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Which means I need her entire story. If I know who he is, I can keep tabs on him. Because I already know I’m going to have my hands full keeping tabs on Dakota.
But she has to tell me in her own time. If the Marines have taught me anything, it’s that pushing never helps. It makes you clam up. It makes you run.
“You in here sulking?”
Ford steps through the door, followed by Charlie and Wyatt.
“No,” I lie, already wishing I can get back to my quiet evening of plotting someone else’s murder.
My twin smirks. “Liar.”
“Thought you could use this.” Wyatt sets a beer on the desk and heads to the dartboard.
“Thanks.” I switch over to the security monitors abruptly and scan the tense faces of my brothers. “What’s going on?”
Charlie drops into his chair, scraping a hand over his beard. He glances down at Keena, who’s curled up next to the space heater. “Rest of the dogs locked up?”
My skin prickles at the tone in his voice. “Yeah. Why?”
“Some maverick wolf’s tearing through the ranches,” Charlie says. “Marvin lost a couple of chickens late last night.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose and exhale. Fuck. Another goddamn problem. Last year, we had the Wolfingtons. Now we have to deal with actual fucking wolves. “Where? On the ranch?”
“Perimeter.” Ford hangs back against the wall, arms crossed. “Near the woods.”
“Set a trap,” I tell him. “Nothing lethal. We’re not killing wolves.”
This land belongs to them just as much as us. Our livestock, however, are off-limits.
“How was the rescue?” Ford asks, reaching into his desk drawer and opening a package of cinnamon hard candy. He’s been obsessed with them since the major leagues, trying to substitute them for tobacco.
“How do you think?” My words come out stony. “You saw her.”
Ford’s amber eyes flash. “Yeah. I did.”
A muscle jumps in Charlie’s jaw. “Take her to Stede?”
I flatten my lips, scanning the room. All of my brothers wear the same look of reckless fury crawling beneath my skin. “Earlier tonight.”
One of the hardest fucking things I’ve ever had to do. Stede kept it together, but I saw it all over his face. The devastation of a man who wasn’t able to protect the one he loved.
Ford rolls the candy around in his mouth, then says, “So, she’s gonna heal, find a job, and have a baby. Is that what this is?”
I have the sudden urge to drink the beer all in one sitting. “Yeah,” I grunt. “Rebuild.”
Wyatt whistles. “That’s a lot.”
“She’s got it.” I open the beer and take a sip. “She’s strong.”
“You know who the guy is?” Wyatt asks, flinging a dart blindly at the dartboard.
I sigh, already seeing an ambulance ride in my future. “If I did, you think I’d be sitting here?”
“No. I don’t,” Charlie says.
I don’t miss the harsh darkening of his face. The uneasy glances exchanged with Wyatt and Ford. Anger and adrenaline have each of my brothers in their hold. They want to find this guy just as bad as I do.
I stand and cross the floor to snatch the dart away from my younger brother before he injures himself or someone else.
