He didn’t turn to look at her. He just barked an order at her to “Stay inside.”
Her bare feet crunched on the wood as she stepped up beside him, clutching a blanket around her shoulders. When she saw the prints, her breath caught. “Those aren’t yours.”
“No.” He straightened slowly, eyes scanning the tree line. “Someone was here last night, and I’m betting that they were watching us.”
Her voice trembled, but she kept it steady. “Do you think that it was the Dead Rabbits?” she asked. “Do you think they know it’s you?”
“They know someone’s alive out here and living in this cabin.” His jaw tightened, not wanting to say the next part. “I have no idea if it’s the Dead Rabbits or not, but having someone so close to the cabin is enough for me to worry.”
Winter looked toward the trees, her hand instinctively moving to her stomach. “What do we do now?”
Jace pulled out his phone and started dialing. “We call Rebel and Bolt. If the Rabbits are this close, we’re out of time, and we need an exit plan, fast. They will contact Savage and Banshee to get the Bastards and Harlots involved.”
The signal took a few seconds to pick up his call, static breaking the quiet. Then Rebel’s voice came through, clipped and sharp. “Jace? Talk to me. What’s going on?” It was how she and Bolt always answered the phone when he called on a day that he wasn’t supposed to be checking in.
He glanced once more at the tracks fading into the pines, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “We’ve got company,” he said. “And it’s time for us to move.”
Winter stepped closer, her hand brushing his arm, as though trying to steady him. He didn’t look at her because the feeling of her next to him was enough to undo him all over again. He felt as though he was letting her down, making her go on the run with him, but the thought of letting her go now wasn’t an option. She agreed that they were in this together, and that was all he needed to make his next move to keep her safe—no matter where that move landed them next, they’d be together.
He’d promised to keep her safe, and there was no way that he’d be breaking that promise to her. Not for anything. The storm outside had finally passed, but the real one was just beginning. Jace just hoped like hell that they were both ready for it.
Jace ended his call to Rebel and Bolt and finally looked at Winter. She looked as worried as he felt, and he couldn’t help but pull her into his body. “We need to get you inside before you freeze out here,” he ordered. She shivered against his body as though proving his point, and he led Winter into his cabin.
“Jace?” Her voice was laced with worry. He didn’t need her to ask him anything. He knew exactly what she wanted to know—what was going to happen next?
He didn’t answer at first. He needed to give himself a second to get his already racing heart time to calm down, because admitting to Winter what he had seen while on the phone with his sister wasn’t something that he wanted to do. He hated that he was going to have to scare her, but it was the only way to get them both moving.
Down the slope, just beyond the tree line, two black SUVs sat half-hidden under the pines. Their engines were off, but he could tell that they hadn’t been sitting there for very long. He knew that their time at the cabin was up, and with Rebel and Bolt’s help, they’d come up with an exit plan that might just work.
“Pack what you can,” he said quietly, not giving her any other explanation. “Now.” He quickly added when she just stood there looking at him as though he had lost his mind.
Winter froze. “What? Why?” she asked.
He shook his head, not liking that he was about to tell her everything, but he was. “They found us.”
“I know,” she said, “I saw the footprints. But that doesn’t mean that it’s the Dead Rabbits or that they actually know that you are here.”
“Shit.” He grumbled, running his fingers through his already unruly hair. He started pacing in front of her, not knowing how the hell they had found him, trying to work it all out. “They must have followed you here,” he said. The words came out rougher than he meant for them to, and guilt hit him the second they left his mouth.
She started to walk away from him, and he grabbed her hand, stopping her. “It’s not your fault,” he added quickly. “You said that you stopped at that gas station a few days ago to fill up. Maybe a camera caught you, and someone recognized you from the Harlots. Either way, they’re here. I saw their trucks in the distance. I think that they are just waiting us out—maybe evenwaiting for some more of their guys to show up. That’s why we need to leave now.”
Winter nodded, and he released her. “How many guys do you think are out there?” she asked.
“Three, maybe four, from what I can see.” He caught her arm again, forcing her to look at him. “Listen to me. When I say move, you move. You don’t stop for anything, you hear me?”
She nodded, though her lips trembled. “Where are we going?”
“Home to Huntsville,” he said. “I’m done trying to do this alone. If the Dead Rabbits want a fight, they are going to have to come through the Bastards to get to me.”
“The Harlots too,” Winter reminded. “I can be ready in five. Do you think that it’s safe for us to go home?”
“Bolt thinks that it’s the only place the Dead Rabbits won’t expect us to go. Bolt has informed the FBI about what’s going on. He’s been keeping them in the loop. Between them and the Bastards and Harlots, I think that we’ll be safe enough. But they found us up here, so apparently, no place is safe. Grab your stuff, we leave in five,” he ordered.
He watched as Winter disappeared into the bedroom, and he quickly went to work, grabbing whatever he could and tossing it into an empty bag. He knew that it would be some time before he’d be able to get back up to his cabin, and that thought kind of made him sad. Here, he had spent so many nights thinking of a way to get back to Huntsville and to family, and now, he was thinking about how he was going to miss his cabin.
Winter walked back into the great room, just as a truck door slammed outside. It was faint, but close, and Jace cursed under his breath. He crossed the cabin in three strides, dousing the fire in the fireplace. The room plunged into darkness, the only light now the pale gray from the windows. He could see Winter’s silhouette, small but steady, holding her bag and her breath.
A shadow passed by the porch window. “Get down,” Jace hissed. He pulled her with him behind the couch as the first shot shattered the glass of the cabin’s front window. Winter gasped, covering her belly instinctively.
