And then he heard something outside. The bear noted it first and told the man to get his mind on fucking business. Finn tensed and stalked to the back of the cabin so he could listen without the distraction of Lauren’s snore and the crackling of the fire. Maybe the smugglers or Shotgun or whoever saw the smoke and decided to investigate. He would never have used that much heat if he’d been alone, although it had been necessary to keep Lauren comfortable and alive. No regrets.
Finn needed to get moving, ideally without letting Lauren know that he ran into danger trying to get rid of the threats against her. Better she didn’t know that he wanted to confront Shotgun’s guys or detain the drug runners. He crouched down next to her and played with her hair. “I left breakfast here for you, and there’s water near the fire to clean up. I’ve got to go outside for just a bit but I’ll be back. Wait here for me.”
She grumbled something and brushed at his hand, still not bothering to roll over from her stomach.
Finn could have walked away, but a hint of anxiety made him pause. What if someone found the cabin before he got back? He could definitely track down the drug runners but Shotgun and his guys would come from town, which meant they’d stumble across the cabin immediately. It left Lauren vulnerable, since the bastard and his guys weren’t known for restraint.
He fished around in his bags and retrieved the satellite phone. He put it near her hand, already on, and jostled her shoulder a little to make sure she was still awake. “Hey babe. Just in case I take a while, or something…something changes, you can use this phone. Go to the saved contacts. Simon or Ethan. I’m sure it’ll be fine, but just in case.”
Why the fuck did it feel like tearing off his own skin to leave her? Obviously he had to deal with the bullshit out in the world before they snuggled up and played house.
Lauren pushed up on her elbows, blinking blearily, and picked up the phone. “How long are you planning to be gone?”
“Not long.” It wasn’t a lie; he didn’t plan on being away a second longer than necessary, but if the drug runners got the drop on him and he couldn’t return to her… “Give it an hour and if I’m not back, call Simon and explain what happened. He’ll help with your charges and everything.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked up at him, and his heart tripped. He knew he couldn’t delay much longer or he’dnever leave at all. Finn ducked to kiss her again. “I’ll be back in just a little bit.”
“Promise?”
Fuck him. If anything happened to disappoint her, he’d fucking kill Shotgun and whoever stood in his way. “Promise. Now go back to sleep or eat your breakfast. Maybe pack up all our stuff so we can get out of here.”
He left before another soft question convinced him to stay and relied on the freezing air to knock some sense into him. He’d lost his edge completely. It had been dulled by time and inattention, but he needed to be at his sharpest to protect his mate. The fact that she consumed his thoughts might get them both killed. Finn breathed deep and put aside every shred of thought that might have remembered Lauren, and forced himself back into who he was before he met her. The faster he sorted this shit out, the faster they could get back to starting a life together.
LAUREN
She still drifted in a haze after Finn’s masterful performance, all her muscles pleasantly sore, and felt like she could have slept all day. It made her wish for a hammock and a nice blanket so she could rock along and forget everything else going on in the world. Sure, hammocks weren’t very practical in the snow, but setting it up inside definitely worked in all types of weather.
She would have gone back to sleep after Finn left, but something he said nagged at the back of her mind. Why would he be worried about not coming back in an hour? It sounded like he wasn’t going far, although the phone thing and instructions to call his friends hinted maybe he meant to be gone a lot longer.
Lauren sat up in the half-lit cabin, checking her watch. He’d been gone about twenty minutes. Should she be worried, and when? He hadn’t said a whole lot about what he was going to do, just that he was going outside. There wasn’t anything outside except snow and bears and…the drug smugglers. Maybe other dangerous people. What made him want to confront them right then? Sure, he’d gotten the weird phone call on the fancy phone that morning. Was there some kind of threat out there?
She got up slowly and cleaned up the mess they’d made, the whole time glancing back at the fancy phone and the door and hoping that Finn would reappear, shake the snow off his head, and kiss her again. They’d leave the cabin in a souped-up truck with heated seats and would find someplace safe to live until all that other trouble went away. But that only worked if Finn came back.
By the time an hour had passed since he’d left, Lauren had cleaned up the cabin and packed all their belongings into her duffel and what remained of his pack. Most of it she didn’t want to take with her, like the pretty much destroyed sheets and some of the clothing that she’d worn holes through. But there was no telling how Finn felt about leaving things behind.
It made her worry about him leavingherbehind. Maybe he for real got tired of her or looked at all the baggage she brought with her and decided she wasn’t worth it. Lauren shook her head and swallowed the knot in her throat. No. No, Finn really cared about her. He’d shown it over the last couple of days. She didn’t have that much experience with nice guys or just nice people in general, but he was more like a movie hero than anyone else she ever imagined meeting in real life. He wouldn’t have left his phone and gear if he didn’t plan to come back.
She paced inside the cabin as her unease grew. Time still ticked by and there was no sign of Finn. She went into the back of the cabin and stuck her head out the broken window, listening and straining to hear any sound that might have been Finn. Lauren waited until her teeth chattered with cold, but still nothing changed. It took her a few minutes inside to realize she hadn’t heardanything, not even birds or squirrels or the other critters that rustled around the cabin.
Lauren gnawed the inside of her cheek as she tiptoed through the cabin, almost expecting someone to have sneaked inside the back rooms through the broken windows, but nothing lookedamiss. She frowned and picked up the fancy phone Finn left behind, studying the buttons. It probably would have helped if he’d shown her how to use it. It didn’t look like any cell phone she’d ever seen.
She still poked at the buttons on the phone when she returned to the main room, shivering as a breeze kicked up through…the open door?
Her heart jumped to her throat and she whipped around. The door had been barricaded and locked, as well as it could be while mostly being in pieces, and yet… “Finn?” she whispered.
Lauren turned around again, straining to hear anything at all over the whistle of a stiff breeze and the thud of the door against the wall. She fumbled with the phone and managed to pull up a navigation screen and the top contacts as she crept toward the door, looking for the contact Finn mentioned. He’d said Simon or…Ethan? She picked Simon, since she remembered thinking “Simon says give me a call!” when Finn named his friend.
She swallowed the knot in her throat as she finally reached the door and peered out into a snowy, empty forest around the cabin. The only marks in the snow were from Finn walking away, at least according to what she’d learned about while tracking Sasquatches. Her heart still raced and for once she trusted her guts. She could have waited to see if anything actually went wrong, and probably would have done if it was just her life in the crosshairs, but with Finn in danger… She couldn’t shake the feeling he would have donesomethingto let her know what was going on if everything was fine and his hour timeline elapsed.
Lauren dragged the door closed and propped up the pack to block it, then picked out Simon’s number and pressed other buttons until the phone started to do something. She still didn’t know what she was supposed to tell him, other than Finn disappeared and she was some random criminal he’d shacked upwith, but if Finn’s friends were anything like him…it had to be okay.
Didn’t it?
FINN
He hiked away from the cabin and Lauren, cursing Shotgun and every motherfucker who ever dealt drugs in the history of the world with every step he took. Finn carried the rifle, having left the shotgun with Lauren for her to use in case anything went really wrong and she needed to defend the cabin, but preferred to just locate the fuckers and then drop a GPS pin for Shotgun to deal with. At least this last favor gave him more leverage on getting Shotgun to get rid of her charges. The cop hadn’t minded corruption of every stripe in the past, so his reluctance to help Lauren got under Finn’s skin.
The bear didn’t like leaving her behind, not while knowing there were drug dealers and Shotgun’s cowboys in the vicinity. He didn’t know who he trusted less with her safety. Finn paused to listen to the forest around him, certain he’d heard something out of place, then glanced around to see whether the few snowflakes drifting on the breeze revealed anything useful. Nothing. The forest was too quiet, too still. It made his nerves twitch.
