Cowboy from the Future (22 page)

“There’s
this line in the movie where Baby --She’s the heroine-- Baby says that your
first time should be with someone you sort of love.”  Adeline nodded like that
gibberish actually made sense.  “And pudgy, unpopular, middle school me was
like, ‘Baby is totally right.  I’m going to wait for someone
I
sort of
love, the way she sort of loves Patrick Swayze.  Then I can have
my
big
dance number and
my
epic romance.’  I guess, I never really got past
wanting that.”  Addy focused on the fastenings of her shirt.  “Except, like
everyone else in my life, my Patrick Swayze never came looking for me.”

“So
while you wait for this epic guy to show up, you thought you’d just fvred me?” 
Now, Cade was pissed.  “Well,
fuck that
.”

Adeline
shot him a glare, not liking his tone.  “I don’t know what ferovred even
means
,
asshole.”

Cade
stifled a winced as she tried to pronounce the oath.  Shit.  She didn’t
understand what it meant, but
he
did and he’d been wrong to use that
kind of language in her presence.  What was wrong with him?  He took a deep
breath, trying to regain his temper.  “It’s a vulgarity and I shouldn’t have
said it to a lady.  Forgive me.”

Green
eyes rolled.  “Don’t worry about it.  I’m not a lady.”

His
jaw ticked.  Gods, her stubbornness was like talking to a ghaa beast.  “My
point is, I am not some diversion to pass your time here in the present.”

“This
isn’t the present. 
I
live in the present.  This is the future.”

“My
point,” he continued, unwilling to get into another argument before they
finished the first one, “is that I won’t be used.”

“
Used!?
”

“I
know
why you did that with me.”  Cade gestured towards the sleeping bags. 
“It’s obvious.  Have you ever gone that far with anyone else?”

“No,
but…”

Cade
cut her off.  “No.  But, you did with me, because I’m a Voltyn.  Because, you
think that it doesn’t matter
what
we do together, because I don’t fucking
count.”

“You
believe I’m using you?”  Addy had the audacity to look worried.  “I don’t mean
to, Cade.  Really.”  She bit her lower lip.  “I guess I
have
taken
advantage of you.  A lot.  I’ve stayed at your hotel and you’ve fed me and
given me clothes, and now you’re bringing me to Yellowstone.  In return, I’ve
gotten you arrested and run out of town.  So, that
is
pretty…”

“No.” 
He interrupted, waving a dismissive hand.  As usual, she was mixing everything
up.  “That’s not what I meant, at all.  You don’t even need to
ask
for
my protection, Adeline.  It’s already yours.”  Voltyn had been created to fight
for the people they belonged to and Cade belonged to Adeline.  He had from the
moment their gazes met.  “Whatever you need, I will give to you.  Freely and
without hesitation.”

She
paused.  “Even though you’re probably not getting the sixty gold coins I
promised?”

 He
rolled his eyes.  There was no ‘probably’ about it.  She
definitely
didn’t
plan to pay him that rent money.  Cade wasn’t an idiot.  He’d known that from
the first.  “I’m not worried about the gold.”

“What
in the world are you so upset about, then?”

“I
just don’t want to have sex with you, if you don’t…”  He trailed off and looked
at the wall, unsure how to explain his feelings without revealing too much.

“You
don’t want to have sex with me?”  She glanced away.  “Oh.  Well… sure.  You’re
probably used to girls who are thinner and prettier and more experienced and
from this century and…”  She shrugged, not finishing that list.

Gods,
it was like she set out to frustrate him.  Cade’s jaw ticked.  No one could be
so irritating without a long term plan to drive him out of his mind.  How could
she
possibly
think that he didn’t desire her?  Was she blind?  The woman
was the sun in his sky.  Why didn’t she see how extraordinary she was?

…Because,
no one ever bothered to tell her.

Cade
scraped a hand over his face.  Adeline’s view of herself was faulty, because
the idiots in her own time didn’t value her.  She didn’t see what he did.  She didn’t
see the truth.  All she saw were their lies.  “Addy, you are beautiful, inside
and out.”

Her
emerald gaze met his, not convinced.

Her
own words came back to him. 
Use your own head instead of letting other
people define who you are. 
Maybe they
both
needed to take that
advice and readjust their thinking.

Cade
tried again.  He wasn’t good with words, but he had to get through to her.  “I
haven’t been able to take my eyes off of you for more than three seconds, since
you walked in from the snow.  I will
never
desire another.  You are…
perfect.”  All that was true, but she still wasn’t buying it.  Cade sighed at
her skeptical frown, giving up on saying anything romantic.  He clearly sucked
at it.  He tried something less flowery, but equally honest.  “I
want to
have sex with you.”

She
believed the bluntness, her expression lightening.  “Well good!  That’s a
super-promising start.  Then, why are you shouting at me and cursing in other
languages?”

“You
think I haven’t heard this shit before?  Granted, never with a virgin. 
Usually, it’s some married woman, telling me that it’s not
really
cheating, because I’m not a human.  A lot of them think Voltyn are some kind of
loophole to their marriage vows.  That being with me is like fucking some
inanimate sex toy.”

Red-gold
eyebrows soared, shocked by that.  Addy was too clean to ever consider that
others were filthy.  He knew that.  Cade had the dim perception he might be
overreacting, but acknowledging his emotions was too new for him to be sure.  Every
rotten experience of his life kept the words pouring out.

“I
won’t do that with you, Adeline.  It doesn’t matter if I’m human or not, what
we do together
counts.
 
I
count.”  That was probably the first
time any Voltyn had ever uttered such a crazy statement.  It was Addy’s fault
for putting the new thoughts in his head, to begin with.  Now they wouldn’t go
away.

“I
know
you count, Cade.  That’s why I…”

He
didn’t even hear her.  “I don’t
care
if you’re waiting for Padrick Sway-zee. 
When I sleep with you, you won’t be a virgin anymore, technical or otherwise,
because you’ll have been with
me
. 
Me,
Addy.”

Adeline
studied him, her eyes tracing over his averted face.  “I didn’t let you touch
me because I’m looking for a virginity loophole.  Or
despite
the fact
that you’re a Voltyn.  Or
because
you’re a Voltyn.  I let you touch me,
because you’re Cade Westin.”  She shrugged.  “And I sort of love you.”

Cade’s
head whipped around, gaping at her.  “Huh?”

“How
could you miss it?”  Adeline looked amused by his shock.  “Do you think I go on
the lamb with guys I don’t care about?  That I stayed a technical virgin by
throwing my naked body at
everyone?
”  She gave him a strange smile. 
“It’s
you
, cowboy.  I was waiting for
you
.”

Cade
couldn’t think of a single thing to say to that.  Nothing at all.   His mind
was a complete blank as he gazed down at her.  No one had ever said they loved
him before.  Not once in his entire life.  His brain couldn’t process it.

Given
a little more time, Cade might have been able to string together some coherent
syllables.  Maybe at least a grunt.  Unfortunately, before he could regain the
powers of speech, loud shouting and the galloping of horses sounded from
outside.  Cade turned towards the entrance, dread filling him.

“Are
your brothers back?”  Addy asked, not understanding.

“No.” 
He looked over at her, knew this was going to be bad.  “I think the Outlanders just
found us.”

Even on
our all-inclusive, highly-rated, exclusive tours, things sometimes go wrong.

You’re
entering a natural and untamed wilderness space, so occasionally a true
emergency will occur.

This is
why we’ve provided you with a trained guide.

Don’t
worry.

Rattlesnakes
sightings, freak storms, bounced checks…  Your glamping-ranger knows how to deal
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Brown’s
Glampling Tours Official Pocket Guide

Being
kidnapped by Outlanders was a good news/bad news situation.

Good
news: the posse wasn’t following them anymore.  Addy could breathe easier
knowing that Sheriff Zecker was no longer trying to hunt her and the Westins
down for a hanging.

Bad
news: The posse wasn’t following them anymore, because the posse was dead.  The
Outlanders had apparently caught up with Zecker and his men, and were currently
cannibalizing their corpses.  It was like
Alive
without Ethan Hawke’s
scruffy hotness to mitigate the
ewww
factor.  Addy tried not to look at
the large campfire where dinner was cooking, but it was impossible to miss the
stench of it.

Good
news: At least, the Outlanders hadn’t killed and eaten Addy or Cade yet. 
They’d dragged Cade away and brought Addy to a tent made of sanbor skin, but
they hadn’t done any real damage.

Bad
news: The only reason they were still alive seemed to be the Outlanders
curiosity over the Hall of Records.  Even with the monitors turned off, they
knew it wasn’t a normal place.  The overhead lighting shocked them as much as
it had the Westins.  Rather than shoot Addy and Cade with their weird-looking circular
guns, they’d taken them back to their camp to see their queen and answer some
questions.

Good
news: The Outlanders spoke better English than the rest of the people in the
time period, so they understood Addy when she talked.

Bad
news: She could understand them, too.

“Explain
why we should not kill you both, right where you stand, human scaumm.”  The queen
demanded as Addy was shoved in front of her.  Judging from her tone, whatever “scaumm”
was, it probably didn’t mean “really pretty friend.”

The
Outlander camp was made up of square tents and armed lunatics.  At least forty
of them had glowered at her from beneath their elaborate white helmets as she
was carted through village.  It was impossible to know if they dressed like
Imperial Stormtroopers to camouflage themselves in the snowy landscape, to look
even more badass, or to hide their mutant-y faces.

The
queen was the only one who didn’t obscure her features.  She was an older lady,
who clearly remained vain about her appearance.  …Despite the six yellow
eyeballs, the reedy hair, and the kind of transparent skin.  Beauty was in the
eye
s
of the holder, after all.

She
did have some
awesome
jewelry, though.  Unless Addy was very much
mistaken, the queen was wearing the Hope Diamond around her neck.  The
priceless blue gem was no longer locked up in a museum case at the Smithsonian. 
Instead, it was nestled between a dozen other odd necklaces at the queen’s
throat.  A bald and melted Barbie doll head dangling from twine…  A string of
plastic bottle caps from…  Some shiny bead things that changed shape every time
she looked on them…

A
woman with such avant garde fashion sense couldn’t be
all
bad, right?

“Um,
you shouldn’t kill us because we’re super nice people?”  Addy tried with an encouraging
smile.

Clearly,
that wasn’t the answer the queen was looking for.  Her six eyes narrowed.  There
was a top set, a bottom set and one set in the middle, all of them blinking
independently and all of them looking pissed.  Crap.  Wasn’t the Hope Diamond
supposed to be cursed?  Maybe some bad luck would kick in on Queeny and she’d
get hit with a meteor very, very soon.

Addy
cast a hopeful look towards the roof of the tent.

A
Stormtrooper guy leaned in closer to the queen and lowered his voice.  Whatever
he had to say, it interested her.  Her gaze flicked back to Addy with a
speculative gleam.  “You travel with a Voltyn?”

“I
travel with Cade Westin.”  Addy corrected sharply.

The
Stormtrooper’s head whipped around.  “He’s a
Westin?
”  The helmet
muffled his voice, but she heard the venom in it.

Clearly,
he knew the brothers.  Did
anybody
like those guys except her?

The
queen’s six eyes watched Addy with reptilian menace.  “Deke Westin was our
prisoner during the Wilderness War.  Do you have any idea how many of our
people he killed, before we captured him? 
Hundreds.
  That’s why we took
his arm!  So he could never use it to hold a weapon against us, again.”

“
You
cut off Deke’s arm?”

“We
ate it to steal his power.”  The Stormtrooper snapped.  “And seven of his
toes.  We wanted him to suffer for
years
, taking him apart a piece at a
time.  But
someone
broke him out of his cage, after just a few weeks. 
Someone
came to our camp and
took
him.”  He glowered at Addy like she was his
prime suspect.  “They killed eight of our best men in the escape.”

Cade.

There
wasn’t a doubt in her mind he was the “someone” behind the rescue and he was
currently tied outside, at the mercy of these maniacs.  The last thing she needed
to do was point their attention his way.  She wanted to hurt these assholes for
what they’d done to Deke, but lying seemed like a much smarter idea. 
Unfortunately, she still sucked at it.

“Well,
‘Westin’ is a really common name.”  Addy tried.

“No,
it’s not.  It belongs to
one
family. 
Deke
Westin’s family.  The
Madman of the Wilderness.  Who waged war on our kind like a rabid ghaa beast
and then escaped his just punishment.”

“See,
that’s a whole
different
group of Westins.  Like… the
bad
side of
the family.  Cade is barely related to them, at all.  In fact, he’s
not
related to them.  He pronounces his name ‘Wes-
teen
.’  Way,
way
different.”

“You
just called him Wes
tin
.”

“Um…
I have a really strong accent.  It sort of comes and goes.”

“Whatever
this man calls himself, he’s a Voltyn.”  The queen interjected.  She clearly
wanted to be the center of attention and didn’t appreciate their bickering
stealing her spotlight.  “And humans usually shun his kind, so why are you with
him?”

“I’m
smarter than most humans, I guess.”

“My
son says this Cade was very angry that you’ve been taken from his sight.”  She
waved a hand at the Stormtrooper.  “The man was causing such an uproar outside,
we had to tie him up at the edge of the camp.”

“To
be fair, he’s
always
kind of angry.”  Hopefully he wouldn’t get himself
into too much trouble while she was gone.  Cade had a temper and the Outlanders
already didn’t like him.  Addy’s mind raced, trying to think of some way to get
them out of this mess.

“Most
humans aren’t so tolerant of lesser beings, like the Voltyn.”  The queen’s son/Stormtrooper
guy said.  “Especially not women who have access to magical caverns.”

The
queen snapped something in another language, annoyed with the continued interruption.

Addy
glowered at him, too.  “Cade isn’t a lesser being.  He’s my boyfriend.  Sort
of.”

The
queen puzzled over that word.  “Boyfriend sort of?  You…
mate
with the
Voltyn?”

“Not
yet, but it’s my plan for later tonight.  If I can convince you to let us go,
anyhow.”  She smiled her most persuasive smile.  “Say, how would you guys like
to trade boring old Cade for a state-of-the-art bear whistle?”  She pulled it
out of her Glamp-pack™ and held it up for them to admire.  “Shiny, right?”

They
didn’t seem impressed.

The
Stormtrooper took off his helmet, revealing his not-mutanty features and Pez
colored hair.  She’d expected him to look like Sloth from
The
Goonies
,
but he was actually handsome, with two eyes and a square jaw.  He grabbed the
backpack away from her, rifling through her belongings.  His yellow gaze flicked
to the queen, saying something in that language Addy didn’t recognize.

“Don’t
be an idiot, Quel.”  The queen sounded derisive.  “She’s just a human.  A bit
odder than most, but still nothing more than food.  She has no magic.”

He
switched back to English.  “You didn’t see the cave, Mother.  Or these objects
in her satchel.”  He took the guidebook, flipping through the pages in
something like awe.  “This woman must have some sort of…”  The Stormtrooper’s
words broke off abruptly when the queen hit him.

Her
hand cracked across his cheek hard enough to leave a red mark.  “Stop your
childish obsession with the supernatural, Quel.”  She ordered coldly.  “And do
not
ever
contradict me.  Look at your paltry number of eyes.  You were
not meant to lead.  You
follow
.  It’s all you’re destined for, so keep
your place.”

He
subsided with a look a chilling hate.

“I
do
have magic.”  Addy blurted out before they killed each other and,
more importantly, her.  “Really.  And I’ll trade it to you for our release.”

The
queen hadn’t been expecting that.  Her head tilted, studying Addy with
deepening curiosity.  “What sort of magic?”

“The
most powerful kind in my world:  Technology.”

Addy’s
iPhone was still zipped into the pocket of her coat, along with the nail polish
Cade had given her and a pink lip gloss.  Make-up probably wouldn’t impress the
Outlanders, but she was betting electronics would blow their minds.

She
grabbed iPhone and turned it on.  There was no reception in the future, but the
apps still worked.  The familiar opening chime sounded and both Outlanders
jumped in amazement.  Pleased that she had their attention, Addy swiped the
screen to her music player and scrolled down the list.  She had no idea what
sort of songs mutants might like, so she settled on something classic:
Take
On Me
by a-Ha.

The
‘80s synthesizers started and the Outlanders couldn’t have looked more
astonished if Addy grew a dozen more eyeballs.  As usual, the artistic powers
of the world’s greatest decade were universally understood.

Quel
gazed at the iPhone with ill-concealed greed.  “It truly
is
magic.  I
knew
it existed!”  He breathed.  “Where did you get such a thing, woman?”

Addy
prayed the battery held out for a few more minutes.  “My powers come from an enchanted
place called the Apple Store.  I’ve traveled thousands of years from the past and
I know things you cannot even imagine.”

Quel’s
mouth parted in amazement.  “You’ve come through time itself?”

Addy
waggled the phone enticingly.  “Yep.  And I will give this mystical amulet to
you, if you let us go.”

Her
royal sixclops-ness rallied.  “We could just
take
it.”  She pointed out,
her attention locked on the glowing screen.

“Except,
you don’t know how to work this incredibly complicated spell.”  Addy hit the
pause button and the music went silent mid-falsetto.  “I’ll show you, but only
if you release me and Cade.”

The
queen considered that for a long moment and Addy could almost see her brain
working through her translucent skin.  Norwegian pop singers must have appealed
to her, because she clearly wanted the iPhone.

“I’d
planned to kill the Voltyn.”  The queen finally said.  “He’s dangerous to have
around, especially if he is a Westin.  No one will ransom for one of his kind,
so his only purpose is food.  The men are already building a fire for his
body.”

Addy’s
heart stopped.

The
queen arched a brow.  “But, we have plenty of courses for tonight’s feast,
thanks to that posse.  I
suppose
I could be willing to make a deal for
your lover.”

“Great! 
I can…”

The
queen cut off Addy’s quick agreement.  “But,
you
have value to me.  A
magical human who looks as you?  I could trade you for enough supplies to last
us this entire year. 
You
stay.”

Addy
hesitated.  Cade was already in a bad mood thanks to finding out she was a
virgin.  And getting kidnapped by mutants.  And her declaration of sort of love. 
Yeah… he
clearly
hadn’t wanted to hear that, but Addy had been helpless
to stop the words.  She wasn’t good at hiding how she felt.  She didn’t even
want to.  Cade would just have to adjust and try to sort of love her back.  It
was only fair.

But,
this deal was
really
not the best way to make that happen.