Page 8 of His Wild Mate

For now, I was on my own, and I knew that there was going to be no time or opportunity to get out there and meet anyone in the unforeseeable future.

With that in mind, I sat down and got to work.

Emmett

Chapter 3

“Emmett! Emmett!” Cruz came running into my new office screaming.

It had already been a crazy morning, and I wasn't sure how much more I could handle. I just wanted to sit here and eat my lunch in peace, but apparently, that was too much to ask.

My head was starting to pound. First thing this morning before the sun had fully risen, I personally had gone around to every water station and filled it. It was important to me to start things off right for my first day as ranch foreman, and that was something easy enough to handle for now.

“What is it?” I asked him.

“We have a big problem.”

I’d been around long enough to know that ‘big problems’ were rarely as concerning as they made it sound.

“What's going on?”

“Brady was attacked out on the range this morning.”

“What?!”

“They're bringing him in now. He's pretty beat up from what I hear.”

“Shit!” I jumped up and the two of us ran out to meet a small team bringing him in. “It looks like more than just Brady was attacked. Send someone to get Sam quick.”

Will Shay was one of our newest cowboys. He was cut on his leg but in better shape than the rest of his team as he led three horses carrying Brady and the others.

“I'm sorry, Emmett. I tried to stop it. They're pretty bad. There's a lot of blood.”

“You got them back safely, Will. You did great. Let's get them into the bunk house. I already sent for Sam.”

Some of the other guys ran over to help and we got the three men settled as comfortably as possible. I had multiple people putting pressure on the wounds to curb the bleeding before Sam finally arrived.

“What took you so long?” I barked.

“I came as fast as I could. Now move out of the way so I can do my job.” He quickly triaged the other two and deemed their wounds mostly superficial. “Keep some pressure on their wounds. They might require a few stitches, but it's nothing serious.”

Then he turned to Brady and frowned.

“Cruz, get over here and help me.”

Without hesitation, he was by Sam's side doing everything he was ordered.

“If you aren't physically handling a wound, get the hell out of here and give us some space.”

I nodded. “We'll keep you all posted. Back to work.”

Sam looked at me, and I growled. “These men are my responsibility.”

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. If you're sticking around, at least make yourself useful. Now what the hell happened out there?”

“That's what I want to know,” I admitted.

“There's a she-wolf out there. She's in freaking heat. Called us all to her before any of us even realized what was happening. But she might have rabies or something. When we got close, she turned on us. Brady was trying to save Jerron and dumbass over there and took the brunt of her anger. I've never seen anything like it. We're going to have to put that bitch down.”

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