She gathered several vials from her kit, avoiding making any eye contact.
It took everything she had not to tackle him to the ground and show him how damn irresistible she found him. Make him really scared of her and what she could do with the piece of rope she had in her satchel and her imagination. This deep in the woods, no one would hear either of their screams.
Ethan doubled over, his hands braced on his knees laughing.
“You’re insufferable, that’s what I think. How do any of your family put up with you?” Remy giggled, sidestepping his question for the most part.
Waves of cool air swept up from the lake to ruffle the loose strands of hair by her face. Ethan reached between them and caught a long piece teasing the corner of her lip.
He drank in the sight of her from rubber boots to her sloppy ponytail and crop top. “And you are beautiful in full doctor mode.”
He stood close now, so close the smell of Mother Nature mixed with everything that made Ethan so damn tempting. Auburn glints of light caught in his dark hair and made him appear as if he belonged right where they were at, in the deep woods and far from where the touch of humans had yet to tarnish. Hopefully.
So far so good, anyway. That thought brought her back around to her purpose here. They’d tested three smaller natural ponds in the area late last evening and now she needed samples from this lake. In the last two months, she’d taken several samples of the water from various sources in the surrounding areas of Savage Ridge as well with no luck in finding what was making the local wildlife ill.
He raised his sunglasses to rest on the top of his head. “You keep looking at me like that and no amount of begging and finger-wagging will stop me. Those sad eyes kill my resolve.”
“It’s just that we should have an answer by now, you know?”
A sudden seriousness came over him. “I do and you will. We’ll figure it out and then we can get back to the fun times, Remy.” He tilted her chin up to meet her gaze. “Woman, you make me want to do things that I’ve never done before.”
Unease tightened the muscles of his shoulders beneath her touch. His gaze swam with something close to what looked as though he had a lot more to say on the matter, but instead he sealed his lips in a fine line.
Men. Savage men to be exact. She’d witnessed that same pursed lips look on all four brothers and she knew for a fact it originated with the elder of the crew. A man as burly and unruly as his offspring.
It took all she had not to push Ethan to say what she saw written clear as the Alaskan sky on his face. But if she did that she would scare him off and could kiss her last remaining days here with him goodbye.
The way his eyes swirled between a deep gold and liquid amber seemed to read like he wanted to say their time together meant more to him than a quickie weekend. Then again, maybe she only wanted to hear the words, true or not.
She opened her to mouth to ask but sucked in a brutal gasp instead.
A single crack carried across the expanse of the lake, and Remy hit the ground before Ethan had even ducked.
“Are you crazy? Get down!” She knew gunfire when she heard it. Reaching up, she tugged on Ethan’s hand, but he slipped away from her, took several paces back from her and then kneeled in the long grass.
What in the hell was he doing? From where she crouched, she couldn’t see anything but the small crease lines at the corners of his eyes and the space between his brows deepened into a fierce scowl.
From one second to the next the calm atmosphere morphed despite the sun’s determination to fight the encroaching grayness. Hunters were nothing to be scared of, but illegal hunting and on private property was something entirely different. They didn’t exactly have on neon vests to signal their presence either. Getting shot was not on her list of things to experience while in Alaska.
She cast a wary eye over their eerily silent surroundings. Everything from the faint chirp of crickets to the occasional call of birds fell quiet. “What? What is it?” She called over to him in a raised whisper. “A hunter? Do you think they shot at us or a bear or something? No. I mean why would anyone be shooting at us?”
Looking between Ethan and the section of woods at their back, she let her words drift.
Ethan blinked back at her before easing over to her, using the tall grass as camouflage. “Stay here, stay low. I’ll be right back.” He kneeled beside her and helped her sit up enough to where the top of the grass brushed just above eye level and spoke in a hushed, grated tone that gave nothing of their situation away.
“Ethan, what does that mean? You need to tell me what I need to be shooting—my gun or my camera for proof of Sasquatch.” Okay, so she’d said that only to get his attention and from the hard look he nailed her with it seemed to have worked.
His entire body went rigid and he yanked off his glasses. She almost wanted to laugh at the shock widening his eyes. “We’ll talk about why you think you need a gun, especially when you have me, later.” He emphasized each word with a bit of bite and his frown lightened a couple of shades. “I’m not touching the whole bigfoot thing.”
She pushed up to her knees and came nose-to-nose with a very unamused man.
“But you see my point? I need deets not macho bullcrap. And don’t shrug things off you don’t know about. We don’t know what is out there.”
He growled. “I know there’s no bigfoot out there with a gun. Just a man who is probably unaware he’s on private land.”
She pursed her lips and waved a hand at him. She knew most people in her profession looked at her with a side-eye and gave her a wide berth for the radical thinking, but that was probably neither here nor there at the moment.
He gave her that same side glare but with a glint of humor instead of cruel judgment.
“I’m just saying.” She turned back to the area he was focused on.
“Stay here. Gather your samples while I check this out.”
Remy fixed her gaze back on him. “Yeah, buster that’s not going to work.” She threw a hand out to stop him. One thing she wouldn’t be classified as was helpless or a damsel in distress. “Communication is everything.”
Her words made something in him change. The razor-sharp angles of his face softened, and his body relaxed a notch as though something clicked mentally.
She only wished she knew what that something was because it made her heart do a double-tap.
Ethan gave a stiff nod and tapped the side of his nose. “It could be hunters, but more likely poachers this time of year.”
“Which means more dangerous.”
He nodded. “They are more radical and don’t care who or what they have to shoot to protect their illegal activities. That puts us on the list if you know what I mean. If I don’t come back in ten minutes, drop everything and head to the plane. Radio home and have them get the rangers up here STAT. And stay hidden.”
Now that she could do. Ethan’s long strides carried him halfway across the field and the man she’d kissed minutes ago disappeared from sight between massive oaks and pines that served as a natural property line between the Savage property and the national park in this area.
Remy turned over on her stomach and pushed up to all fours. Grass crunched beneath her weight from the lack of rain. Careful not to draw too much attention to her location, she eased back to where she left the gear. As a wildlife veterinarian, being out in the field required more than test tubes and wading boots. A smart woman needed protection. She flipped back the cover and pulled out the revolver her brothers gifted her as a graduation present from the University of California and clipped it to the side of her belt.
Used to living in a man’s world as the only woman in a house of five police officer brothers, working a gun became second nature before graduating high school. If anything, having a cop family taught her to always be prepared. Her parents never understood why her brothers went into law enforcement, instead of taking a less stressful route in life, but right now she was grateful for their choice
s.
She hated the guns and never used the one she had outside the firing range. Still, miles in the backwoods it could mean the only thing between her, a wooden casket and the worms.
That gave her pause.
Vials lay scattered in the grass where she’d dropped them earlier. She moved to retrieve them and stood up slowly. She could at least gather the samples while she waited.
Three piercing shots cracked open and she felt each one like a lightning bolt to the chest.
Heels dug into the grass as she did a one-eighty. She crouched low once again.
Cold fear burst through her veins and collided with her heart in a rush of panic. Glass clanked and tumbled by her feet. One foot fell in front of the other until everything blurred.
Ethan!
Trees meant cover. In a flat run through the sea of grass, she dashed across the forty yards of a death trap. Heavy pants rocked her chest, but she narrowed her eyes and scanned the space between the trees. Where was he? She had to find him.
Deep guttural roars of anger snaked through the trees from the right and sent a flock of sharp-tailed grouse scattering for safety behind her.
“Oh God. Ethan.”
Chapter Three
Instinct pulled her hand to her holster.
She blew out a trembling breath and took another to steady her nerves. Trouble waited for her every inch she advanced, but she hoped to deliver a little of it herself if someone hurt Ethan. She steadied her aim and worked around several massive pines. Roots twined together along the forest floor to create large gnarled traps.
The lack of rain in the area made the foliage underfoot crackle and crunch with each step as she made her way closer to where she pinpointed the gunshot.
Scurrying little steps broke the silence as a startled squirrel dashed across her path, sensing danger too. Another few feet and the thickly wooded area gradually thinned until it opened into another section of the same large field that hugged the lake.
It was too quiet.
Nothing moved, chirped or twitched. Not even the squirrel could be seen close by.
Rustling came from her right, and a familiar flash of gray from Ethan’s shirt caught her eye near the base of a large tree.
She stared for only a second before moving to holster her weapon. “Ethan, thank God.” Spatters of blood spotted the pine needles. So focused on getting to Ethan she failed to realize they were not alone.
A flash of white from the corner of her eye caught her by surprise. But it was too late. A sharp blow directly beneath her shoulder blades forced the last of the air from her lungs.
Massive arms wrapped around her like steel bands and the weight of Mt. Everest collided with her smaller frame. Unable to move, screams stuck in her throat and choked out the little bit of air she managed to drag in.
No matter what she did, the impact was inevitable. The ground rushed up to meet her head-on. Caged in, there was no use fighting it. She could not move an arm or a hand to stop the brutal blow from coming.
Pain splintered across her cheek and stars swam in her vision. Oil and copper filled her nostrils as she tried to refill her lungs with a vital amount of air.
Gritting her teeth, fear and a blood-boiling amount of rage drove her head back. She smiled when the satisfying crunch followed by a grunt hit her ears. The vice-like hold her assailant had on her released. She kicked up, not wasting a single precious second—another tidbit her overprotective brothers had taught her in the back yard after school over a case of cola and some sparring mats.
Reached for her gun, but only found an empty holster.
Fuck!
The fear freezing the blood in her veins dethawed and a whole boatload of pissed off woman charged in like Hell’s fury. Beefy fingers locked around her ankle, and she went down again. This time, she caught herself. Through narrowed eyes, she took stock of her surroundings. Miracles of miracles her glasses only slipped a little, but that didn’t fix her current situation. There was nothing within reach she could use to fight with since her gun tumbled out of her hand in the tumble.
Fists and feet then.
“Let’s do this,” she bit out and rolled to her back, letting him think she had no defenses. With one hard tug, he had her within his grasp. But not for long. Thank God for slippery waders and girls that knew how to use them.
With her free foot, Remy hauled back and drove the solid heel home. Mmm. “That’s gotta hurt.” He’d be wearing a size six boot print on his face for eons.
“Try to get a date wearing that, jackass.”
His hold slipped.
She heard someone barreling toward them. Ethan or jackass’s friend she didn’t know, but she did know Ethan was hurt. She’s seen the blood on the forest floor.
Fingers flying over the dry pine needles and dirt, she fumbled for her gun but didn’t dare take her eyes off the naked blond brute. She cocked her leg back again ready to deliver another blow. Through the blood smeared down the side of his face from the broken nose she’d delivered, he never saw it coming.
Crack. “Don’t fuck with a So-Cal girl, fucker.” If she’d broken his nose before he had no chance of it ever healing now.
He let her go completely now and reared back with a fierce, ugly roar that vibrated the air surrounding them. The second his gaze found her murder slithered over his expression.
Well shit.
That’s when she caught a glimpse of the older blood drying across his chest and upper thighs. Her gaze skimmed over him and froze on the bruises that marred his jaw.
He’d found Ethan. Or more like, Ethan found him and it didn’t turn out too well for their attacker.
Her hand brushed against metal. Finally. She wrapped her fingers around the smooth handle of her gun, brought it around and took aim down the length of her body.
“What the hell do you want?”
Gray, now tattered and stained with blood, filled her vision and her attacker disappeared behind a wall of bulging muscle.
Ethan’s shoulders heaved with labored breathing as he stood between her and the other man who looked a little more crazed than she cared to think about.
Ethan reared back and slammed a fist into the other man when he lunged for him like a ferocious bear.
When she heard the sound of their forces colliding, she rolled out of the way just in time to see Ethan plow another blow into the man’s jaw. “It’s a fine line you’re treading, man. You need to get the fuck off my mountain before I bury you in an unmarked grave for harming my woman. You don’t belong here anymore.”
Remy felt her mouth go dry. Did he know the man? Ethan’s words were labored and that’s when Remy noticed fresh blood oozing through his pant leg.
When he didn’t budge, Ethan hauled the man, who nearly matched him in size, by the shoulders and threw him against a nearby tree with a solid thud that made her cringe.
“Hard hearing all of a sudden,” Ethan growled, but the man still didn’t say anything.
Maybe it was the blood trickling down Ethan's forehead and messing with his sight or maybe it was the pure adrenaline in his blood that kept him from seeing the huge knife the other guy pulled out of somewhere, but the sight of the blade and fear of what he would do with it drove Remy into action. She rolled to her back, squeezed on the trigger and did the one thing her brothers said to never do.
She cringed, slamming her eyes closed.
Within knife-throwing distance, she was just as easy a target as Ethan was, for sure. One good throw and she would be minced meat in tacky knee waders. She definitely didn’t see her days ending like this, but she couldn’t just lie here and do nothing.
“What the fuck!”
She heard rather than saw Ethan’s feet shift as he bellowed his shock out. No doubt from the loud shot that seemed to ricochet off every tree in the damn forest.
She waited for something. The noise of a body hitting the ground…something. But it didn’t come.
Peeking one eye open followed by the oth
er, she dared a look. One by one the muscles in her shoulders relaxed enough for her to move. He was gone.
Ethan, however, stood over her, the gold of his eyes swirling and darkening.
“Are you crazy? Or just plain suicidal, woman? You want to put me in an early grave. God almighty, woman, I think I’m having a heart attack.” Ethan fell to his knees and hunched over, his hands shaking as he clutched at his chest.
When he just sat there a minute, his head hung low she took in the sight of the blood smeared across his chest and back through the tears of his T-shirt and didn’t fail to see the bruised and battered knuckles.
“Heart attack. Yep. Me too. Is he gone? He didn’t make a sound. Just simply vanished.” She stayed in her position, gun in hand a few seconds longer. Her head fell back to the earth and she finally let out a breath. Then again, it is kind of hard to hear anything when oh shit, oh shit played on repeat in her head.
She shoved to her feet and holstered her gun, making a mental note to thank her pain-in-the-ass brothers for making sure she knew which end went bang. She’d leave out the part of a maniac attacking them for now, though.
Analyzing her near-death experience could come later. Now she had to help Ethan.
Blood spotted the foliage and penetrated the dirt around him. From what she could tell, if he lost any more, they were in for some real trouble this far from a hospital. Especially if the lunatic decided to double back for a second round. She didn’t exactly have more bullets on hand and only a few left in the gun.
Dirt and leaves mixed with blood caked random parts of his body. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say he’d gone mud wrestling.
“I leave you ten minutes and you go find trouble! I’m not the crazy one charging at lunatics in the middle of nowhere.” Her voice trembled more than her hands as she dropped to her knees beside him.
“The other guy’s sporting some good bruises too.” He gave a weak, low rumble of laughter before it abruptly cut off. Molten whiskey eyes caught her gaze. “Fuck. What did he do to you?” He reached out and brushed his hand against her swollen cheekbones. She hissed from the sudden jolt of pain.
Claimed by Her Mountain Man: A Steamy Mountain Man Friends to Lovers Romance (Her Savage Mountain Men Book 2) Page 3