Colton felt like a horse had kicked him square in the head. He moaned as he shifted his body, still on the floor of the cabin. It was cold, and he blinked the fog out of his eyes enough to realize that the cabin door stood wide open. He sat up and rubbed the back of his neck, where he felt the stickiness of blood in his hair from whatever had struck him.
Thoughts of Ellie made him shake his head. The fire in the fireplace was out, whether intentional or because the cold had infiltrated the cabin he didn't know. He pushed himself up and staggered as a wave of dizziness washed over him. He stumbled out onto the front porch and grabbed a handful of snow. He rubbed it on his face to clear the brain fog and bring back his critical thinking ability.
Once he was coherent, he took a good look around. Ellie's jacket was in the chair, which worried him. If someone had taken her, she was going to freeze to death before long. He hurried to the barn to make sure the horses were still there, and it was on his way back to the cabin that he noticed the tracks off to the side.
He rounded the cabin and stopped. "A four-wheeler. How the hell did I not hear it?" Whoever was on the mountain with them knew what they were doing to avoid detection. He glanced at the sky. He had been unconscious for a couple hours. They could be anywhere by now, but at least the tire tracks would be easy to follow.
Colton made sure the door to the cabin was closed before he took to the sky to follow the tracks made in the snow by the off-road vehicle. They followed the tree line for a long way, before they cut back into the woods. The tracks crossed several fields but as they got lower on the mountain, the snow broke up quite a bit. Eventually, the tracks led to a dirt road that had no snow at all on it. At that point, Colton lost the trail. The dirt trails spider-webbed and any number of options were open to the driver.
He roared in frustration as he flew along, his eyes scanning for anything that would lead him to Ellie. When he found nothing, he flew home. There was no sense going back to the cabin, and he hoped that his mother might have some words of advice.
He found Vinia alone in the kitchen when he arrived. She furrowed her brow when she saw him coming down the hallway. "What happened?"
"I'll tell you in a minute. Anything unusual going on around here?"
She shrugged. "Nothing that I can think of. Your sister is still being a little shit, but that's nothing new."
"No one has been asking around about Ellie? Or creeping around like a criminal?"
"No. What's going on, Cole?"
He told her everything. "And now, after I was supposed to protect her, I let her go and get kidnapped and now I have no idea where she is."
"Well, for starters, you didn't let her get kidnapped. That's all on whoever did it. And if she was kidnapped in the true sense of the word, then someone will be contacting you. You just need to wait it out."
"Why would they contact me? I know I've stayed with her a couple days, but it's not like I know that much about her."
"You're asking for information I don't have. But," Vinia leveled her gaze at him, "it seems to me that you like this girl."
"I want to deny it just to shut you up, but I don't want to cheapen the relationship by lying about it. You're right. I do like her. A lot. Which is why I have to plan this out and not go off half-cocked and make things worse."
"You've always been my planner, Cole. And for you to say you like a woman, then we need to find her." A horn blew in the distance. "And it seems like you came home at the right time anyhow. Your brothers are back."
They had four new horses in the trailer when they pulled up to the barn. Colton unhooked the gate as Tyson walked around the truck. "Didn't expect you to be back yet."
"Didn't expect to be back." He motioned for Drake and Logan. "Can you two run up to the cabin and bring Diva and Roscoe back?"
Drake frowned. "How did you get back if you didn't bring the horses?"
"I flew." Colton let it sink in. "And yes. Nothing went as planned, but I don't want to leave them up there overnight. Someone already tried to burn the barn down with them in it."
Tyson motioned to the horses on the trailer. "I don't know if these guys are ready for a trip up the mountain."
Colton shook his head. "Fly, guys. Just get up there and get back down. We have a coyote in the henhouse, but he's wily enough not to get caught yet."
Just the fact that Colton told them to fly made them all realize how serious the situation was. Drake and Logan nodded. "We'll be back as quick as we can." They ran off toward the woods where they could safely shift. Many of the paparazzi were still lined up in the road.
Tyson led one of the new horses out. "Want to talk about it?"
Colton caught him up. "And now, after all that, I have no idea where she is. Or why. Or with whom."
Tyson looked thoughtful. "It's not easy driving a four-wheeler around here without everyone hearing it, especially with dragon hearing."
"That's what I thought, too, but it happened."
"But you know the resort has the silent version, right?"
"Silent version?"
