“Stay,” he muttered, then hefted the Guide Gun, checked the chamber, and started moving, knees bent, eyes slowly scanning the woods.
He nearly stepped on a branch, held his weight off so it didn’t crack, lifted his foot over it, and carried on, afraid of what he’d find.
And hell if it wasn’t worse than he’d imagined.
Leo stood utterly still with both hands hanging loose at her sides, one clenching what looked like a KA-BAR knife. Its straight, partially serrated steel blade might as well have been a toothpick for all the good it would do.
He heard something through the rain’s light patter and the buzzing in his brain. Leo’s voice. Low and melodious.
Wait. Was she singing?
The bear—just a silhouette in the half-light—shifted forward, its body deceptively lumbering and slow. These guys were fast when speed was needed.
His hands tightened on his rifle, his breath left his body, he looked for a clear shot, and—
Leo moved, unintentionally putting herself right in his line of fire. Didn’t she realize he was here?Get down, he wanted to yell, fear clawing at his throat.Out of my way.
She didn’t budge, didn’t respond at all, just kept up that low, melodious rhythm until the animal settled back on its haunches, cocked its head at a curious angle…and watched her.
All the while, Leo sang.
Elias couldn’t feel a thing. Not the wet or the cold or his damp clothes clinging to his skin. Everything he had was geared toward the exchange between the two creatures, every sense focused on keeping the animal in his sights, every muscle there to hold up his rifle, to tighten his finger to fire if need be.
“All right?” Leo asked conversationally. Having a goddamn chat with the beast. Her hands were up, moving slowly, gesticulating as if she were talking to any old person in the world. He was having a heart attack, and she was yammering away like this was a tea party.
She took a step back, slow and careful.
“Don’t!” he called, his voice as light as he could make it. “Drop your head but don’t back up. Stand your ground, and no more eye contact. Head down.” He wasn’t even sure the bear could see Leo’s eyes in this light. “And keep talking. Keep talking to me.”
“I was looking for a place to, uh, camp for the night, Elias. Just wanted to find us a place where we could get warm. Maybe dry off a little.”
“You stick your head in this guy’s den? Wake him up?” Or gal, if they were really unlucky. Just because the cubs weren’t out didn’t mean they weren’t around.
“Didn’t get as far as the den.”
The grizzly moved. Elias tensed his finger, squinted through the scope, half-blind from the rain, though he was surprised at how steady his hands were. Firing the weapon would be the worst-case scenario. There was a chance he could take the animal down before it reached Leo, but the sound would blaze a trail straight to them.
The bear shifted, tilted its head at a funny angle, like it was actively listening…and dropped to all fours.
“I don’t want to do this, bear,” he muttered, loud enough to be heard, but not so loud he’d scare the animal into doing something they’d all regret. “Don’t want to have to kill you right now.”
Slowly, it turned to the side, took a few rolling steps, its limbs probably stiff from a winter underground, and then stopped to sniff the air again.
Leo said something, calm and quiet, her head down, that knife glinting in her hand.
The air burned as Elias blew it out and blinked past the rain misting everything now, not daring to raise a hand to wipe it from his eyes.
The grizzly walked away a step and paused, one leg still up, suspended, lowered its head toward Leo’s toes, and took another slow step away. With each additional foot, Elias found he could breathe a little better, control his muscles with more precision.
Then, as if they’d finished whatever they had to say to each other, the big guy turned fully away, harrumphed over its shoulder, and ambled back into the shadows.
Elias couldn’t lower his rifle yet—maybe never would.
The situation was so surreal, reality so suspended, that it was a shock to feel rain falling on his skin when he expected to see the individual drops frozen in the air, like something from the Matrix—time gone still.
When he next focused on Leo, she’d backed up a few feet, put her hands on her knees, and dropped her head. Her deep breathing sounded like an asthma attack.
Bursting into motion, he reached her, grabbed her hand, and yanked her to his side, flooded with relief at just the solid feel of her under his arm.
