Knox kicked off, vaulted the couch and hurled himself forwards into a roll as he hit the floorboards, snagging Wade’s assault rifle on the way past. He stopped in a crouch and raised the gun, aiming it at Karl.
Froze.
He couldn’t fire at Karl while Skye was still riding his back, clinging to him as the male slammed her into the wall again, clutching her arm now to keep her in place. He wouldn’t shoot when he would be in danger of hitting her too.
“Shoot him,” Skye gritted as Karl released her arm, reached over and managed to grab hold of her head. He bashed it against the logs behind her, ripping a pained grunt from her, but she didn’t give up the fight. She battered him with her fists, pummelling his shoulder and the side of his head, and her dark eyes leaped to Knox. “Shoot!”
Not a chance in Hell of that happening.
He shook his head. He couldn’t. She had to see that he couldn’t.
She stilled and stared at him, affection in her eyes, as if he was the most wonderful male in the universe for not wanting to risk hurting her.
Then she screamed as Karl threw her, tossing her over his head. Her legs struck the kitchen island on the way down, ripping another grunt from her, and she disappeared from view. Karl lunged for her, and Knox knew the bastard was going to use her as a shield.
He squeezed the trigger before that could happen, his eyes widening as he unleashed a hail of bullets and fought to rein in the gun and get it under control. Several of the bullets tore into Karl and the male staggered back into the corner between the first kitchen cabinet and the wall of the lodge as blood exploded from the wounds.
Knox convinced himself to release the trigger as the male slumped, blood trickling from more than a dozen holes in his black jacket.
“Shit, this is more my style.” He admired the gun as he approached the kitchen and grinned at Skye when she rolled her eyes at him.
She manoeuvred herself and sagged with her back against one of the cupboards of the kitchen island, breathing hard as her gaze drifted back to Karl. She paled a little. Looked as if she might vomit.
Knox lowered the gun and went to her. He set the gun down on the counter to his left and held his hand out to her, and breathed a sigh as she slipped hers into it. He hauled her onto her feet and into his arms, all the tension melting from him as he felt her pressing against him.
His senses sparked a warning.
He tightened his arms around Skye and rolled backwards, over the counter of the kitchen island, grunted as he landed on his injured arm on the other side of it as bullets pinged off the granite. Fuck. He had forgotten about Cooper.
Knox released Skye and pushed her behind him, gritting his teeth against the fierce sting as fresh blood bloomed on his arm. He felt her gaze on it, sensed her need to touch it, and glanced at her, silently telling her that he was fine.
His heart thundered as his mind raced, running through every scenario to find one where Skye and him would both make it out of this. Adrenaline surged, the need to shift quick to sweep through him. He couldn’t. Skye would see. He looked up at the counter above him, weighing his options. If he could reach the gun, maybe he could take Cooper down too. He cursed himself for forgetting about him.
Before he could reach for it, Skye was on her feet and making a grab for it, completely exposing herself. She ducked back down, narrowly evading being shot as another bullet ricocheted off the counter, and he wanted to growl at her when he looked over his shoulder at her and found her checking the assault rifle.
The steely look in her eyes and the image she cut as she shouldered the weapon was both deeply erotic and incredibly terrifying.
He lunged for her.
She popped up and fired off a few rounds. No wild spray of bullets from her. Each shot was controlled. She ducked back down again before Cooper opened fire on her.
“Where the hell did you learn to fire an assault rifle like that?” he hissed. “At the range?”
“No.” She shrugged. “Video games.”
His eyes widened. He wanted to snatch the weapon from her, because shooting in a virtual environment with a controller was not the same as firing a weapon in real life as far as he was concerned. It might look like she knew what she was doing, was a seasoned pro, but what did he know about guns?
Enough to shove her backwards when Cooper opened fire. Bullets tore through the cabinets, emerging from the side they were on to embed into the floorboards.
Skye scrambled ahead of him, tucking the gun to her chest as he pushed her backside, making her head behind the couch.
“Provide some covering fire for me,” he murmured quietly as he glared over his shoulder in the direction of Cooper, tracking the male with his senses.
Any moment now, the male was going to come out from behind the kitchen post and then it was game over.
The couch wouldn’t be any match for the high-powered rifle the man wielded.
“Um.” Skye rattled something.
“Um?” He didn’t like the sound of that. He glanced at her and his gaze remained locked on her as she stared at the assault rifle and the thing that was in her hand. Magazine. The magazine.
She angled it towards him. “Um.”
No bullets.
“Fuck this shit,” Knox snarled. “You’re not dying here. We’re not dying here.”
If he had to shift into a bear to make sure that happened, he would do it.
He gauged where Cooper was with his senses, tracking the male as he eased deeper into the room.
“I know you’re in here,” Cooper called out.
Beside Knox, Skye froze, locking up tight. Her fear hit him hard.
He motioned to the other end of the couch and then to his left, trying to tell her to head around the couch near the windows. She nodded, got onto her hands and knees and hurried that way, following his instructions. He drew down a breath. Then another.
Skye hissed as she reached the area where broken glass littered the floorboards and the scent of her blood hit him hard, rousing a fierce need to growl and shift, to taste that blood by sinking his fangs into her nape.
Cooper swung in her direction.
Knox harnessed all of the aggression he felt as he thought about Cooper hurting Skye, as he thought about how in danger she was, and exploded from behind the couch.
A roar shattered the tense silence.
Not from him.
And then a huge cinnamon black bear came barrelling into the lodge on a collision course with Cooper’s back.
Chapter 18
Skye couldn’t believe her eyes as the enormous bear roared as it reared up and slammed its dinner-plate-sized front paws into Cooper’s back, taking him down. The pain in her hand drifted to the back of her mind, replaced by terror as the beast snarled and bared fangs as it ripped into him with long claws, easily slicing through his blue jacket. Cooper’s agonised screams and bellows rang in her ears and she tried to look away, but she couldn’t. Her eyes remained glued to the poor man as the bear savaged him, brutally mauled him with claws and battered him with its huge paws.
Panic gripped her, the need to survive and to protect Knox blasting through her to make her move as Cooper went deathly still and silent. She scrambled for the gun he had dropped, her heart pounding so fast she felt dizzy, and her hands shook as she lifted it and aimed it at the bear. She shuffled away from it as it looked at her, tried to stand to move but her legs were like noodles beneath her.