Black Hills

struck his temple with a crack of stone on bone.
    When he staggered, when the bow fell from his hands, she charged forward, screaming.
    He pulled the gun he’d taken off the ranger, plowed a bullet into the ground at her feet.
    “On your knees, you bitch.” Though he swayed, and blood dribbled down from the wound, the gun held steady.
    “If you’re going to shoot me, just shoot me. Goddamn you.”
    “I might. In the arm, in the leg. Not a kill shot.” He slid the knife out of his sheath. “You know how it’s going to be. But you did well. Even drew first blood.”
    He swiped at it with the back of his knife hand, glanced down at the smear. “I’ll sing a song in your honor. You brought us here, where it’s right to end. Destiny. Yours and mine. Full circle, Lil. You understood all along. You deserve to die clean.”
    He started toward her.
    “Stop where you are. Put the gun down. Step away from him, Lil,” Coop ordered as he stood on the edge of the grass.
    Shock had Ethan’s gun hand jerking. But the barrel stayed beaded on Lil. “She moves, I shoot her. You shoot me, I still shoot her. You’re the one, the other one.” He paused, nodded. “It’s only right you’re here, too.”
    “Put the fucking gun down or I’ll kill you where you stand.”
    “It’s aimed at her belly. I can get one off, maybe two. You want to watch her bleed? You back off. You fucking back off. We’ll call this a standoff. There’ll be another time. If you don’t lower that gun, I’ll put a hole in her. Lower it and I’ll ease back. She’ll live.”
    “He’s lying.” She’d seen it. That slyness again, sliding into his eyes and out. “Just shoot the bastard. I’d rather die than see him walk away.”
    “Can you live with that?” Ethan demanded. “Live with watching her die?”
    “Lil,” Coop said, trusting her to read his eyes, to understand. His finger twitched as he lowered his gun an inch.
    The cat leaped out of the brush, a streak of gold, of flashing fang and claw in the streaming moonlight. Its scream sliced through the night like silver swords. Ethan stared, eyes dazed, mouth slack.
    Then it was his scream as the cougar sank its teeth into his throat and took him down.
    Lil stumbled back. “Don’t run, don’t run!” she shouted at Coop. “It might go for you. Stop!”
    But he kept coming. Coming after her, she thought dully as her vision hazed. Kept coming to catch her when her knees finally gave way.
    “We found you.” He pressed his lips to hers, to her cheeks, her throat. “We found you.”
    “Have to move. Too near the kill.”
    “It’s Baby.”
    “What. No.” She saw the eyes gleam at her as the cat sat in the grass. Saw the blood staining his muzzle. Then it walked to her, bumped its head against her arm. And purred.
    “He killed.” For me, she thought. For me. “But he didn’t feed. It’s not—he shouldn’t—”
    “You can write a paper on it later.” Coop pulled out his radio. “I’ve got her.” Then he brought her hand to his lips. “I’ve got you.”
    “My mother. She’s—”
    “Safe. You’re both safe. We’re going to get you home. I need you to sit here while I check on Ethan.”
    “He went for his throat.” She buried her face against her knees. “Instinct. He followed instinct.”
    “Lil. He followed you.”
     
     
     
    LATER, WHEN THE worst was over, she sat on the sofa with the fire roaring. She’d taken a hot bath, sipped brandy. And still, she couldn’t quite get warm.
    “I should go see my mother. I should.”
    “Lil, she’s sleeping. She knows you’re safe. She heard your voice on the radio. She’s dehydrated, exhausted, and bruised up. Let her sleep. You’ll see her tomorrow.”
    “I had to go, Coop. I couldn’t wait. I had to go after her.”
    “I know you did. You don’t have to keep saying it.”
    “I knew you’d come after me.” She pressed his hand to her cheek, closing her eyes, absorbing the warmth. “But Matt and Tansy had to be crazy to release Baby that way.”
    “We were all crazy. It worked, didn’t it? Now he’s eating his feast of chicken and has hero status.”
    “He shouldn’t have been able to track me, not like that. He shouldn’t have been able to find me.”
    “He found you because he loves you. The same goes for me.”
    “I know.” She cupped his face in her hands. “I know.” She smiled when he leaned in to brush his lips to hers.
    “I’m not going anywhere. It’s time you believed that,