Page 9

The following morning, Crew ran an errand into town while Zara, Avi, Tris, and Dexter discussed a tea garden location and adding fall vegetables to the current garden. When he returned, he found his mate pulling off gardening gloves with an adorable streak of dirt on her cheek.

He gently brushed the dirt away with his thumb and gave her a kiss. “How’s it going?”

“Great, Dexter’s going to draw up plans for the tea garden, and we should be able to get it going in the next week. I’m really excited.”

“Me too. I can’t wait to try some tea from herbs grown in our territory. Speaking of territory,” he said, “I’m going on the fence walk to make sure everything’s in order. Would you like to join me?”

“Absolutely.”

The paper sack tucked under his arm crinkled a little and if Zara heard it, she didn’t let on. He took her hand and they walked to the main split-rail fence that ran along the fields and clearing. Every day he inspected the fence so when they let the livestock out to graze other areas, they didn’t have to worry about anyone escaping.

As they walked, he handed her the paper sack.

“What’s this?” she asked, peeking inside.

“I saw it at the farm store this morning and thought of you.”

She pulled out a paperback book about foraging in New Jersey. It came with a log book to keep track of what was found and the location.

“Oh, Crew!” She stopped and threw her arms around him. “This is so sweet, thank you!”

He chuckled and kissed her, loving how it felt to hold her in his arms. “You’re very welcome. I know you can easily look things up online, but this way you have a book to get you started.”

“This is so cool, I can’t wait to read it.”

She beamed at him and he felt ten feet tall.

She put the book back in the paper sack and tucked it under her arm. They talked about what she wanted to plant in the tea garden, and what she’d need to dry the herbs, flowers, and other things, especially now that she had a forager’s guide and would know what to look for. He had no idea that drying foraged and garden plants was so involved. It was genuinely fascinating.

They stopped so he could inspect a section of fencing, and she leaned on a nearby rail and watched. “Oh!”

She ducked under the rail and walked toward the woods.

“What? See something interesting?”

“Yes, wild blueberries! Holy crap, this territory is amazing! Oh, I wish I had a basket.”

He pulled his shirt over his head and joined her, making a makeshift carrier.

“They’ll stain the fabric,” she said as she pulled a large berry off the plant and offered it to him.

It was sweet with just the slightest bit of refreshing tartness. “I don’t mind, it’s a work shirt and they’re meant to get dirty.”

He put the shirt on the ground and helped her pick the fruit. Tris had never really foraged. She knew about the blackberries because they were so close to the main house, but as far as he knew, she’d never explored the territory.

When they’d finished gathering the blueberries, he loosely tied the shirt into a bundle and carried it with them. By the time they got back to the house, they were both sweating from the sunshine and heat, and he was thankful the farmhouse had air-conditioning.

“There you are!” Ford yelled, waving his arm.

His expression concerned Crew. He glanced at Zara and they both jogged over to him at the barn. “What’s wrong?”

“You didn’t answer your phone; we’ve got a problem.”

Crew patted his pockets and pulled out his phone, seeing the notifications on the screen. “I’m sorry, I never turned the ringer back on after I got up this morning. What’s going on?”

Ford walked into the barn where they kept their machinery and vehicles and without needing to be told, Crew could see that the vehicles had been tampered with. The tires on the machinery and vehicles were slashed, and the ones without tires had been busted up—gears and chains pulled out, canvas torn, fluids leaking from puncture holes.

“Shit. What the hell? We’ve got motion cameras on the barns, how did this happen?”

Grey walked into the barn carrying one of the motion cameras. “They tampered with them, and unfortunately, we didn’t get ones that were sophisticated enough to warn us when they were messed with. I watched the footage and they put tape over the lenses without setting them off.” He ripped off what looked like painter’s tape from the lens.

“It had to be Colton,” Zara said. “It’s a warning.”

“Love, why don’t you head into the house? I need to make a call.”

She let out a little groan. “I’ve still got the phone the herd gave me. I should get rid of it.”

Crew took it and said, “It’s not very updated. Do you want a new one, or do you want us to just replace the SIM card?”

“What do you think?”

“We can get you a new one.” He popped out the SIM card and broke it into pieces, then turned off the phone. “They know where we are, so they weren’t tracking you, but it’s probably best to just be done with it anyway.”

She nodded. Giving him a kiss on the cheek, she walked out of the barn.

“I can repair some of what happened, but I don’t have enough tires to replace all the damage. I’m checking the auto and farm stores and it’s going to take a week to get everything shipped to us,” Ford said.

“I’ll call Neo,” Crew said. “Maybe they can spare some tires. We need to harvest the hay and corn so we can prep the fields for fall planting. A week, assuming we can even get everything in that fast and also make the repairs, could mean we lose some things to pests, overripening, or even weather. We could lose more of the crop than is acceptable.”

“Maybe Neo can help us out too,” Grey said. “He said he was willing to help if we needed a spare mechanic.”

“Cool. I’ll make a list of what we need for repairs,” Ford said.

Scrolling through the contacts, Crew called Neo.

“Hey, Crew, how’s it going?”

“Shitty.” He gave him a quick rundown of what had happened. “I can send you a list that Ford’s putting together. Do you think you can help us out?”

“Hell yes. Let me talk to Atticus. Send me the list as soon as you can, and maybe I can get a delivery to you later today and stick around to help.”

“That would be awesome, thanks. Hey, can you also ask Jupiter or one of the security guys for some recommendations for better security cameras? I thought what we had was good, but they were easily messed with.”

“Absolutely. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Thanks, Neo.”

Ending the call, he looked around the barn. “What’s the point?”

“Point?” Grey asked.

“Yeah, I mean, he ruined the vehicles and machinery, but to what end? It messes with our farm, but it’s not dire. I just don’t get the point.”

“To show he didn’t go far?” Grey offered. “That even though you said he wasn’t welcome, that he can come back when he pleases?”

“The fuck he can,” Ford snarled.

“Exactly,” Crew said. He cracked his knuckles, thinking about the look of fear that passed through Zara’s eyes when she saw the damage. The male and his herd had been in the barn that night, close to the farmhouse where they’d been sleeping without a care in the world. “We need to overhaul our security system, period. I’ll let Khyle and Dexter know as well, but I kind of doubt Colton would bother with them.”

“The question is,” Ford said, “why would Colton do what he did?”

Crew looked around at the destruction and remembered the strange feeling he’d had in his gut that the male wasn’t being entirely honest with them. Something dawned on him, and he said, “I think he didn’t want sanctuary, I think he wanted to check us out.”

“To what end?” Grey asked.

“To take over.”