Page 64 of Coyote

"It always is with you."

Her fingers curled into the fabric. She had spent all those months searching for me. Asking her to leave now would only give her another place where she couldn't see what was happening.

I covered her hand with mine. "Let me ask Rafe."

Winston was waiting in the hallway. When I opened the door, he looked at Sarah's purse on his desk.

"She wants to stay at Pae Saco," I said.

"Course she does. Woman drove four hours on a maybe."

Sarah leaned around me. "Is that a problem?"

"It might be." Winston took out his phone. "Rafe's gonna want to hear that John invited you, not that you invited yourself."

He made the call and handed me the phone.

"You tell her what happened this morning?" Rafe asked.

"Yes."

"She understands we can't promise nothing else will happen?"

"She's standing right here."

Rafe was quiet for a moment. "All right," he said. "Put her on."

Sarah took the phone from my hand. Rafe gave her the conditions himself, and she listened without interrupting, her eyes on mine. Winston would drive her. Her car and her phone would stay behind. She would not share the route or the ranch's location. When Rafe finished, she agreed to everything and handed the phone back.

Winston opened the exterior door. Coyote stood directly outside.

He looked at my face, then at Sarah's hand twisted into my shirt. His jaw tightened, but he stayed where he was.

Sarah stepped onto the porch, taking in Nimue around his neck, the knife against his thigh, and the dried rabbit blood on his hands.

She tightened her hand around my arm. "You're the one who found him?"

"Yeah."

"Then I owe you a thank-you."

Coyote's eyes moved to me. The porch light caught the dried rabbit blood across his knuckles and the red mark where my beard had rubbed his mouth raw.

"You don't owe me anything," he said.

"I spent eleven months asking strangers to help me find him." Sarah's voice tightened, but she held Coyote's gaze. "You're the one who did."

Coyote stared down at his hands and then folded them behind his back. "You're welcome."

Sarah nodded once. "I'm coming to the ranch."

Coyote's head snapped up. "No."

My fingers closed around the porch rail. Coyote turned toward me. His shoulders had gone tight, and one hand hovered near the knife at his thigh.

"Coyote, I invited her."

The silence stretched long enough for Sarah to shift closer to me. Coyote watched the movement, then looked at my face, jaw working. "You want her there?"