“I called Dad,” Tris said, stifling a sob.
“Dad!”Khyle yelled, despite the pain in his side.“Tris is hurt!”
“You’re hurt too,” she said, holding onto him.
“We’re coming!”Dexter said.“I brought reinforcements.”
Two other vehicles showed up with herd members, and in minutes, they were taken back to the farmhouse.While they both had fast healing with their shifter natures, shifting would accelerate it even faster, so once the adrenaline had worn off and they’d shared the details of the attack with the herd, Khyle and Tris shifted in the barn and healed their wounds.
“What a terrible end to the night,” Nancy said, patting his neck as he stood in the pasture.“I’m so glad Tris was able to call for help.”
Khyle whinnied in agreement.
“Colton must have been lying in wait for someone to leave the farm,” Crew said.
“So much for hoping that he’d leave us alone,” Ford said.
Tris sat on her haunches next to Khyle, her furry wolf body warm against his leg.She let out a whine and looked up at him.
Colton needed to be stopped.The threat was clear—he wasn’t planning to go anywhere, and that meant they were all in danger.
* * *
Lunch on Wednesday was just as magical as the day before.Ford had brought Darcy cold fried chicken and potato salad, which he said were leftovers from the dinner the night before.Dessert was apple pie, which had the most buttery crust she’d ever tasted in her life.
She thought it was pretty cool that the farm was basically a homestead.Except for Tatum, who was a librarian, all the women worked on the farm—cooking, cleaning, and gardening—while the men all did the hard labor, including working at the construction company.
While she contemplated how she might fit into farm life, she realized that Ford was distracted during the short lunch break.
When she asked him what was wrong, he assured her nothing was wrong and he was just thinking about farm stuff.She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was truly wrong, though, which made her wonder why he wasn’t telling her.
And then—as she kissed him goodbye and watched him leave—Cruz’s words came back to haunt her.
Had something happened to change Ford’s mind?Had he cooled on their relationship?
She walked into her little office and texted Reagan.
I need some girl talk.Are you free after work?
Heck yeah.Juice Bar?
Absolutely.See you at 5:30.
I’ll be there!
Plans made, Darcy got to work.Maybe she was overthinking.Wasn’t Ford allowed to have a bad day and be distracted?Of course he was.But it didn’t change the weird, hollow feeling in her chest.Had she done something wrong?Was he already tired of her?Were his claims offalling for hernot honest?
She just didn’t know.
* * *
“Well, I think you’re nuts,” Reagan said after they got juices from their favorite juice bar and settled at a table near the back of the shop.
“Nuts, how?He was totally distracted.”
“Yeah, well, didn’t he say he was dealing with some issues on the farm?”
“Yeah.”
