He took off into the trees, while I stayed on the path. These summer evenings that allowed for post-work runs were some of my favorite things about the season—that and time at the lake, which I’d had far too little of this year.
A howl split the air, and I almost tripped over my feet. It wasn’t the sound of one animal calling to another. It was one of pain, and it was coming from my dog.
I ran off the path towards the sound. “Koda! Where are you?”
He let out another pained cry, and I picked up my pace. I didn’t hear sounds from another creature, so I hoped it wasn’t anything bad. I called his name again and picked up the sound of a whine.
I caught sight of his crumpled form, my chest wheezing. “Koda. What is it, boy?”
He tried to move towards me and then cried out. I sank to my knees. “Stay still. You’re okay.”
I froze. He sure as hell wasn’t okay. My dog’s hind leg was caught firmly between the jaws of a trap. I let a slew of curses fly as I took in the blood oozing from his leg.
Koda whined and pressed his body against my leg. I sank my hands into his fur, scratching behind his ears to try and calm him. “We’ll get you out of this. It’s gonna hurt more before it gets better, though. Can you stick with me?”
Koda licked the side of my face. “Okay. I’m taking that as a yes.”
I did my best to examine the trap without jostling Koda. As I did, anger slid through my veins. No trap like this was humane, but this kind was the worst of the worst. I wouldn’t be surprised if the force had broken Koda’s leg.
“Here we go, buddy.” With one swift move, I pressed down on the levers on the sides of the trap. Koda howled in pain but pulled his leg free. Once he was clear, I released my hold, and the jaws clanged closed.
I wrapped my arms around my dog as he whimpered. “All right now. I got you.” I slowly ran my hands down his body to his leg, but Koda wouldn’t let me near the wound. “Okay. I won’t touch it.”
I pushed to my feet. “You think you can stand?” Koda tried to follow but cried out, holding his leg off the ground.
I ran a hand over my head, thinking about my options. Pulling out my phone, I held it up. One bar. I tried Hadley first, knowing she had the day off. The call wouldn’t connect.
“We’re gonna have to get creative, buddy.”
Koda looked up at me with sorrowful eyes.
“I know. I’m gonna get whoever did this.” With that promise, I noted in my phone where we were on the trail so I could come back to investigate. Then I slid my phone back into my pocket. “I hope Hads and Shy haven’t been giving you extra treats.”
I groaned as I lifted Koda into my arms. “They definitely have.” It was going to be a long five miles to the trailhead.
“It’s all right, buddy. We’re here.” I pulled to a stop in one of the parking spots in front of the vet. Koda let out a whine from the backseat.
I’d oscillated between pissed and worried the entire drive to the vet. Thankfully, my adrenaline had carried me most of the hike back to my SUV at the trailhead. But that had melted away as soon as I started driving, replaced by anger and fear.
Pushing my door open, I jumped out of my vehicle and rounded to the backseat so I could get Koda. My arms shook just a bit with his weight. “I’m telling you. It’s diet time once you’re all fixed up.”
The only noise Koda made was a groan of pain. I hurried up the walkway, and just before I reached the front porch, the door swung open. Everly’s eyes widened as she took us in. “What happened?”
“A hunting trap off Bear Creek trail.”
A blue heat, the sharpest of flames, filled those wide eyes. “Anyone who uses those traps deserves to get stuck in one. Come on inside. I was just locking up. Miles is gone, but I’m sure he’ll come back.”
I hadn’t even considered that it was already after five. I’d only been thinking about getting here as quickly as possible. Everly ushered us into an exam room, and I carefully laid Koda on the table. She stroked his face with one hand while pulling out her cell phone with the other.
“Hi, Miles. I’ve got Hayes Easton here with Koda.” Her hand moved gently but efficiently down Koda’s side to his injured leg. She barely grazed the limb, but he still let out a whimper. “He got his leg stuck in a trap, and I’m worried it might be broken.”
She made some sounds of agreement as she listened to whatever Miles had to say and answered with succinct responses. At one point, she pulled a stethoscope from her purse and listened to Koda’s heart. “Nice and strong.”
I felt such relief at those words, I nearly had to take a seat in one of the empty chairs. Everly wrapped the stethoscope around her neck and then went back to passing soothing strokes along Koda’s side. “No problem. I can do that now. We’ll see you when you get here.”
She tapped end on the screen and slid her phone into her purse. “He’ll be here as soon as he can. He drove out to the Callahans’ to check on a horse who’s due any day, so it’ll take him a bit to get back. I’m going to administer a painkiller in the meantime so we can get Koda a little more comfortable. Is that all right with you?”
“Of course. Anything you can do to help.”
“I’ll be right back.” She hurried into the back.
I took her place at Koda’s head and stroked his face. “You’re going to be okay.”
The back door slid open, and Everly appeared with a syringe. “If you want to stay at his head, that would be great. Most dogs aren’t fans of needles, but I’m pretty good with doing injections as painlessly as possible. They usually give me the tough cases.”
“Sure.” I stroked the side of Koda’s face. “Show Ev what a tough pup you are, okay?”
The heat from Everly’s body seeped into mine as she moved in close and positioned the needle near the scruff of his neck. She bunched the skin with one hand and wielded the syringe deftly with the other. Koda didn’t flinch.
“I don’t think he even felt it.”
She soothed any possibility of a sting with strokes along his side. “Let’s hope it gets him feeling better. It should only take a few minutes to kick in.”
I scratched in the spot that Koda loved behind his ears, moving in a rhythmic motion over and over until his eyes drooped and his breathing grew deep. I slowly removed my hand and took a step back. “I think he’s asleep.”
Everly gave my dog a gentle smile, one I wished was pointed in my direction. “He’s been through the wringer. Sleep is the best thing for him right now.”
I reached out and took hold of her hand, squeezing and releasing it before she had a chance to possibly pull away. “Thank you.”
“It’s my job.”
“I know. But I’m still grateful.”
She moved to a drawer, examining its contents and doing some sort of unnecessary organization.
“Don’t like people thanking you?”
A flush of pink brushed her cheeks. “I don’t need it. I love what I do.”
“And you’re good at it. You’ve got a way with animals. They’re lucky to have you.”
That pink deepened. “Thanks.”
I chuckled. “I’ll let you off the hook now, promise.”
“Did you call in the location of the trap to the Forest Service?”
My hint of amusement fled in a flash. “Not yet. I’ve got a contact over there that I’ll call when I leave. Hopefully, he’ll sign on to letting me be involved in the case. I’d like to be there when whoever set those traps is arrested.”
“I’d like to put his leg in one.”
“I don’t disagree with you there. You usually a fan of bloody revenge?”
She looked up and met my gaze. “Sometimes, violence is the only thing a person understands. I’d never make the first move, but I won’t hesitate to fight back.”
A chill skittered across my spine. Everly spoke as if she’d experienced that kind of violence firsthand. “You should always defend yourself by any means necessary.”
She tur
ned away. “I will. But not everyone has the skills to do that.”
The sadness in her voice ripped at something in me. I took a stab in the dark. “Addie?”
Everly didn’t turn back around, but the tightness in her shoulders told me I’d hit the nail on the head.
“I’d like to help her if I can.”
After a moment, she turned. “You really are just the little helper, aren’t you?”
The corner of my mouth kicked up. “Little feels like a bit of an insult…”
She snorted. “Fine, big helper.”
“That’s better.” I took her in for a second, my gaze traveling across her face, looking for any piece of insight into this woman I could find. “If I can make someone’s life better, I want to try.”
Everly leaned back against the counter. “I might have ruined our chances there.”
“How?”
“I pushed. Tried to get Addie to come live with me. But it was too soon. She doesn’t trust me, and she has a reason not to.”
“Why’s that?” I couldn’t imagine Everly betraying her cousin in any way.
“I left her.”
The sorrow and grief in Everly’s words clawed at my chest. “You didn’t have a choice.” I didn’t know what had gone down with the Kemper family after Howard went to prison, but I knew it wasn’t good. And I also knew that Ev wouldn’t have left her cousin just for the hell of it.
“You don’t know that.”
“I do. I might not know the details, but I know that you wouldn’t leave without reason. And maybe one day you’ll trust me with what that reason was.”
21
Everly
“Are you sure you’re okay staying overnight?” Miles asked as he placed his stethoscope in his medical bag.
“More than.” It wasn’t like I had anyone to go home to. Not like Miles, who had his wife and daughters. “And Koda and I are good friends. I’d like to stay with him.”
“He does seem to be partial to you. I think he’ll feel at ease having you close by.”
I glanced over at the German shepherd, curled up in his kennel. He was snoring away, his new cast in place. We’d lucked out that the break hadn’t needed surgery, but Miles still wanted to keep him overnight as a precaution. I’d need to change his IV and give him another dose of pain meds during the night and first thing in the morning. Hopefully, with a good night’s sleep and some heavy-duty drugs, he’d be feeling better in the morning.
“No one wants to be alone when they’re feeling poorly. I’ve got my alarm set for his next two doses, so I think we’re set.”
Miles patted my shoulder. “I’ll have my cell phone nearby if you run into any issues. Don’t hesitate to call. My wife sleeps with earplugs now, so you won’t wake her.”
“She’s learned the hard way, huh?”
“She was not a fan of having her sleep interrupted, and after my first year of owning my own practice, she got smart and got earplugs. We’re both happier now. I hope you can get some sleep, too.”
“I will.” I waved him off, and Miles headed out the back door.
Surveying the room around me, I sighed. Koda was our only overnight guest but sleeping in unfamiliar places wasn’t the easiest thing for me. At least, the office had a little cot in the corner, and Miles had given me a fresh set of linens and a pillow. It would be good enough. And I’d done without sleep before. I could do it again.
A knock sounded at the back door, and I moved to pull it open. “Did you forget—?”
A man who was definitely not Miles cut off my question. Hayes stood in the doorway with a bag slung over one shoulder, holding two pizza boxes. His hair was dark, still damp from a shower. “Hey.”
“Hi.”
“I thought you might be spending the night. Pizza?”
My mouth opened, closed, then opened again. “What kind?”
Hayes raised a brow. “Does it matter?”
“Always.”
“I went straight ahead. One cheese. One pepperoni.”
“You give me the cheese, and I’ll let you in.”
He chuckled and handed me a box. “It’s all yours.”
My stomach rumbled as I inhaled the cheesy goodness. “I thought I would have to settle for one of Tim’s Cup Noodles.”
“I’d never leave you to that fate. Especially after taking such good care of Koda.” Hayes went to peek in the kennel. When he saw that his dog was fast asleep, he turned back to me. “Where do you want to eat?”
I inclined my head to the left. “Break room. We’ll leave the door open so we can hear Koda if he wakes up.”
I walked into the room that felt even smaller than usual. Memories of the last time we’d been in this space flooded my mind. Apparently, I had a penchant for losing it around Hayes, but I had to admit that he handled it well. I wouldn’t have thought the man who’d been so callous at our first meeting could be so kind and caring.
I slid the box onto the table. “Want a soda or a water? We might have iced tea, too.”
“I’ll take a Coke if you’ve got one.” Hayes moved to the cabinets, pulling out plates and napkins.
“That we have.” I pulled two from the fridge and settled back at the table, sliding one across to Hayes.
We were quiet for a moment as we pulled slices out of our respective boxes. He glanced at mine. “So, you don’t like pepperoni?”
“I don’t eat meat.”
“At all?”
I barked out a laugh. “You sound like I just told you that Santa isn’t real.”
Hayes gave a mock gasp, his hand flying to his chest. “He’s not?”
“I’m just breaking hearts all over the place.”
“It really is cruel. I don’t know how you live without cheeseburgers.”
I shrugged. “I don’t begrudge anyone their cheeseburgers, but the longer I worked with animals, the harder it was to eat them.” Hayes’ expression soured. “Sorry.”
“No, I get it. I think growing up on a cattle ranch gave me a different outlook. Mom and Dad have always been sticklers for ethical ranching. No crazy hormones to beef up the stock. Ending life as humanely as possible.”
“That’s good. Most large-scale operations aren’t that way. I just…my heart can’t handle it, I guess.”
The gentle smile that Hayes gave me, hit somewhere in the vicinity of my chest. I dropped my gaze, but he didn’t look away. “You guard that sensitive heart pretty well.”
Heat rose to my cheeks. “Some people take it as a weakness.”
“I don’t. I think letting things affect you deeply means you’re stronger than the rest of the world.”
I broke off a piece of crust and tore it into little pieces. I needed a subject change, something that wouldn’t feel as if Hayes was peering inside my mind and soul and seeing all the things I hid away. “How’d you end up with Koda?”
“He was a K-9 dropout, and I fell in love.”
“Really?”
He took a sip of his Coke and nodded. “He flunked out for being too friendly.”
“My kind of dropout.”
“Mine, too. The program was going to put him up for adoption, but I’d already grown attached, so I took him home.”
“It looks like you guys were meant for each other.”
Hayes took a bite of pizza and then swallowed. “I think so. And my family loves him. They spoil him rotten. Which is why it nearly killed me to carry him the five miles back to my SUV today.”
I dropped the piece of crust I was toying with back to my plate. “You carried him five miles? He weighs over eighty pounds.”
“Believe me, I know. I told him he’d be going on a diet as soon as he’s better. My sisters and parents give him too many treats.”
“They love him.”
“That they do. I swear he’d abandon me for Shiloh if he could.”
I cracked open my soda and took a sip. “It seems like she has a way with animals, too.”
“She does. Horses, espe
cially. I think she likes the idea of your sanctuary.”
“She seems to. She’s been helping out a lot. Says she’d like to help me get it up and running.”
Hayes slowly set his slice of pizza down. “I didn’t know she’d come by before we had to help with the barn.”
I’d realized that about Shiloh as I’d gotten to know her a little better—she kept things close to the vest. Especially around her family. “She showed up the day after your mom did and said she wanted to help. It must run in the family.”
Hayes’ jaw worked back and forth, and I could almost hear his back teeth grinding together. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. Helping out once or twice is one thing, but being there all the time…? It’s not healthy.”
I was quiet for a moment, trying to choose my words carefully. “Shouldn’t she be the one to decide that?”
“You think you know my sister better than I do?”
“Not at all. But I think she knows herself best.”
Hayes flexed his fingers against the lip of the table. “She can get triggered easily. I just don’t want that to happen more than it already does.”
“I get that.” Oh boy, did I ever. More than Hayes would ever know. “But, sometimes, we have to confront the ghosts. I think that’s what she’s doing in a way. Proving to herself there’s no reason to be scared anymore.”
“I need you to keep a close eye on her. And tell me if she seems to be having a hard time.”
I didn’t think Shiloh would let me in on that sort of thing. “Hayes, if she talks to me about anything…I’m not going to betray that confidence and come running to you.” He started to speak, but I held up a hand. “It’s not like we’ve become bosom buddies or anything.”
“Bosom buddies?”
“Haven’t you ever read Anne of Green Gables?”
“I can’t say that I have. But if there were boob friends, maybe I was missing out.”
I choked on the sip of Coke I’d just taken and nearly sprayed it across the table. “Don’t say something like that while I’m drinking.”
“Good to know you think I’m funny.”
“You’re denigrating my favorite Anne. You probably deserve a little backwash spray.”
Tattered Stars Page 13