Wind River Wrangler (Wind River Valley #1)(93)

Water ran down her eyes and face, blinding her. Shiloh didn’t dare move, didn’t dare let Leath know she was conscious. Play the rag doll. Play dead. Wait. Wait for a chance to escape from him. . . .

Where was Roan? Despair flowed through her. He was still in town because of those car accidents. And even if he was trying to drive home now, the storm would stop him. Shiloh felt her whole world dissolving.

Leath slowed to a walk. She felt him grip her ankle and wrist more tightly. Pain reared up her arm and leg and she bit back a groan. He was now climbing. The sheets of twisting, bullet-like raindrops were somewhat softened by the thousands of trees that grew on the slight slope he was now climbing. She could hear Leath grunting and huffing, the hillside slippery and muddy. He fell forward, cursing.

Shiloh was almost torn off his shoulders as he slipped in the mud, going down hard. Leath recovered, one knee down on the earth, pushing himself upright, gripping her limbs hard, repositioning her across his shoulders. Breathing unsteadily, her nostrils flaring, she picked up his sour smell. It made her stomach turn. Oh, God, she was going to die!

Leath halted halfway up the slight incline. He was rasping for breath, chest heaving, hunched over with her lying across his shoulders. Opening her eyes, Shiloh saw a huge pit that reminded her of a hole that a coffin would be placed in. She saw green netting to one side. Part of the hole was filled with water, muddy and looking frightening to her. Leath cursed again.

Shiloh shut her eyes, pretending to be limp as he knelt down and eased her off his shoulders to the ground. Shiloh’s heart was pumping wildly in her chest and she was afraid to open her eyes. What was Anton going to do? Was he going to stab her? She wanted so badly to open her eyes, paralyzed. And then, she heard him turn away. Heard his boots sucking in the mud, the sound moving away from her. She risked opening her eyes.

Leath’s back was to her! He was leaning down, grabbing a shovel and he was ten feet away from her.

Now!

Shiloh slowly got to her hands and knees, her eyes never leaving Leath as he worked to shovel the water out of his hide, his back turned toward her. Her throat ached with tension as she stood. Dizziness assailed her and she violently shook her head, trying to get her balance. The trees would hide her if she could just make it silently into them.

The rain was coming down like an open faucet, the grayness making the hillside even darker. She dug her toes into the muddy earth and pine needles. Being careful, Shiloh stepped over a nearby branch, not wanting to make a sound. She slipped into the forest and, once there, began running toward the top of the low incline. She had to get help! And the only help was at the main headquarters of Wind River Ranch.

Her mind was wonky. She ran brokenly into the forest, the gloom covering her up. She knew Anton would discover her gone shortly. Could she run hard enough, fast enough, to get away? Shiloh knew she couldn’t. Desperate, she kept looking as she dodged and ran around the thick brush here and there. Where could she hide? She knew he was a tracker. That he’d tracked big game in Africa for over a decade. She knew all his stories about tracking and killing those animals.

The hill was steep. Shiloh wasn’t in good physical condition for this kind of rugged running and climbing. Black rocks stuck up and out of the pine needles, now soggy and slippery beneath her boots. She had no idea how long she’d run but she heard a howl behind her.

Leath discovered she was gone!

Oh, God . . .

Adrenaline poured into her bloodstream, giving her even more energy and strength as her legs pumped relentlessly toward the top of the slope. Shiloh remembered there was a sow grizzly bear with two cubs that lived on the other side of this area. Roan had told her about it earlier, to never hike on that side because it was the bear’s domain. And that she had two cubs and would defend them quickly against anyone stepping onto her territory. Her breath came out in ragged spurts.

Thunder caromed overhead, shaking the entire hill. Rain slashed down into her eyes, blinding her. Shiloh tripped over a rock hidden by the pine needles. She went down, slamming belly-first into the floor, the breath whooshing out of her. Lying there, sobbing for breath, she anxiously jerked her head up, looking around.

Where was Leath?

She could feel him behind her. Tracking her. Stalking her.

Scrambling to her hands and knees, Shiloh pushed off, running hard for the very top of the hill. It was then that she remembered her iPhone in her pocket.

Thrusting her fingers into the wet denim, she frantically grabbed for the cell. Would it work out here? She knew during thunderstorms, cells often did not work, the invisible connectors destroyed by rain and lightning. If only it would work! The iPhone wasn’t waterproof.

As she leaped and ran in and around larger rocks near the crown of the slope, she worried the rain had ruined the phone, and that she couldn’t make a call for help. It was one mile down the dirt road from Pine Grove to the main ranch center. She had to run out in the middle of flat land where Leath would easily spot her.

Shiloh’s breath was exploding from her. Lungs burning, she slowed, feeling her legs starting to cramp up from the exertion. She kept looking over her shoulder. Kept thinking she’d seen Leath’s dark bulk appearing out of the gray pall of rain that surrounded her. Gripping the cell phone, her fingers shaking so badly she couldn’t turn it on, Shiloh made a frustrated sound.

It wouldn’t turn on!

Tears jammed into Shiloh’s eyes. She shoved it back into her pocket, lunging for the top of the hill.