"Of course, Leland," she said, her heart flying into her mouth. Her eyes went watery as butterflies took over her stomach. Inside the box was a perfect antique wedding ring.
"It was my grandmother's engagement ring," he said, taking it out of the box and slipping it onto her finger.
He sat beside her and looked down at her hand. The ring seemed to fit perfectly. "I promise to spend the rest of my life making sure you have everything you need. I hope you can accept me for who I am."
She gazed up into his eyes, the mountain of a man looked down at her with such vulnerability it made her heart break. They already shared so much, yet he still felt he need to prove himself to her. She could barely speak.
"I've wanted you from the first day, Leland. It would be my honor to be your wife."
"Thank you."
Leland gathered her in his arms, and they held each other as the soft spring daylight ran down from the deep azure blue sky outside the window.
Chapter 18
Leland gathered his brothers around the dining room to deliver the bad news. Sylvia sat beside him with an attentive look on her face as she folded her hands over the papers.
"What’s the damage?" Jesse asked.
"How much trouble did Dad get us in?" Buck huffed, crossing his arms over his broad chest.
Leland hated what this would do to his brothers.
"The final decision of the auditors was that the ranch owes one-point-one million dollars.”
"What the fuck?" Buck spat, slamming his fist into the old oak table.
"I know this is a shock, but please, we have a lady present," Leland said.
Buck glanced over at Sylvia and sniffed. He stared at the ring on her finger and then looked at Leland.
"I apologize, Sylvia," Buck said, glancing back at her and nodding his head in her direction. "What are we supposed to do now?"
"Well, since the timber business has been bringing in cash for the last six years, the first thing we will do is sell the herd," Leland said.
"But the bloodlines go back to the original stock for our great-grandparents," Jessie objected.
"Since I left Dad alone with the operation since the war, the cattle operation has not been profitable. We also have to sell off a good part of our land and our equipment."
"How much land are we talking about?" Buck asked.
"How much equipment are we talking about?" Jessie added.
"We'll have to have everything evaluated. But we only have until the end of the quarter to pay off the first payment of five hundred thousand dollars."
"Or they will take you to court and you could be facing jail time if found guilty," Sylvia added, letting them know the real stakes involved.
Buck and Jessie went completely silent, their mouths gaping open.
Buck scoffed. Jessie just shook his head with a weird smirk on his lips.
"I was just thinking about those Updike brothers and the rest of the hyena pack that seems to be taking over Fate Mountain,” Jessie started. “The last time I saw the Updike brothers. They were taunting us about our land. They’d love it if we lost everything and the Kincaid name faded into distant memory on Fate Mountain.”
"Things have been getting worse since the hyena packs started moving in," Buck agreed.
"Rollo Morris of the Bear Patrol told me that crime is up fifteen percent since hyenas started moving into town. The humans have started asking for shifter protection. The shifters who decided to take the dark path seem to be increasing all the time. After the war, a lot of these guys are pissed,” Buck said.
"The veteran’s benefits ran out. A lot of them just drank or fought through it because of everything they'd been through. We’re lucky to have a family, and a place like Timber Bear Ranch to call home. But now everything that shifters have built here is at risk," Buck continued.
"It can't be that bad," Sylvia said.
"Maybe you're right," Buck said. “But it’s still important that decent shifters like our family stay here and carry on the traditions that have made Fate Mountain the place that means so much to so many people."
"I'm glad we are all on the same page," Leland said. "But now we have the serious work of deciding what we will sell and what we will keep. What parcels of land are we most comfortable losing? What is the resell value of our equipment?"
Jessie opened his laptop on the table and started researching resale prices for their equipment. Leland was surprised at his brother's affinity with computers, but he shouldn't have been. He was learning new things about his brothers all the time.
After a few hours of the entire family researching land prices and equipment prices, making phone calls and writing lists and schedules, Leland went outside to take a breath of fresh air and check on the herd.
Since the expensive livestock vet had come from out of town, his cattle were doing much better. Most of them were cured and were happily grazing in a high and dry pasture on the north side of the property.
He raised his foot and rested it on the wooden fence as he looked out at his cattle. He heard a motor rumbling behind him and he turned to look down the driveway. He saw two dirt bikes race toward him. The Updike brothers parked in the driveway and got off their bikes, headed towards the door. Leland called out to them, cutting them off before they could knock and bother the rest of the family.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
The brothers looked at each other and looked back at him. A smile curved on their faces and the light of their shifters glowed behind their eyes.
"We came here to make you an offer," Chuck said.
"An offer you can't refuse,” Brandon said.
"What are you talking about? We have no business with each other."
"Oh, but I believe we do," said Chuck.
"You see, your father still owes our family quite a bit of money. We’re willing to forgive his debts if you sell Timber Bear Ranch to us for five hundred thousand dollars," Brandon said.
Leland scoffed and shook his head, imagining that they would believe that Timber Bear Ranch was only worth five hundred thousand dollars. Leland looked back up at them and smirked, letting his grizzly shine from within. He curled back his lips and allowed his canine teeth to descend slightly in his mouth.
"No fucking way," Leland said flatly.
"You're better off selling to us than trying to pay off your debt some other way."
"What do you know about my debts?" Leland asked. “What does five hundred thousand mean to you?”
He was beginning to feel suspicious that they had something to do with this entire mess. They had just revealed to him that their family were the loan sharks that had given his father a loan after the war.
"We know enough,” Chuck started. “And five hundred thousand is what we’re willing to pay.”
"Timber Bear Ranch isn’t for sale to the likes of you. I would appreciate if you get off my property. If there is a legitimate debt, sue me.”
"Have it your way," said Brandon. "The offer goes down by hundred thousand dollars a day. I would get on it soon if I were you."
"Not a chance," Leland said to their backs as they walked down the stairs and climbed back on their motorcycles.
His brothers and Sylvia came out onto the porch as the Updike brothers drove away on their bikes. Leland shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"What were the Updikes doing here?" Jessie asked.
"Trying to offer to buy the ranch for exactly the value of our bill," Leland said.
"Do you think it's a coincidence?" Buck asked.
"I've learned not to think of anything as a coincidence," Leland said, looking down at Sylvia.
"Should we be worried?" Sylvia asked.
"Don't worry about them. They are just harmless jerks who are trying to take advantage of a bad situation."
19
After spending all day working with the brothers deciding what to sell, researching prices, and collecting information, Sylvia was tired and hungry.
/> She left Leland and his brothers in the parlor to continue discussing their options over cold bottles of Fate Mountain Lager. She went into the kitchen to check the cabinets and refrigerator but came back empty-handed. Leland had bought a few things at the grocery store a few days ago, but most of it was already gone. He'd been up on the mountain visiting Cyrus until this morning.
"I'm going to the grocery store to get some things would any of you like me to pick something up for you?" she asked the brothers in the parlor.
"That would be awesome," Jessie said.
The brothers told her what they wanted from the store and she took down a list. As she stood, everyone handed her cash from their pockets and she thankfully accepted what they had to offer.
She shoved the cash in her purse and made her way to the door. On the way into town, her mind was awash with feelings. She and Leland had barely had a moment to consider what they would do after everything was sold with the baby on the way. But she tried not to think about it.
She had to trust that he would always take care of her. And she did. She continued down the road, thinking of what it would be like to be a mother, and what her baby would look like. Would he have Leland's eyes? Would he have her chin? Baby names flitted through her mind and she smiled.
Sylvia still hadn't told her mother about Leland, let alone the baby. She glanced down at the antique ring on her finger. Soon she would have to face her mom and let her know her daughter had finally found a good man.
Part of her wanted to keep it to herself after everything her mom had put her through. But she knew that making peace with her mother would be important for her children in the long run. She really did love her mom. She knew that she’d just been trying to help her, at the end of the day. Even if her help seemed like interference most of the time.
Sylvia made it into town and parked in front of Fate Mountain grocery. She went inside, grabbed a cart, and started picking up the things on her list. The boys all had varying tastes, from roast beef to tofu. She found everything they wanted and everything she had wanted too, and made her way to the checkout.
After putting everything on the checkout counter, she waited for the total. The bagger quickly put her things in her cart and she declined help getting her groceries into the car. Outside, she opened her trunk and placed her bags inside. When she slammed her car trunk door closed, she jumped back with a start, seeing an unfamiliar face standing across from her.
"Can I help you?" she asked the man.
He had shaggy brown hair, a sharp nose, and eyes that glowed with the light of a shifter. He was letting his animal come through, and she could feel the threat rolling off him.
"Tell the Kincaid brothers to sell."
"What are you talking about?" she demanded.
The sunlight had faded behind the mountain and the only light was the streetlamp at the other end of the parking lot.
Another man walked up behind her and grabbed her arm. His fingers bit into her bicep as he squeezed.
"Let go of me," she demanded, trying to yank her arm away from her assailant.
She was too far away from the entrance to the grocery store for anyone to see her in the dark.
"Tell them to sell," the first one said.
She couldn't see the other man's face, but she could feel his hot breath blowing down over her head and his cruel fingers biting into her skin.
"This has nothing to do with me," she said.
"This is pointless," one man said to the other. "You're coming with us."
They dragged her away from her car, her keys dropping on the ground. They shoved her into the middle seat of an old pickup truck and one of them covered her mouth with his hands, keep her from crying out to for help. The other one got behind the steering wheel and started the engine. Sylvia kicked and punched, trying to escape.
The driver peeled out of the parking lot and raced down the highway, running a red light on the way. They were headed up the mountain, past Timber Bear Ranch. For miles and miles they drove, the man's cruel arms around her until she finally went still and started crying.
"Just let her go," the driver said to the man holding her. "Maybe she'll stop crying."
"Where are you taking me?" she demanded when the cruel man let go of her mouth.
"Wherever we want, it looks like," said the driver.
"What do you want from me and the Kincaids?"
"You had a chance to meet our demands. But you lost that chance. And now you're gonna pay for it."
"Why do you want the Kincaids’ ranch so much?"
"We don't want anything from the Kincaids. We just do what we’re told."
"You work for someone who wants the Kincaids’ ranch?" Sylvia prodded.
"What is this? Twenty questions?"
"Shut her up," the driver said.
"The first man pulled a dirty handkerchief from his pocket and wrapped it around her mouth. He used a piece of baling twine to tie her hands behind her back. No matter how hard she fought against him, it was impossible to fight him off.
She was left bound and defenseless, not even able to ask questions. It had been so easy for them to take her, they didn't even have a gun. She hung her head in shame, feeling so stupid for letting herself get plucked up like this.
She had no idea the threat had been so great. What would Leland think when she didn't come back home? Would he ever be able to find her? Did these men want her dead? They turned down a dark, bumpy road and continued up a steep grade for many miles.
When they finally stopped and pulled her out of the truck, she found herself in front of a dingy old single wide trailer with boarded up windows. The steps up to the front door were rickety and the dim front room smelled of mold. The dingy green carpet was stiff under her feet as she stumbled across the room to collapsed on a dusty old couch against the wall.
She was too terrified and overcome with emotion to even cry any more. She thought about the baby growing inside her and what this would do to her sweet child. These horrible men had to be stopped. No matter what. But there was nothing she could do. Her only choice was to try to wait for Leland to come rescue her.
The men sat down on either side of her and one of them clicked on an old box TV that somehow had reception.
Every so often static filled the screen and the audio buzzed out. It was irritating to watch and made the situation even more upsetting. The men continued to drink beers for several hours while she sat there in silence, watching the horrible television.
Finally, one of them picked her up by the bicep and led her into a bedroom where he sat her down on the bed. He stared down at her in the dim light of the room, with the TV flickering from through the door. Fear gripped her throat. The look in his eyes was a mixture of hatred and lust, and she took a sharp breath through her nose.
"Leave her alone," said the man who had driven the truck.
The man above her grunted and told her to go to sleep before closing the door and leaving the room. Sylvia climbed into the bed as best she could in her immobilized condition, and rested her head on the musty pillow. Tears ran from her eyes as they dropped onto the dingy pillowcase.
She slowly drifted to sleep to the sound of the broken television and prayed with all of her heart that Leland would somehow save her.
Chapter 19
After two hours without Sylvia returning home, Leland became extremely anxious. He dialed her cell phone and didn't get a response. He waited two minutes and called her again to the same ends.
Turning frantic, he called her a dozen more times before hurrying out to his truck and driving into town. When he got to the grocery store, he found her car in the parking lot and her keys discarded on the pavement below her tire.
He smelled the faint scent of hyenas in the air, and gritted his teeth. The scent wasn't the same as the Updike brothers who had threatened him earlier, but it had the distinct sharp scent of hyena. He could smell Sylvia's fear, hot in the air, even after two hours. He grabbed her keys and sho
ved them in his pocket, dialing his brother to let him know what had happened. Buck answered on the second ring.
"Did you find her?" Buck asked immediately.
"Her car is in the parking lot and her keys were on the pavement. I smell hyenas."
"Is it those bastard Updikes?"
"I don't believe it is. But it's definitely hyenas.”
"They're everywhere nowadays. Me and Jessie will be right there to help you find her.”
Leland got off the phone with Buck and then went into the grocery store to ask the checkout girl if she had seen Sylvia.
“I just got on shift a few minutes ago," she said. "I haven't seen anyone by that description.”
Leland left the grocery store and continued out into the parking lot just as Buck and Jessie arrived.
“Let’s show these Updikes what happens when you mess with a Kincaid brother’s mate,” Buck growled.
Buck grabbed his shotgun from the rack of his pickup truck and sat in the passenger seat of Leland's crew cab. Jessie got in the backseat with a pistol he had strapped under his arm. Buck looked at Leland and glanced down at his shotgun. As Leland pulled out onto the highway, he opened his glove compartment, revealing the pistol he kept inside. Buck nodded and they continued up the mountain toward the Updike estate.
The Updikes had lived on Fate Mountain for as long as the Kincaids had. Unlike the Kincaid family who had worked their land, the Updikes seemed to work everyone else on Fate Mountain. After Fate Mountain Lodge had fallen into disrepair, and they'd sold it to Levi Blackthorn, the family seemed to go into decline.
But that had all changed recently after the Updikes’ father had gone to jail for a murder he’d committed years before. When Leland pulled into the front driveway of the Updike’s mansion, he was amazed at how many other trucks, SUVs, and motorcycles were parked outside. He looked at his brothers questioningly.
"It looks like the Updikes have company," Jessie said.
"Do we confront them now?" Leland asked. "Packing heat?"
"How many hyenas do you think you can take in grizzly form?" Leland asked his brothers.