Page 6 of Montana Memory

The room was small—stained carpet, an old TV bolted to the dresser. But it had a lock. A barrier. It was the best I’d had all night.

But my hands wouldn’t stop shaking as I removed my coat and laid it on the bed.

I stepped into the bathroom, gripping the edge of the sink as I finally let myself breathe. My pulse slowed, just slightly, but the moment I lifted my head?—

I froze.

The mirror reflected a young woman. Brown hair. Brown eyes. Slender face, full lips. She was…attractive.

And she was a stranger. I reached out, fingertips grazing the glass.

Who was Jada Banks?

Because I sure as hell didn’t know.

Chapter 2

Hunter Everett

The dirt road leading back to the cabin was dark, the moon hidden behind a thick bank of clouds. I moved through the trees, silent, taking my time. No point in rushing—by now, I knew the mission by the Resting Warrior guys to rescue Kenzie Hurst was over. The fact that there was no gunfire, no movement, just the quiet hum of insects and the distant hoot of an owl, confirmed it.

Still, I didn’t walk up to the cabin like I belonged there. Old habits died hard. I circled wide, keeping to the shadows, my steps practiced and sure. The scent of pine and damp earth mixed with the faintest trace of something burned—maybe from the fight that had gone down earlier. I took it all in, searching for any sign that something was off.

But there was nothing. The battle was over.

I exhaled slowly, letting my shoulders drop, but the tension didn’t leave. My mind was still back at the motel. Still on Jada and whether I should’ve left her there. Hell, whether I should’ve gotten involved at all.

The woman was confused as hell, her memory complete shit. Maybe she had a concussion, but she had no idea who she was, where she belonged, or what she’d done.

I knew, though, and that was the part Ihadn’ttold her.

Jada wasn’t just some innocent woman caught in a crossfire of bad guys.Shewas the reason we’d all been here. The reason Kenzie had been kidnapped. The reason I’d shown up at that cabin in the first place.

Lucas and the Resting Warrior Ranch team had needed help, and I’d stepped up. That was how it had started. I’d been passing through Montana, checking in on my cousin Lucas the way I did from time to time, when they’d pulled me into this mess. The guys at RWR were good men—former SEALs running a place meant to help soldiers put themselves back together. PTSD, therapy animals, counseling. The kind of thing that might’ve done me some good if I’d ever been willing to stick around long enough.

But I never had been. And I wasn’t now. I’d signed on to help them because I’d been trained for this. Because my Army Special Forces instincts still ran deep. Because I never could resist a fight.

And because part of me had wanted to.

A twig snapped in the distance, barely more than a whisper of sound, but I stilled. Listened. The wind shifted through the trees, carrying the scent of rain, but nothing else moved. Still, I waited a beat longer before stepping out of the shadows and heading for the cabin.

Alan Ard, Kenzie Hurst’s ex-boyfriend, hadn’t even been paroled from prison twenty-four hours before he’d gone after her. And he hadn’t come alone. He’d brought muscle—men who had no qualms about doing dirty work. Killing Kenzie had been the plan all along, and he’d used Jada Banks to get Kenzie to the cabin.

That was until Lucas and the Resting Warrior Ranch team had stepped in. They did what they did best—neutralized the threat. And this time, I was with them. I took down two of Alan’s guys myself. Quick, clean. The kind of thing that still came easy, no matter how much time had passed since I’d left the Army. One moment, they were a threat. The next, they weren’t.

I had no problem with ridding this world of men willing to rape and kill just because they could.

But Jada had been a different story. We all thought she was one of the bad guys. We all knew she’d been involved in taking Kenzie. And yet, when I’d found her, she was fighting. Not againstus. Against one of Alan’s men.

Something in me had made the decision about helping her before I even realized I’d done it. Saving her from that thug had been a gut instinct, and I didn’t regret it.

But that should’ve been all I did. I should’ve left her there. Let Lucas or the Resting Warrior guys decide what to do with her. Or hell, the police. They’d be here soon, no doubt. And regardless of what she could or couldn’t remember, she’d had some sort of hand in Kenzie’s kidnapping.

So, taking her to that motel? I had no idea why the fuck I’d done that. Getting involved at that level went against every principle I had, whether she’d needed the help or not.

But somehow, I hadn’t been able tonothelp her. Yeah, the double negative was as confusing as the choice itself.

The cabin loomed just ahead, a faint glow spilling from the windows. I kept to the shadows, moving soundlessly until I reached the edge of the porch. Peering through the window, I spotted Lucas and Daniel Clark, the leader of Resting Warrior, inside, their expressions grim as they spoke in low tones. I could barely hear them, but what I couldn’t hear, I could make out by lip-reading.

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