He couldn’t believe the turn of events.
Everything had happened so quickly, and if it weren’t for Sera’s intervention, Fallon could have gotten seriously hurt.Not to mention the other members of the herd.
Avi was thankful that the losses to the herd had been to the farm itself and not a member.
Unlike Colton’s herd.
“You okay?”Ford asked.
“Just thinking.”
“It’s been a crazy day.But it’s been kind of crazy since everything was set into motion with Colton’s herd coming into New Jersey.”
Avi hummed and picked up another metal slat.“I didn’t really know Weston, or Colton, either.Weston was pretty young when my mom and I left the herd.Part of me feels like I should feel some kind of guilt over his death, but he’s basically a stranger.”
“Plus, he came to abduct Fallon.”
“That too.”
As Ford bolted the slat into place, Avi glanced at the farmhouse.He didn’t know what he’d do if something happened to Fallon.Already it felt like she’d been part of his life forever, not the short amount of time she’d been there.
“Probably why you don’t genuinely feel remorse over Weston dying is because he tried to take your soulmate.Colton’s herd was told that if they set foot in our territory, we’d meet them with deadly force.It was sheer arrogance that got Weston killed.”Ford gave him a long look.“Better him than Fallon, or you or any of our people.Colton needs to get the hell out of New Jersey and start over somewhere else.”
“I think he’s too psycho for that.”
“Yeah.I kind of do too.”
Crew joined them, looking at his phone screen for a moment before he put it in his shirt pocket.“I’ve got two ideas.”
“Just two?”Avi asked.
Crew smirked.“In this situation, yes.How long will you be with the gate?”
Ford took a step back and looked at the gate.“Twenty minutes, give or take.”
“Meet in the kitchen when you’re done.Fallon and Sera are welcome to join us, Avi.”
“Sure thing,” Avi said.Crew walked away while Avi and Ford got back to work on repairing and reinforcing the gate to prevent a breach from happening again.
As they finished up, Avi helped Ford put away the tools and clean up, and then they headed into the kitchen where the entire herd—from elder Dexter and his mate Nancy, to Fallon and her mom—were seated around the big table.Snacks and drinks were in the center of the table, and Avi grabbed a chilled bottle of iced tea before taking an empty seat next to Fallon and kissing her cheek.
“The gate is all set?”Crew asked from the head of the table where he sat with Zara.
“Yep,” Ford said, taking his seat.“Repaired and reinforced.”
“Excellent.”Crew folded his hands and looked around the table.“There are two things that I want to deal with before the end of the day, and I want to get input from the herd.I’d like to reach out to the park and ask them to loan us a few security team members.I believe if we had one or two security people in shifts around the clock for a while, it would give us a chance to breathe and work on the electronic surveillance systems we have in place.It’s been rough with only so many of us on patrol here.It wouldn’t be forever, just for a week perhaps.”
The herd was quiet.
Then Avi said, “That would potentially be a lot of traffic back and forth from the park here.Can we say for sure that they wouldn’t be followed by Otto?”
“They’re no slouches in the security department at the park,” Khyle said.“They could definitely get here and back without being followed.”
Avi gave Fallon’s hand a squeeze.“I just want the farm and the herd to be safe.All of us.”
“Understandable,” Crew said.“We’re definitely on the same page.Does anyone object to me reaching out to the park for security help?”
When no one objected, Crew moved on to his other idea.
