My gut tightened. I knew this sky.
A storm was coming fast.
CHAPTER FOUR
GRAHAM
I couldn’t stop watchingRose.
We’d been riding for hours, and she’d barely spoken to me beyond clipped instructions and the occasional “watch your spacing” aimed at the whole line. Ranch owner in charge. Not my friend. Not my anything.
Then the wind shifted.
Most people missed it. My team were too busy being impressed by Colorado, joking over their shoulders, laughing at Jamie’s running commentary about how “this view is illegal.” Brutus’s ears twitched, though, and Cassiopeia lifted her head. Horses always knew before people did.
Rose noticed.
Her whole body went from tour guide to commander. Like she’d flipped an internal switch that didn’t allow discussion.
“We’re turning back,” she called.
There were groans behind us.
“What? It’s just clouds,” Olivia argued.
“We’re turning back,” Rose repeated, calm and final. “Now.”
Kaya’s voice carried from the end. “She’s right. That’s moving in quickly.”
Rose didn’t spare a second. “Keep up and stay tight. If you fall behind, call out and Kaya will help you.”
The tone was what did it. Not angry. Just final.
No one argued again.
Dex reinforced it with one quick sweep of his eyes down the line.Do not make her repeat herself.Jamie discreetly pulled out her phone to capture the dramatic shift from postcard morning to apocalypse ride.
Scotland had taught me storms could come fast and mean it. Colorado, apparently, had the same way of reminding people they weren’t in charge.
Brutus drifted up beside Cassiopeia again.
The light went flat. Wind cut through the aspens hard enough to make the leaves shiver silver-side out.
A cold drop hit my cheek.
Another.
Then the rain committed.
Not a polite drizzle. Not a cinematic mist. Fucking needles. Cold and sharp, driven sideways, turning the trail into slick clay in the space of a minute. Everyone behind us went quiet one by one,their laughter dying as the weather stopped being pretty and started being real.
Rose lifted her voice again, steady and clean over the rain.
“Hands soft. Let your horses move. No one passes. Call out if you can’t see the rider behind you.”
Thunder rolled over the ridge, low and deep.
Olivia swore under her breath.
