Knightfall

Kerra knew something big was going on. More importantly, her life was on the line. Was Gareth a friend or an enemy—or a frenemy? Whatever he was, she sure as hell didn’t feel like sticking around to find out. She gave him her best glare and did the next best thing to shooting him.

She ran.

Adrenaline kicked in, overtaking exhaustion as she jumped around trees and crashed through saplings. Branches whipped at her face and arms. Beacon decided the chase was a new game and ran along, keeping right at her heels. She could hear Gareth closing the distance between them. She began to weave between trees to lose him. Her chest burned, and she could feel her legs losing momentum. She couldn’t hear his steps behind her anymore, so she chanced a look over her shoulder. She didn’t see anyone, and—

“Uh!” Kerra tripped over a fallen pine, catapulting over the log. She lay in the dirt, her shin throbbing. Cursing, she looked up to see Gareth standing over her. Sweat glistened on his face, his chest heaved with heavy breathing. The jerk had taken a side trail and cut her off. Before she remembered the gun in her hand, he swiped the weapon away.

Beaten, she pulled herself up to a sitting position and leaned back against the fallen tree.

Beacon whined, cut off from them by the large log. Gareth took his eyes off her long enough to lift the terrier over the fallen tree. The dog jumped onto her lap, his nub wagging as she tried to block wet doggie kisses.

“Some protector you are,” Kerra muttered as the dog slobbered her cheeks.

Gareth lifted the dog off her lap, knelt, and held his open palm against her cheek. “Are you daft, woman? You could have broken your leg or worse running through these woods like that.”

Gareth was mad at her? The nerve! She was the victim here. At least he wasn’t acting like he wanted to kill her. That was new.