Drake turned to look over his shoulder. “The camera’s out. Huh. Wonder how that happened.” He turned back to Hoffman, glaring. Without witnesses, there was no need to avoid a run-in with the officer. Although that taser gun was enough motivation for her to be good.
“What were you planning?” Drake’s eyes narrowed, and he shifted his weight to be ready to jump at Hoffman.
Clove didn’t dare step toward Felix. They were alone out here. “Felix? How are you feeling? Do you need to get some exercise?” She tipped her head all the way back. With the lights glaring down on them, it was hard to see the stars, but she’d noted them when she got out of the truck. “It’s a clear night.”
He dipped his chin:Are you serious?
“No clouds,” she added.
Drake shuffled forward, drawing all of Hoffman’s attention. He swung the taser toward him. “Don’t move.”
She motioned with her hand for Felix to go. “Do you want to see Grandma?”
Felix lifted an inch off the ground.If you’re serious . . .
Clove broke out in goosebumps. It’d been at least a month since she’d seen him fly. The magic of it never ceased to amaze her. Add an enchanting feeling to the fear that he’d be caught, and she was so nervous her lungs couldn’t expand all the way.
“Stay there!” Hoffman’s arms shook.
Drake lifted a hand. “No one is doing anything wrong. We won’t hurt you.”
Felix continued to lift straight in the air. His hooves were level with Hoffman’s shoulders. Clove silently begged him not to kick Hoffman. She tipped her head to the east. “Grandma’s asleep. You can probably hear her snoring from here.”
He stretched out his front legs, doing a mid-air downward facing dog. He had the good sense to stay quiet–thank heavens. Her heart was loud enough to drown out any sound though, so she couldn’t be sure if he was really all that quiet. She couldn’t even hear what Drake was saying to keep Hoffman from pulling that trigger.
Felix moved to stretch the other way:Feels soooo good to be out of that pen.
She grit her teeth.Get a move on, she silently yelled to Felix. His tongue rolled out the side of his mouth and he jogged in a circle before heading south.
Clove about died. Did the reindeer have no sense of direction? What the heck was he doing? East! East!
“Clove, beautiful, I think we’ll come back in the morning.” Drake groped for her hand. She gripped his fingers, a new fear grabbing onto her. What if Felix flew away and didn’t come back?
What if she never saw him again? Her hands were ice and her throat was tight.
“Stay there!” yelled Hoffman.
“Or what?” Drake drew up to his full height. “Are you going to shoot me? Because I guarantee you, if you pull that trigger—even if you miss—I will make sure you lose your badge.”
“Yeah, right,” Hoffman scoffed.
Drake narrowed his eyes. His hat brim already shaded them and the shadows made him seem dangerous. “We host a lot of important people on our ranch. People who leave with a handshake and tell us that if we ever need a favor, all we have to do is call.” He pointed at Hoffman. “I would call in every one of those favors to remove any and all the authority you have in this life. When I’m through with you, your dog won’t even listen to you.”
Clove blinked. If the situation wasn’t so dire, she would have laughed at his threat.His dogwon’t listen to him?
With his words hanging over them, Drake turned his back on Hoffman, took her hand, and pulled her into the night.
They were almost at the front of the building when Hoffman shouted. “Where’d he go?!”
He ran after them, his footsteps loud and fast.
Clove gripped Drake’s hand. “Should we run?”
CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE
Drake wanted to run. His pulse spiked and his grip tightened on Clove’s hand as if she would slip away from him.
Felix was gallivanting around town, having been given free rein to fly, and they needed to find him before he was spotted and some well-meaning citizen decided to take matters into his own hands. Or worse, film him.
