Chapter 36

CHAPTER

THIRTY-SIX

Colton was dialing Callum Webb as soon as Ella disconnected the call. He turned off his flashlight as he walked through the dark woods. He couldn't take a chance that Tony might see him out here.

Because Tony was very definitely with Ella. Colton had no doubt she'd been trying to warn him with her talk about larkspurs.

"Colton, we still don't have any word on Tony. He did not come to the sporting goods?—"

"I know. He's at the cabin with Ella near Fairytale, Colorado."

"Shit. Are you sure?"

"Sure enough that I'm trying to figure out if I should go back and get my gun from my truck or if I should continue the hike to the cabin."

"Does he know you're coming?"

"I don't think so. Ella was trying to get me a message in code."

"I was going to tell you this later, but the deeper we dug into Tony, the worse this whole thing looks. Lincoln found some pretty scary shit. The guy is obsessed with you and clearly unstable."

And now he had Ella.

"I'm going in. I'm not leaving her alone with him one second longer than I have to."

"We're too far to be of any help, but I'm on my way. I'll call Beau Prince, Fairytale's sheriff, and get him out there. Some of his brothers are former military and security also."

Plus, the Prince brothers knew this area like the back of their hand. "Yeah, I know some of them. I'll take all the help I can get, but I'm not?—"

He didn't finish his sentence because a gunshot rang out.

The entire world stopped for Colton, and he bolted toward the cabin. Damn it, he was still too far, and he didn't know if shouting her name would do harm or good.

He ran faster than he had in his entire life, ignoring the branches that scraped his skin and slapped him in the face. He knew he was in danger of an injury since he couldn't see where he was going at all without a light, but he pushed forward at top speed anyway.

An injury wouldn't fucking matter if Ella was dead.

The cabin came into view, and relief flooded his system as the door burst open and Ella rushed out. But his relief was short-lived as Tony's frame filled the doorway, gun lifted and pointed toward Ella.

"You'll be dying for something more important than either of us, Ella!" Tony yelled. "I'm truly sorry it had to be this way."

"Not as sorry as you're going to be!" Colton yelled the words as he ran the last few yards toward the door. He caught a glimpse of Tony's surprised face as he dove through the air and tackled the man.

The gun went off again right before Colton made contact. "No!"

Oh fuck, had the bullet gotten her? Colton had no way of knowing, and all he could hear was his own enraged growl and the sound of his fists hitting Tony over and over.

He didn't stop, not when the other man fell unconscious and not when burning pain started eating through his system.

He couldn't stop. He had to protect Ella.

Ella was the only thing that mattered. If Ella didn't make it out of this, his life wouldn't be worth living anyway.

Ella.

Ella .

"Colton, stop."

A soft hand touched his shoulder, but he couldn't stop. He had to protect her.

He grabbed Tony by the shirt collar and pulled his unconscious form off the ground, vaguely surprised by how heavy he was.

He hit him again. Colton's vision was getting blurry, but he hit him again.

"Colton, it's Ella. Look at me."

Ella.

Ella .

Ella was here. She was alive. "Ella?"

She cupped his jaw with her hands. "He's down. Tony is completely out. You stopped him. Let's move away from him."

She kicked the gun away from Tony's motionless hand. Colton stayed where he was. Nothing felt right at all.

"I didn't know if you would understand my message. I'm so glad you did." She turned and smiled at him, that angelic smile he wanted to see every day for the rest of his life.

But right now, something was very wrong.

"Butterscotch." The word came out slow, slurred. "I think I might be having another panic attack."

All the color drained from her face as she looked over at him then ran to catch him as he toppled over.

"My other panic attacks didn't feel like this."

He felt pressure against his midsection.

"It's not a panic attack. You've been shot."

"Colton! Stay with me, Colton!" Ella grabbed Colton as he fell over. He was already out cold. She continued putting pressure on the bullet wound in his side.

He had dived in front of the bullet that Tony had meant for her.

She glanced over at Tony, wondering if she needed to restrain him, but after the beating Colton had given him, he wouldn't be waking up for quite a while.

And if he did wake up, she would shoot him herself. Right now, all that mattered was Colton. She needed to get him to medical attention now.

He groaned, regaining some consciousness, and she grabbed his hand and pushed it hard against his side.

"Pressure. Do you hear me, Colton? Press hard."

He groaned unintelligibly, but his hand stayed there when she moved hers away. She rushed into the cabin's small kitchen and started opening cabinets.

"First aid kit. Where are you?"

She found it in the third cabinet she opened then rushed back to Colton's side. The wound didn't seem to be near any vital organs, but she wasn't a doctor. Plus, you didn't need a medical degree to know that he was bleeding a lot, and that was going to become a problem.

She had to get him back to her car. But that was at least a mile away, and there was no way she could carry him.

She wrapped up the wound as best she could with the medical supplies, which should at least help slow the bleeding. But he was going to have to help her get him moved. She slapped his cheeks gently.

"Colton. We've got to go. We need to get you to the car."

"Nap."

"You can nap when you get to the car."

Colton's phone rang, and she saw it was Callum Webb.

"Callum, Colton's been shot." She could hear the hysteria in her own voice.

The older man muttered a curse. "How bad?"

"Not critical, I don't think, but he's bleeding. A lot. I need to get him to the car."

"What about Tony?"

"He's unconscious. Colton beat him pretty bad."

"Good. Can Colton walk? "

"He's going to have to. The only way I'm going to be able to move him is if he helps."

"Okay. Restrain Tony and then start moving Colton toward the car. You've got help headed in your direction."

She glanced over at Colton. "He doesn't look good, Callum."

"He's strong. You just get him moving. There is a bad storm coming in that direction."

Great. The last thing she needed.

She disconnected with Callum and found zip ties to restrain Tony's wrists and ankles, not that she thought he would be going anywhere anyway. Then she walked back over and tapped Colton's cheeks again.

"Okay, buddy, naptime is over. We've got to get moving."

"Tired."

She moved his shirt and looked down at his wound. Blood was starting to seep through the bandage. Shit .

"We've got to go, Harrison."

She slid his arm around her shoulders and slipped her arm around his waist, careful of his wound, hooking her fingers into his belt loop. "On three we get up, okay? One, two, three."

It took all of her strength to get him to standing, and even then, most of his weight was on her. They started taking a few shuffling steps out into the darkness, and she prayed she'd be able to find the car.

It was slow going. Colton could only take a few steps at a time and fell more than once. She was running out of energy herself, but there was no way she was going to stop. Especially once the rain started.

The storms here in Colorado were just as quick and violent as the ones they sometimes got in Wyoming. Less than a minute after it started sprinkling, it was pouring. Every inch of her was soaked. She didn't know how they were going to make it.

She found a small overhang by a group of rocks and pulled him under it.

She just needed to rest for a few minutes. But she knew they couldn't stay there; water was already starting to pool around them. Flash flooding was probably a concern around here.

"Go back to the cabin." Colton's voice was frighteningly weak.

"We're closer to the car than the cabin. I can't get you all the way back to the cabin."

"No. You."

"Fuck that shit." It wasn't language she normally used, but it was definitely appropriate for this situation.

He chuckled just slightly. "Butterscotch. Love you."

His voice was getting weaker.

"Damn it, don't you start professing love now. Let's get you to the hospital, and this time, Tony won't be there to keep me out."

He grunted again but didn't argue when she shifted them out from under the overhang. The wind and rain had really picked up even more in the few minutes they'd been out of it.

She managed to haul Colton up to his feet one more time, but that was using the last of her strength. If they didn't make it to the car soon, she didn't think they would make it at all.

And he was definitely slowing. Finally, he stopped moving altogether.

"Come on, Colton. We can do this. We can do anything together." He couldn't stop now. Lightning crackled overhead, dangerously close.

"Promise. Promise me."

She turned so she could look him in the eye. "I'll promise you anything you want in this world as long as it's not about leaving you here alone and saving myself."

His lips tilted up in the tiniest of half smiles. "Anything?"

"Anything, as long as you keep walking."

He did. He was slow, he was unsteady, but he kept moving. One foot in front of the other, even as the storm crashed around them.

They were about a hundred yards from the car when she spotted it. The length of almost a football field. But it might as well have been a hundred miles. There was no way for her to bring the car any closer with all the trees around them .

They weren't going to make it. This close, and they weren't going to make it.

She wasn't going to leave him. Not even to save herself. She had no idea how he was still on his feet. Only out of sheer willpower. But obviously, even his impressive willpower wasn't going to get him the rest of the way. He was drooping over more every second.

"I think it's time for that nap, Colton."

He immediately collapsed onto the ground, completely unconscious. She curled up next to him.

She didn't know if they would survive this storm or not. But if this was the way she had to go, then she was glad it would be next to Colton.

She closed her eyes.

"Miss? Hello?" She felt a hand at her throat and batted it away. Then she realized it had been someone trying to take her pulse.

Ella had no idea how long she'd been lying there. She blinked her eyes open and saw five men standing around them.

"My name is Beau Prince. These are some of my brothers. We live in the nearby town of Fairytale. We're going to get you out of here."

She wanted to make a joke about being rescued by a prince, but everything faded to black before she could do it.