“Maybe. I’ll see what I can do,” Greer said.
“Before we go out there,” Rocco said, “have you seen this thing on any of today’s feeds?”
“No. But I’ll check that first.”
* * *
Owen was the first to return to the group upstairs. He checked on his boys, then nodded at Addy. Selena was shocked by what she’d heard the team discussing. Even more so because she was certain she’d seen it. Or…not seen it. Something had blown on the glass from outside the window.
I am a man. I am an him not an it. The words slipped through her mind, warm and soft, spoken with an accent she couldn’t quite place.
“I’m going with them,” Selena announced.
“No,” Owen said.
“No, I am going.”
Owen had taken a step toward Addy, but now he turned back to stare Selena down. She held her ground. The corners of his jaw bunched. “You heard our discussion downstairs?”
“Yes.”
He gave her a nod, then said into his comms, “Kit, Selena’s heading out with the guys. I’ll take her position here.”
“Roger that,” Kit said. “Selena, meet in the garage in five.”
Selena took the stairs two at a time as she hurried to her room to gear up. Val was kneeling outside her door. She stopped short, then remembered Kit ordering him and Angel to collect any fingerprints they could find. It was chilling to think that something unknown had breached their security and entered their home.
Val shot her a quick look, then continued dusting for prints on the door panel. “You heard, right?”
“Yeah. Why my room? What did it want?” she asked, then felt a thin awareness slip into her mind. I am not an it. Those were not her words. “Him,” she corrected herself. “What did he want?”
“Him?” Val glanced at her. “What makes you think it’s a him? We don’t even know what we’re dealing with here. It could be a thing, not a person. Maybe a tiny drone.”
“It’s a him. I just know. Are you finished with the doorknob? I need to change. Fast. Don’t want them going without me.”
“Yeah. Go ahead. Haven’t done it yet, so you’re good.” He leaned back to give her space to enter. Normally that would not have been a problem, but she felt a tension deepen inside her. She looked at Val, who was frowning at her. Before she could say anything, he rocked to his feet and backed several steps away.
Inside her room, Selena quickly changed into night ops gear. She tied up her hair in a plain hair tie, took an extra magazine from her safe, then went to her door.
“You clear, Val? Don’t want to knock you over.”
“I’m clear.”
She opened her door. Val was exactly where she’d left him.
He frowned at her. “What kind of mind game was that?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I couldn’t move.” He shook himself, then pointed at her. “You put me in a trance.”
“Val, I swear to God, half the things out of your mouth make no sense. Like that. How the fuck would I put you in a trance?”
“Just don’t ever do it again.” The crazy sniper was dead serious.
Selena shook her head. “I haven’t ever done it.”
“Selena, today,” Rocco snapped via their comms.
“Coming.” She jogged down the hallway. When she got to the stairs, she looked back to see Val return to the work he was doing at her door. That whole interaction was weird.
She joined the guys in the garage. Rocco was driving. Kelan had shotgun. Something was off. She felt a swirl of energy that made her irritable. Illogically so.
It was snowing when they left headquarters, and visibility only worsened as they neared Max and Hope. No one in the car spoke.
When they parked outside the little cabin, Kelan said, “I’ll go get them.”
The buzz in Selena’s brain worsened, like a threatening migraine. Feeling beside herself, she knew she needed air. She got out of the vehicle and looked around. Lights were on inside the cabin. She knew they weren’t real lights—the cabin had no electricity. It was from the fireplace and artificial candles that Ivy and Jim had set around the place.
No wind was blowing. The fine snow fell at a slight angle. The world seemed so peaceful there, such a contrast to headquarters during Greer’s explosive discovery. She watched the snow sparkle in the SUV’s headlights.
“They’re not there,” Kelan grumbled. “Greer, need an update on Max’s location.”
“Copy.” There was a pause, then, “They’re west of the house, at Max’s special spot.”
“Shit,” Rocco hissed. “Maybe we should wait a few.”
“You forgot the reason we’re out here,” Kelan said. “He can propose later when we don’t have an unknown enemy tracking us.”
“Right. The Expedition can’t make it on the back trails,” Rocco said. “The Jeep’s here; we can take that.”
“I’ll go see if they took both snowmobiles,” Selena said. She went to the shed behind the house, where one snowmobile remained. Shouldering her rifle, she got the snowmobile out of the shed and drove it back to the guys. “We’re in luck. I’ll go after them.” She looked at her phone to get the coordinates for Max’s overlook, which Greer had sent to them. She’d been there once before, but that was weeks ago and in the daylight.
“You’re not going alone, Sel,” Kelan said. “I’ll go with you. Rocco can wait here.”
“I’m fine alone.” In fact, she’d rather it.
“Stay with me, Selena. Let K go after them,” Rocco said.
She looked between the men. “I don’t need protecting.”
“Maybe I do,” Rocco said, grinning.
“This is ridiculous.” She shook her head. “Get on, Kelan. We’re wasting time.”
Kelan got on behind her and gripped the handholds beside the second seat. The migraine chose that time to hit full force. She throttled up and skied into the icy darkness, wincing as she fought against the pain. Greer was directing her toward Max’s location. He couldn’t see the terrain from the ground as she did, or the obstacles in her path, which she had to angle around, but his directions kept her on track.
They topped a hill and rounded a bend, and came up on Max and Hope, standing in each other’s arms. Max looked pissed to see them. Selena came to a stop near them, keeping her headlights on them. She got off the snowmobile and moved a few steps away from it. The pain in her head eased as she did so.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Max said as he stepped away from Hope and came toward them. He stopped mid-stride, almost as if he’d hit an invisible barrier, which was odd, because Max was an in-your-face kind of guy.
Kelan moved in front of Selena. “Something’s happened.”
“What?” Max said.
“Greer’s discovered an unspecified but imminent threat. We’ve come to take you back.”
“This is a joke, right?”
Kelan’s voice was level as he responded, “Do I look like I’m joking?”
“What’s the threat?”
“Something has been prowling around Blade’s house for the last few weeks,” Selena said.
“Something? What the fuck does that mean?” Max growled.
While Kelan brought him up to speed, Selena glanced over at the edge of the pine forest. The shadows were thick. A set of footprints in the fresh snow indicated something had recently walked that way. All the pain in her head eased up. She felt drawn toward the woods.
“We haven’t identified what it is yet, but it got inside the house,” Kelan said.
“It?” Max asked.
“Him,” Selena said, her back to the group. “It’s a him.”
“You’ve come out here, wrecking the best weekend of my life, for malfunctioning cameras?”
Kelan sighed. “Sorry. Really. Hope, I feel awful.”
Snow crunched as Hope came over to them. “It’s okay, Kelan. Look! We’re engaged.”
“Wow, tha
t’s great.”
“Yeah, you didn’t ruin everything,” Max grumbled. “Babe, I’m sorry. We have to go back.”
Selena looked over her shoulder in time to see Hope putting her glove back on. She smiled, happy for them. But inside, her emptiness howled. She looked back into the woods, yearning to go into them, yearning to lose herself in the darkness and peace.
“It’s fine, Max,” Hope said. “We can come back when this is resolved. We still have first dibs on the cabin, you know.”
Selena took a step forward. And another, quietly slipping away.
“Selena, where are you going?” Kelan asked, stopping her.
She looked from the woods to the path the footprints made. “I’m checking out these footprints.”
Kelan came over and passed her. He pointed his flashlight on them. “Deer tracks. That’s all.”
Selena caught up with him and stared at the footprints. They were clearly those of a man—one with big feet. She frowned at Kelan, and was about to argue with him, when a whisper floated into her mind.
My tracks. That’s all, the voice that had been whispering to her said, his accent swapping “z” for the “th” in “that’s.”
The words were warm and soothing, so different from the jarring pain she’d felt off and on all evening. She wanted more of those delicious words, wanted nothing but them in her mind.
“Sel, let’s go,” Kelan called to her.
She ignored him and stepped over the footprints, heading toward the woods. Seconds later, she was grabbed from behind and spun around. Kelan’s face was full of worry. He looked from her to the woods fifty feet behind her.
As soon as he touched her, jagged pain ripped through her mind. He threw his hands wide and stepped back. “Selena, what’s going on?”
Selena ground her fists against her temple and stepped back from Kelan. The pain lessened the more space she put between them. “I don’t know. I’m fighting a migraine, I think.”
Kelan folded his bottom lip between his teeth. “Then let’s get you back to the house.”
Strangely, Selena felt like crying. She didn’t want to leave the woods. She didn’t want to go back to the house. She didn’t want the pain in her head to keep flaring up. But standing there crying was stupid. She wiped her sleeve against her eyes and stomped back to the snowmobiles. Max and Hope were already on the one they’d ridden out. Both of them gave her a concerned looked. Thank God there was no more debate about staying or going. Max led off. Selena got on behind Kelan, careful not touch him as she pressed herself up against the backrest of the second seat and clamped on to the handles.
She looked back as they rushed away. There was movement at the edge of the woods. Someone, something was there. Maybe a big bull elk.
Think that if you wish, came the whispered words in response to that thought, his accent intense.
I don’t know what to think.
Joy slipped through her—an emotion that she was not the source of. It felt as if, after a long argument, the other person acquiesced to her viewpoint. It felt like being heard, understood, listened to. It felt like a win. I understand. You will too, soon.
The joy was his, not hers. How could she feel someone else’s emotion? None of this made sense.
Max and Hope were getting into the Jeep. The lights inside the cabin were much dimmer. Only the fire still glowed in the fireplace.
Stay at the cabin.
No, Selena answered. She didn’t like being played; she feared the being had been toying with her all evening.
I am a man.
No man I know can do what you can do.
That is true.
Stay away from me. And stay away from my friends.
I cannot.
What did that mean? That he couldn’t leave her alone or couldn’t leave the team alone?
Both.
Shit. That was not good. He really was hearing what she was thinking.
They got the snowmobiles put away. Rocco had already brought out the dishes from the cabin and shut it down, banking the fire.
Selena got in the SUV, sitting behind Rocco.
Kelan looked back at her. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine.”
He didn’t look convinced. “Migraine’s better?”
“Yeah. Seems to be. Those weren’t deer tracks back there.”
“Selena, I examined them. I took a picture of them.” He took his phone out and navigated to his photos. “Son of a bitch.” He held his phone up, showing an image of black-and-white static.
Selena sighed and looked out at the storm they were driving through. She tried to keep her mind absolutely empty so her thoughts wouldn’t be read.
Even though she was physically near her team, the thing out there—the man—stalking them had isolated her from them. It was cruel and effective. Worse than merely rendering her useless, he’d made her a danger to them.
7
Max led Hope from the garage into the house. He’d been fighting to suppress his anger the whole ride home. He hated that he had no control over his life, that he couldn’t even give his woman his undivided attention for a mere forty-eight hours. They made it up to their room before Rocco’s vehicle even got to the house.
He closed and locked the door. Hope shoved him against the wall in the short hallway. Her cold hands were on his face, which he knew was hot with anger.
“Do you trust your team?” she asked.
“Of course.”
“Then do you think they would wreck our weekend for no other purpose than it amused them?”
“No.”
“Then chill out and listen to them. If it’s nothing, we can go back. If it’s something, then I’m glad they cared enough to come for us.”
A small smile broke free of his temper. He caught her hips and turned so she was against the wall. “You think you’re in charge of me because of this?” He held up her left hand with its sparkly diamond.
“No. But I am because of this.” She flattened her right hand over his heart.
He sighed, feeling himself calm down. If she wasn’t upset about their weekend being ruined, he wouldn’t be either. He covered her hand with his. “It’s true. You are the rational one between us. I’m sorry. I really am.”
“I’m not. We had a fun day and a half.” A big smile lit her face as she pulled free and wrapped her arms around his neck. “And we’re getting married.”
Max rubbed the side of his face against hers. “Have you thought more about logistics? When do you want to do the deed?”
“Tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow’s Sunday. Not sure the justice of the peace is working. We probably have to set something up. Get our license and stuff.”
“I’ll talk to the girls. I can’t wait to show them. You picked a gorgeous ring.”
“Oh! Wait. I have more to show you.” He went into their closet and came out with a small wooden box. It was made from rosewood and had mother-of-pearl inlays. Max took Hope’s hand and led her over to the bed. Sitting on the end, he handed it to her.
She smiled at him as she opened it. Inside were two more little ring boxes. She opened the first to find the wedding ring that went with her engagement ring. It was a thinner band than the engagement ring and had a row of five small inlaid diamonds. She tried it on and was surprised to see it was a perfect fit.
“How did you know what ring size I wear?”
“I asked Mandy and Ivy to help figure it out.”
Hope drew a shocked breath. “I remember that day. We were in Ivy’s room, trying on some of her rings. She said her hands had gotten swollen from her pregnancy and she couldn’t wear them anymore. Oh my God. Are you telling me that they knew way back then what you were up to?”
Max grinned. “Told you I’d been working on this a while.”
Hope shook her head and opened the second box. In it was Max’s wedding ring. “Try it on. I want to see it on you.”
He slipped it over his ring finger. It was a wid
e, flat platinum band with three small inlaid diamonds—a masculine version of her bands. She covered his hand with hers and shivered, barely able to suppress a squeal. He laughed, warmed by her joy. “I love you, Hope.”
“I love you. I’m sorry our weekend was cut short, but you have to know I will always remember it.”
He kissed her temple. “Me too. You know, the guys didn’t actually say we were meeting—just that they wanted us back at the house. We don’t have to leave this room for another day.” He kissed her.
She smiled against his lips. “Aren’t you the least bit curious about what’s got them all up in arms?”
“No.”
“Liar.”
Max sighed and leaned his head back. “Fine. I don’t want to be, but I am.”
“Go talk to them.”
Max closed his eyes. “I want time for us, Hope. Only me. Only you.”
She drew her hands slowly down his chest. “I do too. We’ll find that time.” She smiled. “Maybe on our honeymoon.”
“You bet your sweet ass. And we aren’t having it in some backwoods cabin, either.”
Hope giggled as she put their wedding rings back in their boxes. “I love that cabin. Are you kidding?”
“Not for our honeymoon.”
“Deal. Now go so I can catch up with the girls.”
He kissed her again. She was soft and sweet and he wanted so much more of her. “Wait up for me.”
“I will. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
Max held hands with Hope as they left their room and went downstairs. It was just the families, the younger pride members, and Jim and Russ in the living room.
“The team’s downstairs,” Russ told him.
Max kissed Hope’s temple, then went down the hall to the den. He heard the girls’ gleeful shouts and grinned, imagining the look on Hope’s face as she showed off her ring.
No one was in the den. He went through the closet to the hidden bunker stairs and jogged down them. He came out into the big conference room in the bunker. Everyone was there, gathered around the conference table, looking at the smart screen. Everyone, that was, except Selena. Hadn’t she said she wasn’t feeling well?
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