Before my hand could meet with her flesh, she whirled around, pointing a knife at me and baring her teeth. She must have gotten up and taken it from the kitchen while I slept and I had to admire her tenacity. She’d clearly been through hell but instead of letting it break her, she’d come out fighting on the other side.
“Someone’s coming,” I breathed in a low voice. “Would the people you escaped from be looking for you?”
A whimper of fear left her lips and she leapt to her feet, scrambling away from me as she darted for the door.
My heart stumbled in fear as she reached for the handle and I pounced on her before she could make it, slapping a hand over her mouth as a cry of panic escaped her.
She swung the knife at me but I caught her wrist with ease, fixing it in my grip as I dragged her back away from the door. I twisted my grip on her hand, taking the knife from her before she ended up stabbing one of us and I jammed it into the back of my waistband.
She clawed at my arm as she fought to get me off of her, but I kept my grip tight to stop her from running.
“You can’t go out there,” I growled, keeping my voice low as I moved her away from the windows. The cabin was dark but the glow of the fire might just give off enough light for us to be seen between the gaps in the curtains. “I have somewhere I can hide you.”
Winter relaxed marginally, her grip on my arm loosening a fraction.
I released my hold on her, slipping my hand from her mouth as I turned her around to look at me.
“Can you trust me to hide you, baby doll?” I asked, looking into her bright green eyes and finding a river of fear there. But amongst the panic, I sensed her judging that question as she tried to figure out her answer.
After the longest pause, she nodded and I released a breath as I tugged her towards my bed.
Tyson growled again, running from one window to the next and nudging his nose beneath the curtains to get a good look out at whoever was coming.
I could hear them now too, their voices raised as they called out between each other in their hunt.
I released my hold on Winter and dragged the bed aside until I could lift the hatch that was hidden there. It was meant to be a bit of additional storage beneath the cabin, but I’d never made much use of it and the space sat empty.
Winter’s eyes widened with panic as she looked into the dark alcove. I hurried to grab the blankets she’d been sleeping with and the clothes she’d been wearing when she’d arrived here before tossing them in.
“I’ll be right out here,” I promised her, cupping her cheek in my hand and holding her eye. “I give you my word, you’ll be okay. And I’ve never broken my word in all my life.”
Her lips twitched with panic as she looked down into the dark space again, but at the sound of men drawing closer outside, she suddenly dropped down into it.
I knelt down beside her and offered her the knife. “If anything happens to me, don’t come out. Stay there until they leave. There’s cash and a cellphone with charge in the kitchen drawer, but you’ll have to get to the bottom of the mountain before you can get any signal to call for help. If you don’t want to call the cops then you can message a man called Rocco. Tell him you know me and he’ll help you.”
At least I hoped he would. I didn’t have anyone else that I could call on anymore though, so he was the best I could offer her.
I moved to close the hatch and Winter reached out to catch my hand, her eyes brimming with concern. I offered her an easy smile in an attempt to reassure her and leaned down to press a kiss to her red hair.
She stilled at the gesture and as I pulled back, she stared at me like she didn’t know what to make of me at all. Like the concept of someone caring, or giving her anything other than pain was alien to her and the thought of that sent anger spilling through me in a molten wave.