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“You’re impossible.”

“So I’ve been told.”

She follows me outside reluctantly, locking the damaged cabin behind us even though we both know the lock’s useless now.

Rain falls harder by the second.

Nora stops beside the truck and stares up toward the barely visible ridgeline above us.

“You live up there?”

“Yeah.”

“Of course you do.”

I open her door.

She eyes it suspiciously. “You always this bossy?”

“Only when someone keeps ignoring good advice.”

“I barely know you.”

“You keep saying that like it matters.”

Her mouth opens.

Closes.

Then she climbs into the truck anyway.

Good choice.

I shut the door behind her and circle back toward the driver’s side, already scanning the tree line again automatically.

Watching.

Waiting.

Because whoever broke into that cabin made one mistake tonight.

He pushed too hard.

And now?

Now I’m involved.

Chapter Five

Nora

The higher we climb, the worse the storm gets.

Rain has turned to snow and it slams against the windshield hard enough to blur the road entirely some seconds, and the narrow mountain trail twisting beneath Rhett’s truck barely looks wide enough for one vehicle, let alone safe enough to drive during a storm that feels determined to bury the entire mountain overnight.

“You sure this road actually leads somewhere?” I ask, gripping the door handle tighter as the truck fishtails slightly around another bend.

Rhett doesn’t even blink. “Yeah.”