CHAPTER ONE
Noah Spencer gritted his teeth as he spotted a form down on the ridge. It looked small like a female. He lowered his binoculars and tilted his head. A lone female hiker? No. Out here? He raised them back up to his eyes to find the form again. What the fuck? He caught sight of her face this time. It was a woman and she was moving fast.
Not a leisurely hiker that’s for sure. He swung his nocs down toward the bottom of the mountain from where she climbed.
There. Two larger forms. They were moving fast.
He narrowed his gaze. They were raising guns. He swung the nocs over. Yes, they were aiming at her. Shit! He grabbed his rifle and slung it over his shoulder. Dammit, what the hell was this? 100 miles to the nearest anything and suddenly, his backyard was crowded.
He should let it play out and remain hidden, but he couldn’t.
Before he could even move off his porch, he froze as he heard it. A sound he’d dreaded since he arrived here.
FUCK!
They’d done it now with the shooting. The fucking dumbasses. He raised the nocs and spotted her again. She stood frozen just like he had and now he did catch full sight of her face. Creamy skin and large blue eyes that were wide and stunned. Her mouth popped open as if to shout. Then, she was swallowed up into the white.
White Death as they called it in Russia. The Abominable they called it in the Yukon. She was now under no telling how many feet of frigid snow. He swung his nocs down and saw the two men get swallowed up as well. Thank fuck, as he would’ve had to add to his kill shots if they hadn’t been buried.
He had about ten minutes to get her, maybe less. He tossed his rifle onto the bench on his porch and grabbed his board. If he could find her at all. He knew he should just let it be, but something in her face from even that far caught him. Something familiar.
Noah raced down the trek and then slid his snowboard out from his back sling. Smiling, he nodded as he put on his eye shields. He’d learned it just for the fun and thrill of it. Now his little board would make this trek take half the time.
He launched himself over the snow. Not hard packed yet, but it would have to do. Zig zagging with the cold wind hitting his cheeks, he shot fast down the mountain and then slowed as the terrain looked like the spot where she’d been.
He would be fucking lucky if he found her. In all this white, it may be…
His gaze stopped on a flash of color. He slipped his board off and slung it back over his shoulder. The snow was now building fast and soon, he knew there would be no sight in front of him at all, if he didn’t find this dumb bitch right away…he never would and he would have trouble getting back home too.
Dammit, why didn’t he just stay out of it?
~* * * *~
She’d been out for 24 hour hours. The lump on the back of her head looked pretty bad. Noah had done everything he could to revive her. Her skin still looked pale, so he checked her eyes and they were a bit dilated. He let out a sigh. He may have saved her for nothing. Concussions could be tricky and people died from them every day.
Even if he wanted to get down off this dammed mountain to take her to a hospital, the blizzard had prevented any ideas of that.
He was pacing now in front of the fireplace, as he didn’t know what else to do for her. He’d had plenty of training to be a mid-skilled medic, but it hadn’t helped in this situation. He’d worked to get the lump to reduce with cold cloths and that was pretty much all he could do.
She at least hadn’t gotten frostbite, as luckily, she had been dressed for the weather.
His pacing stopped as he remembered removing all those layers from her and getting her under the blankets with him. He warmed her the old fashioned way. With her unconscious, it hadn’t been the fun one would think it to be. He’d felt all those curves and all that satiny skin. In other times, he would have been in heaven. But this? He’d been too focused on saving her life. Still, he’d caught himself a couple times that night as his cock had gotten hard.
He couldn’t’ help it. It was natural after all. Then he felt sickened, as he’d gotten the hots for an unconscious woman.
He’d had plenty of women in his life. They would literally throw themselves into his path to get his attention. At six foot 3 and broad shouldered with a body he’d trained into steel and brick, he attracted all kinds of females. One of his buddies used to tease him, saying all he had to do was curl his finger and they would drop to their knees to eagerly blow him.
He would laugh at this. Yet, it was mostly true.
Yes, he’d been up here for three months alone, but he’d gone longer on his military tours without a piece of ass. So, his reaction to her nude body while she wasn’t even aware or awake, stunned him.
He’d always been careful of whom he dated or rather who he fucked. He didn’t date, not in his line of work. He would be suddenly sent to unknown parts of the world, not to return for long lengths of time.
Besides, his tastes in the sexual part of it ran a bit to the edgy and rough side anyway and a female almost had to pass a quiz he’d come up with to qualify for sex with him. Oh, no they weren’t aware of it as being a test, as during the date, he would pursue the questions. Yeah, it sounded egotistical of him. Yet, it really wasn’t. Why should either of them waste their time, if they didn’t fit in a sexual way?
Some women would catch on and would flat out lie to him to pass that damn test. They figured he wasn’t serious maybe? He could always tell though, as there was a look a woman would get in their eyes at some of the questions. It told him the truth of her sexual likes and dislikes.
Noah could read anyone and everyone. This had been one of the skills he’d learned even after the SEAL training. Among other skills, he’d rather not recall.
There were many things he didn’t care to recall. This was why he was up on this damn mountain. In this luxurious, entirely fortified log home. No, it wasn’t a cabin by any means. He looked around.
Full fireplace, leather sofa and chairs. All wood flooring with expensive rugs. Track lighting here and there, all low wattage. All of it controlled by voice activation. A full bar. Three high voltage generators with backup. 2 bedrooms with king sized beds and all the furnishings with fireplaces in those rooms as well. A full out kitchen, a walk-in fridge, and freezer. Plus an entire storeroom with full supplies to last him six months.
But one of the most surprising and important features would be his security room. It doubled as a safe room. Full of weapons and high tech security. This had been where the perimeter alarm had notified him of the approaching woman and her not so friendly stalkers.
Then hidden out back in the very large garage were 2 snow cats and 2 ATVs, all ready to go. Then behind that building, up on a pad, under cover was an actual helicopter. He could leave the mountain at a moment’s notice if he had to. But not in a blizzard unfortunately. He only planned on using the copter to fly out for supplies when the need arose. However, one never knew when the enemy would arrive. So, the copter would be his getaway if more than 6 men came up the hill. Although, he could easily pick them off as they hiked up here to downsize that number, though he would still have to leave, in light of being compromised.
He paused as he glanced at her on the couch. Had he been compromised?
Now again, he wondered for the tenth time why they were after her? And why on his mountain? Could be she was in trouble with them and had run into the wilderness by mistake. Could have been a coincidence. He paused. He’d learned that in his life at least…There. Was. No. Such. Thing.
Noah suddenly felt a nudge in his senses, as they were always on alert. He swiveled his gaze down to the couch.
A pair of mesmerizing cobalt, blue eyes were watching him.
Well now, maybe he could get some answers.