Prologue
FARRAH
I blew out a soft sigh as I watched the pretty, majestic horse in front of me agitatedly move around the small area he’d been fenced into. Mr. Collins had called me early this morning – about four A.M – asking for my help. And he’d been beyond exasperated when I’d talked to him.
Mr. Collins had just recently purchased this horse, hoping to save it. It was getting older, and the previous owner was going to put it down since it was no longer able to race. I felt for the poor, old horse. Signs of abuse were written all over him, from the way he acted all the way to the scars littering his older body.
I hated cruel animal owners, thought they all deserved to be whipped and beaten just as much and as badly as they did their animals.
“Alright, boy,” I soothed, holding my hand out to him as I neared the small, enclosed area he was in. Mr. Collins hadn’t been able to get the big guy in a stable since he’d gotten him. For days now, he had been out in the field. And I knew Mr. Collins well enough to know that he didn’t call for help unless he was desperate.
Vern, the horse, snorted and tossed its head back as if saying do you really think I’m going to listen to you? I smiled at him. “Yeah, I know. You don’t want to like me, but guess what, big guy? You’ll love me soon enough.”
Mr. Collins strode out of the barn, his hands in his pockets. A Stetson hat rested low on his head, shielding his face from the glaring sun. It was hot outside – a good almost one hundred degrees. When I had last checked my phone, the real feel was something along the lines of one hundred and seven.
It was blistering out here, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before the cooler air of Autumn began to move into the area.
“Any luck yet?” he asked me.
I smiled at him. Mr. Collins could certainly be impatient. “I can’t just snap my fingers and make the horse love me, Mr. Collins,” I teased him.
He snorted. “You’re the animal whisperer. So, why can’t you?”
I laughed. All thanks to Grayson, my older brother’s best friend, everyone in our small town referred to me as the animal whisperer. Grayson had been a part of my life basically since I was born. My mom had pictures of him holding me when I was just an itty bitty baby. And as I grew up, I fell in love with him.
But he would never know that. Besides, I was pretty sure Chase – my older brother – would kill him if he made any kind of move on me.
Didn’t ever stop me from daydreaming about us together, though.
Suddenly, Vern nudged my hand with his nose. I slowly turned my head, giving him my attention. He lipped at my hand, and I grinned, reaching into my pocket for a carrot with my free hand. “You want this, big guy?” I asked him, handing him the treat. He grabbed it from me, and I listened as he munched on it. Slowly, I ran my hand over his head and down the side of his neck. “You’re going to be perfectly safe here,” I assured him. “You’re in good hands with Mr. Collins as your owner, big guy.”
Mr. Collins just grunted from behind me before walking off again. I smiled at Vern. “You know, you and your owner are a lot alike. Both of you are very grumpy.”
“I heard that, Farrah.”
I just grinned.
~*~*~
With a lot of back and forth, I finally got Vern in his stable that night, but when I tried to leave to go home for the evening, that stallion pitched a fit, tearing around his stable, trying to get out. So, Mr. Collins had brought me a sleeping bag and a pillow, and I got comfortable on the floor of the stables, texting my brother to let him know where I was at for the night. He had a habit of checking on me. Old habits died hard for him.
The military had changed my smiling, happy-go-lucky brother into a no-nonsense man. Sure, his wife Meredith had softened him quite a bit, but he was still that same protector he’d turned into after he’d come home from war.
But despite how much he’d changed, I still loved him to pieces, and honestly, he was the best sheriff this place had seen yet. The entire town loved him.
~*~*~
The smell of smoke dragged me awake. Heat engulfed me. I cried out in alarm, my eyes shooting open. The animals were making a ruckus, trying to get out of their stalls and out of the burning barn. I quickly scrambled up and yanked my shirt up over my nose, trying to keep from breathing in the thick smoke.
It was already so hot in the barn. Fire was everywhere, quickly heading towards the only exit for me, but like hell was I leaving these animals here to die. I could hear Mr. Collins shouting my name from outside the barn, but I didn’t dare yell back and lose more oxygen than I already was. My shirt was already doing a poor job of helping me breathe clean air as it was.
My steps were getting sluggish as I stepped towards the last horse, my lungs screaming for oxygen. My eyes were burning, my brain already beginning to shut down. I managed to get the latch undone just as my vision clouded over.
Darkness tugged me under. The last thing I heard was sirens coming up Mr. Collins’s long driveway as my knees hit the ground, the rest of my body slumping forward.
