That bad feeling she had grew exponentially worse as Karl spoke in a low voice to the youngest man as he shouldered a red pack that clashed with his dazzling bright blue jacket. What were they talking about?
She eased the door of the truck closed, using it as an excuse to move closer to the men.
“I want everyone on high alert. They might have moved from those coordinates.” Karl flicked a look at the other two men.
Skye was starting to wish she had stuck to her guns about bringing her own car and hadn’t backed down when Karl had, in turn, insisted that she come with them because they had needed her to guide them back to the track and up it to the trailhead.
She really wished she had when the big man and the one who looked as if he wanted to be in the army, with his blue-and-white camo print jacket, pulled out two high-end black rifles followed by more guns.
They weren’t the hunting sort.
She had seen plenty of those in her time and had a lot of experience handling them herself.
No. These were military-grade weapons, the sort wielded by bad people in movies.
Skye had the feeling that Karl and his men weren’t here to pay a nice visit to friends after all.
She cursed herself for being so stupid as to think that four men wanting to go up a valley in the dead of winter wasn’t suspicious, cursed herself for not asking more questions, and really cursed herself for being seduced by a fat lot of cash.
When Karl glanced her way, she pretended to be busy with her pack straps, kept her eyes off him as she tried to come up with a plan. Running wasn’t an option. Her heart thundered at the thought of even attempting it, images of them gunning her down flashing across her mind to have panic prickling her spine.
She was the only one with the GPS coordinates. Karl hadn’t taken the piece of paper from her. Maybe she could lead them along a different route. If she headed for the river instead of deeper into the valley, she might be within range of the nearest cell tower. Her phone burned a hole in her pocket and she was tempted to touch it, but knew if she did that Karl would notice. He was watching her closely, as if he was waiting for her to react to the guns the men were now checking over.
Her plan was solid. No sudden moves. No revealing how scared she was. She would make up some bullshit about the easiest way to the place they wanted to reach being via the river and would take them in that direction.
Once there, she would find a way to slip away from them for a moment and would secretly call for help.
She glanced back at the men and smiled at Karl as his cold grey eyes narrowed on her.
Because she had the feeling she was going to need it.
Chapter 3
It hadn’t taken Knox long to figure out that Skye was in a whole mess of trouble. He stalked her through the woods, sticking to the shadows, keeping his distance so the men she was with didn’t spot him. His gaze remained glued to her as she navigated another steep incline, heading for the river.
She knew she was in danger.
That was the reason she was leading the men towards the frozen creek rather than deeper into the valley.
He struggled to tamp down the urge to break cover and go to her, had to fight to deny his bear instincts as he watched her, studying her as closely as Karl was as he walked behind her. When her booted feet slipped and she made a lunge for a sapling to stop herself from falling, Knox took a hard step forwards, his heart shooting into his throat as the need to go to her and help her blasted through him.
When Karl grabbed her wrist and saved her, pulled her up onto her feet and kept his damned hand on her, a different urge surged through him.
Knox growled low, the hunger to rush the man and punch him hard in the face warring with a need to shift and claw him. The sight of the man touching her had both sides of him wild with a need to defend her, to get her away from the bastard who still had his damned hand on her as he spoke to her.
He bared emerging fangs at the male, pictured a thousand ways he would kill him once he had dealt with his lackeys, and he wouldn’t be doing it for Lowe or Cameo.
He would be doing it for himself.
For Skye.
He couldn’t see her face, but he knew in his gut that she was scared as she gently twisted her wrist, easing free of Karl’s grip. She was quick to back off when the male released her, reached for the sapling she had tried to grab and turned away from him.
Knox growled again as he caught sight of her face and saw how pale she was against the hood of her black jacket. It wasn’t because she had almost fallen either. Her head turned slightly, gaze sliding towards her shoulder, as if she wanted to look back at the four males who followed her, and then she faced forwards again.
She bravely walked forwards, moving with even more caution now, stepping over roots that snaked across the narrow path that led down into another hollow. Knox lost sight of her as she moved below the level he was on. It was hard to force himself to wait until the last of the men disappeared from view too before he broke cover. He hurried through the trees, heading south from her, to a cliff that overlooked the frozen river. When he reached it, he glanced to his left, spotting Skye and the men a good one hundred feet away through the thick pines. He leaped and dropped to the ground thirty feet below him, landing in a crouch, his ears pricking as he listened to make sure no one had heard him before sprinting through the trees.
Knox stopped when he reached the river, plastered his back against the broad trunk of a lodgepole pine and listened hard. Silence. He reached out with his senses and growled when he placed Skye right at the edge of them. Further away than he had expected.
Still, it made it easier to cross the frozen, snowy surface of the river without rousing suspicion. He eased from behind the tree, his breath misting in the icy air as he studied the river. The snow was deep on it, obscuring the ice, meaning there was no way for him to know how thick it was. The river was deepest in this area, ran swiftly towards the falls just a few hundred feet to his right, closer to the town. Chances were the ice wasn’t thick enough to hold his weight, but he had to risk it.
If he got wet, well, he got wet.
He carefully nudged his foot through the snow, clearing it aside so he could see the ice beneath. It was solid at the rocky edge of the river. A good sign?
He glanced to his left, held his damned breath as he spotted Skye on the ice, her head bent as she shuffled forwards. Gods. If she went under… He didn’t want to think about it. Banished it from his mind. Skye was clever. Swift. She wouldn’t take an unnecessary risk. He knew that in his heart. If the ice looked too thin to bear her weight, she would turn back.
Although.
Knox glared at the four males who waited at the bank, watching her.
Maybe she did take unnecessary risks these days.
What had possessed her to come up into the valley with Karl and his men? She wasn’t working with them, that was for sure, and he had the feeling she wasn’t happy about the situation she had found herself in—surrounded by heavily armed men.
Had they kidnapped her?
He unleashed a low snarl at that thought. If they had, they would die a more painful death than the one he already had planned for them. He growled again, fur sweeping over his skin beneath his black clothing, the urge to shift strong as he watched Skye. If they hurt her, even laid a damned hand on her again, he was going to get imaginative with their deaths.
Really imaginative.