Later that night, Riggs looked across the candlelit dinner table at his beloved mate.

She was smiling and laughing with Tansy and Arden, but he knew that some part of her was sharing the happiness he felt, a happiness that was theirs alone.

He had finished painting the sign while she napped in the mess hall. Then he had woken her and they had walked through the woods back to the truck.

Sage drove back to the farm as Riggs sang love songs to her that made her giggle because they were from 80s movies. But it was good-natured giggling and after all, Riggs had had the time of his life. When she joined in the songs he knew things were going to be okay.

More than that, they were going to be wonderful.

They arrived at home to find that the others had cooked dinner. It was not as delicious as Sage’s meals, but it was tasty. And Otis had made a peach crumble for dessert.

“So you guys really hung up fifty flyers today?” Tansy asked, sounding impressed.

“Yes,” Sage said. “And I have to give Riggs most of the credit. He really knows how to talk to people.”

Burton elbowed Riggs.

Riggs smiled and looked down at his plate.

“So what kind of flyers are these?” Arden asked.

“Just a simple thing letting people know where to come and our hours and all,” Tansy said. “Same ones Grandma Helen used for years.”

“Actually…” Sage began.

“You didn’t?” Tansy exclaimed.

Sage shrugged.

“Show me right now,” Tansy said.

“What’s this?” Arden asked.

“Sage is a natural marketer,” Tansy said. “I’ve been begging her to revamp the farm’s image, but she insists she’s an accountant.”

“I am literally an accountant,” Sage protested.

“No more talking, I want to see the flyer,” Tansy said. “Please don’t tell me you hung all of them up.”

“There are a few more in the truck,” Riggs said, getting up.

Sage gave him a look that told him he wasn’t supposed to have shared that news.

“Don’t get up,” Arden told him. “I’ll grab them.”

She was halfway to the door before he could protest, so he sat back down.

Sage smiled at him from across the table and his heart ached with joy. She was so beautiful it almost hurt to look at her.

The front door slammed open.

Everyone turned to see Arden standing in the doorway looking shell-shocked.

“Arden,” Drago said, leaping to his feet.

“I think you need to come outside,” Arden said. Her voice was tight.

Everyone got up. Riggs waited for Sage at the door. His protective instincts were kicking into overdrive. He didn’t like the idea of her going out to see whatever had made Arden’s face go pale.

But the look of determination on his mate’s face told him he need not waste his efforts trying to keep her away.

They followed Arden and Drago across the front porch and down to the gravel driveway, with Tansy and Burton bringing up the rear.

“Look,” Arden said.

She was pointing at the tractor, which was parked close to the truck.

Something was wrong with its tires. They appeared to have melted into the ground.

“The tires are melted,” Drago breathed, echoing Riggs’s thought.

“No,” Arden said. “They’re flat. Or I should say, they’re slashed.”

“No,” Tansy breathed.

Riggs noticed something in the mud beside the drive. He bent to take a closer look.

It was footprints, but something about them was off. There was an indentation between the big toe and the rest of the toes on each print. Riggs knew he’d seen something like this before, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Ninjas,” his brother Drago shouted, making the connection before Riggs could.

Of course. How could he have missed it? Everyone knew that ninjas wore special boots that left this type of mark.

“What?” Sage asked, moving to join him.

“Oh, yeah, those are definitive,” Burton agreed.

“This is very bad,” Drago said. “We must get our mates to safety and then prepare for battle.”

“What are you talking about?” Arden demanded.

“This farm is under attack by ninja warriors,” Drago announced.

Riggs’s heart was beating a mile a minute. He wrapped a protective arm around Sage and scanned their surroundings.

But the setting sun cast shadows everywhere, it was nearly impossible to tell the difference between a man and a shrub in this light.

Besides, everyone knew ninjas were masters of deception. There could be ten of them here now, hiding themselves in the trees and grass, ready to spring forth into action at any moment.

“What could you have done to get yourselves on the wrong side of ninjas?” Burton worried out loud.

“Okay, enough already,” Tansy said. “I think I understand what’s going on.”

“You do?” Sage asked.

“There are tons of ninjas in the movies, especially in ‘80s movies,” Tansy said patiently. “But ninjas are not really a problem anymore, not for hundreds of years. I mean, they never really were. At least not in rural Pennsylvania.”

“Then how do you explain the prints, Tansy?” Drago asked, not looking even a little bit convinced.

“The person who left those prints knows about ninjas the same way you do, from the movies,” Tansy said. “It’s just some idiot in a karate suit.”

“We know what we must do then,” Riggs said, determined to make things right.

“What?” Sage asked, looking mystified.

“We’ll find his dojo,” Riggs said.

“And we’ll challenge him!” Drago finished.

“Oh, no, that’s not how it’s done,” Tansy said, suppressing most of a smile.

“We know how this is done,” Burton said.

“Look, whoever it is, they are just trying to scare us,” Tansy said.

“Trying to sabotage us,” Sage suggested.

“The same person who vandalized the sign?” Riggs wondered out loud.

“What do you mean vandalized the sign?” Tansy asked.

“Oh, no,” Riggs said, realizing that he had just given away his secret with Sage. “I’m so sorry, Tansy. I didn’t want to upset you. But someone vandalized the peach picking sign.

He looked to his mate and she shrugged.

He was grateful that she wasn’t mad.

But Tansy was weeping.

“Do not worry, Tansy,” Riggs said, feeling terrible. “Sage and I have fixed the sign.”

But Tansy didn’t even look up.

“Tansy, are you okay?” Burton asked.

“I noticed something too,” she said, her words muffled by her hands, which still covered her face.

They all waited.

Tansy wiped her cheeks and looked up at the little group.

“This morning when I got up I found a dead rabbit on the steps,” she said. “Cleo leaves me a mouse or a mole sometimes, but this seemed too big to be one of her presents. And its throat was slashed, probably by something more powerful than her claws. I didn’t want to upset anyone…”

She put her hands to her face again and Burton wrapped his arms around her.

Sage met Riggs’s eye from across the circle of friends.

She wore a mask of fierce determination that sent a shiver down his spine.

Riggs glanced around again. If the ninja was watching and saw that look, he was probably shaking in his funny little boots.