?” Knox demanded. “You are so lucky that Simone was here to fix you up, or you’d probably be septic by now. This woman here saved your ass.”

Simone turned for the door. “I’ll see about getting you something to eat,” she mumbled, her cheeks staining red.

I wanted to call her back, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

“Are you in pain?” Knox asked, taking the chair that Simone had been sitting in. “Brooks will get you some morphine.”

“I don’t want morphine,” I grumbled. “Get me some Advil.”

Knox hooted. “The guy gets mauled by wolves and thinks ibuprofen is going to numb the pain.” He shook his head. “Seriously, how did you get out of that? When they attack, they don’t usually let up.”

I groaned and shifted my weight, eyes trained on the ajar bedroom door. “I managed to shoot off my rifle a few times.”

Knox gaped at me. “Did you? I didn’t hear it. None of us did. In fact, Simone was the only one who was really panicking about you being gone so long.”

Again, my chest tightened. “She sent you out to look for me?”

“She almost kicked both our asses out the door. She was ready to go herself. She knew something was up when you weren’t back when you said you would be.”

I grimaced in pain, closing my eyes. “Can you call her back in here? And maybe see about a Percocet?”

“Smart man,” Knox chuckled. “And I’ll tell Brooks you’re awake. He’s feeling really guilty that he didn’t go looking earlier. Simone was adamant that something was off almost right away.”

I fought to sit up again, and this time, I was successful, ignoring the pain surging through me as I managed.

“Take it easy, cuz,” Knox told me warningly. “You’re stitched up in places.”

“Call her back in here,” I ordered Knox, the dryness returning to my throat.

Knox blinked once, surprise overtaking his face. “Simone?”

“Unless you guys brought in another woman while I was off taking on wolves.”

He smirked and nodded. “I’ll get her.”

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