Ice floods my veins. I yank out my phone, hit her number. Straight to voicemail. Try again. Same goddamn result.
"She left before me, Beau. Should've been here by now."
I watch understanding dawn on his face. Watch the same fear that's clawing at my guts reflected in those gray eyes.
"Something's wrong," we say at the exact same time.
"Call Gabriel." I'm already grabbing the meds from my truck bed. "I'll dose Darcy, then we go looking for her. Maybe she had engine trouble, took a wrong turn."
But even as the words leave my mouth, I don't believe them. Lucy's too smart, too careful. And that van's been purring like a kitten since I tuned her up last week.
"Getting my truck." Beau's already moving with that long-legged rancher stride. "I'll take the main road while you handle the calf."
"Beau, wait—"
But he's gone, phone pressed to his ear, and I catch him saying, "Gabriel? We've got a problem."
Focus, you worthless piece of shit.Darcy first. Then Lucy. Priorities. But my hands shake as I prep the injection, and all I can think about is Lucy alone on these godforsaken mountain roads.
Lucy who jumps at unexpected sounds.
Lucy who's running from something she won't name.
Lucy who trusted me enough to drive in the crack ass of dawn to rescue an orphan calf.
Darcy's worse than I expected. Fever raging hot, breathing like a bellows with holes in it. But she's hanging on with the stubborn determination of something that refuses to quit.
I slide the needle home with practiced precision, add the dex, murmur bullshit reassurances to a calf who probably can't hear me anyway.
"Come on, baby girl. Fight for me. Lucy's gonna want to see you better when she gets back."
When.Not if. Because the alternative isn't something I'm ready to face.
The meds will work or they won't. Nothing more I can do here except waste time I don't have. I'm out of the stall and running for my truck when sirens start wailing in the distance, bouncing off the mountains like war cries.
Gabriel, already in full sheriff mode.
My phone rings as I tear down the ranch drive, gravel spraying like shotgun pellets. Gabriel's name glowing on the screen.
"Where you at?" His voice is all business, but I hear the current underneath. He's scared shitless too.
"Just left Beau's. You?"
"Main road, heading east. Beau's checking west. You take that old forestry road that cuts off near mile marker twelve. She might've gotten turned around, taken a wrong turn."
We all know she wouldn't have. Lucy's got street smarts that run bone-deep. But we need a plan, need to be doing something other than drowning in worst-case scenarios that make my chest feel like it's caving in.
"Got it."
"Colt." Gabriel's voice drops, goes rough. "We're gonna find her."
He hangs up before I can respond. Before I can voice the fear eating me alive from the inside out:What if we're too late? What if I never get to tell her?
The forestry road is rough as a cob, barely more than a deer trail. My truck bounces over ruts and rocks, and I white-knuckle the steering wheel, scanning every shadow for any sign of the van.
Nothing.
Just trees and stones and my own heartbeat hammering like it's trying to escape my ribcage.
