He twisted the two strands of the rope together into one, sucked down a deep breath to gather his strength and tugged on it. Saint growled as he slid backwards, the rope biting into his sides.
“At least the snow makes some things easier,” Lowe grunted and turned, set the rope over his right shoulder and hauled Saint towards the cabin.
Saint didn’t fight him, which was one thing he had going in his favour. Lowe fought to keep his footing on the compacted snow, digging his heels in with each step so he didn’t fall flat on his face every time he tugged Saint forwards. When they reached the steps, Lowe turned back to face the bear, gripped the rope in both hands and yanked him up the first step and then the next one.
When Saint’s head hit the bottom step, he snarled and grunted and began fighting Lowe. It was a weak attempt at escape, one that spoke of how tired Saint was. Lowe held on to the rope, refusing to let Saint have his way, dragging him up onto the deck.
Lowe reached the door and released the rope, huffed as he looked at Saint’s round backside and the gap he had to pull it through, and then at the interior of the cabin.
“Should’ve moved the damned furniture earlier.” He swiped the back of his hand across his forehead, clearing the sweat away, and went into the cabin.
He kept his senses pinned on Saint so he couldn’t make a break for it as he moved the couch out of the way, clearing enough room in front of the log burner, and then went back to him.
“Getting your fat ass into this cabin is going to hurt. Just remember… it’s your own damned fault.” Lowe grabbed the rope and began tugging.
Saint growled and groaned as Lowe hauled him backwards, as his rear got stuck in the doorway and Lowe had to brace his left foot against the frame for leverage. The big bear pushed onto his back feet and shuffled forwards, his weakest attempt at escape yet. He ended up flat on his stomach, stretched out long before Lowe.
“Thought that would get you moving.” Lowe grinned and wanted to congratulate himself on making this whole thing a lot easier for him.
Saint didn’t respond, just sank against the wooden boards of the deck and went far too still for Lowe’s liking.
Lowe gripped his hind legs, pulling them out behind him, and shook him. “Don’t sleep now, buddy. Rise and shine.”
Saint moaned at him, the low rumbling groan sounding mournful. Yeah, Lowe had been there. He had been there more times than he wanted to admit, and he had thought he had learned his lesson, but his gaze strayed to his right, his mind fixed on a point a few hundred feet beyond the thick log wall that blocked his view.
Cameo was beautiful, smelled like heaven, and fit against him so perfectly that all he wanted to do for the rest of his life was hold her in his arms.
Part of him warned that no good would come of this, while the rest ached to see her again.
“What’s gotten you so down anyway? So the cougars took the female back. You should have known it would happen.” Lowe shoved thoughts of Cameo out of his head and hauled Saint backwards into the cabin.
Saint responded to that by digging his five-inch-long front claws into the wood, splintering it as he tried to anchor himself and stop Lowe from pulling him. It was just as Lowe had suspected then. His alpha had fallen for the female, was miserable without her, and thought it was all over.
Lowe sighed. Some females were worth fighting for and he had the feeling this female was one of them, and so was Cameo.
He pulled Saint in front of the fire and the big bear lay there, his front and hind legs stretched out on the wooden floorboards.
“You look like a fucking rug.” Lowe stepped over him and went to a cupboard near the stairs, rifled around the shelves and found what he was looking for.
He grabbed the large black bag, went back to Saint and set it down near his head. Saint bared fangs at him, a pathetic attempt to warn him away that Lowe wasn’t going to heed.
“Yeah, I’m about to let you bleed out. I don’t think so.” Lowe pulled bottles and bandages from the bag and scowled at him, at all that thick, coarse brown fur that stood between him and Saint’s injuries. “You could make this a lot easier on both of us by shifting back.”
But that feeling struck him again, the one that said Saint was staying in his bear form because it was easier to handle the hurt that way. It wasn’t like Saint to be like this. Lowe couldn’t remember ever seeing him caught up in a female.
Lowe tended to his shoulder as best he could, cleaning the wound and mopping up the blood with towels. He was almost done with the first of Saint’s injuries when the bear suddenly decided to move, almost knocked Lowe on his ass as he tried to stand. Lowe grabbed him and shoved him back down, making him stay.
“Now you get feisty?” Lowe huffed and went back to tending to his wound, secretly relishing the stronger sign of life from Saint. Maybe his alpha was going to be all right after all. Maybe there was still enough fight left in him for him to make it through his heartache and find the strength not to let the female get away from him. “Just lay there and accept your fate.”
He worked to clean the next wound, losing himself in the task, trying to keep his thoughts off Cameo. His heart wanted to think about her though. He needed a distraction, a better one than saving his half-dead alpha apparently.
Movement behind him had him stiffening, fearing that it was Cameo and she had left the safety of his home and snuck up on him while he had been focused on Saint. But it wasn’t her soft scent that hit him.
It was a masculine one.
“Christ! What happened to him?”
Lowe had never been so relieved to hear his twin’s voice as Knox stepped into the room and sank to his knees beside him on the wooden floorboards.
Lowe flinched in time with Saint as he dabbed at the wound on the bear’s right shoulder, cleaning the last of the deep grooves in his flesh. “I came back and found him out in the snow like this. Don’t know how long he was out there, but I do know it was the cougars. The female is gone. Place reeks of them.”
“I’ll murder them.” Knox’s voice lost its sharp edge as he looked back over his shoulder into the clearing. “Gods, look at all that blood. You think it’s all his?”
Lowe nodded and looked at Knox, tried to keep all their spirits up as he said, “He’ll be fine.”
He didn’t really believe that and the look on Knox’s face said he didn’t either.
“I was about to kick your ass for running off like that, but now… I’ll save it for later.” Knox ran a shaky hand over his dark blond hair, mussing it. “I don’t want to think about what would have happened if you hadn’t come back here. Someone needs to put those cougars down.”
Lowe slid a look at his brother, worry arrowing through him. “No one is going off to start a war. Saint needs us here.”
“Why didn’t he just shift back and come inside?” Knox eyed the wound and then Lowe. “Wound like that is painful, sure, but no reason to lay out in the snow waiting for help.”
Lowe gave him a look, one he knew had conveyed his suspicions when Knox’s expression only grew darker and more grim.
Saint hadn’t been waiting for help.
He had been waiting for the cougar female to come back.
Or death to take him.
Knox huffed, grabbed one of the clean towels, and stood. He went to Saint’s rear and started drying his fur and massaging his legs, warming him up. His brother was right. Saint might want to give up, but they couldn’t, and they wouldn’t let him either. They would get him healed and then they would convince him to follow his heart and fight for the female.