Page 76 of Mountain Impact

Thank God for that.

Drake felt her body shift sideways slowly. He released his right hand from the ladder to help her.

“Always three points of contact on the ladder,” he told her.

“Okay. I suppose now’s not the time to tell you, I’m not so fond of heights.”

He laughed dryly.

“The ladder’s too narrow for us to go together. I’ll go first,” he said.

“What if I fall?” she asked.

He didn’t bother replying.

That’s exactly why I’m going first.

“Follow right behind me.”

Though he could hear her moving over his head, Drake looked up―he needed the visual confirmation. Thankfully, she seemed steady.

The way down seemed never-ending. The throbbing pain in his back had reached a crescendo―he gritted his teeth to the point of cracking and kept going.

Finally, he reached firm ground. As Isolde reached him, Drake put his large hands around her waist and brought her down to the ground safely with him.

“Thank God,” she said. Her honey-colored eyes rounded in alarm as she looked at him. “Drake? You’re hurt.”

Until now he’d been holding on through sheer willpower, but now Drake felt his strength waning.

“Your back―” she stuttered. Her hands were shaking.

Drake went down on his knees in front of her. His hands found purchase on the grass beneath them.

“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered.

Suddenly, a couple bright lights illuminated the path from up the slope.

“They found us,” Isolde said gratefully.

Drake’s heart filled with fear. Those lights belonged to a quad. Damien and the team wouldn’t have had time to―

Before he had a chance to warn Isolde, the vehicle came into view. His worst fears were confirmed when he saw Blanchard. The silence, as the man stopped the vehicle in front of them, was deafening.

Blanchard grabbed a dark object from the back of the quad. Drake wondered if he’d had time to reload.

“You just won’t die,” he said, his voice dripping in anger.

“Stay away from him,” Isolde said angrily, placing herself in front of Drake.

Drake was torn between amazement at her courage and anger at Blanchard.

Fuck this.

Drake pushed himself to his feet. He swayed lightly, locking his knees together. He didn’t need to be okay, he just needed to fool Blanchard into believing he was stronger than he actually was. Isolde turned around as if to help him but he warned her away with his eyes and took a step forward.

“Don’t move,” Blanchard said, swinging the gun towards him.

“Nobody is going to believe this was an accident, Blanchard,” Drake said. “Let us go.”