Page 165 of Scent to the Feral Cowboys

"Regarding your inquiry about potential termination of Contract #GF78902: The Eros Institute confirms that mutual breaking of the contract is indeed possible if all parties—the Alpha clients and the Omega product—agree to dissolution. Please note that terminating voluntarily does not cancel the Non-Disclosure Agreements previously signed by all parties. Additionally, as per Section 7.3 of your contract, no refunds will be issued at termination. Exceptions to these rules are as follows: cases of Eros negligence and product dissatisfaction. Should you wish to proceed with elective termination, all parties must sign Form E-117, provided upon request."

I read it three times, just to be sure I understood. My phone felt heavier in my hand, weighted down by the grief I was already feeling.

“We needed more time,” I muttered to myself, slipping my phone into my pocket. “How the hell am I going to tell the guys?”

I needed some air; I was suddenly suffocating inside the house.

Morning sunlight spilled across the yard, when I pushed outside. I gazed around Sagebrush, wondering why everything looked just a little different these days. Nelly. Nelly was why the sky was bluer, the day was warmer, the sun was brighter.She’d breathed new life into the ranch, and into me and my pack brothers.

Walking forward, I leaned against one of the roof’s support posts.

Things were coming together.

Our dream home was nearly done. The gleaming line of hothouses would soon be filled with seedlings. We’d decided to use the original homestead land as planting fields, inspired by Nelly’s love of that old, ramshackle barn. Ghost had assimilated with the other horses like she’d been part of the ranch from birth. And things just felt right. So right, that I couldn’t imagine them ever being wrong again.

Nelly's presence had changed us all. And now I had the power to set her free.

I pulled the phone back out and read the email again.

"Mutual breaking of the contract," I read out loud.

The words sat heavy in my gut. We could let her go. She could leave. It was the least we could do, and less than she deserved. Freedom from a contract she never really asked for was only a few signatures away.

But Christ, I didn't want her to go.

Footsteps crunched on gravel. I blinked over in that direction, finding Levi’s face. he carried an empty bottle of leather polish. After I glanced down at it, he held it up fractionally and explained. “Couldn’t remember the brand.”

“Gotcha,” I answered, looking away from him to stare down the driveway.

A vision of Nelly limping over the gravel, Tripp and Tater by her side, bloomed in my head. She’d wanted so badly to leave that night, she’d risked physical danger.

“What’s wrong?” Levi, always so perceptive, came to stand directly in front of me. He blocked out the road, which quelled the memories.

I handed him my phone without a word. He read quickly, his expression darkening.

"So, we can break it," he said finally. "If everyone agrees."

"Yeah."

"Including Nelly?” he clarified.

“Yeah,” I nodded, staring out at the land we'd built together. "We’ve got to tell her. She has the right to know she can walk away. I just don’t think I can do it."

Levi handed the phone back. "You know what she'll choose, don't you?"

“We all know what she’ll choose, Levi. Maybe it would be different if the email came weeks from now, or months. It’s just too soon. We didn’t get the chance to really show her how amazing her life could be here. And now…” My voice died, the words no longer existed in my mouth.

“Now we’ll never get the chance,” he finished for me.

Fuck, I wish he hadn’t. Those words hurt like stabs from a rusty, dull knife.

"When do you plan to tell them?”

I didn’t know if the ‘them’ Levi referred to was just our pack brothers, or Nelly too. My answer would be different depending on the distinction.

I pushed off from the post, squaring my shoulders. "Better to get it over with. Where's everyone?" My ‘everyone’ didn’t include Nelly.

“Went into town,” Levi answered, shrugging. “Wyatt never got that shipment from the leather guy, and Boone was grabbing the heritage seeds you guys ordered at the same time. I can’t believe you guys are planting more sugar beet varieties. I feel like the fifteen your already cultivating is gross plenty. Not sure why Wade went. Maybe just needed a break from the ranch.”