“Now I have to do all the fucking work,” Darcy growls close to my ear, her voice sounding as if she is speaking from behind a pillow. I can’t keep up. Darcy? Why is she doing this? What is happening?
I can’t feel anything. No emotion, my hands and feet are tingling, body too heavy to keep up.
She drugged me.
She grasps my face, fingers digging into my cheeks. It should hurt, but it doesn’t. I don’t feel anything.
“Now you need to fix all the shit you fucked up for me. You hear me, Juniper?”
My mouth moves, but no words come out.
She grabs me when I fall, dragging me up, and then the shutters come down and I plunge into the darkness.
Chapter Thirty-eight
“I’ll catch you guys tomorrow,” I yell, leading Dottie away by her rope. She did great with the other guys and only threatened to kick them once, which is progress.
It’s been hard to focus, and Dottie felt it. She’s a smart girl, intuitive, but I expected nothing less, and since she’s bonded with me already, she kept checking on me, nudging the end of her muzzle to my shoulder, nibbling my shirt and ear. I haven’t been able to get Juni off my mind all day, nor the shit that went down last night.
It all turned so quickly; we were good. Betterthan good. Happy.
And then that prick ruined it all.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have left her last night, but I needed a minute to think, to process. The fear of losing her is eating at me, creating a far bigger fissure in my chest than there ever has been before.
Now I need to apologize and promise her I’ll always be here to protect and love her.
Once I have Dottie settled in her stable, I head around the back and toward the barn where I know she had been working today.
Ada is sweeping the galley when I arrive, and her head whips toward me, her brows pulling low.
“Silas? Is everything okay?”
The question takes me aback for a minute. “Yeah, why?”
“Is the horse okay?”
“What horse?”
Ada stares at me like I’ve gone insane.
“Darcy came down,” she explains, “said you were dealing with an emergency with one of your horses. Asked Juni to grab your kids.”
I stop dead in my tracks. “I didn’t ask Darcy to do shit, and all the horses are fine.”
“So why…?” The question trails off.
“Where is she?” I demand, my heart steadily increasing in speed as dread turns over in my stomach.
“She went to the house,” Ada hurries out, “About twenty minutes ago.”
“I need you to tell me everything you know,” I demand. “Where is Juni, Ada?”
“I told you!” she rushes out, “She went to get Rosie and Caleb.”
I’m moving before she finishes her sentence, running back toward my house. I see the gleaming paint of my truck, but rush straight past it and into the house, praying to hear her voice. The door bangs against the back wall, but only silence greets me.
What the fuck is happening? Why would Darcy lie!? I search every room, but no one is here, and when I reach for the keys to my truck, they’re missing.
