Page 26 of Lion Conquers All
Ava was circling the blind, staring at the ground. At the brush. Connie couldn’t say what she was looking for, but the woman was focused. She’d give her that.
“We need to go back. We need information on all the locations where she could’ve gone.” Aarav dusted his hands on his pants and slung his day pack back over his shoulder. “Ava, find Ryder. Unless youseea trail. We need to go. I need to put together a search team as fast as possible.” He glanced at the sky and Connie’s chest constricted. He could sense it, too. A storm was coming. The air smelled different and the temperature was continuing to drop. She’d lived here long enough to know what it felt like before the first winter storm hit.
“This storm is going to wipe out everything.” Gaven’s voice was tighter now. Panic was starting to creep into the father’s mind. He’d trusted his daughter. She’d not only broken that trust, but now she was in danger. Connie couldn’t imagine the stress he was feeling right now.
Aarav’s voice carried authority and command. “We are leaving now. They weren’t here. We have to regroup back at the office. Gaven. Now.”
“I have to look for her.” The girl’s father was panicking.
Aarav marched over to Gaven and took him by the arm. “We are leaving. You are no good to me lost in the woods. Your daughter needs you to provide the search teams with information. How can you do that if you leave to look for her? You don’t have any gear or maps with you. Please. We need to go. Now.”
Gaven resisted for a few seconds longer. Connie saw the moment the fight left him. He knew Aarav was right. He knew the best thing he could do for Gretchen and for Sam was get help and come back later.
But the storm was coming.
They needed to hurry. Wherever the trail might be, it would be gone soon.
Connie headed back the way they’d come. Back toward the stream. Aarav and Gaven were right behind her. They were all half-running-half-jogging.
“Where did Ava and Ryder go?” Connie shouted out between sucking in breaths. Running wasn’t her thing. And running in hiking boots really wasn’t her thing. She wasn’t in bad shape, she just wasn’t in SEAL team shape.
She glanced over her shoulder. Gaven was struggling too, but Aarav looked like he could run all day without breaking a sweat.Damn lion.There were some obvious perks to being an alien shapeshifter from another planet.
“They went around another way. They’ll come out at the stream.” Aarav’s voice was right next to her. He’d moved so fast. She hadn’t even heard his footsteps get closer.
A second later his arms were around her and she wasn’t on the ground any more.
She tensed and whimpered, but clung to his body all the same. His first step into the water splashed them both a little, but he launched himself far enough that his second foot landed close to the other side in only about six inches of water.
He set her down and patted her shoulders and arms. Straightened the bag on her shoulder. Then bent down and looked straight at her. “You good? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you, just wanted to use the momentum to jump.”
“I—yes—I.” She licked her lips and tried to form words. Her whole body was locked and her mind wasn’t with her.
He’d grabbed her.
Without warning.
He’d jumped the whole damn stream. How had he done that? He was a person. He hadn’t shifted.
She could still feel his arms locking around her, trapping her, stealing her control. Her lungs wouldn’t work. She couldn’t suck in air or blow it out. She was frozen.
Run. Run. Run.
Her mind went back to that place.
That place she hadn’t been in several years.
She’d been doing so well. Or maybe she hadn’t. Maybe she’d just been avoiding it. Shoving it down in a dark hole and hoping it would never crawl out.
Well. It just crawled out.
“Connie.” Aarav had started to walk away. He stopped and returned to her side. His hand returned to her arms.
No. No. No.
She heard splashing. The others were crossing the stream.
“Connie.”
