Page 4 of Her Guarded Hero

“He’s a soldier! You’re dealing with a soldier!”

Crap, she was talking loud again.

Get it together girlfriend. Are you hearing me? No hormones. No hitting your injured head. No yelling out loud when there are shooters in the woods. You’re better than this.

Sure, she was.

Come on, what would Grandma Mae do?

God, she missed her grandmother, but the thought of her made her smile. Little Miss Liberal Hippie.

Time to meditate. That’s what her grandmother would tell her to do.

She leaned back against the clean shirt. Did she smell Dalton?

Stop it, that’s Febreze!

She took another deep breath. Ponderosa Pine trees. Mountain air.

Another deep breath.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

Better. She snuggled deeper against the t-shirt and smoothed the survival blanket over her legs. Now Aurora closed her eyes and thought of the magic of the forest that surrounded her. She let herself float upwards, she flew miles toward her family’s ranch. Valhalla. She pictured the beauty of the ranch with the horses running in the tall grass and remembered how her granddad used to ride with such strength atop his stallion.

She whispered her mantra.

“Beauty. Strength. Magic.”

* * *

There had been two sets of hoofprints near the four brass shell casings. Dalton crouched down to get a better look. They were boat tail hollow points. Shit, they could have come from any jackass hunter. But he’d be damned, before he would believe that Aurora and her horse hadn’t been targeted. Sure, the first shot could have been a mistake, if you wanted to believe in the tooth fairy, but there wasn’t a chance in hell the second and third ones had been.

He got up from his crouch, eying the casings one last time. He was careful not to touch the brass, or step on the imprints left by the horses. He stood up and really looked around the site. This was a crime scene, and even with a forensics team, Dalton didn’t think the sheriff’s department would have much to work with, but that couldn’t be his problem. Right now, Aurora was his first priority. He pulled out his cell phone but didn’t get a signal. Dammit, it was about damn time to invest in a satellite phone. He missed those when he wasn’t working on a mission. Disgusted he pocketed his phone, realizing he needed to get closer to the road, and started to head back to Aurora.

It took half the time to get back to her, and when he did, he didn’t like what he saw. She was out like a light. He squatted in front of her and touched her shoulder, she didn’t move.

“Aurora?” he whispered. She didn’t move.

“Aurora?” he spoke louder.

“Hmmm?” Her eyelids fluttered open. She looked up at him, her expression dazed. “You’re back. Did you find Siren?”

Dalton smiled. “I haven’t searched for her yet. I was looking for the people who shot at you.”

“Are you a super soldier, like Rambo?”

Dalton laughed. “No. Why did you ask that?”

“You just disappeared into the forest like smoke. I figured you were a super soldier or an Avenger. The soldier seemed more likely.”

Her voice was beginning to fade and her eyes drifted closed again.