Page 25 of Montana Rain

Everything would be fine.

* * *

A loud thump woke me.

I jerked awake, looking around my dim bedroom. There was a touch of ambient light due to the snow, the way the moon reflected off the white, making the night fully visible.

What had woken me?

A creak downstairs had my blood running cold. That creak was the floorboard between the kitchen and the living room. A distinctive whine I’d grown used to over the years.

Someone was in my house.

I glanced at the bedside clock. The face was dark and empty. No power. Shit. Moving as quickly and quietly as I could, I got out of bed, and moving on instinct, I pulled the covers up to make it look like I’d never been in the bed.

Now would be a great time to use that escape plan, but there wasn’t any way to move in this house without noise. It was older and creaky, and it was still snowing. If they didn’t think I was here—maybe I went somewhere in someone else’s car—I had a better chance. I didn’t know where the instinct came from, but the Resting Warrior guys always talked about the power of instincts, so I was going to follow them.

Another creak came from downstairs.

I smoothed down the pillows and made it look perfect before I grabbed the bear spray and my phone and crawled under the bed.

Real smart, Rayne.

The movie Taken came to mind, where they found her under the bed and kidnapped her. But the kidnappers had known she was in the house and where to look. I tried to slow my breathing.

From down the hall, I heard the sounds of someone climbing the stairs. I knew the sequence of noises by heart. It seemed like just one person, but I didn’t know for sure.

Step by heavy step, they came closer. Whoever it was wasn’t bothering to hide their presence.

The door to my room pushed open silently. I should have called nine-one-one, but they might have been able to hear the dispatcher and give me away. A set of black boots stood in the doorway. They stood there for long moments, just looking.

Stepping inside, they suddenly moved quickly. My closet opened, and I heard the sounds of clothes being thrown on the floor. He turned out my drawers before leaving the room and striding through the house like he owned it.

Within a minute, sounds of crashing and shuffling came from downstairs in my office. He was looking for something, and seemed not to think I was here. That was good. That was really good.

I’d wanted to believe the incident at my other office was a coincidence. Now, I couldn’t. My heart pounded in my throat, adrenaline and terror still singing through my veins. I wasn’t safe yet.

They moved on, tearing apart my house with systematic precision. I was grateful that, for the most part, I was a minimalist. I didn’t have a lot of things to go through here.

It seemed like forever before I heard him leave. And shortly after, the heat came on, and one glance out from beneath the bed showed me a blinking clock. He was gone. I crawled out from beneath the bed and leaned against it, still unwilling to get off the floor.

My hands shook as I unlocked my phone. I needed to call the police. Daniel and Jude. But my body didn’t obey those thoughts. It pulled up Cole’s contact and dialed, his words about help the only thing ringing in my mind.

He was the last person I should be calling.

The line only rang once.

Chapter 12

Cole

“Rayne?” I asked. That was the only person it could be, despite the unknown number. It was three in the morning, and fear struck me straight in the middle of the chest. If Rayne was calling this late, it was serious.

“Cole.” Her voice was small. Scared. I was on my feet and pulling on my jeans the second that tone met my eardrums. “I shouldn’t be calling you.”

“What happened?”

“There was someone in my house.”

---