Page 71 of Claiming Ours
There were several deep gashes on her head and face, but her hiking gear kept me from documenting additional wounds. A thin layer of silt covered the clothes, her skin, and even clumped in her long hair where it splayed around her head.
“The way the mud is deposited, I suspect she was here through the storms, and the washout from above left this sediment.”
“We need to call in help,” Baylee said, meeting my gaze. “This wasn’t an accident. I can feel it.” She pointed at the dog. “Lookat his muzzle. That’s dried blood there and on his chest. My theory is he attacked whoever hurt her.” She jabbed that single finger at the dead woman. “It’s too close to the Soul Trail to be a coincidence.”
I nodded. “But we’re at least two, maybe three miles away. What the hell was she doing out here?”
“Running for her life,” Baylee grumbled under her breath, just loud enough for me to hear.
Memphis chuffed. “Either way, we can’t leave her here.”
“Or Hank,” Baylee demanded, crossing her arms that once again got tangled up in my shirt, making her huff in annoyance.
“Or Hank,” Memphis repeated, grinning.
I almost did too, only to remember the sheer panic and terror from earlier when I woke up and she wasn’t beside me. I ground my teeth to keep from yelling at the top of my lungs, the pressure desperate to be released.
“The satellite phone is back at the campsite. We’ll go together, and I’ll call it in.”
Oliver and Hudson needed to see this. Baylee’s theory of this not being a tragic hiking accident was a solid one. Since those two headed up the missing women investigations, they would be my first call.
I eyed the dog. “What are we going to do about him?” From what I’d witnessed as we followed him, his back leg was too injured to make the hike back down on his own. “He’ll need a stretcher or something.”
“I call ‘not it’ on loading the bloody husky onto a stretcher to haul him from his owner’s body, which he has clearly been protecting.”
I grimaced, knowing Memphis had a point. The body showed no signs of animal activity, which was odd unless the dog had kept watch over it to ensure she wasn’t disturbed. My heartbroke for the animal even though he’d lured my girl into the woods alone.
I rubbed at my chest to ease the ache thinking about losing Baylee caused. Nope, not going there. Not if I wanted to stay sane or not handcuff us together.
“Would you be okay wearing a tracker?” I asked out of the blue. Memphis’s hands stilled, and they both slowly turned to stare at me. “What?”
Memphis barked out a laugh, and Baylee just smirked while shaking her head in disbelief.
Not sure why they found that funny.
“I don’t likethe idea of you going back without me.” Memphis cleared his throat and sent me a pointed glance from where he rolled up the tarp we’d used for the shelter. I inclined my head his way, acknowledging the poor word choice. “Withoutus.”
“You’ve only said that a few dozen times since you called Oliver.” Baylee’s hand stilled on the horse’s flank. “But I want to get Hank into the clinic, assessed, and X-rayed as soon as possible.” She twisted to see where the dog lay. “If that back leg is fractured, the sooner I can get it mended, the better the outcome. Plus, Hank knows me, and I can keep him calm on the way down. Well,” she added with a shrug, “me and the sedative I plan to give him.”
“Explain to me again how you met Hank and his owner.” Memphis dropped the rolled-up tarp by the rest of the gear, eyeing the horses like they might attack him at any moment.
Baylee’s nose scrunched, and a deep line formed between her blonde brows. I fought the urge to kiss the tip of her nose, thentake her lips with mine, nibble down her throat, and keep going until my tongue and lips were coated with the flavor of her.
“It was five or six days ago, maybe. She planned to leave the following morning to hike the Soul Trail. I told her to be careful,” Baylee murmured, a sad expression overtaking her features, “but she said Hank would never let something happen to her. That was why we met. She came by the clinic to get him checked over before they headed out.”
“We’ll figure it out, Little Bit,” I said, wrapping a hand around the back of her neck to pull her close, planting a kiss to her temple.
“But at what cost?” she asked, looking up at me, those big crystal blue eyes pleading with me. “How many more women or their male partners or dog companions have to get hurt before we figure this out, Liam? We’re into double digits, and that’s just on our side of the trail.”
Her shoulders rounded in what looked like defeat.
With a single finger under her chin, I tipped her face up to mine. “Don’t do that. Don’t give up.”
“I’m just sad.” She sniffed. “Sad for her. She was so fun and kind. And Hank.” Tears dripped from the corners of her eyes. “What’s going to happen to him now?”
I started to respond, but the sound of footsteps had me spinning, gun in hand and ready to take out any threat to my family.
I slow-blinked at that thought. Family. It felt right, the word describing exactly what the two behind me had started to represent. Well, Baylee for a while now and, shocking me completely, Memphis now too.
