Chapter 4
Hannah
The sound of Torin’s truck fades into the distance.
I lock the door behind him, check it, then slide the heavy bolt into place.
The shutters are already closed. I go from window to window anyway, checking the locks before I finally put down my backpack.
Professor Bennett gave me the coordinates to this place last year. If you ever find yourself in a tight spot, Hannah, the cabin’s yours. Key’s under the third flowerpot from the steps.
He didn’t ask me to explain why I might need somewhere to disappear to, and I didn’t ask why he thought I might need it. I drop into the nearest chair and let out a long breath.
I’d been worried Professor Bennett might have offered the cabin to someone else while he was away. But the place is empty. Torin confirmed what the stale air and stuffy rooms already suggested: nobody has been here for a while.
Nobody knows where I am.
Except Torin.
And for some reason, that doesn’t frighten me.
The cabin is exactly the sort of place Professor Bennett would own.
Practical, comfortable, a little old-fashioned.
Books fill the shelves beside the fireplace, and a pair of battered hiking boots sits neatly by the back door.
There’s no television that I can see, which is possibly the most Bennett thing about it.
I push myself back to my feet and wander into the kitchen. The refrigerator is running. I try the faucet and get clear water, then test the stove. Everything works. As emergency hideouts go, I could have done a lot worse.
The bedroom is small and neat, with a double bed already made up. I put my backpack on the coverlet and check its contents: Laptop. Toiletries. Another change of clothes. And the files. I touch them, then zip the bag closed again. Tomorrow.
When I straighten, pain shoots through my ribs.
“Jesus.”
Now I’m no longer running for my life, every bruise I collected during the crash seems determined to introduce itself.
I shuffle into the bathroom and flick on the light.
Yikes.
Dried blood has glued one side of my hair into a tangled mess. There’s a scrape along my jaw and a bruise beginning to darken beneath it. I look like I lost a fight.
Which, in fairness, is more or less what happened.
I turn on the shower and wait while the ancient pipes groan. A moment later, hot water rattles into the tub.
Thank God.
I peel off my clothes and leave them in a heap on the floor.
The bathroom light is brutally honest. There’s another bruise forming along my ribs and a patch of angry red skin across one shoulder where the seatbelt caught me.
I decide not to investigate any further. That’s tomorrow’s problem.
I step underneath the shower and close my eyes.
For a few seconds, I just stand there.
Water runs through my hair and down my face, carrying away dirt, blood and what remains of my wedding makeup.
The hairspray takes two rounds of shampoo. When I rinse the second one out, brown starts running down my body. I freeze.
Then I realize what I’m looking at. “Oh, thank God.”
I scrub at my hair, and more brown water swirls around the drain.
“Bye-bye, brunette.”
I turn off the shower and wipe steam off the mirror. My hair is auburn again and my skin has turned pink from the heat.
There I am.
Battered, exhausted, but recognizably me.
For weeks, everything has been closing in. Dad finding out what I was investigating. Realizing I couldn’t trust my own phone. Then Cade, East Ridge, and Dad calmly explaining what was going to happen to me as though I had no say in it.
By now, I was supposed to be in Cade’s cabin. In his bed.
Instead, I’m standing in Professor Bennett’s bathroom a hundred miles away.
A laugh bubbles out of me.
“I fucking did it.”
The smile that spreads across my face hurts my bruised cheek, but I don’t care.
Tomorrow is mine again.
I stand there grinning at my reflection until another thought intrudes.
Torin. The naked bear shifter who appeared out of the forest and ended up driving me all the way to Bennett’s door.
I still don’t understand what happened when we touched. Static. I snort. Bullshit. Whatever it was, Torin felt it too.
I wrap a towel around myself and head for the bedroom, but I’m still thinking about him as I pull on the T-shirt and sweatpants I packed.
I remember the way he accepted it when I told him I wasn’t getting into his truck. He just went and got it anyway so I could make the decision when he came back.
Then he stood outside this cabin until he knew I could get inside. And when I asked him to keep my location secret, he didn’t ask why. He just promised.
I trust him. The thought stops me. I’ve known Torin for less than two hours. I don’t trust people I’ve known for years. Hell, for my entire life. But somehow, when Torin said I promise, I believed him. I don’t know what that means yet.
My stomach growls. Loudly.
Apparently, my body has finished processing the whole escaping-a-forced-mating thing and would now like dinner.
Fair enough. I head into the kitchen and start opening cupboards. I find pasta, rice, oatmeal, crackers and enough canned food to survive an apocalypse. Professor Bennett clearly has no intention of starving to death out here.
A can of tomato soup catches my eye. That’ll do.
Five minutes later, it’s heating in a saucepan on the stove.
I find a packet of crackers while I’m waiting and eat three before the soup is even ready.
The first spoonful is too hot. I burn my tongue. Then I immediately take another.
By the time I’ve finished the bowl, I feel less shaky. I rinse out the saucepan, switch off the kitchen light and head for the bedroom.
Every muscle in my body is protesting by now.
The mattress dips beneath my weight as I sit down. God, that feels good. I pull back the blankets and climb in. The sheets smell of laundry powder, and they’re cool against my skin.
The room is dark except for the faint glow from the ancient digital clock beside the bed.
4:07 a.m.
Somewhere back at East Ridge, they’re probably still awake, going mad. I wonder who figured it out first. The thought makes me smile. Probably not Cade. He was busy basking in the attention.
I pull the blankets up higher. The mattress is ridiculously comfortable.
My eyes drift shut. Almost immediately, I see Cade again.
Turn around.
His hand on the back of my neck.
The room full of people watching.
My eyes snap open.
The bedroom ceiling comes slowly back into focus. Dark wood. A crack running across one corner.
I’m at Professor Bennett’s cabin, miles from East Ridge, with the door bolted and nobody knowing where to find me.
I pull the blankets closer. I’m safe. Tonight, that’s enough.