Chapter 9
Khyle took his mate Tris’s hand as they left the farm and began the half-mile walk home.
It was a cool night, and normally they’d take the golf cart home and make quick work of the drive, but they’d left it for his parents to use as they hadn’t been ready to leave yet.
Tris was tired and had to get up early to make breakfast for the herd, and they’d both been looking forward to a tumble in the sheets before they fell asleep.
Because there was nothing he loved more than driving his sweetheart crazy in bed and falling asleep with his arms around her.
“I’m so glad Ford found his soulmate,” Tris said. “It’s the best feeling in the world.”
“Definitely,” he said. “Finding you was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“Me too.”
He heard an engine behind them and looked over his shoulder. It wasn’t the golf cart, so he figured it to be one of the other farmers on the long stretch of road. While the herd’s farm didn’t have any direct neighbors, there were other farms around the area.
The engine roared as it accelerated, and the hairs on the back of Khyle’s neck tingled.
His instincts screamed at him that they were in danger as the vehicle barreled down on them.
It happened so fast—one moment the vehicle was far behind them, and the next it was right at their backs.
Khyle pushed Tris off the road and jumped out of the way, but he wasn’t fast enough.
The bumper clipped him in the side, sending him flying away from Tris, landing hard in the ditch at the side of the road.
“Khyle!” Tris yelled.
“Are you okay?” he asked, groaning as he tried to get to his feet, the pain in his side driving the breath from his lungs.
“I hurt my ankle,” she said. “I can’t… I can’t get up.”
“I’m coming!” He pushed through the pain, getting to his feet and reaching for his phone in his pocket to call the herd for help. But it wasn’t in his pocket. “My phone’s gone! Do you have yours?”
“I don’t know,” Tris said. “Khyle! Watch out!”
Males appeared on the roadside, between Khyle and Tris. “Where’s your herd now?” Colton taunted, and Khyle’s blood went cold.
Khyle scrambled to get to Tris as the males hurried down the side of the ditch to where she was crying and trying to get away.
Khyle leaped for her, putting himself between her and the males just as one of them kicked out.
Khyle took the kick in the ribs, but didn’t move, using his body to shield her from their assault.
“You can’t keep her safe forever,” Colton said with a sneer.
He grabbed Khyle’s shirt and pulled hard.
Khyle kicked backward, twisting to nail the nearest male in the knee.
He shouted in pain and dropped back, but Colton gripped Khyle’s shirt and pulled him harder.
Tris rose from the ground with a snarl and swiped out with her hand tipped with the black claws of her wolf and cut Colton’s forearm.
The male dropped his grip on Khyle’s shirt with a growl.
Just then, they heard the sound of an engine approaching, and Khyle knew it was the golf cart.
“This is a warning,” Colton said as he and his two herd members hurried to their vehicle. “Tell Crew that no one is safe. The farm will be mine and you will all die at my hands unless you leave and don’t come back. You’re being watched. You’ll never be safe.”
The golf cart screeched to a halt as the truck sped off.
“I called Dad,” Tris said, stifling a sob.
“Dad!” Khyle yelled, despite the pain in his side. “Tris is hurt!”
“You’re hurt too,” she said, holding onto him.
“We’re coming!” Dexter said. “I brought reinforcements.”
Two other vehicles showed up with herd members, and in minutes, they were taken back to the farmhouse.
While they both had fast healing with their shifter natures, shifting would accelerate it even faster, so once the adrenaline had worn off and they’d shared the details of the attack with the herd, Khyle and Tris shifted in the barn and healed their wounds.
“What a terrible end to the night,” Nancy said, patting his neck as he stood in the pasture. “I’m so glad Tris was able to call for help.”
Khyle whinnied in agreement.
“Colton must have been lying in wait for someone to leave the farm,” Crew said.
“So much for hoping that he’d leave us alone,” Ford said.
Tris sat on her haunches next to Khyle, her furry wolf body warm against his leg. She let out a whine and looked up at him.
Colton needed to be stopped. The threat was clear—he wasn’t planning to go anywhere, and that meant they were all in danger.
* * *
Lunch on Wednesday was just as magical as the day before. Ford had brought Darcy cold fried chicken and potato salad, which he said were leftovers from the dinner the night before. Dessert was apple pie, which had the most buttery crust she’d ever tasted in her life.
She thought it was pretty cool that the farm was basically a homestead. Except for Tatum, who was a librarian, all the women worked on the farm—cooking, cleaning, and gardening—while the men all did the hard labor, including working at the construction company.
While she contemplated how she might fit into farm life, she realized that Ford was distracted during the short lunch break.
When she asked him what was wrong, he assured her nothing was wrong and he was just thinking about farm stuff. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was truly wrong, though, which made her wonder why he wasn’t telling her.
And then—as she kissed him goodbye and watched him leave—Cruz’s words came back to haunt her.
Had something happened to change Ford’s mind? Had he cooled on their relationship?
She walked into her little office and texted Reagan.
I need some girl talk. Are you free after work?
Heck yeah. Juice Bar?
Absolutely. See you at 5:30.
I’ll be there!
Plans made, Darcy got to work. Maybe she was overthinking.
Wasn’t Ford allowed to have a bad day and be distracted?
Of course he was. But it didn’t change the weird, hollow feeling in her chest. Had she done something wrong?
Was he already tired of her? Were his claims of falling for her not honest?
She just didn’t know.
* * *
“Well, I think you’re nuts,” Reagan said after they got juices from their favorite juice bar and settled at a table near the back of the shop.
“Nuts, how? He was totally distracted.”
“Yeah, well, didn’t he say he was dealing with some issues on the farm?”
“Yeah.”
Reagan made a ta-da gesture and Darcy chucked a napkin at her.
“Don’t be mad at me because you’re all in your feelings after what Cruz said to you about moving too fast. Trust me, I know all about moving too fast, and you and Ford are fine.”
Darcy stared at Reagan, whose cheeks were suddenly pink like she was embarrassed.
“Okay, okay. I can admit that Cruz got to me, and then having Ford feel distant has made me question everything. I’m an over-thinker. I can’t help it.”
“You could help it if you weren’t such a loon.”
“Takes one to know one.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Reagan shook her head and launched a napkin at Darcy that hit her in the nose.
“So,” Darcy said, taking a sip of her favorite apple-strawberry blend juice. “Where did you go on Saturday?”
“What now?” Reagan asked, her cheeks turning red.
“You heard me, weirdo. You disappeared for ages. What’s the deal?”
“Oh gosh,” Reagan said. “Promise you won’t think less of me?”
“I held your hair back when you barfed after drinking peach schnapps that one night. There isn’t anything you could do that would make me think less of you. You’re my best friend.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me of peach schnapps, I might barf again.”
“Ew, please don’t. So… what happened?”
“I met a guy.” Reagan’s voice was low and she wouldn’t look at Darcy.
“At the park?”
“Yeah. His name is Indio.”
“Is he cute?’
“Gorgeous.” Reagan sighed. “I just felt like I needed to leave the party, so I ducked out of the garden and found him in a shed. He…oh man, he’s so freaking sexy I thought I was going to melt. Anyway, one thing very quickly led to another and… you know.”
Darcy’s brows lifted. “You guys… got together?”
“Yep.” Reagan dropped her head to the table and Darcy giggled.
She patted her on the head. “Honey! That’s really great news, though. Have you seen him since? Talked to him? Asked for a repeat boning?”
Reagan’s head shot up, her face screwed up in a mask of disbelief. “Hell no!”
“What? I’m confused. You find a sexy guy and have what I assume was awesome sex?” She paused, waiting for Reagan to confirm if said sex was awesome, and when she nodded vigorously, Darcy said, “Why wouldn’t you talk to him or see him?”
“Because I literally had sex with a stranger!” Reagan whispered loudly.
“I never do that kind of thing. I was caught up in the moment, and then when it was over and I couldn’t feel my toes because of how awesome it was, I dressed and ran off!
Rhomi has been asking me to call him because he wants to see me again, but how can I face him when I showed him my O face before we even knew each other’s last names? ”
Darcy stared at her best friend.
She looked distraught. Miserable. Maybe a little horny for Indio.
“I’m sorry, Reagan,” she said. “That’s rough. But he wants to talk to you. Doesn’t that count for anything?”
“Yeah, that he thinks I’m an easy lay. Oh gosh, I should have kept my freaking legs closed, but he kissed me like he was going off to war and I could not help myself.”
Darcy smiled. “I felt the same way with Ford.”
“But you didn’t jump his bones the day you met.”
“True. But I know the feeling. I’m wildly attracted to Ford. And I want to be with him all the time. It’s probably why him being so distracted today hurt.”
“You should call him,” Reagan said. “Maybe he just had an off day.”
“Maybe. You should call Indio.”
“Hard pass. I need to forget about him and his magic fingers and get on with my life.”
“You might be missing out on the love of a lifetime.”
They got up from the table and tossed out their empty cups. Arm in arm, they walked out of the juice bar and into the cool night.
“I don’t know if I can face him,” Reagan said.
“You’re one of the strongest people I know. You can face him and deal with whatever the fallout is. He must be missing you if he’s reaching out to Rhomi to get in touch with you. If all he cared about was getting in your pants, he would have walked away without another word, right?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, I’m here for you anytime you want to chat.”
They hugged. “Are you going to call Ford?”
“Yeah, because I told him I’d call when I got home. But I’m not going to point out that he was acting weird, I’m just going to see how things shake out. Because if his feelings for me are starting to disappear already, then I don’t want to bitch about it.”
“I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.”
“I will for you too. And I’m serious. Call Indio. He could be your Mr. Right.”
Reagan smiled but didn’t look like she believed Darcy. “Love you.”
“Love you too.”
They parted ways at their vehicles and then drove away, Reagan to her apartment and Darcy to hers.
She didn’t know what she’d say to Ford when they talked later, but finding out that Reagan had also possibly found her forever guy at the park made her wonder if there was something in the water there.
Fate had certainly smiled on her and Reagan on Saturday, and she hoped that Fate hadn’t been wrong and Ford really was Darcy’s forever guy. Because she felt in her heart that he was. She just hoped she wasn’t wrong.