Page 1 of Mountain Man Rescue
Chapter One
Wyatt
There’s a storm coming.
The mountain always tells you if you listen. The pines go still. The air changes from gentle to as sharp as a knife's edge. Clouds drop their shoulders like they’re about to brawl.
I tug my collar higher and shift my pack. It’s moments like this I miss my pal, Lucky, the most. He always said a man living on the mountain could trust his bones and the wind over any AI weather forecast. He wasn’t wrong. He was also the only thing I trusted besides this ridge.
A hawk cuts the low sky, releasing a hard scream swallowed by the wind. I scan the ledge out of habit: rock, scrub, mile-high firs, and a flash of fluorescent pink that has no business up here.
I take a step forward. Hair the color of fire tumbles from her pink knit cap. She’s crouched on a steep outcrop. One hand on a camera, the other pretending a sapling is a solid safety line. I glance down at her feet…what in the hell? She’s wearing ballet flats, of all things. An eagle soars above, and as she leans to get the shot, rock scuffs loose?—
—and she’s gone.
My heart stops.
I take off on a dead run, gravel spitting under me. I drop to my knees and crawl to the edge of the ledge.
“Don’t move!” Wind whips my voice away.
She’s dangling from a limb that’s seconds away from snapping. Her legs kick once, then she stills as if she heard me. When her face tilts up, her ivy-green eyes catch mine.
“Hey,” I reach down, clamp my hand around her wrist, and nod. “I’ve got you.” I say a prayer, then squeeze a little tighter, “On three. One… two?—”
I don’t wait for three. I yank hard, my core and shoulders doing what a thousand deadlifts have trained them to do. Thankfully, she comes up fast, hitting my chest with a soft thud.
“You’re okay,” I tell the top of her head. I don’t know if it’s for her or me.
For a second, she breathes. Her heart thumping wildly against my chest. She smells of meadow flowers and rain.
Suddenly, she pulls back, her pretty eyes wide, furious, and bright. “Who the hell are you?”
“I’m Wyatt,” I answer. “And you’re lucky to be alive after a stunt like that.”
“How dare you talk to me like that!” She snaps. “That’s just plain rude.”
“It’s not rude, it’s the truth,” I shake my head as a cold shiver runs down my spine, when an image of her pinwheeling to her death flashes through my mind. “Listen, as much as I would love to hear your ridiculous rant, we don’t have time. The wind gusts are hitting harder. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but the snow’s already coming sideways. We need to get out of here now. Storms like this are relentless.”
“Ridiculous rant? You’re unbelievable. Andwe?” She mocks me. “Weare not going anywhere, thank you very much. I cameup this mountain on my own accord; I’ll get down the mountain the very same way.”
A lock of her thick mane slaps me in the face as the wind howls in protest.
“There isn’t time.”
“Men,” she mutters. “You always think you know everything. It’s just some snow.”
“This is not just snow, Red.” I get to my feet and offer my hand, which she promptly refuses.
“My name’s Gina. Not Red.”
The girl’s got moxie, I’ll give her that.
“Alright, Gina,” I throw my hands in the air in mock surrender, “Far be it from me to be a gentleman.”
“Gentleman,” she rolls her eyes.
She tries to stand and promptly sways to the left. I lunge forward, catch her, and scoop her into my arms as all the color drains from her beautiful face.
