Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 71774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
I settle her and then get to work setting a fire, but my gaze keeps going to her. Whoever her partner was that left her out here to die, he better hope I don’t get my hands on him.
I shake the thoughts from my head. I’m thinking crazy thoughts. There’s no reason to get possessive of the woman. She’s a human… and I’m a shifter.
Chapter 3
Keri
I can hear the crackling of a fire and feel the burning tingling in my fingertips and toes as they begin to thaw. Arney must have had a guilty conscience and returned.
Thanks a whole lot, Arney, wait forty-eight hours before you come back. I could be dead!
I open my eyes, pushing the darkness of fatigue away long enough to see that indeed I’m not alone. I squint at the darkness and the way the crackling fire echoes, letting me know I’m not outside. I blink three times, and each time, it becomes clearer that I’m not with Arney.
“Arney?” I croak.
“Who the fuck is Arney?” a deep voice asks me.
I feel panicked inside, but I’m terrified to find that I have no strength to do more than moan.
The man moves closer to me, and he is absolutely male with how huge his biceps, torso and hands are. Not to mention tall. But he looks almost like a wild man, if I were judging by his long hair hanging past his shoulders and his longer than average beard. He’s wearing heavy expensive-looking hiking boots, and though his jeans are well worn, they aren’t cheap either.
He squats down next to me and reaches out, brushing the hair from my face.
When I cringe at his touch, he pulls back slowly. “I’m not going to hurt you. Who is Arney?”
I shrug my shoulders and look into his intimidating eyes, unable to form a thought.
“Is he the one that left you?” he asks, his gaze glaring a hole into me.
“Yes,” I mutter.
“He’s a dead man.”
He says it so plain, like threatening to kill a man is just something you say in normal conversation. But right now, I don’t feel bad for Arney. I try to sit up a little. “Okay. How did you know I was missing? Who are you?”
My voice is scratchy, and I’m not able to talk above a murmur, but I know he hears me by the way he seems to weigh his response. “I think it was your roommate that notified the police you were missing.”
I nod, waiting for him to answer my other question. But he doesn’t. He only stares back at me intensely, like he’s trying to read my thoughts.
“So, uh, are you search and rescue? Or how did you find me?” I ask, already knowing the answer. He doesn’t look like any policeman I’ve ever seen. The way he carries himself, I doubt he answers to anyone.
Instead of answering me, he reaches behind him and turns back to me with a mug of something hot. The steam is coming off of it, and I inhale deeply just as my stomach rumbles. “Mmmm,” I moan.
He clenches the cup jerkily, almost spilling it before getting control of it again. He holds the cup toward me with one hand and cups the back of my head with the other. “Small sips.”
I nod, unable to look away from him. There’s something commanding about his eyes, and even in my weak state, I feel like I would do anything he asks at this point.
I take a sip of the broth and savor the taste as it hits my tongue.
I motion for another sip, and he lifts the cup to my lips again, this time giving me more. But before he can pull it away, I reach out to grab the cup, touching his hand in the process, but I still tip the cup up and chug the remaining broth.
A satisfying breath leaves me and for a second I forget to be scared of this wild man staring at me. “Um, thank you,” I whisper to him.
He doesn’t answer except for a grunt and a nod of his head. He’s staring at me again, so I have to ask. “So, uh, how did you find me? I didn’t think anyone knew I was missing.”
“Your roommate called the cops.”
I gesture for him to go on, but he just stares blankly at me.
“Ooookay, how did you find me?” I ask him.
“I hike a lot. I know this area.” He shrugs.
Deciding that I’m not going to get any more information out of him unless I drag it out, I lie back. I have so many questions, like where am I? Who is this “wild man” hovering over top of me? But I don’t have the energy to figure it out now.
He must see the worried look on my face. “You’re okay. Safe now. I’ll help you get back to town as soon as the blizzard stops. Just rest now. You’re safe.”