Page 38

Noah

The steering wheel creaked under my hands.

Fuck.

Last night I’d been frustrated as hell it had all been for nothing. Now I truly wished that’s all it had been. That we’d been wrong and all of it had been a misunderstanding or some kind of dream. Because this was far, far worse.

If last night had been a test, then everything we’d feared would be at the party last night would be there now. And Kate had no backup.

I shouldn’t have let her go home alone. Something had told me that I shouldn’t, but I’d ignored it. I’d thought it was wanting to keep her close and kiss her into oblivion that was clouding my instincts.

When was I going to learn to just listen to them?

Shaking my head, I let out a brand new string of curses. On the surface, there hadn’t been any reason to prevent her from leaving the ranch. But I had known I shouldn’t have let her. Or at least I should have gone with her.

Now this was happening. She was walking into danger alone.

After last night, there was no chance I’d be able to get Charlie to muster the troops. They weren’t going to do that again without hard evidence. They were certainly going to have that by the time we were done.

All the guys were away. Lucas was taking the shift at the ranch. Harlan and Grace had gone camping out of cell range. Grant, Liam, and Daniel were on an overnight drop-off of some animals down in Colorado. I didn’t know where Jude was, but for this? I needed more than one-man backup.

I dialed Lucas.

“What’s up?”

“We’re fucked,” I said. “That’s what’s up.”

His voice changed, and I knew his entire focus was on me now. “What’s going on?”

I quickly relayed everything, along with the address.

Lucas let out a breath. “That’s really out there.”

“Yeah.” I was familiar with the general area, and signal was notoriously spotty. Which was exactly what they’d want for something like this. A space where it was hard to track signals? Perfect for something this far underground. “The transmitter should be fine though,” I said. That was a different kind of signal.

“I’ll let everyone know,” Lucas said. “They’re going to be pissed.”

“They can get in line.”

“You want me to call Charlie?”

I shook my head even though he couldn’t see me. “They won’t be able to do anything. Not in time.”

“And you think you will?” Lucas asked. It wasn’t sarcastic, it was a genuine question.

“I don’t know. But there’s no way in hell I’m just letting her go in there alone. We’ll get what we need, and then we’ll make sure the next time Charlie rallies the troops, it’s not a test.”

“Right. Keep us in the loop. Should I send Jude your way?”

“Keep him on standby.”

I hung up and tossed the phone on the seat next to me. All I could do now was hope I made it in time before anything got worse.

Chapter 13

Kate

There were similarities to last night. The barn I approached seemed just as abandoned. And without Noah in my ear yet, I was very much aware of how alone I was. There was nothing but the wind sweeping across the fields and the clouds moving over the moon.