Colton reveled in the freedom of his natural form. He and his brothers were bound by duty, and he knew that every once in a while, they needed to let loose and burn off some of that dragon energy that stayed bottled up in the two-legged form. He hadn't told them that this would probably be their last trip to Wyoming if things didn't pick up soon. It was only because of their last couple guests that they were able to go at all. Money was tight as it was and buying new trail horses was a luxury that they might not even need. But he knew that his brothers were already stressing about the entire situation, so cancelling the trip would only make things worse. There was a chance that things could turn around, and until he knew for sure, he needed to keep the family together.
Sarah wasn't helping matters with her gallivanting around. He knew that he was going to have to get involved sooner rather than later if she kept it up. While he downplayed it to the others, he knew that she was up to something major. Sarah was girly enough that she liked to parade her beaus around just to get the attention. The fact that she was hiding something was a bad sign.
But for now, Colton gave in to his dragon and cleared his mind to just enjoy the freedom as he flew to the top of the mountain.
Chapter Six: Finding a New Plan
Ellie Dampier
Ellie yawned as the movie ended. It had been a week since her break-in, and she hadn't left the house since. Online yoga class, online shopping, and dozens of made-for-television movies filled her days. The farthest she walked outside was to her mailbox, and luckily it out a side gate straight out from her front door. Other than Nita, no one else had come to her house. No one else had called either, including Frank whom she wanted to hear from. She wasn't worried about money yet, but she also couldn't afford to never work again either.
She stood up and stretched as she watched to see what the next movie in the lineup was. It turned out to be a Bruce Willis shoot-em-up action movie. "Perfect movie for popcorn." She turned to walk to the kitchen to get the air popper when an explosion suddenly rocked the house.
"What the hell was that?" Without thinking, Ellie ran down the hallway that led to the back of the house. Because she had been doing a little house decluttering, she had moved her car outside so she could organize her belongings throughout the garage. She bypassed the door that opened into the garage and pushed open the door that opened into the driveway.
Her car, or what was left of it, was completely engulfed in flames. She stood there wide-eyed as her brain struggled to process what she was seeing. When the enormity of the situation finally filtered through, she ran back into the house and grabbed the phone in the kitchen. It was dead.
A prickle of fear ran up her spine as she tried the phone in the living room. It was also dead. She ran back and locked the door before she flew to the end table next to the couch in the den to grab her cell phone. She started to press the keys to call for help when she heard a footstep behind her. She froze and listened while she tried to slow her heart down so she could hear something other than the blood rushing in her ears.
Another step. Then another. Quiet, but not quiet enough.
Someone was in the house with her, and it wasn't Nita.
Ellie kicked off her slippers and ran across the floor in her socks, not making a sound. She hurried through the kitchen and up the back stairs, where she locked herself in her office, which happened to be the room that led outside onto the balcony. She swiped the screen to get the dial pad up on her phone and started typing in 9-1-1.
Something big crashed into the locked door. Ellie let out a scream and dropped her phone as she was startled and jumped backwards when the wood splintered but held. She started to reach for the phone, but another kick and the door gave way a little more. Abandoning the phone, she ran out onto the balcony. Luckily, the house came equipped with an easy to deploy fire ladder, which she grabbed and tossed over the railing. She glanced back at her phone and wondered if she had actually made the call. Either way, she needed to get out of there. Now.
She swung herself over the railing and down the ladder. As soon as her feet hit the pavement, she sprinted off into the woods on the backside of her property. She cursed herself for taking her slippers off as rocks cut into the soles of her feet, but she also commended herself for keeping the brush thick to prevent the paparazzi from spying on her. She crashed through the bushes and threw herself on the ground as soon as she was deep enough in. She crawled off to the side and squirmed around just enough to be able to see the house, but she stayed deep enough in the brush that she wouldn't be seen from the outside. Anyone chasing her might know she went in the woods, but they wouldn't know which section to search first. Whether she had gone left or right didn't matter - she could have seen the house from either side, so whoever it was would have to really search to find her, which gave Ellie the upper hand.
Her breathing slowed to an acceptable rate as she laid still and peered intently through the underbrush. Sirens echoed in the distance as she watched the black smoke billow from over top of her house.
The alarm system. She closed her eyes for a second to send a silent prayer of thanks to the alarm company. Whether she had dialed or not hadn't mattered in the grand scheme of things. She heard the sirens get closer, and then a loud crash echoed over the wail.
They rammed the gate.She mentally kicked herself for not pushing the button to open it.Oh well. That's what insurance is for.
Her breath hitched as she saw a figure all dressed in black emerge from the side door of the garage. She shifted to try and get a better look as the person skirted around the side to the back of the house where they ran off in the opposite direction of where she lay. No one from the driveway would be able to see them escaping, but all she cared about is that they were gone.
She tried to get anything descriptive about the person, but they wore an overly large hoodie sweatshirt with the hood pulled up over their head and pulled tight across the face. She couldn't tell if it was man or woman, and the only real detail she could surmise was that they were probably just a tad taller than she was herself. About the same height as Curtis.
Fury replaced her fear as a cop car suddenly appeared and parked on the side of the garage. Ellie leapt up and ran toward it, hollering as the cop stepped out. He raced to her and grabbed her by the shoulders.
"Are you okay?"
She pointed to the woods off to the side. "He went that way."
Another cop came up and was given orders. He went and found another cop and the two of them set off for the woods. The original cop looked at her. "Just the one guy?"
"He's the only one I saw, and to be honest, I can't say for sure that it was a guy. Very nondescript." She could hear the loudwhooshas the firefighters put water on the smouldering car. "And I'm doing better than my car from the sounds of it."
"What happened?" He led her back toward his car. "Tell me everything."
Ellie told him everything starting with her fight with Curtis. "Do you think he blew up my car?"
He nodded. "From my experience, yes. The way the car is twisted and mangled, it's from an explosive device of some sort."
She shivered. "Thank God I had it parked outside. It would have blown up my entire house."
"It's a good thing you had it parked far enough away from your house, or the boys over there would have a much larger problem."
