28. Beast
BEAST
"They're coming."
The room fell silent.
Wolf looked up from the chair beside the window.
Trigger stopped cleaning his rifle.
Saint set down his coffee.
Nobody asked how I knew.
Because Rangers learned to trust instincts.
And mine had been screaming for hours.
"They'll move tonight," I continued.
Wolf nodded slowly.
"I agree."
The former Ranger pointed toward the ranch house.
"They know we're onto them."
"Yep."
"If they wait much longer, they'll lose whatever advantage they think they have."
"Yep."
Saint leaned back.
"So they're desperate."
That earned a grim smile.
"Exactly."
Desperate men made mistakes.
Dangerous mistakes.
The best kind.
Because mistakes got people caught.
And tonight?
I intended to catch Gerald.
Once and for all.
Sadie
I wasn't happy.
Not even a little.
"No."
Beast didn't even look at me.
"Yep."
I crossed my arms.
"Absolutely not."
"Yep."
"Stop saying yep."
"Nope."
The giant Ranger continued checking the room.
Window.
Closet.
Bathroom.
Door.
Again.
Then again.
Like he expected an army to come through the walls.
I glared.
He ignored me.
The jerk.
"You are not sleeping in my room."
"Yep."
My jaw dropped.
"That's the opposite of what I said."
Wolf suddenly found the ceiling fascinating.
Trigger was studying a lamp.
Saint looked seconds away from laughing himself unconscious.
Traitors.
Every one of them.
Beast finally looked at me.
His expression wasn't teasing anymore.
Wasn't playful.
Wasn't negotiable.
The look in his eyes stopped every argument I had prepared.
"Sadie."
My stomach tightened.
Because he almost never used that tone.
The serious one.
The Ranger one.
"They want you."
The room went completely still.
Fear flickered through me.
Fast.
Sharp.
Ugly.
Beast saw it immediately.
His expression softened.
Just slightly.
"I'm not taking chances."
The words weren't loud.
But they carried absolute certainty.
And suddenly I understood.
This wasn't Beast being overprotective.
This wasn't Beast being stubborn.
This was Beast being scared.
Not for himself.
For me.
The realization stole every remaining argument.
Later
The ranch settled into darkness.
Lights out.
Doors locked.
Curtains drawn.
Everything quiet.
Everything normal.
At least from the outside.
Inside?
Not so much.
Wolf and Trigger watched the front of the property.
Saint covered the barn.
Sheriff Cooper had deputies nearby.
Hidden.
Waiting.
The entire ranch had become one giant trap.
And Gerald had no idea.
I sat on the edge of my bed.
Trying to read.
Failing miserably.
Across the room, Beast occupied a chair beside the window.
Motionless.
Watching.
Waiting.
The moonlight outlined his broad shoulders.
The scar along his jaw.
The bruising from the fight in the woods.
He hadn't moved in nearly twenty minutes.
It was honestly a little creepy.
"You know normal people blink, right?"
His eyes remained on the window.
"I blink."
"Not enough."
Silence.
Then—
"I blinked Tuesday."
I laughed before I could stop myself.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
Mission accomplished.
For a few seconds the fear faded.
The tension faded.
Everything felt normal again.
Then Beast went completely still.
Every muscle locking.
Every instinct suddenly focused.
My heart immediately started racing.
"What?"
He didn't answer.
The room felt colder.
Smaller.
Dangerous.
Slowly.
Very slowly.
Beast stood.
His gaze fixed on the darkness outside.
The Ranger calm settling over him.
The terrifying kind.
The kind that came right before violence.
"What is it?"
His voice dropped.
Barely above a whisper.
"Company."
My blood turned to ice.
Outside.
Near the side of the house.
A shadow moved.
Then another.
Two figures.
Trying to stay hidden.
Trying to stay quiet.
Trying to reach Sadie's window.
Unfortunately for them...
They had just walked into the worst mistake of their lives.
Because Beast McCoy wasn't asleep.
He wasn't somewhere else.
He wasn't distracted.
He was waiting.
And now?
The trap was about to spring.