Page 155 of Roaring Flames

His jaw twitches, but he doesn’t respond. Instead, he slings the strap of the gun over his neck and begins to move once more.

“There’s still another gunman in the forest. He will no doubt come running at the sound of gunfire. We need to get moving.”

“Ashton…” I don’t know what to say.

He just killed a man to protect me. And though his face is impassive, an apathetic mask, I can see cracks throughout.

“Let’s go,” he says curtly, letting me know in no uncertain terms to drop the conversation.

And I follow.

We skirt around trees until we finally reach the other side of the forest, closest to where the gunman stands with the children. Neither of us speaks. A frigid type of tension permeates the air, lifting the hairs on both of my arms and causing my skin to ripple with goose bumps.

So far, we haven’t run into the second gunman, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. There’s no doubt in my mind that he heard the gunshot, and we weren’t exactly being subtle when we hurried away. There’s a trail of trampled leaves and smudged footprints leading directly to us.

We need to be quick but smart.

Okay, think, Izzy, think.

There’s one gunman near the children, but a few more surround the adult wolf shifters. We need to take the lone gunman out first…but without alerting the others to our presence.

Ashton holds his gun up and aims it at the back of the gunman’s head.

“What are you doing?” I whisper-hiss.

My breathing is slightly erratic, both because of the rapid trek through the forest and the fear pulsating through me.

“We need to take him out,” Ashton replies tersely.

“Have you ever even held a gun before?” I demand, and darkness flashes in Ashton’s eyes. I know he’s thinking of the man he just killed, so I quickly change the subject. “Ashton, you can’t take the risk, not with how close he is to the kids. What if you miss and hit one of them instead? Not to mention the fact that it’ll alert every single gunman here to our location.”

Ashton’s entire body begins to shake, but he still doesn’t lower the gun.

Through the branches and leaves, I can just barely make out the gunman pacing in front of the crying kids. He’s just as tall as all the others, though not as broad. I wouldn’t say he’s lanky, necessarily, but something about him suggests that he’s younger than the others.

“And if you kill him, who knows what the fuck will happen to Christian,” I continue in a rapid-fire whisper, trying to keep the panic out of my voice.

Someone needs to remain calm, and it’s apparent that person isn’t going to be Ashton. I’ve never seen him so…unhinged before. The man has lived his life following carefully curated rules, and every single one of them has just gone up in flames.

“What if we’re too late? What if he’s already dead?” Ashton whispers.

“He’s not dead,” I snap—probably too loudly. I quickly work to moderate my volume before I alert anyone to our location. “He’s not dead.”

“And where’s Emery? And Reid? And my father? Where did Ethan go?” Tremors rumble through his body, and a bead of sweat slides down his forehead.

“Ashton, lower the gun.”

“I don’t know what to do. I was supposed to protect them, but I failed. I fail at everything. I can’t?—”

“Ashton, lower the goddamn gun,” I hiss, and my words finally seem to penetrate his downward spiral.

He inhales shakily, tears misting in his eyes, and slowly lowers the gun back to his side.

I thought I would be able to drag in a full breath now that the imminent threat is over, but I can’t. There’s too much at stake.

“Come on,” I whisper, moving farther down the tree line until I have a better view of what’s happening.

Tall trees lean together overhead, their branches knotted, but they provide a large enough hole to see out of while still remaining hidden. Now that I’m looking at everything from the side, I can spot things I didn’t notice prior.

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