“He wanted you scared,” Beast said quietly.
I looked up at him.
His eyes were dark.
Cold.
Focused.
“But now he knows something.”
“What?”
Beast looked back toward the trees.
“He can run.”
His hand tightened around mine.
“But I will find him.”
40
BEAST
The ranch became a command post before midnight.
Sheriff’s trucks lined the driveway.
Deputies moved through the pasture with flashlights.
Ranch hands checked every fence line.
Wolf and Trigger took the woods.
And Mrs. Jenkins arrived with a thermos of coffee and enough sandwiches to feed an army.
Nobody had invited her.
Nobody was foolish enough to tell her to leave. She lived next door and saw everything.
Sheriff Cooper stood near the barn, speaking into his radio.
“Armed and dangerous,” he said. “Possible rifle or shotgun. Last seen near the south tree line. Every deputy in the county gets his picture.”
The words settled over the ranch.
Heavy.
Final.
Gerald was no longer the man who had scared Sadie.
He was no longer just an ex-boyfriend who couldn’t let go.
He was a fugitive.
A threat.
