Page 21 of Forest Reed (Seals on Fraiser Mountain #8)

Zoe

Smoke curled off the lake, the air heavy with gunpowder and gasoline. Deputies swept the shoreline, flashlights cutting through haze, pulling half-drowned buyers out of the water. Lane barked orders, Jason paced like a caged wolf.

I leaned against a boulder, Glock still warm in my hands, chest heaving. Forest crouched beside me, his arm brushing mine—solid, grounding, alive.

“You good?” he asked, scanning my face with those relentless eyes. Before he leaned down and kissed me, softly.

I managed a breathless laugh, my eyes closed, I wanted more kisses. “Define good.”

His mouth twitched, almost a smile. Almost. Then he reached out, brushing a streak of soot from my cheek with a touch that was too gentle for the chaos still burning around us. “You scared me back there,” he whispered against my lips.

“You scare easy,” I whispered, but my voice cracked, and we both knew the truth. I’d been one breath from not making it out. I had cuts on my arms, and I was sure a few on my face.

Before I could say more, Jason’s voice snapped across the clearing. “He played us.”

Forest stood, pulling me with him. “Talk.”

Jason stabbed a finger at the map spread across the hood of Lane’s cruiser. “North never cared about tonight’s shipment. Look at the timing, the angles. This—” he gestured at the drowned buyers, the ruined vans—“was smoke and mirrors.”

Lane crossed her arms, jaw tight. “So what was he buying time for?”

Jason’s gaze lifted, sharp and grim. “For whatever’s happening at Mirror Lake’s other side.”

A silence fell, heavy as stone.

I blinked, pulse spiking. “Other side? There’s nothing there but—”

Forest’s face hardened. “The dam.”

Jason nodded once. “Exactly. If North’s got charges set there, he’s not just making a show. He’s rewriting the whole damn map.”

The word charges slammed into me harder than the firefight had. My stomach dropped, every nerve screaming.

Forest’s hand closed around mine, rough and sure. “Then we move. Now.”

Forest

The second Jason said dam, I was already moving. Zoe matched me stride for stride, her hand still tangled in mine as we sprinted for the trucks.

Lane barked into her radio, rallying deputies, but I didn’t wait. Didn’t have time. If North had wired the dam, the whole valley would drown before backup even buckled their vests.

Jason jumped into the passenger seat, map spread across his knees. “Access road’s a mile north. If he’s planted charges, they’ll be at the spillway.”

“How long will it take us to get there?” I growled, slamming the engine alive.

“Ten minutes if we don’t hit traffic.”

We didn’t have ten minutes.

The truck fishtailed on gravel as we tore out of the clearing, headlights off, engine howling. Trees blurred. My pulse hammered with every bump, every second lost.

Zoe gripped the dashboard, voice sharp. “If he blows it, how bad?”

Jason didn’t sugarcoat. “Whole valley floods. Town, farms, roads—all gone. And the death toll—”

“Not happening,” I cut in. My knuckles were white on the wheel. “Not on my mountain.”

Zoe

The road pitched us hard left, then right, trees whipping past like black claws. My chest ached with every breath, lungs burning from smoke and adrenaline. But all I could see was North’s smile. Calm. Certain.

He’d planned this. Every move at Mirror Lake had been theater, and we’d clapped right along.

“Eyes!” Jason shouted.

I snapped forward just in time to see the glow—orange against the dark, low on the horizon.

Forest’s jaw locked. “He’s already lit them.”

“No,” I said, fierce, desperate. “Not yet.”

We rounded the bend, and the dam rose ahead of us—massive concrete, water roaring just beneath. And there, at the spillway, sparks danced along a chain of wires. A timer blinked red, merciless in the dark.

Two minutes.

Forest slammed the truck into park. “Move!”

We hit the ground running. Gravel tore under my boots, air biting cold against sweat. Jason dropped to the wires, snapping open a kit, muttering curses under his breath.

Forest covered him, rifle sweeping the ridge. “We’ve got company!”

Shadows broke from the trees—North’s wolves, closing fast.

Jason’s voice was tight, panicked. “Too many lines—I need time!”

Time we didn’t have.

I raised my Glock, firing toward the ridge, forcing the wolves down. My voice cracked across the roar of water. “Forest! We hold them—Jason cuts!”

Forest met my eyes. Steady. Fierce. Unshakable.

“Together,” he said.

And then the night exploded again.