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Overhead lights immediately clicked on when she opened the door then secured it behind her. Moving into the corner, she sank onto the cushion and blankets piled there and hugged her legs up to her chest.
She hated the terror. She hated hiding here while her men went to deal with whatever it was. She hated that over four years later, almost five, this whole thing wasn’t finished and she still didn’t have her life back. Most of all, she hated that her men didn’t know they were hers and that she was theirs.
As fast as a lightning strike, she decided that had to change.
Today.
It was time they talked and she stopped being so frightened of losing them.
If it wasn’t too late already.
Seven
“There’s nothing here.” Cannon inspected the area, looking for whoever had been here, while Hawk checked the grounds. Cannon’s attention whipped toward the house. “Do you think someone was trying to get us away from her? To get inside.”
“No. Whoever it was went back into the trees.” Hawk shone his light on the ground by the barn. In the dusting of snow that had already fallen ahead of the oncoming storm, footprints clearly walked toward the stable then turned and led away again.
His beam flashed that direction, looking for anyone who might be there. No one.
“Should we call the sheriff again?”
“Yeah,” Hawk replied slowly, sounding thoughtful.
“What is it?”
“Look how small the prints are.”
Cannon’s brows drew together as he peered at the tracks that were swiftly disappearing as the snow continued falling. “Shit. Do you think it’s a kid?”
“Yeah. Or a woman with tiny feet. Maybe looking for shelter in the barn before the security lights flashed on and scared them away.”
“Fuck…”
“Yeah.”
Cannon didn’t want to contemplate some innocent freezing out there in the woods after being scared off. He flashed his light toward the trees again. Whoever had trespassed was long gone. At least, as far as they could see.
“Christ, I hope whoever it is finds shelter.”
“When you call back the sheriff, we can see what he wants to do about it. He might come out and look.” His head shook. “Is someone there?” Hawk yelled. “You can come out. We won’t hurt you. It’s alright.”
Nothing stirred, aside from the biting wind that seemed to pierce through Cannon’s clothes to freeze his skin.
“Whoever it is couldn’t have gotten that far. Should we go look?”
“No.” Despite the hard edge of Hawk’s reply, Cannon knew his friend well enough to see it bothered him. “The sheriff can look. Our main priority is Dev. This alarm terrified her. We should check the exterior of the house then go inside and make sure we’re all secure inside.”
They found nothing. No prints near the house and no sign anyone had tried to get inside. Dissatisfied but needing to get to their woman, they headed indoors.
“I’ll call Sheriff Middleton. Go let Dev know everything’s okay,” Hawk said after they’d gotten inside and locked up. “I’ll make sure everything’s good down here, too.”
Cannon nodded and sprinted upstairs, taking the steps two at a time. After inputting a numeric security code, he placed his palm on the scanner beside the keypad and let himself into the safe room. Their girl huddled in the corner, her face pressed to her knees. Tears stained her cheeks when she looked up at him, and his heart broke into tiny pieces.
“Oh, sweetness,” he murmured, dropping to his knees beside her. “Everything’s okay.”
“I hate this. I never used to be so scared of everything. Of anything at all. Lately, I see a weird shadow, and I’m freaked out. I don’t like this version of me. And you guys, you’re…”
“Us guys are fine,” he assured her. “Someone trespassed outside, but it looks like they’re long gone. Scared off by the lights and the alarm.”
