Liam’s entire body stiffens as he pushes himself fully up, now wide awake and alert. His typically soft eyes flash hard, dark emerald. “Stay here. Don’t fucking move.”
I can hear it in his voice, the confirmation that he doesn’t think it’s merely a wild animal outside, either. Giz has adjusted to life on the mountain, to the sounds and smells, and his reaction now is unlike anything we’ve witnessed since he’s been up here.
We were kidding ourselves to believe it would be so easy to hide from a man like that, from a family with those kinds of connections and that vast of a reach. I could have hitchhiked to California and they probably could have found me without much difficulty, if they were looking.
That it took this long suggests he believed I was dead, that I had been injured badly enough by his strike and that he had bound me securely enough that I eventually died in that locker.
How did he find me now?
The question rattles around my brain as Liam climbs to his feet and inches toward the front door, his muscles bunching and flexing with each step in the faint glow from the fire. He doesn’t seem to care that he’s naked and completely exposed, his sole focus what might be lurking outside.
He peeks out the window, glances back at me, and shakes his head, indicating he doesn’t see anything, then moves to the one on the other side of the door and does the same.
Several seconds pass as he waits there, watching, listening, and Giz growls again.
Even if Liam can’t see the threat, it’s there.
Something we both seem to realize at the same time.
He holds a hand out to me, indicating for me to stay where I am, then quickly races up the stairs and comes back a minute later with a stack of clothes in his hand.
Stopping beside me, he tosses me some of them and then tugs on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt himself, the whole time eyeing the door, never putting his back to it.
Every muscle in his body vibrates as he moves over to the corner of the cabin where his shotgun leans against the wall. He grabs a box of shells from the cabinet next to it and shoves some into his pockets, then opens the drawer next to it and pulls out my handgun.
He comes over to me and squats as I hastily finish getting dressed. His lips brush against my ear. “Take this. It’s loaded. Lock the door behind me. Don’t open it for anyone but me, Killian, Connor, or Willow, you hear me? No one else.”
I nod, but as he starts to rise, I grab his arm, keeping him down.
“Please don’t go.”
The thought of him stepping out into the darkness of the mountain alone, not knowing what waits for him out there, makes bile climb my throat. My fingers tighten around him, as if that will keep him here when we both know he has to go.
The look he gives me tells me he doesn’t want to. That leaving me and walking away right now is the last thing he would do if he had a choice. But he trusts Gizmo as much as I do, and a warning like that isn’t one that he’ll ignore.
He kisses me fiercely. Like it’s our last kiss. Like we may never see each other again.
And my heart shatters.
This is my fault.
All of it.
He pushes to his feet, then moves over to the door, sliding on his boots and quickly tying them while he keeps his eye on the windows.
Giz stands at the base of the stairs, hackles still up, growling low in his chest.
Liam glances at him. “Stay here. Protect her.”
Giz tilts his head slightly, and Liam cautiously turns the knob on the front door. It doesn’t make a sound as he eases it open while standing to the side, where his body is protected by the massive wooden beam.
He peers out, scanning the area in front of the cabin. After a few seconds, he looks back at me, mouths “I love you,” then slips outside, pulling the door closed behind him softly.
The mechanism clicking into place rings loudly in the silence, and it sets me in motion like a starter’s gunshot.
I launch to my feet and race across the room, throwing the deadbolt he didn’t bother with when we got home earlier in place.
Pressing my ear against the heavy wood panel, I strain to hear anything happening outside, and Giz rushes forward to stand beside me, staring up, still intently focused on whatever might be outside.
