Chapter Eighty-Four
The morning sun hit the snow-covered pine trees with a blinding, diamond brilliance, but inside the cabin, the cold had settled into the very walls.
I woke up with stiff muscles and swollen, aching eyes. The snowstorm had passed during the early hours of the night, leaving behind a heavy blanket of white that muffled every sound in the forest. When I stepped out into the main room, the fire was roaring in the hearth, but the atmosphere remained thick and heavy.
Jake was standing by the pine table.
He was back. He must have returned in the pale gray hours before dawn, covered in frost and road dirt. He was strapped back into his dark leather vest, his broad back turned to the room as he checked the secondary radio unit on the counter. His hair was damp, his jaw set i
