Her heart hammered against her ribs as she grabbed the tablet, fingers trembling as she accessed the security feed. The camera showed a dark SUV moving slowly up the dirt road leading to the cabin. Not Blade's truck. Someone else.
Please be Rampage,she thought desperately.Or Irish. Or anyone from the club.
But as the vehicle drew closer, she could see it wasn't a club member. The driver was a stranger. A lean, weathered man with military-short hair and sunglasses despite the fading daylight. He drove with purpose, scanning the surroundings methodically. Could he be another member of The Watchmen? His military bearing suggested he could be. A chill ran up her spine as she watched him. He was sinister. Cold. No, she knew in her gut he wasn’t in the MC.
He was a hunter. Looking for her.
Lily's blood ran cold. How had they found the cabin? Blade had been so certain it was secure, that no one outside the inner circle knew its location.
Unless the mole had revealed it before Blade and Savage got to him.
The SUV stopped a hundred yards from the cabin. The man got out, surveying the area with practiced precision. He didn't approach immediately, instead reaching back into the vehicle for what appeared to be a rifle with a scope.
Oh God. He's going to set up a position. Wait for Blade to return.
She fumbled for the satellite phone, hands shaking as she dialed Blade's number. It rang once, twice, three times. No answer.
Damn it!
She tried Savage next. Same result.
Think, Lily. Think.
She set down the phone and moved to the weapons rack built into the safe room wall. Blade had shown her where everything was, how to access it. Had made sure she knew how to use every weapon in the room.
"Just in case,"he'd said."Though I hope to hell it never comes to that."
Well, it had come to that. She was on her own, with an unknown assailant preparing to ambush Blade when he returned.
She selected a rifle similar to the one her father had taught her to use a Remington 700 with a scope. Checked that it was loaded. Grabbed extra ammunition. Then moved to the small gun safe and punched in the code Blade had shown her.
Inside was his backup handgun and a tactical vest. She strapped on the vest, which hung loose on her smaller frame, and secured the Glock in a holster.
What now?
She couldn't just sit here and wait. Not when Blade was heading into an ambush. Not when she had the means to warn him, to maybe even help.
But leaving the safe room meant exposing herself to danger. Meant going against Blade's explicit instructions.
"Don't open the door for anyone but me."
She was still debating when the tablet beeped again, another alert from the perimeter sensors. A second vehicle approached. Her heart leapt with hope.Blade?
But no. Another SUV, this one larger, with darkened windows. It pulled up behind the first, and four men got out. All armed. All scanning the cabin with predatory intent.
Five against one when Blade returned. Those weren't odds she liked.
Decision made, Lily moved to the safe room door. If she could get to a vantage point with the rifle before they surrounded the cabin, she might be able to even the odds a bit. At the very least, she could try to warn Blade somehow.
She took a deep breath, steadying her nerves. Her father's voice echoed in her memory."Fear is natural, baby girl. But you can't let it paralyze you. Feel it, acknowledge it, then set it aside and do what needs to be done."
"Okay, Dad," she whispered. "Here goes nothing."
She unlocked the safe room door and eased it open, listening intently. The cabin was silent. She slipped out, rifle in hand, and moved carefully toward the front of the house, staying low and out of sight of the windows.
Through a gap in the curtains, she could see the men spreading out around the property. The first man—the one she'd mentally labeled as the leader—was directing the others with hand signals. Military. Or former military. Their movements were too coordinated, too practiced to be ordinary thugs.
Which made them all the more dangerous.
