Cowboy Dragon Page 15

  It was starting to dawn on Marian that this road connected to half a dozen properties at different points, though they were so far apart from each other no one could really call them “neighbors.” But maybe whoever it was would be helpful enough to at least let her use their phone.

  She waved her hands, and the truck began to slow as it pulled near. It was only then that she saw several oddly familiar faces through the dusty windshield of the truck, grinning at her with wolfish curiosity.

  The Copperheads. Ones specifically from that first day on the ranch when she’d met Harrison the first time.

  It felt like eons ago now.

  Two men hopped out of the passenger side while the driver put the truck in park, but Marian was shocked when three more guys let themselves out of the bed of the truck, all six covering the twenty feet between their two vehicles with lanky strides.

  “What do we have here? The newest member of the Dragonclaw crew stranded like a duck with no wings?”

  “More like running. Makes sense. Those cowboys are as foolish as they are boring. Just living out in the middle of nowhere like a buncha hermits.”

  The direness of her situation was finally settling in as she remembered how the first confrontation had gone, and she rushed for the passenger door, hoping to get in and lock it.

  A big hand stopped the door as she was about to slam it shut, and a tall man with pale eyes and scraggly blond hair stood over her, holding the door like it was nothing.

  “Where are you goin’, missy?” His gaze was cruel, and she got a deeply unsettling feeling from this one in particular. “We’re just looking for some friendly company.”

  Suddenly, there was a hiss, and Gary leapt from the backseat toward the man blocking her door, tiny claws scratching as he latched onto the man’s leg with his mouth.

  He yelped, backing away and giving Marian a moment to run past him as she made for the driver’s side around the front of the car. But his friends moved unnaturally fast as well, and before she could even get halfway there, they were blocking her path.

  The first man swore, and she watched as Gary scurried off into some nearby bushes, hissing a bit until she was left alone with the Copperheads.

  She remembered something about them being wolves. Something Beck had said. So they were wolves like Reno?

  Definitely not like Reno, from their half-bathed smell and impolite stares. Maybe running had been an even worse idea than she could have anticipated.

  “What do we do with her, Kyle?” one of the guys asked the first who, upon second look, was slightly taller and more muscular than the others but still rangy and covered in dirt smears.

  “Let’s take her back to our place first. Then we can decide what to do with her. Would be a shame to let such a delicious snack go to waste on the side of the road.” His leer made her insides cringe.

  “What about Wexler?” another asked with uncertainty.

  “He’s out on business. Besides, I’m the boss when he ain’t around anyways,” Kyle said confidently.

  She felt two pairs of hands grab her arms, and she struggled helplessly against the men’s grip as they forced her toward the green truck, leaving Freddie on the road and Gary somewhere in the bushes.

  “Don’t look so angry,” Kyle said, licking his lips. “Save some for later. I love a struggle.”

  Yelling for help would be fruitless on this quiet road. No one but shrubs and field mice would hear her. So Marian just waited, biding her time as she was shoved into the truck, and it made a U-turn, making a right turn onto an unknown road toward an unknown place.

  She’d find her opening, do whatever it took to escape.

  So much for everything finally going right in her life.

  24

  A few minutes later, the truck pulled into a sprawling collection of buildings that looked more like a ghost town than a proper ranch. There was no sign, just a bunch of “keep out” posters nailed and stapled to an old, rickety wood fence.

  As they pulled farther in, she counted several dozen structures in various states of disrepair, ranging from “barely livable” to “ready to collapse at any moment,” like some of them had been there for decades or even centuries and were barely being kept standing. Several piles of wood and roofing indicated what those buildings’ fate might soon be.

  But she didn’t have time to get a real feel for the place as they drove toward the back, stopping in a small semicircle of aged trailers that flanked a beat-up ranch house. Parked in odd places, she saw some of the off-road vehicles they must’ve used to visit the Dragonclaw Ranch the first time. She wondered what most of these guys even did for a living, given that she didn’t see a single horse, cow, or other livestock on the way in.

  The truck doors flew open, and she was pulled out by a man they called Hank, who seemed to be Kyle’s most eager ally in this whole plan to kidnap a woman stranded on the side of the road.

  She just hoped and prayed someone else would come across Freddie and see what happened. If not…

  Well, she wasn’t done thinking of plans to escape just yet.

  “Let me take a good look at her.” Kyle stood in the center of them as more men appeared from inside trailers and from within the townhouse. Some of them joined in the open ogling. Others stayed back, giving her the impression that the Copperhead gang wasn’t as unified as she might’ve been led to believe.

  “Wexler don’t take kindly to harassing womenfolk,” one of the newcomers said boldly.

  Kyle snarled, making Marian’s skin jump. “Let Wexler keep his ideals. As I always say, finders keepers.”

  She was bracing, ready to make a run for the nearest ATV and pray its keys were in the ignition, when she heard a similar sound to the noise that had woken her the night they’d gone to the bar.

  The night she’d seen a dragon for the first time in her life.

  All the men around her immediately began to look up at the sky, hearing it before even she had. Marian looked up as well but didn’t see anything amidst the low gray clouds.

  “There aren’t actually any dragons living at the Dragonclaw Ranch… are there?” one man asked, looking ready to piss himself.

  “Just a bunch of legends those bastards use to scare people like us,” Kyle said, trying to sound fearless but failing. “It’s just a dust devil or sumthin’ out on the range.”

  But she knew the difference between dust devils, high winds, and the sound of huge, majestic wings.

  Everyone went silent just as the sound stopped, the air going completely still.

  Then an earthshaking, rumbling thud made everything rattle and sent several men fleeing in every direction.

  Marian looked up just as a gigantic dragon appeared, looming above them. There were more screams, but Marian felt utter calm as she looked up at familiar sky-blue eyes.

  The dragon was just as big as the one she’d seen in the courtyard, but different. It had a longer neck, with terrifying spikes that ran the entire distance from its head to the tip of its swishing tail. Its scales were more luminous, green and gold and a mixture of everything in between, like the color of a prairie between spring and summer, but metallic and glistening. The dragon had multiple horns, twisted and sharp-looking, and its talons were the size of barrels, so big they could probably slice a building in half with one swipe.

  Marian didn’t know what she’d expected to happen. But Harrison showing up here as a dragon was probably as far down the list as lightning striking either one of them.

  So he had come for her. He didn’t want her to just leave and disappear forever. Maybe she had been wrong about him.

  It didn’t quite resolve her current predicament, though.

  The dragon’s eyes fell upon her, then the men around her, and the dragon bared long rows of razor-sharp teeth in a frown. Then it reared back and roared.

  Some distance behind her, where she couldn’t see, she heard something that sounded like a shack collapsing from the force of the roar.

  Kyle
and the men still brave enough to stand by him all moved closer, standing behind her as they looked up at the dragon.

  He really was something. Plains dragon felt like a huge understatement compared to the several-stories-tall beast in front of her.

  “Let my mate go.” The dragon’s voice was deep and harsh, the sound reverberating through the clearing.

  Kyle grabbed her shoulders with sweaty hands. “What you gonna do about it, you green bastard?”

  Bunch of cowards, using a woman as a human shield. It made her sick.

  Harrison’s eyes, which had long slits in them but still had the same color she recognized in his human form, just glared. Then everyone watched as the dragon’s tail rose, then slammed down into the house off to her right, collapsing it effortlessly as the men scattered on the porch dove for the safety of the surrounding bushes.

  He then raised a hand and crushed one of the off-road trucks on her left, the metal crunching like paper beneath it as one tire rolled away.

  Several more men ran off.

  “How ‘bout you come down and fight like a man?” another man said, trying to keep the sound of his teeth chattering in fear to a minimum.

  Harrison glowered down at them, then chuckled as green dust twinkled around him for a split second before the dragon disappeared. As it did, the tall, broad-shouldered man she could recognize with her hands alone strode forward, looking at the two dozen or so wolves who still watched, agape.

  “Now I reckon I wouldn’t go calling this a fair fight by any normal standards.” He adjusted his Stetson, then gave Marian a confident wink.

  Granted, she knew he was strong, but this was, well… a lot of guys.

  “The dragon’s vulnerable. Show him what Copperheads are made of.” Kyle shook one fist in the air, greasy hand still holding her while some of the men around her got riled up.

  The first guy charged Harrison, practically leaping toward him in a feral rage. Harrison just grinned, threw a quick jab that sent the man collapsing into the dirt, unconscious, then moved two more steps toward Marian. “Not fair for anyone that stands between a dragon and his mate, that is.”

  The whole yard exploded in motion as a blur of bodies all came at Harrison in unison. Marian tried to pry herself free from Kyle, but he wasn’t about to let his only leverage against a giant, ferocious dragon escape, so she was forced to watch.

  Harrison did the cuffs of his shirt up, eyes pinned on Marian, just as two men jumped at him, fists flying. He dodged one, then sent his fist upward in a terrifying uppercut that launched the second upward ten feet before he landed on his back on the ground. Three more tried to surround him, throwing strikes that Harrison blocked before he countered with a wide hook that downed two of them with one blow, and his boot came upward in a kick that connected with the third’s chest so hard she could hear the wind getting knocked out of the guy even from thirty feet away.

  “Don’t just stand there. Get ‘im.” Kyle looked over his shoulder to command another group of men that were standing, watching. Some joined in the fray. Others ignored Kyle.

  Those were the smart ones, Marian mused.

  The guy Harrison had dodged was running up from behind now, hoping to catch him off guard. But Harrison was already anticipating the move, and he turned over his shoulder just in time to snatch the guy by the scruff and toss him headlong into the new group, bowling them over like human-sized pins.

  Off to the left, she heard the squeal of an engine just as a buggy that was nothing but roll cage, wheels, and engine sped toward Harrison, its driver’s eyes bulging with evil intent. Marian called out to warn him, but there was no time as the speeding vehicle accelerated toward the person that was her whole world.

  She winced as she heard metal crumple, but when she opened her eyes, the only thing that had moved an inch was the front half of the buggy. Harrison just stood exactly where he’d been, holding it back with one hand as the wheels spun into the dirt

  “I’ve wrestled steer that have more mettle than you punks.” With that, he kicked one foot into the front bumper, and the buggy flew upward and over Harrison’s head, landing behind him with a metallic crunch onto its top while its dazed driver crawled away from the heap. “Now I’m just getting angry,” he said, brows furrowed.

  A newcomer attacked from his left, swinging a long metal pipe down, which Harrison caught and managed to bend in half. A split second later, he headbutted him, sending a river of blood coursing down the foolhardy Copperhead’s face as Harrison fixed his Stetson.

  He came right up to the last little group that stood around Marian, their chests puffed up, hands on makeshift weapons like they knew the second they didn’t have her surrounded, the dragon would be back, probably with vengeance.

  Marian just wanted this whole thing to be over so she could go back to the Dragonclaw Ranch with Harrison.

  After all, he still had a lot of explaining to do.

  But explaining or not, she was so happy to see him she could almost taste the feel of his arms around her.

  “Hands off my mate, boys.” There was no amusement in his eyes, and several backed off immediately, their hands raised. One had the audacity to step in front of Marian, babbling something about not having any rights on their property, but Harrison’s fist shut him up mid-sentence.

  Leaving just her and Kyle.

  “You dragons think you own everything, looking down on all of us.” Kyle’s hand on her quivered, and it felt like he would bolt at any second.

  “Just an honest cowboy doing an honest day’s work and who’s deeply, honestly in love with his woman.” His eyes met hers, making her insides warm. Then he looked up at Kyle, who finally let go, screaming obscenities as he fled.

  She felt his arm around her immediately, sheltering Marian against his side while his other arm reached out and plucked Kyle down onto the dirt by the back of his shirt. Harrison then leaned forward and shoved his boot down into Kyle’s chest, making him squirm while he kept himself between her and the gross man.

  “You lowlife piece of shit,” Harrison said down at a blathering Kyle as he begged for mercy. “I should incinerate you for even laying a single finger on such a perfect person as this. I could burn down your whole settlement, if I wasn’t averse to causing a wildfire. You all deserve to die for even touching a woman as strong and beautiful as this.”

  He looked over at Marian, expression softening even as he kept Kyle pinned. “I’m sorry, honey. Sorry for everything. I messed up, and I aim to make it right.”

  He leaned in to kiss her, hard and fast, the instant connection between them searing her down to her soul for a moment.

  Then Kyle’s whining of, “Please don’t kill me,” interrupted them.

  Along with the rumble of approaching vehicles.

  “Um, Harrison.” Marian tugged on his shirt, noticing a cloud of dust coming from the direction of the front of the Copperhead’s property as the sound got closer.

  Harrison pulled back from Kyle, holding Marian close as he appraised the situation. “Hold on.” In a quick motion, she was whisked into his arms, and suddenly, the earth was getting farther away, Harrison’s human form disappearing as she suddenly found herself astride the giant green dragon from before.

  She fell onto her butt with an eek, positioned between the jutting spikes on his back and giving her a suddenly much-better view of the yard just as several trucks pulled forward.

  All of them stopped suddenly, and men began to jump out, looking at the destruction and then up at the dragon, which was currently growling.

  Wexler, the man she remembered from their first encounter, got out last.

  “What the hell happened to my house?” he cried in dismay. “This is the last straw. From here on out, this is war.” He jabbed a finger up at Harrison, and Marian could swear she could feel heat starting to build around his mouth, like fire would burst out at any second.

  Not wanting there to be more violence than there had already been, Marian stood up on
the back of Harrison’s neck.

  “Your guys started it!” She pointed back at Wexler, who just stared up in shock and annoyance.

  “How in the hell am I supposed to believe that?” Wexler’s cropped brown hair and sunglasses looked so small from up here, Marian thought.

  “Kyle and his friends. They brought me here.” She continued, not losing her mettle as all eyes were on her.

  Wexler eyed Kyle, who was still on his back in the middle, tears streaming down his face. Then he looked at Harrison. “That true, cowboy?”

  “You think I came here just to pick a fight?” His voice boomed through the open area. “I won’t hesitate to burn everything I see if you’re lookin’ for trouble as well, though.”

  Wexler finally seemed mollified, knowing better than to try her dragon’s patience right now. He mumbled something to several burly men at his side, and they strode forward and picked Kyle up, along with his unconscious friends, and dragged them somewhere off where she couldn’t see. “Then I see the apologies are mine, neighbor. I’m all for friendly rivalry and maybe a little trouble, but I don’t abide hurting women. Never have, never will.” He spoke placatingly, shaking his head at Kyle as he was dragged off.

  “And your boys?”

  “Banished. Gone for good. You won’t see hide nor hair of ‘em. Just take your mate and go before anything else ends up like my house.” He waved a hand, and Harrison nodded his head before turning to leave. “Best of luck to you both.”

  Harrison didn’t reply, just raised his wings to the sky, and with a heavy swoosh, she was lifted off the ground on his back, left to wonder how bad most of those Copperhead boys were really, or if just bad leadership had led them astray.

  Either way, she was headed home, the Texas wildness stretching out for miles and miles around her as Harrison made for the clouds, and she held on to his neck with both hands as fresh air blew past her face and filled her senses.

  These untamed lands with a small ranch nestled right in the center. This was the place she could see spending the rest of her days. And she just counted the minutes until she could be back in Harrison’s arms, ready to face the future alongside her cowboy dragon.