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“I fired,” he says. “I’m fine.”

I rush to the next stable, fumbling for the latch to let Gypsy, Diamond’s horse, out. I head for the pen next door; Jessie is Charlotte’s pony—Nash’s daughter. She gallops out, but the inferno is getting hotter. One entire side of the barn is alight when Dustin lets out the last horse.

“Call Diamond,” he says frantically. “Tell her to hurry.”

I do, and she answers on the second ring.

“D? The stables, they’re on fire… I-I’ve called the fire department. You need to get here. Dusty is trying to contain it. We got the horses out.”

“I’m at Nash’s.” Her tone is eerily quiet. “I’m on my way.”

We hang up. Dustin grabs the fire extinguisher and points it at the fire. He’s too close.

“I want to help!” I yank him by the shirt, my head scrambling. “Dust, be careful!”

Dustin turns to me, worry written all over his face. “Get out of here, Tilly, I’m okay. I’ll try to hold it back until the fire truck arrives.”

“No,” I say. “I’m not leaving you. Let me help. Your cabin!”

He takes all of three seconds to realize I’m not leaving him here, then he passes me the extinguisher. Luckily the flames haven’t reached the cabin yet, but they’re getting closer. “Step back a little, baby. It’s not worth losin’ our lives over, but I’ll be damned if I watch this place go up in smoke.”

I nod, taking it from him before he runs to fetch another.

Everything happens so fast, but I’m not scared. This is my home—Dustin’s home—as well as where the horses live. If the explosion hadn’t alerted us, who knows how long it would’ve been until we’d realized, if at all. We could be dead right now.

A few moments later, I hear sirens in the distance, then Sapphire, Sin, and Ruby come running in.

“Oh my God!” Ruby cries.

“Fuck,” Sin mutters, reaching over for the extinguisher from me. “I got it.”

The blaze appears to be under control, but we’re not out of the woods yet. Everyone works frantically until the fire truck comes barreling down the side road next to the barn.

They swiftly take over, and we move out, letting them do their job.

I press a hand to my heart, feeling as if it may jump out of my chest.

Diamond and Nash rush around the corner. Diamond’s astonished face makes my heart sink. She’s not just shocked—she’s fucking mad.

“Fuck Lanzetti!” she screams. “I’m going to go fucking kill him!”

Nash grabs her by the shoulders, steering her back. “No, you’re not. Let’s secure the horses while they put the blaze out.”

“One of the masked men got stuck on the fence,” I tell them. “Could be some evidence there.” I refrain from telling them Dustin fired a shot. The sheriff doesn’t need to know that right now.

It feels like an eternity, but they get the fire under control. Only one side of the barn is damaged. We’re lucky the entire thing didn’t collapse.

“That was fucking insane.” Sapphire paces as we stand back to assess the damage.

“Holy shit,” Nash agrees, walking away from the boundary with something in his hand. “I’ll be damned.”

A patch.

The Dirty Crows, West Texas.

Of course.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me?” Diamond says, though can we really be surprised? We half expected it. “I mean it, Nash, they are all fucking dead! Those are my babies in there, and what about Dustin? He was right next door!”