Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
The guys have a head start on me and know where they’re going. The sky is clear, but the wind has a temper today, so it’s taking everything I have to keep up with them while staying hidden. After only a few minutes, I’m winded and chilled to the bones.
God, it’s colder than I remember. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.
The wind blows the top layer of snow around, so their footprints become less and less visible the further from the cabin I get. For a moment, I worry about finding my way back. And I scold myself for forgetting the reason I’m out here in the first place.
If I can find the camp, I won’t be going back.
I’ll be going home.
Back to my life and career if I still have one.
It’s the only thought that keeps me going for the few miles it takes until I finally catch up to Thorin, Seth, and Khalil. I slow my steps when I spot them through the gap in the trees. They’re standing near a set of snowmobiles at the edge of a valley.
The suits they’re wearing provide better protection from the cold than the pair of Seth’s sweats that I borrowed. He’s the slimmest of the three, and with my wide hips, the fit is snug but perfect.
The three of them are huddled around, discussing something—probably me—while I sneak closer. The crunch of the snow seems loud, and I clutch the ice pick that I’d found hidden and forgotten behind some meat in their freezer a little tighter. If they spot me, I’m toast. They had already warned me I was on my last strike. Seth promised to protect me from Thorin and Khalil, but how far could I really trust the word of a maniac?
Near the edge of the forest, I duck behind one of the trees with a thicker trunk while they break apart to climb onto the snowmobiles.
Of course, they’d lied when they said the only way through the Cold Peaks was on foot. The valley at the base of the mountain range was vast and stretched for miles in each direction. Those snowmobiles would cut down their travel time tremendously, and it would surely take me hours—if not the whole day—to cross on foot.
I’ll never catch up.
But maybe I can follow the tracks? It’s risky. If I stay exposed for too long, I’ll die. If I encounter any more of the predators in this hellhole, I’ll die. If I get lost, I’ll die. Thorin, Khalil, and Seth already said they won’t come for me.
I’m still debating my next move when they lower their goggles, start the Ski-Doos, and take off. Rational thought flees the chat as I push away from the tree and start after them.
I run for less than a minute before I accept that I can’t keep up. Another five spent stumbling more than running in the thin mountain air, and I’m gasping for breath. The snow is too dense, too thickly packed. It nearly reaches my shins, and each step forward costs me too much energy. My underused muscles are already sore from the exertion of keeping me upright.
Still, I keep going.
There’s no way I can turn back now, no way I can go back to that cabin where they confuse and make me crave things I should hate. And the longer I spend lost in their orbit, the more I want to know what made them as alone and broken as me.
It’s dangerous. It’s unhealthy. It’s insane.
I don’t stop when I reach the edge of the valley where they had been. I charge across the frozen plain, even as my lungs burn from exertion and the threat of getting lost rises with every other step.
This has to be the dumbest, most desperate thing I have ever done.
Even more reckless than fighting off a pack of wolves to save someone whose last name I can’t even remember.
Insanity.
I’m not more than a few feet inside the valley when I lose sight of them. The wind, snow, and mist swirling in the air is even denser up ahead, and it quickly swallows them up. The sound of the Ski-Doo engines fades soon after, and I’m left with only my gasping breaths and my heart pounding in my ears.
Out of breath, I fall to my knees. A moment later, I tip my head back and scream my frustration for only the mountain and wildlife to hear.
Somewhere in the distance, a lone wolf howls back.
I don’t know how long I kneel on the frozen ground before I drag myself up again. I wrap my arms around my shivering body and force my feet to keep pushing the rest of me forward.
I have to find that damn camp.
I have to get off this mountain before I lose myself to it and the men who claim it as fiercely as they’ve claimed me.