AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Someone had stripped her down to her underwear before wrapping her in this blanket with a pair of hot-water bottles.
Who did this? Who found me and brought me here?
She tried to remember the last thing that had happened to her. A sabertooth cat wearing a backpack stalked towards her, intense golden eyes burning into her soul…
Holly blew out a sigh. Yeah, no. A cold-induced hallucination.
The logical conclusion was that someone had heard her last, desperate cries for help, and had found and rescued her shortly after she lost consciousness from pain and cold.
Probably a park ranger, she thought. Or maybe one of the wolf behavior researchers. Because who else would want to spend the winter in the park?
Her hands still hurt like hell, but at least she knew why now. Returning circulation to numbed extremities was always agonizing.
Holly wondered how long she’d been out of it, and glanced at her watch. The display read 6:24 p.m.
Night had fallen while she was out of it, and she’d lost over an hour of time.
So, where am I? This place didn’t look like the ranger station at the park’s entrance.
She looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings, hoping for some clue. She appeared to be alone in a one-room cabin. All she could tell from her vantage point on the sofa was that the cabin’s décor looked like she’d time-traveled back to the seventies or eighties.
An old-fashioned cast iron wood stove stood in one corner of the room, a fire glowing behind the small glass pane set in its door. Her jeans and hiking jacket hung on a wooden laundry rack next to the stove. It looked like someone had hosed the mud from both before putting them up to dry.
The view out of a nearby window showed the dim silhouettes of snow-dusted pine trees swaying in the wind, and heavy snow flurries whipping against the glass.
Her closed laptop sat on the battered wooden coffee table in front of the sofa. She craned her neck and spotted an old landline phone fastened to the wall between the kitchen counter and the breakfast nook.
Great! Now I can check in and let Arnold know I’m away from my cabin. Her boss, Dr. Arnold Beckworth, wasn’t the kind of guy who minced words. She wasn’t looking forward to hearing his reaction when she confessed the series of bad decisions that had almost cost her life.
The only thing worse than talking to him now, would be procrastinating and having him send out the local Search & Rescue team. That would be unforgivable, not only in terms of expense, but in risking other people’s lives when she was safe and sound in this cabin.
Holly blew out her breath, braced herself mentally, and shifted the hot water bottles aside. She sat up and drew the soft fleece lined blanket around her shoulders.
Then she swung her legs over the edge of the sofa and tried to stand.
She cried out in pain as agony seared through her right calf. She lifted her foot and grabbed for the sofa’s padded arm to steady herself.
Waves of pain rolled through her, leaving a steely taste in her mouth as her stomach heaved.
Balancing on her uninjured left leg, she looked down.
Her right leg was badly swollen below the knee. An ugly bruise formed a wide reddish-purple band where the bear trap had seized and held her. She tried to rotate her foot, and gasped at the fresh onslaught of pain.
“Dammit,” she muttered, breathing hard.
If the trap had broken her leg, she could kiss the rest of her study goodbye. Not a good look for the department’s newest and most junior employee.
The cabin door banged open, making her jump.
A tall, brown-haired man wearing jeans and a down vest over a wool flannel shirt stomped into the cabin. A blast of arctic wind followed him.
He kicked the door shut with a growled oath, and dropped her backpack onto a square of beige tiles just inside the front door. It landed next to her boots with a heavy thump.
“Uh, hi,” Holly said, trying to hide how intimidated she felt. Her fingers dug into the sofa arm as she swayed.
The newcomer glared at her with hot whiskey-colored eyes.
“What the fuck are you doing up?” he snarled as he marched past her. “Sit your ass down.”
