Chapter One #2
This woman—she had been in his head every single day since he’d woken in the lab. He’d woken up to find himself strapped down on an exam table. He’d been confused as all hell, but the woman in the car—she’d come to him. She’d slipped into his dreams. Walked into his fantasies. She’d possessed him.
His past was gone. He didn’t know his name. Didn’t know where he’d come from. Didn’t know who the hell his family was. The only thing he remembered about his time before that lab…the only thing he remembered was her.
She was the key to his past.
She had to help him.
“Please.” The word was too rough and hard as it burst from him. “I need your help.”
But she was afraid. And there was…
His nostrils flared.
There was a hard, bitter scent in the air. He inhaled again, and his whole body stiffened.
“Get out of the car!” he roared at her.
She didn’t get out. She shoved the car into reverse and it zoomed back, narrowly missing his foot.
He grabbed for the door, holding tightly. “Get out!”
But she wasn’t listening. She’d shifted gears again, and her car lurched forward even as the bitter, acidic scent got stronger.
Something was wrong with her vehicle. Very, very wrong.
But she wasn’t listening to him. She was driving away, and he was chasing after her.
He was fast, but he wasn’t faster than a car.
Shit, shit. He glanced around, frantic, and saw a man with a baseball cap jumping out of a black pickup truck.
The truck’s engine was still running, so he didn’t hesitate.
He shoved the guy with the cap out of his way as he leapt into that truck.
Then he raced away, chasing after her small, blue car.
His heart pounded too fast. His hands clenched the steering wheel. His gut was in knots, and he could have sworn that he felt…fear?
Was this what fear felt like? This bitterness on his tongue? The tenseness of his muscles?
He saw her car up ahead. She was going too fast as she headed into a turn. She needed to brake, and her tail lights flashed as if she were trying to brake, but her car didn’t slow down.
She narrowly avoided driving her vehicle right over the edge of the mountain road. And the drop had to be several hundred damn feet.
Her brakes aren’t working. That’s what I smelled.
Brake fluid. Oh, fucking hell. He’d traveled that road hours before while he searched for her.
While he’d been pulled toward her. He’d hitchhiked his way to the mountain town in order to find her.
And he knew an even worse turn waited up the road.
If she couldn’t brake, if she lost control because she was going too fast…
He shoved down his gas pedal. He had to stop her. Had to find a way to help her. He passed her car and for an instant, she turned her head to look at him. There was absolute desperation on her face.
He pulled over in front of her. Slowed his vehicle.
Her car hit him, plowing into the truck’s bumper.
He lurched forward at the impact, but kept his grip steady on the wheel.
She hit him again. Bumping hard and his head snapped forward.
He clenched his teeth and hit the brakes, going slower, slower, easing up until his truck was stopped… and she was, too.
Until she was safe.
They’d managed to stop right before what he thought of as the death curve. Sonofabitch.
He killed the engine and popped the parking brake. Then he jumped out of the truck. Ran toward her. She threw open her door. She raced out of her car, and her hair flew around her shoulders as she came to a quick halt. “My brakes wouldn’t work! I couldn’t stop—”
“Your brakes were damaged. I could smell brake fluid back at the bar—”
Her breath came in rough, desperate pants. He swore that he could hear the frantic beating of her heart. “Did you do it?” she demanded.
“What? No!” He took a quick step toward her.
She immediately backed away.
“I could smell the brake fluid.” He fought to keep his voice calm. “That’s why I was telling you to get out of the car when we were in the parking lot. I knew something was wrong.”
Her gaze jumped from him to the truck. “How did you do that? How did you stop me?”
He had no real fucking clue. Well, okay, he partially knew. One of his new bonuses was that he had incredibly fast reflexes. He’d leapt into that truck and desperation had taken over. “Figured if I could get in front of you, I could stop us both.”
Her eyes were huge. “You could have been hurt.”
At that, he smiled. “It takes an awful lot to hurt me.”
A faint snap reached his ears. A twig…breaking? His head whipped to the left, and he stared into the darkness of the trees. His body had gone on high alert.
Danger.
“Get down,” he growled.
“What? Why?”
A whistle reached him—the sound of air rushing too fast.
He didn’t hesitate. He lunged toward her, threw his body onto hers, and they both slammed into the ground.
She was shaking and she was…warm. Soft. Her scent—sweet, feminine—teased his nostrils.
“Get off me!” She pushed against him.
But he didn’t move. “Sh-shooter…” Why was talking suddenly so hard for him?
“What?” But then she gave a little scream. “You’re bleeding!” Her hands were sliding over his body. “I can feel your blood!”
Because that whistling he’d heard…it had been a bullet. One that was aimed at her. Someone was trying to kill her. Someone was trying to take her from him. “St-stay down…”
In the distance, he could hear a siren. The owner of the truck he’d stolen had probably called in the local cops. They were going to hunt him down. And if they hunted him, they’d find her. Help was coming. She just had to stay safe long enough for it to arrive.
“Shooter…” he whispered. “In the woods…”
“OhmyGod.” Her hands stilled on him. She stared up at him, and even in the dark, he could see her perfectly. “You were just shot protecting me?”
Didn’t she get it? Didn’t she know…?
He forced out the words. “Die…for you.”
She shook her head. “No, you absolutely will not. You don’t even know me. You are not going to die for me. People don’t die for strangers, okay? Haven’t you watched the news? That’s not the way things work. You don’t—”
“Know you…” Talking was too hard. And the cold that he shouldn’t feel? He was feeling it right then. His body had gone numb. “You’re…the only thing…I know.”
“But you don’t know me! You don’t even know my name!” She shoved against him, but he wouldn’t move. He wasn’t going to leave her unprotected. “Help!” Her scream filled his ears. “Someone, we need help!”
And help was coming…help was getting ever closer, he could hear those sirens. But…help wouldn’t arrive soon enough for him.
The bullet had torn through his back. It was lodged inside of him. It was killing him. “Found you…” he whispered. His head turned and his lips feathered over her cheek. “Found you.”
“Help us!”
Her scream was the last thing he heard.
***
“Stay with me!” Shelly grabbed the hand of the man who’d saved her life—the stranger with the dark hair and the piercing blue eyes. The stranger who was still and cold on the stretcher. “Don’t you do this!”
The EMTs shared a long look. “Ma’am, you need to let him go.”
“You have to help him!” A deputy’s car had raced to the scene first. How long ago had that been?
Twenty minutes? Half an hour ago? Once he’d arrived, the guy had radioed for help, and the ambulance had come, but the ambulance attendants weren’t helping!
“Stop the bleeding! I think the bullet is still inside of him! You need to—”
“He’s gone, Shelly.”
She stiffened. Her gaze jerked to the right. The sheriff stood there, lit by the swirl of lights. His hat was pulled low over his head, and his hands were on his lean hips. His badge gleamed.
“He was dead before the ambulance arrived,” the sheriff added softly, his lips tightening. “I’m sorry.”
She was still clutching the stranger’s hand. She didn’t even know his name. He’d saved her—twice—and he was dead? Just dead? This couldn’t happen! It wasn’t right.
“Let him go,” Sheriff Blane Gallows added. “They need to take him away.”
She didn’t want to let him go. She wanted him to open his eyes. To see her.
Found you.
“Shelly, I know this isn’t easy, but you have to let the man go now.
” The sheriff’s voice was soft, tender. She’d known Blane her whole life.
She’d spent many summers and holidays in the mountains, and they’d grown up together.
Been friends, even tried a brief period of time being lovers.
That hadn’t worked, but they’d remained close.
“I don’t even know his name,” she whispered. He should feel cold, shouldn’t he? He was dead, she was holding onto a dead man, but his skin still felt warm to her.
“He didn’t have ID,” Blane told her, his hand squeezing her shoulder. “But we can get his prints. We’ll figure out who he was. Notify his family. Don’t worry, we’ll take care of him.”
She made herself let him go. Shelly turned her head and met Blane’s green gaze. “He saved my life.”
Determination sharpened his features. “We’re looking for the hunter who fired that shot. Damn fools can’t understand regulations…”
Shelly shivered. She wasn’t so sure the shot had been fired by a reckless hunter. “My brakes didn’t work. He saved me—God, I guess he saved me twice.” She looked back at the stranger, helpless, but he’d just been loaded into the ambulance. His face had been covered, his body covered.
Found you. His rumbling voice echoed in her mind.
“Come on, Shelly, I’ll take you to the cabin,” Blane promised her. “It’s too cold to stay out here.”
Shoulders hunching, Shelly nodded. Blane was right. There was no point in staying out there any longer. The mysterious stranger who’d saved her life—he was gone.
A light dusting of snow began to fall.
And a tear slid down her cheek.
***
His eyes opened and, at first, he only saw a wall of white. He jerked upright as he realized that some sort of cover was over him—a sheet? What the fuck? He shoved it out of his way and glanced around.
Someone screamed. Over and over again.
A woman. She had a stethoscope around her neck and she wore some kind of blue uniform. She gaped at him, her eyes huge and her face stark white. “You’re dead!” she yelled. “Dead, dead—”
A quick sweep of his gaze revealed that he was in the back of an ambulance. The vehicle gave a sharp swerve to the left, and he knew the driver had heard the woman’s screams.
“Not exactly,” he muttered, and he leapt for the back doors.
He shoved those doors open even as the ambulance fish-tailed, and he jumped out, flying right from the rear of the vehicle.
He didn’t fall. Didn’t stumble at all. He landed on his feet, and he took off running for the line of trees.
He heard the screech of the ambulance braking behind him. And he also heard—
“Dead! He’s dead!” The woman was still screaming.
She was…not wrong.
It wasn’t the first time he’d woken from the dead. And he feared it wouldn’t be his last, either.