The last time I’d run down a mountain was when a bear had been chasing me out at a logging run. This time the consequences were just as real. Someone’s life was on the line.
The smoke was thicker now, visible even through the trees. I could smell it, acrid and wrong, burning my throat with every gasping breath. My legs pumped harder, muscles screaming, my lungs on fire.
Please let her be okay. Please let me get there in time.
I didn’t know this woman. Didn’t know her name, her story, anything beyond the shape of her shadow moving past windows at night.
But I knew I had to save her.
Chapter 2
Cassidy
My eyes opened groggily, my bedroom ceiling barely visible above me. For a moment, I just lay there, blinking, trying to figure out what had pulled me from sleep.
That’s when the acrid scent of a campfire hit my nose.
But that didn’t make sense. I wasn’t using my fireplace or my wood stove. Not until they were repaired. I was strictly on gas heat.
As I woke up more, I shook my head to clear some of the drowsiness of sleep and looked around.
Then I saw it. Light under my bedroom door. And fog.
What the hell? I almost felt like I was still dreaming because that didn’t make any sense.
I blinked to clear my eyes.
Smoke curled under my bedroom door, gray wisps catching the faint moonlight from my window. A bright orange light illuminated it from behind. A light that didn’t belong.
I sat up so fast my head spun. My heart hammered in my chest as I threw back the covers, bare feet hitting the cold woodenfloor. The smoke was thicker now, seeping in faster, and I could hear something. A crackling sound. Distant but growing. Like wood blazing in a fireplace.
That’s when the puzzle pieces clicked into place.
The house was on fire!
Panic clawed up my throat. I stumbled toward the door, then stopped myself.
Don’t open doors in a fire. That was the rule, right? Feel for heat first.
I pressed my palm against the wood. It didn’t feel warm, but I was still scared to open it.
The window. I had to get out through the window.
I spun around, my nightgown flying behind me as I lurched toward the outside wall of my bedroom where the window sat. The smoke was getting thicker, starting to burn my eyes.
That’s when the window exploded inward.
I screamed, throwing my arms up as glass shattered across the floor. Through the smoke and the chaos I could see that it was a man, wild-eyed and breathing hard, his bare chest heaving as he climbed through the broken frame.
He was thick with muscle, and he wasn’t wearing a shirt. Just a pair of pajama bottoms hanging low on his hips.
No shoes either, and when my gaze dropped to his feet, I saw blood. His soles were torn up, ragged and raw, leaving dark smears on my bedroom floor.
Instinct took over. I grabbed the lamp from my nightstand and swung.
“Get away from me!”
He caught my wrist before the lamp connected.
