Don’t worry about us, Sheriff. We’ll be fine.”
Barry nodded in understanding. “There are five horses total. Two mares, a stallion, and two colts. The stallion’s likely to give us the biggest run for our money, but I believe the mares might go a little mama bear on us.”
“I’ve got a mother-in-law,” Riggs quipped, nudging his head to his partner. “Not much scares me.”
Seth dropped his chin and chuckled, grateful for the levity Riggs offered. Seth figured his cousin had built up the situation in an effort to prepare the men, but life as a cowboy had afforded him ample opportunity for that desensitization. He’d stumbled into many precarious situations out on the ranch involving hormone-incensed bulls and gored or fence-caught cattle. He’d even been involved in a riding accident or two that left more than just a nasty scar in its wake. The metal plate in his collarbone and hitch in his step were nagging reminders that things could go sideways quickly. But even that reality didn’t scare him. It just prepared him.
Still, even with that preparedness, once they eventually rode out and Seth caught sight of the five horses grouped near a barn that looked about as sturdy as a toothpick model, he couldn’t stave off the dryness that tightened his throat. The small herd huddled as one bony mass, mere skeletons with weather-beaten skin and saggy, dead eyes. Whatever fight his cousin had warned them to expect had left those horses long, long ago. They’d given up just about everything but breath, and even that came out in staggered, labored pants.
Riggs muttered a low curse.
“My thoughts exactly,” Seth said, biting back the string of similar words that wanted to fly out like a round of bullets.
How someone could neglect an animal to the point of impending death was beyond him. It almost made him wish for the punching bag his mother had made him get rid of back in his high school days. He craved some sort of release for the sudden anger that welled up within him.
“Letting go of your frustrations through your heart is much more productive than through your fists,” she’d said to him, almost as a mantra.
Seth had never grasped the meaning of that until he’d started dating Bridgette a couple years back. It was then that he realized stewing over someone else’s mistakes was just about the least productive thing to do. The animals that came through her sanctuary didn’t need someone to be angry about their situation. They just needed someone to love them back to health.
Kicking Scout’s flank into gear, Seth spun around and sidled up to the herd from the left, Cutter and Riggs fanning out to cut off any would-be escapees. But that strategy proved unnecessary as the horses cooperatively moseyed through the makeshift tunnel toward Seth’s waiting trailer with not so much as a whinny of defiance. Sure, fear flashed through their sunken eyes, quick and sharp like lightning. But it didn’t keep them from moving up and away from the pressure Seth and the others placed as they trotted closer. Within a span of ten minutes, all five rescues were clustered at the trailer door. Getting them into that metal box was a bigger hurdle, but once the stallion made up his mind that the trailer was a safer option than the desolate and decrepit ranch behind him, the others followed suit and scampered into the rig.
Slamming the partition into place, Seth loaded and tied Scout in the far back, giving the nervous horses ample room to settle in. He dug in his pocket for his cell phone and swiped it open, then punched a quick text to Bridgette to let her know he was on his way with her newest residents. So far, so good.
When he slowed up to the sanctuary less than a half hour later, he composed another text. His first one had gone unanswered, which wasn’t unusual given Bridgette’s entire operation was volunteer run and she was the “Head Mare in Charge.”
Seth was about to place his phone onto the console of his truck when it buzzed in his palm with a message that she would meet him out on the street in a minute. He unclicked the strap of his seatbelt and had his hand on the door handle when his ex appeared at his driver’s side window, out of breath and wearing a grimace that flipped her entire mouth upside-down.
“I can’t take them, Seth,” she said in a tone that was