Page 76 of Barbed Wire Hearts

“William Shakespurr would never,” I reply with a shake of my head. “Besides, you don’t just throw two strange animals together. It’s why I’ve been slowly letting them acclimate to each other’s presence.”

“That’s what we do with the cattle dogs,” Dakota shrugs. “Just put ‘em together.”

“Because you know their temperaments,” I argue. “You know none of them will react badly. Willima here has just been giving Fuzz space, which is a good sign. He’ll figure it out at some point.”

The day goes by without any issues. There are no river incidents, thankfully, and things seem to be going as expected. When we finish up the five miles for the day, everyone turns to their usual patterns and prepares for the night. Few prepare to spend the night like we do. Most of them prepare to head home for the evening as they do every night. It isn’t until Naomi comes up with dinner that I realize there’s someone I don’t recognize among the rush of people.

We’re close to the highway tonight, the path taking us closer to the road for the evening. It should have been fine. We haven’t had any issues at all with it and it makes it easier for the camper and everything to be brought in. But tonight, there’s a man trailing through the large group of people.

He’s massive, like he lifts weights a lot. He isn’t dressed in jeans and a cowboy hat like the majority of people around. Instead, he’s dressed in all black. Black slacks, black button down with the sleeves rolled up.

“Who’s that?” I ask Wiley as he helps the ranch hands load the horses up for the night. They’ll get to go home, and rest and we’ll be switching them out with our original horses tomorrow. That way none of them get too tired. I’m excited for Maple to come back.

Wiley frowns and looks in the same direction. “I ain’t seen him before.”

The man looks around and when his gaze passes over us, I stiffen. His eyes find me and lock on. When he heads in our direction, I take a hesitant step back, my intuition telling me that this isn’t good.

Levi appears behind me a second later and when he realizes I’m tense, he frowns and looks down at me and then follows my gaze. He immediately pushes me behind him, blocking me from view but allowing me to look out from around him. Levi whistles and Dakota is there a second later, standing beside Wiley, looking at ease despite his hand resting on the grip of his gun.

Only when he gets close do I notice the crow tattoo on his wrist. I shrink a little further behind Levi.

His eyes take in the three men standing in front of me and then focus back on me, clearly not intimidated by their stern faces. I swear I even hear Levi growl.

“Hello, Kate,” the stranger announces with a smile. “We’ve been looking for you.”

“I suggest you go look somewhere else,” Dakota warns, his voice hard steel. “You ain’t got no business here.”

“I do, actually,” the man replies, unperturbed when Dakota pulls his gun and holds it loosely at his side. “But I’m only the messenger. I’m not here to manage cargo.”

Levi stiffens and bares his teeth like an animal. “She’s not cargo.”

The man dismisses him and focuses on me instead. “You’ve put on a good show, Kate, but it’s time to come home now.”

“I am home,” I announce, my voice meeker than I’d like. I don’t see anyone else with him, but I can’t be too sure there aren’t others hiding and waiting. If they get ahold of me, there’s plenty of people here to help, which tells me he’s probably telling the truth that he’s the messenger. They’ll try and grab me with the least amount of effort possible first.

His eyes crinkle at my response. “He won’t take kindly to a no after you’ve put him through so many months of searching. You come with me now, we won’t make any trouble here.”

“Fuck off,” Wiley growls. “She’s not going with you, Han Swolo.”

I blink. The guy does kind of look like a muscular Han Solo. Weird.

The guy smiles wider. “Can’t say I didn’t warn you. I’ll let the boss know you declined the offer.” He holds up his wrist. “The Crow always flies north.”

And then he leaves just as he said he would. He’s not here for cargo. He’s here to deliver the message.

I stare after him, my heart beating loudly in my ears. “That’s not good,” I whisper, looking up at Dakota.

He wears a matching frown to the others, his expression tight. “No, it’s not,” he says slowly, and that tells me all I need to know.

I need to be worried. I need to be very fucking worried.

ChapterForty-Seven

Kate

Without missing a beat, Dakota sends for more guns and supplies. He starts barking orders immediately, letting our ranch know that we’re at a higher risk now. I don’t know why I assumed they couldn’t mess with us out here. Maybe the cattle drive mood has lulled me into this false sense of security? Either way, there’ll be no more blissfully going along without a care. That’s gone now.

Dakota moves our camp further away from the road and makes sure that I’m protected in my tent behind the side-by-side. No one can get a good view of me from the road, not unless I’m standing out in the open. Which Dakota tells me I need to be more careful about now.

---