Amber Eyes (Amber Eyes #1)(41)

“I’m fine,”he said shortly. “Let’s get the hell back to the cabin.”

Hunter quickly switched out the battery, connected the cables then slid into the driver’s seat.

Neither man voiced his biggest concern, but it lay between them as Hunter drove up the switchback. When they reached the trail that led to the cabin, he turned off the road and bounced over the rocky terrain.

Jericho grunted but didn’t offer any complaint.

If they hadn’t both been so sick with worry over Kaya, Hunter would have never allowed Jericho out of a hospital bed. K-man hadn’t wanted either of them out of the hospital where they’d been pieced back together by talented surgeons, but Hunter could walk, and walk he had.

He breathed a sigh of relief when they topped the rise and the cabin came into view. He roared up to the front door and cut the engine. Jericho was already stumbling from his seat.

“Kaya!”Jericho called as he hurried inside.

Hunter went in behind him, but his nape prickled as soon as he entered the cabin.

He looked around as Jericho went to search the bedrooms, but he knew Kaya wasn’t here. The cabin was too still, too shut in. He went straight to the kitchen. His fingers clenched into tight fists when he saw the empty cabinets. A few cans lay on the counter, tipped over, and empty bread wrappers were piled neatly in the corner.

Jericho rushed into the kitchen behind him, his eyes wild.

“She’s not here, Hunter. Goddamn it, she’s not here!”

“She ran out of food,”Hunter said in a quiet voice. “She had to have gone hunting. She’ll be back.”

She had to be back.

“What the hell do we do? She’s out there alone, probably thinking we ditched her like her family did.”

The desperation in Jericho’s voice matched Hunter’s own mounting panic.

“You’re in no shape to go out after her,”Hunter said. “You stay here in case she comes back, and I’ll go out on the mountain to see if there are any tracks.”

“Find her, Hunter. Find her and bring her home.”

Hunter nodded and let himself out the back. It wasn’t as easy as it had been in winter with over a foot of snow on the ground to yield its secrets. He searched for hours, and only when it became too dark to see did he return to the cabin, praying the entire time that Kaya had returned ahead of him.

Jericho sat on the couch in the living room and looked bleakly up at Hunter when he walked in the door.

“She’s gone,”Jericho said. He covered his face with a hand and rubbed almost violently through his hair, hair that was still growing back. “She thinks we left her just like her family did. I wonder how long she stayed here, telling herself we were different.”

Hunter didn’t want to agree with Jericho. He wanted to argue, offer false hope, say stupid things like she’d be back in the morning, but Jericho was right.

“I searched the den, the mountain, every hiding place I could think of.”

Jericho nodded but turned his face away so Hunter couldn’t see the naked emotion burning in his eyes.

How the hell were they supposed to find her? She could be anywhere. She could have been shot by hunters. Killed by another mountain lion. Or she could have simply gone away, moved to another area. There was no way to know. No way to find out. She lived in a world where she didn’t exist.

The only thing they could do was stay here in case she returned. No way did he want her coming back to find the cabin deserted like she’d once found her childhood home.

“I’ll go into town in the morning for supplies,”Hunter said.

Jericho nodded, but neither of them said another word about Kaya. Theirs was a silent agreement that they would wait. As long as it took.

Chapter Twenty-Three

For Duncan Kennedy, it was another bad day, and it could only get worse. He stared across his desk to the jail cell that housed the young pregnant woman, and he felt like pond scum all over again.

Hell, he was probably doing her a favor, but all he could see was the abject terror in her eyes as he’d placed her in the cell.

The door opened and his deputy Nick strode in. He was halfway across the room before he took notice of the woman in the jail cell, then he did a rapid double-take. When he got to Duncan’s desk, he flopped down in the chair in front of him.

“We’re jailing pregnant women now? What the hell did she do?”

Duncan raised his brow at the anger in Nick’s voice. “For all you know she could be a serial killer.”

“Is she?”

“No.”

“Then what the hell is she doing in jail?”

Duncan sighed. “I wish I knew. Caught her stealing food. She freaked on me when I tried to talk to her. Tried to escape twice. She looked tired and hungry so I brought her here, but she hasn’t uttered a peep. I ran her fingerprints and got squat. She won’t tell me who she is or where she lives or if she has a place to live for that matter. I don’t want to just let her go. Hell, she’s barefooted.”

“Damn,”Nick muttered. “Is Aliyah still at her folks visiting?”

Duncan nodded.

“Too bad. Maybe another woman could talk to her. She might just be terrified of men.”

“I didn’t think of that,”Duncan murmured.

Nick chanced another look across the room at the woman huddled on the cot in the cell. “She looks scared to death.”