He dialed 9-1-1 and glared into the darkness. Snowflakes blew at the windshield, coming down thicker by the second.
“9-1-1, what is your emergency?”
“Someone is after my girlfriend. A stalker. She’s alone at the cabin! I’m on my way there, and I’m calling to report a murder because I’m going to kill him!”
“Sir, calm down. What is the address of the cabin? I’ll send the sheriff and deputy there right now.”
He rattled out the location of the cabin even as his mind whirled with scenarios. Whipping out his weapon and shooting Colby between the eyes. Aries launching at him and pinning him down so Hunt could beat his face in.
The dispatcher suggested he remain on the line with her, but Hunt ended the call. He needed every ounce of concentration to get up the slippery slope of this mountain before it was too late.
What if Colby kidnapped Freya again, and she wasn’t even there by the time Hunt showed up? Where would he even begin to look for her?
And what had made him rent this cabin so far away from civilization, on a twisty mountain road that was covered in ice more days of the year than it wasn’t?
Picking up on his mood, Aries fidgeted and gave a short whine from the passenger seat.
“I know, boy. We’re going to get to her. We have to get to her.” He clamped his jaw on a roar of rage and stepped on the gas.
The SUV fishtailed on the road, the rear tires sliding off and coming scant inches away from landing in the ditch.
Freya, I’m coming. I’m sorry I left. I’m so dumb for buying that story.
The man who’d called hadn’t been Shane with a nasty cold. The reason he sounded so different to Hunt was it wasn’t Shane at all.
And he’d bought it.
His stupid need to be a hero had brought him to this low point. After his cousin’s death when he decided on rescuing people, Hunt never could have foreseen this.
Stepping on the gas, he gave just enough power to the tires to avoid the ditch before it was too late. Not much farther. The sheriff and deputy would be far behind.
Well, they could show up in time to cart away Colby’s body after Hunt finished with him.
If he was still there. If Freya was still there.
Tears burned at the back of his eyes. He couldn’t lose her now, not when he’d just found the woman who was the love of his life.
How stupid he was to trust that Colby would be arrested. Clearly, he’d evaded the cops and hatched this plan to get Hunt out of the way.
He must have been watching them the entire time.
Fingers clenching on the wheel, he grated out, “He was coming around the cabin.”
Suddenly Aries’s odd behavior made total sense. He’d been tracking a trespasser in the surrounding woods.
Hunt’s blood ran cold. And at the festival too. Colby had been in the crowd, and Aries caught his scent.
“Fuck!” He slammed his hand against the steering wheel again, seeing a haze of red instead of the white winter wonderland stretching before him.
Five. More. Minutes. Then Hunt would end Freya’s terror and make her safe. After this, he’d bundle her up and leave the cabin. They’d go somewhere far away and just be alone.
Two minutes.
Hunt went a little crazy, buried in terrible images of what might have happened to Freya in his absence. By the time he spun into the short driveway, adrenaline was the only thing running through his veins.
He slammed the SUV into park and whipped open the door, calling for Aries to follow. Without bothering to shut the door or turn off the engine, he ran for the door. Aries snarled, nose to the steps.
Inside, a shriek rang out.
Hunt’s heart came to a full stop and then resumed racing with a lurch. He kicked in the door just in time to see Freya lift a log and smash it into Colby’s head.
He grunted under the blow and crumpled, but she lifted the log again.
“Aries, get on him!” Hunt’s order sent the dog launching onto Colby, but that didn’t stop Freya from smashing the log over his head a second time.
“I…am…not…a child anymore!” she screamed and raised the log a third time. “You will not make me a victim! I have the power now!”
Hunt took in the white gown crumpled on the floor along with a bowtie. Whatever fucked up shit was going on in Colby’s mind, Freya was having none of it.
The strong woman was handling her business, taking back the control she’d spent a lifetime deprived of.
“Freya!” Hunt hit his knees next to her and she stopped. The log rolled to the floor.
Hunt stared down at Colby’s face. His eyes were wide open but he wasn’t moving.
“I killed him!” Freya’s shaky voice penetrated Hunt’s shock.
“No, he’s unconscious. You didn’t kill him.” But I still might.
Freya was trembling. Hunt turned away from the man she’d beaten unconscious to look at her face.
Her wide eyes spoke of her relief at seeing Hunt, but the fear lingering in the depths had Hunt wanting to finish the job she’d started.
The crunch of tires outside sounded through the door Hunt left hanging open. The sheriff and deputy had arrived on the scene.
Now Hunt could truly center his attention on the woman he loved. He dragged Freya up and into his arms. He strode several paces away from Colby, needing as much distance between the stalker and Freya as possible.
When the lawmen rushed into the room, the sheriff barked, “Call off your dog!”
“Aries, come!”
Freya trembled against him, and Hunt smoothed his hand down her back to soothe her while whispering soft words in her ear. “It’s okay. I’ve got you. He can’t hurt you. I’ll never let anyone hurt you again, baby. I love you. I’m here.” Over and over again, he said the words.
At last, she raised her head to search his eyes. “I knew you’d come. And I’m sorry. I kept things from you. I should have told you Colby was sending me texts and bothering me whenever I went into the store…”
“Shh. I probably kept far more from you. I knew some of it already. I was afraid to fill in that gap in your memory with terrible things.” He brushed his lips over her brow.
She clung to his chest, her hands curled in his coat. Then she glanced down at Aries beside them, standing guard.
Withdrawing from Hunt’s arms, Freya crouched next to the dog and without hesitating, stroked Aries’s ears. “You are such a good protector. Such a good dog. Thank you, and I promise I’ll make you a delicious treat to eat very soon.”
Hunt’s heart clenched. In that moment, when he knew she had opened her heart to both Hunt and Aries, he fell completely, totally in love with her.
There was no going back now. He might have rescued her, but she’d turned around and saved him from loneliness and given his life even more purpose.
Aries’s loud, ecstatic bark rang out as soon as he set eyes on his other partner running across the yard toward them.
“It’s Freedom! Get him, boy! Go see your friend!”
Aries didn’t even look back at Hunt or Freya. He shot toward the other German Shepherd with lighter tan coloring. The dogs didn’t bother with sniffing each other in greeting—they went straight for rough, wild play.
Freya clung to Hunt’s hand, enjoying the dogs’ reunion. To her shock, she wasn’t a bit afraid of the new dog. If Freedom was anything like Aries, then she could say she had a new friend.