Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Eager as hell for the morning to come since it was likely there would be perfect conditions on the slopes over the next few days after the fresh dumping of snow.
One of the main reasons people flocked to Moonlit Ridge in the winter was the ski resort that was about five miles up the mountain.
Another was simply to sit in awe of the beauty of this place.
In my humble opinion—which if you asked my crew wasn’t all that humble—there were few things more gorgeous than The Sanctuary’s view over the crystalline lake that was surrounded by a dense cloth of woods.
It was even more spectacular when it was blanketed in snow.
The scene evoking utter relaxation as someone cozied up next to the fire with the view and a book.
Not that I ever allowed myself to fall into it.
Never foolish enough to be lulled into a false sense of security when I knew refuge could be flipped to peril in one quick flick of the switch.
Chaos descending in a single beat.
Which was why I took it upon myself to make rounds of The Sanctuary’s grounds several times a night.
Sure.
I had security on the property at all times, but I refused to get complacent with it.
Wasn’t like I could sleep, anyway.
Especially when I had an abuse survivor on the property.
Unit A.
We had six small cabins on The Sanctuary’s grounds.
Two were always reserved for those brought under Sovereign Sanctum’s wing.
Unit A and Unit B.
They were used as housing while the women and children we were protecting were transitioned from their old lives to their new.
Which was why Madge’s eyes had bugged out of her skull when I’d told her I was going to put Piper, her son, and grandmother into Unit B.
She knew I was going off course. Maybe right off the rails with the way Piper immediately lit something inside me.
The woman the fucking storm that she’d ridden in on. Those eyes just as icy as the lake, her demeanor just as frigid.
All that delicious fire sparking underneath.
Something about her gripped me, and it wasn’t just the fact that she had to be the most stunning woman to ever cross my path.
Face this entrancing thing that I could stare at all damn day. Body nothing but bait. My unruly cock far too interested in falling right into that trap.
It was what was scored underneath.
The harrowed desperation that lit the blazing fire in those arctic eyes. Like the only choice she had was fighting every step of the way.
The woman battle clad.
Armor shielding every inch of her heart and turbulent spirit.
It made me fuckin’ antsy. Curls of awareness fluttering around at the edges of my consciousness, a quiet moan that told me she was in trouble.
Didn’t buy for a second that they’d been on their way to Moonlit Ridge for a short vacation.
There was something deeper. Something that made me want to reach in and dig out all her secrets. Promise her I would hold them. Do any fucking thing required to wipe that frenzied panic off her face.
But I couldn’t get close like that. Not with the way I was itching to dive in and discover.
I’d do well to remember it.
I forced my attention back on my purpose. The duty I’d pledged my life to.
A penance for the wrongs, like there’d be a chance in hell that I could make up for them.
I swept my flashlight out into the oppressive woods. The beam of light glinted against the mounds of snow that had gathered thick, the branches of the trees sagging with their weight.
The night echoed back.
A vacant call of nothingness.
Still, I sat in the agitation that never faded.
Waited.
Nothing but the cold, hushed calm.
Blowing out a sigh, I turned and trudged back through the two-foot-deep powder, my legs disappearing up to my knees.
I swept my flashlight back and forth as I went, an edge of severity carved into my being as I searched for any trace that things had gone amiss.
My guts a tangle of aggression as I thought of the monsters that lurked.
Ones that would do anything to uncover this place.
Twisted fiends I wouldn’t hesitate to put in the ground.
When I found nothing, I wound up on the back side of the property, landing myself at the two occupied cabins on the far east side.
My chest tightened, throat nearly closing off as I edged up to Unit A where Alicia and her daughter, Lucy, were staying.
My ear tuned to the sounds coming from inside.
It was just past ten, and I could only make out the faint drone of a television coming from inside, the same as normally echoed back each night at about this time.
They were safe inside.
Still, I eased all the way around it, keeping myself in the shadows as I ensured the area was uncompromised.
Satisfied, I started to head back for my cabin that I’d built on the far west side of the property, only I stalled out.