Chapter 462 Chapter 462
The door flew open, and Penny rushed in, “are the girls here with you?” She waved a hat around, “I just ran in to grab Wren a hat.”
Emersyn shook her head, already heading out the door. “They’re probably hiding.” She glanced over to see the main gate was closed and felt relief.
Noah moved by her and started for the small bush beside the fence. When he reached it and turned to say something, he froze as he looked to the other side of the yard.
She went around the corner of the house. The gate leading outback was open. Her breath caught in her throat.
“They can’t have gone far.” He started running for it. “Stay here.” He called over his shoulder.
Her legs felt like they were weighted down as she followed him. She should listen, she should stay here, he wouldn’t tell her if there wasn’t a reason to. She watched him pause by the open gate and take a deep breath, he was scenting the air. When he leaned down and took off his boots quickly, her heart began pounding faster.
Blowing out a breath to calm her breathing, she inhaled slowly and tried to process what she could smell. She clutched her jacket to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut. She could smell the girls and knew their scents well, but there was something else she didn’t know.
“What happened?”
Opening her eyes, she saw Gage standing beside her.
“The girls.” Penny pointed to the gate, “I was only gone a minute.”
Gage looked at Emersyn, “did Noah go?”
Emersyn nodded. “There’s something out there.”
Gage’s brows furrowed as he started walking toward the fence, he shook his head and then took off his jacket and dropped it on the ground as he went through it.
Emersyn sucked in a breath; she should go help them. Her baby was out there.
“What’s going on?” Kelsey came running across the yard.
“The gate was open.”
She heard Penny say but couldn’t take her eyes off it.
Kelsey went by her toward the gate. She bent down and picked up Noah’s boot and then went over to the other one and tossed them both to land beside Gage’s jacket. She stood in the open gate and Emersyn could see her take a slow breath in.
Emersyn lurched and took fast steps over to her like her feet were finally freed. “What is it?” She motioned, “out there?”
“Coyote,” Kelsey whispered and then turned to look back through the gate.
Emersyn put her hand over her mouth so she wouldn’t make a sound.
Kelsey turned around and gave her a steady look, “don’t worry, the guys can handle a mangy coyote.” She nodded, “I don’t smell blood. The girls are fine.”
She nodded, even though she wasn’t feeling assured at all. Instead of looking for them, she watched the redheaded woman turn around the reach up to jiggle the latch on the gate.
“It’s loose, probably didn’t latch right after the last person came in.” She turned back and looked over her shoulder.
Emersyn dropped the coat and went over to look out the gate. A large male tiger was trotting toward them. He was huge and mostly white with brown and orange coloring. On his back hugging him was Wren.
“Wren.” Penny ran out the gate. She rushed toward him and scooped the child off his back.
Gage stopped and turned to watch behind him.
Emersyn held her breath. She didn’t have to hold it long, Noah appeared out of the trees running slowly. Aspyn was on his back with her arms hugged around his neck, her smile so big that pain went through her chest. She was all right. When he was closer, she darted toward him and grabbed her baby girl off his back. She hugged her tight. Aspyn pushed against her chest and looked up at her.
“Mommy, Noah is a real tiger.” Her eyes were huge with excitement.
Emersyn dropped to her knees, hugging her into her chest. “You shouldn’t have gone out here alone.”
“I wasn’t alone, Mommy, Wren was with me.”
Emersyn hugged her again and turned her head to look at Noah. His sides were heaving. Even in this form, she could see the torment in his eyes. “Thank you.” She whispered, knowing he would hear her. He looked at her, his eyes totally focused on her. As she started to get up, he swung his big head around and then took off back into the trees. She watched him until she couldn’t see him and then turned to see Gage coming out of the trees with just his jeans on.
Kelsey went over and hugged him.
Gage glanced in the direction Noah had gone. “He’s tracking the coyote down.”
Emersyn shifted Aspyn so she could see both. “Alone?”
Gage looked like he wanted to smirk but didn’t. “He’ll be fine. He needs to run it off.” He dropped his boots to the ground and then pulled his shirt over his head.
“The latch is worn,” Kelsey said softly.
Gage looked at the gate. “Let me go dry off my feet and I’ll take a look at it.”
Emersyn could hear Penny giving Wren hell, without sounding angry, and turned around to go back through the gate. She set Aspyn on the ground and then squatted in front of her. “You never go outside the fence without one of the big people.” She watched the happy look fade from her daughter’s face and then she nodded.
“We wanted to see out there.”
Emersyn inhaled a deep breath, to try to stay calm. Kelsey and Gage were walking across the yard. She looked back at the open gate; her chest felt tight. They weren’t concerned Noah was out there alone, but she couldn’t bring herself to walk away. She looked back at Aspyn. “Go inside with Penny. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Penny came over and took her hand. “I think that’s enough outside time for now.” She gave Emersyn a relieved look.
“They’ll fix the latch.” Emersyn tried to convey calm, but she was feeling anything but inside. Standing up, she went back over to the gate and stood in it, watching the trees. She heard someone come up behind her and turned to see Cooper heading her way.
“He won’t be long.”
His tone was so matter of fact that it irked her. “What’s he going to do, kill everything out there?”
Cooper shrugged, “if he has to.” He leaned on his cane and looked at the gate. “Most of the wildlife avoid the areas we run,” he looked back to her, “they’re just not used to us being on this land yet.”
Emersyn held his look for a second and then turned back to the trees. She’d never thought of it before. What their kind meant to the wild creatures. She hugged her waist trying to warm the chill that went through her. They were predators.
“Put this on.” Cooper held her jacket out to her. She didn’t even know where she’d left it.
Stabbing her arms in the sleeves, she pulled it together and held it like that. All these years she thought the people that held her were the predators because they were in control. Now, she was seeing that in normal circumstances her kind were. They walked on legs like one-forms, but when they turned into their true forms, they were more dangerous than the real wild animals—in the body of an animal, but with the intelligence and knowledge of man. Right now, she couldn’t think past the worrying about Noah to figure out if that realization made her feel better or worse.