CHAPTER 1
Fucking Bobby.
Snow breached the tops of Jaxon Murtaugh’s boots, soaking his pants and drenching the wool of his socks.He burrowed his chin deeper into the collar of his coat as the wind whipped down from the mountains.The stretch of stars that normally filled the sky lay behind a wall of snow clouds that nearly blocked the moonlight.A beam of light bounced down the snow-covered road from the end of his flashlight.If he weren’t so frozen, he might have stopped to marvel at the white-coated world around him.
But he was fucking freezing.And still struggling with the blasted flu that had hit him over the weekend.And pissed.Really pissed.A deadly combination when hiking in the mountains of Colorado.Being outside during a raging blizzard near midnight could cost him his life.If Bobby had sold him a lemon, he’d kill the town’s only car salesman.Next time he went vehicle shopping, he’d travel the two blasted hours to Denver instead of sticking around Whistlemore.
All he had to do was stay on the main road and he’d make it to town in twenty minutes or so.Thankfully, he’d stocked his truck with proper winter gear—minus the snowshoes that he’d forgotten to return to his vehicle after using them the previous weekend.They probably would’ve kept the avalanche of white shit out of his bloody boots.His chest ached with each drag of icy air he took into his lungs, making the weight that had been sitting on his ribs all day that much heavier.
Snap
Jaxon whipped toward the sound.It had come from the brush.A snapped twig couldn’t mean anything good—who the hell would be outside, half an hour from town, in the dense mountainside in minus-twenty-degree weather?
Not a human.
“Get back!”he bellowed at the top of his lungs.His voice boomeranged around the pine trees, wheeling back to his eardrums.The wind howled in response.He took a step in retreat, scanning the dark-green mosaic of foliage.Bears were hibernating.That left...
Mountain lions.
He dug in his jacket for bear spray.He pulled out the cannister and wedged his finger over the nozzle.Maybe he’d scared it off.A branch shook to his left.His heart raced.Snow fluttered to the ground near some bushes.And then he spotted them.Golden eyes.
Ah, hell.
“Get back!I’ll fuck you up, buddy!”He swung the cannister in front of him and staggered backward.Don’t run, don’t run.His previously numb limbs blazed with fire, urging his feet to take flight.White clouds puffed in circles around his face.He lost sight of the eyes.
He kept moving backward.But if he didn’t go forward, he’d—
Wham
A heavy weight slammed into his back and he landed face-first in the snow.A low roar rumbled from the beast on his spine.Fear bit through his insides.He swung his elbow back and sharp teeth nicked his arm.The scent of wet cat collided with the rage of a wild predator.
Whack
His head bounced under the impact of a paw on the back of his neck.
If he didn’t do something fast, he’d be this beast’s midnight snack.Whipping onto his back, he covered his face with his forearm and fired the spray.
The cat hissed before screaming and leaping away.Jaxon bolted to a sitting position and watched as the cat pawed at its face and convulsed.Shoving himself to his feet, he broke into a run.The long, welcoming arms of the trees lured him into the forest.Branches swatted his body until he hit the trail.Fuck, he should have stayed on the road.But the cat would’ve had a clearer path to him.Hot liquid seared his ear.
Where the hell was he?He had to focus, not lose concentration over a wound.If he didn’t get out of the forest fast, the animal would find him.He was too far from his broken-down truck.Freezing to death was surely better than being eaten to death, but survival rated higher.Many houses sat tucked into the woods.He just had to keep putting one foot in front of the other to find one.
Sweat ran down his face, rolling into the corners of his eyes and tickling the skin beneath his beard.He brushed it away with the sleeve of his flannel coat and sucked in another prickling breath.His toe caught a log and he hit the earth.His knees sank into the snow, and pain radiated down his back.
Snap
He jerked up his head and scanned the darkness.Dread filled his belly and his palm turned cold around the cannister.He gritted his teeth, pounded his frozen-solid boot into the snow, and stood.
“Ahhh!”he roared.If the beast wanted him, it would have to fight.
His haggard breath grated his throat.He was hot, angry, and prepared to kill a mountain lion.He turned around in a circle, taking in each branch, each mound of snow, each fallen tree.Nothing.No golden eyes, no movement.
Jaxon trudged forward and kept his thumb on the trigger.Each step pulled at his hips and made his quadriceps scream.He kept his ears attuned to his surroundings.Branches rustled behind him, sending a shockwave of panic up his spine.A laser beam of heat warmed the back of his neck.He might be paranoid, but every instinct in his body told him he was being watched.Stalked.Hunted.He wouldn’t die here in the woods by the teeth of a mountain lion.Of all the ways he’d imagined he’d part with this body, becoming an animal’s meal wasn’t one of them.
A buzzing sound filled his ears.Exhaustion had long since set in.He’d been walking for twenty minutes at least, and if the cat had run into the forest, he could’ve stayed on the road and made it to safety by now.
A light glowed beyond a collection of tree stumps.He stopped and wiped his sleeve over his sweat-drenched face for the tenth time.Long logs and a porch railing stood apart from the rest of the wooded area.A house.Relief burned an unfamiliar nerve behind his eyes, and he sniffed back the urge to drop to his knees and thank God.
He weaved through the branches, keeping his stare on the lit window as if he feared it would vanish.Had the house been dark, like most others this time of night, he would’ve walked right past it.A blue Toyota Corolla was covered in two feet of snow.Nestled next to the porch was a pile of logs—also blanketed in white.But that car.Bloody hell, the car.Of all the houses for him to stumble on, it just had to be McKenna Winters’s.
