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Logan had wheeled his horse around and dismounted. She could sense him looming behind her. The blood was pounding in her temples and neck.
“What’s the matter?” the alpha asked.
“We have to go back.”
“Not a chance, ma’am. It’s too dangerous.”
“My bag got torn. It must have happened when Stormy fell. I lost something. We have to go back and get it.”
“Lost what?”
Shannon felt the blood drain out of her face. What could she tell him?
“Something important,” she stammered. “Please—”
“No,” Logan growled, his voice growing tense and impatient. “We’re not going back in there. It’s too dangerous. And Tanner needs water and rest besides.”
“I’ll go back and get it myself then. You take Tanner on to the spring. It’s due east of here, you can’t miss it. I’ll catch up with you there.”
She started to climb back onto her saddle, but Logan grabbed her arm and whirled her around so she was facing him again. For the first time, Shannon truly realized just how much taller than her the alpha was, and how much stronger.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you go back in there, ma’am. I don’t know what you dropped, but whatever it is, it’s not worth risking your life over.”
“Yes it is!” Shannon cried.
The alpha snarled at her—actuallysnarled. It was an animal sound, unlike anything Shannon had ever heard come from a human before, and it chilled her to the very core of her bones. If the alpha had slapped her across the face instead, it would not have shocked her as deeply.
“Listen, woman, and listen good, ’cause I’m not going to say this again. You’renotgoing back into that canyon, and that’s final. My brother’s hurt, he needs water, and I’m not going to take any chances about finding that spring. You’re my map, and you’re going to show me how to get there. Now you can either get up on that horse and lead the way like a good girl, or I can throw you over the front of my saddle and spank your ass raw till you tell me which way to go. Which one’s it going to be?”
Heat leaped into Shannon’s cheeks, and she glared defiantly up at the alpha with the long, dark hair and dark, stern eyes. Then she looked past him at the other alpha slumped on his horse, and the heat receded again.
“Okay, follow me,” she said.
She climbed back onto her saddle, Logan climbed onto his, and they set off again, leading the other two horses alongside.
She would get them to the spring. She would make sure Tanner had everything he needed to recuperate.
And after that?
Shannon didn’t know, but she would figure something out. She had to.
CHAPTER 19
It was a few hours later, and several miles back, that Butch Bartram rejoined Ned Flarity and his crew riding down the canyon. The fools looked like easy pickings to Bartram, but he didn’t bother to say so.
“What the hell happened to you?” Flarity asked, a cigar clamped in his teeth.
The question was in reference to the dried blood on Bartram’s face and hands. There was blood all over his shirt and pants too, but it was difficult to see against the black of the cloth. In one hand he held a bloody bundle.
“Had a little run-in with an irate snakewoman,” he said, raising the bundle. “Took some of her skin. Figure it’ll make for some fine boots once we get back to Lamentation.”
Flarity eyed the bundle with disgust. Behind him, the riders near the front of the line craned their necks to get a look.
“Listen boss,” Bartram said, “We’re going to have to turn back. Part of the canyon up ahead is stove in. Looks recent. Did you feel that tremor a few hours back? I think that’s what done it. Anyway, we’ll never get the horses over it.”
“We have dynamite.”
“I don’t recommend it, boss. Liable to bring the whole canyon down on top of us. Better if we backtrack and find another way around. It’ll set us behind a little, but it won’t be no problem picking up the Duffy woman’s trail again once we’re on the other side.”
