Wilder (Body Heat #1)
Chapter 1
ONE
ETHAN
The wind howls as rain pelts my windshield with such force it makes looking where I’m going almost impossible.
My truck moves slowly and steadily through the mountain road that is thankfully still open.
Thick mud gathers on either side of it, soon to be frozen by the snowstorm that has been broadcast for days now.
An emergency warning has gone out to all forest rangers in the area and despite being severely understaffed, we’ve all been working to the point of exhaustion to make sure all trails are secured and closed, and all visitors and winter hikers are informed and moved to safety.
The ground turns uneven, rocks, stones, and torn branches littering the road as I move closer to the final post I’m supposed to check before I head to my cabin up ahead to wait out the storm for the next couple of weeks.
My neck creaks when I attempt to roll it to get rid of the stiffness, my shoulders tight enough to hurt, but it doesn’t matter. Not until I’m done checking out everything.
It’s still light out despite the thick clouds covering the sky.
I pull the truck to a stop about ten minutes later, leaving the headlights on just in case it gets dark really fast, though no one would be crazy enough to come this far up the mountain in this weather, or at least I damn hope so.
Getting out of the truck, the freezing rain immediately soaks my hair as I ensure there are no blockages that could prevent visibility or, God forbid, that could lead to terrain traps when the snow starts falling and you might as well be one step away from breaking several bones. Or worse.
But everything looks good enough, considering the circumstances. The rain keeps gaining strength, battering down ruthlessly while the gusts of wind begin to sound more and more like whimpers instead of howls.
No. I still as I try to listen carefully through the mayhem going on around me.
A pitiful sound like the sound of a wounded animal reaches me again and it raises the hair at the back of my neck. For a moment, I think I’ve imagined it, the rain and wind covering every trace of the sound I thought I heard, and I strain my ears to pick up any hints of it.
There it is. Distant enough to be overlooked, but there.
I swivel around, looking for the source of it and my gaze falls at the shallow ravine a few feet away. The flashlight is in my hand before I can think twice about it and I start the small descent through a pathway that looks secure enough, taking extra caution not to slip to my death.
The whimper comes again, clearer now, closer, and just as I’m sure whatever small injured creature this is must be near, everything inside me freezes at the sight before me.
Because that’s definitely not an animal.
A young man lies crouched under a cusp of low trees, knees to his chest, arms wrapped around them, soaked to the bone. He shivers so hard he’d probably bite his tongue clean off if he tried to speak now.
“Hey! Are you okay, boy?” I say loud enough for him to hear me but not enough to startle him.
He startles anyway, his eyes snapping to me when he sees me approaching, fear flashing momentarily through his expression.
He tries to get up but his legs fail him and he crumbles like a newborn fawn with a soft sob that squeezes my heart in a tight fist.
Jesus, is he hurt?
“It’s alright, I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to help you,” I tell him as I crouch to get on the same level as him but keeping my distance. “Are you injured?”
His wide, green eyes look huge on his pale face with the way his hair is plastered on it, and his lips are almost blue as they tremble, but he manages to shake his head.
Relief floods me even as worry has me scanning him from head to toe.
Fuck, he must be freezing. I don’t even know how much time he’s been out here.
I need to get him out of the rain.
“I have to get closer to help you stand up. Is that okay with you?”
He looks so scared and fragile as he nods faintly, and I’m at his side in two strides.
Those clear, green eyes tilt up to look at me, and just as I feel mild panic running through me when I search for a way to help him, he hesitantly lifts his arms towards me.
Reaching for me.
The move screams of so much vulnerability that I feel it like a punch in the stomach.
I bend low enough for him to wrap his hands around my neck, and I scoop him up with one hand behind his knees and one supporting his back.
The moment I have him in my arms, he burrows closer and a small sigh escapes him, the soft breath puffing against my neck.
Jesus, his skin feels ice-cold. In danger of hypothermia no doubt.
Tightening my arms around him, I throw a furtive glance around, looking for anything that might belong to him, but seeing nothing, I waste no more time.
Retracing my earlier steps, I carry him to the truck as quickly but safely as possible.
Luck must be on my side because the rain lets up, just enough for me to move a fraction more easily.
His eyes are closed by the time I reach the vehicle, so I try not to jostle him too much as I put him in the passenger seat.
The moment I release him, his eyes snap open with a panicked expression, the agitation so great that I find myself cupping his face and rubbing my thumb across his cheekbone.
“Shh, you’re okay. I’m not going anywhere, I’m just getting you a blanket from the back seat, alright?”
A shiver runs through him and he nods against my palm.
I make quick work of finding the blanket I have stashed for emergencies and cover every part of him I can see, before I shut his door and round the truck to get behind the wheel and crank up the heat.
It takes a couple of minutes, but soon, he slightly relaxes next to me, his body growing heavy, melting in his seat.
Hoping he’s at least a little bit comfortable, I start driving towards the only place I can think of taking him right now.
My cabin.