Page 85 of Adam's Rising

“Clara Mae’s scared,” Adam said quietly. “I saw it in her eyes. She took us in like her own, and now we’ve brought trouble to her and her ranch.”

Claire rubbed her hands together, nervous energy tightening her shoulders. “So am I.”

He turned to her. “I’m sorry you got dragged into this. You should be resting, not chasing down my messes.”

She gritted her teeth. “Don’t say that. This isn’t just about you. Or Peter. Or even Thomas. My cousin sicced them on me, Adam. That makes it my fight, too.”

He reached across the seat and squeezed her hand. “Tomorrow, I’ll check out that old trapper’s cabin near the creek. If Peter needed to hide somewhere, that’s a place he knows.”

Claire nodded, pushing down the growing fear that they were already too late.

Inside the house, Clara Mae was still awake. She sat at the kitchen table, a mug of coffee in one hand and her .22 revolver resting beside her.

“You didn’t find him,” she said flatly.

Adam shook his head. “Not yet. But we will.”

Clara Mae’s gaze didn’t waver. “I’ve seen what desperation looks like, Adam. And I’ve seen what it drives men to do. If Peter’s mixed up with these people, you need to find him fast before —”

“We won’t letbeforehappen,” Claire said.

A creak on the porch cut off Clara Mae’s next word.

Adam was already moving toward the door.

He opened it to find nothing.

Just the wind.

But on the railing sat something new. Something that hadn’t been there earlier.

Peter’s bracelet.

Worse — tied to the half-moon band were red, crinkled strands of yarn. The tattered threads fluttered in the breeze, making them look like… blood.

They’d wondered. They’d hoped.

Now they knew the truth.

Peter hadn’t just taken off.

Adam stared at the band, then dropped to his knees. He bent over the deck and expelled everything in his stomach.

They had him.

* * *

Adam snatchedthe bracelet off the railing, gazing down at the…warning. He held the wooden bracelet in his palm, thumb brushing over the inscription carved into the wood. When he’d asked Peter about it, his brother had just waved him off, saying he’d found it.

Claire stepped beside him. “Is that…”

“It’s Peter’s.” Adam’s voice was low and certain. “He hasn’t taken it off since he found it a few years ago. Not once.”

“That’s because he didn’t find it. Juanita gave it to him,” Claire said. “I asked Peter about it. He said the word she inscribed meansmy heart.”

“They were close?”

Claire offered him a slow shake of her head. “Adam, you were so blind. You couldn’t see my affection for you, let alone a girl who loved Peter. That’s why he’s been so upset. He’s wondering who’s picking on Juanita if he’s not there to protect her.”

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