Page 243 of Broken Bonds

That’s when I hear something strange approaching.

Hoofbeats? Did one of the cows get loose?

Moments later, Alizée, riding bareback on Costco, not even with a bridle, just the halter and a lead looped around his neck and hastily tied to the other side, gallops up. She’s barefoot and wearing shorts. The cutting horse slides to a stop when she plants her seat, and it’s like she’s glued to the back of him. She has one of the ranch radios clipped to her belt and grabs it. “Found them! They’re safe. Far northeast corner.”

“Thank the Goddess!” Todd replies over the radio.

I frown at her. “What?”

She swings off the gelding and, holding the lead, slowly approaches me, her nose working as she speaks into the radio again. “Todd, get over here. Right now. Bring the ATV and the car seat.”

“That’s not needed,” I protest. “I was getting ready to head back.” Irritation floods me despite my earlier thoughts mere seconds ago. “Geez, he didn’t need to send out the cavalry. I’m perfectly capable of walking back with her.”

She stares at me. “Are you? Really?”

“I—” My jaw clicks shut as I stare at her. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

“You tell me, Mal.”

My vision blurs and I shake my head to clear it. “Terry narced, didn’t he? I didn’t fall that hard, sheesh. Just scraped knees, that’s all. No reason for people to freak out.”

I turn the stroller around, pointing toward the track that will lead me to the house. “Todd doesn’t need to come get us.” I try to step toward her and reach for the radio, but she holds it behind her, in the hand holding the gelding’s lead.

“He needs to come get you,” she gently says.

“That’s stupid,” I snap. “What the hell? I’m not leaving Kylen out here!”

She edges toward me, reaching for the stroller handle with her free hand. The gelding’s nostrils flare as he sniffs me, blowing out and lifting his head.

“I’ll take Kylen back,” she says in that annoyingly gentle voice. “I’ll drive her back in the ATV, and you’ll go with Todd.”

“Why are you acting so fucking weird?” I belatedly realize I owe my own swear jar. “Fricking weird,” I amend. “What’s going on?”

She gets a hand on the stroller, and I feel her trying to pull it toward her, coaxing me to let go. “Mal, honey, everything’s fine. Todd’ll be here shortly and everything’s… fine.”

I snort, suppressing the growl struggling to roll out of my chest—oh my Goddess, what the actual fuck?—at my beloved friend’s proximity to Kylen.

“You’re the one acting weird right now,” I say, not believing my own words.

“Mal, if everything’s okay, then let go of the stroller and take a few steps back.”

“What? Are you crazy?”

“Maybe. Humor me, sweetie. If you’re fine, back. Up.”

I feel something swirling around Alizée, like a mini cyclone I can’t see, not even wind, but energy. As she takes another step toward me, the lead in one hand and the stroller handle in the other, it feels like a firm hand invisibly plants itself in the middle of my chest and forces me back a step, meaning I have to release my grip on the stroller or roughly jerk it away from her and risk jarring the baby, who’s still asleep.

“Alizée, what the hell are you doing?” Fear and anger and a possessive, dangerous need I’ve never experienced before roll up from deep inside me and?—

Yes. There is something wrong with me.

Something very wrong.

But her voice remains calm. “Mal, I’ll babysit for you two tonight, okay? You and Todd need a night together. Auntie A will have fun spoiling the little peanut rotten.”

“That’s very sweet but—” A buzzing fills my ears, my vision blurring again.

Again, I shake my head, and it’s tempting to shift right there without even stripping first, because I want to shake my head in that satisfying way that can only happen when I’m shifted and my ears flap all over the place.