Chapter Fifteen

Shane

Brady, TX

Tuesday before the Odessa Weekend Rodeo

Shane looked over the Brady Cattle Ranch with an eye on how he could improve his own ranch. On the surface, it looked similar, with the vast open pastures, dotted with mesquite trees and native grasses, stretching as far as the eye could see. But the more modern details of the ranch caught his attention. Things that if the UPRC contract worked out, they could put into place at the Viking Ranch.

He and Reba drove up here separately. Shane had been helping Paul Kincaide, the owner of the ranch with the details of settling in his bulls when Reba and Dolly arrived. He watched Dolly charm the old coot and in exchange for a few Instagram lessons, she had full run of the place. Reba had time to give Sverre and the rest of the bulls a thorough examination and was conducting some blood tests to check for allergies or sickness. He was hoping there was some simple explanation over what was causing Sverre to act so erratically.

His brother and Pat were on their way down with Bjorn to replace Sverre on the off chance that Jackson Blevins would come to his senses and pull Sverre from the lineup. Bjorn was a two-year-old bull and wasn't one of their best, but he'd give the cowboys a good ride.

Shane was considering riding out to the pastures to eat with the ranch hands at the chow wagon for dinner when Reba came up to him. She had set up her equipment in one of the empty feed sheds and had gotten to work with her centrifuge. She had been at it for a couple of hours. He didn't want to bother her, but he had been getting a little antsy. So Shane was glad to see her, although the look on her face told him he wasn't going to like what she had to say.

"Can we go somewhere and talk?" she asked softly, her pretty eyes full of sadness and concern.

Oh shit. Shane hoped it wasn't terminal. He loved that stubborn-ass bull. "Here's fine." He patted the porch swing seat next to him. He wished he had taken Paul up on his offer of a pre-dinner beer.

"I don't know how to say this, so I'm going to come right out with it." She held his gaze and he appreciated that. "Sverre has traces of an anabolic steroid in his blood and urine, along with another compound that's too small to trace."

There was a roaring in his ears. What the actual fuck?

"It's not fresh, so it has been in his system for a few days. Based on my tests, and yes, I triple-checked them, he was doped up for Ronnie."

"But they said he was clear." Shane's lips felt numb and his voice sounded far away to him.

"They lied. Or someone covered it up. This is a huge problem. Someone is tampering with the results. We don't know how many bulls have been affected."

Rage started to edge out the numbness. "Every time you people do these tests, you run the risk of harming my bulls."

"Hey," she said, holding up her hands. "I'm on your side, remember?"

Yeah, he did remember. "Sorry," he muttered and rubbed a hand over his face. "I know it's not you."

"And I know it's not you doing this either. So that leaves us to wonder, who the hell is it?"

"It's got to be your boss Diane who's covering it up. That's why she wanted you out of the trailer." Shane got up and started pacing around.

Reba steadied herself as the swing swerved hard. "Stop jumping to conclusions."

"Is Sverre going to be all right?" he asked.

"Yeah, he's healthy as can be. He could even compete normally in Odessa."

That was a relief, but there were other things to consider. "Can steroids make him sterile?"

"It could, if there was enough of it."

This might not be a bull-riding thing, then. It could be a bull-breeding thing.

Reba went on, "Mainly, you see the steroids being used to make the bull bigger. In this case, with that other substance, I think it might be something that caused him to be more violent and aggressive."

"I'm not going to leave him alone for a moment. Pat, Rick, and I will take shifts. I'll sleep in the damned pen if I have to."

He really needed to beat the hell out of whoever was responsible for this. Except he didn't even know where to begin.

"There's more," Reba said shakily.

Shane wasn't sure he could handle worse news.

"I don't want to. I really don't. But I need to bring this to the UPRC's attention as soon as possible."

Shane whirled on her in disbelief. "They already know. They allowed it to happen and covered it up."

Reba stood up. "We don't know who is involved or why. But I have to report it and get eyes on the whole testing procedure. All of the athletes are at risk, human and animal. We can't just assume that you're the only breeder being targeted."

"What if they don't believe that I'm not involved? What if they try to make my ranch a scapegoat for this? I can't be blacklisted in this industry for something I didn't do. No one will touch us. No one will care if we're innocent or not."

"I'm sorry, Shane," she said. "I'll do my best to keep it discreet."

A bark of a laugh bubbled up from his roiling gut. "There's no way this is going to be kept a secret. If you report this, I'm finished."

This was worse than Abigail leaving him after his wreck. At least he had his family business to fall back on. If word got out that Sverre had been on steroids, he was ruined. Shane had survived no longer being able to ride a bull. How was his family going to survive not being able to breed bulls?

"Reba, please. I need to investigate who is behind this." Shane's thoughts were whirling. "It could be Keith trying to ruin me because of jealousy. Or one of the bull riders because they're pissed that they can't go eight seconds on Sverre. Or another breeder looking to knock out the competition. But anyone who hears that Sverre was tampered with is going to automatically assume we did it to keep him from being rideable. The Viking Ranch can't take that hit to our reputation."

She gripped his upper arm and all he wanted to do was pull her in for a hug. But he couldn't. "Trust me, if there was another way, I'd take it. I…" She turned her back on him. "I have a hard time with whistleblowing. It happened one other time and no one believed me."

"About doping?" He scowled. How prevalent was this shit?

"No," she said. "It was more personal. About Dr. Kilgore."

Shane was momentarily distracted. "What about him?"

Reba's eyes filled with tears. "Now is not the time to get into it."

"Now is exactly the time." And this time he hugged her.

She groaned, but cuddled into him. "Can't this wait?"

"No. Tell me now." For a moment, he didn't think she would.

Then she broke away from his embrace and started to pace around the small porch. "It was three years ago. After he threw the vase at me?" She looked at him and he nodded to let her know he remembered that she'd told him about the incident. "He immediately tried to make things better. He grabbed me and kissed me."

Shane thought he was angry before. A red haze closed over his vision.

"I reported him to the veterinarian board, but they closed the case. They said it was my word against his. Then Dr. Kilgore said if I pursued it, he would ruin my reputation. And then things got ugly. So I cut and ran. I'm terrified that I'm not going to be believed again." Reba folded her arms over her chest. "I never reported Vidar's injuries because I didn't want to be flagged as a troublemaker in case there wasn't enough proof. That's on me. Maybe if I had, it would have been more difficult to get to Sverre."

"I trusted you to do that." Shane sagged against the porch railing. "It never occurred to me that you wouldn't follow up."

"I'm sorry," she said.

He clasped his palms over his face. What if she was right and filing that report could have stopped Sverre from being drugged? Ronnie died because Sverre had been injected with poison. He couldn't blame Reba for that. She obviously didn't do that. And if someone in her office had been covering up for it, maybe it wouldn't have made a damned bit of difference. But Shane would never know.

"It's going to be all right, Shane. We're going to get to the bottom of this, but we need to let the officials know so someone else doesn't die."

A part of Shane knew that was a reasonable request. Hell, if he was still riding, he would want to know if he had a drug-maddened bull waiting to toss him on his ass. "I just need a few days. Give me until Thursday night before reporting it. I know you're worried about your sister. Sverre will never be alone. No one will have the chance to tamper with him. I don't trust your department with this."

"Do you trust me?"

Did he? Thankfully, she didn't wait for an answer.

"What if it's not just Sverre?" Reba said. "There were too many people who had access to the bulls to assume it's just your ranch."

He closed his eyes. She was right. And yet, he wished she could stand by him and give him the few days. "I'm not asking you to cover this up. I never would do that. All I'm asking for is three days so I can find out who is behind this so my family name doesn't get dragged through the mud. You didn't report Vidar being hurt. Don't report this yet."

"I'm sorry, Shane," she said, her voice breaking. "I can't do that. If we want to catch who is doing this, the UPRC need time to figure out how to stop this. I swear to you, though, that this news won't be released to the public."

"And if Jackson Blevins shit-cans the Viking Ranch anyways? People in this industry talk. The suspicion alone could kill our chances of being a supplier to any other major rodeo. I need you to trust me to handle this."

"I do trust you. I know you didn't drug Sverre. But someone did. Someone could be doing this to other bulls, too. I need to report this and be part of the solution for stopping this from happening again, and clearing your name."

"My name shouldn't have to be cleared," he said.

"I know," she said, rubbing his arm.

They stared at each other. He knew she wasn't going to relent on this. The animals meant too much to her.

"Do what you have to do," he said finally.

"I wish it could be different," she said. "I wish we had the luxury of time."

Shane nodded, disappointment replacing the dread. He wished things were different, too.

"Dolly and I are going to Odessa. We're going to meet with Shelby Miller in the morning and tell her about this."

"Why not with Jackson Blevins? He's the one behind putting LeAnn on Sverre. This should convince him not to."

"Dolly has a rapport with Shelby. She trusts her to do the right thing instead of what will make the company the most money."

It wasn't much hope, but it was something. "All right. I'll see you in Odessa, then."

"Sverre is going to be more dehydrated than usual. Give him some B12 and plenty of water." Reba looked uncomfortable, but then went in for another hug.

Shane didn't want to hug her. Didn't want to hug anyone. He was still too pissed off and the feelings of betrayal reminded him of how he felt when Abigail had left him, even if he knew this situation was entirely different. He patted her awkwardly on the shoulder. "Let me know what Shelby says."

Sniffing, Reba backed up. "I will."

He watched her walk away. A part of him wanted to chase after her and give her a goodbye kiss. But another part of him wondered if it would be a final goodbye if he did. When she was gone, he went in search of Paul. To hell with the pre-dinner beer. Shane needed a pre-dinner whiskey.