Warrior Reborn Read Online Free PDF Page A

the bump, knowing he’d get a shitload of ribbing from the other ranch hands over how he’d managed to miss seeing a whole tree out in the pastureland. That was okay. He could handle their good-natured teasing.
    The shave he’d deal with in the morning, and as for the haircut, well, that would have to wait until his next trip into town. After the years he’d spent in the military, he couldn’t remember the last time hishair had been long enough to cover his collar. Might look a little scruffy, but it felt kind of nice. If he let it grow a little more, it might help to keep his ears warm this winter.
    For now, all he needed was eight hours of uninterrupted rack time and he’d be good as new.
    He could hear the wind picking up outside as he climbed into his bunk, but his little room was warm enough that he needed nothing more than a pair of boxers and a thin blanket. The Lazy J bunkhouse was nicer than most of the motels he’d stayed in over the years.
    I T FELT AS if he’d just laid his head on the pillow when Chase awoke to a gentle breeze brushing over his chest. His groggy confusion told him he’d been sleeping deeply, but it did nothing to help him identify the source of the insistent green light flashing in the room.
    He sat up and scrubbed his hands over his face, scanning the room for evidence of entry.
    His door was closed and he certainly hadn’t left any windows open. It made no sense at all, a breeze blowing in his room like this. No more sense than the brilliant shots of light sparkling around him.
    Tossing his covers back, he climbed from his bunk and struggled to stand as the floor heaved under his feet.
    “What the hell?” he muttered, completely awake now.
    Arms outstretched for balance, he attempted to cross to the door as the floor rolled like an angry sea beneath him. Earthquake? They had them up here, but he’d never experienced anything like this.
    He’d barely made it two feet before a gust of wind whipped past him, battering at his bare skin. The lights changed to a brilliant green splattered with a million colored twinkles, sparkling and dancing, shooting around the room like angry shards of rainbow.
    A second heavy gust toppled his chair and knocked him from his feet, battering his ears as if with words shouted from afar. He held up his arms to cushion his landing as he fell, but the floor he expected to hit had disappeared.
    Instead, he felt himself tossed into the air and slammed forward into an endless void, the incessant chant of “Now, now, now!” ringing in his ears as his mind faded to black.

F our
N ORTHERN H IGHLANDS, S COTLAND
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    C OLD GNAWED AT his skin like a starving animal, and voices buzzed angrily in his ears. Chase struggled to open his eyes but it felt as if his eyelids had been glued shut.
    “Best you keep to your saddles, lads, if you value your heads upon your shoulders, that is,” a deep voice said.
    The words made no sense. From what Chase remembered before he’d blacked out, he must have been right at the epicenter of the biggest earthquake in Montana’s history. Had rescuers arrived? That had to be it! He needed to let them know he was here.
    He struggled to call out to them, but all he could manage was a grunt.
    “What’s happened to that one?” another voice asked.
    “Set upon by thieves, I’d say. His mount, his weapon, even his clothes are gone. They left himwith naught but a nasty bump on his head.” It was the first voice again, filled with authority and tinged with an odd accent. “Could even have been the two of you, for all I know.”
    A bump on his head. They were talking about him! They thought him a robbery victim? What was wrong with these guys? There had been an earthquake and—
    “Here, now, we’ll be hearing none of that from the likes of you. We’re about our good laird’s business, seeking men to his employ. We’ve no a need to be robbing strangers along the road.”
    Chase struggled to move, but couldn’t, and realized