Page 12 of Single Mom for the Mountain Men (Mountain Men Why Choose #3)

A shrill scream pierces through the night right when Aiden returns, just as he’s about to close the door behind him.

Tanner and I pause as we listen for the direction the sound came from, Aiden frozen halfway through the doorway.

The scream fades into the night, but the creeping silence it leaves behind cannot be ignored.

“What was that?” Tanner asks as Aiden comes into the kitchen.

“You guys heard that, too?” he asks.

“It must be—” I begin to pause abruptly. It was a feminine scream. And Aiden just dropped Lena off. It couldn’t be, could it?

Before I can complete my sentence, I find myself outside of our house to peer at Lena’s cabin. Nothing seems out of place. The trees are still, there are no lights blinking on or off. Regardless, my sixth sense makes the hair on the nape of my neck stand up.

The boys call after me, but I set off at a brisk walk toward her place, my gut telling me that something is seriously wrong.

And it turns out that I’m right.

Lena, who goes to sleep after checking all the locks in her house at least twice, has left the front door open. The bolt isn’t even in its place, the door swinging open at the slightest push. That’s the moment I truly know that something is horribly wrong.

Instead of calling out her name, I shut the door behind me. With quiet steps, I make my way through the cabin, my mind working through the floorplan of the house. There is a backdoor in the kitchen, but my priority is making sure Lena is all right first. Checking that door comes second.

The windows are all closed, and the door to Lena’s bedroom is wide open.

On the floor, right in front of the bed, lies a supine Lena. Soft whimpers escape her, letting me know that she is at least conscious.

I rush over to her, cradling her head in my lap. That’s when I see a large gash on her forehead, clumps of her soft, blonde hair matted to the wound. The scratch extends from her hairline to her brow, and it’s swollen and red, but thankfully not bleeding profusely.

“Lena? Lena!” I shake her, and she opens her eyes, tears wetting her lash line.

“B-Brody…” she whispers.

“I got you. Shit,” I mutter, putting my hands under her knees and her back, lifting her bridal style. I place her on the bed, careful not to slip in the blood on the floor.

Opening her bedside drawers, I rifle through her stuff find a thick scarf, which I use to sop up some of the blood.

“Mommy?” Sophie’s quiet and scared voice breaks through the silence.

Fuck . I glance at the doorway to see Sophie’s little form standing there, wrapped in her pink pajamas, with her teddy bear hanging from one hand.

“Mommy’s fine, Soph,” Tanner’s voice comes from behind her, and Aiden follows after him.

The two men get busy distracting Sophie, the little girl getting more and more anxious as she wakes up fully.

She registers the blood on the ground, then looks at her mother on the bed.

Lena is still making soft noises of pain.

“I want to see Mommy,” Sophie tries to say firmly, but her voice is wobbling. Aiden crouches in front of her to block her view of the room and takes her hands in his own.

“Mommy is a little hurt, Soph. She slipped and fell.”

“That’s right, Sophie,” Tanner adds, petting her head calmly.

“She fell?” Sophie cocks her head, trying to understand.

“Yeah. Things like that happen sometimes, even to adults.” Aiden grimaces slightly for added effect.

“She’ll be fine. She just hurt her head a little,” Tanner repeats, trying to get the girl to leave the hallway and head back to her room. “Let’s give Mommy some time.”

“Yes, darling,” I encourage her with a nod and manage to give her a tight smile. “Go on, we’ll be right there with you.”

Reluctantly, Sophie moves along. Right at that moment, Lena groans in my arms.

“Oh, my God…how could I have been so stupid …”

“Lena,” I breathe, embracing her to try and calm her panic. “Lena, what happened?”

“I was…getting ready to sleep…was gonna check on Sophie when this man—”

Her body trembles as she tries to get the words out. I rub my thumbs into her shoulders and the nape of her neck, dragging them through her hair, careful to not pull at the tangles. Anything to calm her down.

“The man…it had to be him from earlier. He tackled me and threw me down to the floor—I must have hit my head in the struggle. I feel so woozy,” she says slowly, and her breathing accelerates quickly.

“Your ex?” I clarify grimly.

Saying those words triggers something in her, because her body locks up in shock, her eyes dilating in the dim light.

“Lena,” I begin firmly, holding her face tightly so she’s forced to look at me, “I need you to breathe with me. Take deep breaths, come on.”

Her shoulders tremble, her mouth opening as her throat clicks from her dry swallows.

“Breathe, baby, breathe.”

I take loud, deep breaths, and she copies me, her breaths wheezing out of her painfully. Tears roll down her cheeks as she follows my commands, holding in each breath before letting it out.

Once her breathing becomes more regular, I envelope her hands in my own and repeat the question I asked her a few moments ago.

“I guess it could have been him,” she continues hesitantly in a hoarse voice.

“Good, you’re doing great, Lena,” I encourage her as she completes her train of thought.

“I’m—is Sophie okay?” she asks, her voice fading into a murmur as she relaxes in my arms, her eyes blinking sleepily. The adrenaline has faded from her system, leaving behind only exhaustion.

“She’s perfectly safe with Tanner and Aiden. You sleep, sweetheart,” I tell her, and she snuffles, turning more fully in my embrace.

Twitching a few times, she insists softly, “I don’t wanna sleep.” Periodically, she twitches, her eyelids fluttering, but then, she stops fighting and falls into slumber.

Her face, which was marred with worry and panic a few moments ago, is now relaxed and peaceful. The lines between her brows have faded, and her petal-pink lips are parted just slightly.

I grab a wet wipe from the box I find in her bedside drawers after a closer look and softly wipe her forehead, making sure to be careful around the gash. I cease my motions when her eyes flutter again, a soft moan escaping her lips.

The dim light of her room emphasizes her cheekbones and the sheer beauty of her face, even in such a horrible condition. Her soft body is pressed against mine, each malleable curve tantalizing me.

Something pulses in my chest, my body growing warm with some kind of feeling I have never felt before.

It’s annoying, and I don’t understand it.

I want to grab Lena tightly and never let her go, then hunt down the man who did this.

What I would do to that man…he would be praying that he had died before I got my hands on him.

Tanner walks in with soft steps, holding a mop in his hand. He cleans up the blood, casting a glance at a sleeping Lena in my arms.

“She’s all right?” he asks.

“As all right as she can be.”

“Sophie’s sleeping in her room now. Aiden’s with her.”

“That’s a relief. Lena thinks the man who attacked her is her ex, the same guy who was stalking her this morning.”

Tanner’s jaw tenses as he continues mopping the floor.

“He couldn’t have gotten too far. We’ll find him. And once we do…”

A terrifying thing unfurls in my chest, ready to let its claws sink into something.

“You both can leave. It’s pretty late,” I tell Tanner once he’s done picking up things around the room. “I’ll take care of Sophie and Lena.”

“You sure, man? One of us can stay here and keep watch, if you’re too tired. I’m sure Lena wouldn’t mind.”

“Nah, I’m sure. You both need to sleep. I’ll stay here for the night. I can brief you two tomorrow if there’s any more developments,” I say with inarguable finality in my voice.

“You sound like a SEAL again,” he says with a smile, then he shrugs, taking the mop with him as he leaves. “We’ll still do a perimeter check before we head home, though.”

“Yeah, do that,” I call after him. Once Tanner has exited the room and shut the door behind him, I detach myself from Lena, trying to maneuver her sleeping form under her sheets.