Page 1 of Sheltering His Second Chance

Prologue

The best thing to do in the rain is to learn to dance wet.

Raven Ryder chuckled as he remembered how his mom would tell him this in her sing-song voice. Years had passed and he still didn’t enjoy getting wet.

He shifted atop his mare and the saddle creaked under his weight. Yellow Bee pawed at the mud following the distant rumble of thunder. “Yeah, I don’t like it either, girl.” He patted her neck which seemed to calm her some, but it wouldn’t last. The search and rescue horses were trained to handle the worst conditions, but the brewing storm unsettled even the best of them. Hell, the weather disconcerted Raven too. Stuck between a rock wall and a deep ravine into the rushing waters of Wildflower River, one wrong move could be fatal.

Dragging off his Stetson, he shook water off the brim then used his gloved fingers to wipe away the dampness from his forehead, little good it did though. At least the wool-lined jacket kept his torso dry but his jeans were heavy and soaked.

Reaching for his thermos, he unscrewed the lid and drained the last remaining dregs of coffee.

Great.Now he’d be wet and coffee-deprived.

Placing the empty thermos back into the saddlebag, he scanned ahead at the uneven terrain on the most dangerous trail on Snowbleed Mountain.Devil’s Fork. They had about a ten-foot range of visibility with the fog settling in like a blanket. Dean’s horse, Juniper, gave a low whinny because she too sensed the danger. Raven and Dean were sitting ducks against both nature and the suspect who’d fled onto the mountain that morning. Usually, the Ryders could navigate the mountain without pause and find their target within hours, but any tracks or clues had been washed away by the flowing water and debris that had created a stream on the bumpy path.

The only lead came from a witness who had been hiking early that morning and spotted a suspicious man wearing all black heading up on the mountain. Later, Raven found a partial track near Devil’s Fork, the single one that had survived the torrential downpour.

Every search and rescue mission were considered important, but this particular mission hit close to home. They wanted to catch the bastard who attacked Farrah outside of her apartment late last night. They also believed he was the man who attacked Shelby outside of Crew and Brew. Luckily, both women had successfully fought the assailant off, but they needed to bring the perpetrator in to give Second Chance a little peace of mind.

Bend had several suspects who checked out and had solid alibis so that put him back to square one in the investigation.

Today was the closest they’d been to catching the suspect so abandoning the search didn’t seem plausible.

And of all days Mother Nature could unleash, it had to be today.

“I wonder if Bend and Rip are having better luck?” Dean said. He and Juniper were finding a sliver of reprieve from the rain under the canopy of a massive tree.

“I think my guess was right. The suspect is from the area and knows this mountain.” Raven rolled his collar up higher on his neck to ward off the chill in the air.

“I can’t wait to get my hands on the sum’bitch.” Dean growled.

“He’s close. I can feel it.” Raven swiped his gaze through the fog but couldn’t see a damn thing.

“He planned this out carefully. I’d bet my prized horse he wanted to bring us up here on a wild goose chase.”

“Like he’s laughing at us because we’re freaking cold and tired? Yeah, I kind of feel that way too.” Raven scratched his whiskered jaw. “None of it makes sense.”

Dean nodded. “You mean how the attacker didn’t hurt Shelby or Farrah but just wanted to terrorize them? Like someone couldn’t handle rejection.”

“But neither woman suspects anyone, or had any unusual run-ins.” Adjusting himself in the saddle, Raven blew out a frustrated breath. “In both circumstances he followed the same plan of action. Grabbed her from behind, threatened her, but didn’t enforce keeping her controlled. Now why in the hell would he do that?”

“He’s making a statement.”

“I wish all the puzzle pieces would fit together.” Slipping out of the saddle, Raven hooked the reins to a limb and walked over to look down at the fast-moving river at the bottom of the ravine. Water flowed from higher up the trail and streamed over his boots as they sunk into the mud. He was afraid they might not go much further.

“What do you think?” Dean had joined him next to the cliff.

“Honestly, I think the path is too dangerous to go any further, and I think that’s okay. We’re missing something. If I’m right and he knows this mountain, the trails, he wouldn’t have come this direction.”

“Unless another trail was impassable.” Dean rubbed his jaw and nodded, but his expression remained troubled.

“Or, he wanted to throw us off.”

Silence loomed between them until Dean cleared his throat. “While we’re alone, I wanted to speak to you about Pa. I think he’s seeing someone.”

Raven slipped his gaze to Dean. “What makes you think that?”

“Since he came back from vacation, he’s been getting all cleaned up and disappearing at night. And he’s been smiling a lot more lately. I think he’s even wearing cologne.”

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