“Where do you want him?”
Bryce blinked at Ahm. “What do you mean?”
“Do you want him corralled with the other horses?”
Bryce caught on to what Ahm was saying. He was going to shimmer the horse out of the stall.
“Put him in the field next to the other horses, but not with them. After that, go tell Roman we don’t need him to bring Sterling here.” He watched as Ahm reached out over the stall divider and grabbed the horse’s mane in a tight grip. Both man and beast shimmered away. Bryce wanted to go outside and make sure his mate was fine, but he needed to help his brothers get the fire under control.
Bryce damn near had a heart attack when he saw Gavin climbing up to the loft. He made it to the ladder and pulled Gavin down. “The equipment can be replaced. You can’t.”
Gavin glanced up at the loft. Bryce could tell his brother didn’t want to lose anything, but there was nothing they could do about it. The animals came first, and saving the structure second. He slapped Gavin on the arm. “Go help Olsen.”
They were triplets, and he loved his womb mates more than his next breath. That was why he wasn’t going to allow Gavin to do something stupid.
The sounds of sirens in the distance made Bryce hurry from the barn. His brothers were coming out as well. There was nothing more they could do but let the firemen handle the blaze.
“How do you think it started?” Gavin asked as the two watched the fire truck pull into the driveway and head straight for the barn. Gavin’s dark eyebrows were pulled together in an angry frown.
“I’m not sure, but I’m willing to bet it was set on purpose. There’s nothing in the building that would cause a fire to ignite.”
Bryce glanced sharply around, his eyes blazing. He was looking for whoever had started the fire, but he knew they were long gone. Was it a Shadow elf? Had they come here to ruin the Lakelands and all they had worked hard to gain? He wasn’t sure, but he was going to get to the bottom of this.
“Any ideas?” Gavin asked.
“It could be the guy Riley fired today.” With long, powerful strides, Roman ate up the distance. “Olaf had a pretty nasty attitude and could have come back here to set the fire for revenge.”
They had a few suspects, but nothing concrete. Even when the fire marshal told them how the fire was started, Bryce knew that wouldn’t help them narrow things down. Roman’s expression was clouded with anger. “If I find out it was Olaf, I’m going to skin that man alive.”
Swinging his head toward the corral, Bryce spotted Ahm helping Sterling ensure that the animals were unharmed. His temper flared thinking of any harm coming to Ahm. The only thing the guy was guilty of was mating a male shifter. No one should be hunted down for who they loved.
“Until we find out who is behind this, we need to keep an eye on the place. I’ll take first watch,” Gavin commented before turning on his heel and heading toward the house.
Ahm looked up as Bryce approached. The skin around his mate’s eyes tightened before the blue orbs flickered over toward the barn. If Bryce wasn’t mistaken, Ahm looked worried that he would be blamed just on the grounds that it might have been Shadow elves who started the fire.
“They all look fine,” Sterling said roughly, as if his throat was constricted with a lump of tears. “I’m going to help the others.”
Ahm moved toward Bryce, climbing over the corral and standing in front of him, his chin raised. “I’ll leave if that’s what your family wants.”
A muscle quivered in Bryce’s jaw. “Be that easy for you to walk away?”
Ahm’s blue eyes narrowed and his back became ramrod straight. “No, but I’m not going to allow anyone to accuse me of bringing trouble here. If it was one of my people who started this”—Ahm pointed angrily at the barn—“then I need to find the person responsible and make him or her pay.”
“No one knows who set the fire.” Bryce leaned in closer, holding on to his control by a thread. “But for your information, my family hasn’t said one word about you. We don’t go after innocent men.”
Ahm looked as if he wanted to argue, but crossed his arms over his chest instead. He inclined his head, but didn’t say a word. Bryce knew what was going on. Ahm was waiting for the family his mate thought he had become a part of to turn their backs on him. It wasn’t going to happen. “You are family, Ahm. You really need to learn what that means to a Lakeland. We don’t turn our backs on one of our own, no matter the case. Did you invite the Shadow elves here to burn down the barn?”
His eyes widened just a hair with surprise. “Why would I do that?”