Page 18 of Zin and Celeste: A Fortis Family Christmas

Chapter 8

K steppedthrough the foliage as the man who’d shot them fell to the ground at Zin’s feet. Zin was trying to understand how K had gotten hold of a gun when Zack stepped in behind him, making the space seem almost claustrophobic it was so small.

“Zack, thank god.” Aubrey sounded as relieved as he felt.

Zack was pushing the injured gunman onto his front and tying his hands as the man mouthed off about this being his land, and nobody was to come here, and he had rights when Zack hauled back and clocked him, knocking him out. “That’s for taking me away from my kids at Christmas, asshole.

Moving to get to his feet, Zin felt a hand on his shoulder. “Sit your ass down and let Daniel take a look at that leg before you go making it worse.” Zack gave him a stern look, and knowing he was right Zin did as Zack told him.

Zack helped Aubrey and Will from their hideout, leaving K and Zin alone until Daniel moved in with a first aid kit. He dropped to his knees and got to work cutting the cloth so he could evaluate the wound. “Leave you for five minutes and all hell breaks loose.”

Zin grimaced as Daniel prodded the damage to his leg. He could hear barking outside and recognised it as Samson. That dog meant the world to him, and he had no doubt he’d helped the team locate them so fast.

Daniel glanced up. “That hurt?”

“Yes, asshole, that hurts.”

Daniel smirked. “I’ll give you something for the pain and get a shot of antibiotics in you, but it will need to be looked at by a surgeon to determine if you have any long-lasting damage.”

“Fine, let’s just get the fuck out of here and go home.”

Daniel finished dressing and packing the wound and administered the two shots. He patted Zin’s shoulder as he helped him stand. “Let’s get you up, don’t want you missing the main event.”

“What main event?”

“Didn’t Zack tell you?”

Zin was losing his cool now. “No, Zack didn’t tell me jack shit.”

“Oh, well, Celeste is in labour. Her water broke.”

Zin hauled Daniel against him by his jacket. “Don’t make fucking jokes like that.” He was so angry at his brother doing that to him he was seeing red.

“Yeah, wish I was, man, but it’s true. Roz is on the comms with Zack and told us not fifteen minutes ago. We made a thirty-minute hike in ten to get here, so why don’t you calm the fuck down and let’s go.”

“Roz has the comms?” K looked at Daniel in relief while Zin felt like his world was collapsing. This was his worst nightmare, Celeste needing him and he couldn’t get there fast enough to help her.

Zin let go of Daniel feeling untethered panic surging through him. “We need to go.”

He pushed past Daniel and K and saw Zack, Dane, and Jace waiting for him in the clearing, Jace holding onto Samson’s harness. The storm had eased a fraction, and with the lights from the helmets they wore he could see the stretcher they had with them to take him out of here. Will was already attached to one with Dane and Jace ready to carry him out. Aubrey and K would walk the prisoner, who’d just been winged on the arm by the bullet Zack had shot him with. Jace passed off the lead to K, and Zin knew Samson wouldn’t think twice about biting the man who’d ruined his day if he got the chance. He was snarling and growling, and the man who was conscious again stepped back looking afraid.

He looked at the stretcher in disgust, hating the vulnerability of it.

“It’s the quickest way to get you back to the cabin, and babies don’t wait when they decide it’s time to come out.”

Zack’s words made Zin take the steps needed to sit on the stretcher with Daniel’s help. He was soon strapped in, and while his heart raced from hating the feeling of being so weak and confined, he sucked it up. Knowing the woman he loved was in labour and she and their son needed him was enough to keep him where he was.

It was hard going, bumpy, and perilous for all of them over the unknown terrain with such heavy snowfall in the dark but his team—his friends—pushed on. He might be a grumpy bastard and not say a lot, but these men and women were his family. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for them, and they had proved tonight they felt the same way.

A commotion behind him had him looking up and back to see what was going on as Daniel and Zack lowered him to the ground.

The gunman was being belligerent and had gone to his knees, refusing to move. Samson was barking furiously and tugging at the leash to get to the man. Zack moved to him and grabbed him by the scruff. “I don’t know who you are or what the fuck your problem is and right now I don’t care, but if you don’t get up and walk, I’m going to put a bullet in you and then bury your fucking body on this godforsaken mountain.” He glanced at Samson, then the man. “Better yet, I’m going to let you run and then send Samson after you.”

Something in the way Zack said it must have rung true because the man stood with some blustering and began to move.

Zack made it back to them, and he and Daniel lifted him again.

“I almost believed that, Zack.”