She’d let Leo get to her. She didn’t know why, but she cared what he thought about her. There was no logical explanation for it, either. The only thing she could think about was the fact that he hadn’t tattled on her when she’d trapped him in a chicken coop without any way to get out. And maybe those looks of longing had done something to her.
As much as she hated it, she wanted him to care.
Not romantically. That would be far beyond insane.
But she wanted his respect. She wanted to work with him on a level where they could be partners. She couldn’t recall if she’d even wanted such a thing with Chaz.
Kat huffed as she came to a stop and closed her eyes. Breathing in deeply, she allowed the sights and sounds around her to encompass her very being just so she could calm down and center herself.
But then she opened her eyes, realizing the only sounds she heard were that of the thunder overhead and the whistle of the wind through the branches. The storm was getting closer. Shoot!
She whirled around and looked at the ground, only then realizing she’d wandered off the path at some point. How had she managed that? No wonder the branches were knocking into her.
Kat lifted her face to the sky and groaned.
Then she heard something.
Thrashing.
The sound of an animal.
Something bigger than a bunny.
Without thinking, she darted away from the sounds of whatever creature was headed for her. She lifted her arms to prevent the branches from attacking and ducked when she could. Every so often she glanced behind her to see if the creature was on her tail. She couldn’t see anything, but that was what predators did when they hunted their prey, right?
Her heart fluttered desperately in her chest making her painfully aware that was exactly what she was.
Prey.
Her foot snagged on something.
Down.
Down.
Down she went.
With an oof, the wind was knocked from her lungs and a sharp stinging shot through her ankle. She thrashed on the ground fora moment before she realized that her foot was stuck. She’d been caught!
Kat scrambled into a seated position, wincing at the pain in her ankle as she took stock of her situation. An overgrown root had been the perfect snare for her foot and somehow she’d managed to get her heel through it. But just like when a child’s head gets stuck between two rails of a banister, unable to be pulled loose, she found her foot in the same predicament.
No amount of twisting or pulling allowed her to escape. The location of the root also blocked her ability to unbuckle her boot to remove it. Kat slammed her hand onto the ground with an anguished, frustrated cry. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
The sound of scuffling returned and she whipped her head around in that direction.
No!
Her heart no longer fluttered. It thrashed and collided with the sides of her ribcage, demanding to be set free so it could escape. Her wide eyes remained locked on the clearing. Anticipation building, she held her breath. She would have shut her eyes if she wasn’t so intent on seeing what would be the last thing to see her alive.
In a flurry of brown and orange, a fox burst from the thicket. She screamed. It froze. Then it stared at her for a moment before scurrying away.
Kat panted, her breaths coming out ragged and short. She felt lightheaded. All her pent-up fear had put her body into a state of adrenaline rush she couldn’t escape from. Then she collapsed against the ground and stared up at the further darkening skies. A strangled laugh burst from her chest when her heart returnedto its usual steady pace. And only when she felt the first drop of rain did she realize how much trouble she was truly in.
Throat sorefrom calling out to Leo, Kat finally succumbed to her fate. Countless shivers wracked her body as the rain above pelted her body. Her teeth clacked against each other, but it wasn’t her doomed situation that had her upset.
Nope.
Right about now, she was more furious with herself because she knew—shejust knew—that the second Leo found her, he’d make it perfectly clear that she was an idiot. The worst part? He was probably right.
