Chapter 13
Beau winced. The sound of anything being fired triggered panic in his nervous system.
Instinct had him wanting to duck. Instead, he moved closer to Ivy to protect her and reached for her hand.
When she didn’t flinch, he laced their fingers.
As much as he knew he should keep her at arm’s length, they were in danger, and he would step in front of a bullet before he would allow harm to come to her.
He tucked her behind him as they moved toward the back door. Once she was safely inside, he would help Kade. No way would he let his brother go one-on-one with this mountain lion. It was cunning and had escaped many attempts to capture it.
At the door, Travis said, “Go inside. I’ll back up Kade.”
“Not a chance,” Beau said. “I’m going to support my brother.” Those words rolled easily off his tongue. Was he getting used to having siblings?
It felt good to say those words out loud.
Surprisingly good. He would laugh under any other circumstances.
The footing he’d started out on with Kade shouldn’t have led to Beau offering up his own safety to protect his brother—not in a million years.
Being angry at the world had cost him peace of mind for too many years.
It was time to cut out the madness and let himself breathe for a change.
Holding in all that anger, he realized, had been consuming him from the inside out, burning up energy that could surely be used for something more productive.
It was time to start building bridges instead of burning them.
For the first time, Beau was beginning to find his place in this family.
Would it last?
Kade inched closer to the tree line, taking measured steps.
Travis wrangled the others inside, despite protests from the twins and Hudson.
There was more danger than the mountain lion, even though Clay and Royce shouldn’t be able to get onto the family’s land undetected, since security cameras had been mounted at entrances onto the property.
The time for taking chances had ended. Crime had come to Saddle Junction and the ranch.
Putting their heads in the sand wouldn’t make it go away.
Taking measures to protect the family despite a long history of crime-free living had been the best move.
Travis and Beau flanked Kade, hanging back a step as the trio moved toward the trees. They’d been in similar situations far too many times recently. How many more times would they get away with everyone coming out alive?
The thought sat hard on his gut. His mother needed him. He had to hope that she was still alive. The AI picture of her had been determined to be a fake. Or, at the very least, evidence strongly suggested that the image had been manipulated.
Did Ivy need him? Hands down, she could take care of herself. But did she need someone to share a life with?
The thought caught him off guard. He brought his attention back to the mountain lion and searched the darkness for a streak of golden fur.
Movement to his right caught his attention. “Over there.”
In one fluid movement, Kade turned, aimed, and fired a dart.
The animal turned toward them and leaped. The predator was fifteen feet in front of them, running at a pace they couldn’t match if they ran. Besides, they had to stand their ground.
Kade took aim. “I don’t want to shoot a dart in its face.”
“Can you aim for the chest?” Travis asked as they backed away.
Ten feet away now, the lion stopped. It turned and licked its shoulder before taking off in the opposite direction.
Kade’s finger hovered over the trigger mechanism.
“I see the dart,” Beau said, touching Kade’s arm to stop him from firing. He had no idea if they could overdose the animal and didn’t intend to find out the hard way.
Kade issued a curse under his breath. He lowered the gun. “I’ve lost visual on the animal.”
“Let’s go before she slips away again,” Travis said. There’d been several close calls with the mountain lion and several near misses while trying to save her. They all feared she was living on borrowed time.
“What about Ivy?” Kade asked.
She was safe in the house with the others. “I’m good. She’s good. Let’s get going before we lose her.”
“Okay.” Kade took off running, as did Travis.
Beau fell behind, thanks to his injuries.
He kept the others in his line of sight as he smacked bushes in case the mountain lion had fallen over.
She would react if she were conscious. If she wasn’t, she might be lying in a bush.
Either way, he had a better chance of getting a glimpse of her this way.
The trees were alive with cicadas and other insects. Night creatures bolted as far away from them as they could get as the trio made noise so they wouldn’t catch another animal off guard. Most animals, predators included, took off at the sound of noises. Even wild hogs usually ran from loud sounds.
Beau’s mind shifted to Ivy. She was safe in the house.
He reminded himself of this fact several times because every cell in his body wanted to turn around and ensure she was safe.
Not being with her for even a few minutes shot his blood pressure up.
How he’d become so attached to her in such a short time was beyond him.
He chalked it up to the danger they’d been in and their situation, rather than real feelings.
How could he fall so hard for someone he barely knew?
Logically, he knew real love was built over time. His heart argued it knew when he’d found someone special. Someone worth going the distance with.
He shook a bush and caught a glimpse of gold. A lethal paw swatted at him. Fortunately for Beau, the animal was heavily sedated.
“Guys, over here.”
Travis and Kade immediately circled back, jogging over.
“There she is,” Kade said, keeping a decent distance. “Don’t worry, girl. We’re not here to hurt you.”
The mountain lion disagreed. She tried to raise her head as she opened her mouth to bite. A few seconds later, the drug’s full effect kicked in, and she acquiesced, laying her head down. Her eyes closed, mouth still open.
Kade moved closer and took a knee around her hindquarters. He tapped her. “She’s out. Rest easy, old girl. We’re going to take good care of you.”
Travis was already on his cell phone, calling Marcus.
The phone call didn’t take long. Marcus said he was on his way.
“We’ll wait right here until you arrive,” Travis said. He studied her. “She’s probably a hundred pounds of dead weight.”
The word dead sat hard on Beau’s chest after fearing his mother was gone.
“Marcus will bring a secure crate, and we can help him carry it out of here,” Travis said after ending the call and rejoining Beau and Kade.
Part of him wanted to head back to the house now that the animal was safe. He couldn’t leave these two in case they needed his help. Besides, after all that movement, his body was screaming to sit down and take a break. He wouldn’t be any help to anyone otherwise.
“I’ll let the others know we’re safe and waiting for Marcus,” Travis said.
He kept rubbing his hands together and pacing; all signs that he was nervous.
Now that Beau knew about Chloe’s pregnancy, he understood the reason Travis would be on edge.
Was he concerned the pregnancy wouldn’t make it to term?
He wasn’t supposed to be able to have children, so that was the most logical reason he would be tense and constantly checking in.
Beau wished there was something he could say to reassure Travis.
Life had taught him not to expect miracles.
And yet, Chloe being pregnant with Travis’s child was an undeniable one.
Good for them.
“Chloe isn’t picking up,” Travis said.
Kade glanced at his brother-in-law. There was something in the look that said Kade had caught on.
His wife, Bree, was pregnant with their second child, so maybe he’d picked up on the signs from Chloe.
“I thought she said something about her battery being low. You might try one of the twins or Hudson.”
There were other explanations, like maybe she’d stepped away from her phone to go to the bathroom.
Travis nodded. He tapped the screen and made a second call.
“Archer, is Chloe around?” He paused a beat.
“What do you mean she left to be with Ivy?” His gaze shot to the ground, and he started pacing again.
“That makes no sense given her…condition.” He paused a beat.
“Yes, I’m aware of how dedicated she is and how stubborn she can be. ”
The last question had Beau standing up. It took effort. Tracking the animal had depleted his energy. This news, however, gave him a hit of adrenaline. It wouldn’t last, so he needed to take advantage of it.
“Where did they go?” Beau asked.
Travis shifted his gaze; panic in his eyes. He asked the question while maintaining eye contact. “Why didn’t you stop them?” he asked the person on the other end of the call. He paused a few beats, then moved his mouth from the phone. “Chloe is driving Ivy to her apartment in Austin.”
“And the guys just let them leave?” Beau asked.
“It’s Chloe, they said. She pleaded with them not to tell us.
When they refused, she threatened them within an inch of their lives.
” Travis issued a sharp sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand.
“I’ve been hovering and driving her crazy.
This is my fault. And my wife can be very convincing when she needs to be. ”
“Stubborn as hell, too,” Kade interjected.
Travis nodded. “Chloe promised to be careful. Said she was just giving Ivy a ride home and would be back before anyone missed them. She told them not to lie to us but to give her a fifteen-minute head start.”
“She’ll be careful,” Kade reassured. “Too much has happened at the ranch for her not to take this seriously. You know that.”
Beau wanted to be reassured, but he wasn’t.
“I’ve been overprotective with her lately,” Travis conceded. “That’s the reason she thought she had to go about it this way. It’s just—”
“She’s pregnant,” Kade said.
Travis’s gaze shot to him. “How did you know?”
“I’ve got eyes,” Kade said, like the answer was as plain as the nose on his face. “And my wife is pregnant. I know the signs. Chloe’s been off for weeks. It took me a minute to figure out why, but I caught on.”
Travis’s gaze shifted to Beau.
“Chloe told me earlier,” he said.
“I’m surprisingly relieved not to have to keep it a secret any longer,” Travis said. He studied Beau. “Go find them, okay?”
“On it.”
With that, Beau turned toward the ranch and headed home to get his truck. They couldn’t be more than fifteen to twenty minutes ahead. Still, it was enough time for Clay and Royce to run them off the road if they were waiting outside the ranch property.
Could Beau catch them in time?
Chloe parked two blocks from Ivy’s apartment on Castle Hill Street.
The Old West Austin neighborhood blended old and new architectural styles, which was part of the reason she loved it here so much.
It was like living in the past and present, all at once.
The studio condominium where she lived had been built in the late 1950s.
The metal roof was murder on WiFi, but the wood floors made up for it.
Plus, she had a balcony, which was rare in a studio.
Cafes and shops were a stone’s throw away, but you’d never know it on her quiet residential street.
The tree-lined streets provided some relief from the searing afternoon sun, and the central location made it easier for her to visit her clients at home.
Speaking of which, she needed to reach out to let her clients know that she had a family emergency.
Before getting out of the vehicle, she put an out-of-office message on her phone. Her clients would reach out if she didn’t show, and this would make sure they weren’t left hanging. She felt bad enough that she would have to miss some of her appointments.
Why were things outside of your control so frustrating? Because they are things outside of your control, an annoying little voice pointed out.
“Ready?” Chloe asked.
Ivy suddenly realized the vehicle had been stopped for several minutes, and Chloe had been studying her.
“You can go now,” Ivy said. “You gave me a ride. I’ll make good time on the road and probably catch up to you before you make it back to the ranch.
” A part of her didn’t want to risk anything happening to Chloe if those bastards had figured out where she lived.
They had to have, right? They’d snatched her in broad daylight several blocks from her home.
Of course, she had a home alarm that was monitored.
As safe as Austin had always felt to her, being a female living alone, she took precautions.
She would have gotten a dog a long time ago if she didn’t work so many hours.
It seemed unfair to leave a dog alone while she visited clients six days a week, sometimes seven, depending on a family’s needs and schedule.
“Not a chance,” Chloe insisted. “I’m not leaving you here alone. Let me make sure you get inside your house safely, and then I’ll think about going ahead. But I can wait for you to grab a few things, too.”
The determined set to Chloe’s eyes said she was willing to dig her heels in on this subject. Ivy knew about being stubborn. She counted herself as part of the club, so she realized arguing would be a waste of energy.
Her phone had seven missed calls and multiple text notifications from Beau.
He was undoubtedly upset with her for leaving.
She hadn’t been willing to sit around and wait for him to come back when she’d had a ride.
Besides, she would be heading back to the ranch soon enough.
The lie she’d told herself was that she wouldn’t even be missed.
Beau might not be offering a chance to act on their attraction, but he’d been clear about not walking away until they saw this thing through with their parents.
“Let’s do this,” Ivy said to Chloe, forcing her thoughts to something she had control over.
“All right.”
Ivy met Chloe around the back of her sedan.
“Are you sure you want to stick around and watch me pack?” Ivy asked as they headed toward the street her condo was on.
“Absolutely.”
“Okay, then.”
Ivy turned the corner onto her street. From behind the oak tree, a large male figure stepped onto the sidewalk. There was a weapon, and it was pointed directly at Chloe’s chest.
“If you so much as flinch, your friend is dead,” Clay said through bared teeth. “And both of you are coming with me.”
Shit.
Chloe leaned in and grabbed Ivy by the arm. Out of the corner of her mouth, she said, “Run.”