“I’m okay,” he replied just as quietly. “He aimed at the sky.”

“I guess at least we know it’s loaded.” My heart slammed against my ribs, fear coating my tongue with a bitter, metallic taste.

“Way to find the silver lining.”

A corner of my lips lifted slightly.

“There’s one more in the barrel. Remember what I said. Back toward the woods slowly.”

“No,” I argued.

“Yes,” he countered, and his hand disappeared from my back. “Now, Willow.”

Ice rippled through my veins.

He stepped forward, and I let the fabric of his coat slide through my grasp, leaving me precious inches away from Cam.

“Dad,” Cam called out. “I could have sworn you told me never to point a gun at a pretty girl.”

I stood paralyzed, watching Cam walk forward like his dad didn’t have a gun pointed at his chest.

“What?” Mr. Daniels called out. “I’m not your… Who are you? What do you want?”

There it was—a softening in his tone. If Cam could get through to him, they both might live through this. But the odds of that happening were so small, they almost weren’t worth mentioning.

“It’s me, Dad. Camden. And you looked about ready to shoot Willow, so I figured I should step in. You don’t want to hurt Willow, do you? Little Willow? Our neighbor?”

“Willow? Who’s…”

The farther Camden walked, the more his dad came into sight. I needed to move, needed to get back into the woods so this all wouldn’t have been in vain, but the idea of leaving him here to face his dad alone was simply unfathomable.

Sullivan had been alone. I couldn’t reach him. Couldn’t hold him. Couldn’t brush his hair out of his eyes one last time.

I wasn’t leaving Cam.

“Come on, Dad. Put the gun down. We’ll go back to the house, and I’ll cook you up some chicken exactly how Mom made it, okay?” Cam kept his arms outstretched, his palms facing his dad.

“Get off my land! You can’t have it!”

Another shot fired, and I screamed as Cam’s body flew backward, landing in the field with a sickening thud.

“Willow!” Xander shouted from behind his father, already gripping the shotgun.

“Call 911!” I didn’t spare more than a cursory glance as my knees slammed into the unforgiving ground next to Cam. How the hell were we going to get him down the mountain? Could a helicopter land up here?

His jacket was shredded, tiny feathers spilling free all over his chest and blowing away in the wind.

But they weren’t red. Yet. Neither was the grass beside him, right? But it was already so dark.