Ford (Little River Stallions #4)

Chapter 1

There wasn’t anything that Ford Anderson liked better than being in his shift.

Well, maybe fixing something that was broken.

But running with his herd under the stars as the chill of fall took hold and the world slowly turned toward winter?

He freaking loved that.

The wind rushed by him as his hooves pounded on the hard-packed ground of their farm in Little River, a hundred acres of mostly forest, with fields carefully cleared so they had plenty of room to run when they took to their stallion forms. His muscles bunched and released as he ran, every stride a testament to being born a stallion shifter.

His alpha and best friend, Crew, was in the lead; his mate, Zara, who was the non-shifting daughter of a stallion, was on his back.

As Ford and Crew wheeled around the back of the field, they whinnied to the others—Avi and his jaguar mate, Fallon, in her furry form and racing with a yowl, and Grey and his human mate, Tatum, on his back, her whooped cheer echoing in the night.

The last of their herd members—Dexter and his human mate, Nancy, and Khyle and his wolf mate, Tris—hadn’t joined in the shift that night.

Ford extended his stride, pulling into the lead of their small herd, joy reverberating inside him every time his hooves hit the ground. His stallion freaking loved to run with the herd. But as they reached the big barn, his excitement started to wane.

His friends stayed with their mates in the clearing behind the barn, leaving Ford to return to his human form alone inside the building.

While the farm was private and far from where anyone might see them, they never took a chance that a human might witness them shift, since shifters were a secret kept from humans.

The only way a human would know about shifters was if they were a shifter’s soulmate.

Like Grey’s soulmate, Tatum.

Ford shifted back to human and grabbed his jeans, tugging them on and shoving his feet into his boots.

Walking back outside into the dark night, he watched his friends and their mates as they moved around the space near the barn.

The three couples were completely absorbed in each other, sharing the special time of shifting together.

He loved them—they were his only family—but sometimes watching them hurt like hell.

He was the only unmated male in the herd, a broken record of loneliness that had been slowly getting louder as his friends found their mates.

But he wasn’t the sort of male to feel sorry for himself or wallow.

He was just going to trust that his soulmate was out there somewhere and he’d meet her when the time was right.

Fate would bring them together at the right time—which was a saying that every shifter who waited to find their soulmate said when the nights got lonely and the days stretched ahead.

He sure as hell hoped that fate would hurry up.

Turning from the scene of his friends and their mates, he put on his hoodie and then walked to the nearby storage barn and took a walkie from the charging rack and clipped it onto his belt.

It was his night to handle security for the herd, a responsibility that he’d taken on as the only unmated member.

The others took night shifts a few times a month, but Ford handled the majority of them.

They’d been sweeping the farm at night ever since an unhinged stallion shifter decided the farm should be his and their herd should be wiped off the face of the earth.

Ford wasn’t about to let that happen.

He set out across the field. The night was quiet now that he was away from the herd as they moved into the barn and returned to their human forms. He heard a coyote in the distance, and there was a faint smell of smoke in the air.

He paused, inhaling and sorting through the scents, and the smokey smell disappeared.

Colton, the bastard who thought he should run the farm with his herd, had used fire to get to their people.

Now every time Ford smelled smoke from a neighboring farm, it put him on edge.

When he couldn’t pick up the smell of smoke anymore, he knew it was the wind that had brought it from a distance away and they weren’t in danger.

He sometimes felt paranoid, but there was nothing paranoid in worrying about the male who was trying to take them all out. Paranoia was keeping them safe.

His friends could rest tonight because Ford was on his toes and watching for danger. It was a job he took very seriously.

Staring into the dark woods that surrounded the farm for a little longer, he set back on his route, trekking the entire farm at the start of the shift before focusing on the area around the house and barns.

There were some cows and a goat in one barn, a coop full of chickens nearby, and gardens that had been tilled down for the coming winter.

The air was crisp and cold, biting at his lungs as he walked, listening and watching for anything out of the ordinary.

He always hoped it was a quiet night. Because the alternative meant their enemy had gotten by their defenses.

And Ford hoped to hell he never saw Colton or his herd again, although he doubted he was that lucky.

* * *

Saturday morning, just as the sun was starting to rise and bathe the farm in golds and oranges, Ford put the walkie back in the storage barn and headed to the farmhouse to grab a bite before hitting the sheets.

“Morning, man,” Crew said.

Ford yawned a greeting.

“Nights are rough, huh?” Zara asked as she pushed a plate of breakfast sandwiches his direction on the kitchen island.

“It’s no picnic,” Ford said. “But it’s a necessary evil. At least until that bastard Colton moves the hell on and leaves us alone.”

“Definitely,” Crew said. “We haven’t heard from him in a while, but he tends to attack and then bide his time, like he thinks we’ll forget he’s got a vendetta against us.”

Colton and his herd had come to Little River after their herd was nearly destroyed by humans rounding up what they thought were wild horses.

Only six had survived, including Zara. Colton had decided that he’d just take over the farm and be the alpha, and when Crew and Zara mated, and Crew kicked Colton out of their territory for good, he’d gone nuts.

Attack after attack, focusing on anything he deemed a weakness. He wasn’t above attacking the females, including abducting Tatum from the library where she worked, and trying to take Fallon from the farm.

“Well,” Zara said, “he’s down to three people now, including himself. He has to realize that he can’t win against us. The Little River Herd is here to stay, period.”

“Damn right,” Crew said.

Zara left the two of them in the kitchen after giving Crew a kiss on the cheek.

“I couldn’t help but notice you were looking a little bummed last night. Everything okay?” Crew asked.

“I’m the last one,” Ford said simply.

“It’ll happen,” Crew said. “I hate that saying, it’s so damn trite. But it’s true. Fate works how it works in its own time, and sometimes it’s a bitch.”

Ford chuckled. “Feels like that.”

“Can I ask a favor?”

“Sure.”

“Would you be Avi and Fallon’s escort to the park this afternoon? She wants to hang out with her mom and Sunny.”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Thanks. I’ll take the night shift so you can sleep when it’s dark out like a normal person.”

“I appreciate it. I don’t mind the night shift, but not all the time.”

“I hear ya. Thanks for escorting them. And who knows? Maybe fate is on your side and this is just the little quest you need to kick things into motion and find your soulmate.”

“From your lips to fate’s ears.”

Ford grabbed a second sandwich and said goodbye, heading upstairs to his room to catch some sleep before he escorted his friends to the safari park where several groups of shifters lived and worked, keeping their nature secret from humans.

His stallion let out a curious, hopeful sound in his head and he wondered if the change of scenery was just what he needed to shake himself out of the funk he was in.

If nothing else, escorting Avi and Fallon to the park got him out of the night shift. Something like hope lit up in his chest, but he wasn’t sure if his stallion was excited to be going somewhere for a change of pace, or if there was more to it than that.

He sure as hell hoped it was more.