I nod, the stiff shadow on his face scraping against me. "By far, the very best kiss I've ever had."
Sawyer doesn't echo my sentiment. I don't blame him for it, but I wish he would say it anyway. A teensy lie, because I've made myself vulnerable with those words.
From somewhere in the vicinity, the sounds of pain-filled mewling fill the air. Across the desiccated pond, Hester Prynne whinnies. I look over to make sure she's good, and catch movement beyond the trees. Without a word to Sawyer, I start for my horse.
Behind me Sawyer asks what's wrong, and I motion over my shoulder with one finger. The movement hasn't stopped, and through the trees I see horses hooves.
I'm running now, untying Hester Prynne as fast as I can. It could be nothing, but it doesn't feel like it. Something about the mewling makes me nervous. I hop on and take off through the trees. From the sounds behind me, I assume Sawyer is doing the same.
By the time I make it through, there's nothing to see and no way to tell which way the horses went.
"Motherfucker," I hiss, and Sawyer looks at me with questioning eyes.
I move the reins left and make a sound with my mouth, urging Hester Prynne into action. "We need to find what that sound was," I tell Sawyer.
He rides beside me, and even though I'm distracted by our searching, somewhere in the back of my mind, I'm impressed by his riding skills. We're going faster than we were on the way out here.
Twenty yards out, I spot the reason for the crying sounds. Two mountain lion cubs circle their mother, pushing at her with their noses. She lies on her side, unmoving.
I slow down, approaching slowly. Not because I'm being cautious, but because I already know what I'm going to see.
"We should probably stay back," Sawyer says, but I shake my head.
"She's dead. There's no way she'd let us get this close if she weren't."
We stay back ten feet, in an effort not to scare the horses or the cubs, and even from here I see the open wound, the bloodied flesh. I shake my head, rage filling me, and crane my neck. It's useless, though. Whoever shot her and left her to die is long gone. Maybe they were going to take her, and then realized Sawyer and I were nearby.
"Who the fuck would do that?" Sawyer asks, disgusted. "And why? It's not even mountain lion season."
Tears prick my eyes. "And she's a mother. These cubs won't survive without her. They depend on her for food for two years, and I don't think they're even half that old."
“What are you going to do?”
"We need to go home and call the game and fish department and tell them about the cubs. They’ll come and get them. Even if they somehow manage to survive and grow up, they can’t be here. They’ll eventually hunt the cattle.”
“Do you think the mom was here to hunt the herd?”
I look down at the big cat’s blank, glassy-eyed stare, her thick tongue lolling out of her mouth. “She may have been.”
“So maybe whoever did this, did you a favor?”
I shake my head. “No. If she’d been seen alive, we would've called Game and Fish and reported her. They’d send out a hunter to run her off the land. It wouldn't be about eliminating her, but putting her in a place where she and her cubs could live.” My jaw clenches until it’s painful. “Someone took that choice away. And they broke the law while doing it.” I turn my horse around, stopping and looking into Sawyer's eyes. The heat of our kiss still burns, even if it's hard to think about at the moment. “Let’s head back so I can call about the cubs.”
We return the horses to the stable and put them up. Sawyer doesn't kiss me again, but he does take my hand as we walk back to my cabin.
I call the game and fish department, but it's a Sunday. The best I can do is leave a message.
My mood for the rest of the day is ruined. Someone is hunting on my land. Not just hunting, either. They're killing in an injudicious, cruel manner.
And I won't have it.
22
Sawyer
I've been tryingto go to sleep for a long time. An impossible task.
Jessie was torn up about the mountain lion. I wanted to bring her back here and do all the things to her I’ve been holding back. The dam has opened. But her heart was hurting, and it worried her to know there are hunters on the HCC.
