AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ll go with you,” Ian offered, grabbing his gun before following James.
Pulling the sturdy wooden door open, James lunged back. “What the fuck?”
My heart skipped a beat as I tried to peer between their muscular bodies, worried another dead rabbit had been hung on the porch.
Pushing past him, Ian stuck his head outside, peering to the left first, then to the right. Fear lined his face. “Son of a bitch,” he spat, reaching for his phone.
“What’s going on?” Dylan demanded, racing toward the door.
“Fire. The whole fucking woods are on fire, and it’s moving this way,” James relayed.
Joshua set me on the floor, stood, and gripped my hand as we all clustered around the portal. A smoky haze filled the night sky while a flickering red and orange glow crept toward us on the horizon like a slithering snake of destruction. Surrounded by trees, I prayed the fire wasn’t edging in on us from the back of the lodge as well. The distant crackle of dry, dead timber being consumed sent a chill up my spine. Red, twinkling embers whipped through the air, landing in the nearby trees and on the fringes of the manicured lawn.
James pushed us back and slammed the door as Ian frantically alerted the fire officials. Joshua slid his arm around my waist as we numbly stared at one another, unsure of what we needed to do.
Shoving his phone into his pocket, Ian studied us with a worried expression. “We’re pretty remote out here, so it’s going to take the volunteer fire department a while to get to us. We should start saturating the ground around the place with the garden hoses, make a fire line as best we can until they get here. Hell, we might even have to evacuate. I just don’t know yet.”
“We need to think about this for a minute. The fire may have been set on purpose to flush us out of the lodge and into the open. We might play into Tideway’s hands if he’s behind this.” Joshua voiced the same worries rolling around in my own head—and likely the others, too.
“I’d say there’s a real good chance of that. Dylan and I did some recon over the past couple days. We didn’t come across any campers, and it hasn’t rained in a week up here, so we know lightning didn’t start it.” Ian’s suspicious tone made me tremble.
Slinging his rifle over his shoulder, Dylan stomped across the room, stopping at the bottom of the stairs. Turning, he pinned Sanna with a stern look. “Stay glued to Nick, kitten.” Then, with a tortured expression, he stared at Nick. “Keep her safe, bro. I’m going up on the roof to see if I can get a bead on anyone with my scope. I’ll be back in a few.”
“With my life, man,” Nick vowed. “Keep the target off your back. Got it?”
Dylan gave a solemn nod.
“I’ll go with you. Two eyes are better than one,” James announced. Nodding at the rifle in Drake’s hand, he grinned. “Mind if I borrow that?”
“Help yourself. I’ll get another. There’s plenty more,” the big Dom assured, handing James his gun.
“I’m going with you two. I want to see how close this damn fire is,” Ian stated. “You all sit tight. I’ll be back in a few. I need to figure out if we’re going to chance going outside or not.”
As the three men raced up the stairs, Drake ambled over to a pile of duffle bags heaped in the corner. Nick and Joshua led Sanna and me back to the couch, both eyeing their handguns poised on the coffee table and at the ready. Drake retrieved another big rifle and paced. I reached out, gripping Sanna’s hand in mine.
“We’re going to be fine,” I said with a tight smile, uncertain who I was trying to convince, her or me.
“I know,” she replied with a resolute nod, and fear in her eyes.
The others had been on the roof only a few brief minutes, but it seemed like hours. Joshua did his best to calm my riotous nerves, massaging the back of my neck, but I couldn’t keep my mind from looping with worst-case scenarios. Was someone actually lurking outside waiting for us to abandon our sanctuary so they could pick us off one by one? Or was our only physical threat the raging fire crawling in around us?
Not knowing what we were truly up against was nerve racking, and the palpable vibe emanating off the four of us seated on the couch told me I wasn’t alone. Drake’s incessant pacing, pausing now and then to peer up the staircase, didn’t help either. I wanted to scream for the burly Dom to sit the hell down, but there was enough tension in the room. I didn’t need to add any fuel to the proverbial fire.
Suddenly, the entire lodge shook with a deafening boom. Sanna and I screamed as we clutched one another in terror. Launching to their feet, Nick and Joshua snatched up their guns. Eyes wild, they swiveled their heads back and forth, searching for signs of danger in the room. The sound of breaking glass from somewhere on the second floor filtered down the staircase, only to be drowned out by thunderous footsteps echoing from the roof overhead.
“What the fuck?” Drake barked.
We could hear the men above us shouting, but couldn’t make out what they were saying.
“What was that?” Sanna gasped.
“It sounded like an explosion,” Joshua replied.
A gunshot rang out, followed by yet another, and a muffled cry of terror peeled from my throat. Sanna squeezed me tighter as more shouts and heavy footfalls reverberated through the lodge. A cacophony of chaos had erupted above us.
Joshua knelt down in front of me, fear dancing in his gorgeous eyes. “Don’t get split up from me. Don’t leave my sight. Understood?”
“I won’t, I promise,” I swore as fear surged through my veins. “Joshua, I’m scared.”
