Page 17

Several days passed and they hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Colton or his herd. The cameras that Grey snuck into the campsite to watch them were swiftly found and destroyed, so their chance to see what they were up to was quickly snuffed out.

Dexter and Khyle had returned to their construction job along with their human employees, and things went back to normal at the farm. An uneasy normal, if that was a thing, because to Zara it was wonderful to be able to move about in the garden and around the property by the farmhouse knowing that there were monitors and security devices along with one of the herd members on patrol at all hours of the day and night. But she hadn’t been foraging since the pitfall incident, and even though Crew had offered to go with her, it had seemed foolish to do that now when tensions were high.

There was plenty to be done around the farm anyway and she didn’t need to forage for anything at the moment, even though the forager in her was dying to uncover the secrets of the woods.

Just not so long as her old herd and asshole alpha were lurking around for who the hell knew what.

Her tea garden would be ready to plant in the spring, and she couldn’t wait. And the idea of helping the herd build a greenhouse so they could harvest in the winter too was so exciting.

She chuckled to herself. She’d once felt entirely put upon by her herd, not foraging or harvesting or tending a garden out of the simple joy of providing for the people she cared about, but out of duty and a fear of being punished.

She found utter joy in it now, and loved helping Tris with the caretaking, Avi with the main planting and harvesting of the larger crops, and Grey with the animals. Especially the cute Daisy.

Today, as she got her supplies to weed in the garden and harvest the sweet peppers, onions, and tomatoes, she knew that Ford was patrolling the area, Crew was helping Avi harvest corn, and Grey was taking care of the animals.

At some point, the other herd males would find their soulmates and their herd would grow even larger as children were born. She really couldn’t wait.

Something tickled her senses as she opened the gate that surrounded the garden closest to the house. She paused and looked over her shoulder, then she carefully looked all around her. Unease settled over her and she felt like someone was watching her. But she didn’t see anyone.

She wanted to believe Colton and his herd were finished coming after them, but she knew that wasn’t realistic. Colton seemed to be a dog with a bone, and the bone was the Little River Herd’s farm.

Dropping the sweet peppers into the bucket she’d designated for them, she carefully moved around the large plants, and that damn weird feeling came back. She rubbed at the back of her neck as prickling unease settled over her.

She swiveled on her heels as she crouched among the plants and looked out toward the field. Beyond the pasture where the cows were grazing, she could see Crew and Avi were using something called a one-row-picker to harvest the cobs from the stalks. They had planted two acres of field corn that they used to supplement the animal feed and a half acre of sweet corn that they used for eating fresh, freezing, and canning. Deer and other wildlife enjoyed wandering through the fields to graze, so they planted more than they needed.

Most of the herd’s property was woods, wild and overgrown, and could be razed to make farmland, but the herd didn’t need or want to do that.

She turned back to grab another pepper when that same feeling returned, and this time she was sure she was being watched. Standing abruptly, she stared in the opposite direction of the farmhouse, past the barns to the dense woods where she’d found blackberries.

There!

She saw something move and she was certain it was a person!

Grabbing for the walkie on her belt, she twisted the knob on top and said, “Someone’s in the woods by the barn!”

Ford barreled out of the barn a moment later, the walkie in his hand. He looked at her and she pointed toward the woods where the shadow she’d seen was gone. There was nothing now, but she knew what she saw—someone had been watching her.

Crew and Avi arrived a few minutes later, both of them running from the field in case the other herd had infiltrated the farm. Crew hugged her as Avi went to join Ford in the woods, and Grey jogged around to them from the pasture.

“I’m sure I saw someone,” she said. “I felt like I was being watched ever since I got out here.” She shivered.

Crew hugged her a little tighter. “Your gut was telling you something was wrong. It’s good to trust those kinds of instincts.”

“I just wish they’d leave us alone.”

“Me too, baby.”

“You won’t believe this,” Ford said as he and Avi walked from the woods. They were carrying several security cameras.

“What happened?” Crew asked.

“They shot them with paintball guns to cover the lenses with paint, and it allowed them to get close to the farm. There was definitely someone in the woods. We need to check all the cameras.”

“Damn it,” Crew snarled.

Zara sniffed. “Does anyone else smell smoke?”

Grey turned around and groaned. “What fresh hell is this? There’s smoke coming from the cornfield!”

“Shit!” Avi shouted. “Let’s go!”

Crew grabbed Zara’s hand and said, “We need your help, and I need you close.”

“I’m with you!”

They ran toward the burning cornfield, Crew and Zara splitting off toward the pond. In a storage box on the dock were buckets, and they filled them with pond water and ran toward the fire. The guys were using shovels and rakes to clear a space around the fire to keep it from continuing to burn up the corn. Zara had never had to run with a bucket of water before and it wasn’t easy, but she did her best, handing it to Ford to toss water onto the burning corn before handing it back to her to refill.

With all five of them working quickly, they were able to stop the fire.

Zara and Crew stood watching the smoking ash of a half-acre of field corn as the others finished clearing around it and dumping bucket after bucket of water onto it.

Her hands ached from carrying buckets back and forth and she was sure she was covered in soot, but no one had been hurt and they’d stopped the fire before losing all of the harvest.

Crew kissed the top of her head. “You okay?”

“Pissed. But yes.”

“Me too,” he said with a mirthless chuckle. “Damn it, I wish they’d fuck off and leave us alone.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair with a frustrated grunt.

The walkie squawked and Crew hummed. “Yeah?”

“It’s Tris. Are you guys okay?”

“We’re fine, the fire is out.”

“Some of the chickens are gone.”

“What?” he asked.

“A few chickens are gone and the door wasn’t closed right. I noticed it when I went to take the laundry off the line. I’m back in the house and the door is locked, but I think someone came to the property and took the chickens.”

“Shit. Okay, stay inside, Tris, we’re on our way back.”

“I will, don’t worry.”

“Why would they take chickens?” Zara asked.

“I don’t know,” Crew said. “To drive us insane?”

“Fuckers,” Avi said.

“We need to watch the field for a while to ensure it doesn’t relight,” Ford said. “Do you guys want to finish the harvest?”

“I’ll handle the harvest if someone watches the patch to make sure it doesn’t catch fire again,” Avi said.

“I’ll go back to the house and check out the livestock,” Grey said.

They parted ways and the three of them returned to the farmhouse. They’d had a dozen chickens and there were now six, so someone had gone in and taken the chickens, but to what purpose? The gate at the front of the property was still locked, but they hadn’t been able to replace the damaged cameras by the blackberries in the woods, so they most likely snuck in that way.

Zara stood on the porch with Tris and watched as Crew and Grey checked on the animals and patrolled around the yard.

“This is really crazy,” Tris said. “It seems like such a dumb thing to do—take chickens.”

“I know,” she said. She mused on it for a few moments, then said, “I think they’re trying to figure out how to come after us, you know? They took out the cameras and the technology didn’t recognize it wasn’t working right. Then they set a fire that took us away from the house and barns and took some chickens. It’s like when someone calls the cops to see how long it takes them to show up, so they know how long they have to commit a crime.”

Tris shivered. “I don’t like that idea at all.”

Zara looked at her. “It’s safe at your house, right?”

“Absolutely,” she said. “Khyle and Dexter installed state-of-the-art security systems at both houses. It’s just like what you have at the farmhouse, it’s just not the kind of system that you can install on a huge property like the farm.”

“I wish we could.”

“Me too.”

Crew walked over and gave her a kiss and greeted Tris.

“I don’t think we’re done with them,” Zara said. “I think they’re gearing up for something big. Something bad.”

Crew looked at her gravely. “I think so too.”