Chapter FIVE
DomINIC
This was, without a single shred of doubt, the absolute worst day of my entire life.
If I somehow survived this, I was never, ever looking at another woman again.
They were completely insane, pure wild animals.
My knee felt like it had been shattered by a sledgehammer, my ear was throbbing from being literally bitten into, and I was bleeding.
I didn’t even understand how my life had devolved into this.
The second this godforsaken day was over, I was handing in my badge and resigning from the ranger service. I was done.
Summer was pinned beneath me in the snow, glaring up at me with a look of confusion. “Are you going to spit it out or what?” she snapped. “What the hell do you want to tell me?!”
I swallowed hard, fighting through the blinding waves of pain radiating from my kneecap and my ear. “You were right,” I panted out. “I called my colleague. It’s real. We are in danger, Summer. We need to get the fuck out of here right now.”
Instead of panicking, a sharp, mocking laugh bubbled out of her throat. She stared up at me, her eyes flashing with defiance. “I am not leaving,” she said flatly.
Before I could even register the movement, Summer gathered every single ounce of strength left in her body. She drove her boot upward, planting a brutal, agonizing kick right between my legs.
A choked gasp left my lungs as my vision went entirely white. The sheer, blinding agony of a low blow, combined with my already ruined knee, completely paralyzed me. I rolled off her, collapsing sideways into the snow, curling into a pathetic ball of pure misery.
Summer scrambled out from under me, completely free. She looked down at me, totally cold and unimpressed, as I writhed in the snow.
“If you don’t have the right to put me in jail, then you know what? Back off, shut up, and let me get to work.”
Who the hell was this girl?
I was losing my mind, but I wasn’t going to let some stubborn, insane city girl leave me here to bleed while she walked straight into a mafia execution.
Gathering every single ounce of raw strength I had left, I forced my battered body up from the snow.
Pain flared through my groin and my leg, but adrenaline pushed it down.
With a low growl, I lunged forward and tackled her right back down into the freezing powder.
Summer shrieked, instantly thrashing beneath me, but I didn’t give her a chance to fight back this time.
I aggressively threw her over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes, locking my massive arm around her legs.
I hauled myself up, completely ignoring the pain, and started marching heavily toward the main entrance gates.
“Let me down! Put me down, you psychotic caveman!” Summer screamed, her fists hammering furiously against my back while her boots kicked wildly in the air.
“I am not going to bed tonight knowing some stubborn brat got her throat slit out here because I let her walk away. My conscience won’t take it!
I am carrying you out of this compound, driving your ass back to the city, and after that, our paths will never cross again.
You can do whatever the hell you want, but you are leaving this place alive! ”
She kept fighting me with everything she had, squirming and cursing like a wild animal, making every step an absolute nightmare as I dragged us closer and closer to the gates.
Then, the world shattered.
Thwip. Thwip.
Two sharp, muffled pops echoed through the silent air behind us.
Before I could even turn my head to see where the suppressed gunshots came from, a sudden, heavy wave of cold numbness washed over my chest. My legs instantly turned to lead, bucking right out from under me.
Summer slipped from my grip, and within a split second, the gray Alaskan sky spun rapidly around me before everything crashed into pitch-black silence.