Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 132649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
“Iris?” He could hear panic creeping into his voice as he made his way to the bedroom. The door wasn’t closed, and it didn’t take him long to realize that she wasn’t in bed. He hurried to the bathroom, but that room was dark and empty as well.
“Shit, shit… oh fuck, Iris. What did you do?” He surged back to the window and yanked it back up to peer out into the absolute darkness out there.
He was aware of his breath coming in short, panicky gulps as he desperately stared into the blackness hoping to spot her. He’d never expected her to call his bluff. Not in weather like this. He recalled his flippant invitation that she try to hoof it back to town if she really didn’t want to stay in a locked room.
Well, apparently, she’d decided that risking her life out in this mess was better than staying locked up in this room.
And he’d driven her to it. Driven her out in this weather, in the dark, because he wouldn’t listen to her, wouldn’t believe that her extreme terror of being trapped was so huge, so irrational, that she would do literally anything to escape it.
When had she left? How long had she been out in this? The rain had started only half an hour ago but before that it had been relatively calm, even the wind had died down.
Trystan ran to his room and yanked on his clothes and boots.
She didn’t have any waterproof clothes. She’d be soaked by now. And cold. She’d be so cold. He couldn’t stand the thought of it.
His breath came in desperate gasps as he made his way to the back door. He had to believe she’d head back to her car and follow the road from there. Because it was the only logical course of action for her to take. The route was familiar and she would know the general direction back to town. But in the dark, she could trip, get disoriented, turned around. She could find herself lost in the blink of an eye.
And even if she did somehow manage to head in the right direction, that fucking river was impassible. She’d never be able to safely cross it.
He dragged on his oil slicker and grabbed his heavy-duty flashlight.
Luna had been following him on his mad dash through the house, and she whined in disapproval when he told her to stay. He eyed the unhappy dog for a moment.
“Would you be able to find her if I can’t, girl?” he asked. “Can you find our Iris?”
The dog chuffed softly. She had never really shown any kind of aptitude for scent games, but she might well be his best chance of finding Iris fast.
Mind made up, he put on her collar and leash, and they both headed out into the rapidly building storm.
“Iris!” His voice was instantly swallowed up by the dull roar of the rain and wind. But it didn’t stop him from calling her name every few meters in the hopes that somehow she would hear him.
Luna had been pulling at the leash since the moment they’d left the yard, and Trystan let her lead, hoping against hope that she was actually taking him toward Iris and not chasing some small animal.
The dog was heading in the direction of Iris’s car, which gave him hope. The rain was getting so bad he could barely see five feet in front of him, and he worried that they could walk right past her and not catch so much as a glimpse of her.
“Iris!”
He would never forgive himself if something happened to her. She could die out here. Get lost never to be found again. He couldn’t live with that.
They’d been walking for nearly half an hour and the pre-dawn sky was starting to lighten. It was, thankfully, becoming easier to see. Luna abruptly veered away from the path that would take them to the car and headed in the direction of the river instead.
The river which had been little more than a stream when Trystan had first arrived, but was now a raging, roiling, furious force of nature.
Trystan heard it before he saw it, the whooshing roar of the turbulent waters. But when he took the turn that would bring the river in sight, his blood froze in his veins.
There she stood, right on the verge of that murky, gray, fast-moving, angry beast. God, she looked so tiny standing there, a fragile little thing wearing too few layers, and a jacket that was nowhere near waterproof enough for this weather.
She was too close to the water—the bank was muddy, unstable—all it would take was one misstep to send her tumbling into that mess of tree trunks, branches, and other debris. She would be swallowed up, and she would disappear immediately and be forever lost.