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He just needed to find Ben. Oh fuck, what if Ben was already dead? Levi had to lean against a tree to combat the wave of nausea that coursed through him. What if Ben was fucking dead, and Levi was going to stumble around in the dark until the sniper found him?

The man’s heavy breathing got quieter as Levi put more distance behind them. He thought about hiding, but there was only so much he could do in snow this deep. Even if it was getting darker the further he got from the lights of the cabin. Levi held his hands in front of his face, feeling stupid and weak, wanting to cry, and also to punch something. Ben couldn’t be dead. Levi hadn’t told him about fighting off the sniper yet.

After a minute or possibly an hour of spine-numbing terror, Levi stopped. The forest was dark and silent. He had lost Ben’s trail somewhere, and he couldn’t find his way back to it. He strained to hear the telltale sound of shuffling, or worse, a gun cocking. But there was nothing. Just Levi’s panicked breathing and slamming heartbeat.

The back of his neck prickled. A hand slid around Levi’s mouth. Levi didn’t even scream. He just lashed out with his elbow, trying to hit something important.

“Hey,” said a hushed, familiar voice next to his ear. “It’s me. Cut that out.”

Levi stilled. He turned to see Ben watching him intently, as if he was checking Levi for wounds. Levi wanted to throw his arms around him. But Ben was holding a rifle, and he looked ready to use it, even as he grabbed Levi’s chin.

“You alright?” Ben whispered.

Levi nodded against Ben’s hold. “I headbutted him.”

Something flickered over Ben’s face. For a wild moment, Levi thought Ben was going to kiss him, right here in the middle of this life-or-death situation. But Ben only shook his head and released him.

“Fuck yeah, you did,” Ben said. “Get behind me and stay low.”

Levi obeyed, his heart rate already slowing down. They were still in mortal danger, but it felt much more doable with Ben at his front, pacing quietly through the snow with his rifle up. For a long minute, there was no hint of anyone around but them. Then a shot rang out, and a chunk splintered in a tree next to Ben’s head.

Ben whirled, tracking the place the bullet had come from. Levi had no idea how Ben could tell, since all Levi could tell was that they were standing in the dark woods. But Ben raised his rifle and pulled the trigger.

Levi tensed, waiting for the man hunting them to cry out in pain. But there was just silence.

Another gunshot echoed through the forest. Another pocket of bark exploded, this time near Levi’s head. Levi yelped and crouched, trying to drag Ben with him. But Ben was busy staring out into the darkness. He didn’t reload his rifle, which confused Levi until he realized, with a sinking stomach, that Ben’s rifle could only hold a few bullets, and Ben had spent them all.

There was a flash of movement to their right. Ben burst into action. He ran at the man and tackled him into the snow. Levi’s concerns at their lack of bullets dissolved as Ben smashed the butt of his rifle into the guy’s face. Once, twice, three times. The man went limp, his sniper rifle falling out of his slack hands.

There was blood on his face from Levi’s headbutt. Blood on his leg from wherever the hell he’d gotten that gunshot wound. Blood in the snow, all around them. And blood on Ben’s face, an errant splatter in his beard as he stood after tying the guy’s hands in front of him.

“We gotta get this guy back to the cabin before Dominic’s new guys—” Ben stopped, sagging against a nearby tree as his knee buckled. “Fuck!”

Levi steadied him. To his surprise, Ben didn’t complain. He looked at Levi like he never wanted to look away. Then he slid his arm around Levi’s shoulder and gripped him hard.

“Thanks,” Ben said quietly. He wiped the blood out of his beard, and Levi’s stomach swooped for reasons that had nothing to do with the mess.

“Is it over?” Levi asked, teeth chattering. “Or will they send somebody else?”

Neither of them moved. Levi should want to get inside. He was nauseous, exhausted, and so cold he couldn’t feel his feet in his boots. But he stayed there, holding Ben up and dreading when he would have to let him go.

Ben’s throat clicked. “Levi…”

A shout interrupted them. Ben shoved Levi behind him, only to relax when a series of torches beamed through the trees to reveal Dominic’s reinforcements with the real Thing 2 in tow.

Levi tried to feel relief as safety descended upon him. But all he felt was empty.

CHAPTER 19

“Levi,” Austin said over the phone. “You alright?”

Levi blinked. He had been staring out the jet window, watching Ben talk to the cabin crew on the landing strip. He had gotten so distracted watching Ben lean on his good leg that he’d completely forgotten the brother he hadn’t been allowed to talk to for weeks.

He forced his focus back to the video call and smiled tightly. “I’d be better if Dad didn’t send me a bunch of worried voicemails and then go to sleep before I can remind him I’m fine.”

“Time zones are a bitch,” Austin agreed. “But you can’t blame the guy for being relieved his son isn’t being hunted anymore.”

An alert pinged on Levi’s phone. Yet another article about Levi’s dramatic few weeks, with a purposefully vague explanation of how Dominic’s people had tracked down and disbanded the activists who tried to kill him. The sniper was going to prison, along with several activists who had ordered it. The higher-ups who funded it were, to no one’s surprise, getting off with a mere slap on the wrist.