Rain hammered the streets of Oak Haven as silence swallowed the entire town.<\/p>\n
Sheriff Amos stepped closer through the mud, revolver resting low against his hip while the stranger remained planted in front of Hera without moving an inch.<\/p>\n
Martha\u2019s breathing shook violently.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s mine,\u201d Amos repeated coldly. \u201cStep aside.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mountain man finally turned his head slightly.<\/p>\n
Not enough to face him fully.<\/p>\n
Just enough for Amos to see his eyes beneath the rain-dark brim of his hat.<\/p>\n
And something about them made the sheriff stop walking.<\/p>\n
Hera stayed curled behind the stranger\u2019s massive frame, trembling so hard her teeth clicked together. Blood mixed with rainwater across her cheek while the whip still hung frozen in Martha\u2019s shaking hand.<\/p>\n
The stranger spoke quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s a child.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amos gave a humorless smile.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this town, she\u2019s property.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several townsfolk lowered their heads immediately.<\/p>\n
Nobody challenged Amos.<\/p>\n
Nobody ever did.<\/p>\n
But the mountain man slowly removed his gloves instead, fingers scarred and rough from years surviving places harder than Oak Haven.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat so?\u201d he asked calmly.<\/p>\n
The storm seemed louder suddenly.<\/p>\n
Amos\u2019s hand tightened on his revolver.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou got a name, mountain man?\u201d<\/p>\n
A long pause followed.<\/p>\n
Then\u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cJonah Ridge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whispers spread instantly through the street.<\/p>\n
Even Martha\u2019s face lost color.<\/p>\n
Because people in Colorado knew that name.<\/p>\n
A trapper.<\/p>\n
A hunter.<\/p>\n
A man who once crossed frozen mountain ranges alone and came back carrying another man over his shoulder through a blizzard no one else survived.<\/p>\n
Sheriff Amos studied him carefully now.<\/p>\n
More cautious.<\/p>\n
More dangerous.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re far from the mountains, Jonah.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonah glanced down briefly toward Hera hiding behind him.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot far enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words landed heavily in the rain-soaked street.<\/p>\n
Then Jonah held out one massive hand toward Hera without looking back.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet up, kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hera hesitated.<\/p>\n
Terrified.<\/p>\n
Not of him.<\/p>\n
Of hoping.<\/p>\n
Jonah\u2019s voice softened slightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou stay on the ground, they keep treating you like something beneath them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Slowly, painfully, Hera reached for his hand.<\/p>\n
The moment her small fingers wrapped around his\u2014<\/p>\n
Sheriff Amos drew his revolver.<\/p>\n
The metallic click echoed through Oak Haven like thunder.<\/p>\n
And every person in town realized blood was about to spill in the street.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rain hammered the streets of Oak Haven as silence swallowed the entire town. Sheriff Amos stepped closer through the mud, revolver resting low against his hip while the stranger remained planted in front of Hera without moving an inch. Martha\u2019s breathing shook violently. \u201cShe\u2019s mine,\u201d Amos repeated coldly. \u201cStep aside.\u201d The mountain man finally turned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}