Page 37 of A Curse On Black Lake
I check her briefly, keeping my eyes on the bull that has taken steps towards her like he’s trying to decide if she’s a threat.
“Don’t you dare kill that bull,” she says.
“He’s going to charge you. Do you want to die today?” I say, keeping an eye on the asshole.
“Not particularly, but don’t kill that bull. You’re going to lose money.”
“Don’t know if I care much about the loss at the moment,” I mutter.
She gets closer to me, and then he starts running towards her. Bulls arefastwhen they want to be, faster than humans. I take off towards Eliana on Daisy, and her eyes widen in panic.
She runs in my direction as the bull gets closer, and I hold out my hand to grab her and push the bull off at the same time. I’m playing a dangerous game.
Eliana runs as fast as she can with chaps on her legs and lifts her arm. I grab her forearm, lifting and throwing her onto Daisy with me, and somehow aim my rifle at the bull. I holler, and Daisy whinnies, pushing the bull back. He diverts close to us and then meanders back down to his group, suddenly tired of the chase.
Keeping my eyes on him, I turn Daisy towards Chester and go back up the hill. Eliana presses her head between my shoulder blades, and I can feel her deep inhales as she catches her breath. And for a moment, as brief as it is, I sink into her touch.
“You okay?” I ask her.
She nods against my back and sits up. “Yeah, I wish you told, me you had an asshole for a bull.”
“Sorry,” I mutter. I should have. She’s right. I swallow thickly as the panic subsides.
She hums and hops down from Daisy and then gets onto Chester. “Is your count good?” she asks.
“Yeah, let’s move on to the next one. I need to move them to another plot.” I lead the way to the next group and stop at the gate.
Glancing over my shoulder, I watch her take in the land of Eden Ranch. The sun hits her face, and her blue eyes seem sad. “Are you sure you’re alright?” I ask.
She shakes her head.
“I have two bulls in this group. They aren’t as mean, but be careful anyway. We need to move them to the plot a couple acres south of this one.”
“Alright then,” she says and wipes her forehead.
We go through the gate, and Eliana heads across to open the other one while I count.
As Eliana moves the group with Chester, I spot one of my smaller cattle on its side.
I groan to myself and canter over to it. Looks like a bobcat got to her because she’s torn to shreds. The dogs are sniffing, and Moonbeam catches a scent leading away from the group.
“I think there’s a bobcat out here,” I yell at Eliana.
She heels Chester, galloping to me. “What are we going to do?”
“I’m going to hunt it down,” I tell her.
“Won’t moving the herd fix it?” she asks.
“Well, they have noses and can hunt, so possibly, but I’m not sure that would do the trick.”
“What do you want me to do?” she asks.
“We’re going to keep moving the herd, and then I’ll come back. But let me follow Moonbeam real quick. It looks like she caught something.”
Eliana nods and turns around, going back to the cattle while I follow the dog.
There’s a small copse of trees and thicket off to the side, and Moonbeam beelines straight for it. I frown and pull my rifle again. The bobcat could have made a den in there. In that case, it would make my herd easy pickings, so I need to get rid of the animal now.
