Page 5 of Biker's Babygirl

I tip my head back and scour the sky—I can see a small bit from where I’d huddled. It would only take one decent snowfall to tip the scales in favor of hypothermia but considering I’m in rural Wyoming in the middle of July, it isn’t very likely.

Starvation, on the other hand…I think ruefully. Right on cue, my stomach rumbles.How long has it been since I’ve eaten? Two days? Three?I shudder, because I know humans—even short, tiny, one-hundred-seventeen-pound ones, like me—can go weeks without food. Supposedly.

When the sun comes up, it’ll be safe to travel, at least for a little while. Maybe I can find a shelter, or at least a road…

If there’s one thing worse than hiding from a vengeful, abusive ex, it’s being lost while knowing he’s looking for you. And Lucas is familiar with the woods, and has no less thanthreeprofessional trackers in his crew. He will find me. It’s only a matter of time.

When the sky gets darker and the air gets colder and I have nothing but moss to wrap around myself, I wonder why I’m even bothering. This is a race against time I have zero hope of winning.

I clench my teeth as the bleak reality settles over me.No. But when I die, at least I’ll go fighting like hell.

Duke

“Finish up,” I order as I close and pocket my cell. I survey Shep and Elvis who have stopped wolfing down waffles to look at me. “We gotta head out, sooner rather than later. Just got a call about coyotes.”

The men go right back at it with more ferocious hunger than before, but Ellie pushes her plate away. She can’t eat when she knows we’re about to head out.

“Mack is away from his farm; his wife gave me a call. She says she keeps hearing coyotes at night and is afraid for her livestock.”

“Why doesn’t she have a look herself?” Shep asks around a mouthful of food. “Last I saw her, she was a pretty good shot with the M1.”

I nod. “’Course, but then when Mack comes back, she’d have to explain that she went looking, and with her being pregnant…”

Shep grins knowingly. “I hear ya.”

“She went by the diner and heard we were back, so she figured she’d put in a call to see if we could help.”

Ellie’s foot is tapping under the table, and when I turn to look at her, her arms are crossed. “You think this is one you boys could handle without me?”

I smother a chuckle. I’ll be forty-five next month, and Elvis as the youngest “boy” is still five years her senior. “Sure.”

Ellie McPherson was one of the first women to be recruited by the Navy SEALS and she is tough as nails. She had just made it through the rigorous training when she decided she’d rather get her medical license instead. She was as tough as they came, and had the receipts to prove it. But when big, angry animals were involved, she preferred not to be if she could help it.

“I’m a doctor, not a vet,” she snaps to Elvis and Shep.

“We’re all doctors,” I remind her patiently, setting my fork down. “But you know how it is around here. It’ll be a week or more before animal control checks it out, and by then the coyotes could make out with all their chickens and a couple of goats. Besides, Joanna is due with their first baby in a couple of months. We don’t want her to get it into her head to try and take care of it herself when anything could happen.”

“Talk about preventative medicine,” Shep quipped with a grin.

“I’m not sayingyoushouldn’t go,” Ellie acknowledged with a huff.

“I know this is still new to you,” I say. While Shep and I grew up around here, Ellie grew up in the big, bustling city of Seattle.Even though she’s been with us the last three years, sometimes our country ways are foreign to her. “Mack is a close friend, and we’re the best ones for the job even if it’s not technically on our list of qualifications.”

“I already said you should go!” she snaps, before launching to her feet and flouncing out of the room.

“What?” Shep asks, his confusion evident.

I smother a laugh. Ellie is in a worse mood than I’d thought earlier, but that’s par for the course with her after a few days without the creature comforts of home. “Nothing for you to worry about. Finish up, gentlemen. We ride in five.”

Ginny

This is it. The end. It has both taken longer and come faster than I expected. I wonder if that is how everyone feels when they know they’re living out their last moments.

And I can’t even do anything about it. I’m powerless, hunched over in this self-made hidey-hole while I try to control my breathing.

“I don’t see any tracks, Duke.”

Duke?My ears perk at this. I don’t know any Duke, but that doesn’t mean anything. Lucas has dozens of guys at his beck and call, willing to do whatever he says. He could order a hit on me and none of them would so much as flinch in protest. I know, because I’ve been there when he’s done it.

---