Page 19 of Grey (Little River Stallions #2)
Colton stood in the backyard of the cramped cabin and stared at the pit that his brother and Asher were digging. They were going to dig the hole deep and make a funeral pyre for Silas, because shifters didn’t leave their bodies in the ground for humans to find.
But that was the least of his problems right now.
He was absolutely consumed with rage.
Not that Silas was dead. Yes, it was inconvenient, and the male had been with him forever and would be missed in some ways, but mainly just furious at Crew and his damned herd.
It all came back to Zara.
She’d betrayed Colton by leaving his herd and shacking up with Crew, and then Crew’s male had taken out his number-two, and they were already small in number. It wasn’t like he could put an ad on a damn recruitment website for herd members; he was now stuck at four.
Weston hefted himself from the waist-high hole and brushed at his dirty jeans. “Is that deep enough?”
Colton stared at the pit. “Another foot down, you have to account for the wood.”
Weston looked like he might argue, but after Colton gave him a scathing look, he tilted his head in deference and returned to the pit to keep digging.
Levi walked out of the cabin and handed Colton a cold drink. “What now?”
“We mourn the dead and plan our revenge.”
Levi cleared his throat but didn’t say anything.
“Yes?” Colton asked.
“It’s not better for us to just move on? I mean, we could clear the land here and make a place for us. Or we could just leave and find another place to stay.”
“Yeah,” Weston said, leaning on the shovel. “Why can’t we just go back to the Valley? I don’t know why we had to leave anyway; the humans didn’t find out where we lived, they just found the clearing.”
Colton was only mildly surprised that his younger brother had no clue how close they’d come to discovery by the humans when their people were captured by the poachers.
He took a long drink of a sugary sports concoction and said, “First of all, we set the homes in the Valley on fire, so there’s nothing to go back to.
And second, Zara betrayed us and the herd tried to force us out.
Instead of trying to make peace and Crew stepping down as alpha, he’s made it impossible for us to do anything but take over by force. ”
“We lost Silas, though,” Asher said. “That one male went off his damn rocker when we took his mate.”
“Then we’ll just have to see how unhinged they become when we make our next attack.” He finished the drink and tossed the bottle into the grass. “Finish up here. I’ve got plans to make.”
“Hey, don’t you want to say something, like a funeral? For Silas?” Weston called.
Colton turned and looked at the blanket-wrapped body of his number-two. “Just get it done. I’ll get vengeance for his death when I take out the Little River Herd.”
And he would.
He was more determined than ever to take the farm and drive the other herd out, but not before he had his revenge for what had been done to him and his herd.
Starting with Zara.
The morning after she’d been drugged and abducted, Tatum felt fine but she also didn’t quite feel right. Residual shock, maybe, or fear of something happening again. But she wasn’t the sort of girl who was going to let some assholes keep her in the house cowering like a mouse.
She’d broken free of her past and started a new life in Little River, and she’d carved an even better life for herself with Grey. She wasn’t willing to give up any of it, even the library.
“You’re not going to ask me to stop working at the library, right?” she asked as she waited for her toast to pop up.
“What? No, of course not,” he said. He poured cereal into a bowl at the counter and walked to the fridge to get milk.
“Okay, I’m just asking, because you know I love you but I also love the library. Not the same kind of love, you know, but still.”
He chuckled and moved to give her a peck on the cheek.
“I wouldn’t ask you to give up the library, sweetheart.
I’m going to stay there today and install security equipment.
I have some left over from our last installation, very inconspicuous.
And at lunch we can run to the supply shop in Devondale; they have this highly rated pepper gel that you can keep on you. ”
“What’s pepper gel?”
“It’s like pepper spray, but it’s a concentrated gel and doesn’t go everywhere like the spray does. And,” he said, giving her a long look, “I want you to keep your phone on you all the time.”
She nodded. “I will. So some motion cameras or something like that?”
“Yep. And I’ve got some vibration sensors for the windows, which will send out an alert to us here at the farm if someone messes with one of the windows. I’ll be sure that the security alerts will ping to your phone too, so you’re not out of the loop.”
“You guys should start a security business,” she said.
“We just want to keep our people safe, that’s a job all by itself.”
“Yeah, it seems like it.” After fixing her toast with Tris’s homemade blackberry jam, she joined Grey at the counter and they talked about the day ahead.
It wasn’t until the dishes were put away and they were walking out to the truck that she asked the question that had been on her mind all morning.
“You guys think that Colton guy will come back again?”
“I’d say yes, there’s a chance he will strike again.” He opened the passenger door for her.
“He wants to take over the farm and push you guys out because he doesn’t have a home anymore?”
“Yeah,” he said. “He’s lazy, but also we’re shifters and there’s a certain amount of animal behavior that we can be prone to.
It wouldn’t be unheard of in the natural world for a rival to take out the leader of a herd and take over.
But we’re not ruled by the beasts, we control them.
Colton is dangerous, and he’s proven that over and over again.
But we took out his second-in-command and that’s going to cause a problem for him.
They now have fewer people than we do, but of course, we’re not going around trying to kill people to take over.
We just want to be left alone to live our lives. ”
She let that roll around in her mind while he got behind the wheel and started the engine. Crew and Zara came out of the farmhouse and waved at them before getting into another truck. They were going to follow Grey and Tatum to the library as an escort and then head back to the farmhouse.
Grey backed out of the driveway and turned onto the road.
“Lazy and dangerous is a wild combination,” she said.
He snorted. “Yeah.”
She put her hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Being your mate is exciting, I’ll give you that.”
He shook his head with a laugh. “Hopefully, the rest of our life together is a lot less exciting .”
“You know something, though?”
“What’s that?”
“I could almost feel you. It’s like when I woke up in that van, and although I didn’t know where I was or who had taken me, I could feel that you were close. Is that because we’re soulmates?”
“I would think so,” he said. “I could feel that you were in the van even though I couldn’t see you.
There are some shifter groups that bite each other, and it solidifies their mating, makes it more permanent, I guess.
But stallions don’t do that. You and I were mated the first time we made love, and that bond between us just gets deeper and stronger as the days go by. ”
“That’s pretty cool. I guess we shouldn’t play hide and seek, huh?”
He grinned at her. “I would definitely find you.”
When they reached the library, she stayed in the car while Grey took the keys and opened the building, giving a quick look around to be sure no one was waiting to ambush them. When all was clear, he waved at Crew and Zara as they left, and she helped him carry in a couple boxes of equipment.
He started at the front door, installing a security camera that was small but powerful, so it would be finished before the library opened for the morning.
By the time Mrs. Fielder came in, Grey was working on a camera for the back door, which was only for emergencies and was kept locked at all times.
“You’re well, dear?” Mrs. Fielder asked as she put her things on the desk and gave Tatum a hug. Pushing her to arm’s length, she hummed as she gave her a once-over.
“I’m fine. How’s your cheek?”
“It’s good. I used ice last night, and an extra glass of wine with dinner, and it’s not bothering me at all.”
Tatum grinned. “An extra glass, huh?”
“To dull the pain, of course. Plus, it’s a very good bottle.” She gave her a long, steady look. “You’re really okay? And safe?”
“I promise I’m okay and safe. Grey is setting up some extra security measures around the library that the patrons won’t even notice. I don’t think we’ll be seeing anyone try this again; Grey and his friends sent a very clear message to stay away.”
“Oh, good. That was pretty scary.”
“It was. I’m sorry you were hurt.”
“No apology needed, I’m just glad you’re fine.”
They went about their morning tasks ahead of the library opening, Tatum catching peeks at Grey as he worked.
By lunchtime, he’d set up everything and they just needed to pick up the pepper gel.
He’d suggested getting one for Mrs. Fielder too, which she thought was a good idea.
Hopefully, they never had to use them, but she’d be ready if she did.
As they drove to the supply store, she said, “We’re still having our mating ceremony on Saturday night?”
“Absolutely, why?”
“Well, because I want to officially be part of the herd, but also because I think the herd could use something good to take their mind off Colton’s crazy behavior.”
“I agree. We usually have a big meal after the ceremony. What would you like to have?”
“I’m so glad you asked,” she said, pulling a book out of her purse.
“I noticed you guys have one of those big griddles, and I found a recipe book for them.” She flipped to the pages she’d marked with sticky notes.
“How about honey barbecue chicken, loaded smashed potatoes, and caramelized peaches for dessert?”
“Holy crap, that sounds good. Hell yes. To all of it.”
She smiled so big her cheeks hurt. “I’ll take pictures of the recipes and send them to Tris and Zara so they can help me plan the meal. Oh, maybe we could make ice cream to go with the peaches too.”
“Sounds perfect, sweetheart. Just like you.”
“Aw, Grey.” She wrinkled her nose as she smiled at him. “You’re pretty damn perfect too.”