Page 6 of Grey (Little River Stallions #2)

Colton was bitter.

Hell, maybe he’d been born that way, but he sure couldn’t seem to catch a damn break since he’d come to New Jersey.

It shouldn’t have been so difficult to take out the leaders of the small herd in Little River, but he’d been stopped on every front so far.

Which meant he needed to try another tactic.

After needing to abandon their campsite, they’d settled in an abandoned hunting cabin, which wasn’t really big enough for the five of them, but it would do for the time being. Particularly since he didn’t plan to be in it very long.

Clapping his hands together, he turned and walked inside.

“Asher, you’re on patrol,” he said.

“Damn it, why can’t Weston patrol?”

“I’m cooking dinner, you jackass.”

Colton mentally rolled his eyes at his younger brother, who often got in trouble with his mouthy nature.

Weston assumed that Colton would always protect him and keep the others from doing too much harm, but perhaps what his brother needed was a little reality check from the partially unstable Asher.

Deciding the cabin was too small for an all-out brawl, he took a menacing step toward Asher, who grimaced and then stormed from the cabin.

“Don’t look so smug,” Colton told his brother.

“One of these days, Asher is going to go off on you and I won’t be around.

Now, I’ve got some ideas on how to escalate things at the farm.

We need to go after what makes their farm run well—supplies like the animal feed and food.

” Levi had been scouting the farm and keeping an eye on things, and they’d also managed to plant some tiny cameras in the main areas, so they were getting an idea of what the Little River Herd’s routine was like.

“I think the biggest weak spot,” Levi said, “is when they go to town. Even though they don’t go alone anywhere, there’s usually only one vehicle with two males in it.”

Colton nodded and opened his laptop, making out a plan to put more pressure on the herd. They thought security cameras and patrols would scare him off?

They had no idea who they were dealing with.

“We’ll keep watching them,” he said. “They’ll reveal their weaknesses and we’ll be there to exploit them.”

Zara had openly defied him, choosing a stranger over her herd and making it known that she sided with them. There were things that Colton could let go and things he could not, and Zara’s behavior was not going to stand.

Imagine how simple it would have been if he’d just been able to take over the farm and push Crew and his males out?

Then they’d have a working farm to call home and not be living in a dust-covered, ancient hunting cabin that didn’t even have electricity.

If it weren’t for the small generator that kept his laptop and their phones powered, they’d be screwed.

“The farm will be ours, gentlemen,” he said as he finished his plans to take over. “We just have to bide our time. It won’t be long, though. Crew and his herd won’t know what hit them.”

Colton wasn’t the villain here. If Crew had just taken his people and left when he had the chance, they wouldn’t be in danger.

Crew and Zara’s days were numbered, and soon enough, the Little River Herd and their farm would belong to him.

Monday dragged for Grey. All he could think about was seeing Tatum again, and all he could do was watch the clock. He swore time was either standing still or moving backward as the day wore on.

He looked at his watch and let out a frustrated grunt.

“What’s wrong?” Zara asked from the garden where she was harvesting peppers, tomatoes, and onions.

“The animal feed delivery is late.”

“Are you sure you’re not just annoyed at how slow the day is going?”

He grinned. “I can’t help it if I’m excited to see Tatum again.”

“When can we meet her?”

“I don’t know,” he said. He turned and faced his alpha female. “She’s not shy, but she’s definitely keeping back part of herself. She told me she lost her mom as a teenager, but she changed the subject when I asked about her dad.”

Zara stood and picked up her filled bucket. “Might be too raw to share, you know? Until she gets to know you better.”

“That’s what I’m thinking,” he said. “I can’t exactly hold the high ground here since I can’t share everything with her yet either.”

“Keeping the secret from your soulmate would be hard as hell. I’m glad I didn’t have to do that with Crew.”

“It would be handy if she was a shifter just so I didn’t have to keep the truth from her, but I don’t care that she can’t shift.” He wondered how long it would take for them to fall in love. His stallion was crazy about her already and they’d only spent a few hours together.

He pulled his phone from his pocket and called the feed store.

“Hey, Lonny,” he said, “it’s Grey at the Little River Farm. Our delivery is late—is something going on?”

“Oh hey, Grey, I was just about to call you. Sorry, but some kids slashed the tires on our delivery truck and your order is too big to fit in my car. The garage is coming over in a little bit with tires, but I won’t be able to get out to your farm until later this afternoon.”

“I can come into town and grab the order,” he said. “But are you sure it’s kids who did it?”

“Yeah, who else? Kids are always up to no good in the summer since there’s not a damn thing to do in Little River so they look for trouble.”

Slashing the tires of a feed store’s delivery vehicle seemed like more than kids looking for something to do in the summer.

“I’ll be by in a half hour.”

“Sure, sure. See ya, Grey.”

The call ended and he said, “Do you know where Crew is?”

“Still sleeping, I think. I wanted to get the harvesting done before the sun gets too hot. I can go wake him up for you.”

“Nah, it’s fine, I’ll talk to him later. I’m going to grab Ford and head to the supply store. Avi’s on patrol, but keep your head on a swivel.”

“I will,” she said.

He walked into the vehicle storage barn where Ford was working on an old tractor they’d bought at auction. He told him what happened at the feed store. Ford wiped his hands on a shop towel and said, “You think Colton slashed the tires?”

“Or one of his people.”

“For what purpose? We don’t own the feed store.”

“But it messed with our delivery. If we didn’t just use the feed store to supplement what we grow ourselves, it could have caused an issue with the livestock.”

Ford hummed. “True.” He stared into space for a moment with a frown, then said, “What if this is them trying to spread us thin again?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, when they set the barn on fire, we all had to focus on putting it out and Zara got the livestock out of harm’s way, and that’s how she got separated from us and almost got taken.

If Crew hadn’t realized what was happening, she might have been abducted and who the hell knows what would have happened. ”

“Shit, you’re right.”

“It happens,” he said dryly.

“No, I mean what if the point of the sabotage of the delivery truck was to get two of us away from the farm? Crew is asleep and Avi is on patrol, and with Dexter and Khyle on a construction job, Zara and Tris would be vulnerable.”

Ford grunted. “Sounds like something that asshole Colton would plan.”

“Damn, I have a date with Tatum tonight.”

“Look, we just won’t go to town for the delivery. They’ll get their tires fixed. Call Lonny back and tell him you won’t be there to pick it up and they can get it delivered whenever they can.”

“Okay, but what about my date?”

“We always go in one vehicle, but you obviously don’t want one of us sitting in the truck while you’re on a date, so we’ll go in separate vehicles. One of us can follow you, and we’ll be an extra pair of eyes for you.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” he said.

He left Ford in the barn, called Lonny with an update, and then went back to his chores. He’d talk to Crew when he woke up and they’d make plans for his date tonight. He had an idea for something lowkey but fun, and he hoped Tatum would be excited by it.

By the time five o’clock rolled around, Grey was so ready to see Tatum he was a bouncing ball of energy.

He drove to the library, followed by Avi in his truck, who was going to keep an eye on things but generally stay out of sight.

When Grey had talked to Crew later that morning, he’d agreed that there was something sinister about the slashed tires and being more cautious was a good idea.

It was times like these that Grey wished they had more herd members, but that was something that would just take time. Stallions were secretive and kept to their own herds, so it wasn’t like they could go recruiting members publicly.

He parked in the library lot and turned off the engine. As he got out of his truck, he gave a head nod to Avi who was parked across the street.

Grey knocked on the glass door of the library and Tatum smiled as she walked up to open the door for him.

“Hi, how was your day?” she asked.

“I feel like it took forever to get to five o’clock, but it was good. Yours?”

“Pretty quiet here. I just have to grab my purse and I’ll be ready to go.”

He stayed in the foyer of the library and looked around. It smelled like old books and papers, and he found it comforting. He’d never spent much time in the library, but he could see why she liked it.

“It’s very peaceful here,” he said as they walked out of the library and she locked the front doors.

“It’s why I love being a librarian.”

“I had an idea if you’re game,” he said as they stood on the sidewalk in the late afternoon sun.

“What’s that?”

“Have you been to the mini-mart? They have really great sandwiches. And then I thought we could eat in the park.”

“I haven’t been to the mini-mart or the park, so that sounds good to me.”

They headed down the sidewalk toward the mini-mart, where they each ordered a picnic box with a made-to-order sandwich, a bag of chips, an apple, and a drink. When they had their cardboard meal boxes, they walked a little farther down the road to the park.

“So,” he said as they walked into the park, “do you know about the fountain?”

“No, what about it?”

They set their boxes on a picnic table and walked to the centerpiece of the park—an ornately carved old stone fountain. It had intricate designs of vines and flowers, and the local legend was that a traveler had gifted the fountain to the town a century ago.

“The traveler’s name isn’t known any longer, but they say he told the townspeople that the fountain’s waters were enchanted, and anyone who made a heartfelt wish would find it granted. But only if their intentions were pure.”

She looked at the fountain, which bubbled and babbled in the sunlight, and then looked at him. “Did you…just know this?”

“I looked it up,” he said. “I was thinking about coming here for dinner since it’s such a beautiful day, and I remembered that the fountain had a legend associated with it. And of course, you told me how much you enjoyed learning about local legends, so I wanted to be able to share it with you.”

Her mouth fell open. “You researched the fountain? For me?”

“Sure,” he said. “It was actually a lot more interesting than I remembered the story being when the owner of the feed store told me about it. He said that if I tossed a coin in the fountain, I’d get a wish granted but only if it was something that wasn’t super selfish.

His wife told me that selfish wishes tend to turn on the wisher because the fountain doesn’t like them. ”

He realized she was staring at him like he’d sprouted a second head.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I just, I’m just so surprised that you looked into a local legend for me. I’ve never had someone do something so sweet for me. It’s surprising.”

“I think it’s pretty cool that you like local legends. I never gave it much thought, but after you told me about the Ghost of Little River and then now that I read up on the fountain in the park, I think this town is pretty interesting. I wonder if there are more legends.”

“There are,” she said, her eyes brightening with excitement.

“Then let’s eat and chat, and you can tell me what you know.”

“You really want to hear about them?” she asked, her voice filled with awe.

“Absolutely. But first, let’s make a wish.” He reached into his pocket, pulled out two quarters, and handed her one.

She smiled at him. “Grey, you’re really very sweet.”

“I think you’re pretty sweet too.”

They both stepped close to the fountain and went silent for a moment, and then they flicked their coins into the water.

“Are you supposed to keep wishes a secret like birthday wishes?” he asked as they sat down at the picnic table and opened their meal boxes.

“It’s probably better to err on the side of caution and keep it to ourselves.”

“Well, my wish is already coming true,” he said. “But I’ll keep it to myself.”

She smiled at him, her eyes crinkling at the corners, and took a bite out of her sandwich. “So let me tell you about the legend of the Bells of Little River…”