Page 131 of The Cowboy’s Intriguing Love

“I am,” Ty hurried after them.

“And me,” Kolby was close on his heels.

Ty looked back; he found it hard to believe that Alma wasn’t coming. Davin was right behind Kolby, but Alma and Cash stood side by side watching them go.

He met Alma’s gaze, and she nodded. When he looked at Cash, he gave him a grim smile.

“Shit!” said Kolby. “If that bastard’s still out here, he’s not going to be around to see the sunset. Not with those two after him.”

“No.” Ty looked over at Davin. “You good with that?”

“I am. I love her for who she is – and that’s who she is. I told her not so long ago that she has to remember she’s back in the civilian world now. The moment we heard about Shay, we promised each other that we’d forget that detail for a while.”

Ty turned when Echo started to bark as she bounded up the trail. Lucky was right behind her, and Ty, Kolby, and Davin soon caught up. They must have jogged for half a mile before Echotook a hard left and disappeared into the trees. She slowed as she made her way into the dense forest.

After a while they came to a small clearing, and Echo came to a halt and sat down, looking up at Lucky and whining.

“What is it?” Ty asked.

Lucky shook his head. “I’d guess that they stopped here for a while.”

Echo barked as if to confirm his words.

“Where did they go, lady?” Lucky asked.

Echo ran to one side of the clearing and barked. Lucky followed her, but she turned around and came back. Putting her nose to the ground, she ran around in circles before taking off in the opposite direction.

“Which way is it?” Kolby asked, sounding frustrated. “This way or that way?”

Echo came back and to Ty’s surprise, this time she took his finger in her teeth and started tugging him to go with her.

He let her lead him, but stopped when he realized that she was leading him downhill. He looked at Lucky.

“This doesn’t make sense. Why would he take her back down when he knew we were out here looking for them?”

“Maybe he left her,” Davin suggested. “Maybe he took off and Shay’s the one who’s heading back down.”

Ty’s hopes soared.

Davin met his gaze. “You and Lucky go with Echo. Kolby and I can head in the other direction. It’s not that I don’t trust Echo,” he told Lucky, “but if they went in different directions, we might just be able to catch up with him.”

Kolby met Ty’s gaze, and he nodded. He wanted his brother with him, but he needed Lucky.

~ ~ ~

Shayna felt as though she’d been drifting in and out for hours – it might have been days; she had no idea. She didn’t have a watch – she wished that she’d accepted little Mateo’s offer to lend her his.

She’d been trying to keep going. She knew she’d rolled a few times, but when she looked back, she could still see the tree where she’d been when she woke up this morning. Then again maybe it wasn’t the same tree – they all looked the same.

She blew out a big sigh. She hadn’t even managed to find a tree to lean against after her last roll. It was too hard to sit up. She lay there amongst the twigs and pine needles. She knew she had to keep going, but her head hurt so much, and every time she rolled, she knew she was doing more damage to her arm – it had to be broken.

She closed her eyes when another wave of nausea hit her; she really didn’t want to throw up. She focused on her breath, forcing herself to follow it slowly in and out. Her mind drifted away. She could see Ty’s face; he was smiling at her. He was so gorgeous! Then she saw Alexis and Davin and Booker – her family, she missed them. Then she saw her mom and dad – her real family. They weren’t smiling.

Her dad put his hands on his hips.“Don’t you think about quitting, Shayna Marley Rose. I didn’t raise you to be a quitter.”

Hot tears stung her cheeks. “You quit on me, Dad,” she whispered.

Then her mom’s voice came – sounding as though she were right there.“He didn’t quit on us, Shay. It was his time to go. And I left you when my time came. But it’s not your time yet. You have a whole life ahead of you with your Tyler. And just like everything else – you’re going to have to work for it. You pull yourself together and get back to rolling, you can do it, baby girl.”

---