Chapter THREE
DomINIC
My ears were literally ringing—partly from the engine’s roar, but mostly from the blood pumping furiously through my veins.
The side of my head was throbbing and my eyes still stung from the ice she’d slammed into my face.
I have never hated anyone as much as I hated this stubborn, pink-booted little blonde in this exact moment.
I cut the engine of my ATV, and the silence of the woods was instantly filled with the sound of my own harsh breathing. I threw my legs off the machine and marched straight toward her, looming over her like a thunderstorm.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” I roared. “Who the fuck do you think I am, some joke? What makes you think you can just assault an officer and run wild on federal land?!”
Instead of shrinking back like any sane person would when staring down a pissed-off, six-foot-four ranger, she threw her shoulders back and glared right back at me, her cheeks flushed with pure fury.
“Oh, shut up about your precious authority for one second!” She screamed back.
“Look at the water! Look at it! Whatever disgusting factory this is, they are dumping chemicals directly into the Knik! It’s killing the flora and it’s poisoning the entire ecosystem!
But you don’t care, do you? You’re too busy playing big, bad park ranger! ”
“It is not your goddamn business what I care about!” I barked, stepping directly into her space until we were practically chest-to-chest. “You broke the law, you attacked me, so no, I am not letting you go! It is my job to keep this valley safe, and that means keeping reckless, civilian brats out of places where they are not allowed to be!”
She shoved her hands on her hips, her eyes flashing like lightning. “Oh, really? Not allowed? Then why don’t you enlighten me, boss man? Why is it not allowed for a researcher to come down here? What the hell is this building anyway?!”
I clenched my jaw, the heat of her words hitting me right in the face. But the truth was, she’d just backed me into a corner I didn’t want to admit I was in.
“Look, I’ve only been on this goddamn job for three weeks,” I muttered, my voice dropping into a harsh growl. “I don’t know every single square inch of this valley yet. But it doesn’t matter what the fuck I know or don’t know—this area is off-limits to civilians, and that’s the end of it.”
Summer practically vibrated with rage. “What do you mean you don’t know what this building is?
! Are you completely blind? There is a massive, ugly-ass factory sitting right in the middle of a protected National Park!
It’s right next to a river that is literally turning yellow, and you’re telling me you have no idea why it’s here or why nobody cares? !”
She stepped even closer, her finger poking sharply into my chest. “You’re the wildlife ranger! This is your entire job! If you’re supposedly the boss out here, you should know exactly what they are doing to this land!”
Her questions were firing off like a machine gun, and inside my head, everything was turning into a tangled mess.
Does this place have a permit? Did Ian mention a facility out here?
I was a ranger, yeah, but I wasn’t an FBI agent or a Man in Black.
To actually kick down a fence and march into a private compound, I’d probably need a federal search warrant or official backup.
I didn’t want to get dragged into anything illegal.
“Calm down,” I grunted, trying to sound authoritative while my brain scrambled for an answer. “It’s always better not to poke your nose into shit you don’t understand. I’m not crossing that fence without knowing what’s on the other side.”
“Oh, so you’re just a coward?” she snapped. “What if this company, this whole setup, is connected to the Ivory Ring?”
I blinked, staring down at her. “The Ivory what?”
I wasn’t shocked; I was just completely fucking clueless.
I hadn’t been a wildlife ranger my whole life.
I wasn’t some passionate environmentalist who went to college for forestry.
I was just a guy who needed a steady paycheck, so I took a quick certification course, and Ian hooked me up with this gig because I knew how to survive in the wilderness.
I didn’t know anything about a local mafia or whatever the hell the Ivory Ring was.
I didn’t want to be a detective. I didn’t want to play cop. I was just a fucking mountain man who wanted to ride his quad, protect the animals, and be left alone.
“I don’t care about your conspiracy theories,” I said, trying to mask my confusion with pure aggression. “We are leaving. Right now.”
I started to turn back toward my ATV, thinking the case was officially closed. We’re done here. I’m taking her back. But when I looked back over my shoulder, my jaw nearly hit the snow.
Summer was already unbuckling her gear. She aggressively yanked down those massive, ridiculous rubber fishing waders, stepping out of them right there in the freezing air.
Underneath, she was wearing a pair of thick, tight thermal leggings that hugged every single curve of her thighs and ass.
My breath caught in my throat for a second, but I forced myself to look away as she dug into her backpack, pulling out a pair of normal hiking boots and quickly lacing them up.
She swapped her bulky jacket for a shorter, form-fitting winter coat that ended right at her hips.
Fine, I thought, letting out a rough sigh. She’s just changing into something easier to ride in. We’ll go back to the station, file a report about the yellow water, and I can finally go home.
But Summer had a completely different fucking plan.
Once her boots were tied, she didn’t walk toward her quad.
Instead, she bolted straight for the wire perimeter.
Before my brain could even process what she was doing, she grabbed the chain-links and started scaling the fence like a goddamn squirrel.
She was so fast, so small and agile, that by the time I took two massive strides toward her, she was already balancing at the top, navigating the barbed wire with terrifying ease.
“Hey! What the fuck are you doing?! Get down from there!” I roared, lunging forward.
“I’m getting proof!” she yelled back over her shoulder, and without a hint of fear, she dropped down, disappearing over the other side with a soft thud into the fresh snow.
I slammed my hands against the wire fence, the metal rattling violently under my weight.
I was absolutely losing my mind. I was furious, terrified for her, and completely trapped.
There was no way in hell I could follow her.
I’m a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound mountain man—if I tried to climb this flimsy, thin wire fence, the whole damn thing would collapse under my weight, or I’d get hopelessly tangled in the barbed wire like a bear in a net.
I was stuck outside, and she was officially inside a rogue, potentially dangerous compound.
All I wanted a lazy day, to just go home and do nothing.
“Summer! Goddammit, get back here!” I barked through the fence, but the only response I got was the sight of her small, hooded figure jogging deeper into the factory’s property.