10. Knox
Knox
Eli has been quiet this evening, not at all like his usual self.
I wonder if our guest is to blame for the overcooked rabbit. It tastes like rubber and smoke, and was obviously cooked too long.
“Has anyone seen Sienna today?”
“No,” blurts out Eli, sounding super guilty about something.
I narrow my eyes. I can smell the lie coming off of him.
“She should eat some dinner.”
“She probably doesn’t want any.”
I narrow my eyes again. “That’s not very hospitable of you, Eli.”
He returns my glare and goes back to eating.
We eat in silence, listening to the roaring flames.
It’s late and Henry— Eli’s nephew— is asleep in bed after having his dinner earlier.
The kid is one lucky bastard for getting to finish off the rest of the venison.
Guess I’ll be busy tomorrow on the hunt for more deer.
That is if the black bears haven’t eaten them all.
I fork more rabbit into my mouth and spend way too long trying to swallow it.
I glance out the window, seeing nothing but snow and darkness. A lump develops in my throat.
My appetite fades as I stare longer out of the window.
“Are you sure it’s safe for us to be here, sergeant?”
“Yes. We’re homeland defense. We cannot afford to take a day off.”
The soldier stares out of the window apprehensively. He needs to get his nerves under control, or else he’s out.
I do not have time for nerves.
I flew to Alaska with a squadron of men, not scared little lambs.
Trouble is, most of these men have never faced hardship before. They have their families back home cheering them on. They think they know what they’re up against. They think they’re strong enough because their families say so.
Until they take a helicopter ride to Alaska in the middle of winter.
Snow this deep would swallow most men whole.
Which is why I chose my squadron wisely for this post.
Or so I thought.
So far, I’m nothing but disappointed that they all want to pack up and jump back into the helicopters.
Wind howls, shaking the tent. Snow flies through the expanse. It slams into the nylon walls with a loud thud.
“Snow is drifting further east,” informs my second-in-command. “According to the weather forecast, we’re looking at gusts of up to one hundred and fifteen miles per hour. We should get out while we still can.”
“We have work to do.”
“Russia won’t be sending any planes our way in the middle of a blizzard.”
Things happen when you least expect them to.
I stay staring out the window, my decision unchanged.
I drop my flatware with a clang and shoot up from my chair.
“Where are you going?”
“For a walk to see if I can find any deer.”
I throw on a shirt and don’t bother with the buttons, heading out into the cold.
I pace toward Sienna’s cabin.
The stabbing pain in my gut tells me something is off.
Wind screams into my ears.
I can only just hear my second-in-command, but that’s because he’s right beside me and yelling at the top of his lungs.
I exit the tent, since it’s offering zero protection at this point.
The temperature out here is Baltic. Cold wind rips through the atmosphere and threatens to take the tent with it. I shield my eyes from the snow, grounding my boots in the snow.
My second-in-command was right about this being life-threatening.
Our connection is lost, and the snow is coming in thicker.
“It will pass soon,” I say. “We just have to hold on until morning.”
I push open Sienna’s cabin door. My boots thumping against the wood should wake her if she’s asleep. She’s not, though. The bedroom door is wide open, and the bed is unmade.
I flick on a light and my stomach bottoms out when I realize all her stuff is gone.
Did she not listen to me the first time?
She’ll die if she tries to go back down the mountain.
I head back outside, and as I descend the stone steps, I see her shoes abandoned, and instantly know how serious this situation is. Sienna Lane was freaking out about a pull in her fur jacket yesterday. If she’s abandoned her beloved shoes, she really must be desperate to get out of here.
Why?
I kill the questions and charge through the snow instead. There’s no way her car will move out of this snow. The abandoned shoes tell me she has plans to get out of here without the car.
Four days later, I wake up and find my soldier next to me dead in his sleeping bag.
His eyebrows are covered in frost. And his face is the most frightening shade of gray I have ever seen in my life.
I step back, light-headed.
Guilt threatens to pull me under more than the three feet of snow around us.
I fly out of the tent and rush over to my second-in-command. “We have to go. Now.”
“We can’t.”
“Yes, we can.”
“Temperatures are even colder up in the air. We won’t be able to fly.”
“We have to try.”
My second-in-command searches my eyes, knowing exactly where this sudden sense of urgency has come from. “It’s too late. We had our chance four days ago.”
Terror freezes in my body. “Where are the other soldiers? We’re missing two-thirds of them.”
“Gone. They tried to leave and got trapped under a size three avalanche."
I see the Bentley and start sprinting through the snow. When I arrive, I hear movement.
I circle around the car, but she’s nowhere to be found.
And then I spot her, already heading down the road.
There’s no time to call her name. She’s too stubborn and won’t listen. I dart after her and capture her wrist, swinging her around harder than I mean to.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
Sienna tenses in my grasp, sucking in a sharp breath.
“Sienna?” I press her for a response—she always seems to have one at the ready. “What are you doing?”
Air must be lodged in her throat. She can’t speak. That has got to be a first.
“I-I’m… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be here.”
“No,” I counter. “You shouldn’t be here. You could get caught in an avalanche."
“Or I could make it back home safely in one piece.”
I drag her up the hill. She has no choice in the matter, considering how much bigger I am than her.
“You don’t understand,” she says when we make it to her car—even more blocked in by the snow drift than before.
“What don’t I understand?” I pull her around to face me, and we come to a stop. “Tell me.”
Her eyes peel back in fright, mouth opening and closing as she tries to find the words.
I frown, deciding to ease my grip slightly. She’s looking at me like I’m a monster and I don’t like how it makes me feel.
“Sienna.” I try again, lowering my voice.
“I have work and meetings and?—”
“You’re free to go as soon as the snow melts.”
Two lines emerge between Sienna’s brows. “Why does it feel like you’re keeping me captive?”
“Call it what you want, but I’m doing this for your own good.”
“Why?” she says, her gaze deepening. “You don’t even know me.”
“I don’t need to.”
“Why are you going above and beyond to save me? I’m a stranger. You don’t owe me anything." Her eyes search mine, turning shrewd. “What the hell do you want from me?”
I ignore the contractions in my chest and continue dragging Sienna up to the cabin. “I want to make sure you’re safe.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“You don’t have to, darling. You just need to do as you're told and stay here until it’s safe enough for you to leave.”
Sienna laughs to herself as I drag her up.
“This isn’t funny.”
“If you kill me, someone’s going to find out about it,” she says. “You might get away with all kinds of crimes up here, but I’m Sienna Lane. The whole world knows who I am. And they’re about to find out who you are.”
I spin around, tightening my lock on her wrist.
She drags her gaze down to my hand.
“I have expensive lawyers,” she says, her gaze back on my face. “You’ll be in prison for the rest of your life if you even think about hurting me.”
Oh, fucking hell…
She thinks I’m doing this to hurt her?
To have her all to myself?
This raises questions about her previous experiences with men, but I don’t have the time or the emotional energy left to go there.
I look at her and her plush lips and piercing blue eyes make my cock hard instantly, but my interest in Sienna doesn’t end there. I have reason to suspect she’s a troubled soul with her own secrets.
Her secrets will never be as dark and unfixable as mine. But I don’t think she sees it that way.
Her eyes light up in the moonlight, and for a second there, I don’t see a woman who cares about fur jackets and expensive shoes. I see the woman beneath the mask who feels trapped.