Page 73 of A Rebel's Shot

He didn’t have time to react. One moment, Merritt was behind him, her hand clasped in his. The next, she was gone, swallowed by the thick tangle of branches and fallen trees that littered the game trail.

“Merritt! No!”

He scrambled toward the sound, climbing over a trunk in the way, fear lending him a burst of adrenaline that momentarily banished the pain in his knee. He didn’t see her, but he heard her muffled cry, the sound coming from somewhere beneath a jumble of branches and a fallen tree trunk as thick as his torso.

“Merritt, talk to me!”

“I’m here,” she gasped, her voice tight with pain. “I’m stuck.”

He reached her, relieved to find her mostly intact, though a nasty scrape marred her cheek. Her legs were wedged underneath the fallen tree with the branches caging her.

“What’s broken?” He eased toward her.

“Nothing.” She shook her head. “Just banged up.”

Tiikâan thanked God the crack he’d heard was a tree limb and not her.

“Don’t move.” He dropped to his knees beside her.

“I’m trying not to.” Her voice trembled.

He gently broke branches, trying to get enough cleared away from her body so he could pull her out.

As soon as she was clear, he’d hoist her up, find level ground, build a fire, and they’d laugh about this later.

“Okay, Merr.” He shifted closer, ignoring the groan of protest from his knee. “Tell me what’s going on. Can you crawl out?”

“Tree’s moving.” Her voice was barely a whisper as she pointed beyond him with wide eyes.

His head snapped up, his gaze darting to the trunk he’d vaulted getting to her. It rolled slowly from its anchor in the loose dirt. The thick, moss-covered woodcreaked ominously above them, a deep, guttural sound that sent a surge of adrenaline coursing through him.

No time.

Think later.

“Merritt, I need you to move, now!”

She tried, straining against the branches, her face contorted with pain.

“I can’t.”

“Come on, babe.” He grabbed her hand and yanked, pulling with everything he had.

She came free in a rush, falling against his chest as the tree trunk groaned above them and shifted a final time.

“Move!” She shoved him as she scrambled to the protection of a boulder off to the side, her terror tangible.

He didn’t need to be told twice, but his knee screamed, making his world spin.

Pain exploded across his back and side as the tree splintered around him, pushing him into the rock Merritt hid behind. The boulder dug into his ribs with bone-jarring force, stealing his breath.

The world tilted, the tree a roaring monster as it crashed down the mountainside. Merritt’s terrified gasp was a whisper against the roar. He clung to the boulder, to consciousness itself as the earth shuddered beneath them.

Then, silence.

His ears rang with it, the absence of sound deafening after the roar of the falling tree. His chest ached with each shallow breath, the pain in his side a white-hot searing that threatened to buckle his knees.

“Tiikâan!” Merritt’s frantic voice cut through the fog of pain. “Are you okay?”

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