Page 70 of Thunder Pass

As soon as Gunnar stepped through the door of The Fang, Ruth ran into his arms. The emotion that surged through him nearly knocked him off his feet—I’d do anything for her, he realized in a flash. I’ll protect her until I die.

“Shh, it’s okay,” he murmured in her ear as she shook against him. “We’ll find her. I promise we’ll find her. It’s okay. I’m here, and we’re going to find her.”

“This is all my fault…”

“No. How can you say that when we don’t even know what happened yet? Right?” She nodded against his chest. “Good. That’s better. Blaming yourself isn’t going to help find her, is it? Let’s focus on that part.”

“Okay. Yes. You’re right.” He felt her spine straighten, felt the big breath of air she took in. Ruth might have moments of fear and anxiety like anyone, but she was a strong woman, probably stronger than anyone he’d ever known.

When her trembling died down, he looked up and saw the entire bar gazing at the two of them with open curiosity.

That was one way to go public with their relationship—whatever it was. He took Ruth by the hand and led her back to the bar.

“So what do we know so far?” he asked the group assembled there—Bear behind the bar, Martha perched on a stool, Maura next to her, with Lachlan standing by her, arm around her shoulders. “Lila told me the basics. She didn’t sleep at the farm last night, right, Martha?”

Martha nodded. She was wearing one of her hand-knit ponchos with a hood that made her look like an elf. “The last time anyone saw her was in the kitchen around seven o’clock last night, when she baked some bread for the crew. She left the loaves cooling on a rack and told Sally—one of my woofers—that she had to check on something. It was party night for the woofers, they all got together for a goodbye bonfire. Since they planned to have alcohol, I asked Sarah not to go, and she promised she wouldn’t. Now I wish I’d told her to go. At least she would have been around the other woofers.”

Ruth put an arm around her shoulders. “Martha, this isn’t your fault. You’ve been so kind to us. You did the right thing, making sure she didn’t get herself into trouble at a party. Those bonfires can get so wild.”

“Oh, it did. Ramon is still throwing up in the outhouse.” Martha shuddered. “Might need to dig a new one after this.”

“We were at your place earlier than that, and got some shots fired at us.” Gunnar braced himself as everyone’s attention swung toward him. “We never saw who it was. We thought it might have been a Chilkoot.”

“Shit.” Martha swore. “Did they grab Sarah back? I’m going to go out there right now and?—”

Bear cleared his throat and slammed his hands on the bar counter, making everyone jump. As tall as Gunnar was, Bear had at least an inch on him, and a much more intimidating presence. When he had something to say, people listened.

“Lila wants to share something. It’s important, so please listen.”

Lila’s pixie face flushed as everyone turned toward her. “Okay, I know this might sound strange, but sometimes I have what I call ‘blips,’ what you might call visions, except I don’t call them that.”

Ruth’s eyes went wide. “Did you see something about Sarah? Please, anything will help.”

“I did. At first I wasn’t sure what it meant, but now I think that…well, I think she’s been taken somewhere. And the weird thing is, it’s not to hurt her. She’s not in danger. She was taken to keep her safe.”

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Ruth knew she was hanging onto Gunnar’s hand as if it was her last tether to safety. Not just his hand; his whole arm was bearing the brunt of her anxiety. As for any chance of hiding her feelings for him, she could forget about that.

But right now, none of that mattered. The only thing she cared about was finding Sarah. Could she trust in Lila’s quirky “blip” that Sarah wasn’t in danger? Not easily. “You have to tell me more. What exactly did you see?”

“She’s with a man. An older man.”

“Luke?”

“No, not Luke. It’s not someone I know. What I saw was that he was giving her a bowl of rice. You know that lightweight aluminum camping gear that people take on backpacking trips? It was that kind of pot. She was really angry at him, but she wasn’t scared. I usually am able to pick up emotional energy more than words. He was the one who was scared, not her. He wanted to protect her.”

“Protect her from what? Someone else? Were there other people nearby?” Luckily, Gunnar had his wits about him enough to ask questions, because all Ruth could think of was poor Sarah being held captive and forced to eat rice. She hated rice.

In other words, whoever took her didn’t know her very well.

“I didn’t see anyone else, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t other people. It just means that I saw what I saw. I got the sense that he was protecting her from something he feared would be catastrophic. He worried that a lot of people were going to get hurt, and he didn’t want her to be one of them. I think he…likes her. Even though he’s quite a bit older.”

Ruth’s heart sank as one possibility occurred to her. “Before we left, Luke was talking about a husband for Sarah. He didn’t mention anyone in particular, but maybe he’d gone further than we knew already. Maybe this is someone who thinks of Sarah as his future wife.” It made her sick to even say those words.

“Can Luke do that?” Maura made a little face. “Just decide on a husband for Sarah? She’s only sixteen. And I know her pretty well as her teacher. She has a mind of her own.”

Ruth swallowed, her mouth dry with worry. “I protected Sarah a lot, because I wanted her to be more free than I was. That’s why she seems more independent-minded. But yes, if she had stayed with the Chilkoots, Luke could have picked a husband for her. That was pretty normal.”

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