She jerked away and approached her horse, making soothing noises. Fallon may own Titan, but he’d always been Maisey’s. Maisey trusted the animal in a way she didn’t trust many humans. She had a bond with him from years of doing complicated tricks together, and that bond meant the American Paint easily picked up on her emotions, snorting and pounding a hoof.
“The fastest way to catch up to the canine crew is on horseback,” she told me.
She was right, but I didn’t want her going out in a lightning storm withrain pouring down. I especially didn’t want her going without me, not with the doubts that had beat themselves into me on the drive still swarming in my brain.
She clicked at Titan and drew him out of the stall. Even though she was rushed, I knew she wouldn’t skip the important steps to ensure her horse was safe, so I grabbed her saddle from the racks while she brushed Titan from the withers down and cleaned off the blanket. Once the saddle was on and she was cinching the girths, I worked him into the bridle. I’d barely secured it in place by the time she swung herself up.
I stepped in to check and cinch the strap myself and said, “Hold on while I saddle up Henry the Eighth.”
She shook her head, kneeing her horse to get him moving. “You can catch up. You know where I’m going.”
“Maisey,” I warned, grabbing hold of the bridle and halting Titan. He snorted unhappily, shifting at the tension. “No. You aren’t going by yourself.”
“Let go. I’m not waiting,” she said, and when I didn’t step away, unshed tears swam. “It’s already been over an hour since Fallon called us, Beckett. Nearly three hours since Lauren found his room empty. He’s been out there… He might be hurt. At the very least, confused and scared.”
“And this might all be another attempt to strike at you by your attacker,” I growled.
She paled and lifted a trembling hand to push back her wet hair. Just the race into the barn had soaked us both. Her blue T-shirt was already damp and clinging to her. She wasn’t dressed to be out in the rain.
“We’ll go. Together. But we need jackets. Hats. Flashlights,” I told her. “I need a horse.”
She inhaled sharply. “Fine, you go find us supplies. I’ll saddle Henry.”
I waited for her to slip down out of the saddle before I took off for the back door of the hotel. Someone on staff would have what we needed.
It took me longer than I’d wanted to gather the items, and when I made it back to the barn, my stomach plummeted. She’d saddled Henry the Eighth and looped his bridle over the hitching post, but there was no sign of Maisey or Titan.
I stuffed my arms into a jacket that was too small, jammed a baseball hat on my head, shoved the items I’d obtained for her in a saddle bag, and mounted the horse. As we headed out of the barn, I whipped out my phone and hit her number.
It rang once. Twice.
Fear grew.
Finally, she picked up. “Goddamn it, Maisey.”
“Fallon called. The trail died at the fire road. They can’t get a scent. It’s like he just vanished. I couldn’t wait any longer.”
If Lewis’s scent had disappeared, did it mean someone had picked him up? Had he gotten into a vehicle? The dirt fire road was well-maintained. As part of my job, I drove it regularly, ensuring the fire department had easy access to the property. There was a bar gate at the entrance—a loose attempt to keep out trespassers—but a host of emergency services and ranch employees had the code to unlock it. Worse, the gate was easy enough to drive around if you had a quad or dirt bike.
“You’re on your way there?” I demanded.
“Yes.”
“Once you get there, don’t go anywhere else without me or Fallon or Parker.”
“I gotta go. I’m coming up to the river.”
She hung up, and I let out a storm of swear words that had Henry shifting uneasily.
The rain had slowed slightly, but it was still a steady drizzle, and she was out in it. No jacket. No hat. The wind had picked up, not the icy teens and twenties we got in the winter but still chilly. Still much colder than early July should have been.
The mountains were wreathed in low clouds as I spurred Henry across the field. Lightning struck the earth in a majestic display, sparking fears of fires, despite the rain. Henry shied at the sight and the thunderclap that followed it, but I steered him back toward the hills. The trees dripped, and rivulets of water raced toward the three rivers splitting the property.
The fields and slopes were slippery, which meant the cliffs rising above the pines and mist would be treacherous. I had to believe Maisey wouldn’t go that far on her own. That she wouldn’t leave the fire road without one of us with her, but I couldn’t help the cold dread that lit my veins, knowing she’d do anything for her dad. For any of the people she loved. Hell, she’d be out here even if it were her shitty sister who was missing.
The safer route to the fire road was to head for the bridge crossing the northernmost river farther upstream, but Maisey hadn’t done that. Hoof marks showed exactly where she’d led Titan across a shallow area in the river that preceded the drop to the lake. Henry and I picked our way across while impatience warred with safety.
The relentless need to get to her, to make sure she wasn’t out there facing an unknown danger alone, drove me to urge the horse faster as we climbed onto the opposite bank. Fear hung on me heavier than the mist on the mountains. Something wasn’t right. Something I couldn’t name. I dugmy heels into Henry’s sides, sprinting with him up the slope to the road that wound into the mountains.