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Dad looks back at me and points left, signaling that he might hear something further out that way, and we all follow his lead. Using the alert from my security app, I could tell that whatever masked figure was poking about in our fields was toward that corner anyway.
The five of us stalk that way, trying not to make a sound, keeping light to a minimum. My ears perk up like that might give me an extra advantage as adrenaline surges through my veins.
I’m more than acutely aware that every woman I love is sitting in a house not an acre away and that not only has my protective instincts at a level one hundred, but I’m nearly shaking with the rage inside me.
How dare whoever this is come onto my land and threaten my family? How dare they put Gabrielle in danger, especially on the first night I bring her here?
This son of a bitch is about to get what’s coming to him or her.
Noises of rustling, stomping, and some mechanical sound I can’t place are getting closer, and blood pumps fast in my ears. Dad supplied me with one of the pepper spray bottles Mom keeps in the house while he has the Taser and the rest of them have BB guns. I have a real gun in a safe in the warehouse we use to house all the farm paperwork and supplies, but it’s too risky to head there and use any sort of light or sound.
When I asked why I got the least lethal of all the weapons, each man turned on me with a knowing look. Then Dad spoke and told me they knew I’d have enough fury to take down whoever this was with my fists alone, and I couldn’t disagree. When you poked the bear, meaning me, you got the violence.
Suddenly, Warren goes down, tripping on something, and then I hear cursing and thrashing. Shining my flashlight in that direction, I see my brother-in-law tangled up with another figure, and we all rush toward the scuffle.
“Get the fuck off me!” whoever has trespassed onto our land yells.
They’re covered in black clothing, a hoodie with dark jeans, and there is a black backpack on the ground next to where Warren tries to subdue whoever this is. I dive in without thinking twice, helping Warren to hold the person down and try to keep him contained.
“Fuck! He bit me!” Warren lurches back, inspecting his arm, and finally, I get a look at who is on the ground.
Brown hair, pale skin, and a scar running across his right cheek that looks old and puckered. I don’t know this man, who looks to be younger than me but not of boyish age, and I wonder what the hell has possessed him to break through our security. I wonder what the fuck he’s here for.
“Get the ties around him!” Dad orders as the thief struggles to break my hold.
Patrick jumps in and pins his legs down so he can’t squirm quite as much, and I squint as Warren puts the zip ties on.
“Who are you?” Dad demands, yelling into the twenty-somethings face the minute Patrick and Warren haul him up.
“Mom says the cops are on their way, should be here in five minutes,” Evan reads off from his phone.
“I’m not telling you shit.” The guy spits on the ground, disrespecting my father, and I lunge at him.
“No way.” Dad’s arm shoots out as Evan steps in front of me, and his hands press me back as the heels of my boots dig into the dirt beneath them.
Fury rages through me. “This fuckbag broke into our home, destroyed a portion of our land. What the hell do you want, huh? What are you after?”
I nearly bare my teeth at the guy.
“Liam, calm down,” Patrick warns me.
Even though I can feel the testosterone in the air from my male relatives around me, I seem to be the only one getting so agitated to the point of action. I guess this is what they were talking about when they handed me the measliest weapon.
“Fucking Ashtons,” the thief mumbles, and I swear, I want to pummel him more than my next breath.
It’s not just that he was attempting to take something from us; no, I’m this keyed up because the woman I love more than myself is in the house he can see from right here. What if he’d …. what if she was out here or something? What if she was alone?
Irrational thoughts run through my head as my brothers and father question the asshole with little success.
“Liam!” I hear Gabrielle’s voice like a shot in the dark, and my spine goes rigid.
A light blinks on at the back porch door, and I’m assuming Evan has been relaying messages to the women inside that it’s okay to come out, even if I don’t think it is. Then again, my little brother isn’t thinking about losing the one woman he’s wanted nearly his entire adult life.
Warren inhales sharply. “Tell her to get inside.”
One look at the asshole thief and he’s smirking. I dare him to make some comment so I can plow my fist into his face, but at the exact moment I’m about to say that, red and blue lights fill the air along with the wail of sirens.
“Go, we’ll bring him around front,” Evan promises me, our eyes connecting.
