Hopefully it was a smart one, one that would lead to removing the threat against her and not one that would result in getting her heart broken.
With every step, she felt her sense of unease grow, but she didn’t think it had to do with Wyatt. Elsie mentally ran through lists of possibilities, finally realizing it was something about the way Willow was holding herself. She was still searching, very much at work, but something in the tilt of her ears said she was listening, too, and not just for any commands Elsie might give her.
What did she hear? Not their missing person, or she’d have alerted by now. A dog’s hearing was incredible, and so was their sense of smell.
“I don’t think we’re alone,” she whispered to Wyatt, wanting him to be prepared. She stopped, and he hesitated alongside her, close enough she could have reached out and touched him. She could feel him tensing, could feel it in herself as well.
EIGHT
Wyatt didn’t know how long they’d stood there, but after a short bit of time—two minutes? Ten?—Elsie blew out a breath and shook her head. “It’s gone now. I have no idea what she was hearing.”
More like who. Despite the troopers’ belief that the shooter had taken off, chances were high that they weren’t alone on the island, not even with the missing woman. Someone else was here, on the island with them.
They searched for hours, Wyatt doing his best to help Elsie where he could. He watched her, captivated by her work and the way she interacted with her dog, and finally started to feel like he was able to support her and not just follow along behind her.
For example, he’d started to notice the way her jaw would tighten. Sometimes because Willow had picked up a scent, or maybe lost it, and sometimes because she was hungry. He’d learned that if Willow needed something, food or water, Elsie was quick to stop, but she didn’t always take the time to take care of herself. Wyatt made it his mission to help her take care of herself as well, or at least let him take care of her.
She seemed to have forgiven him for his careless words earlier, for which he was thankful. He was still struggling to wrap his mind around what she’d told him about her own life and background. So Elsie had no family. At least, none that she knew of. That painted everything in a different light. Every time she’d come to his and Lindsay’s parents’ house for Thanksgiving after she’d turned eighteen...or worse, every time that she hadn’t... So then where had she gone, whom had she been with?
He thought of the way her cabin was so isolated, like that was what she expected out of life. She’d probably been alone.
As a teenager, he’d been annoyed by her. Wasn’t that practically a rule, to find your sister’s best friend annoying? He’d resented her presence at holiday functions because, after all, she wasn’t family.
Now he wasn’t sure he had even known what that word had meant back then. Because of course she was family. Lindsay was the closest thing to family that she had.
Wyatt noticed Elsie pulling ahead of him again and he picked up the pace, dodging around a spruce tree and narrowly avoiding being smacked in the face by one of its dark green branches. She was able to dodge in and out of trees as gracefully as if she’d been raised in the woods, and in some ways maybe she had.
He wasn’t being honest with himself, Wyatt knew. Sure, he’d been annoyed by her presence when he was younger, but wasn’t some of that because in addition to his stereotypical dislike of his sister’s friend...he’d also had a bit of a stereotypical attraction to her? She’d not been his type at all, but something about her drew him. Even then, he knew she was too good for him and it made him aggravated.
Adult Elsie was definitely too good for him, but adult Wyatt wished she weren’t, because he was thinking if he’d ever had a different type before, he’d been entirely wrong. How could anything be more attractive than a woman like Elsie—let’s be honest, Elsie, not just a woman like her—able to hike through the woods with more grace than a wild animal, brown hair tangling in curls behind her, petite and delicate but not afraid of anything, at least not that Wyatt could tell.
She was brave and smart and beautiful.
The shadows were lengthening by the time Elsie started to slow down. He hadn’t suggested they stop for hours, but was about to when she turned around and shook her head. “She lost the scent.”
“When?”
“Just now. Did you notice we slowed down a quarter mile back or so? I was trying to help Willow pick it up again.”
“Should we go back to there?”
Elsie seemed to be considering. “Could I see a map?”
He handed it to her. She traced a finger along their route. They’d gone up the mountain earlier, then down and into this hollow where they now found themselves, surrounded by trees and vegetation. It was the perfect place for someone to hide. Or be hidden by someone else. Dense and wild. It made Wyatt uneasy. He much preferred the beach area where the plane was, or even the higher mountain areas. He was a pilot. He naturally wanted to have a view, so he couldn’t imagine someone hiding down here on purpose.
“If we go back toward where we lost her scent...” Her voice trailed off. “Maybe? I think it’s worth it. Then from there we’d better head back to the plane.”
“I agree.” There was plenty of light, but Wyatt knew they had a while to hike before they made it back to the plane.
They started walking and Elsie stopped him and pointed when they reached the fork in the trail where they’d lost the scent.
“I think maybe she didn’t take a trail from here? But walked through the trees instead.”
“Why?”
“Just a guess.”
They stood for a minute, Wyatt lost in his own thoughts, not able to guess at what Elsie might be thinking. Then the hair on his arms stood up.
He looked over at Elsie to see if she’d noticed...whatever it was. She’d stilled also, as had Willow.
“What is it?” He chanced a whisper, not sure for his part if they were dealing with human threat or animal. Grizzly bears did stalk this part of the Alaskan wilderness, their paws bigger than a man’s face and unspeakably damaging. It could easily be a bear they’d sensed, even if Wyatt wasn’t sure exactly what it was he’d noticed. A smell? A noise?
It was more of a presence. An awareness that they weren’t alone.
Elsie moved forward, toward Willow, who had turned back toward Wyatt.
“Wyatt, no!”
Her scream registered at the same moment he felt something hard slam into his head. Blinded by the pain, he threw his arms out, tried to fight back, but darkness was already closing in. No, no, no, he could not afford to lose consciousness right now.
“Elsie, run!” he managed to yell before he went to his knees, the explosion of pain coming in echoes across his entire head. He laid his head on the ground, struggling to maintain consciousness, and after a second or two managed to stand back up. In the brief struggle, and his own pain, he’d lost sight of Elsie, his assailant, Willow, everyone.
God, help me find her again, he prayed and started down the trail. As he ran, he winced against the throbs of pain in his head and blinked away something that was obscuring his vision. He held a hand to his forehead, then drew it away. Shiny blood streaked across his hand.
He was mad enough to spit. How had he missed that someone was lurking close enough by to attack him?
And why hit him rather than just shoot him? He was thankful, but didn’t know why the method of attack concerned him.
