Bound by Shadows (previously published as the Bear Who Loved Me) by Kathy Lyons

Author:Kathy Lyons
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2020-07-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Becca heard the explosions, the sound jolting her enough that she squeaked in alarm. Then gunfire erupted, sounding a thousand times scarier than it did on TV. And then…nothing.

What the hell was going on?

She wanted to get out and see. She wanted to cower on the floor and hope that no one spotted her. She wanted to be in Australia looking at kangaroos with Theo at some nature park. Instead, she just stayed where she was and prayed.

Then her phone buzzed. She was so grateful she fumbled, flipping it around in her hand. But by the time she could see it, all she read was a short text from Carl:

The worst is over. Stay calm.

She read that a thousand times while her heart steadied to about twice its normal rate. And while she tried to control her breathing, she decided that “stay calm” were the most useless two words ever. If she was panicking, they wouldn’t help. If she was calm, then they were completely unnecessary. And if she was vacillating back and forth between the two, then “stay calm” just pissed her off.

She wanted answers, damn it! Was everyone okay? Had they found Theo? Did they need help? Why hadn’t she chosen to be a nurse or a cop? Some profession that was useful at a time like this? No, she’d gotten a business degree and baked castle cakes.

But rather than give in to her wildly shifting moods, she kept herself calm enough to respond. She didn’t want to distract Carl with questions he couldn’t answer, and she sure as hell didn’t want him staring at his phone while bullets were flying. So she keyed in a simple response, though it took her shaking fingers three tries to get it right.

Okay. I’ll wait for news.

And that’s what she was going to do. She was going to sit there in the cab of Carl’s truck. His calming scent surrounded her in the leather seat and the extra-soft sweatshirt he’d loaned her, and she was going to wait for him. And then later, when this was all over, she was going to learn first aid.

Hell, she should start right now. She could pull up any number of websites from which she could learn basic field medicine. So she did. Reception was weak, but thankfully not dead. And though the pictures were gory and nauseating, especially since she kept imagining Theo or Carl in them, she held it together long enough to read the same page seven times.

Retention was obviously not working well.

Then she saw Officer Tonya walking steadily to the truck, her expression grim. Though, to be fair, the woman’s expression was usually grim.

Becca jumped out of the cab, rushing forward. “Did you find Theo? Is it over? Is everyone okay?”

The woman held up her hand, and Becca slammed her jaw shut. She needed answers and would not do anything to interfere with that. The woman nodded, a flash of gratitude on her face.

“First off, everyone’s fine, as far as I’m aware.

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