“Good, sweetheart.That means the world to me.Because I’m about to tell you something that will explain everything but also raise more questions.”
“All right,” she said with a light laugh.“I’m ready for whatever it is.”
He sure freaking hoped she was.
Darcy was intrigued.Ford was leading her outside after midnight to one of the barns on the property, and not the one that they used for storage with the studio apartment, and not the one where he’d told her there were a few cows.
He pulled open the door of the barn and turned on an overhead light.She had to shield her eyes for a moment at the brightness, but when she got used to it, she saw a tractor and a few other smaller farm machines, a workbench against one wall, and on the other side, there were a few stalls and another set of large doors.
It made her think of horses.
Not that she’d ever been in a horse barn.
“This is the tractor you’ve been working on?”she asked.
“Yeah,” he said.“But that’s not what I wanted you to see.”
“Oh-kay.”
Behind them, she heard footsteps and moved closer to him.
“Hey, guys,” Ford said, as two people walked into the barn.“Thanks for coming out so late.”
“We were up,” the woman said.“I was reading about yetis and Grey was shopping online for a ceiling fan and comparing prices.Hi!I’m Tatum.”
“Hi.I’m Darcy.”She looked at Ford and he gave her an encouraging smile.
“I’m Grey,” the man said.“I’m the resident animal handler.I take care of what we have here on the farm, and also work at the construction company.”
“I’m a librarian and I work at the library in Little River,” Tatum said.
“I’m confused,” Darcy said.She turned to Ford.“I thought you were going to tell me what was going on with you?”
“I am,” he said.“But what I’m going to tell you is pretty crazy, and it’s related to the guy I told you was trying to take over the farm.”
“Oh right,” she said.“But you said you hadn’t heard from him in a while.”
“He showed up Tuesday night,” Grey said.“And he attacked two of our friends—Khyle and his mate Tris.They were both pretty seriously injured, but we got there in time to keep things from going really south.”
“Did you say mate?”Darcy asked.
“Yes.”
“That’s a… weird thing to call someone.”
“It’s what stallions call their mates,” Ford said.
He stared at her intently.
“What now?”
“I can change forms.I’m not really human, I’m a shifter.Specifically a stallion shifter.I can turn into a stallion whenever I want, and my friends are stallions too.Even Grey.”
“It’s true, Darcy,” Grey said.“My Tatum is human like you.”
Darcy glanced over her shoulder at them, then looked back at Ford.She couldn’t even begin to wonder where he was going with this.It was too fantastical.“You’re nuts.”
“I’m not nuts, I’m telling the truth.Just hear me out, and then I’ll show you.”
