SEDUCTIVE SUPERNATURALS: 12 Tales of Shapeshifters, Vampires & Sexy Spirits (20 page)

My rage swelled inside me until I didn’t think I could control it. Sawyer reached out and took my hand. He used it to haul me back, and then he stepped in front of me.

“I said, come on out,” Lonnie repeated, raising his voice. One of his riders went to the flapping white tent. He pulled up the side revealing the bare behinds of two men who’d been so engrossed in their pleasure, they hadn’t heard or noticed the intrusion. Laughing, Lonnie’s man jabbed the butt closest to him with the end of his rifle hard enough to make the man squeal and turn in outrage. When he saw all the guns pulled and aimed, he scrambled off Meaira and struggled to get his pants on. When he reached for his gun, Lonnie fired at it and sent the weapon dancing across the dirt.

Hands in the air, the men in the tent joined the circle made by the Smith riders. Meaira, Chick, and Honey remained where they were, barely dressed as they huddled on one low pallet, looking out of the open tent with fear. I couldn’t see Athena, but I knew she would be close-by.

“You girls just stay right there,” Lonnie said, grinning. “We’ll be with you in a moment.”

Lonnie turned his attention back to the cluster of men standing at the makeshift card table. He gave Aiken’s solicitous face a dismissive glance and moved on to the next man. He stopped when he reached Sawyer. I saw him stiffen, saw the tautness like a fine sheen that went down his body. I felt the beat of it vibrate through Sawyer.

“Didn’t expect to see you here, McCready,” Lonnie said.

“I could say the same.”

Lonnie’s eyes flicked to me and I braced myself for recognition, for he had seen me with my family the day my daddy testified against him and his brother. Sawyer’s tension matched my own until it was painful to stand so still. Lonnie’s cold eyes stayed on me for a moment that seemed to last forever. Suddenly, he smiled. “I don’t believe it. I just don’t believe it. Boys, boys, looky here. Look who we found. Looks like we hit the jackpot.”

His brother and men stood with guns pointed, waiting for their orders.

Lonnie leaned forward in his saddle and said, “You’ll be coming with us, Miss Beck.” He gave Sawyer another challenging look, noting that he stood close to me, noting that his gun was not yet aimed. But when he spoke, it was to Aiken. “Push that money out to the middle of the table,” Lonnie told him. “Jake will be happy to relieve you of it, as well as of the little miss there.”

Again, time seemed to move slower than possible. I saw Aiken’s face tighten. Knew in an instant that he would not surrender his winnings. The same knowledge passed over Lonnie’s face, and for a moment, he looked away from me to level the barrel of his gun at Aiken’s chest. I didn’t wait for him to do more. I lunged forward, grabbing the gun from the holster of the slack-faced man standing nearby and turning it on Lonnie. I pulled the trigger without hesitation, and the gun blasted in a sound that sucked all other noise from the air. It bucked me backward just as another gun fired. I saw cards and money sail through the air, and it only took a second to understand that Aiken had fired through the table at Lonnie, who was already dropping from the saddle, but I didn`t know if he’d been shot or was taking cover.

I saw another man stagger, clutching a red stain that spread with hypnotizing speed across his stomach as all around me guns went off like firecrackers on the Fourth of July. Gun drawn, Sawyer shoved me hard to the ground, but he was too late. A red-hot pain sliced through my shoulder and I knew I’d been shot. I screamed as the ground rushed up at me, and then my head hit something hard and all went black.

* * *

I woke to utter silence, the kind that comes only in the deepest hours of night. But it wasn’t night. I could tell by the coolness of the air and the freshness of the breeze that it was near dawn. I looked around, not recognizing where we were. The last I remembered, we set camp by the river. The miners’ tent town had been close enough to see but far enough not to smell. We were no longer near it.

I raised my head, looking around at the unfamiliar terrain. We must have moved. I frowned. Why had we moved? And then it all came rushing back. The Smith brothers, the men, the gunshots.

I sat quickly, and pain sliced through my shoulder and tried to split my head. I winced, putting one hand to the lump beneath my hair while I stared at the thick bandage wrapped around my bloodstained shoulder with shock. I’d been shot. Carefully, I pushed to my feet, pulling the blanket I’d been covered with around me. I stood. My legs felt shaky and my stomach none too strong, but I didn’t fall over. That was good.

Beside me, the other women slept in a row under the tarp that stretched from the wagon. There was no tent, no pallets, no sign of the violence of last night. I staggered to the water barrel strapped to the back of the wagon and got a drink. The horses were tied up not far away. That meant that Aiken was still near. And what of Sawyer? As if in answer, I heard a shuffling behind me and turned to see him by the fire.

He was dressed in the same clothes he’d worn last night, but his hat was off, revealing golden-brown hair that looked darker in the predawn glow. He didn’t look as if he’d slept, and his beard was heavy on his cheeks.

He watched me as he rose, and I saw him wince. There was a dark stain on his sleeve. I was not the only one to be wounded last night.

Without a word, he rolled his blanket tightly and tied it to the back of his saddle.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“What’s it look like?”

“Like you’re packing.”

He lifted the saddle skirt and adjusted his cinch, ignoring me.

“What happened last night?” I tried again.

He paused, running a hand down his horse’s neck. The animal gave a low nicker and tossed its head.

“What happened last night?” he repeated softly. “To start, you blew a hole the size of a dinner plate through Lonnie Smith. Guess you won’t have to worry about him anymore.”

I caught my breath as the memory rushed in, with it the smell of blood and gunpowder and fear that still clung to me. I steadied myself against the wagon.

“I killed him?”

“Wasn’t that what you were trying to do?”

Yes, I’d wanted him dead; I’d wanted it so badly, I’d pulled the trigger without thinking beyond the act. And I wasn’t sorry he was dead. He’d deserved to die for what he did to my family. Justice had failed to make him pay for his crimes, but I hadn’t. I wouldn’t shed tears for ridding the world of the likes of Lonnie Smith.

“What about everyone else?” I asked.

Sawyer shook his head. “Can’t say who shot who, but five men are dead for it. Two of Smith’s boys, three of the miners. Dead. All of them.”

“What about Jake Smith?”

“Last I saw he was riding hell bent for leather. Don’t know if he’ll be coming back.”

The blood drained from my face. It left me dizzy and swaying. Lonnie’s brother would be out for revenge.

“Your shoulder hurt?” he asked, nodding at the bandage.

“I was shot,” I said, as if he didn’t know.

“Barely. Flesh wound. Shouldn’t give you too much grief.”

“How about you?”

He shrugged. “I’ll live.”

I nodded, watching as he filled his saddlebags then moved to the other side of his huge horse.

“Where is Aiken?” I asked at last, though I really didn’t want to know.

“Took off as soon as he saw what he’d done. You weren’t the only one out for blood last night.”

His voice was mired in sarcasm, and yet I heard something else there. A note of admiration, an understanding that I would be changed by what I had done—no matter what my reasons—a bit of awe at my tenacity. I deserved none of his regard, and yet I thirsted for the reassurance it gave me.

But as I watched him continue to pack his horse, it occurred to me just what he planned.

“You’re leaving?” I said.

He gave me a cold and steady look. “We left five dead men back there, and I’ll be damned if I’ll take the fall for killing I didn’t do.”

“So you’re going to just leave us here? Just like that?”

“Just like that,” he answered.

I looked around at the great nothingness. We could be anywhere. “You know we’ll probably die out here.”

“I know nothing of the sort. I watched you blow a man into eternity last night. I don’t think a few days in the wild will get the best of you.”

I sucked in a sharp breath and pulled the blanket more tightly around my shoulders. Tears stung my eyes. “I did what I had to do.”

“I’m a firm believer in that motto. I think I’ll do the same now.”

“But . . . but you could take us with you . . .”

“With me? Why? So you can scalp me in my sleep? I’ll be perfectly honest, before—” He shook his head. “I didn’t think you had it in you. But now I know different.”

“No, I’m not . . .” What? A murderer? “You didn’t see what they did to my momma, my grandma, my daddy . . . my little brother. You didn’t see.” My chest was tight and painful from holding back the tears I refused to shed. He stood, staring at me like I was a unique species of bug. As if he couldn’t decide whether to stomp me into the ground or capture me in a jar.

I was breathing heavy with the effort to rein my emotions. He watched me, shifting his weight, looking as awkward as I felt. At last I managed to say, “You’re going to Arizona territory. To take over a saloon.”

“How do you know that?”

“I may be crazy, but I’m not deaf.”

He snorted at that, stopping the smile before it reached his lips.

“You aren’t coming with me so don’t bother to bat them pretty eyes and ask. Sure as hell there’s a posse already forming up, coming looking for us.”

“So you’ll just ante us up to them. Is that it?”

“You’re a bunch of whor— women stranded in the middle of nowhere. They’ll follow your tracks easy enough, but they won’t think you had anything to do with it. Tell them Lonnie did the killing. Tell them the miners started firing blind. They’ll believe you.”

“A bunch of whores?”

“I didn’t mean that. I know you’re not a whore.”

“But for the grace of God I’m not. What do you think Aiken had in mind for me when you rode up last night?”

Sawyer swallowed as I locked eyes with him. If he hadn’t arrived when he had, if the Smith riders hadn’t appeared . . . Just a few more moments and I’d have been the strongest man’s prize. I let him see that in my face, see how terrified I’d been, and I knew it bothered him more than he cared to admit.

“I don’t owe you anything, lady. I’m real sorry about your family. But you got your pound of flesh. Lonnie’s every bit as dead as they are now. I never had nothing to do with what they did, though. I’m no killer.”

“But I am.”

He squatted down to clean his horse’s feet. “Only if that’s how you’re going to see it. From my point of view, I saw Lonnie get shot by one of the miners.”

I looked over my shoulder at the sleeping women. If he left us here, it would be my fault. The sun peeked over the horizon in a blaze of muted gold. Only scrub and cacti stretched as far as the eye could see. No river to follow. No game darting in the trees. No trees at all. And what if Jake found us instead of the posse? I’d killed his brother, and he wouldn’t let that go. He’d hunt me. And he’d do more than kill me when he caught me. He wouldn’t spare the others, either. I took a deep breath, trying to hold back my panic.

“We could help you.” The words were out before I’d considered them, but it was true. We could.

“Help me? Into an early grave maybe.”

“What’s a saloon without women? I thought Aiken had convinced you that you needed them.”

“You bartering out their flesh these days?”

“At least give them the choice. Give them the chance. They’ve been doing whoring to save their lives. Maybe they’ve been doing it because they didn’t have a choice. But if they knew they were working toward freedom . . .”

He looked at me from where he crouched down, inspecting the hooves of his horse. I stared back, trying to make myself appear earnest, beseeching . . . obliging.

“They would work for you, Sawyer. They think you’re a good man.”

His eyes narrowed as he watched me. “What about you?” he said at last, and his voice was low and deep. It made something in my belly tighten.

“What do you mean?”

“You think I’m a good man?”

Dry mouthed, I nodded. He made a derisive sound that mocked me. He didn’t believe it.

“I can’t see you taking on customers,” he said.

I hadn’t meant that I would, but I saw from his face how hypocritical that made me. I was trying to keep us alive, but I was using their bodies for payment.

“I’ll do what I have to,” I said, wondering where the fierce words came from. Could I, would I really? I couldn’t say what I might have done had the burly man hauled me into that tent. To survive, would I have complied?

Sawyer watched my thoughts flash across my face. Then he stood and approached me, his steps slow and measured. I thought of a wolf, moving silently through the underbrush. What was I doing negotiating with this outlaw? He’d helped me last night, but what made me think I could depend on him? He was no gentleman, no knight in shining armor.

A shiver went through me, sending a fine tremor up my spine as the wind teased a strand of my hair across my face. His hand beat mine to brush it back.

“I don’t believe you,” he said.

I turned defiant eyes up to meet his. It mattered not that I didn’t believe me, either. I knew I couldn’t let him leave us out here, miles from any sign of civilization, prey waiting to be taken. I had brought this on these women who had taken me in. I was responsible for their being stranded. Yes, they’d been at Aiken’s mercy before, but even he couldn’t compare to dying of thirst and hunger. That would be our fate out here in the middle of nowhere with barely enough supplies to last a week. That or Jake Smith, who now had the murder of his brother to add to his reasons for vengeance. I’d seen what he’d done to my family. I could only imagine the torture he could inflict on us.

I lifted my chin, showing Sawyer that I would not back down. I would face him and any other man.

“You’d bed a man for them,” he asked, his voice tight and dangerous.