“We couldn’t miss your ár mökunar.” She grinned. “Dalt and I are here for a few weeks. Staying at ‘the castle.’”
Andi was married to Samantha’s brother, Dalton, and they had the most divine American southern accents. She used air quotes when she said, ‘the castle,’ something Sam had started doing when she moved in because she felt it was so ridiculously over the top that she was now a queen in her very own castle.
I stepped out of the stall and she reached to hug me. “I’m filthy,” I warned.
“A little horse never hurt anyone,” she countered, and hugged me tightly.
I hugged her back. “I can’t believe Dalton got time off.”
Andi rolled her eyes. “Neither can I. He’s supposed to work part time for the FBI, but they rope him into more—”
“Isla?” Arric’s deep voice called out, and my heart raced as he walked through the barn doors. “Look, I wanted to apologize for what I said—”
Andi let out a quiet gasp as he approached, pulling away from me, and suddenly falling to her knees and bowing her head.
“Andi? Are you okay?” I asked, but she didn’t respond.
Arric looked horrified. “What the hell are you doing, lady?”
“What’s goin’ on here?” Dalton growled, storming over to us.
Arric glared at Dalton but didn’t move.
“Andi, get up, sugar,” Dalton ordered, then frowned. “What do you mean, you can’t?”
It appeared she was speaking to him in their mated voices telepathically.
“Arric, release her,” I ordered.
He held his hands up and scowled at me. “I ain’t fuckin’ touchin’ her.”
“No, you bampot,releaseher.”
“What the hell does that mean?” he asked.
“Release her,” I repeated. “Say the words, ‘I release you.’”
“I release you,” Arric said, and Andi scrambled to her feet, virtually jumping into Dalton’s arms.
“You better start fuckin’ explaining what the hell’s going on,” Dalton demanded.
“He doesn’t know anything,” I said.
Arric let out an irritated grunt.
“Quiet, you. My Uncle Dalton carries a gun, and I’d rather not scare the horses,orhave to mop up blood in my dad’s barn.”
“Are you an oracle?” Andi asked Arric.
“What the fuck’s an oracle?” he demanded.
“You need to take it down a notch, pal,” Dalton warned.
“Or, what?” Arric growled. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Haddi needs to be informed,” Andi continued, ignoring the sea of testosterone surrounding her.
Arric threw his hands in the air. “Lady I have no idea what the fu—”
