39. Sadie
SADIE
The phone rang while I was making sandwiches.
Dad was outside with Hank.
The ranch hands were fixing the south fence.
And for one tiny moment…
Everything felt normal.
Then I saw Trigger’s name on my screen.
My stomach dropped.
I answered before the second ring.
“Trigger?”
“Sadie, listen to me.”
His voice was tight.
Too tight.
Every nerve in my body went cold.
“What happened?”
“Gerald’s cabin was found.”
The knife slipped from my hand.
It hit the counter with a sharp clatter.
“He had a cabin?”
“Off the old logging road. He was watching the ranch.”
My knees weakened.
I grabbed the edge of the counter.
“What do you mean by watching?”
There was a pause.
A terrible pause.
“He had binoculars. A notebook. Your schedule. Beast’s schedule. Everybody’s.”
The kitchen suddenly felt too small.
The windows too big.
The back door too close.
“He knows everything,” I whispered.
“No,” Trigger said quickly. “He thinks he does. That’s different.”
I swallowed hard.
“Where is Beast?”
“On his way back to you.”
The words should have made me feel better.
They did.
A little.
But not enough.
“Where is Gerald?”
“We don’t know.”
That was worse.
Much worse.
Outside, A ranch hand laughed at something Dad said.
The sound drifted through the open kitchen window.
Normal.
Happy.
Completely unaware.
My chest tightened.
“Sadie?”
“I’m here.”
“Lock every door. Get your dad and the ranch hands inside. Don’t go near the windows. Beast and Wolf are heading your way.”
“Okay.”
“Stay on the phone with me.”
I nodded even though he couldn’t see me.
Then I ran.
“Dad!”
He looked up from the barn.
One look at my face and the smile disappeared.
“What is it?”
“Gerald.”
That was all I had to say.
One of the teenagers dropped the fence post.
Dad moved faster than I had seen him move in weeks.
“Inside,” he ordered.
The ranch hands came running.
Nobody asked questions.
Nobody argued.
They knew.
Everyone knew.
We locked the front door.
Then the back.
Then every window.
Dad checked the deadbolt twice.
I pulled the curtains closed.
The ranch hands stood near the kitchen with their phones in their hands.
Waiting.
Watching.
My heart beat so hard I could hear it.
I kept looking toward the front window.
Toward the road.
Toward every shadow outside.
“Sadie,” Trigger said through the phone. “Talk to me.”
“I’m scared.”
The words came out before I could stop them.
Honest.
Small.
I hated them.
But Trigger’s voice softened.
“I know. But you are not alone.”
Dad came to stand beside me.
His hand settled on my shoulder.
Strong.
Steady.
“You hear that?” he said. “You got all of us.”
I nodded.
Tried to breathe.
Then the dog started barking.
Not one bark.
Not two.
A deep, wild sound that ripped through the ranch.
Everyone froze.
Dad moved toward the window.
I caught his arm.
“Don’t.”
The barking got louder.
Closer.
My blood turned to ice.
Outside, something moved near the tree line.
A shadow.
Tall.
Still.
Watching.
I stopped breathing.
“Dad,” I whispered.
He saw it too.
Every man in the kitchen went quiet.
The shadow stepped forward.
Just enough for moonlight to catch his face.
Gerald.
He stood at the edge of the pasture.
Far enough away that nobody could reach him.
Close enough that I could see his smile.
My stomach twisted.
He lifted one hand.
Slowly.
Waved at me.
Like we were old friends.
Like he hadn’t been hiding in the woods.
Like he hadn’t written my name in some horrible notebook.
Like he hadn’t scared me in my own home.
Then headlights appeared behind him.
Bright.
Fast.
A truck tore down the road toward the ranch.
Gerald looked toward it.
His smile vanished.
He ran.
Straight into the trees.
The truck skidded into the driveway.
Beast jumped out before it fully stopped.
His eyes found me through the window.
And everything inside me broke loose.
I unlocked the door.
Ran outside.
Straight into his arms.
Beast caught me.
Held me so tight I could barely breathe.
“I’ve got you,” he said into my hair.
His voice shook.
Just once.
But I felt it.
“I’ve got you.”
I pressed my face against his chest.
Tried to stop shaking.
“He was here.”
“I know.”
“He waved at me.”
His arms tightened.
Behind us, Sheriff Cooper’s deputies pulled into the driveway.
The ranch was filled with headlights.
Voices.
Boots.
People moving.
But Beast didn’t let me go.
Not even once.
He looked toward the tree line.
Toward the darkness where Gerald had disappeared.
And I felt the change in him.
The Ranger.
The protector.
The man who had been holding himself back.
“He wanted you scared,” Beast said quietly.
I looked up at him.
His eyes were dark.
Cold.
Focused.
“But now he knows something.”
“What?”
Beast looked back toward the trees.
“He can run.”
His hand tightened around mine.
“But I will find him.”