“Get back!”
Yes, I thought as I tried to stand without the use of my arms. Sing, kitty. Sing. Bring Mark to you.
Joshua jerked me to my feet when I tried to stumble away again. “Don't do anything stupid!” he snarled.
The mountain lion shrieked and ran at us with an arched back and puffy tail. I suppressed a scream and fell on my butt. Joshua skirted ahead of me to jab the branch at the mountain lion.
I reached up and ripped the gag off.
“MARK!”
Joshua jerked back to me and barked, “Shut up!” but the cat lunged closer. Forced to whirl back around, he swung the branch at the mountain lion with another cry. I shoved back my feet with all my awkward power and stumbled in the slippery snow.
“HELP! I'm over here!”
Joshua feinted after me, but the cat advanced on him. Joshua stopped with a livid growl, eyes on fire with frustration.
My voice cracked as I shoved through snowy trees, screaming Mark's name. Snow and ice landed on my neck with a painful sting as I barreled through the snow, tied arms held up to protect my face.
Joshua's indecipherable bellow rippled through the trees next. “Stella!”
The tips of my fingers had turned blue as I tried to wrench my hands free from the hastily tied rope and run at the same time. Buying my only chance, I tried to head back the way we'd come. My thoughts were too scattered and narrow to think of a path, I just went.
The distant sound of a bark came next. I stopped, my breath arrested with hope. “Atticus!” I screamed. “ATTICUS!”
The feeling of something hard slamming into me from behind followed. My cheek scraped snow seconds later and a warm gush of blood fell from my nose. Joshua grunted from where he lay on top of me.
“Don't. Move,” he wrenched out.
The scream of the mountain lion still issued behind us, more startling and raw with every second that passed. Joshua stood back up, a foot pressed into my back that kept my breath from returning full force. I tasted metal in my mouth.
Darkness swam before my eyes.
28 Mark
The sound of Stella's scream made my already heaving heart flop around in my chest.
"MARK!"
I skidded to a stop on the icy grass. Their trail had been clear, but they'd still had some advance on us. Even though daylight still remained, the world had grown dim and the snow fast. Now, she'd sounded close, but not close enough. Driven by pure instinct, I hauled down a rough ridge in her direction. Ben's heavy breathing followed not far behind me.
Without stopping to check on him, I pressed harder. Atticus bounded easily next to me when she screamed his name. I reached down, yanking the rope off his neck.
"Get her, boy."
Atticus bounded away, barreling through the trail. My chest burned and my legs throbbed, my ankles sore from sliding on the slick grass and ice. But I didn't really feel it, driven to desperation by the shrill scream. I prayed Atticus followed the sound of her cries.
What felt like an eternity later, a bark sounded not far ahead. I glanced up to see a low rolling hill just as Atticus disappeared over the ridge. Stinging snow slammed in my face like tiny little icicles as I gained the ridge, silently grateful for all those trail runs JJ and Megan dragged me on.
When I crested the top, I skidded to a stop. A snarling Atticus stood not far from Stella and Joshua at the bottom of the hill, near a rocky hillside that led to an outcropping of tall, oddly-shaped rocks. Joshua had one foot planted on Stella while she tried to crawl away.
Meanwhile, a mountain lion crouched in some nearby bushes, ears planted back.
Of course.
Atticus barked and pranced in weird circles, not far from the feline, but out of range of an immediate paw-swipe or lunge. His barks rang through the quiet night, punctuated only by hisses from the mountain lion.
I immediately stepped back behind a tree, and motioned for Ben to do the same as he closed the distance between us. Joshua hadn't seen us yet. My attention turned back to Stella. She lay on the ground with a pool of blood staining her face in the snow, but presumably alive.
And fighting.
She struggled now, but seemed to be out of breath. Rage bubbled back up under my skin. He'd clearly hit her with blood like that spouting all over the place.
"Atta girl," I muttered.
Benjamin came up next to me, shoulders heaving. "Is that a damn mountain lion?" he whispered incredulously.
"It is."
His gaze darted between Atticus, the mountain lion, and me, then he shook his head in disbelief. "This place is friggin’ nuts," he muttered.
"We need to surprise Joshua," I whispered. "And we have to move fast. With Atty distracting the cat, Joshua's going to expect us, and he's going to move with her fast. You go around the back. Drop back into that gully." I pointed to the bottom of the hill he'd just climbed, then pointed west. "Loop around and come up behind. I'll stall him where they are right now."
Ben nodded. "Got it."
With one last glance at the mountain lion, Benjamin skittered back down the hill, into a draw, and moved his way around the flank of the hill.
"Enjoy," I muttered.
With Atticus prancing and snarling, the mountain lion retreated slightly, belly to the ground as it hissed with its ears back. Stella tried to push off the ground. Her hair had clearly frozen into chunks. So she had been in the lake. The thought made my stomach seize.
Thankfully, Benjamin moved faster than I'd expected. A flash of movement caught my attention out of the corner of my eye, far enough behind them that Joshua hadn't seen it yet.
I advanced.
"Stella!"
Her gasp rippled through the forest in a silent moment between canine and cat. Joshua, who had
