by Nicole Casey
Quickly, I gathered my belongings and packed them hastily into my bag, cursing myself when I realized that I had no flashlight in my kit.
Dammit!
I found myself cursing at Queenie and Hunter but the truth was, it was my own fault for not having checked my bag more thoroughly before I left. I hadn’t expected to be out so long.
On the other hand, this was precisely why the buddy system was implemented in the first place.
I shoved my ill feelings else aside and headed back the way I came and darkness fell faster than any night I’d known in New York.
Awe overwhelmed me as the brilliant sky lit up with a million stars and I threw my head back to peer up into the night.
There was no moon and to make matters worse, clouds were rolling in, seemingly out of nowhere, blocking the little bit of starlight I had. I’d need to use my cell phone flashlight.
Shit.
I moved faster along the path I thought I’d come but in truth, it wasn’t a path. How could it be when no one lived out there?
The snow started then, the delicate snowflakes dancing down from the heavens to rest on my nose before melting away to nothingness.
Fear touched my heart and my gait slowed to a stop.
Nothing looked familiar. I’d been walking for half an hour and I should have been in view of our unit but there was nothing around me but blackness and snow. Lots and lots of snow.
“Okay,” I mumbled aloud. “I went the wrong way.”
I picked up my phone and checked the GPS but since we weren’t located on any real road, I had no good sense of which direction to take. I’d have to keep walking and see where the red dot took me.
It wasn’t a good plan but the rate that the snow was coming down, I had to keep moving. I knew Icelandic storms could come in fast and furiously and I didn’t have nearly enough to keep me afloat for a few days, even if I could find shelter. I thought of what Magnus had said, that there had been a storm watch for days. It was just my luck that I was trapped outside the day it decided to come.
Even if you’re an hour out, you’re only an hour out. Just turn around and move fast.
I sprinted then, slipping over the freshly fallen snow, my eyes fixated on the phone to see what the grid was telling me. A panic seized my gut as I realized I was completely discombobulated but I refused to stop. I kept having this mental picture of myself frozen in a block of ice to be dug out in the spring.
I was stumbling now, blindly even as the light of the flashlight tried to get through the near blanket of snow piling down around me. It wasn’t pretty anymore—it was terrifying and the thought that I was on another planet, isolated and alone was more than just an idea. It was my reality.
Taking one more step landed my leg into the grip of something out of a horror flick and my screams reverberated through the valleys, echoing for miles.
“Oh shit! Oh shit!” I howled, grabbing my leg. With shaking hands, I raised the phone and almost fainted with shock as I saw the black, steel jaws of a bear trap around the fur of my boot. It had been white lining but the blood seeping through was staining it red faster than the driving snow around me.
“Oh Jesus,” I gasped, forcing myself to my feet through the pain. Adrenaline had kicked in and I was trembling violently but my survival instinct overrode all else and I knew I had to keep moving.
Shit just got real.
If I was discombobulated before, I was delusional now and for all I knew, I was limping around in circles, blood flowing hotly beneath my pants and pooling inside my boot.
I have no idea how far I went but at some moment, I realized that I had left my phone on the ground where the bear trap had snapped me.
A new fear gripped me then.
If there was a bear trap, there would be bears, wouldn’t there?
Would they smell my blood? Would they come to feast on my carcass when I inevitably passed out?
I was barely walking now, the snow sweeping over my feet as I stumbled like a drunk man toward the cabin ahead.
Wait what?
I had to be hallucinating. Ice had formed on my eyelashes as I froze in my spot and gazed beyond the flatlands toward a long, log cabin that seemed to stretch on forever.
It didn’t make any sense but nothing happening to me in that moment did. I was going to die if that place didn’t exist anywhere else but in my mind.
With the last ounce of energy I could muster, I made my way forward, gasping as dizziness overwhelmed me. My eyes were nearly frozen shut and I couldn’t feel my fingers underneath my mittens but none of that compared to the pain radiating from my leg.
As I lumbered up to the structure up ahead and fell inside the door, I had a terrible feeling that I was going to die anyway.
6
Dan
My heart was still racing even as we approached our residence and I knew it wouldn’t stop until we were safely inside and shielded from the pelting snow and sleet pouring down on us.
It was a miracle we’d made it home from the expedition at all and no matter how much time I’d spent in Iceland, I’d never really get used to the unexpected brushes with death we seemed to encounter by the way of weather.
Jim stopped the van in front of the cabin and we all hurried into the cabin, exhaling in unison as we fell inside the door. The equipment could wait on the truck. Our safety came first. Our gear was used to inclement weather, even if we weren’t.
“Guess we’re going to be off for a few days,” Jim commented and there was a murmur of consensus among us as we shook the snow off our burly bodies and hung up our coats in the mudroom.
“I’ll get the fire going,” I said to no one in particular as our crew dispersed in different directions to find the warmth they sought.
I heard someone banging around in the kitchen but suddenly a cry of alarm caught my attention.
“There’s someone in here!” Jim yelled from our shared dorm.
“What?” I asked, hurrying toward his voice. “Who?”
The thought that an intruder would be in the middle of nowhere was absurd but what would they take?
My question was quickly answered as I swung my massive frame into the room and paused mid-step, gawking at the bloodied, unconscious girl in my bed.
“Sweet Jesus!” I muttered, regaining myself. “How the hell did she get in here?”
Instantly, I saw from where the blood was pouring and anger spiked through my veins when I realized what was on her leg.
“You idiot!” I yelled at Jim who hovered near the unconscious girl. Her skin was as white as the snow which fell outside, a stark contrast to her ebony hair which lay dripping over a mouth of surprising redness.
“How many times have I told you that those bear traps are an accident waiting to happen?”
I dropped to my knees and barked at Harry to grab the medical kit from the bathroom.
“Yeah but the polar bears,” Jim whimpered and I glowered at him.
“Does she look like a polar bear to you, Jimmy?”
I didn’t listen for a response and I looked at the wound around her leg. I needed to pry the clamp off her before she got sepsis. There was no way of knowing how long she’d been there or how hurt she was just by looking at her.
Harry returned and handed me the kit as I struggled to unhinge the jaws from her leg.
“Be careful,” Jim muttered and I shot him a scathing look.
“I wouldn’t have to be careful if you’d be more sensible!”
“I’m sorry,” Jim muttered and I softened, knowing it was never his intention to hurt anyone. That didn’t change the fact that there was a woman bleeding to death in our dorm.
“Stand by with towels. Blood is going to go everywhere. She’s lucky the brunt of it caught her boot. I don’t think there’s much damage to her bones.”
Jim did as he was instructed and slowly, I pulled the trap off her calf, my dark eyes darting up toward her face to see if the pain would rouse her but she remained in a dee
p, slumber and it scared me beyond reason.
As I predicted, gushes of red began to spurt from the wound and we were on the blood, holding towels to her as I managed to slip off her boots.
“Her pants need to come off too,” Harry offered and I nodded.
“Get out,” I told them. “I’ll deal with this.”
No one moved as they looked at one another as if they weren’t sure they should go.
“Guys get out. If she wakes up and sees seven men looming over her without her pants—”
“Oh!”
“Yes. Let’s go.”
“Come on.”
“Nothing to see here.”
They all moved out of the room with lightning speed, except Graham who lingered.
“You can go too, Graham,” I told him without turning around. “I’ve got this.”
He didn’t say anything and when I turned to look at him, he had a peculiar look on his face.
“What?” I demanded.
“You know what,” he replied but without another word, he, too, left the room. I didn’t have time to think about Graham and his weirdness at that moment. This woman’s life was in my hands.
“Come on, honey,” I breathed. “Wake up.”
Tenderly, I removed her stained, soaked outer pants and then her long johns, followed by her drenched socks.
Gooseflesh prickled her fair skin and I managed to apply pressure to her wound as I slipped off her jacket.
She was breathtakingly lovely and I had to wonder how she’d gotten out there by herself. Someone had to be missing her. I knew I would be.
Carefully, I disinfected the deep gouges but my initial assessment had been correct. Nothing was broken. It was a flesh wound, nothing more.
It only took a few stitches and some alcohol to stop the bleeding and I gave her a shot of Demerol, knowing that when she woke, she’d be in excruciating pain.
Satisfied with my handiwork, I yelled for Jim again.
“Help me move her onto another bed so I can change these sheets,” I told him. “And we need to find her some warm clothes. It’s a small wonder she doesn’t have hypothermia.”
“Where the heck did she come from?” Jim asked, echoing my own thoughts from earlier. “There’s not a town for miles!”
“We’ll ask her when she wakes up, I guess.” I looked around for a purse or bag, my eyes resting on a knapsack on the floor.
“Is that hers?”
“I guess.”
Together, we lifted her and placed her on the next nearest bed which was Bash’s and Jim giggled.
“This will be the first time Bash has ever had a girl in his bed,” he joked but I wasn’t amused. It wasn’t the time for jokes, even though I knew it was Harry’s defense mechanism.
“Jim, go find her some clothes.”
His smile faded and he hurried to oblige as the others slowly filtered back inside.
“Is she awake yet?” Harry wanted to know, his usually amused expression somber. “Is she going to be okay?”
“Yes,” I replied with conviction. I had no doubt in my mind that she was going to be fine.
“We just need to keep an eye on that wound and she’ll be fine.”
“What can we do?” Bash asked, his small voice barely over a whisper. I could see that having the girl in his bed unnerved him but his heart was good. He wouldn’t make it about him, not when someone’s life was at risk.
“Pray?” I suggested. “I gave her something for the pain but she’ll come around soon.”
I hoped.
All around me, my companions hung their heads and silently wished her well as Jim returned with a pair of his own flannel pajamas.
“Will these do?” he asked and I could read the contrition on his face.
“Yeah,” I said, offering him a brief smile. “You’re scrawny.”
Jim scoffed and the others laughed but quietly as to not wake our sleepy beauty.
Come on, princess, I begged her. Wake up so I can see your eyes.
It was only then that I noticed Graham still standing off to the side, frowning at all of us and I stifled a sigh of worry.
I hoped he wasn’t going to make matters unpleasant.
End of Sneak Peek!
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Also By Nicole Casey
All my books are either FREE or available in Kindle Unlimited!
Love by Numbers
2 Billionaires in Vegas
3 Bosses’ Assistant
4 Ranchers’ Bride
5 Mafia Captors’ Virgin
6 Single Dads’ Nanny
Temptation Next Door Series (COMPLETED)
Hot Dad Next Door
Doctor Next Door
Mr. Fixit Next Door
Author Next Door
Prince Next Door
Firefighters Next Door
Beauty & The Captor Series (COMPLETED)
Her Beast: A Dark Romance
Her Savior: A Dark Romance
Her Dom: A Dark Romance
The Viera Triplets (COMPLETED)
Dirty Pleasures: A Dad’s Best Friend Romance
Come Closer: A Romantic Suspense
Six Years Later: A Second Chance Romance
Baby Fever Series (COMPLETED)
Leaving to Stay: A Rock Star Bad Boy Romance
Accidental Soulmates: A Vegas Accidental Marriage Romance
Can’t Get Over You: An Enemies-To-Lovers Romance
Marrying The Wrong Twin: A Billionaire Marriage Mistake Romance
Deep in the Mountains: A Mountain Man Romance
Standalone
A Weekend with the Mountain Man
Snow and the Seven Men
Romance Collection
Love, Again
Mercury Billionaires
Sinful Like Us
Beauty & The Captors
About the Author
Nicole Casey is a Contemporary Romance Author born and based in The City of Angels. She writes steamy contemporary romance with a happily ever after.
When she isn’t penning sultry scenes, Nicole Casey loves getting lost in her daydreams, going for long nighttime walks, and fine dining. She is also a red wine aficionada and bookworm. Above all, she enjoys nothing more than spending quality time with her loved ones in both human and cat form.
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