Every instinct of self-preservation told him to turn and run, but something deeper begged him to stay and let her in.
She closed the distance, her lips firm and absolute in their need as she curved his mouth to submission. Her hands kneaded the front of his cotton shirt, digging between the buttons to brush the skin beneath. He groaned as he shoved his hands into her hair and pulled her to him until there wasn’t a space of relief between their bodies. He’d dreamed of her so many nights—the smell of her perfume, the heat of her hair when the sun hit it, the way her laugh warmed everything around her. His imagination was a far cry from the realness of her in his arms.
He slipped an arm around her waist, every muscle tightening to keep her close. A gasp of surprise tumbled over her lips as the possessive hold forced the air from her lungs. He captured it, drawing it deep down until it crushed his barrier of preservation to dust—
A gunshot blasted in the air. Kat jerked back. “Please tell me that wasn’t what I’m sure it was.”
Another shot cracked the sky. Rifles. And not just any rifle, but a bolt-action Mauser issued to the Germany army. “Afraid so. Hunters looking for an easy target. Run!”
Tall grass slapped around his waist as they grabbed Ellie and raced away from the encroaching voices.
“Der hase! Diesen weg!”
Rabbit. They hunted rabbit, but it didn’t mean they wouldn’t take a potshot at a civilian’s back. The open field stretched before them, offering nothing but high dead grass and a copse of trees two hundred yards away to hide in. The perfect spot for vermin to cower and a stray bullet to hit one of them in the confusion. Pushing Kat and Ellie from behind, he veered them to the stream bank. “Jump into those reeds there!”
They dove behind the thick green reeds just as three German soldiers crested the mound he and Kat had sat on moments before. Dirty and ripped uniforms hung off their lanky frames, their hair shaggy beyond regulations, and two weeks’ growth of whiskers covering their jaws. The fear racing through Barrett plummeted to his stomach. Deserters. The worst kind of man. Dishonorable enough to leave their duties and ruthless enough to do whatever it took to survive.
Kat’s trembling hand brushed over his. “We can’t stay here.”
He scanned the area. There was nowhere to hide except the reeds crawling along the stream. Canteens hung off the men’s belts. They’d need to refill them, and when they did, they were sure to spot the platinum of Ellie’s head lurking in the greenery.
“Was ist das?” The shortest of the bunch, with copper hair, held up a slender white object.
On the other side of Kat, Ellie gasped. “My comb.”
Barrett held his breath. Maybe they would pocket it and continue their hunt elsewhere.
The copper-haired boy tossed the comb high in the air and caught it with a wicked gleam to his eye. Barrett’s breath hissed out. He knew that look, and it didn’t bode well. The boy ribbed his comrades, making crude illustrations with his hands and pointing out to the field around them. The others nodded, malicious smirks curling their lips. Rabbit was no longer on the menu.
Fanning out, the deserters scanned the ground and grass with the tips of their rifles. Obsession lit their eager faces like the taste of water in a wasteland. Kat’s fingernails dug into the back of his hand as they drew closer. A few more yards and the copper boy would have them in sight. Barrett flipped his hand over to squeeze Kat’s. She couldn’t stay here. He needed her gone, now. If he could get that Mauser, he might stand a chance.
Reaching into his pocket, Barrett pulled out his switchblade and pressed it into Kat’s hand. “Creep backward and edge along the bank of the water. On your belly if you have to. Keep Ellie in front of you. Don’t stop, don’t look back. No matter what. Keep going.”
“You’ll be behind me?”
He smiled ruefully. “I’ll be somewhere back behind. Now, go.”
Making only the slightest of efforts toward following them, he watched them steal away, his heart wallowing in his throat as the distance between him and Kat widened. Mud caked up her sides, but she didn’t stop or look back as she urged Ellie ahead of her. With one final glance of her burning into him, he stopped and turned