Page 13 of Reins

Maybe I’ll just pack a bag and hike out of here. I don’t know much about camping. Or hunting.

Shit. I’d starve to death.

“I’m so screwed,” I exhale to the universe. It’s hopeless.

I won’t bring a warm seat next time.

Just the rest of the bottle of the tranquilizer that the veterinarian used on Petunia.

That would be a nice way to go, watching the sunset on the perfect view.

Drifting my gaze along the timber line, a flash makes me look twice.

Is that a horse with a saddle? I thought all the helpers were on the south end of the ranch? They should be miles from here.

A flutter of panic laced with curiosity rushes through me. Is that the ax murderer?

I wish he’d come and put me out of my misery.

No, not me. But just imagine the freedom I’d have if he attacked John and Eli?

The fear shifts to excitement as a tinge of hope mixes in.

Until the guilt hits.

I’m a horrible person for even thinking it. What kind of monster wishes bad things on their own family?

One who’s slowly being strangled ‘for my own good’.

That’s who.

Chapter 8 - Cade

It’s colder out here than I expected, but I wanted to scout out the path to the backside of their ranch while it’s daylight.

I’m making one last sweep with my binoculars over the rear of the buildings when a flicker of movement makes me pause.

There wasn’t anything there earlier, what is that?

Kicking to the next magnification, I see it.

Well, her.

An icy vise grips my heart. Fuck, she looks just like—

“Ava?” I exhale a hot mist into the frigid air, narrowing even further to zoom in on the blonde woman standing on the massive chunk of granite.

Closing in on her face, I have to take a moment to shake the ghosts from my head.

No, it’s not the woman I loved…and killed.

This one is younger, but with a sadness lining her features as she stares directly at me.

Is that Rosalyn? Now that I look, she only vaguely resembles Ava.

Yea, that’s definitely Rosalyn.

Can she see me?