Page 66 of Lasso Lovebirds

With my camera set up, I climbed inside and looked at the GPS, mentally making a note of a couple of escape routes. If the storm came toward me, I’d be able to backtrack the way I’d come. Or I could take a road that would dart straight in front of it, but if I moved fast enough I’d be out of its path.

Plan in place, I hopped out of the van and waded through the tall grass, looking up at the sky.

It was coming.

Thunder shook the entire world.

I held up my camera, snapping a few shots as the storm formed in the distance, the funnel swirling as it reached for the land. It would be an EF2 at the very least, based on the predictions and the radar, but I was safely far enough that I wasn’t too worried about being in the line of fire.

Rain started up again and pelted the poncho I wore, my camera shuttering as I snapped more photos. The wind whipped around me, smothering the tall grass of the field.

“Wow,” I whispered, watching in awe.

It was a terrible, formidable, awe-inspiring part of nature. It was incredible to be on the ground and see something so powerful and destructive form right before my eyes.

There was beauty in its power, but it carried with it a sadness. I thought about the storm that tore up the small town I’d grown up in. I thought about all of the people whose lives were changed forever because of storms like this.

That’s why I chased them.

Any data I could contribute to the scientists at the organization I worked for would eventually help improve our storm warning systems. It would help people be able to get to safety sooner.

I took more photos and then frowned, my gaze drawn by something else in the sky.

“No way,” I whispered.

Another funnel was forming. My mouth dropped as I kept the shutter going, simultaneously taking video as I watched it form.

Twins. Twin tornadoes.

A shiver rolled up my spine as the clouds dropped rapidly, that funnel forming so fast that every part of my being told me to leave.

I lowered my camera, my eyes widening.

It was going in a different direction than the other.

It was coming straight toward me.

Which meant it was heading for Rainbow Ranch, too.

Adrenaline kicked in and I rushed to the van, slamming the doors shut and tossing my things into the front seat. The air went still—eerie—as I started the van, my heart pounding as thesound, which could only be described as a freight train, started to grow louder.

I slammed my foot on the pedal, peeling out of the field and onto the paved road.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.I’d memorized the road on the way to this spot, but now racing back, going over eighty in a van like this, sent a streak of worry through me. I glanced in the rearview, seeing the mass of swirling debris and wind chasing me. I had a head start, but I needed to get out of its path.

I needed to get home to Pris and Beau.

I needed to get home to Rainbow Ranch.

20

beau

Thunder shookme from my sleep. My eyes flew open and in the dark, I could see the outline of Pris.

But not Sky.

I frowned and sat up, looking around the room. Lightning flashed bright enough that it lit up the room.

---