A shout from further down the trail didn’t divert the deputy’s attention. He held his gun steady, maneuvering toward the weapon on the ground.
Joel ran past the officer and pulled his sister into a fierce hug. Colton noticed the officer relax as Joel murmured, “Thank God you’re okay.”
Kendra’s response was muffled until he let go. “Thank Colton.”
Before he knew it, Colton felt the effects of Joel’s one armed bear hug. “Thank you.”
“Where’s Noah?” Kendra demanded shakily.
“Safe. In the house with Britt and the boys.”
Her shoulders sagged. “I need to see him.”
“Of course.” Joel kept an arm around her shoulders and steered them toward the house. “What the hell happened?”
Colton trailed a half a step behind, fighting a jolt of unreasonable jealousy over Kendra’s instant transfer to Joel. He understood her concern for her little brother, but it didn’t lessen the sting of being so quickly forgotten. He wanted to hold her, be the one she leaned on as he led her to Noah.
But he couldn’t push Joel aside—not unless he wanted a whole lot of extra explaining to do. Besides, sooner or later he had to accept the fact that with Robert gone, she didn’t need him anymore. She was back with her family, safe and sound, and Joel would take care of her now.
He thrust his resentment aside to answer Joel’s question with a brief account of the cougar attack and where they could find Robert’s body. Kendra added her version of Robert’s abduction, though Colton noticed she glossed over her clever trail of clues and how she’d bravely climbed the cliff by herself. She gave all credit for her rescue to Colton.
Her warm, thankful gaze stuttered his heart and made him feel worse at the same time. If he’d done his job as her husband and protector, the bastard never would’ve gotten near her.
They didn’t even reach the porch before the door flew open and Noah rushed out. The impact of his little body against Kendra’s sent her back a half step, and Colton had to swallow the lump that formed in his throat as the two of them embraced.
“I was so scared,” Noah whispered, tears running down his cheeks as they went up the porch steps.
She clutched him tight to her side. “So was I, but it’s all okay now. This time, it really is over.”
Inside at the kitchen table, Britt handed out mugs of coffee. Colton declined, standing back with his hands in his pockets, feeling more and more like an outsider. She was safe, with her family as she should be, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to leave.
She’d wrapped her hands around the mug of coffee Britt placed in front of her. As she answered questions about her ordeal from around the table, Colton noted the exhaustion in her face and the droop of her small shoulders. Made him want to run her a hot bath and tuck her into bed afterward for some rest.
His gaze lingered on the faint lines of dried blood that scored her pale cheek from the cliff-face. He was so focused on Kendra, it took a moment to realize Noah had asked him a question. A blink brought Noah’s face into focus.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“I asked if that was from Robert, or were you hurt?” he asked.
Colton realized the boy was staring at his shirt and glanced down to see a crimson smear of blood on the left shoulder of his white dress shirt. His hand brushed at the stain as he flashed back to the cougar lunging at them. “I—no, I’m fine.”
The back door opened and the sheriff walked in. His stern gaze swept the room and came to a rest on Colton. “Colton Lawe?”
“Yeah?”
“I need you to come with me.”
With a slight frown, he set down his coffee and straightened.
Joel rose to his feet. “What’s going on?”
The sheriff didn’t look away from Colton. “It appears our victim was shot before the cougar got a hold of him.”
So he had hit Robert with that first shot. Colton took a resigned step forward, but Kendra jumped up from the table and rushed to block his way. She faced the sheriff, shoulders squared. “Robert pushed me over a cliff—Colton was protecting me.”
The sheriff held up a hand. “Easy, Ms. Zelner. I’m well aware of the situation, and while I’m sure everything will work out, we still have to conduct an investigation. I’ll need a statement from you, too.”
“Does Colton need a lawyer?” Joel asked quietly as he came over to stand beside his sister.