Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 151097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 504(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 504(@300wpm)
Walking toward the cabin door, I could have sworn I heard her soft voice parrot, “Good night, Ocean.”
HUNTER
Three days after Ocean’s ultimatum, I was lying on the bed, wearing only a towel. Ocean had delivered on his promise of clothes and food, but I hated him, so I was determined not to accept anything from him. None of the clothes were useful anyway. They wouldn’t keep me much warmer than the towel if I tried to escape again.
Thankfully, the old cabin had running water and was stocked with the essentials, so after taking care of my hygiene, I decided to take a nap while I waited for him to fulfill his other promise—letting me see Coby.
Half the week had already gone.
Instinct told me that this was by design. That Ocean liked the idea of knowing I was waiting on him—anticipating his arrival. Why hadn’t I killed him when I had the chance? I couldn’t even say that if given the chance again, I wouldn’t hesitate again.
The proof was in the kiss.
The one that set my body on fire and left me smoldering ever since.
As it turns out, Ocean had succeeded in torturing me after all.
I was just starting to nod off again when I heard a knock at the cabin door. My heart—which knew it could only be him—started pounding, chasing away my grogginess as I stood from the bed. I cautiously entered the main room that wasn’t more than a kitchenette, couch, and fireplace, and looked around before slowly approaching the door.
I had no idea if it was even unlocked or if I was supposed to call out, but I wrapped my hand around the old knob. To my surprise, it wasn’t locked. And then I realized why Abel or Ocean hadn’t bothered.
At the bottom of the narrow porch, two armed guards stood sentry. Across the lake, I could see two more patrolling. There were probably more in the woods I couldn’t see because I was beginning to understand Ocean Kilpatrick.
A tiny whimper drew my attention down, and I gasped at finding a little brown and black pall of fur standing on its hind legs with tiny front paws on the lip of the wicker picnic basket. The puppy was so tiny, its head didn’t even reach the single arched handle. There was a red ribbon winding around the handle and another forming a bow at the front of the basket. It immediately made me think of Coby, who had worn one every day since her parents’ death.
“Aww, hi. Hello, pretty baby,” I greeted as I crouched to get a better look at the puppy. He looked like a tiny teddy bear with the sweetest face I’d ever seen. “Did the bad man leave you here all alone?”
The puppy whined and tried to rest his paw on my knee, but his little legs were too short.
“I guess we have that in common. Come on. Let’s get you inside.”
I let my gaze travel across the frozen lake one last time before lifting the basket and carrying both inside. The puppy was so small that he fit in the palm of my hand when I lifted him out of the basket. There was already a collar around his neck with a gold round name tag, but no name.
Hmm…
“What should I call you?” I asked rhetorically. He licked my palm and then started wriggling like he was restless, so I set him down before I could drop him. The puppy looked sort of fierce, like he was always frowning, and his fur was mostly black with pops of brown, but I knew from all my research that he’d change colors after a few months. It also occurred to me that I didn’t even know if it was a boy or a girl. The red ribbon he was currently gnawing on didn’t leave me any clues. “You must be hungry,” I said as I watched him go to town.
I didn’t have food he could eat, and there was only a single toy in the basket, so I fished out the chew toy and tossed it on the floor. The puppy immediately let go of the ruined ribbon and pounced.
After a couple of hours playing with him, I went into the bedroom and capitulated even further by dressing in the cute lounge set—thick heather gray fleece leggings, a matching bra top, and a long cardigan that reached my ankles. There were slippers too with a white fur trim.
Ten minutes later, I was grateful for the clothes when I caught the puppy lifting his leg in the corner and rushed him out of the cabin. Abel had taken my shoes so that I’d think twice about escaping, and the slippers offered little to no protection in the snow, so I ended up hopping around while pleading with the puppy to do its business already. I’m sure we looked a sight to the guards who watched my every move.