Page 27 of Tormented Hearts

She made a sound that said she disagreed with every word he said and probably everything about him too.

By the time the sun broke over the peaks, they were in the truck, driving as far as the track would take them. Behind them, the Black Heart faded into the distance. Ahead, the road narrowed until it became less of a road and more a suggestion carved through trees and rock.

Eventually, they couldn’t go on. Hawk parked, killed the engine and listened to the world outside the vehicle before opening the door.

Wind moved through the pines in a low sigh. Overhead, a hawk shrieked as it cut across the pale morning sky.

He climbed out and Sinead followed, adjusting the straps of her pack.

He looked over the gear she’d chosen for hiking. Lightweight pants with cargo pockets, a long-sleeved top to shield her from the sun and the wind once they started the climb. And of course those good boots that cost as much as a week of military pay.

“You good?”

Her lips only tipped up at the corners but a smile sparkled in her eyes. “I can’t wait to get up there.”

He dipped his head in a nod. “Stay close.”

“I was planning to sprint into the woods and befriend some bears, but fine.”

They set out. Within the first hour, Hawk realized he’d totally underestimated the amount of time it would take to hike the route.

He wasn’t just a little wrong. He was very wrong.

The satellite image overlaid with the topographical map hadn’t shown the way the ground broke under layers of loose stone. It hadn’t shown fallen trees stacked like walls of a colonial fort or snowmelt turning pockets of earth into a slick slide beneath their boots.

It hadn’t shown the way every easy path disappeared once they were inside the trees.

They couldn’t move at his projected pace—they were hiking at maybe a quarter of it.

“You’re doing that jaw thing.” Her voice startled him from his thoughts.

“I don’t have a jaw thing.” He realized he’d just clamped it tight and forced himself to unlock it.

Her eyes did that sparkling thing again. “You absolutely have a jaw thing.”

He stopped beside a boulder and scanned the slope above them. “We’re moving slower than expected.”

“No kidding.”

He swept his gaze over her and saw her breathing was elevated and color rode high in her cheeks, but she moved over the rough ground with surprising ease. Careful but light-footed and agile in a way that made him reassess her all over again.

He was faster than her on straight ground. Stronger by a wide margin and he had her safety in mind every step of the way.

But on this terrain, Sinead moved like she knew how to place her feet before the ground betrayed her.

“You said you hike a lot?” he asked.

“Not lately.”

“Then why are you good at this?” He pointed to the ground with rocks of every size pitched at every angle.

“I wore high heels on cobblestones in Europe for years. This is basically the same thing but with more trees.” She set off again with a smile on her face, and he had to force himself to face the slope and keep moving.

They pushed on for hours. The sun climbed, then began its slow fall toward the ridgeline. Shadows stretched longer between the trees, playing tricks on his eyes.

The air grew sharp with the cold he knew they’d have to survive a night in. Every instinct in Hawk told him to keep going, but his better judgment told him not to get caught in the dark.

When the sun began sinking behind the mountain, he stopped.