Bonus Chapter Cowboy Reckoning
COWBOY RECKONING
*BONUS CHAPTER FROM COWBOY RECKONING*
The sun was descending on what had been a scorching hot late summer day in Cattle Cove, Texas. Ensley Cartier had parked her car on the side of the road. She walked through the woods and entered the meadow; the beautiful oak trees a stark contrast to the memory of what had happened here.
This place. This beautiful and destructive place had taken so much from her. An icy chill ran down her spine at the memory of her younger brother walking into these woods years ago and never walking out.
Coming back to her old hometown, she’d felt compelled to stop here first. What had happened here was the reason she’d come back to town anyway.
The trail that had led to the meadow was overgrown. The same path had been well-worn years ago. A lot had changed since those innocent days in high school when her future had been bright, and she didn’t have to leave the light on to sleep at night.
It was getting late and she shouldn’t be out here alone. That creepy feeling she’d heard referred to as a cat walking over a grave caused her skin to goosebump.
Ensley turned tail and picked up her pace. Her hiking boot got caught on scrub brush and she nearly face-planted. She corrected her balance, grabbing hold of a tree trunk as her phone went flying and the sharp bark jabbed into her palms. She mumbled a curse.
Thankfully, her flashlight was still on and she could plainly see her phone. Getting from point A to point B was another story altogether. As she slowly stepped toward the glowing light, a noise stopped her cold.
A twig snapped behind her. Icy chills raced up her spine as she reminded herself this was deer country. Though there were probably other creatures out here that she didn’t want to consider.
The hair on her arms pricked as the feeling of being watched settled over her.
Heart thundering in her chest, Ensley made a move for her cell phone, snatched it and then ducked behind a tree. She could only pray that whatever was behind her couldn’t hear her out-of-control heartbeat against her ribs.
Her cell picked that moment to buzz, indicating an e-mail came through. She squeezed her hand around the speaker a few seconds too late. If there was a person behind her, there was no way he or she wouldn’t have heard the noise.
Then again, the woods were alive with sounds from cicadas chirping to crickets to frogs. The wind whistled through the trees. She was grateful for the breeze in what otherwise would’ve been a stifling hot night.
On all fours, Ensley heard the first low and deep growl.
It was the deep baritone of an animal that was close by and ready to strike.
She scrambled to stand, fingers closed around her cell phone.
She shone the light in the direction of the growl in time to see an incredible, massive German shepherd.
Head low to the ground, it inched toward her with raised hackles and bared teeth.
“Whoa there, buddy.” Ensley remembered the years she’d spent at Cattle Cove. She’d encountered animals in the wild before. Remaining calm could mean the difference between being attacked and walking away unscathed.
Adrenaline shot through her causing her pulse to spike and a whoosh to sound in her ears. This probably wasn’t the time to remember the article she’d read a long time ago about animals being able to smell fear.
Yes, she was afraid. The dog’s sharp, white teeth were showing. His air snaps echoed.
Keeping her eyes constant on the animal inching toward her, carefully and purposefully, she backed up until she felt a tree. It might not be much or help for long, but maybe she could delay the dog’s bite for a few critical seconds if she could manage to put the tree trunk in between them.
Not daring to take her eyes off the agitated animal, she said, “I’m not here to hurt anybody.”
He barked three short barks, baring his teeth again. What was an incredible animal like this one doing out near the meadow alone? And he was impressive. Scary as all get out, too. More growling reminded her just how serious he was.
She tucked her chin to her chest, figuring the animal would go for her throat on instinct.
“Hold on there, buddy. No one’s here to hurt you.” She knew better than to make a quick move. Shining the flashlight from her phone onto the dog, she realized he had on a collar. That was the first bit of good news. It meant he had an owner. His carriage said he was trained.
This was the perfect time to curse the fact she had no weapon and had foolishly ran from her car into the woods, trying to ground herself in this spot without really thinking it through. She should know better. And she did.
Now, staring her mistake in the eyes, she realized the weight of her consequences.
A dog tag meant this guy had to have an owner somewhere. She knew from her limited experience with animals that German shepherds were incredibly loyal breeds. He inched closer.
Maybe she could stall long enough for his owner to show. “Who do you belong to, bud?”
Ensley bit back the irony of the thought that her life could end very near the exact same spot her teenage brother’s had almost ten years ago.
With questions raised about how the now-dead county coroner had handled a few cases, or more accurately mishandled them, she’d come back to investigate her brother’s.
She’d never bought the accidental death ruling or the theory her brother and his best friend had gotten into a fight that led to a murder-suicide.
She needed new evidence for the sheriff to reopen the case.
The dog moved another step toward her. His low, throaty growl a little too close for comfort.
This was so not a good situation to be in.
Considering the dog had tags, she might get lucky and his owner might appear.
And as long as she was making wishes, she might as well go all in and pray the person wasn’t out here hurt somewhere.
An injured owner, or worse yet, dead, would agitate the breed of dog that had been created for protection.
Nose to the ground, the roughly seventy-to-eighty pounds of lean muscle moved toward her with military precision.
Risking a glance at the tree, she quickly assessed she wouldn’t be able to climb it. Being back here brought on a tidal wave of emotions. The dog had to be picking up on all her emotions, frustrations and fears.
Since the animal was getting too close for comfort anyway, she had about one option left. It was to scream for help in the hopes the owner would hear and call off his dog.
A black snout with yellow and black markings, a pair of large, intense eyes stared her down. The longer she watched, the more she realized that the animal was flat out terrifying.
“Hold on there.” Again, she used the calmest voice she could manage under the circumstances.
Making a move was pretty much now or never considering the low, throaty growls had intensified.
Ensley opened her mouth to scream just as she heard the deepest, most bone-penetrating voice calling the dog off.
“Karma.”
The strong, male voice shouted out a word she didn’t understand but was pretty certain was in German. She wondered whether that would make the animal some sort of police dog. Karma immediately retreated and she let out the breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding.
Running into this dog reminded her of the dangers of being alone in the woods and of being back in her hometown.
She could use a friend right now and especially if that person turned out to work in law enforcement.
It was the only thing that made sense because she was certain an untrained dog would have attacked her.
Her thoughts instantly snapped to her brother. Cooper must have been so scared in his final few moments out here. The injustice about the case poured gasoline on the fire already burning inside her. She used that anger as fuel to be bold.
“Hello. I’m lost. Who’s out there?” She trained her flashlight in the general direction where the dog had disappeared. The very real thought he could return at any moment struck. Fear rippled through her.
Ensley repeated a silent protection prayer she’d learned as a little girl. It was one she’d repeated often after her parents divorced and her mother retreated into herself as she nursed a broken heart. A few years later, she passed away.
“I said, ‘hello’!” she shouted, louder this time.
A large male figure emerged, stepping out from between two trees. The growling dog was by his side. He squinted and immediately raised his hand to cover his eyes. She realized she was blinding him with her flashlight beam.
“Sorry.” She lowered the light to a patch on the ground in front of her. A different kind of energy shot through her when she got a good look at the man’s face. A lightning bolt struck. There was something very familiar about him.
And then, she remembered.
“Levi McGannon?” she asked, not bothering to hide her shock.
He confirmed with a nod.
Wow, that really took her back. He’d been six years ahead of her in school and the twelve-year-old girl that she’d been had a very large crush on the eldest McGannon son.
Despite Levi having five brothers and five cousins, all males, not one McGannon had been in her grade. It was impossible not to notice them, though. Everyone in town and probably all of Texas knew who they were. The McGannon family was one of the richest cattle ranching families in the state.
Declan McGannon had been a grade ahead of her and Dawson McGannon had been a grade below. But it was Levi who’d always stood out to her.
“I’m sorry. Have we met before?” Levi lowered his hands enough for her to see those penetrating dark eyes of his staring at her. He cocked his head to one side.
Ensley hadn’t seen him in more than ten years. He’d gone into the military right after high school. He and his brothers were tight-knit and ran in different circles, despite her dad and stepmom doing their level best to climb the social ladder.
“No. I lived here a really long time ago. There’s no reason you would remember me.
We went to the same high school but not at the same time.
I was there with a few of your brothers and cousins.
” At six-feet-four inches, he was hard to miss.
Then again, all the McGannon brothers and cousins were tall and even back then had the frame for what Levi had grown into… a tall, muscled man.
His dog growled again, and Levi said another word she didn’t understand.
“German?” she asked.
“Yes, he was a soldier. Bomb sniffer. He got out before his handler, who is still on active duty. Karma didn’t have a place to go so a friend of mine called me up and asked if I had enough land to give him a home. Even after a year, he’s…excuse me…who did you say you were again?”
“Oh, sorry. I’m Ensley Cartier.”
Recognition dawned. “I know that last name.”
“My father was a lawyer here. We left Cattle Cove ten years ago after my brother…” She couldn’t finish that sentence. The pain was still too real, too raw.
Levi nodded his head and shot her a look of apology. “Cooper. Your brother’s name.”
“That’s right.” Hot tears burned her eyes. She ducked her head, chin-to-chest, so he wouldn’t see.
“I’m really sorry. I remember hearing about that case. It was a sad situation all around.” There was so much compassion in his voice, unlike what she’d heard from the families involved after the fact years ago.
His dog, however, had a laser focus on her while he stood with his hackles raised.
“I’m sorry about him.” Levi motioned toward Karma. “He doesn’t take to new people easily. He would probably feel better if he could make sure you don’t have any sort of explosive device on you. He’s very leery of anyone he doesn’t know, especially if he doesn’t get a chance to clear them.”
“What does that mean?” She extended her arms out, shoulder height and palms down. She was careful not to make a sudden movement. “Will this help?”
“It should.” Levi snapped a leash on Karma’s collar and walked toward her.
The dog made quick work of sniffing her up and down. She must’ve passed because his aggression levels dropped and he moved beside his owner and stood.
“If you’re ever with a bomb sniffing dog and he sits down, you’ll want to clear out of the vicinity as fast as possible,” Levi informed.
“Good to know.” She had no plans to spend more time around a dog trained to sniff bombs than she had to.
Her heart went out to the dog, though. From everything she’d heard, dogs and their handlers became very close.
Separating them seemed cruel to her, but at least this guy seemed to have found someone who cared.
The McGannons owned acres and acres of land. A hundred? A thousand?
Her father had chomped at the bit to be their will and trust attorney, but McGannons weren’t country club types and they already had a lawyer.
If anything, she respected them even more for their down-to-earth qualities.
If her father had been more like them, she imagined she and her brother would’ve had a very different upbringing.
One filled with Sunday suppers around the dining table and home-cooked meals.
“Why did you name your dog Karma? Was he discharged with that name?”
“No. I gave him a different name for a different life. His original name was better off buried with his past. I renamed him Karma because if he doesn’t like you, karma is a real bitch.”
She laughed despite her somber mood. “I can already tell he doesn’t like me, so I’ll take a couple of steps back to put some distance between us in case he decides he wants to know how I taste.
But I’m also turned around in the woods.
I haven’t been home in a really long time and I would appreciate it if you could see me back to US 87 where my car is parked. ”
“Not a problem. Karma and I would be happy to walk with you.”
She shot a glance toward his dog and shook her head. “I’d like to stay as far away from him as possible.”
“Why is that? He can be scary at first, but he’s a good dog.”
“Considering the fact he’s done nothing but growl at me, I’d rather not risk a bite,” she hedged.
“If Karma didn’t like you, we wouldn’t be standing here having this conversation right now,” he chuckled. Levi turned in the opposite direction she would’ve gone without his navigation help. “This way.”
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