She wasn’t sure he could survive that.
She looked at him, guilt flaring inside her, an apology balanced on her lips. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t risk him being killed.
She shrieked as something exploded from the bushes behind her, fumbled with the gun as Knox thundered past her, a blur of black, and held her breath as the man swung his gun towards Knox and squeezed the trigger.
Everything happened so fast.
The loud crack of a gun firing startled her.
The fierce recoil of the rifle had her falling on her back.
Knox rolled as another gunshot rang out, ending up in a crouch next to his brother.
Adrenaline surged through her as she gripped the rifle, still staring at the end of the barrel as it lightly smoked. Her hands shook harder, every inch of her trembling as her eyes slowly widened, as what she had done gradually dawned on her.
Someone grunted.
Someone growled like a beast.
Cameo tossed the rifle away from her and sat up, desperately looking for Lowe and Knox. Knox had the man pinned to the ground, his hand wrapped around his throat, but she didn’t think it was necessary. The man wasn’t going anywhere.
He struggled for each breath as blood pumped from the wound on his chest, forming sickening rivulets over his black jacket.
The man grinned, exposing bloodied teeth, and lowered his hazel eyes to lock with hers. “This… isn’t over. You’ll… get what’s… coming… to you… bitch.”
He sagged into the dirt.
Knox’s head whipped towards her, his blue gaze darker than she had ever seen it. “What the hell does he mean by that?”
Lowe stepped up beside him, clutching his side, and looked from the dead man to her. “Karl is coming. He knows where we are.”
“How?” Knox snarled.
Cameo swallowed hard. “My pack. I had a GPS in it. He might have returned to the road and called in the coordinates.”
Knox cursed, shoved to his feet and looked at Lowe, something crossing his eyes that she didn’t like. Lowe didn’t like it either. He shook his head and went to seize hold of his brother’s arm, but grimaced as he tried to do it with his right hand. He pressed his left hand to the wound on the right side of his chest and stared at Knox as his brother backed away from him.
“I’ll head them off. I’ll keep them away from the Creek and the Ridge.” Knox kept backing away, even as Lowe limped towards him. “I’ll lead them somewhere quiet and deal with them.”
“No.” Lowe gritted his teeth, his jaw flexing. His fair eyebrows furrowed and fear lit his sapphire eyes, making her feel awful, because she was responsible for everything that was happening.
She should have left the moment the weather had cleared, shouldn’t have stuck around and got caught up in Lowe and the belief that he could help her. He had helped her, but at what cost?
His tone turned desperate as he reached for his brother with his bloodied left hand. “Just give me a minute. I’ll get some clothes. We can go together.”
Knox’s expression hardened, but there was warmth in his blue eyes as he shook his head, a wealth of love that made Cameo feel even guiltier about what he was doing. “You need to heal… and you need to take care of her.”
That only made her feel worse. The man had been here because of her. Karl was coming because of her. And now Knox was bravely heading out to face him alone.
Because of her.
He went to turn away and then pivoted to face Lowe again, closed the distance between them in two strides and wrapped his left hand around his brother’s nape. He drew Lowe to him and pressed his forehead to his.
“Warn Saint and the others.” Knox’s eyes and his tone softened as he stared at Lowe. “And take care of yourself.”
Lowe lifted his hand to cup Knox’s nape too.
But he was already gone.
Chapter 17
Lowe stared in the direction his brother had gone, his chest feeling hollower by the second as he tracked Knox with his senses and the distance between them grew. The urge to follow him was strong and had him taking a step forwards, but he clenched his fists and stopped himself. Knox was right. He wasn’t in any condition to fight and he needed to warn the others.
And take care of Cameo.
Her gaze drilled into his bare back, heating his skin, drawing his focus to her.
He waited, sure that she would say something, aware that she had seen him shift back from a bear and that she knew what he was now.
But she said nothing, just stood there staring at him, and worry for Knox began to transform into worry for her. He looked over his shoulder at her, and that worry only intensified as he saw how distant her gaze was and how pale she was.
She shook her head, causing the tangled threads of her brown-to-gold hair to brush her shoulders, and her eyes sharpened. They dropped to her body. She reached for the waist of her black sweatpants, pulling her cream sweater out of the way.
“You should take these. They’re yours.” She went to untie the laces of the sweatpants.
“No.” He limped a step towards her, grimaced as his wounds hurt, and shook his head. “I can handle the cold.”
Her brow furrowed and her eyes drifted down to his chest. They widened as she stared at it, horror crossing her delicate features, and she absently lifted her hand, flexed her fingers and then dropped it to her side and looked away from him.
“We need to get you somewhere warm,” she murmured, sounding distant again, and refused to look at him.
Lowe swallowed the lump that formed in his throat as he looked at her, as he couldn’t deny the part of him that whispered that it was over. He had ruined everything by shifting. Now Cameo would leave him. Could he really blame her?
Her gaze strayed to the dead man, the edge her eyes gained making him feel she was in shock.
As soon as it wore off, she was going to panic and run.
Could he use the time he had before that happened to convince her to stay with him and make her see that he would never hurt her, and that his being a bear shifter didn’t mean they couldn’t be together? It was worth a shot. He couldn’t just let her go without a fight.
Her eyes gradually widened, the horror in them increasing as she continued to stare at the dead man.
“Cameo.” He limped another step towards her, needing to be close to her and aching to take away the pain he could feel in her, hurt and guilt that trickled into him through their fragile bond.
“There’s no getting around it this time,” she whispered, her gaze losing focus, the panic he could sense in her mounting. “I killed a man. I need to turn myself in.”
Lowe shook his head as fear blasted through him, the thought of Cameo leaving him swift to rouse a fierce need to keep her with him, to make her stay. He couldn’t lose her.
“I can’t let you do that.” He risked another step towards her.
This time, her eyes darted to him. “I broke the law.”
Lowe eased his left hand up, the need to touch her and take hold of her too strong to deny, even when he feared he might spook her into running. “The law… Cameo, if you go to the authorities… There are people who hunt my kind. They have eyes and ears everywhere. They’ll come here. I can’t let that happen. I can’t let you turn yourself in. I can’t let you go to prison… I just can’t.”