The cabin went silent.<\/p>\n
Only the storm screamed outside.<\/p>\n
One knock.<\/p>\n
Then another.<\/p>\n
Harder.<\/p>\n
Heavy enough to shake snow from the roof.<\/p>\n
The young woman froze instantly.<\/p>\n
Fear drained the color from her face.<\/p>\n
Her hand gripped the mountain man\u2019s arm.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Her voice cracked.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe found me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rugged man didn\u2019t move.<\/p>\n
Didn\u2019t panic.<\/p>\n
His scarred hand slowly reached for the rifle resting beside the fireplace.<\/p>\n
Calm.<\/p>\n
Controlled.<\/p>\n
Like he had expected this.<\/p>\n
Outside\u2014<\/p>\n
a horse snorted against the storm.<\/p>\n
Boots crunched through heavy snow.<\/p>\n
Then\u2014<\/p>\n
another knock.<\/p>\n
Violent this time.<\/p>\n
\u201cOpen the damn door!\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman staggered backward.<\/p>\n
Shaking.<\/p>\n
Tears rising instantly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s him\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The mountain man glanced toward her.<\/p>\n
Blue eyes steady.<\/p>\n
Unshaken.<\/p>\n
Then quietly\u2014<\/p>\n
firm enough to stop her fear for a moment\u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cLock that back room.\u201d<\/p>\n
She shook her head violently.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, he\u2019ll kill you\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe won\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
His jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
Something colder moved through his expression now.<\/p>\n
Something dangerous.<\/p>\n
Because fear wasn\u2019t what sat behind those eyes.<\/p>\n
Recognition.<\/p>\n
Slowly\u2014<\/p>\n
he stepped toward the door.<\/p>\n
Rifle resting loosely in one hand.<\/p>\n
The fire crackled behind him.<\/p>\n
Wind screamed louder.<\/p>\n
Then came the voice again.<\/p>\n
Angrier now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know she\u2019s in there!\u201d<\/p>\n
The mountain man stopped inches from the door.<\/p>\n
Silent.<\/p>\n
Listening.<\/p>\n
Then\u2014<\/p>\n
very calmly\u2014<\/p>\n
he unlocked it.<\/p>\n
The door creaked open.<\/p>\n
Snow exploded inward with freezing wind.<\/p>\n
Standing outside\u2014<\/p>\n
was a broad man on horseback.<\/p>\n
Dark coat soaked white.<\/p>\n
Heavy beard.<\/p>\n
Cruel eyes.<\/p>\n
A revolver resting openly at his side.<\/p>\n
The stranger looked past him instantly.<\/p>\n
Searching.<\/p>\n
Hungry.<\/p>\n
\u201cMove,\u201d he snapped.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe belongs to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mountain man said nothing.<\/p>\n
Only stood there.<\/p>\n
Blocking the doorway completely.<\/p>\n
The storm howled between them.<\/p>\n
Finally\u2014<\/p>\n
the stranger frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026you deaf?\u201d<\/p>\n
The mountain man tilted his head slightly.<\/p>\n
Voice quiet.<\/p>\n
Cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Then\u2014<\/p>\n
he looked directly into the man\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe stopped belonging to you the day you touched her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Something shifted.<\/p>\n
Dangerous.<\/p>\n
The stranger laughed once.<\/p>\n
Short.<\/p>\n
Ugly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou got no idea who you\u2019re talking to.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mountain man nodded slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cActually\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
His grip tightened on the rifle.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026I remember exactly who you are.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cruel man froze.<\/p>\n
Just for a second.<\/p>\n
Recognition flickering across his face.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
He leaned closer.<\/p>\n
Disbelief spreading.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou died.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mountain man stepped into the storm.<\/p>\n
Snow gathering across his shoulders.<\/p>\n
Expression unreadable.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmost.\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman stared from inside the cabin.<\/p>\n
Heart pounding.<\/p>\n
Confused.<\/p>\n
Because somehow\u2014<\/p>\n
they knew each other.<\/p>\n
Then\u2014<\/p>\n
the cruel man\u2019s face slowly drained of color.<\/p>\n
Because twelve years ago\u2014<\/p>\n
he helped bury a man in the mountains.<\/p>\n
A man who was never supposed to crawl back out.<\/p>\n
And judging by the scar\u2014<\/p>\n
this was him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The cabin went silent. Only the storm screamed outside. One knock. Then another. Harder. Heavy enough to shake snow from the roof. The young woman froze instantly. Fear drained the color from her face. Her hand gripped the mountain man\u2019s arm. \u201cNo\u2026\u201d Her voice cracked. \u201cHe found me.\u201d The rugged man didn\u2019t move. Didn\u2019t panic. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3682","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\/3682","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=3682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}