Chapter 14
The walkie bumped slightly against Ford’s hip as he walked to the front gate of the farm’s property and then followed the fence to the treeline. The air was cold, leaves crunching under his boots as he walked, and every sense tuned to anything out of the ordinary.
When he reached the trees, he turned and glanced at the farmhouse and the second-floor bedroom window, where Darcy was sleeping. They’d had a great day, a stunningly sexy night, and then he’d had to leave her in bed for patrol.
He didn’t mind being on patrol. Every herd member took turns on the various shifts, but he sure hated being away from Darcy at night. He was sure Crew, Avi, and Grey felt the same way.
The walkie crackled as Neo, the gorilla shifter, who’d volunteered an overnight shift on patrol, reached out.
“I’m in the pasture, all’s quiet here,” Neo said, his voice crackling over the walkie.
“I’m at the front of the farm and it’s quiet here too.”
“I’m heading down to the fields. I’ll radio when I’m on the way back,” Neo said.
“Sounds good. Talk to you later.”
Ford put the walkie back on the belt clip and set off at a moderate pace, planning to walk the main yard, from the treeline to the other side of the farmhouse, and then he’d head into the trees to check the motion detectors and security cameras along the farm’s territory.
His stallion was restless, and Ford felt the same way. Colton was out there, plotting. Waiting.
There were only two members of Colton’s original herd left: Asher and Levi.
Ford hadn’t thought much of the males when he’d met them in the first place.
The fact that they were still standing with Colton despite losing two other herd members— and continually being beaten by the Little River Herd—made him wonder just how unhinged they actually were.
Ford had just passed the barn where the few cows they had were kept when loud alarms shattered the quiet night. The perimeter alarms!
Ford’s stallion lurched inside him, and for a moment, Ford wasn’t sure where the alarms were coming from.
Then he smelled gasoline.
And instinctively he knew the alarms going off were the ones surrounding the farmhouse.
He bolted for the farmhouse, grabbing his walkie. “Crew! Fire! Wake everyone!!”
“We’re already moving!” Crew said.
Ford heard smashing glass and smelled fire as something exploded at the back of the farmhouse.
Darcy!
He jumped up the front steps as the door opened and the herd rushed out, Crew shouting for Avi and Grey to get the hoses and for the females to run to the storage barn and wake Dexter, Khyle, and the others.
“Where’s Darcy?” Ford shouted.
“I don’t know!” Crew said. “She wasn’t in your room.”
Another window shattered and a whoosh of flames made his blood run cold. The farmhouse was on fire. Where was Darcy?
“Shit, Neo’s chasing someone!” Crew yelled. He raced off the porch, but Ford didn’t follow. He had to find Darcy.
Running into the house as smoke poured out of the open door, he grabbed the banister to head upstairs. “Darcy!” he shouted.
He heard coughing from the kitchen and jumped down from the middle of the stairs and hit the hardwood floor.
Running into the kitchen, he found Darcy with a fire extinguisher, spraying the base of flames that were climbing the walls.
She looked small against the wall of flames, but she wasn’t backing down.
He called her name again and she startled at the sound of his voice. “Ford, help!”
He knew there was another fire extinguisher in the pantry, and he ran to it, throwing open the door and pulling it from the wall anchor.
Pulling the pin, he aimed the hose at the fire and squeezed the handle, sending a powerful spray into the flames.
He moved toward Darcy and together they were able to put out the fire.
Darcy’s extinguisher was empty, and she dropped it, her whole body trembling. Ford finished spraying the walls of the kitchen, then set the extinguisher on the counter and pulled her into his arms. He smoothed back the hair from her soot-covered face.
“Holy shit, baby.”
“I-I didn’t want to let the house burn. Or myself,” she added with a grimace.
“You’re a rockstar. A freaking action hero. I was so worried you were trapped upstairs. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
He held her tight for a moment, then lifted her into his arms and carried her outside. The night air was cold and clear, and they both coughed as they tried to clear the smoke from their lungs.
“The fire’s out,” Avi said. “Grey just went inside to turn off the smoke alarms. Are you guys okay?”
“We are,” Ford said. “Darcy saved the kitchen.”
“Rock on,” Avi said. “Colton is a fucking asshole. He could have killed us all in our sleep!”
“Is everyone okay?” Ford asked.
“Yeah. Neo tackled one of Colton’s guys trying to throw a Molotov cocktail into the barn where Dexter and the others were sleeping.”
Something tingled in warning in Ford’s mind, and he looked around.
Through the smokey air, he saw a figure standing near the side of the house.
It had to be Colton. Or one of his males.
He couldn’t make out his face in the darkness and smoke, but he saw his arm move in a throwing motion toward the house.
“It’s Colton!” Ford shouted. “Darcy, stay here!”
A flaming bottle arced through the air. Ford sprinted forward. The bottle smashed on the grass by the porch, the flames sputtering harmlessly on the now-soaked ground from the herd using the hoses to put out the other fires.
Ford chased Colton, but the male swiftly disappeared into the woods, and he couldn’t find his trail to follow. All he could smell was gasoline and burning wood.
“You fucking bastard!” Ford yelled into the darkness.
With another curse, Ford turned back to the farm.
When he got back to the herd, Darcy rushed to him. “What happened?”
“He’s gone. I couldn’t track him because of the smoke and gasoline in the air,” Ford said. “Where’s Neo? Did we get either of the other two guys in the herd?”
Grey shook his head. “Neo had one of them, but he got away.”
“I gave chase, but he was a fast bastard,” Neo said as he joined them. “You two okay? You charged into that house like you were fireproof.”
Ford pulled Darcy a little closer. “I felt like I was.”
Crew walked up and shook his head. “All three are gone. I heard tires peeling out and saw a truck down the road drive off. I think they just rushed through our perimeter alarms from different directions with their fire-bombs and attacked the house and a couple of the barns.”
“Dexter, Khyle, and all the females are safe,” Avi said. “And the animals too.”
“We won’t know the true damage until the sun comes up,” Crew said. “But the important thing is that we’re all okay.”
“Why were you in the kitchen anyway, Darcy?” Ford asked.
She brushed at her soot and tear-stained cheeks and smiled at him. “I woke up and I missed you. I walked down into the kitchen and hoped I might see you walk past so I could say hi, when someone threw that fire-bomb into the kitchen.”
Ford’s heart nearly gave out right then as the realization that he might have lost Darcy really struck home.
She sniffled, tears shining in her eyes. “Thank you for coming for me.”
“Baby, I will always, always come for you.”
She leaned against him, her hands linked at his back, and started crying. He kissed the top of her head, thankful she was with him.
“Colton came after us with fire before,” Avi said. “But this was far more destructive.”
“Agreed,” Grey said.
The rest of the herd joined their group in the middle of the yard. As the females found their mates and everyone held each other close, Crew said, “He’s getting bolder and more dangerous.”
“How can we combat him when we’ve done so much already to try to stop him?” Zara asked. “He marched right through the security perimeters and threw freaking fire-bombs at our home.”
“I don’t know,” Crew said. “But we’re not giving up. He will not drive us out of our home. This farm is our territory, and we will continue to fight and defend it.”
Ford nodded as he held Darcy tight.
Colton had crossed another line tonight. He’d hit them while they slept, despite two males on patrol and scores of motion detectors and cameras around the farm. His stallion was furious that Darcy had been in danger and he hadn’t been with her.
The truth was there, unsaid.
Colton Kane wasn’t going to stop and was going to continue to escalate until he was stopped.
“When the sun’s up, I’ll try to track him,” Grey said. “They rushed out of here so fast, they surely left a trail I can pick up.” Grey was a talented tracker, but so far Colton had managed to evade them.
“I’ll join you,” Dexter said. “We’ll see if we can find him before he comes after the herd again. He needs to be stopped.”
“Then we’ll stop him,” Ford said, determination filling him.
The herd nodded, males and females alike.
Colton Kane and his herd were going to stop coming after the Little River herd. One way or another.