Page 33 of The Quiet Witness

Please, be gone.

The sounds of the engine faded into nothing. The regular hoot of an owl taking over the forest’s silence. She forced herself upright. Time to get the hell out of here. Pins and needles attacked her hands and feet. But she barely felt it.

Those were problems for later.

Hours went by, with only the lights of the lanterns to guide her. With her pants soaked through and through, her teeth had long since started chattering. Hugging herself she continued down the road. But still no houses. Nothing. Youuuu… gottt this… keep going.

Rounding another corner she let out a hushed squeal of joy.

Lights!

Lights up ahead. Brightening the night. Which meant… civilization! Finally!

She choked back a sob. Pulse shooting up, quickening in pace with her long strides.

Katherine kept her eyes firmly on the goal, forming a path for her wildly beating heart to follow.

A bark pierced the heavy silence.

Kate froze in place. Heart skipping a beat as another deep bark echoed out beneath the snow laden trees. She knew that bark. Knew all too well to who he belonged. She forced her feet forward. Panic threatening to creep in at the edges of her mind. The guiding light grew closer, but so did the bark following her every move.

Breaths clouding in front of her, she pushed on. Slipping and sliding, she nearly lost her balance but managed to hold herself up by a frostbitten branch, fingers burning to life.

“This is of no use, Kate.” Close. Too close.

Gathering her courage she whirled around. Meeting the owner of the voice head on. “I’ll scream.” To her credit, it came out strong.

Lucien halted a few feet away. He wasn’t even out of breath. While her lungs threatened to burst out of her. His trusted dog flanked him, a pale ghost in the forest. Once again loyal to the person who would take her back to that suffocating house, with its black orbs tracing her every move.

All this… for nothing.

Lucien tilted his head. The shadows shrouding his broad form in darkness. “You can. But it won’t do you much good.” He jerked his chin toward the lights. “See that right there? It’s a solar farm. Not a city, not a town, not even a house.”

She vehemently shook her head. It couldn’t be…

“Don’t believe me? Take another good look.”

Kate didn’t let her eyes stray from his. Toes pointing away.

“We’re in the middle of Montana Big Sky, Kate. The only living beings here are predators and prey. No humans.”

It was as if the cold hand of winter itself squeezed around her heart. “Just like us then.” She whispered. Hands pressing against her temple.

He paid no heed to her comment. “You’ve been traipsing through the snow, the poison still lingering through your veins. You wanted it to be a town, so your brain made it one.”

The world spun around her, she leaned her hand against the bark of a tree. The pitter-patter of paws approaching was all the warning she got before Ghost stroked himself against her.

“Let’s go.” His tone brooked no argument.

“No.”

“Kate, look at you. Barely able to stand on your legs. I’d rather not have to do what I did mere hours ago.”

Drag her back there.

His voice dipped deeper. “Let me make this simple for you. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. I’d rather not throw you over my shoulder and drag you back screaming.”

She didn’t respond. Holding onto the tree as if her life depended on it. It does.