“It’s okay, she’s just freaked because of the fire,” Aaron told them. “There are some reins in the barn, let’s get them on the horses and lead them as far away from this as we can, all right?”
“All right,” Hannah replied, and they rushed toward the barn to grab the reins.
Aaron could smell oil in the air, the thick scent telling him this had been a deliberate, calculated attack. The people who had done this hadn’t just wanted to cause a scene or scare them, they had wanted to cause real, long-term destruction. They had waited for the perfect night to do it—dry with a slight breeze.
A few licks of flame had already caught on to some of the low-hanging branches near the paddock. The flowers that Bailey, Hannah, and River had planted had already been swallowed by the flames entirely, nothing but ashes now.
Aaron looped the reins around Wheatie’s head, and she let out a snort in protest. He planted a hand on her neck, trying to soothe her.
“Hey, girl, it’s going to be all right,” he tried to assure her. He hoped his tone of voice would be enough to soothe her, even though she must have known something was wrong. Horses were incisive at the best of times, and it wouldn’t take much for them to start to really freak out. If they did, it would be chaos—panicked horses galloping around on top of everything else would only add to how hard this was going to be for them.
He led Wheatie slowly but surely away from the fire, grabbing the reins of another horse as he went. Hannah and River were close behind him, each with another horse, Hannah talking to River as though doing her best to keep her calm and focused.
He could smell the acrid smoke in the air as they reached the far end of the other paddock. Tying up the reins of the horses, Aaron hardly waited before he bolted back toward the fire once more.
“Lawson, out!” he roared toward Lawson, as he saw him still standing by the edge of the paddock. His face was covered in ash—only his eyes peered out from the smudges across his skin. He seemed to know better than to argue with Aaron, so he quickly nodded and turned his back, allowing Aaron to take his spot.
Aaron wrapped his fingers around his sleeve and pulled hard, tearing away the seam so he could wrap it around his face. It wouldn’t do much, but it might be enough to keep him from getting too badly injured by the smoke inhalation. He had attended a few arsons cases in his time, and he knew that the smoke was what really got people. He’d seen what it could do, and he wasn’t about to let that happen to him.
Xavier was still at the far end of the paddock, directing people. A line was passing buckets back and forth quickly, and Hannah rushed toward Xavier, checking that he was okay.
There was only so much they could do on their own. Getting one side of the field under control was a start, but the fire had started to spread rapidly through the trees. A few burning leaves had dropped to the ground, and the dry grass was beginning to catch fire.
“We need buckets over here!” Aaron yelled to the crew, waving one of them over so he could try and handle at least some of the inferno. His own cabin was only a few hundred feet away, and it wouldn’t take long for the fire to reach it if he didn’t get it under control.
He grabbed a full bucket and dashed into the forest, splashing the water wherever he saw the flames. He couldn’t do much about the trees above him, but if he could stop the fire spreading through the forest floor, it might do the job.
But soon, he ran out of water, and he had to return to grab another one. The paddock was completely consumed now, either in flames or in the ashen remains of what had once been the fence and the building he’d spent so long putting together. He hated seeing the work he’d done reduced to nothing, but he would have time to think about that later. Right now, all that really mattered was making sure he stopped this before anyone got hurt.
“I’ll help you,” River told him, grabbing a bucket and following Aaron back to the forest. But just as she reached it, someone called her name.
“River, watch out!”
Aaron spun around just in time to see a heavy, flaming branch crash down from a tree, nearly landing on River’s head. She dived out of the way just in time, managing to aim the water in her bucket at the branch to put it out. Cade rushed over to her, then dropped to his knees to pull her into his arms.
“Are you okay?” he demanded.
She nodded shakily. “Go,” she told him. “I’m fine. We have more important things to worry about right now.”
Cade dropped a kiss on her head, and River followed him back to the main building to grab another bucket of water as Aaron went about putting out the small patches of flames catching on the scorched earth. It would take the forest so long to recover from this, so long to regenerate back to its former glory. If they didn’t stop this fire, it would damage far more than just the forest. Hopefully they would hear sirens soon and could leave the firefighting to the professionals.
He finished dumping the bucket and ran out of the woods again, past an exhausted-looking Xavier. He was breathing hard, sweat sheening his brow as he looked out over the seemingly hopeless fire in front of them.
He caught Aaron’s eye, and his face darkened. He gestured at the paddock, now consumed with the inferno that he wasn’t sure they would be able to control.
“This wasn’t an accident, Aaron!” he yelled to him.
Aaron nodded in unspoken agreement. There was no way to deny it. This hadn’t been an accident. Someone had come here to make sure they knew they weren’t safe.
But until they got the fire under control, they couldn’t even worry about that yet.
Aaron covered his mouth from the choking smoke and ran back to the lodge, his legs burning and his lungs scorching with each and every breath.
And, in the midst of it all, all he could think about was how much he hoped Bailey was safe.
Chapter Nineteen
Bailey stared at the skyline in her rearview mirror. It had started to glow orange now from the intensity of the fire burning up the property she had just run away from. Even winding her way down the mountain and toward the town, she could see it. The whole damn county probably could.
