“Ouch.” In all the ruckus she’d shoved her own pain to the side, worried about him. Now the slow, steady throb thickened until it hurt to smile.
“I think you put a hurting on him. He’ll never mess with a girl in the woods again.”
She turned his knuckles over and skimmed the forming bruises. “You gave him another good parting gift to remember us by, too.”
“Nothing beat your bullet.”
She shook her head and took a little more of his weight as she helped him sit up. “I’m not even sure if I wounded him or not.”
“You did. You grazed this fucker’s shoulder. I bet he’s thanking whatever god he prays to that you didn’t aim a little to the right or he’d have dropped where he stood.”
“Oh, God, Ethan. I almost killed someone.”
His lips tightened. “It was either him or us. Besides, you didn’t so don’t worry about something that didn’t happen.”
Okay. That made sense. “You’re right.”
“He’s lucky you pulled the trigger when you did. That knife he pulled had me seeing red. I wouldn’t have stopped until he was dead, friend or not. I still feel like chasing him down and putting him in the ground for touching you.” His words tore from him like a promise made on a deathbed and carried enough raw, untamed revenge she almost felt sorry for the other guy.
Ethan pushed to his knees and then feet, but stumbled forward, using the tree at his side for support. He swayed, unable to fully stand from the amount of blood loss.
“Whoa, big guy. Take it easy and slow.”
“I’ll be fine. I just need a minute.”
“Okay, well, let’s get you back to the cabin. Then I can see what I can do to treat the wound.”
Ethan gave a dry chuckle. “Sure thing, Doc. Just give me a sec, will ya?”
She nodded, scanning the horizon for any sign of a repeat encounter.
“Don’t worry. He won’t be back anytime soon. It’ll take him a while to recover from the good ass-kicking.”
“I know. Now let’s get moving.” She mentally patted herself on the back for sounding braver than she felt, but her shaky bravado waned with the adrenaline spike and didn’t stop a flourish of goosebumps from rushing over her exposed skin. It made her want eyes in the back of her head something fierce.
Ethan dropped down to a knee again.
Living in fear didn’t sit well, but she wasn’t exactly in her environment. She worked large zoos and local wildlife. Not wide-open spaces where crazy men more dangerous than the animals had easy pickings.
She kneeled beside Ethan and set to work cleaning off the wound the best she could. He tracked every move she made. The longer she took, the more aware of the simmering anger he locked down tight just below the surface. It swirled like a cloud around him and edged out any other emotion until it consumed his entire body with how he tensed beneath her touch.
She could see him struggle. The muscles across his shoulder and down his arms trembled every time he tried to push up and his breathing rattled. From what she saw it was a clean shot through the muscle of his calf. The pain had to be immense.
Given another chance at the asshole who did this, she wouldn’t hesitate again.
A twig snapped and her head shot up.
His big hand covered her shoulder, his fingers pressing against her shirt. “You don’t need to worry. He won’t be breathing long enough to hurt you again.”
She froze. “I wasn’t worried, but now I am. What does that mean exactly?”
He relaxed against the nearest tree at his back, as though he didn’t just confess to planning on killing someone, and brought his gaze to hers. “You don’t need to be afraid. As soon as I recoup from the blood loss—a couple of hours tops—I’ll be going hunting. This is Savage territory and that asshole just pissed all over the family for he’s done. That’s fine. But, no way in hell he’ll get a second chance at harming you.”
Her eyebrows climbed into her hairline. Oh.
“A little extreme, no? Let’s leave the egos aside for the time being. Now, lean back and give yourself a minute. Let me take a look while you get your breathing under control.”
With a few jerky movements, she unwound her scarf and tried to clean off the last of the crushed dead leaves and clumps of dirt stuck to his skin. He did the same to his hair and shoulders.
“I’ll be fine. Let’s get moving before he thinks a rematch is a good idea before I can take him on. I just need to let the pain fade a little.” A dime-sized hole pierced the thick muscle of his calf. No. He wouldn’t be. Her grandmother had taught her a lot about herbs and how to mix them into medicines. Many of them found right here on the side of this mountain, but none of them worked the magic he would need to do what he was talking about. And thank God for that.
“It’s a clean shot, but we need to get you back to town and get it looked at.” Like every man, he thought he was invincible.
With expert hands, Remy wound the cleanest part of her scarf around his leg and finished it off with a knot. They had a long walk back and they needed something to hold at least that far. Back at the cabin, she could dress it better and radio in from the plane for help.
Remy felt her mouth go dry as reality set in. They were stuck here until he could fly them out. “You sound like you know who did this. Why would whoever he is want to shoot you?”
“Before you arrived, Brax was a more or less permanent fixture of the Savage family and this town. He’s been missing for the better part of three months now. No one knows what he’s been up to for the most part. Until now. When I left you, I used the trees as cover and wound around the side of the lake.” As Remy looked on Ethan’s expression warred between settling on either pissed off or completely sickened.
“I caught him dumping buckets of something into the lake,” he growled. “Before I could dive out of the way he had three rounds off. I didn’t expect who I thought would be a friendly to fire at me, so he caught me off guard. I was lucky enough to catch one of those three shots.”
She didn’t know what to say to that, but lucky sure the hell wasn’t on the list.
She pushed her glasses up a notch and thought over what he’d said. This lake system fed into a few streams that eventually fed into other lakes.
He gave a dry chuckle. “I guess we found our culprit, after all, Doc.”
“If he was so close to your family, why the hell did he turn on you?”
“No idea, but I’ll be finding out. He came to stay with us when we were only boys. His family lives off-grid and couldn’t provide for him. My father took him in to help out, but Brax was always getting into trouble. Carried around a chip on his shoulder as long as I’ve known him. And now he’s gotten into something that has put us both in danger.”
She gripped the ends of the scarf and secured the knot tighter.
His lips tightened and fisted a clump of leaves. “Argh, damn! Not so tight!”
“Sorry. Doctor’s orders. Can you stand?”
It took a couple of tries, but with a little help he managed to get upright by the third attempt.
She slipped his arm around her shoulder. “Do you remember anything else?”
“Whatever he had in those buckets required gloves and I noticed he didn’t touch the water.”
“I guess it’s a good thing we didn’t go skinny dipping earlier.”
He paled. “Fuck me. We have to get back and radio in the rangers.”
She agreed, but he wouldn't be making it any farther than the cabin.
For being shot he moved surprisingly fast. With one brief stop to gather her things, they closed in on the cabin within thirty minutes of setting out. The whole trip she’d been on high alert and her head on a swivel.
Remy helped Ethan up the steps of the enclosed wraparound porch encasing his cabin. “Wait inside. I have to get the first-aid kit from the plane and while I’m at it I’ll radio into home base.”
“Not in a million years, beautiful. We’ll both go or
we both stay.”
“Oh no!”
He moved to push past her, but would not be responsible for putting him through more pain when she could be back in less than fifteen minutes in a hard run.
“We made good time. But you can’t make it another twenty feet much less the quarter-mile. We can’t afford the time lost if we don’t tell them what you found.” Sunshine brushed the horizon, and tiny lightning bugs twinkled like fairy lights throughout the forest, giving the menacing dusk a false sense of safety.
He gave a nod and accepted his defeat. But the way his expression darkened he didn’t like it any more than she did. “Remy.” Her name came out in a low, graveled whisper that begged her attention. She turned to find him leaning against the door, his skin pale. Worry screwed his face up in a frown. He limped closer and reached for her waist. “Use it if you have to.” He tapped the gun strapped into her holster.
She licked her lips. “Trust me. I will.”
She dashed inside and fumbled in her suitcase for a replacement scarf and wrapped it around her neck as she walked. She never left home without one and today didn’t seem like a good day to leave behind her lucky charm.
When she stepped out of the door again, the heat of his gaze hit her square between the shoulder blades. Without looking back, she took the porch steps two at a time and hit the ground running. There’s no telling what he put in the water or how many animals or people could die from it. At least they had the who. Now they needed to find out the why, but most importantly a way to counter whatever he dumped. And she had to make sure Ethan didn’t kill the man before any of that could happen.
Chapter Four
Shafts of late afternoon sunlight combed through the fresh spring leaves to fan out across the ground at her feet. Glints of garnet caught her eye, and she slowed.
Blood. So, she did hit him. Or at least nicked him, if he made it this far. There didn’t seem to be enough that signaled a grave wound as Ethan had said.
If he was here, she didn’t want to be. Unease bubbled in the pit of her stomach. With a little effort, she shoved it down with a couple of big deep breaths. Her waders thumped on the wood of the dock, giving her position away so she slowed, careful to make as little noise as possible. Each step made the pier gently rock in the waves. Ripples of anxiety froze her in place. She crouched forward a little and scanned the darkened wooded area at her back before she hightailed it the rest of the way to the plane at the end of the dock.
She’d been so worried about him spotting her, she failed to see the state of the plane until she was almost beside it.
Metal that once served as a door hung sideways off the hinges with deep gashes from what she assumed was an ax where the handle once was. Acid boiled like a tar pit in her stomach and caused a wave of panic to tumble through her limbs. With each step closer the harder it became to stand.
Fluffy cotton tufts tumbled across the once pristine tan leather bench to catch on the dry grass by the bank and scatter across the water. A curtain of multicolored wires hung like gnarled vines from holes that weren’t there when they’d left the plane yesterday.
They were so screwed. This thing would never fly them home even if Ethan was capable. Remy laid a hand to the door still warm from the day’s sunshine, and her heart broke for Ethan. He treated this plane as a parent did a child.
“Let me see, baby.”
Remy nearly jumped out of her skin at the gruff, low voice. “Ethan, damn you. You’re supposed to be back at the cabin.”
Ethan clenched his fist at his side. “Like I’ll sit around and let anything happen to you. Not now or ever. Now let me see the damage, Doc,” he gruffly said, pinning her with an unwavering look. “Please,” he added quietly.
She stepped aside but worked the meanest glare she could muster while being freaked the hell out. When she managed a closed door behind them and cut off any possible escape route, she’d go full-scale doctor on him and make damn sure he listened.
Right now, she had to admit having him close eased the bubbling acid in her stomach, and she’d take it. Selfish as it sounded.
“The radio. It’s gone.” He worked hard to keep the worry out of his tone, but she knew him too well not to hear the small fractures in his words. The deep line between his brows returned, only deeper. If he wasn’t careful, it would become a permanent fixture to his looks.
Somewhere between the cabin and here, he’d found a big stick to use as a cane. She eased by it, careful not to hit his leg for a better look at what they were dealing with. “Son of a bitch.” Reaching over the torn seats, Remy retrieved the white metal box left open on the cockpit floor. “He took most of the first-aid supplies too, but I think there’s enough here to help.”
“Fucker. He took the whole damn thing.” Ethan held up the casing that housed the radio which tied them to home base. And any hopes of a rescue.
“Who does this guy think he is?” What kind of asshat did this kind of thing to the people that took him in? One more thing went wrong and she might spare the whole Savage crew the hassle and do him in herself with how mad she felt.
Ethan’s voice broke through her thoughts. “A first-rate douche, that’s who.” Ethan banged his fist into the ripped upholstery of the pilot’s seat. Pain weighed on him and made his shoulder droop forward.
Blood soaked through her scarf and trailed down his calf to wet his sock. “You’re not looking too hot, and we’re not going to figure anything out here.” Perspiration wet the tips of his hair from the exertion of the walk and plastered it against his forehead.
Several months ago, several feet of snow covered everything in sight. Now thousands of purple wildflower clusters burst from the ground to form a fragrant carpet that swayed in the gentle breeze. Everything around them gave off a peaceful vibe. But after today she’d never look at the woods the same.
Ethan, hurt as he was, still towered over her. His power evident in every move he made. She eased under his arm and guided him to lean on her. “I can shimmy together something to care for your wound from the things back at the cabin and what I have here until we can work out plan B.”
“Plan B, huh?” A light sheen of sweat covered him, and she could tell the extra effort to follow her out here was taking a toll.
Pain-filled eyes peered down at her as if calculating the options and the limits of his body. The angles of his face sharpened in the rapidly dimming daylight, and his muscles bulged beneath the clean T-shirt he’d slipped on.
Ethan looked down his chest at her with a ferocious mixture of amber and lava. His gaze landed on her bruised cheek.
Wrapping his free arm around her shoulder, he pulled her in close. “This isn’t over, Remy. He’ll pay. Not only for what he did to you but for nearly killing my brother and his mate in that avalanche last month and now us.”
“That’s right. I forgot about that.” She turned and rested a hand on his chest. “You think it was him then too?”
“Brax? Yes. There’s no doubt. He’s up to something bigger than we all thought. I know it and my brother, Drake, said as much, too. You were at Damon’s bar the night when Esme and Drake showed the evidence of Brax provoking the avalanche, don’t you remember? We just have to find out why, and now why he’s poisoning the water supply.”
Esme was Drake’s new fiancée. She arrived in town at the peak of winter to scatter her father’s ashes on the side of the mountain that carried her name. Long story short, Brax nearly killed her, but luckily failed. The only good thing that came out of that was the rekindled love those two have for each other.
“I do remember.” But for some reason, she didn’t make the connection since Savage Ridge was three hours away from where they currently were. “What do you think he wants? Do you think he followed us out here?”
“Who the hell knows. Land maybe? His family’s property is just over the ridge too. I just don’t know. He’s working for a big-time cooperation looking to move in on this land with a lodge that would bring in some hi
gh rollers. He always did like money. They already bought the land attached to ours north of here. That’s the only thing I can come up with. He’s always been a selfish prick.”
She took a little more of his weight and hoped her glasses didn’t decide to fall the rest of the way off. “If that happens, the Savage family faces a problem, right? From the lodge, I mean.”
He nodded in agreement, taking another painful step. “It could mean our business going under for good. Savage Excursions tailors to the tourists’ every need. If a fancy lodge moves in and takes that business from us how can we go up against that kind of money?”
Dusk settled in and Ethan pushed faster as they made the rest of the way back to the cabin in silence. She could tell his mind clicked over all the details but had just as little luck as she did in finding answers.
Back at the cabin, getting up the stairs again nearly killed them both.
Still wearing her waders, she turned and gave a kick to the door. Inside, she leaned them both on the back of the couch. “Shower now, then food. We need to clean your wound and all the various cuts and scrapes you got.”
He didn’t seem in the mood to argue.
She shucked off the waders and clicked on several lamps scattered across the open space of the shared dining and living room. Soft white light poured over the room. Like her, he preferred sparse furniture and open spaces. Small earth-toned rugs dotted the wood flooring. One by the back door and another by the front with one more in front of the floor to ceiling bookcase situated by the fireplace. Stacked river rock made up the entire hearth and invited one to sit a spell by the warmth with a good book or maybe a meal.
Ethan merely nodded as she maneuvered him to the bathroom.
With a flick, light drenched the room and revealed a small sink to the left and beige walls that led to smooth wooden floors throughout the entire cabin. Another rug, this one the color of his eyes, warmed the flooring by the tub. To the left towels, stacked in size from smallest to biggest, lined the top of the chest of drawers he’d refurbished last winter.
Claimed by Her Mountain Man: A Steamy Mountain Man Friends to Lovers Romance (Her Savage Mountain Men Book 2) Page 4
