It smashed as it hit the wooden boards near her feet.
Cameo stared at Lowe where he lay in the snow, breathing hard as adrenaline surged through her, making her limbs shake and heart race. Her eyes widened as she tried to figure out what to do, as Saint stepped out onto the deck of his cabin and immediately ducked back inside as a bullet ripped into the side wall of it.
It hit her that there was only one way to save Lowe.
She stared at him as he rolled onto his back, leaving a deep crimson patch on the snow.
She didn’t want to leave him, but if she remained, she would end up getting him killed. She glanced at Saint’s cabin. She would end up getting them all killed. She couldn’t let that happen. She had to do something.
Lowe looked at her, their eyes locking, and in that heartbeat of a moment she knew that he knew what she was going to do.
She smiled for him and then hurried down the steps to the snow and broke left, heading for the trees that lined the edges of the clearing, running north as quickly as she could manage.
“Cameo, no!” he bellowed.
Her heart ached as she forced herself to keep running, ignoring the urge to turn back and go to Lowe. She had to do this. She had to draw the man away from the people who had been so kind to her.
From the man she was coming to love.
Her breath fogged the chilly air as she ran, the cold swift to invade her sweatpants and slip icy fingers through every tiny crevice in her cream sweater. Her leg began to ache, but she pushed onwards, into the trees, and shrieked as a bullet ripped through the trunk of one she had just passed. She ducked and kept running, her heart shooting into her mouth to drum there at a fierce rate as adrenaline surged again.
Threatening to make her legs wobble beneath her.
She held it together and kept running, determined to lead the man away from Black Ridge, unsure what her plan was once she had achieved that. Would Lowe come after her? Every instinct she possessed screamed that he would. He wouldn’t let her fight this man alone.
She glanced back over her shoulder as she veered right, following the forest around, heading back towards the centre of the valley.
Bit back another shriek as a deer exploded from the bushes ahead of her, bouncing off into the distance.
The man fired again, the bullet whizzing past her as she ducked and fought to remain upright and keep running. She moved around a dense shrub and ran in a straight line with it at her back, hoping it would make it harder for the man to see where she was going.
The ache in her leg worsened, becoming a throbbing that had a pulse of heat shooting up to her thigh whenever she placed her weight on it. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep running.
She cursed herself.
She should have come up with a better plan before breaking cover. This wasn’t like her.
But the thought of the man killing Lowe had propelled her into action.
She didn’t want to die, but this was her problem, not Lowe’s. If anyone was going to be caught or killed, it should be her. Not that she intended for either of those things to happen. She rounded a stony cliff and paused, sure she recognised it. The place where she had spent the night with Lowe. Her first instinct was to hide inside, and it was hard to resist the urge as adrenaline and fatigue caught up with her, panic making her head hazy as her thoughts collided. It would be a mistake. The man was bound to check it.
Cameo kept running instead, heading past the small cave, moving north still.
Boulders dotted the land, heavy with moss and snow, surrounded by towering pines that offered her little cover. She moved from rock to rock, trying to use them to conceal her trail, making it hard for the man to spot her. She rounded a large boulder and exited on the other side of it.
Threw herself back behind it when a bullet pinged off the rock, ricocheting into the trees.
She landed hard on the dead brown pine needles and twigs, grunting as the air burst from her lungs and her leg throbbed madly. She clutched it and shuffled back onto her feet, gritted her teeth as the pain grew more intense. She had to keep moving.
Cameo looked around her at the forest.
Cursed when she realised she had run into a shallow bowl, one that had a steep slope surrounding it on all sides except the direction she had entered from. The thought of heading back the way she had come had her pulse pounding faster, so she made a break for the section of slope that looked the easiest to scale.
She scrambled up it, grabbing roots and saplings, her teeth clenched hard as every step she took had pain rolling through her.
Screamed as someone grabbed her left leg and pulled her backwards, slamming her face-first into the dirt. Cameo reacted on instinct, kicked out with her booted right foot and nailed the man in his face. He grunted and lost his grip on her. She scrambled forwards, desperate to reach the top, her heart thundering so fast she feared she would pass out.
The man grabbed her again and yanked her towards him, flipping her onto her back this time, and all thoughts of kicking him fled her mind as she came face to face with the barrel of his rifle.
Cameo swallowed hard and sank against the ground.
It was over.
A vicious roar echoed through the trees.
Chapter 15
Fire pulsed in powerful waves across Lowe’s right shoulder, stealing his breath as the snow beneath him stole his body heat. He grunted as he tried to move and growled through his fangs as they descended and he made it into an upright position. He shoved his hand to his shoulder, grimacing at the slick warm patch on his fleece shirt, and got his left foot beneath him. Pain ripped across his ribs as he lumbered onto his feet and condensed in his heart as he stared in the direction Cameo had gone.
His bear side roared for her to come back, even when the human part of him knew the reason she had run.
She had done it to protect him.
She didn’t want him pulled deeper into her trouble, into danger because of her, but he couldn’t let her do this alone. He had told her that he would help her and he meant to keep that promise.
“Lowe, wait!” Saint barked, but Lowe wasn’t listening.
He gripped his shoulder and ran, following the trail Cameo had left in the snow.
His heart pounded hard against his ribs as he raced through the trees after her, growls rolling from his lips as he thought about her in danger. Fur swept over his hands and his fangs elongated, but pain stopped his bear side from emerging.
He leaped over a fallen tree and landed hard on the other side of it, broke right as he scented Cameo in that direction, together with the disgusting smell of gun oil. Another snarl rumbled in his chest and fur raced over his hands again. The bastard would pay for shooting him. He would pay for daring to chase after Cameo.
His thoughts darkened as his instincts seized hold of him, roused by Cameo being in danger. His nails transformed into claws and he had a hard time resisting lashing out at everything that got in his way as he thundered through the forest, tracking her scent.
When her scream tore through the trees, it was game over.
His bear side roared to the fore despite the pain he was in, had the change coming over him so swiftly that it made him feel sick. His muscles expanded as his bones shortened in places and lengthened in others, his clothes tearing as his body grew in size. He landed on his front paws and kept running, shaking off the remnants of his clothing and kicking off his boots.
He roared as his paws pounded the dirt, as he scented Cameo’s fear. It drove him deep into his instincts. They swallowed him and the pain in his shoulder disappeared as a single need consumed him.