Chapter 10
“Date number two, huh?” Grey asked with a smile as he held the ladder while Avi replaced a bulb in the lights strung up around the interior of the barn.
“Yep,” he said. He switched out the burned bulb and tested it with the app on his phone before he climbed back down. “I wish my cousin wasn’t such an ass.”
“So you could take her somewhere for real?”
“Yeah.”
“I know, I feel the same way. Tatum and I run and grab food after I pick her up from the library, but we don’t go anywhere because we’re not sure how safe it is. One of these days, Colton will get the hint that he’s not going to take control of our farm and he’ll hit the road for good.”
“Sooner rather than later, I hope.”
Because Avi really wanted to take Fallon out on a date. A real one. With dinner at some fancy restaurant and a moonlit stroll somewhere romantic. Maybe even a night away at a nice hotel.
“Have you guys decided about the joining ceremony and party?”
Avi carried the ladder to the hooks on the wall and hung it up, then began to move around the furniture he’d brought from one of the storage rooms in the farmhouse: a coffee table and a futon with a plush mattress topped with lots of pillows and fluffy blankets.
“Actually, we were talking about that earlier, and we’re going to have the party Saturday night, with a shift and run after.
I can’t wait to see her in her shift, I’ve never seen a jaguar before.
” He was sure she was gorgeous, all sleek and powerful.
Normally, the females would ride their males in their stallion form, but since Fallon was also a shifter, he wanted to run around with her in the pasture.
“That’s cool,” Grey said. “Ford is really getting grumpy about not finding his soulmate yet. I don’t think he figured he’d be the last one.”
“It’ll happen when the time is right,” Avi said. “I wouldn’t have imagined that my soulmate would come to the farm because she was fleeing an arranged mating.”
“It’s easy to say it’ll happen when it happens when you already have your soulmate in your arms,” Grey pointed out.
“True. Well, I hope it does happen for Ford soon. Then our herd will be complete. Six males with six soulmates, and a safe and secure territory to raise our families.”
“The future’s looking pretty damn bright.”
Avi and Grey moved the furniture to face one of the walls where they’d hung a white sheet to use as a screen for the projector hooked up to Avi’s phone.
He’d rented a still-in-the-theaters movie from a streaming app that Fallon had said she’d like to see, and had a menu planned for their night in that included a burger Sunny said would be a hit with Fallon.
“I think that’s everything,” Avi said. “I should go clean up. I need to pick up my sweetheart for our date.”
“Did you ever notice how we all call our mates sweetheart?”
Avi hummed. “You know, I didn’t notice. Maybe hearing Dexter call Nancy sweetheart all these years just stuck.”
“That’s possible. I never really thought about it. It’s funny the things we pick up without realizing it.”
“True.” Avi gave one last look around the barn. It wasn’t perfect—he wouldn’t consider a date perfect until he could take Fallon out of Little River safely without worrying about Colton or Otto—but it would be great nonetheless. “Thanks for your help.”
“Anytime. I’m going to steal this idea for a date with Tatum. She’s been wanting to do a movie marathon for some trilogy from her childhood that I never saw, and this would be a perfect place to just veg out and watch them.”
“I’ll help set up whenever you do it.”
They parted ways, and Avi headed into the house to get ready for his date.
* * *
Avi loved how excited Fallon was for the movie night, especially when she realized what movie he’d picked for them to watch, and the burgers that Sunny had suggested after he sent her a text for ideas.
The mac-and-cheese-topped burgers were messy and delicious, and the loaded steak fries were just the right addition, along with kettle corn and some of Zara’s blackberry iced tea.
When the meal was over and they were halfway through the movie, Fallon was snuggled up in his arms, her head on his chest and her sweet scent making him fall even harder for her.
Neither of them had said the words yet, but the phrase was on the tip of his tongue.
He cared about her so much, was falling so hard for her.
He could feel how much she cared about him too, could see it in the way she looked at him and wanted to spend time with him.
Suddenly, he decided he’d place an order for a special delivery and then he’d tell her how he felt on Saturday before they shifted together. Her joining the herd officially was the perfect time to tell her how he really felt.
When the movie was over, they cleaned up the dishes and turned off the lights, then headed into the farmhouse, where they tumbled in the sheets and drove each other wild.
He was on duty for the overnight patrol, so he waited until Fallon was asleep in his arms before he gently slipped from the bed, dressed, and went outside to relieve Ford, who’d been on patrol earlier.
After grabbing a walkie from the charger port in the barn and a powerful flashlight from the workbench, he met up with Ford.
“How’s it been?” Avi asked, taking a sip of a berry-flavored energy drink to perk himself up for the night ahead.
“Quiet,” Ford said. “Just how we like it.”
Avi hummed. “I hope it stays that way. I don’t think Otto will ever find Fallon, but Colton’s attacks are a pain in the ass.”
“He needs to take a hint and move on, but he seems pretty hardheaded. It’s maybe more ego than anything that keeps him coming after us. He’s clearly angry that Crew and Grey bested him when he tried to go after their mates, and he also lost his number-two guy.”
Avi nodded in agreement.
He didn’t really consider Colton or his brother Weston to be family anymore. They’d proven that they didn’t have any consideration for him at all, either. His family was the herd and Fallon, and he would defend her—and them—with his life.
“Good luck tonight, I’m going to pass out now,” Ford said.
“See ya.”
Avi took another drink and looked up at the clear night sky. Letting out a long sigh because he freaking missed Fallon, he began his patrol, starting at the fence that ran along the road and looking for anything out of the ordinary.
He’d been walking for an hour and had just passed by the barn when he saw something in the trees that bordered the farm that glinted brightly for a moment.
He stared at the area, waiting for it to happen again.
Minutes passed as he stayed in one place with nothing happening.
Then as he turned to move on, he saw it again.
Okay, that’s definitely something reflective.
It was high in the trees, an odd flash that was out of place among the leaves and branches.
Lifting the walkie, he pressed the button and said, “Crew? Are you up?”
A moment passed, and Crew answered. “Yeah. What’s up?”
“I see something in the tree line. Can you come out?”
“On the way. Are you in danger?”
“Not right now.”
“I’ll be right there.”
“Do you need us?” Grey’s voice crackled across the walkie.
“I’ll let you know, but be on alert,” Crew said.
“I’m up too,” Ford said. “If you need a hand.”
Avi stayed locked on the spot where he’d seen the glimmer of something until Crew joined him.
Avi pointed upward into the tree line. “I saw something flash like metal, high up.”
“Let’s take a look. I’ll grab a flashlight.”
After securing a flashlight, Avi and Crew headed toward the trees, moving as quietly as possible. They walked right to the area where Avi had seen the glint, but now that they were in the trees, he didn’t see anything but shadows. Frustrated, he let out a grumble, but then he saw it again.
“I see it,” Avi said. He trained the flashlight on the trunk in front of him and slowly inched it upward until he saw a very small camera. It was wedged between branches and expertly camouflaged to blend in with the bark and leaves. “That’s not ours.”
They had stationed security cameras and motion detectors around the farm, but they wouldn’t have gone to so much trouble to hide them.
“Nope. This is too well hidden. We’re being spied on. In our own damn territory,” Crew said.
“It has to be Colton.”
“Definitely. He’s been watching us and that’s probably how he knew you and Fallon were staying in the barn and he didn’t just attack the farmhouse with the paintballs.”
Avi shuddered. He wondered how long Colton had been watching them.
“Let’s get Ford and Grey out here. We’ll do a full sweep of the territory now that we know what to look for,” Crew said.
With a boost from Crew, Avi managed to climb up to the camera and turn it off, then bring it down with him when he jumped to the ground.
“What a fucking asshole,” Crew said, glaring at the camera.
When Ford and Grey joined them in the woods with walkies and flashlights, they started the long trek around the territory, each male looking carefully and thoroughly for cameras high and low.
By the time the sun peeked over the trees and bathed the farm in morning light, they’d found a dozen cameras, all hidden in the trees.
Avi was most upset about the one they found near the field, right where Fallon had seen something the day before.
He’d cursed a blue streak when Ford found it. “She was right, damn it,” Avi said, wanting to throw something in his frustration.
“We believed her,” Crew pointed out, “we just didn’t see anything.”
“I should have seen it, I should have looked harder,” Avi fumed.
“We both missed it, so it’s not on you. She trusted her gut and told us what she saw, but we missed it. You can apologize after we finish our sweep.”
He couldn’t believe that they’d been monitored by Colton for who the hell knew how long, and Fallon had actually seen one of the cameras.
He wanted to kick his own ass. And Colton’s.
* * *
After finishing the sweep of the territory, Avi walked into the farmhouse just as pissed as he’d been when he started his shift.
It had taken them hours to carefully check the territory, and none of them were certain they’d found every camera.
Another sweep with fresh eyes in a few hours was planned, and Avi was going to be right there.
He found Fallon in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee with Zara and Tatum.
He went right to her and pulled her up gently from the chair and hugged her. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”
“For what? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Well, I’m not fine, I’m pissed as hell.” He told her what he’d seen when he started patrol, and what they’d discovered as they searched the farm and woods in their territory.
“Oh crap,” she said as he showed her one of the disabled cameras. “That’s what I saw yesterday.”
“Yeah. I’m so sorry that I didn’t look harder. I should have trusted your instincts that something was wrong.”
She gave him a small, understanding smile. “It’s okay, I promise. I thought I was imagining things. I’m just glad my gut wasn’t wrong.”
Crew nodded. “You did the right thing. Anything that seems out of place needs to be investigated. I thought we’d checked thoroughly too, but we just hadn’t looked high enough in the trees or we would have seen the camera.”
“What happens now?” Zara asked.
“We’re going to start sweeping the territory more frequently. Our patrols have always focused on the cleared areas, but now we know that Colton has been mucking around in the trees, every part of our territory needs to be checked.”
Fallon’s eyes shone with determination. “I’ll help with the patrols.”
“I think it’s a great idea,” Crew said. “You saw the original camera, so you clearly see things that we missed.”
“I’d like to help too,” Zara said.
“Me too,” Tatum said.
“We’ll figure out a new schedule for patrols,” Crew said. “Maybe shorter time frames with our mates doing grid searches to add to the regular patrols of the cleared space.”
“Sounds good to me,” Grey said. “Whatever we need to do to keep our herd safe.”
Avi’s horse snorted in his head as he agreed with Grey.
Fallon nudged Avi. “Camera hunting with my soulmate wasn’t on my bingo card.”
He chuckled. “Buckle up, sweetheart. Life on the farm is wild.”