Trusted Fate
Page 1

Liberty, Wyoming 4
Trusted Fate
Lily Thomas was on the run from the very people she should have been able to trust. She was dropped off in a town far away from her home, alone, scared, tired, hungry and now injured. Can she overcome her fear to get the help she needs before it was too late?
Alec Wright and John Mitchell are two deputies that searched anxiously for the lost woman with white hair that had been sighted many times in town. They’d been worried because she was a woman on her own and besides being deputies, they were some of the town toughest Dom’s that believed women were to be cherished and watched over.
But there were so many things they had to consider. Besides helping her heal, they have to help her navigate a world that overwhelms her at times. The men also had to consider whoever she ran from would come looking, so they had to stay alert at all times.
Genres: Contemporary, Ménage
Length: 42,505
TRUSTED FATE
Liberty, Wyoming 4
Lara Jones

Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
Trusted Fate
Copyright © 2018 by Lara Jones
ISBN: 978-1-64243-405-7
First Publication: September 2018
Cover design by Harris Channing
All art and logo copyright © 2018 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
If you find a Siren-BookStrand e-book or print book being sold or shared illegally, please let us know at legal@sirenbookstrand.com
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
DEDICATION
To my husband and children who put up with my late nights and distracted awareness of the world around me. To my mom and sister who believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lara Jones was born and raised in Iowa and still resides there with her husband and children. She’s an author of steamy, contemporary romance novels and devotes hours to creating sultry novels with happy endings that she hopes entertain people, makes them laugh and sometimes cry, but always end the book feeling good.
Lara started writing when she was thirteen. She found writing was a way to comfort herself during her rough teenage years, and she never stopped. It was only when her mother and sister pushed her did she finally send in a novel, and to her surprise, people enjoyed it and asked for more.
You can usually find her at her home in the country surrounded by her family and many animals and the majority of the time in her quiet little office, conjuring up whole new interesting families and communities.
Some of Lara’s favorite things are spending time with her family, her dogs, horseback riding, gardening, cooking, hiking and, of course, writing and reading romance novels.
For all titles by Lara Jones, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/lara-jones
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TRUSTED FATE
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
TRUSTED FATE
Liberty, Wyoming 4
LARA JONES
Copyright © 2018
Chapter 1
John lounged against the doorjamb, his body rigid with anxiety.
“Hey, Chief, someone spotted that girl again.”
Liam looked up from his desk and narrowed his eyes in concern before he ran a hand down his face. Jesus, that was the fourth time in a little over a week.
“Does anyone have a different description of her than the ones we’ve received so far?”
“I don’t know if I believe it, but two different people say she has white hair,” John commented.
Liam’s eyebrows went up. “Like gray? Is she older than we first thought?”
Alec stood next to John with his arms crossed over his chest and cleared his throat. “No, they say she’s young but has white hair.”
“Maybe she used that bleach stuff on her hair. Aren’t women always doing shit like that?”
John grunted. He didn’t know anything about what women did, and he’d like to keep it that way. They were strange creatures, ones he couldn’t live without, but he knew he’d never understood them.
“She might be a runaway teenager from another town,” John said. “How many miles out have we checked?”
Liam looked back and forth at his men in his office. They look as worried as he did.
“I’ve talked to every police or sheriff’s department in a hundred-mile radius.”
“Has anyone checked with people who live in the country?”
“Yeah, Dylan’s deputies have been all over. No one’s missing a girl.”
Alec cleared his throat. “Ricky said he’d seen her twice and thought she was a ghost. Now he’s afraid to go through town.”
Ricky was a special needs man that had been a part of the town for as long as Liam could remember. Liam knew Ricky was around the same age as him, but he hadn’t been able to go past kindergarten because of his disability. He lived with his mother in a house on the outskirts of town and spent his days walking around picking up cans and putting them in the wagon he dragged around behind him.
“Dammit.” Liam squeezed the back of his neck before picking up a pen. “I feel bad for Ricky. I’ll have a talk with him later. I don’t like that he’s scared.” Liam held back his own fear. That girl had been on her own for at least ten days. Even in small towns, there were too many predators out there that would take advantage of a young girl.
“Bonnie Jenkins said she’s missing some clothes off her laundry line in her backyard.”
Liam’s gaze fixed on John. “Like what?”
“Two skirts, men’s socks, and a button-down men’s shirt.”
Alec crossed his arms. “Mr. Davis has caught sight of her in his apple orchard.”
Liam threw down the pen he’d been using to tap on his desk.
“That’s good she’s getting some food, but it’s getting cold at night. Where the hell is she staying that she can keep warm?”
The men looked at each other, but no one had an answer.
“I want extra patrols out until we find her. I’ll be asking the single men first because I’d rather not take men away from their families if possible.”
“John and I can put in more hours, Chief.”
Liam nodded. “Good. Thanks, Alec. Okay, tonight we start,
and hopefully, we find her before she freezes or, God forbid, gets into the wrong hands. A little girl on her own is never a good thing.”
* * * *
A sizzle of static disturbed the quiet night.
“Alec, come in.”
Alec reached for his radio as his eyes continued to sweep the area.
“Hey, John. You got anything?”
John ran a hand down the back of his neck in frustration. He couldn’t stop thinking about that young girl and how afraid she must be right now. Where the hell was her family?
“No, dammit. You?”
“I found some small footprints, a child’s or small woman in the alley behind the café that looks fresh.”
John felt a sliver of hope. “You think it’s her?”
“Yeah, I have a gut feeling it is.” Alec was determined to find her no matter how many nights he had to be out here. “I know she’s close by.”
John looked at his watch. “It’s four in the morning. Let's go home and get a few hours’ sleep before we start our shift.”
“Sounds good. I’ll meet you at the truck.”
* * * *
Lily let out the breath of relief she’d been holding as she watched out a grimy window as the man walked away from her hiding place in the feed store where she slept every night.
The broken lock on the back door had made it easy for her to get in and out. She used saddle blankets to sleep under at night and got food from the garbage behind the café right across the street. All she had to do was wait until the owners left and it was dark, and she would feast on the leftovers.
Lily cuddled under the blankets, hoping to get a few hours’ sleep before the owner came in for the day. If she got up early enough, she could take a sink bath. The soap was harsh, but it made her feel clean.
She’d been ecstatic when she found the bathroom. Up in the mountains where she came from, she and her granny still had an outhouse and water they brought in from their well. The only other time she’d been in one was the time her granny had taken her with her to sell the beautiful quilts she made and then sold for a profit. They didn’t need anything, but it was always a luxury to have coffee, sugar, and salt.
Her granny had taken her back into the bathroom at the store she dealt with in the nearest town. Granny had shown her the sink and toilet and how they worked. She still smiled when she remembered how the toilet had scared her the first time she flushed it. Lily had to admit to herself she still didn’t like it.
After that, she’d been fascinated by the townspeople and how they lived. She’d read everything she could get her hands on.
That had been the only time Granny had taken her anywhere. Lily hadn’t understood it, but her granny had told her she got too much unwanted attention and she didn’t want bad things to happen to her.
She’d heard the stories from other people how her mother had gone to town a few times, and during one of those times, she’d been attacked by a few men. Her mother had been a beautiful, happy woman until that day. After that, she’d been a shell of what she’d been and only stayed alive long enough to birth Lily.
Lily was born with the same light blue eyes and light blonde hair as her mother’s and granny’s. Granny had told her it was a family trait passed down through the women in the family. Their unusual looks and gift for healing had been a part of her family for hundreds of years.
Her granny would never really talk about the attack or the aftermath. She hadn’t gotten over the heartbreak of what her daughter had endured and the fact she’d died in birth. Before she’d had a chance to hold her baby girl, Lily.
Lily snatched up her bag that sat beside her. It had everything she owned in it, and she pulled out the one picture she had of herself and her grandmother, and a separate smaller picture of her mother. The three could have easily been triplets if born in the same generation.
She opened her bag and found the braided bracelet her cousin Grace had made for her several years before. Lily closed her eyes and clutched it to her chest as a wave of longing so powerful swept through her. She missed her and the times they were able to be together. Grace had been the only friend Lily had.
She worried tremendously about her cousin. Lily believed Grace was in danger of being abused on the mountain as much as Lily herself had been. Thankfully Grace had her brothers. Lily just hoped they would be able to keep her safe.
Lily put the picture and bracelet back in her bag and lay back down. Her body was so tired. She hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep since her granny passed away three weeks before.
Tears ran freely down her face as loneliness unlike any she’d ever felt overwhelmed her. Lily’s heart broke when she thought she hadn’t even been able to stay for her granny’s funeral because she had to run to save herself.
An uncle her granny had told her she was supposed to live with if anything happens to her granny said he couldn’t deal with her and his own six kids. He’d have to have eyes on her all the time, or the men of the mountain would take her.
Some of the superstitious mountain people had thought the women in her family, because of their looks, had been angels sent down from God. With their clear blue eyes, very light blonde hair, and beauty, they were what angels looked like. The generations old folklore stated that if a man were to possess one of the women in her family, he would forever be sure to have a long prosperous life and guaranteed to get into heaven.
She’d been safe as long as her granny had been alive because she’d been their healer and the people respected and feared her enough to leave Lily alone.
Even though Lily had learned everything she could from her granny and could have easily taken over as their healer, the men saw her as a means to an end instead. Lily didn’t know what her people would do without a healer now.
Lily rubbed her eyes and sighed when the predawn light seeped through the window above her. She decided that day she’d have to find somewhere to sleep during the day and find herbs she needed for the injury she had sustained a few nights before while climbing out of the dumpster in back of the café.
She pushed the blanket off her, reached down, and pulled her skirt up. A grimaced crossed her face when she pulled at the sock she used for a bandage that was now stuck to the injury. Pus and blood seeped from the wound.
A shiver of fear raced down her spine as she felt around the wound and found it swollen and hot. The poison would get her if she didn’t drain the wound and pack it with a salve she’d make from the herbs, to keep the infection away.
The light grew brighter, pushing her to put things back where they were and have a few minutes to wash up and maybe disinfect her cut with the harsh soap. It was going to hurt like the devil, but it was all she had at the moment.
Lily soaped a paper towel and cleaned the wound as much as she could as tears of pain ran down her cheeks. She cleaned herself the best she could but knew she needed to leave before she was caught.
Lily breathed a sigh of relief when she made it out the back door as the owner was coming in the front. She lifted her shoulder bag over her head, tied a scarf over her hair to help keep her hair hidden, and carefully made her way into the woods at the back of the shop.
Every step rubbed the injury on her inner thigh against the other thigh, making walking excruciating. She would go deeper into the woods than she normally did and look for the plants she might be able to use for her wound. If she didn’t find them, she didn’t know what she would do.
Chapter 2
“Hey, Stacy, can you get John and Alec in here please?”
“Sure thing, boss.”
Both men walked into the police chief’s office a few minutes later.
“What do you need?” John asked as he took a chair in front of Liam’s desk.
Liam didn’t look up. “Did you find anything?” Liam asked as he continued with the paperwork in front of him.
Alec nodded. “We found some tracks behind the café I think could be hers.”
Liam raised his hea
d. “Good. What are the plans for tonight?”
“We’re thinking about surveilling the café for a few hours and hope she comes back.”
“That’s a good idea.” Liam frowned as he looked from one to the other. “How long did you stay out looking last night? You both look like you haven’t slept.”
Alec crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall then shrugged.
“We went home around four.”
“Jesus. And you still came in this morning?”
John grunted. “We’ve gone without sleep before, Chief. It’s not going to kill us.”
Liam snorted. “Yeah, but normally you intimidate most everyone…”
“Except Mora, your fiancée,” Alec slid in.
Liam laughed. “She’s not intimidated by anyone.”
John and Alec watched the emotion on the other man’s face and waited a long moment for him to continue. Finally, Alec cleared his throat to get his attention and pull him away from the thoughts of his fiancée.
Liam sat up a bit. “Sorry, she’s just…”
John snorted. “We know,” he interrupted.
Liam grunted. “Anyway, what was I saying?”
Alec rolled his eyes. “About us intimidating everyone.”
“That’s right. Normally you two intimidate people, but when you both are tired, you scare the hell out of them, and frankly, I don’t have time to listen to complaints.”
John and Alec looked surprised and then at each other.
“Really?” Alec asked.
Liam grunted and threw a pencil at Alec.
“Shut up, asshole. You know this already. But you can’t bark at people because they look at you. If I get one more cop in here just about in tears, you’re going to pay for it.”
“You got it, boss.” John grumbled.
Liam’s eyes narrowed when he caught the twitch of his lips.