Wilde Love (The Brothers of Wilde, Nevada 6)

Chapter Nine

The nurse walked into the teenager’s room. He was out of his coma and whispering something.

“Rich, you don’t have to talk. I’m so glad you’re with us.”

He blinked and shook his head from side to side slowly. Again, he whispered.

“Are you in pain?” She leaned in close and checked the monitor. Vitals were improving, though he wasn’t out of the woods yet.

His words were loud enough for her to finally hear. “No. Old Mine. She’s taken her to the Old Mine.”

* * * *

Images of Jessie being mangled plagued Austin’s mind. He pushed them aside as he and his brothers ran into the Old Wilde Mine. She can’t be dead. She just can’t.

They’d gotten the call from the sheriff about Rich’s revelation.

Austin’s first thought had been to call Heath, their cousin. He had a two-seater plane. Ranching was his life, but flying was his passion. He even had a commercial license in his wallet. Landing in one of the fields near the Old Wilde Mine would’ve been nothing to him. But when Austin got him on the cell, Heath told him he was in Carson City. He’d gone there to enlist some buddies he knew who worked for the state with some pull to join the search for Jessie.

With all the rain from last night and this morning, they couldn’t get to the mine by ATVs or motorcycles. So they’d saddled their fastest horses, brought some mining gear, and rode like wild men to the Old Wilde Mine. Pushing the beasts so hard wasn’t something he or his brothers ever did, but with Jessie in peril, they had to now.

As they rounded the corner, Austin saw the entrance. What if Rich was lying, confused, remembering something Samantha had shared with him that he believed to be true but wasn’t? But when Jackson silently pointed to the trees up on the hill with Samantha’s horse grazing there, he knew Jessie and the female murderer were inside.

In a flash, he and his brothers leapt from their horses, strapped on the gear, including the hard hats with lights, and bolted to the entrance. Thankfully, Jackson knew this mine almost as good as Pappy Jack.

“Where do we go, lil’ bro?” Austin asked.

“If I know Samantha, she’s gone deep into the mine with Jessie.”

Denver pointed down the tunnel. “Lead the way.”

Twenty minutes in, Austin heard a voice. Jessie’s. “Help! God, let someone come.” The despair in her tone crushed Austin.

With pistols drawn and shutting off their hardhats’ lights, he and his brothers shot down the tunnel toward the woman of their dreams.

Her voice echoed down the tunnel. “How could you have done this, you stupid dead bitch?” She continued to rant. “Breaking your neck was too easy a death for a monster like you.”

Samantha’s dead. No need to be stealth now. “Jessie, we’re coming.”

“Oh my God! Guys, hurry. Before her fall, Samantha set off a timer that will detonate all these explosives in here. There can’t be more than five minutes left.”

“We’re going to save you, pet. I promise.” They rounded the corner and saw Jessie’s legs and her ankles tied to the chair that had apparently kept her from falling down the shaft.

There were enough explosives around the place to blow the all of them clear to California and back.

Without hesitating, he ran to her and pulled the chair back over the boulder.

Jessie leaned into him. “I’m glad you’re all here, but we’ve got to get out of here fast.”

Austin quickly untied her ankles and lifted her up in his arms. He ran for all he was worth down the tunnel. His four brothers followed.

For years, he thought he would leave his brothers someday. Now, after everything he’d seen and been through with them, he couldn’t imagine it.

He’d never believed he could be soft, but holding Jessie in his arms now, he knew better. She’d shown him so much about himself. She was everything to him, the love of his life. The darkness inside him lifted around the light of this amazing woman. BDSM would always be a part of his sexuality, but now with Jessie, he could expand into other avenues. Baby steps, sure. But she deserved his best effort, always.

Racing for the entrance and safety, Austin hoped they’d all make it out in time to get to the future he now desired—a life of sharing Jessie with his brothers.

Chapter Ten