Not now.
Not ever.
Using the security code, I grab my rifle from the gun safe in the hall closet. Easy access to a weapon is vital when you live in the wild. With it locked and loaded, I run toward my girl, terrified that I’ll be too late, but banking on the fact that I spent the last month memorizing this terrain. That helps ensure that I’ll get to her quickly.
“Help,” she screams, her voice quivering yet clear. She’s in trouble and her words puncture the clear blue sky like sharp blades to my heart.
I need to save her.
“Help me! Help!” she shouts, backing up against a massive cedar tree, its heavy branches laden with snow. Her back is against the trunk and the wolves flank her, creeping closer.
“Oh, Ronan,” she cries, seeing me as I run across the mountainside, toward her, gun in hand.
I don’t hesitate, I raise my rifle and send shots in the air to scare the wolves off. But it doesn’t work, they turn toward me, ready to feast.
“Run,” I yell at Bella, and she begins to move toward the house, but falls, and that’s when I see a third wolf emerge from the tree line. Terror is in Bella’s eyes and panic courses through my veins. I can’t let anything happen to her.
Knowing the two wolves are on the prowl for me, doesn’t change the fact that there is one on the hunt for my woman.
When the wolf charges toward her, I run with all my might to intercept it. I grab hold of its body and wrestle it to the ground— his bloodthirsty fangs are out, and his beady eyes tell me he won’t back down without a fight.
Neither will I.
He snaps at my arm, biting down hard, and I push it away. My hands reach for my rifle before the wolf can take another bite. The agony of the torn skin has nothing on the terror I know Bella faces right now.
I must end this. I pull out my rifle, just as the wolf bites down on my leg.
Fuck it all. Now, I have no choice.
This is not what I planned, but plans went out the window the moment something threatened my woman. My leg is bleeding now and if I let him take out another piece of me, he’ll have everything.
Gathering all my courage, knowing it’s now or never, I raise my rifle while the blood runs from my arm wound staining the ground, red blossoming against the pure white.
This wolf must pay.
I shoot my attacker between the eyes knowing he’s not going to back down unless I take him out.
It had to be done.
The other two wolves howl as their pack member falls, then they lock eyes on me before scurrying off—knowing I have more bullets—and their lives are not as precious to me as my Bella’s.
Yes, my Bella’s.
She may not realize how I feel for her. She may not understand the strong currents of emotions that flood my body, but there is no way to deny what she means to me. Now, more than ever.
I fall into the snow, my arm bleeding, and my leg wounded deeply— nearly to the bone. My eyes close and I grit my teeth, forcing myself to stay awake. She can’t be out here alone, I must protect Bella.
Bella.
Bella.
My Bella.
All I see is black as the light fades and I holler, knowing I just need to hold on and get back to the estate to make sure Bella is safe.
Knowing that I would face death for her tells me that this may be an animalistic draw—the way I desire her— but that doesn’t change anything. In the same primal way that the wolves wanted to kill us both—I need to make her mine.
Letting her run away this morning, was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done but it told me everything I need to know.
She’s not going anywhere, not without me by her side.
“Ronan,” she screams, falling to the ground beside me, her hands on my ice-cold face. “Don’t close your eyes— you must get inside. Ronan, wake up,” she begs.
I blink, looking into her deep brown eyes, which are filled with tears. As a droplet falls on my face, I know she feels something toward me. Something more than a night of passion. She knows that there is something between us that is alive; that is real.
I just need to stay alive long enough to tell her what that is.
Because I know it, plain as day.
It’s love.Chapter EightBellaI can’t leave him, his blood spilling out on the white snow, sweat on his brow and his hand still grabbing the rifle that saved both our lives.
But he is unconscious and can’t move this beast of a man by myself.
Still, if he stays out here, there is no hope for his survival. I must do whatever it takes.