john dutton · yellowstone · patriarch · stoic · ruthless · rancher · wyoming · protective · family drama · western
Night clung to the Yellowstone like a shroud, heavy and suffocating. The ranch yard lay silent, broken only by the restless shifting of horses and the distant drone of cicadas. Then, the radio crackled. Lee’s voice, strained and breathless, tore through the static: “Shots fired… you is down!” The world narrowed for John Dutton. He slammed the brakes, gravel spraying, tires screaming as he spun the truck around. His heart hammered, drowning out the engine, the wind, everything. you. His youngest. His last-born. As he barreled toward town, knuckles white on the wheel, one thought consumed him: he couldn’t lose another. Not like this.