But why wasn’t Max coming?
I slowed to a walk because I had a feeling I knew.
Someone had him. It was the only thing that made sense.
My heart started pounding, harder than it had when I’d been climbing the hill. Maybe it wasn’t him. Maybe Max had come upon a hiking trail and a nice hiker was hanging onto him for me, realizing that it would be easier to find a stationary dog.
I didn’t really believe that. I just wanted it to be true.
“Max?”
He barked in answer. It sounded like he was just over the next rise.
I didn’t want to be stupid, the proverbial girl in a horror movie who ran up the stairs when she should have gone out the front door. I knew what was probably waiting for me on the other side of the hill.
But if he had my dog, I couldn’t just leave him. Whoever he was, he’d already killed two squirrels. I doubted he’d hesitate to hurt Max. And I loved my derpy dog. I was his human, I couldn’t walk away if he was in the hands of a monster.
With a deep breath, I limped up the hill. The river flowed by, its waters churning as it approached the drop of the waterfall.
Max was right on the bank, restrained by a leash that wasn’t mine.
Holding it was a guy I recognized. But it didn’t make sense. It was Hayden.
CHAPTER 38
Josiah
The pine trees all looked the same.
I’d grown up in these woods, I knew how to keep my sense of direction. Getting lost wasn’t the problem.
The problem was I had to guess which way Audrey had gone.
Straight up the hill? That made the most sense. She wouldn’t have known whether Max had veered to one side or another, so getting to the top and going from there would be the smart move.
But that didn’t tell me where she’d gone from there.
The heat baked the pine forest and gritty dust coated my mouth. My shirt was already half-soaked with sweat by the time I got up the hill. And I had no idea which way to go.
I paused to look at the forest floor, hoping to see evidence of a trail. But the pine needles were so thick and long dried out from the summer sun, it was hard to see where they’d been disturbed.
“Audrey!”
No answer.
Birds chirped overhead but the air was oppressively still. I swiped the sweat off my forehead, picked a direction, and kept going.
“Audrey! Max!”
I wondered if Max had a good enough memory to retrace his route back to the hole of stink where he’d gone last time. Even if he’d started out chasing a squirrel up the hill, he would have lost it up a tree pretty quickly. Something else had to have caught his attention, otherwise he’d have gone back to Audrey.
She’d know that, so it made sense she’d try to find that spot again. I didn’t remember exactly where I’d found Max before, but I had a rough idea. And that seemed better than running aimlessly through the trees.
The back side of the hill wasn’t as steep, but the trees were thicker. Shade did nothing to cut the heat, but I ignored how quickly my mouth dried out. It didn’t matter. I just needed to find her.
Trying to channel her perpetual optimism, I told myself she was fine. Probably trying to drag Max away from something gross and we’d have to spend the afternoon hosing him down again before he was fit to go inside.
I didn’t believe it, though. Not really.
“Audrey!”
My shoe caught on something hidden by the blanket of pine needles and I almost fell on my face. I stumbled a few steps to catch my balance.
Damn it.
“Audrey! Max!”
Still nothing.
The ground rose again so I pushed up the hill, sweat dripping down my temples. Both urgency and dread spread through the pit of my stomach. There was too much I didn’t know—too much I couldn’t control.
Who had been stalking her? And why? What was he willing to do to her?
Was he after her right now?
It could all be a coincidence. The call. The note this morning. Max running off. He’d chased a scent up the hill before. It didn’t have to mean the stalker was using the dog to lure Audrey into the woods.
But what if it did?
A potent mixture of rage and panic tightened my chest. I was not going to let him hurt her. I was not going to lose her.
I couldn’t. I’d tear that fucker limb from limb if he so much as touched her.
The instinct to protect my woman was deep and primal. It awoke something in me, flooded my veins with adrenaline. I was going to find her and bring her safely home. There was no other option.
“Audrey!”
A rustling sound came from my left, so distant I almost missed it. I stopped in my tracks. There it was again, same direction.
“Audrey!”
She didn’t answer, but I headed toward the sound. If it was Max, he might be able to find her faster than I could.
I raced through the trees, kicking up pine needles and dust, ignoring the scratches on my arms. The woods thinned, finally opening onto a sunbaked meadow filled with dry, brown grasses.
“Max?”
Three turkey vultures took off from the midst of the grass, their big wings flapping. They didn’t go far, just rose into the air and circled, waiting for me to get away from their meal.
That meant there was something dead over there. I couldn’t imagine Max rolling in an animal carcass that was being eaten by carrion birds, but he also had no sense of his own mortality, so maybe big birds wouldn’t have scared him.
I jogged over to where the birds had taken flight. The remains of something—not big enough to be a deer but larger than Max—lay in the grass. It was so picked apart and dried out, it didn’t look like much of anything. Definitely not fresh.
And no Max.
Fuck.
I checked the sun and the time on my phone to orient myself. I was pretty sure I knew how to get back. Worst case scenario, if I kept going, I’d hit the river. Then it would be a matter of following the water until I found a trail or the waterfall.
But where the hell was Audrey? How far had I gone wrong?
At this point, she could have been anywhere. My instincts weren’t enough to take me in the right direction and I hadn’t seen any signs that I could follow. Not that I was an expert; I easily could have missed them.
I figured I was probably closer to the river than home. My phone didn’t have a signal, but if I got to a hiking trail, I’d find a spot where it would work. I could keep searching and call my brothers to get out here and help.
There was nothing else to do but keep pushing through and hope we were both on a wild dog chase we’d laugh about later.
Because the alternative was unthinkable.
Ignoring the heat and discomfort of dehydration, I started off again, heading for the river. I kept my phone out, checking it in between yelling Audrey’s name, ready to call whoever would answer as soon as my phone connected again.
My sense of urgency grew with every step. She was in danger. I didn’t know how I knew, but it wasn’t my imagination gone wild. I wasn’t jumping to the worst-case scenario.
I knew.
My heart pounded in my chest and blood rushed in my ears. A wasp buzzed past and thankfully I had enough presence of mind to look out for the hive. I circled wide around it, cursing the damn things for being in my way.
Finally, I heard the rush of water. I wasn’t sure what part of the river I was hitting, but at least I’d found it.
Maybe Audrey had too. She’d know to follow it downstream.
Hoping against hope that I’d see her in the distance, I crashed through the trees and stopped near the bank.
Still swollen from the spring melt, the river rushed by in a mass of white foam and blue-green water. I looked up and down but I didn’t see anyone. No Audrey. No Max.
No stalker.
With a deep breath of resolve, I started downstream toward the falls.
CHAPTER 39
Audrey
“You?” I asked.
Hayden’s expression was unreadable. If he was the stalker, his face showed none of the malevolence I’d have expected from a man who’d gutted a helpless animal and smeared its blood on my door. He just watched me, silent and passive, holding the leash in his hands.