He told himself it was the cold.
Chapter 29
Steph
In your socks. In the snow.
Those were the words Steph landed on, and she didn’t regret them. She had about ten seconds of satisfaction watching them hit before the rest of Jack’s words settled in, and the satisfaction curdled into something else entirely. Anger.
She saved his life. She assessed the situation, identified the threat, used the tools available to her, and executed. Bear spray at close range, element of surprise, and a solid branch. And it worked. The man was down. Jack was free. They were out of immediate danger.
Careless.
The word circled back and bit again.
“We need to keep moving.” Her voice came out even, and she was grateful for that.
Jack said nothing. He adjusted the rifle under his arm while scanning the trees, and he didn’t look at her.
Fine. There was no need to look at each other. The goal was to reach the meadow, grab the sleds, and make it back to Silver Mane’s Lodge. All of that could be done without eye contact. Waiting for the rescue team was no longer an option. The best choice was to get out on their own.
She turned in the direction of the meadow.
The timber was thinner than where they’d been, the trees spaced wider apart, and the snow between them was wind-packed enough to move over without post-holing.She was grateful for that. Her legs had been through enough.
Steph set a pace that was fast but sustainable and mindful of Jack’s lack of footwear. She listened for sounds coming from behind them and tried to stop replaying the last two minutes.
Easier said than done.
That was reckless.
She’d been crouched in a deadfall pile. Done exactly what he asked her to do. She hid, sent the message, and waited. And when she heard the shooting, she made a decision. A deliberate, calculated decision, not a panic response, not recklessness.
Steph had spent years teaching people how to make decisions under pressure. Now she used that knowledge and did what she had to do.
And it worked. One poacher was down, and Jack was free.
Ungrateful and rude, but free.
Jack moved up alongside her, his socked feet crunching across the packed snow. She didn’t look at him.
“I’m not saying what you did wasn’t effective,” he said.
“Good.”
“I’m saying you took a risk that—”
“I took a calculated risk.” She kept her eyes on the trees ahead. “There’s a difference.”
“He had a rifle.”
“He had a rifle on his back while he was looking at the trees.” She adjusted her direction slightly around a drift. “I had bear spray and the element of surprise. That’s not reckless. That’s assessment.”
“You’re not trained for that.”
Steph stopped walking. She turned to look at him and let the look say everything it needed to say before she opened her mouth.
He held her gaze without flinching, and that was actually worse. He believed what he was saying. He meant it.
