Chapter Twenty-Eight
Mags
She didn’t call.
I’d woken up early, as I always did, got to the barn at five in the morning, had a cup of coffee with Jigs, woke the twins up, and started the day. It was now mid-morning, and I still hadn’t heard from Diana. My focus wasn’t on my work, the demons committed to torturing me, uncertainty spreading throughout my blood stream.
“Mags.” Beau.
I ground my teeth, pocketing my phone for the fifth time this morning.
“Mags,” Kings called out this time.
We were set to head out to the herd, a long day’s work ahead, but something was stopping me. I turned around, the brim of my hat blocking the autumn sun as I looked at the cowboys, all of them perched atop their horses. “Something is wrong,” I declared as Midnight brushed my shoulder with her nose.
Mason’s eyes hardened. “What are you feeling?” he asked.
I looked out into the pasture in the direction of my cabin. “Diana hasn’t called me this morning.”
What I expected were jokes from the twins at the very least, telling me I was in deep or some other stupid shit they usually tease Beau or the Langston brothers about, but that’s not what I got. Instead, the first sign of the cold front we were expected to get hit, a cold breeze flowing around us, reminding us of the dark winter we had ahead. My gut tightened, twisting so painfully with doubt, I nearly doubled over.
“Call her now,” Beau said, dismounting Spirit and coming to me. He jerked his chin. “Call her now, Mags.”
Holding his eyes, I pulled out my phone, dialed her number, and put it on speaker. As it rang, I held my breath, hoping I would hear her sweet voice any second. By the time the third ring came around, Kings was off his horse. By the time the air filled with the sixth ring, dread settled on my shoulders, and when I got her voicemail, my mind was racing with thoughts blended with the worst version of my nightmares.
“Fuck,” I muttered, my chest starting to heave, panic shooting through me. “Fuck.”
I called her a second time, putting the phone to my ear and handing Beau Midnight’s reins. I was pacing back and forth now, listening to the ten rings, and when it got to her voicemail, all I could see was the image of her against the tree, covered in blood and dirt. I pulled off my hat and looked at Kings. “Do you have her location?” I asked.
He already had out his smart phone out, and I moved to him, eyes on the screen. The little blue dot with her name on it was in the middle of her house. “It’s active, Mags,” Kings told me in a low voice.
“Maybe she overslept,” Lawson tossed in. My neck twisted as I looked up at him. His brow was furrowed, his mouth set. “She had a hell of a weekend.”
“When the body needs rest, it will get rest,” Lance tacked on, nodding.
“Send Chase out there,” Mason ordered to his brother.
“I’ll call him,” I muttered, looking back to my phone and stepping away. Last night, Diana told me since she started teaching, Chase would stop by her house with a coffee to wish her luck on the first day. I silently cursed myself for not thinking of calling him sooner. It was ten in the morning now, and Diana’s class was set to start in an hour, which meant she should’ve been on campus by now at the very least.
He answered on the first ring. “Mags,” he said, his voice on edge.
My spine snapped straight, the hair on the back of my neck rising. “Talk. Now,” I bit off through my teeth.
“Is Diana with you?” he asked desperately.
My world crumbled around me, his question like a hot poker searing straight through my tainted soul, taking the little light within it, my firefly.
“Where is she?” I whispered, my voice fading along with my sanity.
“Stopped by this morning with her first day coffee and found the door open,” he explained.
All eyes were on me then, but I didn’t see them. I didn’t see the barn in front of me, the beauty of Hallow Ranch around me.
All I saw was the woman of my dreams covered in dirt and blood.
“Her phone is here, the screen shattered beyond repair. Her bed is unmade, her office computer is shattered, all her kitchen cabinets are open, and there’s trash all over her living room. I need you to tell me she’s with you, Mags,” Chase said. Right now, he wasn’t a cop. Right now, he was Diana’s best friend.
“Tell me, Mags,” he clipped, not giving me a second to respond.
My firefly had been taken .
The vision of her on the forest floor morphed then, transforming into something else altogether…
Phantom screams filled my ears, and I dropped my head, suddenly unable to breathe. My phone was taken from my hands, and then I heard Kings’ voice. “What the fuck is going on?” he all but roared.
My scar began to burn, and I looked at my hands, usually covered in dirt but now they were covered in blood. In the distance, I heard Grayson yelling at me, and I felt something— someone in my arms then. I blinked, and Anthony was there, bleeding out, his body riddled with bullets, eyes soulless. I heard my name, but it wasn’t Grayson calling me. It was someone else, but I was too far gone.
I’d been sucked back in, my memories mixing with my deepest fears that had crawled up from the trenches of hell, their talons clawing at my skin, breaking it.
I blinked again, and the weight in my arms shifted, the cold body suddenly warm with life, barely hanging on.
Honey blonde hair, soaked with dirt and blood.
Fair skin, marked with bruises and cuts.
Hazel eyes, the forest within them burning, scorching her soul.
“Firefly,” I rasped, gasping for air.
“Call Grayson!” someone shouted.
I felt heavy hands on my shoulders then, pushing me back—away from the nightmare, away from Diana. My back hit something hard, and then all I could hear was Kings’ voice.
“Alright fucker,” he growled. “You told me years ago if I didn’t snap out of it, you’d break my nose. Now I’m returning the favor.” He shook me, the edges of the ranch coming back into view, the heaviness in my soul fading back into the depths, the talons plucked from my flesh, the wounds closing. “Come back to the present, Mags. Right fuckin’ now, dammit, or I’ll break your nose and your jaw.”
I shook my head, and the sunlight was back, the burning sensation on the left side of my body spreading over the healthy skin. I was burning alive again, trapped in hell.
Something was put to my ear again, and Grayson’s voice was there. “Mags, snap out of it,” he ordered.
“I’m…,” I pushed out, rubbing my chest. “I’m burning.”
Denver’s voice was still close. “Burning?” he whispered.
“No, you’re not,” Grayson clipped.
The smell of burning flesh filled my nose, talons penetrating my back, shredding the scar tissue. I looked down at my hands, finding Diana back in my arms, the flames around her now, scorching her hair. “Diana’s going to burn with me,” I rasped, shaking my head. The image was still there, branded into my retinas. “I can’t—”
“The fire will never touch you again, brother,” Gray promised. “Told you that when I dragged you out, told you that every damn day in the hospital.”
I pressed the heel of my palms against my eyes, the memories tugging at me.
“You come back to the present, Mags. Right the fuck now,” he ordered. “Take a breath and hold it for ten seconds.”
I inhaled, expecting smoke but getting clean, fresh air instead. I filled my lungs and held.
“One,” Denver counted, his hand on my shoulder squeezing. As he continued counting softly, I opened my eyes, finding my home right in front of me.
“Five,” he counted.
My heart drummed in my ears. I was here. The fire was in the past. I was healed. Diana would never touch the fire; she would never be burned.
“Ten,” Kings finished.
“Release it,” Grayson commanded.
I let it out slowly, feeling reality settle around me.
“Good?” Grayson asked.
I reached up to take the phone and twisted my neck to find Beau holding it for me. “I’m good,” I said, not only to Gray, but to all the cowboys around me. Beau’s blue eyes flashed worry, but he nodded once, handing me the phone. I looked around, finding all the cowboys off their horses, brows furrowed, jaws set with concern.
“Don’t blame you for getting dragged back, Mags,” Grayson muttered in my ear. “But you’re never going back.”
“I’m never going back,” I said, looking up to the sky, my hat shifting against the wood of the barn.
“Chase is on his way here,” Mason informed us all.
“You in the mindset to catch me up?” Gray prompted. “If not, give the phone to Denver.”
I dropped my chin, finding the Hallow Ranch owner staring at me as if he’d never seen me before. “I’m good,” I repeated, chest heaving.
“Then catch me up so we can find your girl, yeah?”
One hour later.
Chase entered Kings’ office in the barn loft, badge and gun on his hip, a shadow of dread dragging behind him. Beau shifted beside me, folding his arms over his chest as Mason, who was on the other side of him, muttered a warning.
The Sheriff’s eyes met mine. “I should’ve fuckin’ killed him when I had the chance,” he said darkly.
The tension in the room shifted. This was the first time he’d spoken like that in front of us, but I wasn’t surprised, not after everything Diana had told me about their friendship when she was laying in my arms the night before last.
How quickly things could change.
“Red Snake is on it,” Kings told him from his spot behind his desk, his cowboy hat sitting on top.
Chase looked at me. “Her house is a damn mess.”
“Where’s her phone?” I asked.
His eyes flicked over to Beau as he pulled out Diana’s cell, handing it to me. Before I could focus on that, I turned to Beau, jerking my head to Chase. “It’s done,” I declared.
Beau’s jaw jumped as he peeled his eyes from the Sheriff. “His actions put Abbie in danger.”
“And you handled it,” I shot back, stabbing my finger into his chest. “Known you a long time, Beau, and I know you care for Diana.”
“I do.”
“We all do,” the twins muttered from the other side of the loft.
Holding Beau’s eyes, I gave him the truth. “Chase is Diana’s best friend. For that alone, he has my protection and my respect. My woman cares for him, which means this anger—this resentment—ends here and now.”
Beau’s throat worked. “Almost lost Abbie because of him.”
“No,” I shot back, shaking my head. “The second you told me she was at your cabin, I was there. Shot that fucker for you, for her, and for this ranch. You owe me, Beau, and I’m cashing in the fuckin’ favor.” I removed my finger from his chest and pointed at Chase. “Shit’s done. Over. Abbie is here. Drop this shit so I can get my woman back. You get me?”
“I get you,” he replied.
Just then, my phone started to ring. “Mags,” I answered, stepping away.
“Chopper is nearly there,” Ash, one of Gray’s men, said. “Two minutes out.”
“Right,” I muttered. “We got a location?”
Chase had given Red Snake Lucas’ information so Jake could track his phone. Chase also contacted Diana’s hometown police station. He and I were both in agreement that he would be trying to take her back home to fulfill the twisted, fucked up fantasy he couldn’t seem to let go of. The Hayden Sheriff Department had been over at Diana’s house all morning, taking photos and searching the house. About half an hour after my mental breakdown, Chase called back, delivering another blow.
Lucas had been squatting in her house, sleeping in her attic.
That was final shred of motivation I needed.
I would be killing him.
Brutally.
Slowly.
Painfully.
“You and Bowen were right,” Ash confirmed. “He’s taking her back to Pennsylvania.”
My eyes shot over to Chase. “He’s taking her back home.”
His nostrils flared, and he turned, pacing as he muttered, “Should’ve killed him in when he was in my fucking jail cell.”
My eyes sliced over to Kings, phone still to my ear. “I’m leaving Hallow Ranch.”
He nodded.
“I’m not coming back without her, no matter how long it takes,” I stressed, hearing the chopper overhead. I didn’t give any of them a chance to respond as I pulled off my cowboy hat, handed it to Beau, and walked out.
Keep that light shining for me, Firefly. I’m coming.