Page 27

Another gunshot echoed through the air, cutting me off. That was closer than the last one.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” he answered and scootched toward me.

“Keaton, how prevalent are coyotes here?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I mean, they show up once in a while, but they normally go after rabbits or things like that. We take precautions when driving the cattle up here, but it’s also not the highest pasture, where there’s other higher on the food chain predators.”

“And this isn't the usual calving season for the cows, so Cassidy, nor any of the others, would have suspected,” I muttered.

Keaton nodded. “She wasn’t even supposed to be pregnant this year.”

“Other than the cow being…destroyed, was there any other reason to suspect coyotes?” I asked.

“Dad saw some prints in the mud, I think,” he answered.

And a sharp whistle shot through the air.

I whipped my head around as two horses with riders barreled around a grove of trees. Hooves like thunder stampeded toward us, my eyes catching sight of Cassidy. Sweat streaked down his cheeks as he slung a shotgun over his shoulder, his gaze locked onto both Keaton and me.

Cash rode up beside him, his own gun tucked in his elbow. “KEATON!” he shouted.

I ripped the boy off the ground.

“GET ON YOUR HORSE AND RUN!” Cassidy bellowed as a cloud of dust exploded behind them.

Something was chasing them.

Keaton tore his wrist from my grip and raced toward his horse. Snatching the saddle off the ground, my feet sprinted to my horse, and I threw the pad over his back as Keaton whipped his horse around.

He looked at me and paused.

“Just go!” I shouted, heaving my saddle up next. Cash shot by me, nodding a brief thank you, and then slapped Dallas on the rump. She shot off like a rocket, and the two of them galloped away as Cassidy slid his horse to a halt.

He panted, breathing heavily, his eyes wide and frenzied as I jerked the cinch tight. “What’s going on?” I cried out, snatching some mane in my hand and throwing a leg over the back of Bud.

He opened his mouth to answer as the thing that had been chasing him and Cash materialized through the dust. “Is that…?” My mouth fell open as Cassidy swung in his saddle and pointed the gun at the encroaching group of riders.

At least a dozen men on horses barreled toward us.

“GO!” Cassidy shouted again.

I dug my spurs into the side of Bud and shot off just as another shot rang out. I wanted to look back, wanted to make sure that Cassidy was fine, but doing so would’ve slowed us down.

Had he already found me?

My calves squeezed tight against the horse’s flank, dirt and sweat mingling with the stuffiness of the hot summer air. I blindly ran, trusting Bud to not trip, and steered him around whatever popped up in our path.

We darted over some brush, the roar of his hooves thundering over loosely packed dirt echoed the pounding of blood in my veins.

Another crack of a gun firing pierced the thick veil of adrenaline.

Dipping my reins to the right, Bud swerved around some trees, his nostrils flaring as his hips bunched and we whipped back to the left. Jumping over rocks, bending around flimsy branches that tore at my arms, did nothing to hinder our flee from insanity.

Gasps for air coated my lungs in gritty dust.

Sweat dripped down my neck, pooling as my shirt clung to my skin.

One more step, another bend, another leap over a log took us farther from whatever was giving chase.