SNEAK PEEK
CHAPTER ONE
Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. Liana English’s rental car slowly made its way along the two-lane highway. Every mile or so, a gust of wind pushed the vehicle, rocking it enough to make her palms sweat. Snowflakes whirled past the windshield, thick and fast, blurring the world before her.
I shouldn’t be out here.
The weatherman had said something about a winter front blowing in, nothing serious. Just a typical Montana snow.
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
The farther she drove toward her destination, the lower the visibility grew, and her gut twisted in a larger knot. Her phone vibrated in the cup holder. The display showed it was her younger sister, Jorrie.
She hit the button to the handsfree to connect the call.
“Hello, my favorite sister,” Liana answered. She smiled and gripped the wheel harder. “Checking up on me?”
“I’m your only sister,” Jorrie replied dryly. “And, why yes, I am. How are the roads?”
“They are just fine. It’s bright and sunny. Clear roads, and I even just rolled the window up to answer your call.” Liana held back her laugh.
“Liar. It’s the middle of winter in Montana. I doubt the people up there have seen the sun in weeks.” Jorrie snorted. Her tone alluded that she was in her bossy little sibling mood. “The weatherman is screaming about a nasty storm headed your way. They’re saying whiteout conditions. Maybe you should find somewhere to stop.”
“There is nowhere to stop except for Lurton, and I think I’m about an hour away. Well, at least if I was going faster than twenty-five miles an hour.” Liana groaned. She held the steering wheel steady. Maybe she should have gotten a hotel at the airport and waited this out. But she’d figured she would have made it to Lurton by this time. “All I can see is trees, snow, more trees, snow, and you know what else I see? Snow!”
“Can you turn around?” Jorrie asked.
“No, it’s too late. Plus I promised Terri I’d help her with the baby for a week. She hasn’t slept in like…I don’t know. A month?”
“Where’s her husband? He should be helping,” Jorrie snapped. Oh, yeah. The little sister was not only in bossy mode but protector mode. “She shouldn’t be doing everything.”
“Henry is a sweetheart. He’s been working double and triple time to make sure they can pay their bills while she’s on maternity leave. Believe it, he’s doing what he can, because someone still has to keep the lights on,” Liana said.
“Well, it certainly was nice of you to volunteer to help her, but maybe you should have waited until next week.”
“I didn’t know a month ago when I put in the time-off request that Montana was going to get buried in a thousand feet of snow.” It was Liana’s turn to snort. She sat up taller as she took in the winds picking up and her surroundings turning to whiteout conditions.
“If it gets too bad, just pull over,” Jorrie pleaded.
“It’s Montana. People do this all the time.”
“Yeah, people who live in Montana. You’re a city girl from Denver who thinks hiking means walking to the coffee shop down the street from your apartment.”
“That was one time.” Liana rolled her eyes.
“You took an Uber back home!”
“I had on four-inch heels!” Liana gasped. How dare she judge her.
“Exactly! Who wears heels to run out and get coffee?” Jorrie’s giggles filled the car.
Liana couldn’t help the grin that spread on her face. Jorrie had forgotten to mention the night before they had gone out together and had plenty of wine, which left Liana with a crazy hangover. She’d run to the coffee shop to get caffeine to help with said headache, but Jorrie always left that part of the story out.
Despite the silly back and forth between them, the tension in the car rose. She squinted at the swirling white ahead. Every road sign looked iced over. Every tree bent heavy beneath the amount of snow burdening them. Her heater blasted, but the air inside the car still felt chilled.
“I’m going to be fine,” Liana announced for Jorrie, but really for herself. “I’ll continue to go slow and steady. I have plenty of gas and I should be there in about an hour. Two if I keep going the speed I’m going.”
“Promise me you will call me as soon as you get to Terri’s.”
“I promise. Love you, big head,” Liana whispered.
“I love you, too—”
The line went dead. Liana frowned at her phone. There were no bars. That wasn’t a good sign. She was sure it was temporary.
The car suddenly felt too quiet.
And it was getting too cold.
She reached for the button to crank the heat up to the highest setting. The snow worsened. It fell in thick sheets, blown sideways by the wind. She slowed down to about twenty miles an hour. Her heart thundered.
“I’m going to be fine,” she whispered.
The road curved, lined with thick trees hulking like giants, observing her making the trek. Her headlights did nothing for her. She sucked in a breath and screamed.
Something darted into the road.
A flash of gray.
Liana reacted before her brain actually caught up. She jerked the wheel to avoid whatever it was.
Big mistake.
The tires skidded, her traction gone. The world upended. Her stomach dropped as she lost control of the vehicle.
Slam!
The passenger side hit the high snowbank so hard her teeth clicked. Her head smacked the steering wheel, pain rippling through her temple. She tasted copper.
Her car lurched, tilted, then sank deeper into the ditch. The engine sputtered for a moment before dying.
“No!” She tried to start the car again, but nothing. She slammed her hand on the steering wheel. “You have got to be kidding me!”
Cold crept into the car immediately. Panic set it. She tried again to get the engine to start, but it wouldn’t turn over. Her ankle throbbed, there was a pounding ache in her head, and something slowly trailed down the side of her face. She tried to move her left leg, but a hot stabbing pain lanced up it. She gritted her teeth to keep from crying out.
“Okay.” Her breath puffed white in front of her. She tried to think. “We’ve watched enough wilderness survival shows to make it through this.”
She rifled through her memories of all of her beloved shows for any tips that could help her.
Build a fire? How? Supplies? She had a blanket, a bottle of water, and a leftover sandwich she had bought at the airport. Well, at least she wouldn’t starve or die from dehydration tonight.
Stay in the car? Maybe, but how long would she last until she froze to death? She couldn’t even turn the engine on to get some warmth from the heater, but even then, that wasn’t a good idea if the exhaust was blocked by the snow.
She reached up and touched her temple. She hissed when her fingers found the cut where the blood was trickling from. Just perfect. She pulled her winter hat farther down on her head in hopes that it would help stop the flow of blood.
“Don’t panic,” she whispered. It helped to hear her own voice, but panic was taking a hold of her. Minutes passed. Or maybe an hour. Time blurred. The cold made her eyelids heavy and her body tremble. Numbness crawled up her fingers. Her limbs became stiff. It didn’t make any sense how cold it was outside. The tremors that racked her body were the only thing keeping her semiconscious.
There was no way she should die this way. She had imagined growing old and passing away in her nineties with her family and loved ones surrounding her.
Not stuck in a ditch in the dead of winter in Montana at the young age of thirty-eight.
A crunch outside the vehicle snapped her awake. Her breaths came fast. The snow shifted slightly. Heavy footsteps grew closer.
Her heart stuttered.
Was it a wolf? A bear? The gray blur that flew out into the road flashed in her mind. She tried to peer out the window, but it was no use thanks to the fogged-up glass and the swirling curtain of snow.
The footsteps stopped outside her car.
A silhouette moved through the thick blizzard, tall and broad-shouldered. Light reflected off dark clothing.
Someone was going to rescue her.
Liana remained still and waited to see who it was. The figure tapped on her window, and she almost jumped out of her skin.
A woman’s muffled voice could be heard. “Hey! Are you okay in there?”
Liana fumbled with the door, trying to get it to open. She finally got it to open a half an inch. The howling of the wind increased.
“Yes, I’m here,” Liana shouted.
It was then Liana’s gaze landed on her rescuer. She was tall with a strong jawline, dark hair that was plastered along her head. Snow clung to her thick eyelashes. Her eyes, amber and intense, flicked to the wound on Liana’s head.
“You’re injured.” Her voice was low, husky, as if she’d been yelling for hours. “Can you walk?”
“I’m not sure. My ankle is killing me. I think it twisted somehow when I hit the bank,” Liana said. She winced as she tried to turn to face her.
Liana’s rescuer opened the door wider and peered in the car. Her penetrating gaze swept over Liana before narrowing on her.
She sniffed once before her nostrils flared.
The woman was a shifter.
There was no question about it.