by Diana Downey
As I shimmy backward, a hairline fissure spawns from underneath Loki and zigzags toward me. When it pops and crackles under my chest, my stomach leaps into my throat. I have to get off this ice.
Using my fist, I smash his hand holding onto me. The ice splits wider under my chest. His grip on me tightens, his weight slowly pulling me into the crevasse. My body tenses, cramping as I dig my toes into the ice. My heart thumps against my breast and blood pulses in my ears.
Loki has both hands on my arms while he climbs up me. He’ll pull me in too. I try to shake him loose, but he keeps scrambling upward, and the ice continues to crumble under me. He has a hold of my pack. I could let it go, but I’d lose my mom’s ring and sneakers.
Oh hell no. I’ll be damned if I give him those. I tug on the pack then slam my fist into the bullet wound on his shoulder. One of his hands lets loose, so I pry the other one free.
Desperation flashes in his eyes. “Don’t. No.”
“That’s for my mom.”
His grasp loosens, and he plummets into the gaping abyss, his eyes wild with fear.
As I scoot back on my stomach, the ice crumbles all around me, and the pack slips from my fingers. I snatch at it, just catching the strap while scrambling backward. The snow and ice I lie on is giving way while my feet search for solid rock.
After getting out of harm’s way and to my feet, I peer over the edge. Loki’s about a hundred feet down, and his legs are bent at an awkward angle. A puddle of blood pools around his head, and the rifle is now out of his reach.
Hurrying away, I clamber down the ridge toward the river, my legs shaky from the exertion and fear. Gasping for air, I rush back to the cabin for the gun and the snow mobile. There’s no way I’ll leave Shane, though the thought of facing his brother knots every muscle in my back and shoulders. What the hell happened to Shane? Is he dead already?
Chapter Twenty-six
Shane
My arms fly up to protect my face from the bear’s razor-like claws while the bear’s musky odor fills my mouth. Just as I expect to be slashed open, Red jumps on top of the bear’s back, driving his knife into the hide of the animal. It lets out a deep-throated howl, swinging around and flinging Red off its back.
I roll over to push myself up, but my leg won’t support any weight. Blood flows from the wound, and I can’t tell if an artery was hit. If it was, I’ll bleed out.
The bear spins back toward Red, its claws long rakes slashing through Red’s parka and exposing his flannel shirt beneath. Despite the nagging gash in my leg spilling blood, I extend my arm to reach for my rifle.
I snatch it up and take aim, but not before the bear’s teeth and claws rip open Red’s gut.
“No,” I scream. It’s Skyler all over again. My heart has been yanked from my chest. I fire off a shot, catching the bear in its hindquarter. The kickback slams into my bad shoulder that’s still bleeding.
Rather than turning on me, the grizzly trots off into the trees, leaving my brother’s guts laid open. I crawl over to him and pull his head onto my lap.
There’s not a damn thing I can do while the steaming blood gushes out of him. Half his shiny intestines spill out of him.
“Damn you,” I cry, trapped between my sense of frustration and helplessness and relentless grief.
“I had to save your sorry ass,” he rasps, blood cresting his lips. His breathing is ragged, and his heart thrums weakly against my arm. He spits out blood. It reminds me of him…of Skyler, finding him in Dad’s arms in the snow. So much blood.
I choke on the tears. “Stay with me, Red.”
He clutches the collar of my parka, tears swimming in his eyes. “Take care of my boy, Shane. I’m sorry. I always fuck everything up. I wish things had been different. You know I love you.”
“I will.” I say, though I don’t know how I’ll care for a child when I go to prison.
I hold him close while we both lose blood. My head feels light, but I can’t let go of Red to tend to my wounds. I rest my head against a tree.
“Member when we went fishing on the Kenai with Dad?” When he laughs, blood dribbles from his mouth. “You were so proud catching that forty pound king salmon. You were just a little squirt.”
My mind replays me holding the fish for a photo, grinning big, while Red and Dad patted my back, proud of my accomplishment. Dad took all of us hunting and fishing, even our little sister Julie. We had fun together growing up in Alaska.
Red’s eyes blink, shutting out the grey clouds hanging over us like death. “Or the first time you shot a moose. The rifle kickback knocked you on your ass.” He chuckles then gags on the blood caught in his throat.
We’ve shared many memories, most of them good, some painful.
“Sky, is that you?” he mumbles, his eyes glazing over. He swallows and stares up at the clouds, a light snow starting to fall.
As I cling to him, his breaths become uneven and finally run out. I hug him to my chest. “Shit. Damn you, Red.”
Cyn has probably left for town by now, then I think about how well she listens and Loki confronting her. We’ll both die alone. I shouldn’t have left her for the bear, then my brother would still be alive.
I close my eyes and give my brother one last squeeze. I reach for my backpack to pull out a bandana. After wrapping it around my leg, I try to stand. Blood pours over the tourniquet. There’s no way I can walk on this without hemorrhaging to death.
With the rifle across my chest, I lie back onto the snow, letting the cold seep into me. I shudder and wonder if I should crawl back to the cabin. I take Red’s rifle. Dad wouldn’t forgive me if I left it because Red used it in Afghanistan.
I stumble down the hill slinging Red’s rifle over my shoulder. I don’t even get a hundred feet when dizziness takes over, promising to suck me under.
My leg cramps. I tumble down the incline while snow plasters my face. Rolling over, I face the cold, wet snow drifting onto me and sticking to my beard.
Cyn, I hope she got away and that she’s in Tonakwa at my dad’s.
Watching my blood pink the snow, I roll over and crawl. I’ll be damned if I’m going to die out here, and I have to find Cyn.
The whining of an engine stirs me from my stupor while I drag myself down the mountain. A smile lights up my face when I see her. She’s okay. A laugh escapes my lips because her naturally black roots overpower the blonde mane.
Where the hell is Loki? She must’ve gotten away, so another grin takes over my face.
She pulls alongside me. “Oh my God Shane, you’re hurt.”
Blood seeps from my wounds. “So you noticed, Princess.” I feel loopy from the blood loss, like I’ve drunk a fifth of bourbon and then some.
Cyn helps me onto the back of the snowmobile then takes my rifle and Red’s to strap them down.
“I’d feel more manly if you’d let me drive,” I tease.
Her pretty brow scrunches up for me. “You’re so pale.”
She takes off her pack and glances behind me. “Oh, shit.” She fumbles for something in her pack and pulls out the bear spray, even though she has my gun strapped on.
I turn around to see the bear charging us. Its teeth are bared. “Give me my Glock, Cyn.”
She drops her pack onto the ground to hold the can with both hands. I struggle for my tied-down rifle.
My grizzly barrels toward us until he’s ten feet from us.
“Spray the damn thing.” Since she isn’t using my handgun, I continue to tug on my rifle.
Just as the bear reaches a few feet from us, it stands on its hind legs, towering and roaring over us. She sprays the damn thing in its nose and mouth. The bear howls, sneezing, its eyes watering, and lowers onto its four paws. It picks up Cyn’s light daypack and trots off.
As she starts to follow it, I snag her jacket to hold her back. “Don’t be stupid.”
“It’s got my mother’s engagement ring,” she cries.
“After I get you settled and the doc stitches me up, I
’ll come back out and get your pack.” Unless the bear ditches it somewhere.
“How can you go after the bear in your condition?”
I blow out a breath while knives stab my leg. “I wounded the bear, so it’ll be easy to track, and no one else will hunt my bear. It’s mine.”
Cyn looks around. “Where’s Red?”
Even the mention of his name drills another hole into my heart. “He’s dead. The bear got him.”
Her face crumples. “I’m so sorry, Shane.”
Not as sorry as I am. Her eyes shine with sympathy, and in that moment, I know I love her. “Kiss me, Princess.”
She lightly kisses me on the lips careful not to press on my injured body.
With my good arm, I tug her close, my hand grabbing that bountiful ass. “Kiss me like you mean it.”
She stares after the bear where it disappeared into the trees. “How can you possibly think about sex at a time like this?”
“I already told you that it’s not about sex for me. It’s because I’m with you.”
Her gaze drags over me, and this time her mouth covers mine and she kisses me with the same hunger and yearning that I feel.
“You better get me to the hospital before I die,” I say, breaking the kiss before I pass out.
She smacks my arm attached to my bleeding shoulder. I grit my teeth from the pain shooting up it, and if I weren’t so messed up, I’d grab a handful of her ass to make up for it.
My princess hops onto the snowmobile and revs the engine. “Stupid idiot.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
Cyn
Every bump we hit along the way causes Shane to groan. His usual ruddy complexion has blanched to a dull grey, and that terrifies me. Is he dying? And I didn’t mean to hit his bad shoulder.
I’m a bundle of nerves when we finally reach the town, and I can only describe it as small. The driveway to my ranch is longer than the short row of clapboard buildings. A few people dressed in seal furs waddle into what I imagine is a store, but by the size cannot hold much more than a few pounds of frozen fish and canned goods.
“Are those Eskimos?” I ask, stealing a quick glance at him.
“Yup’ik,” he rasps, clutching his leg that’s oozing blood. If it’s even possible, he looks worse. Worry drops into my stomach, like an anchor.
I scan the town, and nothing’s really marked other than Sally’s, which is probably the saloon. “Where do I go?”
He points at a hut. Chicken wire and rusty nails hold its weathered wooden planks together.
“There?” My nose crinkles. “Are you sure? It doesn’t look safe.”
Shane only grunts his reply, so I stall the snowmobile in front, hop off it, and hurry inside. Sitting behind an ancient desk riddled with wormholes, a man with greying hair and bloodshot eyes looks up at me from where he was apparently sleeping.
He gives me a lopsided grin. “You don’t look familiar, and if it’s not an emergency, I was up late with a moose trampling a hunter.”
I swallow down my tears. “It’s Shane.”
Grabbing a bag, the man jumps to his feet to follow me outside. He examines Shane’s leg before saying, “You stupid son-of-a-bitch. What the hell did you do this time?” He glances at me. “Help me get him into my office.”
With an arm around us both, Shane hobbles into the hut where we help him onto an examining table. Grey light creeps in through the clapboard to expose the dingy interior. When I look around, I see anatomy charts for animals and humans. Who is this man?
“Is he going to live?” I ask, choking down the emotion clamoring to get out.
He laughs, which I take as a good sign. “We can only hope he doesn’t, so I don’t have to keep stitching him up.”
Before closing the curtain, he says to me, “I need to swear at him in private.”
I walk back outside into the snow and search in Shane’s pack for fresh clothes before coming back inside. I throw them on top of the curtain rod.
In the doctor/vet/emergency care hut, I wait behind the curtain while the doctor or whatever he is argues with Shane.
“Just patch me up, Wendell,” Shane says. “I don’t need a lecture.”
“You’ve lost a lot of blood,” Wendell says. “I should get your sister in here to give you some.”
“I’ll be a cheap drunk. Ow, dammit. Go a little easy there.”
“Quit complaining, ya goddamn pussy.”
They exchange a few more obscenities, but all-in-all, it’s friendly banter, like they’ve known each other for years. It makes me wonder what it’s like to know every single person in a town that’s no larger than my shoe closet.
I take a seat on the rickety desk, worrying it might collapse under my weight. My mind works over what Loki told me. I don’t think my dad wants me dead. He made me stop doing the books.
Dad only manages the estate temporarily because the ranch belongs to us girls. If I’m dead, Fay will have control of the ranch. Me dying in the wilderness would be an accident, but Loki murdered Blake in cold blood.
Anyone who could testify against Fay is dead.
The pseudo doctor whisks the curtains to the side to show Shane pulling up a fresh pair of jeans. He winks at me as he tucks in his soft grey flannel shirt that smells of him.
Shane drapes an arm around my shoulder. “Wendell, this is Cynthia Diaz.”
“If you’re with this sorry ass son of a bitch, my apologies.” Wendell lays a hand on Shane’s good shoulder. “Take those antibiotics and don’t forget to come back for the rabies booster shots. It’s rare when wolves attack humans, but we shouldn’t take any chances, and dammit, kill that stupid bear before it kills anymore of us. You’ve been dragging it out for years. What kind of goddamn hunter are you?”
Shane thins his lips. “I’m working on it.”
Wendell nods to me and uses a much more pleasant tone. “Nice to meet you. Staying long?”
“I have to go home to let Willa know I’m all right. How do we contact the police?” I doubt seriously this town has any.
“Shane’s dad has a VHF radio, and I think Bill just bought a satellite phone,” Wendell says, tucking his hands into his lab coat pockets.
“We’ll take care of it, Cyn.” Shane’s fingers graze my cheeks while he smiles at me. “Thanks, Wendell.”
Shane’s touch fires underneath my skin, kindling heat between my breasts so that despite the draft, beads of perspiration pop up in preparation of the next smoldering connection between the two of us.
“Sorry about your brother,” Wendell says. “We’ll go get him before the sun sets.” Which isn’t that much longer. Since I’ve been here, the days have already gotten significantly shorter.
A hint of sadness flickers in Shane’s eyes. “Thanks again, Wendell.” Shane nods, his brow wrinkling. “See ya around.”
The streets are fairly empty, except for the few native Yup’ik Eskimos riding snowmobiles.
Shane drives the snowmobile to a small cabin surrounded by tall pines, a half mile out of town. He helps me off and despite his injuries, the strength in his arms pull me toward him. “I never thought I’d want a princess.” His lips descend onto mine, the pressure of his mouth forcing mine open, his tongue wet and hungry, his breathing raspy, and the heat of his body seeping into me. “I’ve never desired any woman the way I crave you.”
He opens the cabin door to escort me inside.
“We weren’t expecting you so soon,” a tall pretty brunette about my age says, “and you’re not Shane’s fiancée.” She watches Shane hobble inside and studies my disheveled appearance. “What the hell happened, Shane?”
I offer my ungloved hand that’s semi-clean, minus the lack of a manicure for the past week. “I’m Cynthia Waits, and you must be Shane’s sister.”
She gives me an odd look then turns toward Shane.
“Where’s Pops, Julie?” Shane asks.
“Right here.” A man appears around the corner, not as large as Shane, but with th
e same soft celery green eyes, except his dad has crow’s feet that starburst from the corner of his eyes.
Shane inhales slowly. “The bear killed Red.”
Julie cries out, covering her hand over her mouth, her anguish spilling into her hazel eyes. “How?”
Feeling like an outsider and intruder, I step behind Shane.
His dad shakes his head. “That damn bear.”
“Wendell says he’ll help retrieve Red,” Shane says.
“I’ll grab Bill. Where’s Red at?”
Shane tells him exactly where he left his brother, which loses me. I don’t think I could find my way back in the dark.
Tears cascade down Julie’s cheeks, so I pull her into my arms where she sobs into my parka. I don’t know what else to do.
“Think you’ll be ready to hunt the bear in a day or two?” his dad asks.
“Yeah.” Shane wraps an arm around me. “It attacked Red and me both.”
“I’ll get the rifles, Pops,” his sister says, biting her lip. Moisture sparkles in her eyes. “I’ll meet you outside in a few minutes.”
“You should probably use mine,” Shane says, exhaustion settling into his masculine carved face. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
He steps outside, and Julie cocks her head. “So how did you get here?”
“It’s a long story.” I give her the basics, hoping Shane returns to interrupt, but he doesn’t. Through the window, I can see he’s talking to his dad and Wendell.
“You aren’t Shane’s usual type,” she says, assessing me.
“And that is?” Not a princess is what I expect.
“Bat shit crazy. That Nikita, she wasn’t all there and don’t get me started on Lindsey. She went after Shane with a knife.”
I stifle a laugh because her gaze trails after Shane and her dad discussing Red. “Maybe he deserved it.”
She gives me a half-hearted smile. “Could be.”
My first meeting of Shane comes to mind, and how he treated his sister. “Is it true Shane used to watch over you and your brother?”
“Yeah.” She smiles at some distant memory. “He used to paddle me—many times. He has a temper. The last time was in Austin, but to tell the truth, he saved me. There was this boy, and I thought he hung the moon.”
