Page 32 of Shadows Relived
She didn’t argue. Just peeled Sophie from his arms and cradled her tight.
Willie and Lucas stood frozen, eyes huge.
Callen tried to stand. The trees swam.
“Move!” he shouted, louder than he meant. “Run!”
And they did.
He brought up the rear again, hobbling, teeth gritted, the world narrowing to pain and pine needles and the sound of his heartbeat in his ears.
He forced one foot in front of the other.
One more step.
One more.
The pain flared higher, his vision tunneling.
Then—darkness.
And then he hit the ground.
Hard.
Meaghan dropped to her knees, grabbing Sophie and dragging her behind a fallen log. Lucas threw himself down beside them, face streaked with dirt and tears. Willie clung to Meaghan’s leg, trembling.
Callen heard her voice, sharp and desperate. “Stay with me, Callen. Don’t you dare quit on me!”
But the forest was going quiet.
Or maybe that was just him.
CHAPTER 13
THE MORNING LIGHTFILTERED weakly through the trees, casting fractured gold across the forest floor. Meaghan crouched low behind a thick patch of scrub, one arm tight around Willie as he sniffled against her shoulder, the other hand resting protectively on Sophie’s back. Lucas sat beside her, his knees pulled to his chest, eyes wide and scared but silent now.
Her gaze kept drifting back to Callen, wishing he would get up again. She had no idea how long it would take whoever was shooting at them to find them, but she doubted it would be long.
Callen slumped against the base of a pine tree, which was as far as she could move him. Beside him the emergency backpack sat on the ground, his right hand sticky with blood where it clutched his side. The fabric of his jacket was soaked through, the dark patch growing. She thought he might have passed out.
Then he stirred.
It wasn’t a groan or a sudden jolt, just a slow, brutaldetermination as he pushed his other hand against the ground and forced himself upright inch by inch. Every movement was pain. She saw it in the way his jaw clenched tight, his face pale beneath the scruff, sweat glistening at his temples. He gritted his teeth and braced a hand against the tree to steady himself. For a heartbeat, he swayed.
Then he opened his eyes and found hers.
“I’m good,” he said, though his voice was barely more than gravel. “We have to move.”
“Callen, you need to sit. Just… just let me look?—”
“There’s no time.” He reached for his sidearm, checked the clip with a practiced flick of his thumb. “If they’re tracking us, they’ll sweep this area. We have to stay ahead of them.”
She wanted to argue. God, she wanted to scream at him to stop pretending he was invincible. But she knew that look. The soldier was back in control. Wounded, yes. But not giving up.
He didn’t look like the man she’d kissed last night. He looked like the man she remembered watching walk away a decade ago, now bleeding and broken but still standing tall.
A scream cut through the air, jerking their attention around as everyone ducked.
