Page 59 of Roping Her Alien Ranchers

Cyro, Vantor, and Kalith came into the stables just as I pressed my palm into blackened wood. I turned to them, feeling heavier than I had in my entire life. The world seemed to be crashing down to crush me. They didn’t crowd me, instead standing about ten feet away.

“The horses,” I said, turning to face them. “You got them into the training paddock?”

The light from the sticky alien goo bathed all of us in cool hues. It almost lent the situation an illusion of happening underwater.

“Yes,” Vantor said, his human disguise rolling and rippling across the surface. One eyebrow tried to slip too far down. Vantor’s hazel eyes lifted and he focused for a second, forcing the line of hair up. Then he continued. “They are unharmed, though agitated.”

I coughed heavily then, lungs aching.

"Rest," Cyro urged. "Your respiratory system is compromised."

“And yours aren’t?” I questioned, eyes narrowing to study them all. “You just fought a raging fire, and without any safety equipment I might add.”

“Our anatomy is of course different,” Cyro replied, his skin flushing in strange patterns of lavender and cream. “We are able to handle extreme environments.”

“We spend summers bathing in underwater lava vents,” Kalith shrugged. “Waterless heat is drying, but not deadly.”

I stared at the charred remains of my stables, feeling like useless arm candy more than ever.

“I don’t have the right kind of insurance for this. I couldn’t afford it.” My voice cracked. “The horses are safe, but they need a place to stay. I’m an idiot. Why didn’t I get fire extinguishers? And I shouldn’t have gotten the bare minimum coverage.”

Kalith stepped a few feet forward, his human face rippling as he struggled to settle his expression. When he spoke, there was a watery tremble in his words. “Do not despair. We can repair this, just as we did the supply barn and other structures. The damage is mostly cosmetic.”

“Cosmetic?” I gestured at the gaping hole in the roof. It wasn’t cosmetic, not by a long shot in Earth terms. But, then again, they’d been fixing this place up like magic.

“Yes, cosmetic,” Kalith confirmed. His smaller tentacle reached for me, twitched, then he lowered it again.

I nodded, relief washing through me so powerfully I nearly collapsed. My legs wobbled, and I reached out to steady myself against the blackened wall next to me.

For a moment, no one spoke. Then I noted how… all three aliens were fidgeting slightly, looking uneasy.

“What? What is it?” My mind reeled with other terrible things that might have happened because of the fire. But burned-down stable was bad enough.

“Tammy,” Kalith spoke slowly, his voice becoming more serious. “I believe this fire was not accidental.”

I stared at him. “What do you mean?”

But I knew.

Without him explaining.

There was a reason why the fire seemed sentient, licking across the ground, targeting Sunflower Hills’ only hope at survival.

“The pattern of ignition,” Vantor chimed in. He held up what looked like a small metal disc that pulsed with soft yellow light. “Our sensors detected an accelerant. It is not of our world, but yours. Someone wanted your stables to burn.”

A chill ran down my spine despite the lingering warmth. I envisioned Derek Morgan's truck disappearing down my driveway, his familiar smirk as he'd reminded me that he'd be waiting when I failed, that he might "buy this place for ten cents on the dollar when the bank forecloses." Derek, who'd always hated to lose, who'd never accepted that I could make it without him.

“Derek,” I whispered. The name felt like poison on my tongue.

Vantor nodded slowly. “I believe he is the assailant.”

My eyes locked with his, colliding as understanding flowed between us.

“I didn’t think he’d ever do something like this. He’s an asshole, but he’s never physically hurt me.”

“He has not?” This from Cyro, who tilted his human head, lilac eyes peering into my soul. His look made me question the accuracy of my own statement.

Physically hurt me? He hadn’t hit me. He hadn’t forced himself on me. But he had controlled the way I dressed, the friendships I kept, the places I could go.