Cole: Black Bear Outlaws #3 (Mating Fever) by Kenzie Cox Read Free Book Online Page B

automatically reaching for Amberly. Only she wasn’t there. The bed was empty.
    The whine of the motor came closer, far too close for comfort. Our camp was on private property, with no close neighbors. It was rare to see any boat out this far unless they were invited or lost.
    I jumped out of bed and hastily grabbed a pair of jeans from my bag, pulling them on as I strode out of the bedroom. “Amberly?” I called.
    Silence.
    I tried again. “Amberly!”
    Nothing but the whine of the motor.
    “Shit!” I ran through the house, checking the bathroom and kitchen before I grabbed the shotgun from the hall closet and barreled through the front door.
    The engine died immediately, and Cyrus held up his hands in a surrender motion. “Whoa. It’s just me. I came to make sure everything was all right here and let you know Chase recovered and destroyed that photographer’s film.”
    I dropped the gun, relief crashing through me at the sight of my brother and his news. “Did Chase find out who sent him?”
    Cyrus shook his head. “The guy dropped the camera and ran before Chase could identify him, but at least there won’t be any photos.”
    Shit. That wasn’t good news. But we had bigger things to worry about at that moment. Amberly was missing. “Did you see anyone out there?”
    He frowned and pulled off the dark sunglasses hiding his eyes. “No. Why? Should I have?”
    “No. I just...dammit.” I turned and stalked back into the house. “Amberly?”
    The living room and kitchen were exactly as we’d left it the night before. The room we’d shared was untouched. The only change I found was in the spare room. Right under the still-open window was a pile of clothes. Our clothes from the night before.
    I heard Cyrus walk into the old house as I picked up the slip she’d been wearing and let out a growl of frustration.
    “Where’s Amberly?” Cyrus asked, his tone tense.
    I turned to him, doing my best to hide the sheer terror consuming me. “I don’t know. She was gone when I woke up.”
    “When was that?”
    I glanced at the wall clock. “Four minutes ago.”
    He followed my gaze. “It’s nine-thirty.”
    “I know,” I growled, unwilling to share we’d been up half the night.
    “Are you sure she was here when you went to sleep?”
    I gave him an impatient look and pushed past him, heading back into the bedroom I’d shared with her.
    He followed. All it took was one look at the mussed bed for him to realize what had happened. “I see. Well, your boat is still here. If she freaked out and took off, she has to be on foot.” He waved, indicating I should follow. “Come on. Let’s go see what happened to your starlet.”
    “She didn’t leave on her own,” I said.
    “You sure?”
    “I’m fucking positive.” I grabbed a shirt, stuffed my feet into my boots, and headed back outside, shotgun in hand. “I’ll check the back. You check the riverfront for any clues.”
    He grabbed a second shotgun from the boat and started carefully scanning the vegetation.
    I trudged around to the back of the house and immediately spotted a set of footprints leading down the dirt path into the woods. They were fresh, fully intact. I sucked in a breath, praying she was just out exploring the property. But why had she wandered off without saying anything? Surely she would’ve heard me calling her, right?
    I got halfway down the path when the footsteps suddenly disappeared. I scanned the overgrown weeds.
    Then my heart got caught in my throat. Right there at the edge of the path was a familiar bright pink shoe—a sandal I recognized. Amberly had worn them just yesterday while we’d lounged on the porch watching the water.
    “Cyrus!” I called, already taking off in the direction of the river that ran south of the camp. It was a smaller body of water that forked off a couple miles downstream, but certainly big enough for a small fishing boat.
    It didn’t take long to figure out what had happened. The brush was trampled