Black Light: Branded by Parker Kay Elle

Author:Parker, Kay Elle
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-947559-48-6
Publisher: Black Collar Press
Published: 2020-10-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Ava

As soon as she was out of sight and sound of Finn, Ava threw up. She couldn't help it, she held onto the nausea as long as she could, determined to be strong in the face of death and prove she could be every inch as controlled as Finn. Ranchers didn't void their stomachs at the sight of dead livestock or want to cry when they smelled the cloying scent of rotting flesh.

This was nothing like she'd been expecting when Finn said they were coming here. She had in mind something similar to home—clean, tidy, as immaculate as any working ranch could be. By his expression, Finn hadn't anticipated this chaos either.

When she woke up alone in the truck, she hadn't wanted to bother him if he was busy going head to head with the man Finn trusted to run this section of his ranch. The less confrontation she faced, the happier she was. She'd been a nervous wreck, tiptoeing across the empty yard to begin her snooping mission, wondering if someone would step out and demand to know who the hell she was and what she was doing there.

But no one had, and then her naive world had tumbled down around her ears.

Recovering from her bout of sickness, Ava straightened and used the handkerchief to wipe her face, tucking the dirty fabric into her pocket with a wince. She just had to look at this from a different perspective, she told herself. Yes, she'd thrown up. Yes, ordinary ranchers probably didn't do that, but she was no ordinary rancher.

She was transitioning from city girl to ranching woman, and she was proud of the steps she was taking. For once in her life, she was actively involved in something productive, working toward an end goal. If she couldn't praise herself for not screaming the barn down...no, no ifs. She was damn proud she'd held onto her composure and not melted into a puddle of distressed female in need of rescuing.

It was another brick in the wall of a new Ava.

She ignored the weakness in her legs as she braced herself for what else she might find and walked up to the gate of the next barn. Another dirty layer of straw and cow feces, but no dead bodies. Her muscles relaxed a fraction. She wandered from barn to barn, fingers crossed by her sides as she stepped up to the gates. In the fourth one, she discovered two living, breathing beasts, both of which scrambled away from her presence. The straw in this barn was clean, rustling beneath running hooves.

Noticing the bits dangling from their bellies, she identified them both as bulls and backed away from the gate.

Her luck ran out at the last barn. She thought at first it was empty. No straw on the floor, just dirty concrete. But as she scanned the shadows, her eyes acclimating to the dimness, she saw a heap to the left, a dull silver coat catching what little light there was. Her heart sank and her palms dampened as she climbed the gate and approached the cow.

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