“You didn’t even want the job!”
“Get it together. Both of you.” Trent passed a hand down his face, muttering something about damn fools under his breath. “Let’s go. Seth found some tracks.”
The words dumped cold over his anger and he jerked out of Dash’s grasp. Tracks. Unspecified, not blamed on the bears on the next ranch over, not even a hint of who they belonged to. Simply tracks.
Fuck.
He slashed a look to Lindley, only to see the man look as uneasy as he felt. “Where?”
“You’d know if you weren’t trying to bite each other’s heads off,” Trent growled in response. He fixed them both with a glare, then jerked his chin. “Come on.”
Rhys set his jaw in a tight line and trailed after the others stomping their way around the herd. On the other side, close to the fence but still too fucking deep in the territory to bode well, Trent came to a stop.
The scent of baked earth filled his nose and caught in the back of his throat. He didn’t recognize the individual notes, which was either smart or dumb depending on how he sliced it. Dumb, because while he couldn’t pinpoint the intruders as consortium lions, who else could they be? Smart, because unknown lions hinted at a bigger number than they’d expected.
“Took them long enough,” Dash muttered.
“Eternity would have been better,” Seth answered.
Rhys grunted his agreement. He braced himself for the shove of his inner beast, but none came. The lion paced through his head, paws wearing a path through his mind, but there was more anticipation than rage. A fight was coming. For them, for the pride. For Sage.
For Hannah.
He ground his teeth together. Not for Hannah. Those bastards were dead and buried already. There was a fresh crop of fuckers deserving his rage.
Sharp fury rolled through Trent’s scent as he glared at the tracks. His eyes flashed bright gold as he dug his phone out of his pocket, then shot off a quick message.
“Let’s go,” he said in a voice thick with his inner lion. “The mates should be together by the time we get back.”
Chapter 8
Sage sat on her hands to keep from running her fingers over her scar. She hardly dared to take a breath. She wanted time to freeze, but the seconds kept pressing forward without her consent.
She had a sinking feeling about what was coming. Hailey had been bright and happy while starting preparations for a pride dinner. In the space it took to read a new text, everything changed. Her smile disappeared. Her scent soured with worry. The hand she rested over her baby bump even seemed more protective somehow.
Then the others started filtering in. Kyla still wore her uniform from the diner. Colette took the time to wash her hands, but missed the smudge of dirt on her cheek. Lilah kept smoothing her skirt that didn’t show any wrinkles.
No one spoke in the heavy, oppressive silence. Lips thinned as the minutes piled up and they waited for the Crowley males to bring the news.
Trent was first through the door, hat slung low over his eyes as agitation rolled off his frame. Not even Hailey’s tense smile eased the strain he carried in his stiff shoulders.
Lindley entered right on his heels. Her brother’s eyes went to Kyla, then her, and Sage felt a bittersweet pang in her heart. She wished they’d never come looking for her. They deserved their happiness, not the trouble that wouldn’t let her go.
Dash and Seth were next. Half-brothers, they looked almost like twins as they crossed to their mates to give them each a reassuring kiss, then folded their arms over their chests and glared into the middle distance.
Sage let go of a breath she hadn’t realized she held the moment Rhys walked through the door. He swept a silver-eyed look around the den, stiffened when he met her eyes, then shut the door behind him. He didn’t take another step inside. Instead, he leaned right against the exit.
“We found tracks,” Trent said, straightening and pulling his hand away from Hailey’s stomach. Bright gold glinted in his eyes. “Lions, neither recognizable.”
The air seemed to rush from the room, and Sage was glad she was already sitting. Expecting the news and hearing the words weren’t anywhere close to the same. Shock made the room spin and her inner cat cower. Mouths moved, but none of the words penetrated her brain. The anger, that she felt. Her skin prickled with discomfort as more and more of it filled the room.
It was rightfully theirs. How many times had they been touched by war? She shared the sting of familial betrayal with Trent and Lindley. Kyla knew how it felt to have her life stripped away. Hailey and Lilah both brushed against death. They’d survived once already, but the threats never really vanished, not even when they were doing their best to rebuild their lives.
Skies above, she wished she could be as strong as them.
Across the room, she met silver eyes. This time, they didn’t turn away.
“Cowards,” Lindley muttered.
Her brother’s voice cut through whatever hold Rhys had on her. She blinked, then sent her gaze to her toes.
“Here’s the plan,” Trent announced. His eyes flashed with his inner lion. “I’ve already called in the bears. Between us and the Ashfords, we should have enough eyes to keep anyone from sneaking up on us.” He scrubbed a hand down his face. “Fuck me, I feel like we run patrols more than this fucking ranch.”
“Fuck it, let ‘em come,” Dash drawled. “We’ve kicked their asses before. If they’re that desperate for a reminder, we’ll give it to them.”
On either side of him, Colette and Seth nodded.
Trent swept a warning look around the room before the pride worked themselves up into another rowdy explosion. “For now, I want everyone to stick close to the dens. If you need to leave, someone goes with you. I don’t want anyone jumped because
