Chapter 14
Fingers dug into her hair with the strength of talons. McKenna twisted against the searing pain and scrunched her face, but the sharp anticipation of a bullet kept another scream from coming.
The attacker wrenched her around to face him.
Brown curls peeked out from the edges of his hood. The rim of a beanie covered his forehead but didn’t hide his face.
Dr. Lots.
Despite her strong suspicions, she hadn’t expected to be right. Hadn’t expected to stare into the cold, hard eyes of the town’s only doctor. One of the friendliest men in the backwoods. The one who’d sent numerous patients her way.
Her mouth opened and closed. Tears stung the corners of her eyes and froze in the wind. He dropped her hair and pointed his gun at her chest. “Move,” he said, gesturing toward his property.
She shook her head. The dense snow molded her feet to the ground. It had taken away all feeling beneath her knees. If she didn’t get warm soon, frostbite would set in.
His eyes bugged out of his head, and he cocked the gun. “Move. Your scream surely got the attention of your boyfriend.”
“Please,” she said, her chin trembling. “What do you want?”
Before she could register the movement of his hand, he caught her neck. She let out a yelp as he towed her through the snow.
“What do I want?” His voice pitched with hysteria.
This wasn’t the calm, amicable doctor she’d known the last six years.
This wasn’t the man who delivered the Watsons’ twins eighteen years ago in their home, nor was it the man who made house visits to the elderly too old and feeble to venture out in the winter.
Something’s not right.
He hurled her ahead of him. She stumbled and collapsed. Just before hitting the ground, she shot out her hands and caught the stone firepit. A shed sat twenty feet away, large enough to fit six four-wheelers. She scanned the property. Lights shone from inside his house.
She snapped her gaze back to the woods. “You won’t get away with this,” she said, spinning on him. “You left your four-wheeler on the trail. Jaxon will find it. He’ll make it here soon. He’ll know it was you—everyone will.”
Dr. Lots’s mouth twisted into a sneer. “All I’ve got to say is someone stole it from me. By the time the cops come with a warrant, your body will be long gone.”
The ice coating her skin turned to fire. Rage. She clamped her teeth and pulled her fingers into her palms. “Why? What did I do to you?”
He closed in on her. His bushy, graying eyebrows came down low over his eyes. “You came to my town with your witchery and spells. You took my patients.”
She exhaled in disbelief. “I helped people get off medications. I helped your patients not rely on drugs anymore. You joked about it, for god’s sake. Why on earth would—”
“Enough!” he bellowed. “People need drugs. Reliable, tested drugs. Not whatever shit you’re cooking up in the kitchen. You came here to ruin me and my practise. To humiliate me and modern medicine.”
She tented her hands over her mouth and stared at him. Slowly, the rumors she’d heard about Dr. Lots surfaced in her mind.
Dr. Lots is getting old and senile.
He prescribed me the wrong meds.
She had to reason with him. It was possible he wasn’t thinking clearly. Maybe he’d missed a medication . . .
“Dr. Lots. I don’t think this is you. Is everything okay? We’ve been trapped inside for almost two full days. I know that can be—”
Smack
The side of the gun bounced off her cheekbone.
Pain ricocheted through her skull. She dropped to the edge of the firepit and sucked in one breath after another.
Her heart raced against her breastbone. He was going to kill her.
There was no way Jaxon could get to Dr. Lots’s property in time on foot.
With no access to a vehicle, no access to a phone .
. . she was all she had. If she didn’t do something she’d end up at the bottom of a ravine, food for the mountain lions.
She vibrated with the need to leap to her feet. To attack. But frostbite was setting in. All the feeling had left her toes. She dropped her hand to rest beside her thigh, anchoring herself to the firepit so she didn’t fall into the snow crowded around her calves.
She locked eyes with Dr. Lots. The mouth of the gun moved between them.
Despite the fear filling her chest, she didn’t give voice to the pleading words that wanted to pour from her lips.
He wouldn’t listen. He hadn’t come this far to hear her beg.
In his mind, she was the enemy and he wanted her gone.
Her fingers brushed one of the stones that lined the firepit.
She circled her palm around the smooth edges.
“Don’t worry. When your boyfriend shows up, I’ll be sure he joins you.”
Anger exploded in bright bursts in front of her eyes.
She closed her hand around the stone and lunged forward.
Using all her strength, she slammed the rock against his face.
His head snapped to the side, and he staggered.
The gun fell as his body landed in the snow.
She dropped to her knees and dove for the weapon.
The roar of a four-wheeler split through the night.
Dr. Lots wrestled the weapon from her hands. His arm circled her throat just as headlights blinded her.
She blinked rapidly, unable to focus. A tall, dark form jumped from the machine and stalked toward them. The light caught snowshoes, jeans, a familiar waffle-knit shirt peeking out from the flaps of a flannel coat . . .
Relief washed through her.
“Jaxon,” she said on a shaky breath. He was here. He’d found her.
“Let her go.” The barrel of a shotgun bore down on them.
Dr. Lots cackled. Critters skittered from the trees. “Go on and shoot. You’ll hit her and save me the trouble.”
“I got cell phone reception on the way here, Doc. Sheriff will be here any minute.”
McKenna searched Jaxon’s face in the moonlight that beamed through the clouds. Tight lines surrounded his mouth. His eyebrows were screwed together. The white knuckles on his hands trembled.
He’s lying.
Twenty feet separated them. Jaxon could be a good shot or a really shitty one and now wasn’t the time she wanted to find out, but there weren’t many other options. Near her temple, there was a sharp click of metal on metal.
“Say goodbye,” Dr. Lots whispered in her ear.
* * *
Adrenaline hammered against his eardrums. Jaxon’s breath lay stagnant in his lungs, aching to be expelled.
The doctor was wild-eyed; his lip twitched and his gaze jumped from one end of the yard to the other.
This was more than just angst over what he’d done.
Something wasn’t right, and Jaxon would bet his left shoe the man needed medical attention.
His instincts told him to shoot. Any shot was better than watching McKenna get her head blown off. He brought his finger to the trigger.
He couldn’t risk it. The asshat was right. If he fired, there was a huge chance he’d hit McKenna instead—or both of them at least.
“Why are you doing this, Doc? I’m sure there’s a misunderstanding.” He fought the quake of fear jumping along his vocal cords. He had to keep him talking, had to distract him. The Watsons wouldn’t just sit around after someone stole their property. Surely, they’d come searching.
Dr. Lots yanked his arm back on McKenna’s throat. Her eyes bulged. Her face was red.
“You think I’m stupid. Crazy. I’ve been planning to get rid of this witch for years. She’s a danger to society. I’m doing everyone a favor. Even you. You’ve probably been under her spell, too, like everyone else.” Spit flung from his mouth.
“If you shoot her, I’ll shoot you,” Jaxon said. His voice rang with conviction.
Dr. Lots hooted. In a heartbeat, his smile fell away. “You know,” he said, amusement in his tone, “I think I should kill you first. You’ve ruined my plans to cut this pretty face into pieces.” He shifted the gun from McKenna’s head to Jaxon’s chest.
Jaxon didn’t miss a beat. All he had to do was pray the old bastard wasn’t a good enough shot to hit him in the head or chest—
Dr. Lots’s finger twitched on the trigger. Jaxon threw himself backward.
Crack!
“No!” McKenna’s scream cut through him—but the bullet had missed. He lay on the snow, staring at the sky. McKenna’s sobs were followed by a shriek of pain. He turned his head and watched the old man drag her toward the shed.
Now he had a clear shot of his back . . .
Jaxon aimed and fired. The doctor’s body jerked, and he howled. McKenna tore away from his hold and fell in the snow.
“McKenna!” Jaxon dropped the gun and leaped to his feet. He charged across the yard.
“Jaxon, stop!” she cried.
He turned his attention to the doctor. The old man staggered to his feet, the gun aimed at Jaxon’s head. Blood blossomed on his shoulder. His hood fell off and the beanie sat askew on top of his hair.
Jaxon’s blood pressure spiked. He’d left the shotgun in the snow several feet away. The doctor could get a shot off before Jaxon reached him. There was a hard glint in the man’s eye. He swung the gun to point at McKenna. His finger moved over the trigger.
“McKenna, get down!” Jaxon leaped for her.
Crack!
He collided with her soft, small body. They slammed into the snow and the sound of the bullet reverberated through his skull.
No more shots fired, but the doctor’s sharp gasp turned Jaxon’s blood to steel. He sat up.
“Get back! Get away from me, you beast.” The mountain lion crept forward out of the shed, its back arched in warning, its tail whipping. Yellow, laser-focused eyes glowed in the night, locked on their target.
“Jaxon,” McKenna breathed next to him. He pulled her against his chest. Her body was racked with shivers, but he couldn’t move. Couldn’t draw the mountain lion’s attention to them.
Crack!
The doctor fired. The cat pounced. Dr. Lots’s screams pierced Jaxon’s eardrums. Then came the sound of teeth sinking into bone.
“Oh my god!” McKenna clawed at his shoulders. He scooped her into his arms and backed away. His heart raced. His feet burned to run, to get McKenna to safety, but alerting the animal to their presence could be the death of them.
He didn’t take his gaze from the sight before him. The doctor’s arms flailed beneath the mountain lion. Only gurgles escaped the man’s lips. Blood and other matter coated the white snow.
Jaxon’s leg bumped into the four-wheeler. He climbed on and wedged McKenna onto his lap.
“We can’t just leave him like this,” she wailed.
He tightened his hold on her. “There’s nothing we can do for him.” Jaxon revved the engine. The headlight coated the animal with its feast. The creature didn’t run.
Jaxon tore out of the woods, leaving the horror behind them.