Page 70 of Knot Your Problem, Cowboy (Wild Hearts Ranch #1)

The bull changes tactics, crow-hopping in tight, vicious jumps that rattle Ridge like he’s in a paint mixer. For a second, I see his eyes, wide, determined, maybe a little terrified.

“Come on!” Cash shouts beside me.

Four Mississippi.

Apocalypse Now does something that shouldn’t be possible for an animal that size, but he drops his left shoulder while spinning right, a move designed to catch riders off guard.

Ridge lists dangerously to the left, his entire body weight shifted wrong, sliding down the bull’s side. The crowd gasps as one entity.

“No!” The word tears from my throat.

But Ridge does something I’ve only seen in his old videos where he throws his weight in the opposite direction without touching anything for balance, using pure core strength and momentum to right himself. The crowd explodes with relief and amazement.

Five Mississippi.

The bull is furious now, his bucks becoming more violent, more unpredictable. I can see Ridge’s hand slipping on the rope, the wrap loosening with each jarring impact. Sweat flies from both man and beast, catching the arena lights like diamonds.

Walker chants beside me. “Come on, Ridge.”

Six Mississippi.

Apocalypse Now tries to scrape Ridge off against the fence, getting close enough that Ridge has to pull his right leg up high, tucking it against his body. For a terrifying moment, he’s riding completely sideways, all his weight on his left leg and wrapped hand, defying physics and logic.

“I can’t watch,” Meredith says, but she’s peeking through her fingers, all of us unable to look away.

Seven Mississippi.

The bull gives everything he has, a combination of spinning, bucking, and twisting that looks like special effects.

Ridge’s body is held on only by his wrapped hand and sheer determination.

His legs come completely off the bull, his body flag-poling out to the side, and I know, I know , he’s going to fall.

Eight Mississippi.

He made it, held on for eight seconds. I’m so tightly wound that tears are pricking my eyes.

Ridge releases immediately and gets launched like he’s been shot from a gun.

But even in flight, I can see him tucking, preparing.

He hits the dirt on his right side, rolling even as Apocalypse Now’s hooves slam down where he was a heartbeat ago.

The safety riders move fast, roping the bull and leading him out of the arena.

The crowd detonates with cheers and screams that ring in my ears.

Ridge springs to his feet, and he stumbles slightly, throwing both arms up in victory. His face is a mix of disbelief, pain, and pure joy. Dirt covers him from head to toe, sweat has soaked through his shirt, and there’s a cut on his cheek from something, the rope, maybe, or flying dirt.

He looks absolutely beautiful.

Cash lets out a whistle beside me. “Well, I guess Apocalypse Cow didn’t bring the end of days after all.”

I nudge him, chuckling.

Meredith snorts into her drink. “You’ve been sitting on that one, haven’t you?”

“I have more ready if he tries to rematch,” Cash says proudly. “Heifer Reckoning, Udder Destruction.”

We’re all laughing, still half teary, adrenaline and relief tangling in my lungs as Ridge grins up at the stands like he just conquered the world.

Because honestly?

He did.

The crowd is on its feet, the noise powerful. People are hugging strangers, crying, screaming Ridge’s name. Someone starts setting off fireworks even though the sun has barely set.

Ridge is climbing the fence, coming toward us. I’m moving before my brain catches up, pushing past Walker, climbing over some railing, I don’t know, scrambling closer to him.

He vaults over a barrier just as I reach him, and he winces at the impact, his hip definitely screaming, but then I’m in his arms and nothing else matters. My legs wrap around his waist, my hands in his hair, and I’m kissing him while thousands of people lose their minds around us.

“I knew you could do it,” I sob against his mouth, tasting dirt and sweat and victory and him. “I knew it, I knew it, I fucking knew it.”

“Couldn’t disappoint my Omega,” he says against my lips. “Couldn’t let us lose our home.”

His eyes are bright with unshed tears, and there’s a vulnerability there I’ve never seen before—like he can’t quite believe it’s real.

Cash and Walker reach us, and suddenly we’re a tangle of limbs and tears and joy. Group hugs are complicated with four people, but we make it work, all of us crying and laughing and holding each other like we might fly apart if we let go.

“Five hundred thousand,” Walker says, his tone cracking completely. “We did it. We actually fucking did it.”

Cash whoops, lifting me off my feet and spinning me. “We’re free! The ranch is ours!”

“Ladies and gentlemen, with my donation, the final total is five hundred and three thousand dollars! Wild Hearts Ranch is officially saved!” Tom states.

The crowd somehow gets louder. More fireworks go off. Someone starts playing music over the speakers—some country song about home and family that makes me cry harder. Meredith appears with June, and suddenly we’re all hugging and crying and probably looking like complete disasters.

“That was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen,” Meredith tells Ridge. “And I once saw Henry Cavill in person. Oh, and I’m Sophia’s bestie from Chicago. Hi. ”

“Thanks?” Ridge says, holding me like he’s never letting go. And I’m chuckling, hugging her and June.

The crowd roars approval, and someone starts chanting, “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

Walker steals me back, and suddenly I’m between all three of them, right there in front of Montana and thousands of livestream viewers. Let them see. Let them know.

This is my family. My pack. My home.

And we just saved all of it.

Eight seconds that felt like eight years.

Eight seconds that changed everything.

Eight seconds to save everything.

And Ridge Colter, my beautiful, broken, brave Alpha, he delivered.

Cash and Walker were right there too, my protectors, my constants. I don’t know what I did to deserve all three of them, but today, they reminded me exactly what love looks like when it fights back.