Cripes, what a couple of nimrods, falling asleep on the job. She didn’t bother to survey Blade for weapons. Cade would have taken care of them. She should search Cade’s knapsack, though, but it was too close to him for comfort. She debated whether sitting on the log beside a sleeping Blade in order to put her boots on was a good idea. With her luck, he’d wake and break her neck. She wished she could hang around and ask him if he really would have killed her, but hey, she had better things to do with her time.
She held her boots and crept silently through the snow and away from camp. Behind some nearby bushes, she put on her socks and boots and ignored the shivers racing up her spine. Then she started walking again.
About a hundred yards away, Reena broke into an awkward run through the snow drifts. She covered the rugged terrain at mind-boggling speed despite the deep snow tangling her feet and threatening to trip her. She stumbled over hidden rocks and stumps and wove a serpentine path around gullies.
The whole time she ran, she imagined Cade and Blade waking up any second and giving chase. Her arms prickled as she fantasized being grabbed by one of them and tackled to the ground.
She ran faster.
Her breaths sawed in and out in painful gasps as the icy air burned deep into her lungs. Even though she knew better than to panic, she couldn’t stop the claws of fear from grabbing hold. With every step, her feet continued to get colder and her teeth just kept on chattering.
Suddenly, she wished for the scrunch of footsteps chomping through the snow behind her. Wished Cade and Blade were following her. They would warm her up.
Oh God, what the hell was she thinking? She shouldn’t expect a rescue from them. They wouldn’t follow her in this nasty weather. The snowflakes swirled so thickly, she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face. The storm had intensified and she didn’t recognize any of the landmarks. In her panic, she must have gone the wrong way.
Frig! They’d find her frozen stiff. A corpse. Cold forever!
Oh God! Get a grip!
But how could she stay calm? She didn’t have the foggiest idea where she was heading. Despite spending her teenage years exploring these woods, nothing seemed familiar. Back then she’d loved the silence. Enjoyed the magnificent scenery—the snow-drenched trees, the tart bite of winter air splashing against her cheeks. But now the crisp air clawed past her clothing and bit into her skin like sharp teeth, making her shiver even harder.
Was she at death’s door? Her hopes and dreams of freeing all women began to slip away. She’d wanted to give back what had been too easily taken. Return the freedom their forefathers had fought so hard for. Everything would be lost if she didn’t find her way out of these godforsaken woods.
The snow flurries began to ease and a couple of feet ahead of her the landscape became visible. As she stumbled through the drifts, she thought the slight echo of men’s voices brushed against the trees. But that was ridiculous. If Cade and Blade were stupid and came out in this nightmare weather, they would hunt her in silence. They would sneak up on her.
She had to be hallucinating or dreaming. Or hoping too much for rescue. Or…
Icy shivers skewered her. Blade had mentioned hunters.
A big shadow appeared out of the swirling snow and the instant a face materialized through the storm terror twisted like a knife in her belly. This person wasn’t Cade or Blade. Or anyone she knew.
Oh God. No.
“Well, well, well. A woman. A fucking woman,” the man growled.
His face was concealed in hair, the whiskers tinged with frost. His hat and shoulders were covered in snow. He leered at her in a very ungentlemanly manner that made Reena’s stomach roll with sickness.
“Over here! I’ve found one! Over here!” he shouted.
Oh sweet Lord.
Renewed strength zapped into her limbs. Limbs she’d thought would never work again.
Spinning around, she struggled through the heavy snow, following her previous footsteps. With every step, she picked up speed, and then she ran.
Suddenly a burst of pain exploded in the back of her head. Everything went black.
Chapter Five
Reena didn’t know how long she’d been out, but an agonized moan ripped her from the dark world of hibernation. The pathetic sound had come from her.
Pain throbbed through her temples and her entire body was sore. A chill of foreboding swept through her. Had the man raped her? She took a mental inventory and aside from muscle aches, hurting cold feet and a really bad headache, there didn’t appear to be anything wrong. But that didn’t mean…
Icy goose bumps shivered through her and slammed into her empty belly as she tried to move. The unmistakable sting of a rope bit into her already raw wrists, compliments of Cade’s cuffs. Her ankles were bound and she couldn’t move her legs.
Thankfully she was fully clothed and lay beneath a thick pelt of blankets. The blankets stank of pee and sweat, but were warm. Drifting all around her was the raspy breathing of men, the snap and crackle of burning wood, the tart scent of wood smoke and foul body odor.
The clatter and clank of metal against metal split the air. They were eating, and the unmistakable odor of salsa had her mouth watering despite her fear. Not that it mattered. She doubted she could keep anything down. They wouldn’t give her food anyway. Starvation was one of the torture techniques men used against a captive woman to get her to submit to them.
