If Giz hadn’t woken Lucky, we might have been fast asleep when they finally barged in shooting.
We would have been defenseless, and I wouldn’t have had any way to protect Lucky like I promised her I would.
There isn’t any way to warn Killian and Connor or call the sheriff since our cell phones don’t work up here and the only sat phone is in the main cabin.
Killian, Willow, Niall, and Connor are sitting ducks—or sleeping as it may be.
I have to get to them before these guys do…
But the only way to do that is go right past the barn, completely exposed under the moonlight, or to go through it, where I might stand a chance of coming out on the other side, and sticking to the shadows to pick my way back down the ridge.
It’s really the only option.
And it isn’t good.
These men are trained killers. They work for the Lorells, and that family has no qualms about removing people in their way.
I’ve never had to use this gun on anything but bears and other wildlife up here, never even considered having to before Lucky told me the truth about who Brad was and I realized the depth of the danger she was in.
Which means the only chance I stand of beating them is by using the thing that they’re lacking—my knowledge of this mountain and everything on it—to my advantage.
I scan both directions, searching the trees I know so well for any shadows that don’t belong, then quickly bolt across the small open space toward the small back door of the barn.
Pressing my back against the worn boards, I hold my breath, waiting and listening for any sounds that would suggest anyone might have seen or heard my approach.
But an eerie silence that feels completely wrong hangs over the mountain.
Almost as if the animals can sense intruders and know something is wrong and have gone quiet to allow me to hear better, to give me a fighting chance.
I slowly ease open the door, cringing at the creak the old metal hinges make.
Freezing again, I wait for a response or any sound that might tell me where the man who slipped in here might have gone.
My gaze flicks back to the cabin one final time, wishing I didn’t have to leave Lucky like that, wishing there were any other way…but one thing I have learned about her in our short time together is that she’s stronger than I gave her credit for.
She would have shot Connor that day if he were a threat.
She would have stood her ground and done what was necessary even if she regretted it afterward.
I just have to remember that as I force myself to look away and slip inside, allowing my eyes to adjust.
It’s even darker in here, without any hint of the light the stars and the moon provide outside now that the rain has passed. To anyone who doesn’t know the building, it would almost be impassible.
Tools and equipment scattered across the main open space.
Stalls filled with other various other items lining the sides.
Plenty of obstacles for whoever snuck inside before me.
But I quickly and silently move around each item in my way, making my way deep inside and toward the open main door where I can sneak out and move down to warn Connor and Killian and get their help.
My feet move almost silently on the familiar old floorboards, and I sidestep the ones that creak without even thinking about it. Moving stealthily, like one of the mountain predators in the night.
Only, I’ve never considered myself one.
At least, not until I learned about my father…
Now those same feelings simmer in my blood, the agony of discovering who he was and what he had done, not only to Willow but to the woman who risked her life to give me this one.
