Here was the thing about a storm. It ebbed and flowed, battering walls and then giving moments of peace, only for the wind to roar again and wreak havoc. But even hurricanes ended at some point.

Karis stood in the frosty morning, two cups of coffee in her hands as she stared at the destroyed barn. Half still stood, but the right-hand side was in splinters.

“They’re here,” Ava said softly from behind her.

Karis startled because she’d been lost in thought on how to rebuild the barn, rebuild the demolished herd of cattle they ran, rebuild this ranch… “Hey,” she said with a smile. She handed Ava the mug of coffee.

Colt’s dark-haired sister grinned at the mug and read the print on it aloud. “If you can’t say something nice, come sit by me.” She giggled and shook her head, then took a sip.

“Colt doesn’t have important stuff, like mixing bowls or measuring cups, but he does have an extensive collection of smart-ass coffee mugs.” Karis corrected, “Or he did, before the crows broke most of them.”

Ava’s bear snarled low, and her eyes blazed to an almost white. It was dangerous to get her riled up right now since she was so new to being a shifter.

The soft rumbling of a car engine sounded through the clearing. A family had travelled all they way here for a three-day trail ride, but they were still some distance off. Ava’s hearing was even better than Karis’s. “I can hear them now, too.”

“When will my senses settle down?” Ava asked, worry in her bright silver eyes.

“That I don’t know,” Karis said softly. “It’s different for every newly Turned shifter. It could be a week, could be six months. Your bear is a predator, and dominant, so it could take even longer.”

“It’s just…I can hear everything. Before, I would’ve thought that was a cool superpower, but now I can’t focus. I can hear every leaf hit the ground, every bird in the forest, every mouse scurrying through the snow, every breath from everyone here on the ranch, every animal sound from the barn…everything. I can’t sleep.”

“I know. Trig talked to Colt about it last night. He’s worried about you.”

“But I don’t want him to worry. I just want to be through this transition where it feels like I’m not in control of my own body. I’m fine. I’m just…”

“Not fine?”

One side of Ava’s mouth turned up in a sad smile. “Yeah.”

“That’s normal. I remember when I Turned, I would wake up every morning panicked over a dream I had of running through the woods. I was running from something, and I would wake up fighting the Change. My animal stayed defensive and scared for a few months before we figured each other out. Your senses will settle down.” Karis sipped her steaming mug of coffee and looked at the Suburban that was crawling out of the woods toward them. “But perhaps let me handle the trail ride customers until you can control your eye color better.”

“Probably best,” she muttered. “I’m going to go hide in the barn.”

Karis giggled and called after her, “I swear this won’t last forever. You are just bored from being cooped up. We’ll do a girl’s night as soon as I think the town is safe from you going polar bear on them and leveling Darby.”

Ava flicked up her hand over her shoulder and called, “Darby deserves it.”

Well, she had a point. The town hadn’t been too kind to the Two Claws Clan.

The charcoal gray SUV parked in the clearing, and a family of three got out. Karis rushed to meet them, her smile ready. “Hi! I’m Karis Dunway, one of the ranch hands here.”

“Leonora Ives!” a cheerful woman said, holding her hand out for a shake. Karis liked her immediately because of her genuine smile. That, and she had a nose piercing and her hair had purple streaks. “This is my husband, Thomas, and my son, Damien,” she said, pointing to a tall stick of a man who was unloading a suitcase out of the back of the ride, and an equally tall boy of sixteen or so who was built like a linebacker.

“You play football?” she asked Damien.

“Yeah,” he said with a shy, lopsided smile. “I mostly sit the bench, though.”

“Yay for bench warmers!” Karis crowed, giving him a high five.

“Someday the coach will see his potential,” Thomas said with a frown.

“Until then, we’re gonna work a dude ranch!” Leonora said.

“Ha. Well, your excursion will be more fun than working a ranch.” Karis gestured to the disaster zone of a barn. “If you were signed up for dude-ranching, you would be rebuilding that this week.”

“Oh my God,” Thomas said, eyes gone round at the barn. “What happened?”

“A storm,” she said shortly. It wasn’t a total lie. She just didn’t mention it was a storm of damn crows and mountain lions. “Follow me, and I’ll help you load up your packs with what you need. Did you get the checklist of things to bring?”

“Yes, but I overpacked as usual,” Leonora said.

“Ha! I overpack for everything. And no worries, Colt will get you straightened out the second he gets in from bringing in the cattle. We’re gonna keep them near the house while y’all are out riding.”

“Do we get to pick our horses?” Damien asked.

“Sure do. We have a few to choose from that are good for a trail ride. Some of them are our work horses and wouldn’t be patient with a ride, so those are staying home.”

“Like which ones?”

“Like a stallion named Harley. I’m pretty sure he was actually one of the four horses of the apocalypse in a former life. No one can ride him but my Alph—I mean the man who owns this ranch, Trigger. But come to think of it, Trigger will probably bring him on the trail anyways, because he likes wrestling with that beast. It’s like a dominance battle constantly. He likes mean things.”

“Trigger and Colton!” Leonora exclaimed. “We remember them. They did a trail ride with us a couple of years ago. It’s really neat to come back here after all that time and see everything. Pity about the barn, though.”

“Nah, we’ll get it up and running again. This ranch doesn’t stay down long.” She hoped.

She led them to Trigger’s cabin and opened the front door for them. There was a guest bedroom in here, and Trigger and Ava would be staying in the little apartment in the barn tonight to give them more room. If the business took off, it would be this way until they could afford to build an extra cabin for guests. Lined up next to the door were three large packs they would fill and strap to the horses. The boys were supposed to help the Ives family pack them but… “You all showed up early, or the boys would’ve been here to greet you.”

“Blame that one,” Thomas said through a grin, jamming a finger at his wife. “She has to be an hour early to everything.”

“Yeah,” Damien said. “Drives me and Dad nuts.”

“On time is late, and early is on time!” Leonora sang, flipping through a pamphlet on Two Claws trail rides that had been sitting in a stack on the kitchen table.

Both of the men in her life rolled their eyes.

“What color are the horses?” Damien asked. “Are they the same as last time?”

“Um, there is a white one named Queenie. She’s easygoing. Or a dapple gray named Remedy. She’s got more spirit and is younger, but Trigger has been working with her a lot so she’s settled down enough for this ride.”

Caw.

Karis jerked her attention to the window, but didn’t see anything outside. She cleared her throat and continued. “And then there is a bay named King Arthur, but he doesn’t act very kingly. He’s the joker of the group. If he was a person, he would be a frat boy with a whoopie cushion—”

Caw.

“I want Frat Boy,” Damien said with a laugh.

“Ha!” Karis laughed, forcing her attention away from the window and back to the Ives family. “That should’ve been his name. I’ll talk to the boys about changing it.”

“How long have you been working here?” Leonora asked.

“Oh, not long. About a month.”

“What’s that on your finger?” she asked.

Karis lifted her left hand to give Leonora a better view of the zip tie on her ring finger. Karis’s cheeks went all hot. “Well, it doesn’t look like much, but it’s a ring.”

Leonora held up her left hand and showed her a simple, thin band. “It’s sterling silver and didn’t cost much, but it’s the meaning that’s important. Thomas gave it to me when we didn’t have two pennies to rub together. We’re in a different spot now, but it’s still the ring of my heart. Ain’t no shame in your ring.”

Karis ducked her gaze. “It’s new. Colt proposed just a couple of days ago. I still get all mushy when I think about it. I might always feel like that,” she admitted softly.

“Colton?” Leonora exclaimed. “He’s your man?”

Karis dipped her chin and couldn’t help the smile that stretched her face.

“Oh, he’s a looker from what I remember. He had scars on his face, but his smile was easy. Blond hair, tall as a mountain, muscles where muscles shouldn’t even exist. And he was very patient with Damien.” Her voice had gone dreamy, and Karis laughed at Thomas’s face.

“Excuse me,” he scoffed. He pulled up his scrawny arm and flexed. “I’m not exactly chopped liver.”

Leonora giggled and said, “I can look but no touching. That’s the rule, and that’s why I don’t give you shit over having a crush on that weather woman. What’s her name?”

“Frieda Thompson?” Karis guessed.

“I don’t have a crush,” he muttered.

“I do,” Damien said through a toothy grin.

“I’ve never seen a man watch so much of the weather channel,” Leonora said. “He would watch her talk about cumulonimbus clouds over watching his football teams. I would bet my truck on it.”

“What kind of truck?” Karis asked.

“Silverado.”

“Well that don’t count!” she teased. “It’s a Chevy!”

“You are not a Ford girl!” Leonora said, feigning offense. “We are not okay.”

Karis was laughing in earnest now. “God, you guys are fun. I wish I was going on the trail ride with you now!”

“Why aren’t you?” Damien asked.

“Well, one of our ranch hands left last week so we’re shorthanded around here. The boys are best at the trail rides, and me and Ava, Trigger’s fiancé, are going to take care of things around here while you all are off on your adventure and eating fire-cooked steak and potatoes.”

“Sounds not fun,” Thomas said.

“For real. I’m still learning chores around here, and it’s a lot of work. Plus, my stomach just growled thinking about all the food the boys have been packing up. Ava said they are really good at outdoor cooking. Even better than they are at indoor cooking. Which is good because Colt has only made me like…macaroni and cheese and canned stew and beans.”

Leonora laughed. “Sounds about right. When we were here last time, he and Trigger were total bachelors. Sounds like not much has changed.”

Karis made her way to the fridge, grabbed four bottled waters, and passed them out. “Oh, I don’t know. Now there is a squirrel on the ranch. And a baby reindeer named Norman.”

Leonora squealed. “Seriously?”

“Serious as a heart attack. The squirrel is a pill on a good day, but Norman is a sweetheart. For now. The animals on this ranch tend to turn into A-holes. But his horns are just little nubs, so he can’t stab you yet. Let’s pack up, and then we can head out there to see him. We have three hours before you are scheduled to ride out.”

As she joked with the clients and built up a rapport while they packed the necessities into the saddle bags, Karis thought to herself that she could really enjoy doing this. This business could be good for the ranch, good for her and Ava and the boys.

It could save this place.

At least that’s what she was thinking until she heard it again…

Caw.