He couldn't send the woman down the mountain and trust her to get a message to one of Avery Falls Motorcycle Club members for him.
Though, the ATV sitting outside gave him hope. He wouldn't chance going down the mountain on foot. Despite his speed and endurance, he was at a disadvantage to anyone in a car or on two and four wheels.
He could take the ATV and go to Avery Falls during the night. His enhanced vision would allow him to see through the darkness and navigate down the mountain.
He'd need to leave the woman here.
As his plan formulated in his head, he rummaged through the rest of the woman's bags. It was hours until he'd be able to make the trek.
He pulled out a sweatshirt, tossing it to the side. She'd need that at night. The Bitterroot Mountains grew cold as soon as the sun went down.
Finding a bra, he rubbed the material between his thumb and index finger. Too stretchy. Too soft.
At the bottom of the pack, he found a canvas raincoat and pulled it out. Using the sharp stone pounded into the logs on the back wall, he ripped into the material, making several strips.
The shuffling of her sneakers against the dusty, dirty floor alerted him to her movements. Without stopping, he said, "You can't escape. I've taken the key to the ATV. It's on the bed. You can try to grab it and run, but I'd catch you."
"What do you want from me."
He gathered all the strips of material and approached her. She backed away from him until she hit the wall of the cabin.
"I don't want anything from you." He grabbed her wrist, wrapping the material around her fragile limb, then picked up her other hand. She pulled, trying to jerk away from him, but his much larger hands made it easy to hold her still. "I need to use your ATV."
"You can have it. Take it. Go." She whimpered, struggling against his hold. "Please, don't tie me up."
"I can't do that." He pulled her bound wrists, leading her to the bed, and pushed her down until her ass hit the make-shift mattress. Pulling her arms above her head, he tied her to the wood frame. Once he had her stretched out and secured, he moved to the foot of the bed and repeated the knots around her ankles, locking each foot to the frame. "I'll leave once it gets dark and be back after I finish what I need to do."
"You can't leave me here." She strained against the bindings. "Nobody will find me."
He glanced down at her. She wasn't one of the participants in the project. He should've put extra clothes on her. She was too frail to survive the extremes. With her hands tied, she wouldn't be able to cover herself with the extra clothes in the pack.
She continued to beg for her release long after he stalked outside, needing to get away from her. But he couldn't ride off the mountain, yet.
Chapter Two
A squirrel chittered outside the cabin. Grace Lambert squeezed her eyes shut in frustration. Crying failed to help her. Fighting against the restraints only hurt her wrists and ankles. Screaming for help had stolen her voice.
She clung to the hope her sister, Amelia, would call the RV park when Grace's expected check-in call never came, and someone in this God-forsaken town would send out a search party for her.
Never in her six years of being a professional wildlife photographer had she ever walked into danger.
Even when the grizzly bear in Northwest Montana circled her for six hours before finally wandering off and leaving her to make it back to her campsite in the dark hadn't scared her as much as stumbling upon a giant naked man in the forest.
Renewing her fight to get free, she strained against the bindings, putting all her strength behind the effort to escape. Her head pounded, and she collapsed against the bed.
She was on top of tree branches. Probably bug-infested and a breeding ground for ticks.
Her skin crawled, sending a shiver down her spine and through her limbs. Closing her eyes again, she fought, wanting to go to sleep. She was exhausted.
But every time she closed her eyes, she could see the man who'd kidnapped her.
At first, she thought all those books she poured through each night had her imagining a mountain man. He had longer hair than her, and his beard hung low, covering half of his chest. An extremely broad, solid chest.
What kind of man lived in the mountains in a falling-down cabin? Naked?
Unashamed and threatening, he'd walked around the cabin as if he strode in front of strangers naked every day.
And, he wasn't a normal-sized man.
At twenty-six years old, she'd seen her share of naked men. Thanks to a three-month excursion to Playa Zipolite in Oaxaca, Mexico, with her sister for a paid gig to photograph the mysterious margay, she'd witnessed many nudists.
Men came in all sizes and shapes, rarely making her take a second look.
The man who'd kidnapped her was part...she had no idea what nationality he was, but his cock was humongous. And he'd stayed flaccid. Thank God.
The squirrel chittered louder. She groaned and yelled, "Oh, my God. Shut up, already."
One thing she'd discovered early on during her time spent in the Bitterroot Mountains, the noises of nature amplified the farther she got away from civilization.
Silence once again filled the cabin. Unable to think despite the break from the squirrel, her thoughts beat inside her head, making her nauseous.
What was she going to do if no one found her? How long would she survive?
He'd left her bags pressed against the side of her leg. Yet, she couldn't loosen her hands and grab them. There were packages of nuts and water bottles in the duffle she always carried with her if she got lost or delayed. The supplies would nourish her for two days, maybe four.
But she hadn't planned on staying in the woods. She wanted to go back to her tent.
She strained against the bindings. She wanted to go home. She wanted her sister. She wanted to get the hell out of Avery Falls.
Coming here was a mistake.
Everything from the moment a man paid her in cash, through the mail, to get pictures of the elusive Pekania pennanti, also known as a fisher in the Bitterroot Mountains, and her rugged trip up the mountain, reinstated the fact that she should've turned down the job.
Usually, Amelia traveled with her if she went to a remote location. But her sister recently had the cast removed after breaking her ankle while on a date with a man who decided to take her white-water rafting. There was no way her sister could've kept up with her, slugging through the forest.
The cash she'd received, with the promise of doubling that amount if she brought back documentation on the fisher, was too much to turn down. She and Amelia had talked about getting out of the condominium they'd mortgaged together when interest rates were sky high and buying a house within the year now that rates were low. The profits from the condo, if it managed to sell, wouldn't be enough with how much they still owed. They needed more money.
Wanting to go back to her safe life in Canyon Beach, Oregon, she gathered all her strength and yanked her legs, trying to raise her knees. Her stomach strained, burning from exertion, and a muscle spasm gripped her middle. She cried out, trying not to give up hope of breaking free.
If she managed to escape, she'd walk down the mountain in the dark, even if it took a week. She had bear mace in her pack.
God, she should've had the mace in her hand when she stopped at the cabin. She would've sprayed it in the man's face.