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keep-the-wolves-close · 6 months

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Steady Heart

Chapter 31: Hunting Grounds

* Pairing: Slow-burn Kayce Dutton x OFC Stella Daniels

* Rating: M

* Warnings: language, stalking with intent to maim or kill, death, violence

* Word count: 3,958ish

I would love to give credits to @dameronscopilot and @deanscroissant for being sounding boards for me during this whole process, giving outsider insight, being cheerleaders, and allowing me to screech at them about things that have happened during the writing process. I seriously couldn't have gotten this far without y'all!

Author's note: Things are ramping up y’all! Hold on to your hats. We’re coming towards the finale. I hope everyone is enjoying so far! I hope you love this chapter as much as I do!

Another fun fact, wait do you guys like these?

But fun fact this was the second chapter I wrote lol.

Stella finished washing her hands in the big sink Olivia had in the wash bay. She watched as the slight gore from the difficult birth slid away. At least her hands and arms were clean now. Her hoodie on the other hand needed some serious tlc. She couldn’t throw it away because it was the first hard birth she had experienced, just Olivia and she at the helm, without the help of parents or anyone there. Olivia’s parents had gone away on a short vacation, and no one else was around. They called the vet, and he walked them through as much as he could. The point was to keep mama and baby stable long enough for him to get there and handle the rest.

There were muffled voices from off to the side of the wash bay. The foaling stalls were the first three along this wall, along with the wash pad. It was Olivia finishing up with the vet. They wanted to be sure they marked everything off the foaling list, and the extras that came along with the tough delivery. Trinity and the tiny colt were going to be just fine. They had been in some deep water, but with the help of the vet and their own knowledge paired together, they made it through to the other side.

“You ladies did a fine job. Both of them will be just fine. We’ll keep an eye on his front legs to see if they straighten out over the next few 24 to 48 hours.”

Stella nodded and the vet finished giving them instructions, “If they don’t stretch out on their own, then we’ll reconvene about wrapping or antibiotics.”

Stella was the cheerleader for the little colt. “Once he gets to moving a bit more, those tendons should relax and not contract as hard anymore. I have faith in the little guy.” She looked at Olivia, “So do you need me anymore this evening,” she looked at her phone for the time, “just kidding. This morning.” She laughed.

“No babe, I think we’re all good here. I’ll see you in a couple days to check up on him. Thank you for coming as fast as you did.”

“Always, lovely. I’ll see you later on.”

She walked out to her car and opened the door to toss in her bag onto the passenger seat. Before she got in, she heard footsteps approaching her from the barn. Stella looked at the person and found that it was Olivia. She smiled at her and she sat sideways in the driver’s seat.

“Are you sure you’re okay to drive home this late Stellar?” She looked unsure at Stella’s condition.

“Yeah girl, I should be fine. Ryan will also birth a bull calf if he doesn’t see me in a bunk before he leaves for the day.” They shared a chuckle.

“Okay, but you turn around if you feel like you can’t make it. I’ll fight your brother in the morning for you.” Stella turned and shut the door. Olivia gave it a tap and she was on her way. If only she had taken her up on the offer.

It was extremely dark in the wilderness of Montana. Stella knew this, but she needed to head home to the ranch. Ryan hadn’t been thrilled with the idea of her running out that late, but ranch emergencies didn’t wait. It was part of her job. She helped at Grand Springs occasionally. She helped with mostly all of the horses, but specialized with the broodmares. That was Stella and Olivia’s favorite part. The two points were about an hour away from each other. That’s why she had specifically bought a house that was the halfway point between the two ranches.

She squinted as headlights behind her blasted brightly in her rearview. Yes, it was advanced darkness out here in the middle of the forest, but the high beams were a bit dramatic in her opinion. She rolled her eyes, but kept moving forward at the set speed limit. The larger SUV behind her inched closer.

“There’s plenty of room to go around me, my guy.” She gripped the wheel and tried to ignore the sinking feeling in her gut the closer the big SUV got. She hoped she had service as she asked Siri to call her brother. She must have had at least a bar of service because her speakers started to ring out to her. It rang one time and went to voicemail. She looked in the rearview again, gauging just how close the Suburban looking vehicle had gotten.

She cursed, and asked Siri to call her brother again. ‘There is no actual way this shit is happening.’ She hadn’t been to her own house since everyone had made her come back to the ranch. Stella couldn’t even think of where they would have picked up her trail, if these were even the same people. If they were even following her. Maybe they were just in a hurry. She grimaced thinking about the Beck brothers and sped up to 70. She really had to stop being naively optimistic.

Stella reached across the front of the car to her glove box. Feeling the leather holster, she said a prayer as she brought it to her lap. She thought she was being jumpy, but she would rather have it on standby and not need it, than it being out of reach if the need arose. The words her brother and Rip had said to her the day they told her she was coming back to the ranch still ran through her head. ‘You brushing it off this way? Will get you kidnapped or killed. Or both.’

She looked at the clock and realized it was nearly four in the morning. There was one other person she knew that would pick up immediately at this hour. Kayce. She really didn’t want to bother him, but her brother wasn’t picking up. She would call Rip next if she needed to. The big vehicle kept a steady pace of being closer almost every time she looked at it.

She had no idea that a ring could be so loud. It rang two times, then four, and she felt more and more desperate with each ring.

“Oh come on. Pick up, Kayce John. Pick up.” She bounced in her seat. About the sixth time she bounced he picked up. “Oh thank god.”

“Stella? What’s wrong?” She could hear the gravel of confusion in his voice. He was only asking what was wrong because in no normal situation would she call this late. Especially since they had been at a distance from each other. He’d just finished taking care of leaving a message to Malcolm on his porch and was headed home when the call came through.

“Kayce I’m sorry, but someone is following me and Ryan won’t answer the phone.” She could hear him rustling around.

“Where are you?” He demanded.

“Somewhere off of 89 and 191, between Grand Springs and my house. I’m like 45 minutes out from your dad’s.”

“Shit! I’ll meet you at your house. Just hold on. I’m coming. Stay on the phone with me.” She could hear more rustling.

Stella looked around to find an escape option. ‘There should be a farm road,’ the voice in her head continued out loud, “here!” She tapped her brakes briefly and cranked her wheel to the left. She watched in the mirror as the big SUV flew by the road.

“Here what Stella?! What’s going on? Talk to me!”

She stomped on the gas because it was only a matter of time before they stopped and turned around. This road led back behind her three acres. The last acre, acre and a half, of her property remained wooded. She just needed to get there before that SUV came back.

“Kace, I’m going in through the back. I hit the farm road, but they’re not far behind me.”

“Keep going, don’t stop moving.”

She saw the little unmarked spot she had cleared out for the little tractor she had and jumped for joy. She checked her mirrors and could just barely make out their headlights. They definitely saw she had turned. They just had to figure out where. That would work in her favor. She cranked her wheel again and bounced around the turn into her property. She pulled off to the side behind the one dilapidated shed she had never bothered with.

Stella turned off her car. Everything went dark, “Kayce,” she whispered, “I’m about to get out of the car. They haven’t pulled in. Yet.”

“I’m almost there. 10 minutes out.” He sounded like he was praying under his breath, “Stella?”

“Yeah?”

“Get. Them. Lost.”

She swallowed hard as realization hit her. She heard her brother’s voice, ‘Stop, don’t think, just move. Hesitation gets you dead.’ She shook her head to bring herself back to the very serious reality at hand. She hopped out of the car and placed her phone in her bra wanting it close so Kayce could hear her. Popping the button on her holster, she flicked the safety off and heard the distinct snip of the deadly change. She peeked around the old shed. The Suburban was just passing by, but this time it had a partner. The silver car from before, which had stopped at the entrance she had turned in.

“Shit, that silver car is with them! It’s the same fucking people.” Stella looked around for something to get their attention with. She wanted to lure them into the wooded area to make herself harder to find, but also have it be like fishing in a barrel. She remembered that she had a flashlight in the pocket of her driver side door.

“ETA?” She opened the car door as quietly as she could.

“I’m almost to your driveway.”

“Okay cool. I’ll be somewhere near that trashy shed. I’m about to do something stupid.” Stella ended the call and put her phone in her back pocket.

“Stella?! Stella?!!” Kayce punched the steering wheel and screamed, “Fuck,” and floored it.

His tires crunched and threw gravel all the way up the driveway and back to the wooded part. The truck was barely in park before he hopped out. He heard the distinct pops of gun fire and started running. He broke through the line of trees and stopped behind a large tree. There were all sorts of sounds coming from every direction. He heard a lot of heavy footsteps to his front and right, but there off to his left there was a clear pattern of lighter foot falls weaving and bobbing. He breathed a sigh of relief because that meant Stella was still upright. Ducking down he headed to the left to get the drop on the men from behind.

Giving a wide berth, he wrapped around the back where the guy bringing up the rear looked for the woman of the hour. Kayce rushed up on him while he was still distracted and gripped his neck tightly. The man dropped to the ground with an unceremonious thud and he moved forward.

He quickly gained traction with one more of them. After the second man hit the ground, he heard Stella scream and his heart stopped. His feet started to move before he had realized it. Gunshots rang out followed by another scream that got cut off abruptly.

“Stella!” Kayce screamed out as he found the small clearing where she had gotten pinned. He hoped to see her there standing, or at least conscious because he couldn’t even fathom not having her around. She leaned against a tree, huffing wildly. She had scooted herself back against the trunk in the scramble for her life. She looked like she wanted to pass out. The men that screamed were down on the ground. They laid in an odd position and Kayce could tell they was dead. He ran over to Stella and took her gun in the process.

“I got ‘em, Kayce,” she tried to catch her breath, “before they got me.” He grabbed her hand and started to lead her away toward his truck.

“Yes you did sweetheart.” He winced at the thought of how she was going to come to terms with taking a life. If she even realized she killed someone.

“Holy shit. I think I’m —,” she stumbled and bent at the waist away from him. She stabilized herself on a tree, and retched until her voice went hoarse.

“Let it out baby. Let it out.” He rubbed her back in between her shoulder blades to give any sort of comfort he could. She started to shake with the effort. Kayce placed an arm around her waist to keep her from falling.

“I’ve gotcha Stell.” Her body relaxed as the heaving stopped. She groaned and wiped her mouth off. Her phone started to ring in her back pocket as she made herself upright. Immediately, she handed it to Kayce, not wanting to deal with whoever it was.

“Ryan,” he greeted quietly.

“Uh, excuse me? Kayce?”

“Ask me all the questions you want later. Get yourself and Lloyd out to Stella’s. Now.”

“What the fuck, is she okay?”

“Yes, just get here now.”

Colby looked over at Ryan when he heard his confusion at calling his sister, but having someone else pick up. That someone else being their current foreman. His eyebrows raised at that thought. He would have to talk to Stella about that when he saw her next.

“Colby, you and Jake are in charge for the day! I need Lloyd to go to Stella’s!” He ran as if the devil himself was on his heels and left a confused Colby in the bunkhouse.

He ran in and immediately ran into Lloyd. “Jesus Christ Ryan watch where you’re goin’.”

“Lloyd.” He gulped air. “Kayce said there was an emergency at Stella’s and we need to get there now.” He ran off to find any truck keys he could.

“Oh hell!”

The two men saw the slight destruction Kayce’s truck had caused to the driveway. They each let out their own expletives, not sure what they had just pulled into. Ryan threw the truck in park and looked for Kayce. The man in question got up from the porch steps next to Stella. Ryan hopped out and ran for his little sister.

She looked like she was trying to make herself small and disappear. Her normal tan from being in the sun was pallid. Her eyes had dark half circles around the bottom. There were minor scrapes and bruises that lined her arms.

“Stella!” She looked up at him and slowly stood. He grabbed her in a bear hug.

“Oh Stella, I'm so sorry I didn’t pick up. I’m so sorry.” He put his hand on the back of her head and held her as close as possible. She hadn’t known he was busy making sure Rip didn’t die. She sniffled. Stella knew it wasn’t his fault.

In a small, scratchy voice, Stella reassured her brother, “it’s okay. Kayce got me.” Ryan nodded and scoffed quickly. Even in her time of trouble, she was still worried about everyone else. He squeezed her tightly. He knew he shouldn’t have let her go by herself. He was grateful for Kayce being protective of his sister and his fast action. He had come in where Ryan had failed.

“Don’t blame yourself, Ry.”

“Don’t worry about me right now. What the hell happened?”

“I was on my way home from Olivia’s. A big ass SUV started following me. I tried to call you, then I called Kayce. He said he would meet me here. He was pulling in and I got their attention and brought them into the woods.”

“I’m almost to your driveway.”

“Okay cool. I’ll be somewhere near that trashy shed. I’m about to do something stupid.” Stella ended the call and put her phone in her back pocket. She slammed her car door and ran around the shed. She could still see the silver car. Now out in the open, she waved the flashlight wildly in the air.

“Hey fuck face! You want me so bad, come and get me!” She took off running to the right. She ducked and dodged around trees and stumps. She saw the one big fir she loved and ran for cover there. At least to catch her breath for a second.

She could hear the men as they yelled through the trees. It sounded like some came closer to her, and some went further. It didn’t sound like a lot of people. She heard the underbrush crackling to her left. She listened to her right and took off back toward the little rundown shed. One of them must have heard her.

“She's over here!”

She looked off in the wrong direction and yelled in a singsong voice, “No I’m not asshat,” she hoped her voice would bounce back and keep them confused. She continued to run and thread herself through the trees. She thought she heard the rumble of a truck and prayed to god or anyone who would listen that it was Kayce.

“You did what??”

Stella shook her head. She didn’t want to remember what happened after she heard Kayce’s engine.

“I needed to buy time until Kayce got to me. So I got them lost in the trees.” She shrugged and knew she wasn’t going to hear the end of it but she needed to sit. Stella directed him wearily. “You should go talk to him. I’m gonna sit down.” Ryan helped make sure she actually sat and didn’t fall.

“Ryan,” Kayce called him over. “You said you wanted to be all in, right?”

“Now's not the time, Kayce.” Lloyd scolded.

Ryan defended himself to the man he considered a father. “I'm already in this place so deep.”

“He wants you clean. You carry a badge.”

“The badge hasn't kept me clean.”

“If you want in, it's all the way in.” Kayce didn’t want him to think there was a way to half ass it.

“I know.”

“He doesn't wear the brand.” Lloyd argued.

“He will. There’s four bodies in the wooded area of her property we’ve gotta take care of.” Kayce explained.

“I’m, what?” Ryan was confused. From the story Stella had told him, to the announcement that there were four dead bodies that needed dealing with, he felt like he had whiplash.

Kayce hushed his voice so Stella wouldn’t hear, “She also,” he didn’t want to finish the sentence, “killed two of them. I don’t know if she’s realized it yet.”

“No.” His shoulders dropped, devastated. “Tell me you’re lying, Kayce.” Ryan felt like he was going to be sick. He never wanted something like that for his sister to bear on her conscience.

“I wish I could, Ryan.”

“Fuck!” He exclaimed quietly. He peered over at his baby sister and now registered why she looked the way she did.

“Oh, she knows.” Lloyd told them. He knew that look well. He had seen it on himself.

“She can also hear you.” She fixed her gaze on the three men. She moved her glasses back up her nose. Her face hardened.

“It was them or me and they didn’t stop coming. So I protected myself.” Stella stood on shaky legs and tried to fight off nausea, “Now, what are we gonna do to fix the problem?”

She walked over, stood in front of the three men she knew wore the brand, and made herself vulnerable. “I’m all in gentleman.” She put her hands out to the side then her eyes finally landed on Kayce’s, and she let her hands drop against her thighs. He knew exactly the role she’d just accepted for not only herself, but for him.

Lloyd sighed and glanced at the ground to hide his face as he felt his heart bleed for her. He never imagined something like this playing out, or her having backed herself into a corner like she did.

“No Stella. You don’t know what you’re asking.” Lloyd left no room for argument. There were several noises of agreement. Lloyd was like a father to Ryan and her, but after the bullshit that she just went through, she didn’t care if he was the Pope. Stella decided now was the perfect time to place a disagreement on the table.

“Are you sure I don’t know, Lloyd?” She paused to look each man in the eye, daring them to object. “I've lived on that ranch 365 days of every year from the time I was 14 years old until I was 24 when I bought this house.” She pointed aggressively at the building. “And those of you who are in the shit, didn’t exactly have quiet mouths when you thought no one was around.“

“I’m neither blind, nor deaf, gentleman.” She placed her hands on her hips. “Like, for example, what happened to Fred?” She fixed her glasses and paused for them to answer. When they failed to do so, she kept going. “Did he just get “bored” and “move on” like you told everyone else? Or did you just so happen to take him to a “train station” that somehow magically exists just beyond the welcome sign for Wyoming?” Stella knew her luck was pushed to the max, but she was tired of caring today.

“I’ve seen and heard what goes on behind the scenes at that ranch, guys. I know exactly what I’m saying.”

“Let’s have this little heart to heart later after this is dealt with, yeah?” Kayce tried to get everyone to get moving because the sun was close to coming up. No, Stella didn’t have close neighbors, but today would be the one time someone chose to stop by.

Stella groaned to herself as she got out of the car. They were finally back at the Yellowstone. She was going to keep it that way for a few days. At least until she had to go back to Olivia’s and check on that little colt. That was a conversation with Ryan for later when she had more energy. She had been up way past 24 hours at this point. She was starting to see double. She was just happy she had made the drive back to the ranch.

She decided everything in the car could be left. She just wanted to go fall on a bunk and pass out for several hours, if not for a full day. After the hell of this morning, she deserved that and dared anyone to try and tell her differently. If they tried, she would most likely sock them square in the jaw.

She went toward the bunkhouse, hearing the bed call her name. She was so close to the freedom she could taste it. At least she would have been if a heavy hand hadn’t grabbed her around the arm. She turned in a swinging motion with the momentum from being stopped.

“What could you possibly want that can’t wait until later?” Kayce stared back at her. He looked unamused. She had thought it was her brother.

“Sorry, I thought you were Ryan.”

“The bunkhouse is gonna be loud. Go to the foreman’s cabin.”

“But that’s your place.”

“And?”

“And I don’t want to put you out of your own place just because I need a fat nap, Kayce.”

“I told you to go there. It’s got a couch that works just fine.”

Stella rolled her eyes in true Stella fashion. “Okay, Kayce. I’m too tired to argue. I’m taking the bed though.” She walked away before he could argue back. She had laid on that couch many times before, and it was trash on the back. He had made that proverbial bed, so he could lie in it.

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