Page 81

My fist collides with his jaw hard enough to knock him flat again. Then my hands are around his throat.

Tight.

Violent.

Primal.

The storm disappears.

The mountain disappears.

All I see is Nora shaking in the snow because this bastard hunted her from the moment she arrived on my mountain and thought he could take her from me.

He claws at my wrists desperately.

Good.

Let him feel it.

“You scared her,” I say, squeezing harder. “You broke into my cabin. You put your hands on her.”

His face turns purple beneath me.

And the terrifying part?

Part of me wants to keep going.

Part of me wants to crush his throat and leave his body buried beneath six feet of snow where nobody ever finds him.

“Rhett.”

Nora’s voice cuts through the rage barely.

“Rhett.”

My grip tightens anyway.

I can hear her struggling closer behind me.

“Rhett, stop.”

I freeze.

Not because of him.

Because of her.

Because her voice sounds scared.

Of me.

The realization hits like ice water dumped straight over my head.

I release him abruptly and shove backward to my feet while the stalker coughs violently in the snow beneath me.

Every breath I drag in burns.

Nora’s standing there shaking hard, snow clinging to her hair and coat while her wide eyes lock onto mine.