Page 10 of Talk About… Rivalry

She could easily bite me and I was ready to yank it away if I needed to.

My lungs burned from lack of oxygen but I didn’t even take a breath as I watched her lean her head down and carefully, but gently, remove the apple from my hand. The moment it was clutched in her teeth, she ran off, chewing it from across the yard.

I sucked in a shaky breath, my head swimming from lack of oxygen and I swayed slightly on my feet as I watched her. A startled laugh escaped me and I shook my head as I wiped my hand on my worn jeans and stepped back.

The breeze ruffled the pages of my sketchbook and stirred my hair around my shoulders. I sucked in a deep lungful, the familiar scent of mountain air and the ranch soothing the anxiety all at once.

As much as I said I hated it, I truly did love this place. It was home.

“Who is this?” Uncle Dale’s voice had me whipping around, jaw dropping in horror as he flipped to the next page, eyebrowsrising as he looked down at the new face on the page. “Or they, rather.”

I moved so fast he let out a startled sound, then barked out a laugh as I clutched it to my chest.

“No one,” I said, my voice intense enough he raised an eyebrow.

“Sure, girl, that’s believable,” he snorted before letting it drop. He nodded at the horse behind me and stepped closer to the fence, which also meant, the horse stepped further away. “How is she doing?”

“She took an apple from my hand today then ran away to eat it,” I said with a shrug. “I have a feeling she’s going to take time.”

“And I have a feeling this is going to be your horse, Sidney,” he said. “She had a pretty bad life and needs someone she can trust. She won’t be any good for riding.”

On that we could both agree. For now at least. What this horse deserved was a quiet life in a place like this, but my uncle and dad didn’t just keep horses around for no reason. They boarded them or rode them, and she wouldn’t be used for either.

I glanced at Uncle Dale. “What happens if she can’t be used for lessons then?”

He shot me a look that said I knew the answer. “Then we sell her after she’s calmed down some.”

My stomach churned at the thought but he wasn’t finished.

“Unless someone claims her.” He tapped his hand on the fence before pulling a rolled packet of papers from his back pocket. “Thought you might want to know more about Queen of the Void, here. This is everything they gave me.”

Uncle Dale walked away as I glanced down at the papers in my hand. He hadn’t gotten far when I called after him, not ready to let this go.

“Did you buy her just to keep me here?”

He laughed. “Sid, there’s no keeping a girl like you. We all know you’re destined to leave this ranch one day. Just don’t go far, you’ll still have family here, and probably a horse that depends on you.”

It wasn’t the first time my uncle and I had talked about my future. They owned this ranch, loved it, but I never took the interest they wanted me to. The issue was that they were both getting up there in age, and while the ranch hands kept things running, we all knew that it would one day be passed on to me.

The thought of selling this place rubbed me the wrong way, but that would be many years down the road. Maybe it wouldn’t just be a decision I handled, but one we faced as a pack.

Maybe.

It was all just wishful thinking at this point.

Sitting back down on the grass, I started flipping through Queenie’s papers. My heart broke at the notes that she was taken from her original owners and rehabilitated for sale. The list of possible abuse made me so angry the paper crinkled under my grip.

How could anyone hurt them like that?

“Don’t worry, Queenie,” I said, glancing up at her. She turned my way and her ears flicked as if she were listening. “You won’t suffer here, I can promise you that. Never again, sweet girl.”

She stamped one foot but it was half-hearted at best. A tear slipped down my cheek but I just wiped it away before collecting my things. I’d sat here long enough tonight, and she’d already been fed and my uncle could handle things from here.

I needed a break.

Of course, my father had never been able to read when I was on the edge and called me over the moment I was within his sights.

“Sidney!” he shouted. “I need you to run up to the house for me. Got something I need from the attic.”

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