Cooper had looked ready to piss himself and Knox had been sure he could take the male down, freeing Skye.
And then the Texan had pulled himself together and fired the rifle, giving Knox no choice but to retreat to avoid being shot. He was no use to Skye injured.
Gods. He scrubbed his aching hand down his face. He wasn’t sure he was any use to her uninjured either. He should have been able to get her away from the males, should have kept his head and picked them off one by one as they panicked. Instead, he had made a beeline for her, leaving two men at his back who could have shot him, and coming dangerously close to being shot by the third because he had charged at him across open ground.
Knox gritted his teeth and growled through them. He flung his head back as frustration and rage got the better of him, every muscle in his body tensing as he unleashed another growl, this one loud enough that several roosting birds in the trees around him flew off into the night in panic.
He shoved away from the tree and paced again, breathing hard as he fought to calm himself. His bear side roared impatiently within him, a snarling and seething beast that urged him to find Skye. His female needed him. He couldn’t. Not yet. He needed a few more minutes to rein his instincts back under control, to shut down the wild, reckless side of him that wanted to listen to his primal need to protect her. If he didn’t get it under control, he was liable to do something stupid.
Like charging across open ground at an armed male.
He grimaced and paced harder, anger at how that male had treated Skye, stopping her from escaping and hurling her to the ground, replaced with anger directed at himself. He ran both of his hands through his hair and held his head as he walked back and forth, taking agitated strides between two fir trees. He should have held it together and stuck to the plan. Take out the solo male and then take advantage of the panic his death caused to divide and conquer his enemy.
Knox twisted and sank against a tree, the bark rough against his bare back. He exhaled hard. Cursed again.
He wasn’t going to get another chance like that.
They were going to be more careful now.
He would have to find another way to get Skye away from them.
He pulled down a deep breath and then another, calming his racing heart, purging the fury that burned like fire in his blood. With each breath he managed, his mind slowly cleared and his bear side gradually settled as his thoughts turned from how he had failed Skye to how he was going to save her. He would save her.
There had to be a way.
One that wouldn’t get them both killed.
He pushed away from the tree, strode to his clothes and tugged them on as he channelled his inner-Lowe. His twin would have been proud of him as he considered all the angles, ran through every scenario and tried to come up with a plan.
Tried being the operative word.
Knox finished tying his boots as his thoughts turned to his brother. He hoped Lowe and Cameo were both all right. He pushed to his feet and hurried towards the camp, his senses stretching out around him to locate Skye. Lowe had been injured when Knox had left him, part of the reason he had decided to be the one to deal with Karl and his men in order to protect Cameo. The thought of his brother out here, already wounded and trying to take down Karl turned his stomach and filled him with a burning need to deal with the male as soon as possible.
He knew Lowe.
As soon as he was able, Lowe would be coming to find him. His twin always had been a worrier.
Knox had this though.
He did.
He slowed his pace when he detected movement at the edges of his senses and eased forwards through the trees, using them as cover as he closed the distance between him and what he had felt. Skye’s scent swirled around him, faint on the chilly night air but growing stronger as he approached the signatures he had picked up. It had to be her.
He slipped through the shadows, peering ahead of him into the darkness, relief swift to roll through him as he saw flashlights cutting through the gloom and Skye’s scent grew stronger still. Shadowy figures appeared in the forest as he closed in on her and he eased back a few feet, until he could just about make them out. At this distance, they wouldn’t be able to see him. His heightened vision revealed them to him without the need for a light. He tugged the hood of his black jacket up just in case anyway, covering his head, and tracked them.
They were moving slowly. Cautiously. Knox figured it wasn’t only because of the darkness. All of them had looked tired before he had made the decision to attack Patrick and he had panicked them too. Regular fatigue and that caused by the drop in adrenaline was probably combining to make them all more tired than they had been before, slowing them down as their bodies and minds struggled to keep going.
Knox tailed them, still trying to come up with a plan. There had to be a way to get close enough to help Skye without blazing into the middle of the males and placing her in danger.
Or more danger than she was already in, anyway.
He scoped out the area they were passing through and relief was swift to sweep through him when he realised they had passed Black Ridge in the dark. His brother and his pride were safe then. Gods, that was a load off his shoulders. He just had to hope that Skye kept heading north towards the glacier, keeping his kin safe and giving him time to find a way to save her.
They suddenly stopped and Knox eased closer, curious as to why they had come to an abrupt halt. Cooper and Wade headed down the slope a little and then stopped, and turned slightly away from each other. Wade relieved himself against a tree while Cooper moved a few steps further from him and picked a bush.
Knox slid his gaze back towards Karl and Skye. She sank against a tree, facing towards him. Her sigh said what he could already feel in her. She was tired and worn down, on edge still.
The urge to go to her and hold her rushed through him again. He planted his right hand against the nearest tree and dug his emerging claws into the thick bark, anchoring himself to deny that need.
How different would things have been if he’d had the balls to see her again?
Seeing Lowe with Cameo had opened up the wound in his chest that had been festering for the last two years, poisoning his mind. Plenty of bear shifters found their mates in humans just like his brother had—just like Knox had—but it was different for him.
Or maybe it wasn’t.
Maybe all bear males who were given a mortal fated female worried as much as he had over the last couple of years.
He knew how strong he was, had never been more aware of it than he was whenever he was near Skye, and he knew how rough he could be. He wasn’t gentle like his brother. Lowe was level-headed and calm, rolled with things and didn’t let them bother him. Knox wasn’t like that. He hated to admit it, but he was quick to anger, had a temper that sparked at the slightest thing, and he was far more aggressive than his brother.
Lowe had been given all the good parts of their parents.
Knox had been given all the bad ones.
When his mood took a dark turn and anger seized hold of him, he had a bad tendency to lash out at others, both physically and verbally. The thought of Skye in the firing line of that side of him turned his stomach and had him wanting to take a step back from her.
She was too good for him.
He only had to look at her to know it.
He had seen her hold her own in a brawl and had seen her lay down the law with men twice her size, but she was kind and gentle too, had a big, warm heart that hadn’t deserved to get a dent put in it by him.