Saved By Her Bear by Felicity Heaton
Chapter 6
Skye tried not to think about the fact that Knox was out there in the forest, tried not to hope that he was going to save her from this mess, and tried not to worry that he might try to do just that and get himself hurt. He had directed her towards the place she had intended to lead the men, a lone cabin that sat further up the valley, one that, as far as she knew, hadn’t been used in a long time.
Were Karl’s friends there?
This woman he was hunting?
Her pulse hammered in her throat as she walked. No matter how hard she tried to keep calm, adrenaline and fear had her heart racing and it was beginning to take its toll. She was tired, treading dangerously close to doing something very unlike her.
She wasn’t going to cry, dammit. She just wasn’t.
Fine, tears might have burned the backs of her eyes and stung her nose when she had seen it really was Knox in the woods with her and not an illusion, and when he had made it clear that he wanted to help her and knew she was in trouble.
But not a single one had fallen.
She wasn’t the sort to cry about things, hadn’t been for a long time now. She had left that part of her behind, had toughened up in the years she had been alone, making her way solo in this world.
The last time she had cried had been when her brother had died.
Skye grimaced. That wasn’t exactly true. She might have cried a little because of Knox. But only a little. Two or three tears tops. She had pulled her shit together and turned those tears into fury fuel, condensing them into a blazing anger that had made her feel a lot better—and a lot worse at the same time.
That rage still burned inside her even now, had roared back to the fore when she had gotten a good look at Knox. Damned stupid, gorgeous Knox. She harnessed it, used it to stoke her courage so she could keep going and as a shield, one that would hopefully make her appear confident and not at all scared of the four armed men behind her. She figured if she could appear as if she was taking this all in her stride, that it could only be a good thing.
Karl didn’t strike her as the sort of man who tolerated whimpering, trembling women on the verge of an emotional breakdown. He would probably turn violent with her if the courage she was clinging to failed her and fear got the better of her.
Worse, Wade struck her as the sort of guy who was looking for any excuse to get close to her. She had met plenty of men like him in her time running a bar and could spot the tells. He was itching for a reason to get his hands on her and comforting her would be the perfect excuse.
She carefully scanned the woods, making sure she didn’t move her head too much, so she didn’t alert Karl or his men to what she was doing. No sign of Knox. Where had he gone? Was he armed?
She still couldn’t believe he was up here in the valley in the dead of winter.
Really couldn’t believe that he had just happened to run across her, not when they were still miles away from the nearest cabin.
What was he doing up here?
She pondered that as she wove around a tree, frowned at the ground and stepped over the sprawling roots that had broken through the dirt in places and peeked out of the snow. Part of her hadn’t believed the rumours that said he lived up in the valley, stories she had heard when he had disappeared on her and had asked around about him. Those stories said he didn’t live alone either. A few other men she was familiar with from their visits into town lived up here too.
How much of those rumours were true? Was he alone up in this valley or did others live here too? Did they live together, like some sort of hunter community? When she had asked Knox whether he hunted, he had confessed that he took the odd moose here and there for food, but that trophy hunting wasn’t his scene. Maybe not a hunter community then. Plenty of people in these parts came here to live a quiet life away from the fast pace of the cities and towns. Maybe he was one of those people.
Maybe he was in hiding.
She glanced back at Karl, pretending to check whether the men were following her. What if Karl was lying and had mentioned that he was looking for a woman because it would curry favour with Skye and make her more inclined to help them? What if the one he was really looking for was Knox?
Knox had always held his cards close to his chest, had never really revealed anything too personal about himself in the times they had talked at her bar.
Because he had a secret?
Because he was in trouble with the mob or whoever Karl worked for?
Her legs shook at the sudden wave of adrenaline that swept through her and she faced front again, had to clench her hands to stop them from shaking as her mind raced and fear flooded her. If Karl was after him, then she needed to lead him and his men away from Knox rather than towards him.
Unless.
Unless Knox had a plan and meant to take them all down.
Christ, the thought he might intend to kill Karl and the others turned her stomach, but at the same time, a small part of her wanted him to do it. If it meant she survived this, if it meant he survived it, then she would gladly help him take out Karl and his men.
She swallowed hard.
Was she really going to do this?
The sound of running water caught her attention and she quickened her pace, frowning into the distance as she tried to tell where it was coming from.
“Hey!” Karl barked.
She froze and raised her hands, her heart lodging in her throat as fear he would shoot her blasted through her.
Her voice shook as she said, “I can hear water. I wanted to check it out. There’s a lot of streams that come down the mountain to make deep cuts in the forest floor. I was worried this might be one of them.”
“Fine. Keep moving.” Karl pushed her in her back, jerking her forwards.
She resisted the urge to scowl at him and hurried towards the source of the noise. Boulders littered the ground ahead of her and several of the trees started low to the ground from her perspective, which probably meant they were rooted in the side of a ravine.
Skye’s step slowed as she approached the gorge, her head canting as her gaze caught on something. She stared at the boot prints that cut across her path, awareness drumming inside her, telling her who had made them.
Knox.
Her gaze tracked them up towards the mountain.
He was probably there somewhere, waiting for her to lure Karl into his trap.
Waiting to kill him.
Was she really going to do this?
She clenched her fists.
She was.
“Over here,” she called over her shoulder, pulse ticking faster.
Karl hurried to her and she pointed at the ground. He crouched and inspected the boot prints, and then looked over his shoulder at Wade as the man caught up with them. Wade pushed his hood back, revealing short dark hair, and eased into a squat beside Karl, shifting his assault rifle to his hip. His dark eyebrows knitted hard as he reached out and touched the prints in the snow and then tracked them towards the mountain.
“Might be Jason. They’re about the right size.” Wade looked back at Karl. “Maybe he was trying to find shelter.”
“Or maybe he was tracking someone.” Karl pursed his lips as he studied the boot prints, his grey eyes roving over them and then the gorge just beyond them. He looked up at Skye. “Is there a way across this?”
She nodded and pointed in the direction the trail led. “Closer to the mountain the stream will be running over rock and not dirt. It’ll be shallow there. We should be able to cross it.”
“Might be why he headed that way.” Wade looked from the trail to Karl and then back towards the mountain. “It’s worth checking out.”
Relief beat through her as he said that, had the nerves that had been building inside her, a fear that they were going to see through this ploy, falling away. She schooled her features as Wade looked at her, hiding the disgust that rolled through her as he offered her an easy smile, one that did nothing to hide the banked heat in his brown eyes. There was a darkness in those eyes, a twisted side of him he had revealed when he had held her and had taken obvious pleasure in hurting her.
She looked away from him, lowering her gaze to the trail of boot prints. Knox. God, she hoped he had a good plan, one that wasn’t going to get him, and her, killed.
Her nerves began to rise again as Karl pushed to his feet and Wade did the same. Wade stepped to one side and raked his eyes over her. She ignored him and focused on Karl.
Karl swept his fingers through his mousy hair, neatening it as he continued to study the trail, and then sighed and looked across at her. “Is there a chance this trail might lead to the cabin you mentioned?”
She nodded. “It’s the route I would have taken. The cabin is quite a way away still, but this guy was heading in the right direction for it.”
Karl swept his hand out to his right. “Lead the way then.”
She shifted her pack on her shoulders to get it more comfortable and then trudged past him, making sure she trampled on the boot prints a little as she walked. Knox had done a good job of making them look as if they had been there some time, but she didn’t need Karl or the others getting a closer look at them and growing suspicious.
Wade stepped closer to her as she neared him, forcing her to brush past him, and she shuddered as they made contact. His hand brushed hers and sickness swept through her as she thought he might grab her, her heart racing as her adrenaline spiked, but his fingers dropped from her. She quickened her pace, trying to put some distance between her and Wade.
She was going to have to be careful around him.
Karl didn’t strike her as the sort of man who would stop Wade if he got a little too frisky with her.
Skye focused on Knox and the trail to purge her fear that Wade would try something, slowly relaxed again as she followed the boot prints and thought about the man who had made them. If she saw Knox again, she would find a way to make it clear to him that Wade was the biggest threat to her. She was sure in her heart that he wouldn’t let the man hurt her.
Christ, she was sure he wouldn’t let any of these men hurt her.
Ridiculous of her considering he had left her in the dead of night and disappeared.
She had no reason to believe he cared about her welfare or that he would protect her and make sure no one hurt her. No reason other than the feeling in her gut—one that screamed at her that Knox would take care of her. He would get her out of this mess.
She huffed at that. She wasn’t about to rely on him though. She would keep looking for a way to save herself. The second she saw an opening, she was taking it and getting as far from these men as she could manage.
The trees began to thin around her and she tilted her head back, her gaze tracking up the slope of the mountain that loomed over her. Its white cap was golden against the blue sky.
“It’s going to get dark soon.” She didn’t bother looking back at the men, could hear Karl was close behind her, his boots crunching in the snow as he tailed her. “We should find a place to rest.”
“We’ll keep going. We need to find whoever left this trail.” The way he said that made her feel he wasn’t convinced it was Jason who had left the boot prints.
“Your call.” She did glance back at him now. “But everyone is looking tired and I don’t think it’s wise to keep moving in the night. Plenty of wolves in these parts and they like to hunt in the dark.”
Not strictly true, but she wanted to slow the men down and she didn’t fancy trying to navigate the treacherous terrain that lay ahead of her in the pitch black. She had a flashlight, but the beam wouldn’t reach deep enough into the woods to be a comfort to her. The thought of walking in the forest in darkness while there were probably cougars and the odd wolf in the vicinity unsettled her, worsening her nerves.
“I mean, the storm only cleared up a day or two ago and the weather is nice and settled tonight. The wolf packs will probably be out hunting. It’s safer to make a fire and remain near it.” She looked beyond Karl to the others, and wanted to smile as she spotted how jittery Cooper looked again. “The trail isn’t going anywhere. We can pick it up again tomorrow.”
“I need to rest. This cold.” Cooper huddled down into his bright blue jacket.
“It might be the altitude. Are you from around here?” She smiled at him.
He shook his head. “I’m from Texas. Little place near Stanton.”
“I didn’t think you were a local with that accent.” Her smile widened and his green eyes brightened as he smiled back at her. “You sound like a cowboy. I always loved reading novels about cowboys. Do you know how to ride?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He grinned at her now. “I had a horse called—”
Wade stepped between them. “You need to give her your life story?”
Someone was jealous.
Cooper dropped his gaze to his boots and Skye filed away the fact he was clearly lower down the pecking order than Wade in their little group.
“Are the woman and the two friends that came to find her from south of the border too?” She regretted asking that when Karl scowled at her, his grey eyes glacial.
“Keep moving.” Karl looked ready to push her again so she started walking, following the trail. “You don’t need to know that information.”
“I’d like to get an idea of whether or not your friends are capable of surviving up in this valley or whether we’re just wasting time.” She shot him a black look over her shoulder.
He huffed. “They’re capable of surviving up here. The woman in particular.”
Skye found that interesting. Was the woman a local? If the woman was real that was. She still wasn’t one hundred percent convinced these men weren’t here looking for Knox. Why else would he have been out in the woods, miles from the nearest cabin, tracking the men?
She led Karl and his group closer to the mountain and stopped when the trail disappeared.
“What’s wrong?” Karl came up beside her and peered at the ground like she was. “Where’d the trail go?”
“I don’t know.” She looked around, scanning the gloom.
It was hard to make anything out as darkness rapidly approached. She shrugged out of her backpack and opened a side pocket and took out her flashlight, and slipped the pack back on. The beam was bright as she clicked the button, chasing back the shadows, and she swung it to her right and then her left, making a show of trying to find the boot prints when she knew exactly where they would be.
“There.” She directed her flashlight beam at the other side of the frozen stream to her left.
She glanced at Karl to make sure he had seen the prints too and then picked her way over the slippery rocks that dotted the ice. When she reached the other side, she waited for the men to join her.
Patrick was last and she tried to help him by shining the light on the stream so he could find his way across. He picked a different route to the one she had taken and bit out a ripe curse as his left boot slipped. His foot broke through the ice and plunged into the water.
“That’s cold!” he grumbled as he lifted his foot and made it across the rest of the boulders. He shook his left leg, shedding water onto the snow, and glared at it.
“Did any water get into your boot?” She gave him a concerned look, one that was genuine. With the temperatures so low, having a wet foot for an extended period of time would be dangerous. She had heard tales of people getting frostbite from having wet socks while on a winter hike. Mentioning it seemed like a perfect way of getting Karl to agree to taking a break for the night. “If it’s wet, I need to know. You could get frostbite from trekking in these temperatures with a wet sock. Do you want to lose your foot? We can make a fire and get it dried out for you. It’s probably best we make sure all our boots are dry and our socks too.”
Patrick paled as she said all that and threw a look at Karl. “My sock is wet. My foot feels cold.”
Everyone’s feet probably felt cold but she kept that to herself.
“We really should take a break, Karl.” She stared at him, unwilling to back down this time. “Everyone is cold. Tired. You want to screw up and get yourself killed? Because that’s how it happens. You get tired and too cold. Your mind gets sluggish. You make mistakes. One mistake up in these valleys and you’re dead. I’ve seen it happen.”
She snapped her mouth shut as hurt rolled through her, tried to steel herself against the memories that rushed into her mind, but knew she had failed when Wade looked as if he wanted to come to her and Karl looked as if he might back down.
Skye turned away from them and kept walking, not caring if they followed her. She needed a moment alone. She sucked down a breath and held it, clenched her fists and tried to purge the pain, tried to shut it down and shut out the memories that tormented her. She hadn’t thought about that day in over ten years, and she didn’t want to think about it now.
She breathed through the hurt, slowly vanquishing it as she focused on the present, denying the past. She needed to keep her head on straight, couldn’t afford to get swept up in her past and the pain that waited there, letting it distract her. She needed to heed her own advice.
One mistake and she would end up dead, not because of the valley, but because of the men. It would only take one error on her part and Karl or one of the others would kill her. Right now, she was valuable and she had to remain that way if she wanted to live.
And God, she wanted to live.
