Her son had taken to Beau in a heartbeat.
“And I need to take my nephew out for ice cream once this is all over so he doesn’t think he’s being replaced.”
Chloe’s smile could have lit up a whole block in a power outage.“Grayson will be thrilled.We’ll be waiting for you to come back safe.”
Did she know he planned to figure out how to save his mother with or without Ivy?
The look in Chloe’s eyes gave him the answer…yes.
“I don’t want to keep Ivy waiting,” he said.“I’ll be back in a bit.”
When he stepped outside, Ivy was gone.
Ivy hearda noise coming from somewhere in front of the truck’s hood.She panicked.The doors were locked.
Twigs snapped.
Something or someone was heading right toward her.Could she put some distance between herself and the truck or run back to the house without being seen or shot?Or was there some kind of predator out there, tracking her movements?
Shit.
Would yelling for help make it worse?Could she crawl up in a ball in the truck bed and avoid a confrontation altogether?
Slowly, she exhaled.If this was an animal, couldn’t predators smell fear?If so, she was doomed.Fear dripped down her forehead in the form of beads of sweat.
The sounds came closer.It was dark outside, and her eyes hadn’t adjusted.Her best chance of survival was inside the house.
“Help me!”she shouted.“Somebody help!”
She’d just given away her location, so she prayed someone inside the house could hear her and would come to help before whatever was stalking her caught up.
The sound of heavy footfall and labored breathing came up from behind.
“Where are you, Ivy?”Beau called out.Other voices followed, and before she knew it, she was surrounded by the Sturgess family.Her heart squeezed at the show of support.The voice in her head was quick to warn her.Don’t get used to it.
“What’s going on?”Chloe asked.
“You shouldn’t be out here,” Beau warned his sister.
Travis moved to her side.“I’ve got her covered, Beau.”
Witnessing how protective they were of each other tightened the band around her chest and caused tears to well in her eyes.She blinked them back as a cavern opened in her soul.
Ivy missed having a family.She missed having someone in her corner.She missed having someone else have her back.Being alone in the world felt like an all-consuming vat.
“It’s her,” Hudson said, leaning to the right, his gaze focused on an animal circling them.“I’ll call Marcus.”
“The mountain lion?”Kade asked.
An involuntary shiver rocked Ivy’s body at the thought that she had been stalked by a mountain lion only moments ago.The reality that she could have been its next meal wasn’t something she wanted to consider.It reminded her how unpredictable life was and how important it was not to put off living or doing whatever was really important to her.You never knew when this life would end.Instead of that being a sad thought, as it had been so many times in the past, it served as a reminder to go for the things she wanted.When this ordeal was over, she intended to tell Beau about her growing feelings.He could do what he wanted with the information.Waiting and putting things off was no longer an option.The minute they found their parents, she intended to have a conversation with him.
“You call Marcus, and I’ll grab the tranquilizer gun he left for me to use if she turned up again,” Kade said before jogging toward the house.
“Marcus?”Ivy whispered as everyone made a circle around her and Chloe.
“He’s with the wildlife department,” Beau said.“He’s been tracking this animal for weeks.”
“Is it dangerous to humans?”she asked.As far as she remembered, mountain lions typically left people alone.
