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Mac didn’t understand for a moment. Then he realized what she meant as she was saying, “He attacked me.”

His blood turned ice-cold. Behind him, he heard Ben coming down the stairs.

“Mac?”

“Whatever you do, don’t call this in. Don’t get on the radio at all.”

“Is she⁠—”

“She’s alive, yeah, no thanks to Harold.”

Ben had reached them and knelt. He took in Jodie’s appearance in a moment.

“He attacked you?”

Jodie nodded. “It was a trap. For the horses. I don’t know—” She coughed and winced.

“I need to get you out of here and back to the staging area. Elias and Waylon can look you over on the way to the nearest hospital.”

Mac gently slid his arms under Jodie and picked her up, cradling her head against his chest. He followed Ben out of the cellar, careful not to jostle her on the stairs. Goblin dashed ahead of them, since apparently it was a law that dogs had to race every human up the stairs.

“Mac,” Jodie murmured when they got outside.

“Shh, baby.”

“You came and got me.”

“Yeah.” He walked around the crumbling wall. Virgil’s and Hank’s faces lit up when they saw Jodie alive.

“You rescued me. No one’s ever…”

Mac stopped. His eyes filled.

He was broken again by her words, but in the best way.

“I’m always gonna come rescue you, Ranch Girl. Always. I love you.”

TWENTY-NINE

Jodie woke to the sound of somebody snoring. Not Mac. She knew that before she opened her eyes because Mac, God bless him, did not snore.

This snoring, however, was a chainsaw.

She opened her eyes and immediately regretted it. The room was too bright, her head hurt like someone had driven a railroad spike through her temple, and something tugged uncomfortably beneath her nose. Jodie touched her face and found the plastic tubing of a nasal cannula.

Right, I’m in a hospital.

The memories came flooding back hard enough that her head hurt and her stomach rolled.

Harold attacking her. The cellar. Goblin running away. Fire roaring around her.

Mac.

You rescued me.

She turned her head carefully.

Mac sat beside the bed. He was sound asleep with one hand wrapped around hers and his chin resting against his chest. He looked terrible. Ash darkened the lines around his eyes and his shirt had been replaced with a scrubs top.