Page 10 of The Unknown Colton
“Troy?” she called out tentatively.
It had to be Troy. Right? He’d been at the office earlier. When he drove off without talking to her, he could have been planning to surprise her at home.
And yet she hesitated before walking into her own cabin. It didn’t feel like her home right now; it felt unfamiliar, strange…like her relationship with Troy had suddenly become.
He’d never gone so long with so little contact before. Something had to be wrong, and she knew that he wouldn’t try to remedy that with a surprise. And if he’d wanted to surprise her, he wouldn’t have sent the email last week letting her know that he was finally coming home.
But home probably just meant Shelby. Despite how much he stayed with her when he wasn’t working, they didn’t live together. Most of his things andhis room were at his mother’s house. Mrs. Amos undoubtedly missed her son as much as Lakin did. And she probably worried about him even more since she’d lost her husband on the same oil rigs that her son insisted on working on as well.
Lakin wasn’t sure if he was just trying to help his family out or if he missed his father so much that he was trying to replace him. Either way, she loved him for loving all of them so much.
But as much as she loved him, she was beginning to lose hope for a future with him.
So she didn’t believe he’d made the noise inside the cabin. Something…or someone…else was in there.
Once a raccoon had managed to break in through an open window. But a door? As clever and capable as they were with their little handlike paws, she doubted that was possible.
No, it had to be a human inside her place.
But who? Why would anyone break in? She had nothing worth stealing. The only things of value were her heart, which Troy already had, and her life.
She started backing away from the cabin, scared that whoever was inside was going to come out. She turned to run but instead collided with a long, hard body. She gasped as strong arms wrapped around her.
But these arms were familiar.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Troy asked, his voice a low rumble in his muscular chest.
She tingled with awareness of his closeness and with fear. “Someone’s in my cabin,” she whispered.
How was Troy here? She’d been so focused on her cabin that she hadn’t heard his truck drive up.
“Run back to the office,” Troy whispered gruffly. Maybe he didn’t want to alert the intruder to their presence—but her ringing cell had already done that. He turned with her in his arms, positioning himself between her and the cabin, then released her. “Go,” he urged her. “Get Parker and call the police.”
The police—well, her brother Eli—had already called. But she’d been so stunned to find her door open that she hadn’t known how to react.
As if Troy expected her to obey him, he turned back toward her front door.
“Where are you going?” she asked, her voice rising slightly with panic.
“I’m going to try to catch whoever the hell is in there.” He started toward the door again.
“No, it’s too dangerous. They could have a gun or some kind of weapon,” she warned and reached out, trying to stop him.
But then another noise rang out, louder than their argument: the crack of the cabin’s back door slamming.
Before Lakin could grasp his arm, Troy was off, running after a figure that was just a blur of dark clothes heading into the woods. But Troy wasn’t really running. Not like he usually did. He was moving oddly, stiffly, like he was limping or hurt.
If he caught up with the intruder, he might get hurt even worse.
The shadow was tall and broad and moving faster than Troy. But if the person turned back, they could overpower Troy, especially if they were armed. If they were armed, they might do more than just overpower him.
“Troy!” she yelled, her heart racing with fear. “Troy! Come back!”
But it was too late. He disappeared into the woods. Would it be the last time she saw him?
* * *
Troy ignored the twinges of pain in his back as he pushed himself to run faster through the forest. Branches were rustling and snapping back toward him; he was close to whoever had come out of Lakin’s cabin. But all he could see was a dark shadow through the trees.
