Page 81 of Secret Heart
Now I blush. Beau only sighs.
“Well, I guess that’s a worthwhile reason to be on her shit list. Not taking back any of those. With either of them.”
The calf goes running into the pasture past Jake. Ethan holds up his hand with the now-empty syringe.
“Just stop,” he groans. “I donotwant to know about any of them, especially the ones involving my sister.”
Kyle laughs now, too, even as I grin and snag the calf that’s next, keeping him still while Jake brands the inside of its ear.
Branding’s something that’s becoming less common with the rise of microchipping and ear tags and geolocation collars. But Ethan still uses it, and the companies he sells to don’t care either way. The highlands herd’s brands aren’t as noticeable as the larger Hereford ones. But given the rise in popularity of the breed over the last decade, it’s important to have the clear mark of ownership just in case.
Ethan gives the injection of antibiotics, and then I release the calf. It runs through the narrow opening into the larger pasture we’ve separated from the barn paddock. Its mom comes right up to it, confirming we haven’t done anything to harm it. I’m so busy watching it reintegrate that I miss the initial commotion.
“Ahfuck,” Kyle says. “Incoming!”
Beau quickly swings one leg over the fence, but not before Molly’s running full tilt toward him. He dodges just enough she misses anything vital, but her horn catches him in the arm. There’s a horrible scream, and then I’m sliding into the space between her and Beau, doing what all those bullfighters do for me. She twists for a moment and then turns back to Beau. I push her away, ignoring the dull ache from her ramming my hand.
“Out,” I murmur. “Before Ethan follows through.”
I take a step toward her, and she backs away from me. Like a flipped switch, the aggression is gone. She looks toward Jake and follows him right back into the larger pasture. When I turn around, Ethan and Kyle are already with Beau, evaluating if he’ll need to get to Jackson. When Ethan looks up, his mouth tight and his gaze grim, I strip out of my chaps and grab one of the first aid kits we keep at each barn.
“Shit, man,” Paul says. “She got yougood.”
I wordlessly hand him the first aid pack and then pull out my phone, dialing Emily without even looking at the screen.
“Triston?” There’s the sound of Penny laughing in the background and Brielle’s calm timbre.
“Em,” I say, taking a step away from the guys so she won’t hear their cursing. All I can see is her terrified, tear-filled gaze when she admitted her fear that registering with the Council would cause some accident to happen. “I need to tell you something, but first I need you to remember that you didn’t cause this, okay?”
“Cause what?” Her voice is sharp now.
Kyle helps Beau off the fencing, helping him keep balance while he holds a thick piece of gauze to his right forearm. There’s a smaller puncture on his left palm but neither of them seem overly worried about that one.
“Beau has to go to Jackson.”
There’s a long silence.
“How bad?” The words are flat, the way she gets when she’s beyond terrified.
“Not bad. Enough he needs stitches, but not bad.”
“I want to go.”
I look over at Ethan. His cocked eyebrow communicates the question well enough. I nod once.
“Yeah, that’s fine,” he says. “Tell her she needs to be at Mom and Dad’s in the next ten, though.”
There’s movement on the other end of the phone and then Caleb’s calm voice.
“Yeah, I’ve got her. No worries.”
“I’ll be there,” she says.
And then the line goes dead.
Chapter Forty-Five
EMILY
