Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 76203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
But Denali was in the backseat, singing that song about the magic carpet from Aladdin.
I might be willing to risk my life to get to Runa and warn her. But I wasn’t about to risk Denali’s.
So I kept it a modest ten over the speed limit all the way back to the house as the phone rang and rang and rang.
Until, suddenly, it didn’t even do that anymore.
I don’t even remember cutting the engine as I flew out of the car, rushing around, ripping Denali out of her seat, my heart cracking in two when she let out a startled cry at my behavior.
“Daddy?” she called, voice wobbly as I ran into the house, taking the stairs up to the second floor two at a time.
“Listen, princess. I am going to put you in your room. And I need you to stay in there, okay? Until you hear me or Mommy.”
I placed her down on her bed, hating the wide-eyed, panicked look on her face. But knowing there wasn’t anything I could do about it.
“Okay?” I pressed.
Her lower lip trembled.
“Okay.”
I ran back out of the room, locking the door, closing it, then running across the hall to grab the gun I’d left at home because I didn’t exactly have the right to carry it.
My heart was thunderous as I rushed back downstairs, making my way toward the doors that led onto the back patio.
And that was when I saw someone.
Walking out of the woods with a slow, dazed, zombie-like gait.
Runa.
Drenched head-to-toe in bright red blood.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Runa
The house held a lot of complex feelings for me.
The property, on the other hand, was a lot simpler. It was my safe haven. My peace. My joy.
Stepping off the back patio, I breathed in the crisp air, the slightly sweet scent of hay from the cattle feed, and the lodgepole pine trees all around the property.
The tension that had been creeping in melted. My shoulders softened. My heartbeat evened out.
It was like the whole ranch was there telling me it was all going to be okay.
I took a walk over to the cattle, petting a few soft heads, then walking along the fence until I veered off into a thick cluster of trees.
The land started a slow ascent that would turn into a sharp drop-off if I kept going.
I’d lost my footing on the way down once, falling hard and fast, making my stomach take up temporary residence in my throat as I tried to protect my head from the jagged juts of rock.
I’d bruised a rib and hid it from my grandfather so he wouldn’t lecture me about it. I nearly threw up from the pain when he’d demanded I take a horseback ride with him the next day.
Once I’d made my way down the hill, the ground started a punishing incline, making my thighs burn, reminding me how out of shape I’d gotten, until I reached the top, turning in a circle to take in the view.
I expected to feel that same floating, wonder-filled sensation I always had as a teen.
Instead, it was something dangerously close to anxiety that crept up my spine, curled around, and tightened around my throat.
Weird.
Maybe it was just that my prefrontal cortex had finally finished developing, stripping me of the careless recklessness of youth, making me see danger where I’d once seen freedom.
Because eighteen-year-old me never would have stood in that spot and worried about breaking a leg and how much a hospital cast might cost without insurance. Or, worse yet, surgery. That younger me would likely be thinking that if I ran, I would be able to make it to the rock formation and back for dinner.
That was my destination now.
The geological dike was one of my favorite parts of the property. It was a giant, ancient crack in the earth where magma had forced its way inside to create wild, ragged rock formations.
As reckless as I was as a kid, I only went down into the crack a few times. Even then, I’d been heart-poundingly nervous, too aware that if a rock slipped, I could easily get trapped and never be found, leaving me to slowly dehydrate to death. Or how easily I could trip, whack my head, and bleed out.
Still, it was a place of peace for me.
But as I got to the top of the hill that scaled down toward the site, I saw things that had never been there before: stakes and warning tape, a truck, and heavy-duty construction equipment.
Was this where they found the minerals?
In my old safe space?
There was a quick twist of anger at the idea of one of my favorite spaces being gutted. And also a small bit of regret that my dumb teenage ass hadn’t seen the rocks for what they were. One stolen one and I might have set myself up for years.