Saved By Her Bear by Felicity Heaton
Chapter 3
It hadn’t taken Knox long to figure out that Skye was in a whole mess of trouble. He stalked her through the woods, sticking to the shadows, keeping his distance so the men she was with didn’t spot him. His gaze remained glued to her as she navigated another steep incline, heading for the river.
She knew she was in danger.
That was the reason she was leading the men towards the frozen creek rather than deeper into the valley.
He struggled to tamp down the urge to break cover and go to her, had to fight to deny his bear instincts as he watched her, studying her as closely as Karl was as he walked behind her. When her booted feet slipped and she made a lunge for a sapling to stop herself from falling, Knox took a hard step forwards, his heart shooting into his throat as the need to go to her and help her blasted through him.
When Karl grabbed her wrist and saved her, pulled her up onto her feet and kept his damned hand on her, a different urge surged through him.
Knox growled low, the hunger to rush the man and punch him hard in the face warring with a need to shift and claw him. The sight of the man touching her had both sides of him wild with a need to defend her, to get her away from the bastard who still had his damned hand on her as he spoke to her.
He bared emerging fangs at the male, pictured a thousand ways he would kill him once he had dealt with his lackeys, and he wouldn’t be doing it for Lowe or Cameo.
He would be doing it for himself.
For Skye.
He couldn’t see her face, but he knew in his gut that she was scared as she gently twisted her wrist, easing free of Karl’s grip. She was quick to back off when the male released her, reached for the sapling she had tried to grab and turned away from him.
Knox growled again as he caught sight of her face and saw how pale she was against the hood of her black jacket. It wasn’t because she had almost fallen either. Her head turned slightly, gaze sliding towards her shoulder, as if she wanted to look back at the four males who followed her, and then she faced forwards again.
She bravely walked forwards, moving with even more caution now, stepping over roots that snaked across the narrow path that led down into another hollow. Knox lost sight of her as she moved below the level he was on. It was hard to force himself to wait until the last of the men disappeared from view too before he broke cover. He hurried through the trees, heading south from her, to a cliff that overlooked the frozen river. When he reached it, he glanced to his left, spotting Skye and the men a good one hundred feet away through the thick pines. He leaped and dropped to the ground thirty feet below him, landing in a crouch, his ears pricking as he listened to make sure no one had heard him before sprinting through the trees.
Knox stopped when he reached the river, plastered his back against the broad trunk of a lodgepole pine and listened hard. Silence. He reached out with his senses and growled when he placed Skye right at the edge of them. Further away than he had expected.
Still, it made it easier to cross the frozen, snowy surface of the river without rousing suspicion. He eased from behind the tree, his breath misting in the icy air as he studied the river. The snow was deep on it, obscuring the ice, meaning there was no way for him to know how thick it was. The river was deepest in this area, ran swiftly towards the falls just a few hundred feet to his right, closer to the town. Chances were the ice wasn’t thick enough to hold his weight, but he had to risk it.
If he got wet, well, he got wet.
He carefully nudged his foot through the snow, clearing it aside so he could see the ice beneath. It was solid at the rocky edge of the river. A good sign?
He glanced to his left, held his damned breath as he spotted Skye on the ice, her head bent as she shuffled forwards. Gods. If she went under… He didn’t want to think about it. Banished it from his mind. Skye was clever. Swift. She wouldn’t take an unnecessary risk. He knew that in his heart. If the ice looked too thin to bear her weight, she would turn back.
Although.
Knox glared at the four males who waited at the bank, watching her.
Maybe she did take unnecessary risks these days.
What had possessed her to come up into the valley with Karl and his men? She wasn’t working with them, that was for sure, and he had the feeling she wasn’t happy about the situation she had found herself in—surrounded by heavily armed men.
Had they kidnapped her?
He unleashed a low snarl at that thought. If they had, they would die a more painful death than the one he already had planned for them. He growled again, fur sweeping over his skin beneath his black clothing, the urge to shift strong as he watched Skye. If they hurt her, even laid a damned hand on her again, he was going to get imaginative with their deaths.
Really imaginative.
No one hurt Skye.
His heart whispered that he had.
He sneered and tried to ignore it, but gods, it was true. He wanted to deny it, had spent two years pretending it didn’t bother him, but every damned day he had to live with the knowledge that he had hurt her. There was no doubt about it. The way he had left her, it could only have hurt her.
Some part of him had done it to protect her.
The rest had done it because he had been scared.
Now, as he watched her courageously crossing the icy river with four males armed to the teeth following her, he hated himself for being so weak. If he had been strong, had found the balls to face his fears, then maybe Skye wouldn’t be in this mess.
He might have been there at the bar to protect her, or she might have been living with him at the Ridge, far away from Karl and the danger they represented. Safe.
Knox cursed and pushed those thoughts away. There was no use wondering what might have been. He had to deal with what was happening now. He would get Skye safely away from Karl and his men, and then he would apologise a thousand times over, until she forgave him for being a monumental dick.
Maybe being her knight in shining armour and saving her would be enough to make her forgive him.
He could only hope.
The last of the men made it across the river and Skye led them into the trees. Knox gingerly stepped out onto the ice and carefully shuffled through the dense layer of snow, sending up a prayer a second to any god who was listening. He had screwed up with Skye, and this might be the second chance with her that he didn’t deserve, so he had to make it across the ice in one piece and catch up with her. He had to be there to protect her.
As he should have been.
Knox breathed a sigh of relief as he made it across the river and was quick to pick up the pace. He ran into the forest, reaching out with his senses, trying to pinpoint Skye. The moment he sensed her, that relief grew stronger and his bear side grew calmer, allowing him to focus again. He raced through the trees, closing the distance between them, each step that brought him closer to her easing his tension. When he was within one hundred feet of her, he slowed to match her pace and listened hard. If they talked, he wanted to know what was being said.
The men remained quiet as they walked though. He tracked them for another half a mile, slipping from tree to tree, trying to come up with a plan. He couldn’t do anything while it was light, not unless an opportunity that was too good to pass up presented itself. The risk was too great.
He needed to get Skye away from these men as soon as possible though.
Every second she was with them gnawed at him, had him growing increasingly restless with the urge to save her. By the time they began to slow, he was ready to forget the part about holding his nerve and waiting for nightfall and storm in there to grab her.
“We should rest.” Skye’s sweet voice teased his ears and the tremble of nerves he could hear in it pushed him closer to the edge.
He fought the part of him that needed to rescue her right that moment, told himself that it wouldn’t end well for either of them, and eased down behind the trunk of a fallen pine a good eighty feet from her. He peered over the log, his heart beating harder at the sight of her as she bravely turned to face the males and pushed her hood back, revealing a dark green woollen hat and chestnut hair tied in two braids. Those braids grazed her neck and the collar of her black jacket on both sides, and he wanted to groan as he remembered how soft her hair had felt in his fingers when he had sifted them through it.
When he had stood over her and watched her sleeping as he made the hardest decision of his life.
At the time, it hadn’t felt difficult. In fact, it had felt easy. It was only afterwards, once he was back at the Ridge, that what he had done had struck him—and it had struck him hard. Gods, he still hated himself for what he had done that night, and what he had done every day that had followed it.
Staying away from her had been hell.
But facing her again had felt as if it would be a hell far worse than the one he suffered daily.
He scrubbed a hand down his face and silently cursed himself. If Lowe knew what he had done, his brother would laugh in his face and then he would sober and say some sage shit like how could he know without trying? His twin would be right too. Knox couldn’t know whether Skye would reject him and turn her back on him, not without trying.
Not without taking a risk.
But, gods, it felt as if he would be risking his heart and that heart felt sure she was going to break it.
Damn, maybe he and Lowe weren’t so different after all. The only real difference between them was the fact Lowe didn’t try to hide his emotions. His brother was braver than he was and had proved that with Cameo. He had risked getting his heart broken and this time Knox knew it had paid off, and it had paid off big time.
Lowe had his fated mate.
Saint had taken a risk and now had his too.
Knox watched Skye as she turned towards the one he suspected was Karl.
“Five minutes.” Karl’s grey eyes slid from her to the men. “Five minutes and then I want to get moving again.”
“Yes, boss,” the youngest of the males drawled and shrugged out of his red pack, letting it fall to the ground as he sank against a tree and exhaled hard. He turned to the one with the New York accent. “You need some water?”
Knox scowled at the young male. He sounded mid-west somewhere. Texas maybe? Hell, he could be from Louisiana for all Knox knew. There was a definite twang to his voice though. He had only heard an accent like that in the TV shows and movies that Lowe liked to load his tablet up with whenever he was in town with a good internet connection.
New York shook his head. “Stop fatso from guzzling it all too. We need that water.”
The one who looked like a bouncer shot him a glare and took a hard step towards him. “You got a problem with me?”
He sounded Canadian like Karl.
“Yeah, I got a problem with your fat ass. Being squeezed into the back of that truck near you was hell, and you’re slowing us down.” New York squared up to him and lowered his assault rifle to his side, letting it hang from the strap over his shoulder.
“Patrick. Wade. Shut the fuck up,” Karl barked.
Both men locked up tight. Which was which? Knox studied the two men and noticed Skye was too. Was she trying to figure out which name went with which guy too?
“Wade, can you give me a hand with my pack?” She smiled in the direction of the males and Knox wanted to vault over the log and launch at all of the bastards, even when he knew she was only doing it to disarm the males.
The one with the assault rifle and the blue camo jacket huffed and went to her.
Knox grinned.
He always had thought her clever.
She had found out a way to determine which was Wade and which was Patrick without rousing suspicion.
Knox still wanted to growl when the far-too-handsome Wade stopped close to her and she turned her back to him, and the damned human pawed her shoulders as he helped her remove her backpack. He really wanted to growl when the male lingered after taking the pack from her, his dark gaze roaming over the back of her head, heat in it that said he didn’t mind her asking him to help her because he wanted to be close to her.
Because he wanted her.
Son of a bitch.
Knox was going to kill him first.
Skye turned and took the pack from him, daring to smile at the male again. She was quick to move away from him though, walked to a spot a few feet away from all of them and set her pack down against a log. She sank onto it and watched the males, her gaze wary. As soon as they were all occupied with discussing something in low voices, she eased to her feet and slipped towards the bushes.
Making a break for it?
Knox moved to intercept her and froze at the same time as she did as Karl spoke.
“Where are you going?”
Skye looked over her shoulder at him. Knox glanced at him too. He had pushed the hood of his black coat back, revealing mousy hair a shade closer to brown than Knox’s own blond hair, and his grey eyes were narrowed on her in a look that Knox could only call suspicious.
“Come back. We need to keep moving.” Karl held his hand out to her.
Skye looked at it and then lifted her gaze to his face. “I just need to pee. The cold always does this to me.”
Karl didn’t look as if he believed her, but he nodded and waved her away. She was quick to hurry into the bushes, glancing back over her shoulder from time to time. Knox kept low and moved towards her, coming up with a plan.
It was basic as plans went.
Grab Skye. Run for it.
He eyed her. She hadn’t changed a bit in the last two years, was still lean but not skinny, and he bet the thick layers of protective clothing were concealing a body that had been honed by years of hard work and growing up with an adventurous spirit. The toned muscles added to her weight, but not by enough that she wouldn’t be as light as a feather in his arms. He could easily run with her tucked against him.
She ducked behind one of the taller pines, using the thick trunk as cover.
Only she didn’t relieve herself.
She glanced around the tree at the males and then reached into her pocket, pulling out a phone. He moved closer to her, easing through the bushes until he was only fifty feet from her and could clearly see her face.
She glared at the screen, the hope that had been in her eyes fading. “Shit. No signal.”
She glanced around, looking as if she was going to risk trying a different spot, and he inched forwards, a need to go to her surging through him. Now was his chance. He went to stand. Ducked back down again as Wade rounded the tree behind Skye.
The male’s dark eyes flashed with something akin to anger as she quickly pocketed her phone, his gaze dropping to her hand as she pulled it out of her jacket.
“What are you up to?” His dark eyebrows knitted hard as he lifted his eyes back to her face.
“Nothing.” She flinched at her own lie and the male grabbed her wrist and hauled her to him.
Knox growled as the male manhandled her, as she tried to break free of his grip, shoving at his chest and twisting her wrist. His bear side roared at him to protect her, that this was still the chance he had been waiting for, and that if he didn’t do something now, Skye was going to end up hurt. He had to protect her.
She needed him.
He broke cover, keeping low as he closed the distance between him and Wade, and growled as Karl walked into view, heading at speed for Wade and Skye.
“What’s going on?” Karl’s fingers flexed around the grip of a black handgun.
The sight of the weapon had Knox freezing on the spot and rethinking his plan, because if he launched at the males right now, there was a chance Skye could be shot, and that was a risk he wasn’t willing to take. He fought the instincts surging inside him, demanding he obey them, and eased back, keeping a watchful eye on Skye.
“She was up to something out here.” Wade yanked her wrist higher, pulling her arm away from her jacket, and reached into her pocket. His eyes darkened further as he pulled out the phone.
He tossed it to Karl.
Karl turned a black look on her. “Who were you calling?”
Skye struck Wade in the chest, finally managing to break free of him, and breathed hard as she rubbed her wrist through her jacket. She turned on Karl, a scowl pinching her features.
“I was calling the bar. I forgot to arrange cover for my hours tonight and someone needs to open it up. It’s my business. I can’t just let it sit there closed.”
Karl stepped up to her as he pocketed her phone. “I need you to focus on the job I’m paying you for right now.”
She swallowed and nodded, the fire that had been in her eyes fading swiftly as Karl loomed over her, his grey eyes as dark as thunderclouds. “There’s no signal anyway.”
Karl looked pleased to hear that as he took hold of her arm and turned with her, tugging her back towards the others. Wade lingered, firmly gripping his assault rifle as his dark eyes scanned the forest. Knox remained still as the male’s gaze passed over him, resisting the urge to break cover and launch at him. He couldn’t risk it.
He was no good to Skye dead.
Karl grabbed her pack and shoved it at her, and she meekly took it and slipped her arms into the straps.
“We’re moving out,” Karl snapped at Patrick and the youngest male, and both jolted to their feet, instantly obeying him.
Wade finally pivoted towards Karl and the others and walked back to them.
Knox moved back to a safe distance, his gaze fixed on Skye, silently vowing that when the timing was right, he was going to get her away from these males. He was going to save her. He wouldn’t let anything happen to her. His chest constricted as she rubbed at her wrist, her eyes on it, and he could scent her fear.
He kept pace with her, aching with a need to go to her, to take away her fear and her hurt and make everything better. He couldn’t. Not yet. She had to endure a little longer. He would get her away from the males. He would.
She sighed and let go of her wrist. She pulled her hood up as she lifted her head and focused on the path ahead of her. His brave Skye. He knew how scared she had to be because he was scared too. He was terrified something would happen to her.
She had a power over him, was the only one in this world who could make him afraid in the way she could. He worried about a thousand things, mostly involving Lowe and his pride, but no one made him feel all-out fear like she did.
He gazed at her from time to time as he moved silently through the trees, his thoughts drifting back to her little bar and the first time he had seen her. He had only stopped for a drink to warm himself up before he headed back to the Ridge from a supply run, but the moment he had walked into The Spirit Moose and set eyes on Skye, he had been done for.
She had bewitched him over a glass of whiskey and he had ended up spending the whole evening propping up her bar, staring at her and talking to her whenever the chance arose.
And he had gone back the next night.
And then a week later.
Every time he had gone to town for supplies, he had ended up at her bar.
And then a few too many whiskeys had led to one of the best nights of his life, and, gods, he still felt like a dick about how he had handled things.
But he had panicked.
He had left in the dead of night without a word.
Scared by what he had discovered and sure he was wrong, sure time apart from her would prove that.
He gazed down the slope at her, catching glimpses of her through the trees that tormented him, were never long enough to satisfy his need to see her beautiful face.
The only thing he had proved was that he was a dick.
Because he felt the same thing now as he had that night when he had held her in his arms after making love with her.
Skye was his fated mate.
