Page 23 of Shadow Bound

So why the hell am I hesitating?

Once more Nessa looks over her shoulder, a knowing look on her face.

Hateful bitch.

Ransom now stands shirtless, that easygoing, laid-back smirk still on his handsome face.Fuck!He has no idea what’s happening. The clicking noise is so soft, there isn’t a single chance he could have heard it, even with his shifter enhanced hearing. I could leave him behind, go after them. That’s what Ishoulddo, so why aren’t my legs moving? Why can’t I get my head to turn away from him? For the first time in my life I find myself frozen in place, unable to make a decision.

Thisisn’twho I am. What is it about this random shifter that is making me do things I wouldn’t usually do?

My body makes a decision before my mind has a chance to catch up. With an aggravated growl, knowing I’m giving up my shot to get to Nessa, I move forward on the branch. Now in the tree on the edge of the tree line, I’m fully visible to the wolf. I don’t make a noise, my lips parting slightly to call to him when his head whips around in my direction, ocean blue eyes narrowing. How he was able to find me so fast, I’ll never understand.

“Isabeau?”

I shake my head. “Run.”

The word just barely leaves my mouth, before the ground begins to shake and the sound of the explosion sounds, reverberating through the V-shaped valley. For the shortest second my chest relaxes, knowing they weren’t standing near the explosion, but it’s a fleeting feeling because the deafening sound of something stampeding in our direction makes the dread come back tenfold.

With Nessa, the smartest thing I can do is expect the unexpected from her. When I expect her to go left, she goes right, but not before going backward and stabbing you in the neck. In the two days I was away, collecting the wolf shifter, I figured she’d been setting up some kind of trap. In all my predictions, I never once surmised she would do this.

The bomb wasn’t planted in a place where we would get caught in its blast radius. No, it was set off in a place that would cause a fuckingavalanche.

Masses of white powdery snow barrel toward us—towardRansom. He’s caught directly in the path of it and I know he’s fast, but I already know he’s not going to be fast enough.

Time moves in slow motion as I watch them run in my direction, the trees will slow down the snow but the wide-open space they’re in is a death trap. The snow will swallow them whole if they don’t haul ass.

They’re not going to make it.The trees are too far away.

The rocked-in area they had to climb over catches my eye, if they brace close to the flat-faced boulders, they might be able to avoid being crushed.

“Ransom!” My voice cracks, not accustomed to yelling. I never raise my voice, silence, after all, is my friend. “The rocks!” I point with my hand, hoping he understands what I’m saying.

His eyes follow quickly to where I’m gesturing before I see his chin tip ever so slightly in understanding. Grabbing Sawyer by the arm, Ransom drags his friend behind him.

My heart and lungs are frozen as I watch their heads just barely drop below the boulders before thousands of pounds of snow rush over them. No longer able to see anything but pure white, I have no idea if they made it there in time or got caught in it.

The tree I’m in sways and shakes as the ice and snow pass by. My arms wrap around the trunk, holding on for dear life until everything on the mountain side goes eerily silent. The trees go still, the creaking branches quiet and even the wind stops blowing. The only sound I hear is my heartbeat pounding in my ears.

Ransom.

Scrambling out of the tree, not really caring if the bark scratches my knuckles on my way down, I fall to the ground. My leather boots land in the shockingly well-packed snow. The landscape is now covered, the landmark I could have used to remember the exact location of the boulders where I last saw the wolves have vanished. Tree branches and debris stick up from the powder, having gotten caught in the downfall.

As fast as I can, I sprint across the snow-covered terrain, in the direction I know the boulders were. I have no idea if I’m standing directly over them or if they’re still yards away as my body slowly spins in a circle looking for any sign of the shifters.

I seenothing.

All I know is they have fifteen minutes before whatever oxygen is down there with them is depleted and they begin to suffocate. If they’re panicking, they’ll have even less. If they stay calm, they’ll be able to last longer, but I doubt there isanyonewho could stay calm while they’re being crushed by tons of snow and ice. Feeling trapped—caged in—makes my skin crawl, I’ve long learned how to control the fear. One of the many lovely lessons Nessa provided.

If you can consider being held in a locked crate for seventy-two hours a‘lesson’.

My breath is ragged, my chest heaving. My heartbeat pounds in my ears, drowning out anything else. This reaction is totally out of character for me—Idon’tget worked up over anything. I stay calm—indifferent even.

Focus.

Closing my eyes, I take in a deep breath and force my clouded mine to clear. I’m sure other people picture different things when they’re trying to calm themselves—like happy family memories or loved ones—I have neither of those. Instead, I picture nothing but darkness—shadows are my safe place after all. Nothing but inky nothingness fills my head and finally my heart rate returns to its ungodly slow rate.

With my own heart quieted, I’m able to finally pick up on another one. It’s fast—panicked like I knew it’d be—but it’s close.

My eyes snap open and I run, boots digging into the icy ground. When the heartbeat is so loud that I know I’m standing on top of it, I don’t hesitate, I drop to my knees in the freezing snow anddig. My hands are freezing, but I can’t feel the ice-cold pain. My finger nails lift from their nail beds as they scrape at the snow.

---