For one horrifying second, the worst thought she had ever entertained took solid, awful shape: *He hurt her. He attacked her. I trusted him and he hurt her.* Rage and fear mixed so fast and so violently she nearly choked on both. But before she could take another running step, the fight in the grass changed. Ranger’s furious snarling twisted into a strangled, desperate sound—a guttural cry that was all pain. His body jerked once, a violent, full-body spasm, and then collapsed sideways into the dirt.
Silence fell so abruptly that Emily’s skin prickled. The absence of noise was louder than the snarls. “What… what is happening?” she whispered, her own voice foreign to her. Clutching Lily tighter to her chest, she inched forward, her legs unsteady. Ranger lay motionless, his side heaving, his chest rising and falling in fast, shallow bursts.
And beside him, half-coiled and unmistakable in its glossy red, yellow, and black bands, lay a coral snake—its head crushed and lifeless beneath Ranger’s jaw.
Emily’s breath caught in her throat, a physical ache. The understanding was instantaneous and devastating. He hadn’t attacked Lily. He had thrown his own body between her and the snake, shoving her small form out of its lethal path. He had taken the bite meant for her.
A sickening wave of guilt crashed over her so hard she swayed on her feet. “Ranger,” she whispered, the word a sob. She sank to her knees in the dirt, her free hand trembling violently as she reached toward his still head. He had saved her daughter. And now, because of it, he was dying right before her eyes.
Ranger’s breathing was getting worse—alarmingly fast, uneven, and now with a wet, bubbling rasp at the edges. His front leg, where two tiny puncture marks were visible, was swelling so rapidly it hardly looked like a leg anymore, the skin stretched and shiny. Emily’s stomach dropped through the earth. “Oh God… Ranger…” she whispered, her voice breaking completely.
From the grass, Lily whimpered, frightened but conscious, her little hands reaching up for her mother with shaky fingers. Emily scooped her up and held her fiercely close, kissing the top of her head as profound relief and fresh panic tangled into a knot in her chest. She looked back at Ranger and understood everything in a single, brutal flash of clarity. He hadn’t hurt her baby. He had saved her. “Ranger… I’m so sorry,” she choked out, the apology utterly inadequate. There was no time to think. No time to fall apart.