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My head tries to imagine her big-city life. All my fantasies about her are based on her returning to my part of the world. That made sense when she was a teenager and starting off in life. Now, she’s a grown woman with a business, friends, and more than a decade without setting foot anywhere near McMurdo Valley.
I suspect Goose will be proven right about Austen Halvorson. Rather than my dream woman, she’s just an old fantasy I never got around to quitting. Now, I’m about to meet the real person, and she can’t help but disappoint.
As much as that might hurt, I still hope finding her will lead to the assholes who made my people bleed. If I can’t fall in love with my dream ginger, I might as well get to shoot some fuckers.
AUSTEN
The sight of Walla Walla is such a pleasant surprise for all of sixty seconds. I feel like he’s stepped out of my dreams to claim what I’ve always hoped to offer him.
Except I’m not dreaming, and there’s no way he’s randomly tracking me down after all these years. I was no one to him. He was a fantasy to me. Thirteen years have passed. If I hadn’t suffocated my wild side, I’d have long ago moved past these fantasies.
Walla Walla being in Banta City means trouble has found me.
My head spins, and I can’t seem to take a full breath. The past breaks free of its cage. Those familiar scents from my summers in Canary Basin rush back to me. I feel the sun on my skin. It was always so warm there. The air smelled different, a mix of the dense woodlands and dusty valley floor.
I’m tumbling back into the past to a time when my father adored me and winning the heart of a wild biker felt possible. As a teen, I dreamed of moving to McMurdo Valley and opening a veterinarian clinic. I’d miss Suzanne, Hunter, and Coco, yet the rugged land spoke to me in a way no city ever could.
Now, Canary Basin feels like a nightmare. I don’t want to return. I can’t have the filth there touch my life in Banta City. Hunter shouldn’t have any reminders of the pain from so many years ago.
“Is she going to faint?” Goose asks.
I feel Coco’s hand on my shoulder. I hear her voice in my head. But I only see Walla Walla. He leans down to meet my gaze. His eyes are sky blue and filled with concern.
My knees buckle as I struggle to catch my breath. The panic wraps around my body, making me small and weak. I can’t see past this moment.
Coco unlocks the clinic as Walla Walla guides me inside. I feel things happening. Yet, they seem so far away, as if I’m watching them from above.
“I can’t go back,” I mumble as Coco brings me water.
Walla Walla kneels in front of the lobby chair I’ve dropped into. He smells of the heat of riding under the sun. It’s the same scent I’d get when I rode my horses in Canary Basin.
I gave up riding after that painful summer. I still love my family’s horses, yet I’ve never felt the power of riding again. I gave up the best of me as punishment for what I allowed to happen back then.
“Austen,” Walla Walla says in a soft yet commanding voice.
I can’t help but to focus on him. His tone isn’t harsh. He doesn’t seem angry. Yet, he feels strong and steady while I’m weak and spinning.
“Walla Walla,” I reply, loving how his name makes me feel. “Why are you here?”
“There’s trouble in McMurdo Valley,” he says and then adds, “And Canary Basin.”
“Started in your town, not ours,” Goose grumbles.
Agitated over Goose’s tone, Coco demands, “Who are you?”
“Your worst nightmare, babe.”
Walla Walla frowns at Goose, sees something on his friend’s face, and then looks back at me.
Trying to calm the growing tension, I explain, “Coco, this is Walla Walla and Goose.”
My friend is too busy glaring at Goose to even glance at Walla Walla.
“Why are you here?” I ask Walla Walla again. “I’m not a part of that place anymore.”
“Your family’s ranch hands went rogue and attacked our people. They hurt your family, too. We got most of them, but some escaped. Rumor is they’re headed here.”
“Why?”
