An Excerpt from Haven Hill
Here’s where the story left off last time.
The deputy’s brows knit at her tone.
“Ma’am?”
“Behind you!” Kate shouted again, louder now, sharp with panic.
To his credit, Deputy Collins reacted fast. His hand snapped to the grip of his holstered weapon as he half-turned, instinct dragging his gaze toward the driveway.
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But instinct wasn’t enough.
Logan was already moving.
He came up the porch steps with a speed that felt wrong—too fast, too quiet. A blur of motion, something wolfish in the way he closed the distance. The deputy’s eyes widened as understanding finally landed.
“Hey—HE—”
The word strangled off as Logan slammed into him.
They hit the top step hard.
The deputy’s gun never cleared the holster.
Logan’s knife did.
Kate saw the flash of metal—just a glint in the fog—before Logan drove the blade up under the deputy’s ribcage. A wet, sucking sound followed. The deputy’s breath hitched as if the air had been punched from him. His knees buckled, but Logan caught him, holding him upright.
Using him.
A shield.
Ariel screamed and ducked back behind the refrigerator.
Kate froze for half a heartbeat—shock, terror—then remembered the weight in her hands. She raised the pistol with both arms locked and aimed straight at Logan’s head.
“Let him GO!” she screamed.
Logan looked at her, eyes bright blue with something manic, and winked.
He withdrew the knife slowly.
Then slashed it across the deputy’s torso again.
A horrible, hollow sound tore out of the man—half breath, half disbelief—before his body sagged forward. Logan eased him down one step, almost gently.
Then he lifted his eyes to Kate.
The smile he gave her was slow. Wrong. Tender in the way a predator is tender with something it already considers dead.
“Morning, family,” he said, grinning widely, voice soft as smoke.
Kate raised the Glock, rage humming through her hard enough to blur her vision—
—but Logan shifted, pulling the deputy’s collapsing body between them. The man groaned weakly, blood bubbling at his lips.
“Go ahead, Katie,” Logan said lightly. “Shoot me.”
Kate’s breath caught.
He was right. She couldn’t risk it—not while the deputy was still alive, not while there was even a chance she could save him.
“Do it!” Logan bellowed. “Shoot me!”
He backed down a step, dragging the wounded man with him, grinning as Kate tried—and failed—to find a clean angle.
“See?” he coaxed. “You still care what happens to people. That’s your problem. Always has been.”
Kate lunged for the door—
—but Logan flung the deputy’s body sideways, letting it crash into the porch railing with a sickening thud.
Then he charged.
Kate barely slammed the door in time, throwing her weight against it as the first impact rattled the hinges.
“Ariel!” she shouted. “Help me! NOW!”
Ariel was already moving, shoving the armoire with her shoulder, tears streaking her face. The furniture scraped across the floor, inch by inch, while Kate held the door with everything she had.
Another slam. Harder.
“You’re mine, Kate!” Logan sang. “Don’t make this harder!”
Kate braced her boots, shoved back, the door shuddering under the assault. The smell of blood—sharp and metallic—leaked through the cracks.
“He killed him—he killed the cop—” Ariel sobbed.
“I know!” Kate shouted. “We can’t think about that. PUSH!”
Logan hit the door again. And again. Each blow tighter, more focused. Testing. Learning.
Kate felt her shoulder start to give. Her feet slipped.
And in that razor-thin moment, she knew—
This wasn’t about hiding. Or waiting. Or hoping.
This was the endgame.
She leaned her hip into the door and shoved the armoire fully into place. The barricade wasn’t perfect—but it would hold. For now.
He is not walking in through my front door.
Outside, Logan returned to the deputy.
Kate watched through the window as he kicked the wounded man onto his back, tore the radio from his belt, and crushed it under his heel—making sure she saw.
Then he sauntered over to the cruiser, puncturing two of its tires.
He came back to the deputy and stripped him of all his weapons. The gun. The taser. The nightstick.
Mockery, one piece at a time.
Then Logan bent down to rifle through the deputy’s pockets.
And missed the twitch.
Just once.
Pain cut through the haze enough to wake Collins fully. As Logan leaned closer, the deputy acted.
With a broken, desperate cry, he drove his folding knife upward, burying it deep into Logan’s upper thigh—high and brutal.
For a split second, Logan didn’t register it.
Then he did.
A raw, animal sound ripped from his throat. His leg buckled. Blood spilled fast and hot. He staggered back, clutching his thigh, the knife still jutting obscenely from the wound.
Kate gasped. Ariel whimpered.
Logan yanked the blade free and stumbled toward the treeline, fury twisting his face.
Not an artery, unfortunately, Kate thought grimly.
But bad.
Bad enough.
Logan vanished into the fog-choked woods, limping and cursing, a wounded thing retreating to cover, his smeared footprints dripping dark and steady into the trees.
Kate didn’t watch him go.
Her instincts screamed “NOW!”
She turned to Ariel and ordered briskly, “Cover me. Don’t fire unless you see him. But if you do—don’t hesitate.”
Ariel nodded, jaw trembling but eyes locked in.
Kate shoved the armoire aside and bolted down the steps, boots skidding in blood.
Deputy Collins lay crumpled at the bottom, breathing in wet, broken pulls. Pink foam bubbled at his mouth.
“Stay with me,” Kate said, sliding an arm behind his shoulders.
“No… go back inside…” he rasped.
“No way,” she said. “You’re not dying on my porch.”
She hauled him up, bracing her body under his weight, muscles burning, breath tearing out of her chest.
“I’ll try,” he gasped.
“Good man.”
Step by step. Drag. Lift. Haul.
“Get your feet under you, Deputy!”
He tried manfully and got up another step with her pulling.
He began to sag in her arms.
She hollered, “MOVE YOUR ASS, DEPUTY!”
It worked. It sparked the last bit of impetus he needed to get up the final step.
With Ariel rushing to help, they dragged him across the threshold and into the cabin.
Alive.
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About Daisy
She is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books, 12 self-published books, and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses at SelfRelianceand Survival.com You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, and X.
