Page 22 of A Sweet Destruction

I saw the moment they caught wind of my reappearance, providing a distraction to abandon whatever had stolen their focus and turn their attention back towards me.

They both broke into a full sprint, making it to be in seconds. My hands were already reaching out for both of them, accepting the press of their snouts into my palms.

Their combined, heaving breaths brushed over my forearms, marked with the distinct snap of anxiety.

“What did you see?” I asked in a cooing tone, trying not to communicate my own fear while they were still deep in the thrawls of their animal instincts.

The question was rhetorical anyways, and not just because they couldn’t answer. I knew what they saw.

I imagined I could even see it in the distance, the glint of metal off a saddle or a boot on the far end of the forest that was firmly within Muli territory.

Panic seized my chest so severely, I wasn’t positive my heart didn’t skip a beat from the constriction.

It would have been so, so easy for one of them to harm Sky or Shadow. Several horses had been injured in the attack.

I knew Sky, and he would have put up a bucking fight. How did I not even hear his whines from inside?

“Esme!” My name was shouted into the night at a volume and tone that I’d never heard before, enough that my first thought was that Roger had been the one to speak.

Instead, I found Ford striding towards me on quick legs, eating up the distance between us in seconds. With a whimper, Shadow buried her snout in his shoulder, pouring her anxiety into him.

Ford reached up to hold her close, pressing a comforting hand into the muscle in her jaw.

“What the hell?” he growled, his eyes sweeping over me in two quick passes.

His concern used to be one of my most consistent fantasies, that he’d find me injured and the Bond would come smashing out to play, but clearly those thoughts existed firmly in the realm of make-believe.

In reality, his concern made me angry. Oh sure, it was an anger fueled by hurt and defensiveness, but it was nowhere near the flooding relief I’d imagined.

“Calm down,” I snapped back, venom sharp in my tone. I restrained the urge to tack on that he had no right to act like this after everything. “Roger is watching. He can’t know.”

Ford didn’t react, just stayed still as a statue and staring at me with an expression of pure disbelief.

“No help,” I muttered under my breath, then turned to Roger who was still hovering close to the barn. “Sorry about that! Sky got spooked by something and scared Shadow in response.”

I squeezed Sky’s neck lightly, a silent statement that I’d be back in a moment. Leaving Ford gaping, I walked over to Roger and gave him a quick hug.

My skin smarted at the touch, and dread sunk like a stone in my stomach.

Clearly doing a poor job at obscuring my reaction, Roger’s eyebrows pinched together in the center. “Everything okay?” he whispered under his breath.

All I could bring myself to do was give him a tight smile and a nod. I tried to will my hand to reach out and sweep down his arm in a comforting motion, but the limb felt heavy and numb at my side.

Roger very clearly did not believe me, but let me walk away regardless.

Ford was standing in between Sky and Shadow, scratching both of them under the chin. The fact that Sky was allowing the touch without trying to snap off Ford’s hand spoke to how startled he’d been.

When I approached, Ford let me take over the comforting strokes on Sky, but didn’t move away. I could tell he wanted to ask what happened, and I knew we had much to debrief.

Conversation was unavoidable between us, but that didn’t mean it had to be wrapped in warmth and familiarity.

Ford, apparently, did not hold the same opinion. He leaned even closer, and I would have jerked back if Sky didn’t choose that exact moment to press his face to my back in a hug.

“What happened?” he said, eyes bouncing over my face. Unfortunately, I knew him well enough to catch the concern in his gaze.

That realization would have refueled my anger if I wasn’t focused on the fact that with two words, spoken in that low, grumbly way of his, he’d soothed the stinging sensation still lingering from Roger’s touch.

Reminding me exactly what torture was coming for me when the Bond woke up again.