Page 19 of Reins

“Go,” I cut her off. I don’t have time to argue with her. Eli could be back out here at any moment.

Wordlessly, she opens and closes her mouth one more time, then scrambles to her feet.

Mud cakes her side as she hustles into the barn and pulls open the first pen.

With a firm tug, I get the gelding inside, then hand her the end of the lead as she shuts the gate.

“He was gonna keep running,” I grunt. “Don’t do that shit again. He can tell when you’re mad.”

“Wait.” Her fingers cling to the sleeve of my coat, but I pull away. “Why are you here?”

That makes me pause and turn back. “Apparently to save your ass.” I glower at her, then stride away.

Now I really do need to get the heck out of here. Slinking along the shadows of the barn, I cut through a dark clump of trees until I find my hidden path that leads back to my own horse.

I really messed up. Having a witness to my trespassing that can identify me is going to make things much more complicated.

Chapter 11 - Rosalyn

My head is spinning in disbelief.

Cade?

Why is he here?

I barely remember him without the scars.

I know how happy Ava was with him.

One of the few times I saw him was in an argument between him and my family. I’ll never forget him putting my sister behind him as he stood up to my father when Ava wanted to leave and Papa wanted her to stay.

For her own good.

Yea, right. Ava was just lucky enough to get away. She knew what kind of hell life here was. Cade was helping her escape, despite my parent’s wishes.

I hate that my brothers have held to what they wanted and keep me bound here.

Aunt Betty even made sure they kept control over me after our folks died. She used all of her judicial powers to tie me down.

For my own good.

I hate that saying with every drop of blood in my body.

I don’t want to do the right thing anymore. All it’s brought me is misery.

There’s a growing part of me that wants to rebel. To do the wrong thing.

So for days in a row, I’ve taken Petunia back out into the woods to try and find Cade.

Then I work Zeus in the round pen, pushing him and myself beyond our limits, in a failed attempt to try and get Cade to erupt out of the shadows again.

“He’s looking like he’s going to be a solid fit,” John wanders up to the fence and drapes his wrists across the rails. “I’m happy to see you out here training him.”

Dropping my arms signals to Zeus I’m done, making him slow to a walk and then he moves to the gate, his sides heaving in the cold air.

I walk slowly towards my brother, scanning the forest line behind him, hoping to see a flicker of movement in the shadows.

“He’s already had a lot of initial stuff done. It’s been pretty easy to learn what he knows and expand on it.” My elbow props near John’s hand so I can turn and watch my new horse.