Her thighs clenched and knees bent as she prepared to sprint to the tree. The backs of her heels rose off the ground as she leaned forward. But before she could take a single step, the truck stopped. Its red tail lights cast an ominous glow through thedarkness.
The bear turned as the truck whipped around. It pointed directly at the bear. Screeching tires caught on the road as a cloud of gray smoke blasted from underneath. The truck lurched forward, picking up speed as it closed in onthebear.
Madison panicked and ran toward the bear. Somehow, Mack had become that creature and she didn’t want him to die. She didn’t have time to think; she simply reacted to a primal need to save the animal. But she wasn’t fastenough.
The bear leapt to the side as the truck roared past. It clipped the bear’s hind leg before skidding toastop.
She rushed into the space between the bear and thetruck. “No!”
Ben leaned out of the window. “Get out of the way. I’m going to kill thatthing.”
“Leave it alone. Justleave.”
“It’s going tokillyou.”
She didn’t know why, but in her heart, she knew the bear wouldn’t hurt her. The realization didn’t make any sense, but nothing about the situation made sense, so she had to rely oninstinct.
“Suit yourself. If it kills you, then it takes care of the kidproblemtoo.”
Her spine went ramrod straight. “Fuck you, Ben. You son of abitch.”
The bear took several running steps before jumping onto the top of the cab of the truck. He swept his paw into the open window less than a second after Ben lunged out of the way. Ben hit the gas. The truck raged forward, throwing the bear over the top into the bed in the back. As if unfazed, the bear dug its claws into the roof of the truck’s cab. Ben ducked. She couldn’t tell if he’d been hit or not because it wastoodark.
As the truck hurled forward, the bear ripped part of the roof off and tossed it to one side. The truck teetered as it quickly swerved from left to right. When it suddenly skidded to a stop, the bear flew over the top of it. The bear landed in a heap. The truck backed up then stopped. Ben gunned theengine.
Her gaze darted from the truck to the bear and back. She wasn’t close enough to get between the truck and the bear. Helpless, she watched as Ben raced toward the bear. The grill flashed as it closed in on the animal. With just seconds to impact, the bear raised its head and rolled to its feet. It scrambled to get out of the way and ran into theforest.
Ben pulled the truck up alongside her. “Getin.”
She looked from Ben to the area in the woods where the bear had disappeared. Fur flashed for a second before the bear launched itself onto the passenger side of thetruck.
“Shit!” Benyelled.
She ran toward the truck. Even if Ben was an ass, he didn’t want to kill her. She didn’t think the bear wanted to kill her either, after all, he’d had ample opportunity. But she wasn’t ready to risk her life on ahunch.
As she reached for the driver’s side door handle, the truck lunged forward. She fell face down in the snow. The bear rolled off the side of the truck, landing close enough to her that she could hear its raggedbreath.
She leapt to her feet and watched the red tail lights disappear. He wasn’t coming back. Damn him forleavingher.
She didn’t want to stick around and see what the bear would do next, so she ran toward the house. The crunch of paws in the snow behind her kicked her heart beat into overdrive. She spun to face the bear. It stopped. Too afraid to move, she froze inplace.
The bear sniffed the ground. It looked up and stepped closer. In an incremental series of movements, she inched closer to the house. She held up a hand as she walked backward up the porch steps. “Don’t come anycloser.”
Chapter9
She’d never beeninside the brothers’ house, so the layout was completely unknown. As she rushed through the living room, she looked left then right. Where the hell were all thebrothers?
A slow horror washed over her. They were at the B&B eating dinner. The distance between the houses would make it impossible to reach the safety of the other brothers, so she had no choice but to stay put. But she didn’t want to be defenseless, so she ran into the kitchen. There had to be something here that she could use as aweapon.
As she yanked open the drawers, she scrambled through the contents looking for anything that she could use. When she opened a drawer near the sink, she found a tray filled with knives. She grabbed one and held it in her trembling fist. Now she just needed a placetohide.
She crossed the living room and headed down the hall. After opening the first door, she discovered an office. The second door led to a bathroom, and the third door opened to a laundry room. Any of the rooms would have been okay, but she really wanted to hide in acloset.
The door to the fourth room led into a bedroom. As she slipped inside, the front door slammed. She jumped. The bear was comingforher.
When she opened the closet door, she quickly scanned its contents to make sure she had enough space to hide. Fortunately, it was a walk-in closet. She softly closed the door behind her and stepped between two men’s suits. She couldn’t do anything about her feet showing, but she couldn’t risk rattling around and giving away herposition.
Damn, in her rush, she’d forgotten to close the bedroom door. She may as well have painted a neon sign saying “I’m in here bear, comeeatme.”
