Read Online Flaming Desire - Part 4 (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) by Helen Grey - Free Book Online Page A

watching the fire. They coughed. One started to cry. The adults were no help.
    I heard Skinny Dude grumble that Bethany was too heavy. He gasped for breath, grunting heavily with each step. He asked Balding Guy to take her again. Balding Guy turned to him, gave him the evil eye, and then nodded. It seemed as if even he grew annoyed with the other adult.
    “How much longer until we get down?” Skinny Dude asked as Bethany slid off his shoulders and waited for Balding Guy to once again crouch down so she could climb onto his back.
    “Depends on how fast we can move,” I replied. He gave me a dirty look. My patience was thinning. I wanted to slap him. Jerk.
    They were starting to panic. I glanced at Matt, realizing that he sensed the same. He paused the group and then gestured for me to step a short distance away so he could talk to me.
    “A helicopter will be waiting at a clearing just outside the next camp. Depending on what they send, it might only be able to take the injured girl. The others are going to have to follow us out of the valley until we can get them into a transport truck.” He glanced over at the increasingly fearful group. Every one of them stared upward at the mountain behind us, watching the flames shoot fifteen, twenty feet into the air at the top of the ridge. It seemed to be standing still, but I knew better.
    The living wall of fire would suddenly get what it needed and would surge downward. It wouldn’t move as fast as if it were moving up slope, but faster than we could walk, that was for sure.
    “Let’s get going then,” I said, gesturing with my chin. “If the wind picks up, we’re going to be in big trouble.”
    Then, as I watched and much to my dismay, the fire headed downhill, as if an invisible hand just shoved it downward. My eyes widened and I steeled myself. So did Matt. We looked at the group of kids and quickly made our way back to the group.
    “We have to hurry,” Matt told them grimly. “The fire’s coming this way.” He eyed the two adults. “You keep those kids moving as fast as you can. Got it?”
    Balding Guy nodded, his expression determined now. Skinny Dude paled.
    “We have a chopper waiting for us at the bottom,” Matt explained, gesturing toward Bethany. “It can take her, maybe some of you, but if it can’t, the rest of us are going to have to go the rest of the way on foot.”
    Skinny Dude began to protest. Balding Guy turned to him and snapped. “Shut the hell up, Sam. Let’s just get moving, shall we?”
    With that, we once again headed down slope. Bethany started to cry, but Balding Guy tried to soothe her. I heard one of the boys cursing as we all scrambled down the slight incline leading out of the valley. Other than that, the kids moved as quickly as possible while watching where they stepped.
    Matt led the way, swiftly and surely. The next campsite we reached was also abandoned, although the detritus of what I assumed had been hunters could be seen near the edges of the camp. A gutted deer, minus its antlers. One of the kids eyed it, gagged and then dry retched, complaining about the smell, but then turned away.
    “Go on, Matt,” I called to the front of the line. “I’ll check the perimeter just to make sure!”
    He nodded and kept moving, the others following behind. I completed a quick sweep of the camp, looking into the trees, checking for signs of fresh footprints, but saw nothing that indicated anyone had been here in a couple of days. Splotches of blood from the gutting of the deer had dried and congealed. I wrinkled my nose and felt my stomach turn at the sight of the pile of twisted, dried deer intestines and other internal organs dumped into a pile just outside the perimeter of the camp. I shook my head. The hunters must not be very experienced, leaving that pile of deer innards and the carcass so close to camp. Why not just post an invitation to every bear in the area to come and get it?
    A gust of wind whipped past my face, bringing