Page 97 of Blue Norther
I stood, my hand landing on his shoulder. “You are not broken. This is part of healing. You’ve done everything possible to get your leg healed. Now it’s time to heal from everything that injury took from you.”
I didn’t ask, or wait for him to be ready. I simply wrapped my arms around my brother’s shoulders and squeezed. My favorite thing about being the oldest was the way my siblings looked up to me. It had always been an honor to watch the way they would follow me around, emulating the way I did things. My heart fucking shattered knowing I’d let Lachlan down. I had been so wrapped up in my own life that I wasn’t able to see how desperate of a situation things had become.
Lach pulled back from our embrace, clearing his throat and turning away from me to wipe his eyes. Fuck, I needed to wipe mine, too.
I sat back at the table, opening the message waiting for me.
Beau:
There’s something weird about this Ryan guy. You need to get back here. Now.
Fuck. He’d sent that message ten minutes ago. I jumped up from the table, sending my cup of coffee crashing to the ground. Lachlan cursed behind me, but I was out the front door before he even had a chance to ask what was happening.
As soon as I sat in my truck, the alarm chimed on my phone. Violet had armed the security system with the alternate code.
Something was wrong.
Violet
“We’re almost to the barn, Callie. We’ll get inside and I can figure out what’s next. You won’t be so cold if I can get you inside.” Ryan’s hand grasped painfully around my wrist. Thank God he hadn’t wanted to take Connor with us. The temperature outside was dropping alarmingly fast, wind whipping small droplets of rain against me so harshly it felt like my skin was being sliced open.
Beau needed to be okay. He needed to wake up.
And even if he didn’t wake up—Lord, the thought made my stomach heave—Colt would be rushing back. I’d used the silent alarm code at the house.
The wind kicked up, light rain turning heavier as we walked on the edge of the woods towards the barn. Ryan clearly didn’t want to be seen, but I was still holding onto hope that someone would be securing something on the ranch. Maybe Danny or one of the ranch hands would be checking on the horses? Jessie might be taking in clothes off her clothes line. Someone, anyone, that I could signal to get help.
My incision pulled tightly as Ryan jerked me closer to him.
“I don’t understand.” My voice wavered, and I wanted to scream. The last thing I wanted was to be weak. Becauseweakness was just going to slow me down. But the bitter cold from the storm front and the adrenaline dumping into my bloodstream were making my body shake. Physically, Iwasweak.
And then I saw it. Colt’s truck racing across the far field. The one that led from our house to Lachlan’s. He’d gotten the alert. Connor would be okay.
“Inside. Now.” Ryan shoved me into the barn, tracking Colt’s vehicle over my shoulder. My eyes frantically searched the building, but there was no movement. The rain crashed harder, somehow feeling more harsh hearing its echoes on the roof than it had slamming into my skin outside.
Ryan paced in front of me, looking over the items on the table to our right.
“This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go,” he mumbled to himself, his hands combing through his hair.
“Can you take a minute just to explain what’s happening right now?” I asked.
“We don’t have a minute! I need to get you there. To the house. Yes, the house. I wasn’t supposed to be in there before, but I couldn’t wait. I had to be near you. I had to smell you. I needed that release so badly, Cal. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I should have waited for the right time. That’s now. That’s right now.”
“Ryan, you need to slow down. None of this makes sense?!”
“He was trying to take you from me. And he can’t. He can’t have you.” Ryan’s hand touched my cheek, and I recoiled back. He shook his head, little droplets of water spraying down as he ran his fingers through his hair. “I knew what you were doing from that very first novel. You were writing to me. Hiding messages in your story line that only I could see. I loved it. Our own little game. I was so nervous to reach out to you that firsttime. But then you were excited to hear from me, and it gave me a whole new purpose. We’d work together to build the life we were meant to have together.”
“I…I don’t understand. I didn’t write you messages in my books.”
“You DID!” His eyes were wild. I shrank back, wishing like hell the Fords kept their branding irons on the wall behind me. But there was nothing. Nothing to reach for. Nothing to grab. No one to call out to for help. “It was so clear that you were Arianna, and I was always meant to be your Alexander.”
Shit. Shit. Shit.Shit. Colt was right. This was some delusion spurred on by my stories. Ryan reached out to me afterA Thousand Starless Nightswas published, and that’s how we connected.
God, I was so stupid. How could I let this happen? He’d been in my life, plotting this for five years? Thinking I was writing love stories for him when they were my soul calling out to Colt…
“Okay, okay,” I replied, holding out my hands. “You’re right. I’m so glad you found those messages.”
I felt repulsed by the words I was saying, but calming Ryan down was my first priority.
