Page 46 of Captive of Outlaws

When I awake, hours later, it’s with a startle. I’d been having some kind of nightmare, being chased through the woods—very original—and some terrible animalistic sound has ripped me from my sleep.

I sit up in bed, tangled in sheets, sweating a little under my loose hair.

“Jesus,” I breathe out.

It’s dark by now, so dark I can barely see around my room. I fumble around on the bedside table for my new smartphone and click it on: 12:53, almost exactly the middle of the night. My lips are dry, so I pad over to the bathroom, where there’s a carafe of water and a glass.

As I pour myself something to drink, I drift back to the bedroom and stare out the window into the vast expanse of the backyard.Where are we?I wonder, not for the first time. I suppose I could look at a map program on my phone, but even the blue dot would only tell me that I’m somewhere inthe middle of Sherwood Forest. I doubt any of these roads are marked; hell, for all I know, Rob has carved them out personally and has snipers stationed all around the house to take down anyone who dares drive on his land.

I grimace and take a sip, then chug. I’m about to go back to bed after finishing my water when I see something out at the edge of the tree line, where it melts into the grounds of the house.

No, it can’t be. It fucking can’t be.

I draw closer to my bedroom window and stare.

It’s a bear, an honest-to-god bear, roaming in from the woods and coming toward the house.

I can’t believe it. Do bearsdothat? I try to think about what I know about bears. They can climb trees. You’re supposed to make yourself big to scare them away—or is that mountain lions? Maybe with bears, you’re supposed to play dead.

Either way, if it caught sight of me within fifty paces, it could fuck me up beyond repair.

Still, though I can’t help it. I want to get closer—notclosercloser, because obviously I want to remain unmauled, but just enough that I can see it.

It moves almost gracefully, if that’s possible for something that weighs over 600 pounds. Its fur catches the moonlight, shining a deep brownish-black fringed with silver.

I unlatch the French doors and slip out into the night, stepping with bare feet onto the cold stones of the small balcony that juts out from my room. I draw my arms into my chest as though I need to protect myself, even though there’s no possible way it can get me on the balcony, if it can even see me in the first place.

My breath catches as I watch it pick up its pace, then break into a run, and when it does—holy shit. I had no idea bears can run that fast. I’m not great at estimating land speed for anything but cars, but that’s easily 30 miles an hour.

As it ambles past, its long, sinewy muscles rippling as the moonlight catches various angles, I actually let out a little gasp.

And then the bear stops.

I freeze, withdrawing a little into the shadow of the doorframe. It can’t have heard me, right? I’m too far away.

But no. The bear turns its head and looks, I swear to God, directly at me.

“Shit,” I whisper. Instinctively, I jump back into my room and slam the doors after me. I know that’s ridiculous, that of course, a bear that’s out in the middle of the grounds of this house can’t somehow, I don’t know, break into the first floor, run up the stairs, unlock my bedroom door, and get me.

But still, I latch the French doors just to be safe and dive under my covers, breathing hard.

It’s another good half hour before I finally fall asleep.

“GOOD MORNING, SLEEPINGBeauty,” Rob greets me as I pad into the kitchen, still a little groggy. I squint at him.

“It’s only 7:30.”

He flashes a grin. “I’ve been up for hours. This is my third coffee.” He lifts his mug.

“Want some?” Tuck appears from around the corner bearing a carafe.

“Of course I do,” I say, sliding into a chair. I picked out another pair of jeans, black this time, and a button-downshirt for my work day. It probably is for the best that I don’t know how much they cost, considering they’re going to be soaked with sweat and motor oil by the end of the day.

“You all right there?” That’s Will coming in from the opposite hallway. “You look pretty tired there, greasemonkey.”

I glare at him. “I’ll have you know I didn’t sleep well,” I say. I suck in a breath. “Did you guys know that there are bears out here?”

The reaction is not what I expect. Will frowns, but Tuck chokes back what sounds like a laugh, and Rob raises an eyebrow.

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