Page 75 of Knot The Only Onee
But I didn't want to leave. I was comfortable with this woman in my arms and her small hands stroking my hair. It was pure heaven.
Noah cleared his throat. "I know I wouldn't want to leave her embrace either, but we need to get to work before leaving to pick Alena and the guys up.”
I let out a deep sigh. Bridget unwound her arms from around my neck and stepped back as I climbed to my feet. I placed a kiss on her lips before moving toward the door. Lucas already had two thermoses of coffee waiting for us, and I handed one to Noah before placing my hat on top of my head.
"Get a bit more rest, baby girl." I tipped my hat at her, delighting in how her smile brightened. Sometimes, being a cowboy did have its advantages. Like helping make your omega swoon.
Noah followed me along the path to the barn, and I knew he wanted answers. "So, you gonna tell me?"
I snorted. "Are you gonna let me not tell you?"
His brows rose, and he didn't have to say a word as he pinned me with that intense gaze he inherited from his momma. "I swear you look just like Ms. Maryanne when you do that." I shook my head.
Noah's expression turned grim as he looked back toward the ground.
"Sorry, you know I meant it in a good way." I cursed myself internally and clasped my hand on his shoulder. Maryanne was like a momma to me, too. Losing her had been one of the most difficult times in my life, aside from losing my mom and sister. I knew how Noah felt.
Because we'd always suspected her 'so-called accident' had been set up by Noah's father. There were times I really wished I could be the one that sent that asshole to meet the Grim Reaper myself.
"So yesterday, I found two colts tangled in some wire fencing. It had been cut, like the other times. This time, it was in the main pasture, though. I was lucky I got there quick enough, or Rusty could have been seriously hurt." Or lost his leg, which meant certain death for a horse.
"Those fucking asshole boys are cruisin' for a brusin'," Noah growled and shook his head. "I can't let this stand. I need to talk to Mav."
I growled at the name. Yet another person I wanted to beat to a pulp. When we were kids, the three of us had been joined at the hip. Then Ms. Maryanne died, and Mav disappeared. Didn't even come to the funeral with his momma, who was best friends with Maryanne.
He'd been too busy, he'd said, turning his nose up and laughing as he joined his cousin racing their dirtbikes out by the old town lake.
"I'll go talk to him." I slammed one fist into the open palm of my other hand. "We'll have a nice conversation, then I'll get Tucker and Maddox because I'm sure those the two little assholes are doing this."
Noah sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "That's not the way we do things here, and you know that. It's not the way I run my ranch."
"Fucking hell, I know." Why did Noah have to be so righteous? It was seriously killing my alpha anger right now.
Just another thing I had to learn to deal with. Being an alpha was more difficult than I thought.
"It's just more difficult because you're having to learn things in your thirties as compared to when you're a teenager. It all kinda folded up with hormones, so we learned to control ourselves easier."
"Thanks for reading my mind." I rolled my eyes.
"You were practically screaming it based on the look on your face. Just had to answer your question."
"Asshole."
He bumped into me, and I shook my head. "Are you going to help me with the horses?" I asked with a raised brow. He was still following me instead of branching off to take his walkthrough of the cabins.
"Yeah, I want to check on Rusty." Noah rubbed the back of his neck again, and the tension radiated off him in palpable waves. I just wished there was more that I could do to relieve the burden resting on him. I hoped once the loan shark was off his back, that would decrease his stress level significantly.
"He's got a few scrapes and cuts but nothing that required me to call Doc Thornsen." Which was a good thing considering the Doc was a seventy-something-year-old crotchety old man. Except he was the best man alive working with animals. Just not so much with humans.
"Thank God for that," Noah chuckled as we reached the barn. "He really needs to retire and turn the business over."
"I heard his granddaughter just graduated from vet school and was working with him. ‘Bout the only one that could stand to be around him." I felt bad for the poor girl. Her parents had died when she was young, and she'd been raised by Thornsen, who didn't want much to do with her.
"Poor girl. What's her name? Allie? Abby?" Noah scratched his temple and then opened the barn door.
The smell hit me straight in the face, and despite having spent my life around farm animals, it was pungent. There was something to be said for these alpha senses, that was for sure.
"Abigail," I answered as Sage poked her head out of her stall and whinnied at me. "Yes, hello, sweet girl." I glided my hand along her snout and neck. She nibbled at my shirt, always searching for her apples or carrots.
