He looked away from me and to the mare a few feet away. A muscle in his cheek ticked.
“We have to find the bastard that did this.”
Tuck’s face hardened. “You aren’t going to find anyone. That’s my job. You’re going to march your ass back to your SUV and go home.”
My blood began to heat, and I shook off Tuck’s hold on me. “You are not the boss of me.”
Tuck scowled. “Well, this is now an active crime scene, so I could always arrest you for interference.”
My jaw dropped open. “You wouldn’t.”
“Don’t test me.”
I threw up my hands in frustration. “You are the most infuriating—”
Tuck caught hold of my wrist, bringing my hand closer so that he could inspect my palm. “What happened?”
I swallowed, the heat from his hand seeping into my skin. “I tripped.”
Tuck looked heavenward as though praying for patience. “Come on.” He led me up the path.
“Where are we going?”
Tuck kept a loose hold on my wrist. “I’m taking you back to my truck, where I have a first-aid kit.”
I rolled my eyes. So freaking overprotective. “It’s just a couple of scrapes.”
“They could get infected,” he gritted out.
I opted for silence as I followed. Once Tuck had set his mind to something, there was no changing it. He was possibly the most stubborn man on the planet. We made it back to the vehicles in record time. Tuck let down the tailgate of his truck and hoisted me onto it as though I weighed no more than Noah. “Stay.”
“I’m not a dog, you know.”
“Believe me, I know. A dog would listen.”
I stuck out my tongue at Tuck’s back as he dug through the cab of his truck.
“I know you’re sticking out your tongue at me.”
I immediately retracted said tongue. “Was not.”
He turned and headed back to me with a massive first-aid kit. “You know I always know when you’re lying.”
It was true. From the time I could talk, Tuck always knew when I wasn’t telling the truth. It was infuriating. I shrugged. “Whatever you say.”
“That’s more like it.” Tuck ripped open an alcohol wipe. “Give me your hands.” I held them out, palms up. “This is going to sting.” He began swiping the cool pad across one palm.
“Oh, frickedy freaking fuck!” It burned like the fires of Hell.
Tuck chuckled. “That’s some creative cursing.” He lifted my palm to his mouth and blew gently, taking away the worst of the sting. Our gazes locked and held. Something crackled between us.
No. No. No. This could not happen. I could not be having any sort of sexy feelings for my best friend. My brother’s best friend. I opened my mouth to say something—I wasn’t sure what—when the sound of tires on gravel sounded.
Tuck glanced over his shoulder. “My team.” I nodded, still not quite able to find my words. He looked back at me. “I’m sorry you had to be the one to find her.”
I swallowed against the emotion that crept back up my throat. “I’m just glad someone did.” I gripped Tuck’s arm, uncaring that the action stung my palms. “You’re going to find whoever did this, right?”
“I’ll try. But I’m not sure we’ll have much luck. You know how many hunters there are around here.”
I squeezed his arm tighter. “But you’ll do everything you can?”
Tuck’s eyes bored into mine. “I’ll do everything in my power.”
His words were a promise. And Tuck never broke a promise.
9
Tuck
I watched as Jensen’s SUV disappeared down the dirt road. The tightness in my chest lessened just a fraction. She was safe. She was heading home and would be out of the way of any potential harm.
It had only taken a single word when she called. One word and I had known that something was wrong. My entire body had locked. Now, it could ease. I could focus on what I needed to do.
I hoped that this was just a horrible calamity—someone hunting where they shouldn’t. Thinking a horse was an elk. Something. But my mind flashed back to finding Phoenix shot in a similar fashion. My gut said that none of this was an accident. But Jensen didn’t need to know that until I was sure.
I turned to Mackey and Dominguez. “Let’s go.”
We hiked out to the fallen mare. A muscle in my cheek ticked as I took in the details of the scene, things I hadn’t been able to process when I had been focused on getting Jensen gone.
I held up a hand to keep Mackey and Dominguez back. I needed the crime scene as undisturbed as possible. My experience tracking meant that I might be able to recreate what happened in my mind. I studied where the horse had fallen, did my best to estimate a possible range of trajectory. Then I searched.
My gaze traveled the ground and the surrounding underbrush for any sign of a shooter’s nest. As I focused on the task at hand, the rest of the world melted away.
Time passed without me having any sense of it. Small glimmers of hope flickered in and out as I thought I had found something, only to realize they were animal tracks. My eyes caught on a broken branch. I crouched, studying a patch of compressed underbrush.
A tiny flash of color caught my attention. I pulled out a glove from my back pocket along with an evidence bag. I plucked the cluster of red threads from the bramble and placed it in the plastic bag. I tied a marker to a nearby tree.
I headed back to my team. “There’s a shooter’s nest about twenty yards in. I want you to measure the exact distance and take photos.”
Mackey pulled a camera from her pack. “Got it.”
Dominguez looked at me. “What are you doing?”
Dominguez was hungry. Part of it was a desire to learn and grow as an officer. The other part was impatience for advancement. The first piece I could respect, the second annoyed the shit out of me. “I’m assessing the scene. And checking for signs of other casualties.”
Dominguez straightened. “I could help with that.”
I pinned him with a hard stare. “I gave you your orders. Go help Mackey.”
He held back whatever it was he wanted to say and followed after the female officer.
My gaze roamed the space, my eyes searching for anything that might provide a clue. A tree five feet away caught my attention. It seemed to have an explosion of bark on its trunk. I made my way towards it. Leaning closer, I examined the hole that appeared to have been drilled into it. A flash of metal shone in the sun.
“Gotcha.” I pulled out my pocket knife and dug around the bullet. With my gloved hand, I carefully extracted the hunk of metal and placed it in another evidence bag. We were gonna get this fucker.
I turned to see David marching down the path. I met him halfway. “Sir, I didn’t know you were coming out.”
He grimaced at the mare. “I wanted to see what you were able to find. We can’t have people hunting out of their allotted areas. We need to find this guy before they hurt someone.”
I wanted to argue that someone had already been hurt. The mare wasn’t human, but that didn’t make her loss any less real. I bit my tongue. At least David was taking this seriously. “We’ve got some leads.”
“Fill me in.”
I walked David through what I believed happened and showed him the threads and the slug. “Between this and the bullet I’m sure they’ll find in the mare, at least we’ve got something. When we get a suspect, we can compare ballistics to their firearms.”
David studied the evidence bags, and then his gaze flicked to me. “Good work. But no one’s going to approve of an autopsy for a horse. This bullet you found is enough.”
I hated that the mare wasn’t getting the respect she deserved, but David was right. One bullet was all we needed to nail this guy. “All right. I’ll make sure they get logged, and the bullet gets sent off to the crime lab as soon as I’m back.”
David made a beckoning motion with his hand. “I’ll take them. I’m hea
ded back now.”
“Thank you, sir.” I handed him the evidence.
“Keep me apprised of anything else you find.”
“Will do.”
I would find whoever did this. And I was going to nail them with everything I had.
I rolled my truck to a stop outside Jensen’s guest house. The urge to check on her, to make sure she was okay had been too strong. I hopped down and made my way up the path. Rapping on the door three times, I waited. Her SUV was here, so I assumed she was home.
The door swung open, and Walker stood there. “Hey, man, what’re you doing here?”
Jensen appeared behind him, her dark hair piled into a haphazard bun on the top of her head. And she wore an apron dotted with what looked like tomato sauce. “Hey, Tuck.”
I forced my gaze back to Walker. “I just wanted to check on Little J, make sure she was okay.”
Jensen’s head fell back, and she let out an exasperated sigh.
Walker stiffened. “What do you mean, check on her? What happened?”
“She didn’t tell you?” Of course, she hadn’t.
Jensen threw up her hands. “I was never in any danger.” She pinned me with a stare. “The only thing you need to worry about is figuring out who needs their hunting license revoked. Have you found any leads?”
I opened my mouth to answer her, but Walker cut me off. “Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?”
I took a few minutes to fill Walker in. The longer I talked, the redder his face got. He spun to face Jensen. “That was so fucking stupid.”
She arched a brow. “Excuse me? One, watch your language, Noah is upstairs. Two, don’t you dare pull that attitude with me.”
I was pretty sure there was smoke coming out of Walker’s ears. “You should know. Better than most. It is incredibly dumb to go out onto any of these trails alone. Anything could happen, and you would have had no one to help you.”
Jensen’s hands went to her hips. “I had a fully stocked pack and my phone. I’m not an idiot. I was less than a mile from my car.”
Walker rubbed his temples. “There are about two places in a five-mile radius up there that get service. What if you had gotten hurt?”
Jensen’s jaw hardened. “I didn’t.”
“Well, you could have. You can’t pull this kind of shit. You have a son.”
I sucked in a breath. Walker froze. He knew he’d crossed a line as soon as the words left his mouth.
“Get out.”
“J, I’m sorry, I just want you to be careful.”
“Get out!”
Walker stuttered back a step. “I’m sorry.”
I clapped a hand on Walker’s shoulder and ushered him towards the door. “Give her a bit to cool down.” I followed him outside.
Walker scrubbed a hand over his face. “Shit, man. I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I know you didn’t. And neither does Jensen. You just need to give her some time to see that.”
Walker nodded. “I’ll come back tomorrow morning. Apologize.”
I slapped him on the back. “Good plan.”
His gaze met mine. “Look out for her, will you?”
“Always.” If he knew the thoughts that were traveling through my head about his little sister, I’d be the last person he would ask to look after Jensen. Fuck. I needed to get myself in check. I took a deep breath of cold, pine-scented air, and headed back inside.
Jensen was at the stove, stirring something that smelled amazing. “What are you still doing here? You think I’m an idiot who doesn’t know what I’m doing, too.”
I leaned against the counter. “Hey, now, don’t lump me in with Mr. Open Mouth Insert Foot.” I paused. “But you know he didn’t mean it.”
Jensen tightened her grip on the wooden spoon. “I needed some time alone. And I wanted that in my favorite place.”
“I get it. I do.” I reached up and wiped a splash of sauce from her cheek. “Just let someone know where you’re going next time. Then your bases are covered.”
“Mom knew where I was. I told her my exact path, and she knew when I’d be back, too. If my know-it-all brother would have reined in his temper for two minutes, I could’ve told him that.”
I chuckled. “Walker doesn’t always think before he speaks. And he loves you. But you’ll always be the little sister he feels he needs to protect.”
She scowled at the bubbling sauce. “Between the two of you, it’s a miracle you haven’t implanted me with a tracking device and wrapped me in bubble wrap.”
I gave a strand of hair that had escaped her bun a couple of light tugs. “Hey, now, that’s a good idea. We can inject you with one of those trackers that vets put in dogs.”
Jensen reached out and pinched my side. “You come near me with any needles, and I’ll knee you in the balls.”
I chuckled. “If I promise not to inject you with any trackers, will you let me stay for dinner?” I gave an exaggerated sniff of the sauce.
“If you keep Noah entertained while I clean up, you can come for dinner anytime.”
I wrapped an arm around Jensen, pulling her into my side and kissing the top of her head. “You’ve got a deal.” At the feel of her against me, at the familiar jasmine scent, my body came alive. I released her immediately. “I’ll go see what the little monster’s up to now.” Anything to get some distance from those curves and that smell. Being around Jensen was the most beautiful form of torture. And even though I knew I shouldn’t, I’d always sign up for more.
10
Jensen
I eased out of my SUV, flipping my sunglasses down off the top of my head to fight the glare and hide the things my eyes would betray. I hated this place. I knew they were doing their best, but there was something so incredibly wrong about it.
Pens with metal fencing over my head. Not a blade of grass in sight. Just an endless sea of dirt and dust, scattered with piles of hay.
A group of horses in one pen ran from one end to the other, but the area was so small that by the time they picked up speed, they were forced to come to a screeching halt. My chest burned. It was all so very wrong.
“Jensen.” Lee’s voice cut in above the sounds of hooves and whinnies.
I gave the lean man walking towards me a wave. I was grateful that there was someone here who cared about these horses living their lives in limbo, caught between the wild and finding new homes. But it wasn’t enough. These amazing creatures deserved so much more. “Hey, Lee.”
He pulled me into a quick hug. “Thanks for coming out.”
“Anytime. Can I see her?” Technically, I wasn’t looking to take on any new horses. I had about all I could handle without hiring some additional help, but Lee had called about an elderly mare who was fading. She’d lived the last five years in one of these pens, and she deserved to live her last days in peace, in as close to freedom as we could give her.
“Follow me.” He led the way through a maze of pens. “You have plans to head back out to Pine Meadow anytime soon?”
The mare I had found a few weeks ago flashed in my mind. I hadn’t been back since I’d discovered her fallen form. I needed to. I couldn’t let that experience color my favorite place in the world. “I’ll probably go next week.”
Lee nodded. “Let me know how the herd’s looking, will you? I haven’t been able to make it out there much lately.”
Guilt pricked at my skin over my earlier thoughts. Lee was doing the best he could with the resources he had, and he cared about these horses. “Of course.”
Lee gestured to his left, taking us in another direction. The longer we walked, the smaller the pens got until we reached those designed to hold only one horse. “She’s not doing well. I knew her chances of being adopted were slim given her age, but I just kept hoping…”
I sucked in a breath as we rounded the corner. A dark bay horse stood shivering in the corner of her pen. The corner farthest away from any people and the other horses. An invisible fist squeezed my h
eart. “I’ll take her.”
Lee’s steps faltered. “You’ve barely laid eyes on her. Haven’t even heard her story.”
“Doesn’t matter.” It didn’t. There was something about this horse. I knew she needed me. Maybe we needed each other. That was the thing about horses, they tended to teach you way more than you would ever teach them.
Lee eyed me carefully. “I don’t know how much time she has left. And she’s definitely not rideable.”
“You know that doesn’t matter to me.” Some of the mustangs were adopted and trained to be trail and competition horses. I took the approach that the horse would show me what he or she wanted to be.
I had a couple who seemed to be bored by what I more or less dubbed retirement. I’d trained them to be trail horses, and they loved it. Others didn’t seem to want a human on their backs, and I respected that, too. Still more were too injured to ever be able to carry the weight of a person. Some people would’ve put a horse down for that. To me, it did nothing to lessen the horse’s worth. Being able-bodied didn’t have anything to do with how much you were able to give.
Lee shook his head but did it while grinning. “Glad I can always count on you for the tough cases.”
I gave him a small smile. “Can you work on the paperwork? I’d like some time alone with her.”
“Of course. I’ll be in the office. Just come find me whenever you’re done.”
“Thanks.”
Lee headed off, and I approached the edge of the pen. The mare’s trembling intensified. I halted and slowly sank to the ground. Crossing my legs, I bowed my head, trying to show her in every way I could that I meant her no harm.
Nothing in this process could be hurried. It was a delicate dance. I needed to get her out of here as quickly as possible. The chaotic energy of the holding facility was only preventing her healing, but if I forced her too soon, I could do irreparable damage.
I tilted my head so I could see the mare out of the corner of my eye. She studied me, her head moving in jerky half starts and retreats.
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