Page 78 of Scent to the Feral Cowboys

"Wyatt!" I bellowed, voice carrying across the yard. "Wade! Levi! Boone!"

No answer. The ranch was unusually quiet.

I took off at a run towards the stables. The life-changing note was still clutched in my hand, wrinkling from my tight grip.

"Guys! Someone! Anyone!”

The rumble of a vehicle made me stumble to a stop. I turned, seeing one of our trucks slowly coming down the driveway. Wyatt. Taking his time. Going slow as molasses. I ran back the way I’d come, moving so fast that I got to the truck just as Wyatt parked. I slammed the note against the driver’s window as he cut the engine. He peered at it, gaze bloodshot.

“Why the hell are you keeping me from getting out of the truck?” he finally asked, clearly annoyed, clearly hungover, clearly not understand the monumental meaning of the slip of paper.

I dropped my hand from the glass, yanked the truck’s door open, and I thrust the note at him. Words tumbled out faster than I could organize them. "It's happening. It's real. She's real. Our Omega. They found her. In Seattle. Female. The basket came. Different this time. Omega things. She's real, Wyatt. She's fucking real!"

He said nothing at first, taking the card and reading it carefully, his expression neutral.

Finally, he got out of the truck, pushing past me in a daze.

I followed behind, confused at his reaction.

But then he stumbled a little to the right.

A little to the left.

And fell to his knees.

I rushed forward but didn’t touch him. This was Wyatt. Wyatt never broke down.

“She’s real,” he whispered. “Goddammit, she’s real.”

I watched my pack brother as he leaned over and pressed one palm flat against Sagebrush’s land. He pressed the precious note to his heart with his other hand. Finally, heartbreaking sobs of relief began shaking his large body.

From out of nowhere, Wade appeared, dropping to the ground next to his twin and wrapping an arm around him. Wyatt instinctively leaned into his brother’s body. I hadn’t seen them like this since they were kids. I had to hug myself to fight back my own need to cry.

Levi arrived next, walking slowly and wincing a bit. I glanced down, seeing he was barefoot. I slipped off the galoshes and stepped aside. He stepped into them. We didn’t say anything. It was Boone that brought Wyatt back from the brink. He whirredup in the UTV, a cloud of worry around him, and he’d said, ‘who do I need to kill?’

“No one,” Wyatt replied before I could, his voice raspy.

“What the hell happened then?” Boone pressed, getting out of the utility vehicle.

After Wade helped him stand, Wyatt wordlessly handed the crumpled note to his twin. Wade read it out loud. I watched as my other pack brothers absorbed the news. I watched as months and months of worry washed away.

Hope was the most beautiful thing in the world.

Hope had brought us to this moment.

20

NELLY

One day ago…

[Almost present day]

Club Midnight, Seattle’s Central District

Condensation from the half-finished iced mocha, slipped down my skin as I strolled toward Club Midnight. God, I was tired, and my day was far from over.

I’d spent part of the morning on the phone with Serenity House. Grandmother was physically well, but her outbursts were becoming more frequent. She wasn’t buying the lies about Grandpa as easily either. The worst part about the whole situation, was I couldn’t do anything to help. Even if I immediately drove to Tacoma to see her, to comfort her, Grandmother wouldn’t know me. I’d be just another stranger trying to feed her falsehoods. I shook off the pain as I got closer to the building, pulling the strap of my small duffel bag higher on my shoulder.