Page 125 of Beyond the Blue Horizon

5:02

Fuck.

Had I really slept until five a.m.?

Soundly and without waking?

I ignored the whole onslaught of thoughts, refusing to evaluate how it was even possible, since I was realizing quickly there had been something that had actually pulled me from sleep and it wasn’t just the typical nightmare that had me jolting awake.

No.

This was a sound or a movement, or maybe it was just intuition.

The turbulence that vibrated through my insides and had me carefully untangling myself from Piper and easing off the side of the bed.

A very reckless part of me wanted to climb right back beside her and never let go.

Find a way to bind myself to her permanently.

And I didn’t know why.

Didn’t know why this one woman who I’d found stranded in the snow could hold such a power over me.

This feeling like…I belonged.

Not as a penance.

Not as an atonement.

But because she felt like a gift.

I gritted my teeth against the reckless thoughts that were invading and quietly slipped back into my clothes and jacket. I left the laces of my boots untied as I tiptoed to her bedroom door. I carefully opened it, being sure not to disturb her as I pushed my head out so I could listen.

Stillness echoed back, but there was still something in the air that had me silently edging down the steps and to the front door.

Guarded, I opened it and let my attention sweep the area out front of her cabin.

Snow was falling again, not quite a blizzard like last weekend, but it was still coming down thick.

Cold wind lashed through the trees, and I braced myself against the frigidness as I stepped out and crossed her porch.

The darkened sky sagged low, the heavy clouds so close it felt like I could reach out and touch them.

In it, I swore that I could taste the ominous.

Something not quite right.

Ducking through the storm, I ran for my truck, clicking the locks before I unlatched the back door and swung it open so I could grab the flashlight where I kept it on the floorboards.

Spurred by the disorder that thrashed in my soul, I flicked it on.

I swished the beam back and forth, searching through the glinting fall of white for anything amiss.

My attention went directly to Unit A.

Exactly where it should be.

My whole fuckin’ purpose when somehow I was losing sight.