Page 44 of Montana Rain

Slowly, I moved it enough to get it free of whatever held it, groaning the whole time. Upright. I was upright. That was good. I pushed myself up and fell down again, pain blazing brighter than all the surrounding white. Fuck, this was bad.

But my ankle wasn’t the thing that had me shivering more than from the cold. I was in the middle of a blizzard, injured, and disoriented. And I had no idea where to go.

Chapter 19

Cole

I watched out the window for any sign of movement to tell me Rayne was on her way back, but I saw nothing. This was too long. Much longer than her first trip to the wood and back.

She should have returned long before now, and my instincts told me something was wrong. The pile of wood was about fifty feet from the front door of the cabin. Nothing in good weather, a rough distance in bad. But it wasn’t impossible, especially with the guiding line we had. No, something was wrong.

Where was she?

I didn’t want to overstep her boundaries. Rayne was clear. She wasn’t a damsel in distress, and I didn’t want to treat her like one. But if something happened and I didn’t make it to her in time? I didn’t know if I could live with myself either. Rayne wasn’t Jamie, but at times like this, I couldn’t fight the memories.

Five more minutes.

A dark streak flew through the air. What the hell was that?

In the shifting snow, I focused and found the object again, whipping through the air.

My entire body went cold.

It was the rope.

Blowing in the fucking wind.

There wasn’t nearly enough length on that piece to make it to the wood. It had broken, snapped, or even worse, someone cut it.

Sprinting into the basement, I grabbed more rope. Never in my life had I gotten dressed that fast. Every cell in my body screamed at me to move. Faster. She was in trouble, and she needed help.

Please, I begged the universe. Please let her be alive.

It hadn’t been long enough for her to freeze, but this was a mountain in a whiteout blizzard. Anything could happen.

I tied the new rope off where the other one hung limp and tied the other end around myself three times. With both of us out here, I couldn’t risk losing the second rope.

“Come on, Rayne,” I muttered, pushing in the direction I knew she’d gone. “Where are you?”

There was no sign of her on the path she’d left straight to the woodpile. The other half of the rope whipped in the wind, snapped in half. Where had it broken?

“Rayne!”

Every ounce of my strength went into calling her name. Grabbing the broken rope, I walked it back toward the cabin until it was nearly taut. Maybe I could find her if I found where the split was.

“Rayne, where are you?”

I called her name until my throat was raw, terror rising under my skin. What if I didn’t find her? What if I was too late and she froze to death alone out here?

One more time, I screamed her name, and more than the wind answered me. “Cole.”

Thank fuck. Where was she?

I turned toward where I thought the voice had come from. “Rayne.”

“I’m here!”

There. A darker spot against the blinding white. Barely visible and clearly down a drop… My heart stuttered. She’d fallen. Whatever had caused her to move off the path and fall, I would destroy it.

---