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As Julia opened the door, she met Rosalie’s gaze with a silent promise not to leave her behind.
No. Run. Find Cannon,Rosalie silently begged as she craned her neck to see outside.
“Get out.” Malgor shoved his booted foot into Julia’s back.
The slamming door muffled her scream.
Rosalie jumped from the cot. “You son of a bitch.”
“Looks like your friend isn’t so tough. Did you hear her cry out like a baby?”
“She’s tougher than you’ll ever be. If you really do appreciate a strong woman, stop hiding behind the detonator like a coward and fight me like a man.”
The wind relentedenough for Cannon to clearly see the three men standing between him and the shack, all with guns trained on different parts of his body. Even through his helmet, he could see the deadly intent in their eyes.
As blood dripped from his nose and stained his pristine forest, his vision narrowed to the women he loved that were so close, yet so damn far away. He aimed his gun at the one in the middle. “Get out of my way and out of Red Snow.”
The one in the middle laughed as he spat into the crimson-stained powder. “When we’re done with you, the town will be renamed Blood Snow.”
Fury roared in Cannon’s ears as he pulled the trigger. Cannon braced for a bullet as a shot sounded from his left. Another boomed from his right. The wind, the snow, even time slowed as all three of Malgor’s men stumbled and fell. A moment later, time caught up and he spun to face the cavalry.
Easton smiled. “Figured you could use some help, old man. And did you really think we’d miss this hunt?”
Cannon whipped his head toward a groan from his other side.
Wulf leaned against a thick oak, a rifle slung over his shoulder, his hand pressed against his thigh. Sweat ran fromunderneath his wool hat and down his ashen face. “Good to see you alive, Ford.”
Cannon nodded, never more grateful for his family, old and new. “How did you find us?”
Easton rolled his eyes. “Why do you always seem to forget that I was military police? I learned a thing or two about the criminal mind.” Easton stared at the shack. “Sorry it took so long to get here. The explosion triggered a series of mini avalanches that slowed us down. And we had to dodge bullets and bust some heads along the way.”
“One of those bullets found my leg.” Wulf drooped like a melting snowman to the ground.
Cannon shot to his side and dropped to his knees. “Shit, Wulf, let me see.”
Movement at the side of the shack caught Cannon’s gaze. “Julia?” He rose, praying the pale woman crawling toward them wasn’t an apparition.
Easton ran toward her. Cannon started after him, but Wulf pulled him back to the ground.
“Stay, Ford. If Malgor is watching, it won’t do any good for all of us to give away our positions.”
“That’s my sister,” he growled, but fuck, Wulf was right.
All the times Cannon had watched her suffer at the hands of cancer—at Malgor’s—flicked through his mind on a loop as Easton scooped her up and dashed back across the clearing.
As Easton dropped to his knees next to them, Julia lifted her head. “He has Rosalie. G—go get her.”
Cannon’s gaze bounced from the shack, barely visible through the trees, to Julia’s red-rimmed gaze and down her body. Blood almost burst from his ears at the sight of the bullet wound on her arm. “You’ve been shot.” He crawled closer to her. The stitches in her leg had burst open and were bleeding too.
Julia shivered. “But I’m alive. Rosalie might not be for much longer, so don’t you even think about putting me first. I’m not the one who needs you the most right now.”
A warm, terrifying, yet fortifying rush pulsed through him. Julia was okay. She was strong. And she was right. His snow angel needed him now, and he’d meant every word when he’d said they were in this together.
Wulf sat up straighter. “I’ll cover your sister. Go get your woman.”
Cannon looked at Easton, cradling Julia like she washiswoman. “You stay here.” Inside that shack, he’d fight for Rosalie. Out here, he needed Easton to fight for his sister. “You hear me? Stay with Julia.”
Easton shot him a silent promise as he wrapped her in an emergency blanket.
