Lost & Found (Possessed 3)

“If someone were here, Roxie would have alerted us, Pepper.” He tried not to dissuade her or sound condescending.

He’d failed, as evidenced by the tears falling down her cheeks. “I. Saw. Him.” She was more adamant this time.

Before he could say anything, Ace piped up. “How about we look around outside? See if there are any tracks?”

Hope lit her face. “You would do that?”

“Of course. We want you to feel and be safe here, sweetheart,” his cousin confirmed, giving Nick a look to shut it.

When she turned to him to confirm he felt the same way, he smiled indulgently. “Anything for you, baby.” Kissing her forehead, he got up to pack on the clothing since he knew they were nearly in deep freeze temperatures already.

After he and Ace had bundled up in nearly every available piece of winter clothing in the cabin, they opened the door to such a strong gust of wind that close to half a foot of snow blew through the frame as Roxie rushed out.

Pepper’s murmured, “Thank you.” That was all the encouragement either of them needed to go out in the numbing cold.

“I’ll go ‘round back,” Ace called over the howling wind.

Giving him a thumbs up, Nick surveyed the area on and around the front porch. The open window niggled at his mind. If her attacker had actually been there, he forfeited a prime opportunity to take both of them out before snatching Pepper up.

No matter what way Nick spun it, it made no sense to simply open a window and leave. Furthermore, why hadn’t his dog woken up? She flipped out barking and jumping off the damn walls when deer came in the yard.

Shuffling through the snow, they’d gotten nearly an additional foot overnight, and it was still coming down. He tried sweeping it off in layers, thinking maybe there would be track marks in the more solid surface. So far, no luck.

He didn’t’ know how long he’d been looking, but he was determined to either prove himself or Pepper wrong when Ace came from around the side of

the house announcing, “Nothing out back,” just as Roxie came barreling towards him like her ass was on fire.

“Heel!” Nick called just before she would have pranced on the deck and ruined all the work he’d just done. He’d glimpsed her running around the yard and behind the shed several times, so to see a glove hanging from her mouth that he didn’t recognize was a shock. Pulling it from her, he held it up for Ace to look at. “This yours?”

Hopping up on the side of the porch, Ace took a closer look before saying, “Never seen it. Your pops, maybe?”

A mile-wide pit in his stomach opened up, letting loose a giant ball of dread as he responded. “Maybe.” Pulling off both layers of his own gloves, Nick felt the material. “Leather, though?” His dad wouldn’t be caught dead with leather in this weather. He’d get frostbite quicker than he could curse the morons selling leather gloves in the Rockies.

Movement from the corner of his eye had him looking at the window in question to see Pepper standing there watching, worry etched in every line of her gorgeous face. Holding the glove up for her to see, he pointed to it then her, silently asking if it were hers and they had somehow missed when she’d grabbed it. The shake of her head just confirmed their worst fears.

Someone had been on his land.

“Roxie and I are gonna wander around a bit more. Keep the shotgun close,” he said to Ace, no longer willing to take any chances over who could be out there.

“Is that a good idea?” the other man asked him.

“It’s the only one I’ve got right now.”

With nothing else to say, Nick whistled for the animal to follow him as Ace went inside to reassure their woman that all would be well.

When Ace had come home to Golden, he’d expected a boring but fulfilling life; finally meeting the woman of their dreams. To have the two point five kids, dog, and well, not a picket fence per se, more like a treeline for the yard. The very last thing he’d expected was to find their woman in the tight little package that was Pepper.

Considering her amnesia and the obvious danger she was in, he had to wonder if he would ever get the quiet life he’d always hoped for after seeing the world. He felt selfish, though, worrying about what he wanted when the woman he’d been waiting for his entire life was in such turmoil.

He never did claim to be a perfect man.

It wasn’t to say he regretted meeting Pepper, either. He adored her; she was a breath of fresh air. She made his heart beat when his mind threatened to swallow him whole on some nights.

Shaking the morbid thoughts from his mind, Ace went inside looking to reassure Pepper that they would protect her from further harm. Also, to check that the shotguns were loaded and ready for action. Something else had spooked Nick this morning. He wasn’t so easily convinced of things that didn’t present in physical evidence. So, when his cousin agreed to search outside for anything amiss, Ace was shocked.

“Is everything alright?” Pepper asked as soon as he cleared the door. The snow that had found its way inside had been cleaned up.

“Yeah, Nick just wants to have a better look around.” Ace hoped that would ease some of her fears until they had more solid answers.