Free Passion to Protect by Colleen Thompson Page B

burn in hell.” Twisting in the dirt, Mac whipped around, hurling a fist-sized rock toward the sound of Jake’s voice.
    Ducking, Jake barely avoided being struck in the head.
    With one last look at the man groping for another stone to hurl, he made his decision. He was happy to risk his hide to save Liane and her children, but he wasn’t going to waste another instant worrying about Deke’s murderer.
    * * *
    With her daughter wheezing in her ear and Cody choking on smoke, Liane’s only imperative was getting them to clearer air. The rocky ridge should have formed a firebreak, but a massive tree had fallen right along the crest, its flaming bulk blocking her path. As she tried to move around it, the roiling smoke forced her eyes nearly closed. Missing her footing, she lost her hold on both children as she rolled back downhill.
    Scrabbling toward the sound of Misty’s barking, she cried, “Cody! Kenzie!”
    “Mom!” Cody yelled, attempting to pull Kenzie to her feet.
    The six-year-old moaned and turned her head away but didn’t get up, so Liane hoisted her daughter into her arms the minute she reached them and told Cody, “Here. Hold on tight to my belt. We have to get out of the trees and onto the rocks.”
    But which way was it? Disoriented by her fall and the smoke that made the day as black as midnight, Liane was confused. So she sucked in a deep breath and took off in what felt like the right direction, praying she’d guessed right.
    She wanted to cry out for help, but she was terrified of drawing Mac back to them. Terrified and confused, because he’d undoubtedly killed her father and might very well have shot Jake, too, yet he had sounded desperate to get the children to safety.
    Had she been wrong to flee him, to risk losing Cody and Kenzie to the fire? Had she cost her children their best chance of survival out of fear for her own life?
    As she blundered forward the burden of her daughter’s weight slowed her steps, and her thoughts were slowed, too, by the lack of oxygen. Suddenly aware that she could no longer feel Cody’s tug at her belt, she reached back for him.
    But her firstborn child had vanished, along with the dog.
    A jolt of pure electric panic ripped through her. She forgot about Mac and cried out, “Cody! Misty!” and frantically scanned the area, blundering through the smoke on muscles recharged by adrenaline. When no one answered her repeated calls she choked on a sob, on a pain so intense it felt as if some unseen hand had gripped her heart, then wrenched it from her body.
    Then she spotted movement to her left, no more than a fleeting shadow in the thick smoke. Convincing herself that it must be—had to be—her son, she followed, hanging on to Kenzie for dear life.
    * * *
    His mom was going the wrong way. Cody had to tell her. Had to get her and Kenzie up to the rocks where they would be safe. ’Cause Grandpa wasn’t here, so they were his responsibility.
    When Cody tried to yell at her, all that came out was a lot of coughing. His eyes were burning, and his arms and legs felt heavy. So heavy, he let go of his mom’s belt. He tugged at her jacket, but he guessed she didn’t feel it, ’cause she kept right on walking.
    “Mommy,” he choked as he fell down, but she didn’t hear him, either, and now he couldn’t see her.
    He tried to stand up and run after her, but he was so tired, and it was easier to breathe down here by the ground. He remembered Mr. Jake telling him and Kenzie that if their house ever caught on fire, they should crawl out, just like babies. So he tried crawling for a while, but he was never gonna catch up like that.
    Something hairy nudged him. Misty. She had come back for him. When she licked his face and pawed at him, he stood and grabbed her collar.
    For a while he kept walking with her, not knowing and not caring which way she was leading him. Then, finally, he fell again as his legs gave out.

Chapter 6
    I t would be so much easier to lie down, to allow