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The creature was well over six feet tall, maybe even seven. I screamed and slammed at the lock on my door but couldn’t seem to engage it. The back of my neck was hurting, but that didn’t stop me from screaming again.
My vision blurred and the silence after the crash was deafening. Yet there stood the creature in the dark. Fur covered the creature’s body—a Yeti, it had to be. I’d never believed in them, but as the monster stepped closer and another scream tore out of my abused throat, I was certain I was about to be devoured by a mythical creature that shouldn’t exist.
Darkness blinked at the edges of my vision, and my head swam.
Thankfully, the world went black again, and the creature slipped from my mind. I couldn’t be afraid if I wasn’t conscious.
Chapter2
Brick
The woman’s screams were deafening, nearly piercing my eardrums before they stopped. I had no idea why she was screaming, whether it was fright or pain, but from the look on her face, I gathered it was fear.
She lay unconscious in the small sedan, where the hood was wrapped around the thick trunk of a pine tree, the tail end of the car firmly on the ground, the side wedged up against the front of my mailbox I’d fortified with bricks a few months ago. All the windows were shattered, with only one headlight still beaming into the top of the stand of trees.
I’d heard the crash from the living room, where I’d had my feet up by the fire and had just poured myself a glass of Macallan whiskey. I ran outside to the chaos, my heart in my throat, thinking I was under siege.
I’d been wrong.
When I’d seen it was a small woman in the car, slumped against the back of her seat and bleeding, my first thought had been to call emergency services. A quick glance at the road showed ice already forming. An ambulance wouldn’t make it up the mountain at night in this weather, so she’d better hope she wasn’t too badly injured, whoever she was.
Moving quickly through the thick snow, I reached the driver’s seat and wrenched open the door that had buckled but thankfully swung open of its own accord.
“Miss, can you hear me?” I reached over and placed a hand on her cheek. Her skin was cold. She wasn’t bleeding profusely that I could see in the dark, just a few cuts and bumps. Shock would have made her pass out based on how loud she screamed.
Unresponsive, I did a quick body check to ensure she wasn’t badly injured, then I needed to get her indoors before she froze to death. I’d faced and aided my fair share of wounded people to know what to look for to ensure she didn’t have life-threatening injuries.
Once I was convinced she was okay, I got the woman out of the car and into my cabin, settling her into one of the extra bedrooms. I was sweating beneath my heavy clothes and fur-lined coat during the whole process.
I’d gone out to the kitchen to grab a couple of ice packs to put on the side of her head and forehead, collecting the first aid kit as well, and came back to her screaming at me again.
Then she collapsed and passed out.
Good to know she wasn’t dead, but the poor thing was in shock.
I glanced down at the woman, who, in the light, appeared a lot more beautiful than I’d first noticed. A small, round face with delicate features, full lips, and one of those upturned noses. She also had a wicked-deep scar across her brow that had long healed. Wild, deep-red hair was stuck to the sides of her face. She looked young, maybe in her early twenties.
“Who are you, and what are you doing so deep in the woods, little girl?” I grizzled at the bad timing, considering I’d wanted to be alone for Christmas after the fucked-up few months I’d just had. I needed to lie low, so that meant this little dove would need to heal and leave in the morning. Last thing I needed was the cops or anyone else sticking their noses in my business.
For now, the only thing I could do was slap the ice packs on the knots on her forehead and the side of her head, then pull out alcohol wipes to wipe the bleeding cuts. There was a little blood from the knot on the left side of her head, where the skin must have split, so I wiped that before I examined the rest of her. She was covered in small pieces of glass, which I removed, then I undressed her, planning to put her in some of my pajamas if nothing else came to hand. I had to check if she was injured anywhere else since I didn’t need her in a state of having to call the paramedics.
First, I cranked up the heat with the wood burner, and slowly her cold skin warmed up. The skin around her eyes and cheeks was red from tears but not from the cold. Had she been crying before the accident? Stupid to get behind the wheel of a car if you were that upset but too late to worry about it now.
As she lay on the bed on her back, I pulled up her eyelids, one by one, revealing forest-green eyes that looked clear of blood or other signs of severe injury. I checked her head over once more, digging through her silky red hair to feel her scalp. The only thing I found was the knot on the left side of her head and the one in the middle of her forehead.
Gently, I slid my large hand to the back of her neck and tugged her shirt up and over her head, leaving her in a black bra. I undressed her robotically, not thinking more of it than helping someone in trouble. Things I’d done before when a mission had gone so wrong, I had to drag a friend close to death to safety to patch up the bullet wounds and bandage as best as I could.
Blinking away the past, I focused on the red-haired girl—beauty I shouldn’t notice and a curvy body that was impossible to ignore.
I had gone over her limbs briefly in the car, but I examined her abdomen and back as I fought not to pay attention to the lace underwear that stretched enticingly over her hips and a matching filled-out bra. Instead, I rolled her onto her side as gently as I could. There was a bruise on her right front shoulder, but nothing to panic over. I cleaned a few scrapes and cuts on her hands but found her remarkably untouched for what must have happened.
She was a stunning woman, and I enjoyed more than I should how the black lace panties she wore stretched enticingly over her hips.
Swallowing hard, I kept on checking her for signs of injury, trying to pull my fucking head together. Moving on impulse, I slid up her legs. My black sweatpants were far too big for her, but they were all I had. I slipped a sweatshirt over her head and slid her arms through the sleeves. She made a small murmuring sound that could have been a snore, and I grinned. It was too fucking cute.
What was wrong with me?
Dragging the sheet and blanket over her to keep her warm, I tried to think of anything else I should do, but nothing came to mind.
