by Dawn, Autumn
The shadowed figure of the lead man noticed the cows. He called something to his friends, who laughed as they rounded up the beeves.
Charlie smirked and pushed the detonator plunger. BOOM! A cloud of dust and rubble exploded behind the raiders, cutting off their egress. Horses squealed and men cursed in Nahuatl and English.
Charlie opened fire.
Dakota cursed as they drew closer to the sound of gunshots. Why couldn’t Charlie have waited? Tracking the bandits alone wasn’t a plan, it was suicide.
He rushed up the trail to Charlie’s position. His coyote night vision had no problem picking out her body sprawled behind a rock, and he scented blood. She’d been grazed on the temple, but thankfully was still breathing. “She’ll live,” he told an anxious Max.
He brought Charlie down the trail and left Levi and his men to track the escaping raiders. Getting Charlie safe had priority.
Chapter 3
“Wake up, Charlie!” Charlie moaned and snuggled her head deeper into her pillow as someone shook her shoulder. She was tired and her head hurt.
“The cows are in the bathtub. Go brand them,” she ordered sleepily. Sydney shook her harder.
“Wake up! There’s a posse outside, and they want Harmon.”
“What?” she bolted awake, staring in bleary alarm. Her head throbbed, and she raised a hand to soothe it, only to encounter a bandana bandage. The events of the night were fuzzy, but she remembered getting clipped with a bullet and a ride, supported against something hard. A chest? That’s right, it was Dakota’s chest and he’d growled at her. She recalled riding up to the porch last night and a confusion of voices and horses. Everything else was a blur.
“Where’s Harmon?” she demanded as she rolled out of bed. She viciously rubbed the grit from her eyes and reached for some clothes. She couldn’t go out in her nightgown.
“Gabe went to get him.” Sydney reported anxiously. “Alex said to get you. They’re at the front porch,” she informed her big sister, who was groggily headed for the back door.
“Right.” Charlie turned in the proper direction, tucking in her shirt as she went and grabbing her gun belt off the peg by the door. She wished she remembered more of what happened last night, but the strongest impression was a memory of Dakota’s spicy, wild scent. Mm, musk.
She shook her head to clear it and immediately regretted it. “Syd, fetch me a couple of headache pills, okay?” Smoothing back the wisps of hair escaping her braid, she jammed on her hat, wincing as she bumped the bullet burn.
Alex was handling the situation.
“…stole some of our herd last night, too. Nearly took off Charlie’s head.” Alex fell silent as Harmon limped up to the porch with the help of his knobby cane. He had a perpetual scowl ever since he’d broken his foot in an awkward fall.
Charlie clamped her jaws shut on a question about his health, knowing he wouldn’t appreciate it, especially in front of these men. She didn’t like the sound of his rattling breath either. The doctor said the fluid in his lungs was caused by his heart attack and that they could expect problems. He was in pain and cranky most days, and the medicine could only do so much.
She looked toward the crowd of men on horseback. Levi had a black appaloosa with really nice legs. Dakota rode his favorite saddle horse, a lovely cocoa and cream paint with a beautifully shaped head and gleaming coat. As she looked the critter over, Charlie noticed Dakota’s legs were also nicely muscled. Her gaze lingered on his chaps, imagining the way his rear would look if he dismounted. The man was well built, and he’d always had the choicest backside.
She jerked as she realized where her sleepy mind was going.
He smiled faintly. “Mornin’ Charlie.” He tipped his Stetson. “That’s nice war paint you’ve got there.”
She dropped her eyes and scowled, rubbing at a streak of dirt on her cheek. That was one way to get the daydreams out of her head. Just once she’d like to meet him without looking like something the dog dug up. Thank God they both went to church, or he’d think she didn’t know the first thing about looking like a lady.
Not that she cared, of course.
“I’m glad to see you’re all right,” he said quietly. “You gave us quite a scare.”
For some reason, she blushed. His steady regard suddenly seemed too intimate, and she felt shy. Had the bullet loosened her brains?
“We ain’t taking no women,” one of the men was saying. “Them’s rustlers we’re after, and we don’t need no silly gaggle of girls slowing us down.”
Dakota growled softly. His eyes glowed, and the man instinctively lowered his gaze from the icy blue stare. Displeasing a shifter was stupid; even in human form they could rip your arms off.
Unimpressed with the posturing, Harmon spat on the ground. “I ain’t going nowhere with this foot. It’s Charlie and Alex or nothing.”
The sheriff shifted uncomfortably while the other men muttered. “Now Harm, you know it ain’t right, taking two young ladies on a posse.”
“Ladies, my gouty Aunt Myrtle!” one man chortled. “They’re more men than we are.” There were a few guffaws...until Dakota looked at them. Levi shifted, his eyes watchful, silently supportive. There was no question who the alpha males were.
“The next man who insults the Lions women will answer to me,” Dakota said quietly. There was deadly silence. “We’re riding on their land and they know the way. She goes.” He didn’t need to say anything else. Nobody was going to challenge one of the fastest guns in Texas, not over something as unimportant as a woman.
Charlie’s heart raced when he looked at her and those cool eyes warmed to lazy blue flame. No one had ever defended her like that.
Harmon grunted. “You’re wasting time. Git a move on.”
Max came up from the corral leading Charlie’s ornery buckskin and Alex’s white-faced gray gelding. Both were outfitted with bedrolls and the saddlebags bulged with supplies. Clearly Harmon anticipated the outcome of the pissing match and ordered the necessary preparation.
Charlie and Alex mounted up.
“Here, Charlie.” Max came out of the house and handed her a canteen. “I put some of my special “wake up juice” in it. I know you didn’t get much sleep last night.”
Charlie grimaced, hooking it over her saddle horn. “You and your herbal remedies. That stuff tastes worse than old socks. Smells like ‘em, too.”
Max grinned. “It’s either that or coffee, and you know that stuff upsets your stomach.” She sobered. “Please be careful.”
“I’m always careful.”
“Okay, please be more careful than you always are,” her sister said cheekily. Gabe and Syd stood beside her and Harmon on the porch to wave them off.
Charlie waited until they were past the corral before she muttered to Alex, “What’s going on? I seem to have lost some time between coming home and waking up. Others lost cattle, too?”
Alex gave her a sharp look. “You said that was only a graze!”
Charlie avoided her eyes. “It was. So what’s going on?”
Alex’s jaw looked tight enough to crack walnuts. “You came in bloody; Dakota was the only thing keeping you in the saddle. By the time we’d finished patching you up the Eagle’s men were shooting it out with the rustlers, but it was too dark to pursue without risking ambush. One casualty was enough.” She glowered at her sister.
Dakota, who’d moved up to Charlie’s left, added, “By the time we sorted out that other ranches had been hit, it was near dawn, and the sheriff’s posse joined us. Alex told us you sent a note to Tochtli,” he said in disapproval.
Charlie lifted her brows and looked up at the sky. “I still think he had something to do with it. The canyon runs to his land.”
“Except the raid was too big, hit too many people, and he claims that his cows were stolen, too,” Dakota said without expression.
“What!” Charlie winced as her head throbbed. “Why that lying, conniving…”
“Better keep it down,
” Dakota cut her off coolly. “That’s his men coming to meet us.”
Charlie sucked in a breath as she recognized Lord Tochtli and five of his men. Conversations stopped and a thick tension settled over the posse. Nobody liked Tochtli; everyone suspected him of thieving, but no one could prove it.
At least his hired gun was nowhere in sight. Maybe Tochtli had been wise enough to leave him behind. Could he have been off selling some stolen cows over the border?
Tochtli nodded cordially to Charlie. “My regrets on your injury, Miss Lions. I was distressed to hear of it.” His chocolate-smooth voice matched his gentleman’s attire and handsome face. There was no hint of deception in his emerald eyes, yet Charlie knew she was looking at a snake.
Not much was known about Tochtli. A suspected shape shifter, he lacked the telltale sky eyes of the Native American shifters. Aztec royalty often had green eyes…and were often shifters as well. He’d shown up about four years ago and purchased a huge ranch. He was rumored to be a bastard, but very quietly, for he didn’t take well to slander. It was said a jaguar prowled his lands at night, keeping rustlers at bay.
Or he was a rustler, which would explain why he was mostly left alone.
Before Charlie could speak, Dakota engaged Tochtli. “Nice of you to join us, Tochtli. I heard you lost a good number of cattle. First time you’ve run into that kind of trouble, isn’t it?”
“My men are well trained, well paid to see to my stock,” Tochtli agreed smoothly. “You share the same good fortune, I know. Better even than mine. None of your stock was touched last night, I hear.”
A hard smile curved Dakota’s lips. “I protect what’s mine.”
Charlie grunted and nudged her horse into a trot. While they were posturing, the rustlers were getting away.
Dakota and Levi rode on either side of Charlie and Alex, effectively blocking Tochtli. Dakota was stewing over Charlie tracking the rustlers. It had been dangerous and stupid, and the kind of thing she would do. It made him crazy; she was a woman. What had she thought the rustlers would do if they’d caught her? He wanted to lock her up somewhere safe until she learned good sense.
He managed to contain his feelings for a good hour, but finally burst out, “You need more hands.” They were on foot, walking to rest the horses, and Charlie looked at him inquiringly.
Alex shrugged. “Harmon doesn’t trust them. He claims they’d rob him blind, but I think he’s being protective of us.” She glanced sourly at Curley Lou, who rode out of earshot. He was the one who’d been so vehement about the women staying home. “Seems to think there’s a powerful lot of riffraff around.”
It was a good story, but he wondered if they simply couldn’t afford it. Their recent losses had to hurt. “Branding and cutting steers is dangerous, heavy work. No offense, Alex, but it would go easier if you had someone with muscle around.” He knew how hard the work was; not that he imagined “women’s work” was any easier. His mother was one of the busiest women around, and he’d been drafted into helping her as a boy, so he had a healthy respect for her job. But hard as slaving over a hot stove or canning vegetables could be, at least it wasn’t hazardous. He hated the thought of Charlie getting shot or trampled.
“We manage,” Charlie said quietly. After a moment she added, “We do everything now, since Harmon’s heart attack. We used to have a couple of herd dogs, but someone used them for target practice.” She shot a narrow look at Tochtli and his men, who rode out of earshot. “Gabe’s working on a robotic dog, but her best is barely smart enough to guard the chickens.” It also smoked out the vent, which was pretty gross. Gabe said it was burning too much oil, but moved on to her next project.
Levi sent a speculative look at Alex. “How old are you? Eighteen?”
“Nineteen,” Alex corrected, gesturing to her sister. “She’s twenty, and the others are sixteen, fourteen and eleven.”
“And you do everything by yourself.” It wasn’t a question, more a statement of Levi’s disbelief and disquiet.
Alex glanced at him, annoyed. “I said that.” Tired of the conversation, she mounted up and nudged her horse into a walk.
Everyone was mounting up. Dakota laughed at Levi’s scowl. “That’ll win her heart.”
Levi shot him an arch look. “I’ll leave the romance to you.”
“Good idea. I’m better at it.”
They rode hard for the rest of the afternoon, everyone focused on stolen cattle and on the lookout for hidden gunmen. It was nearly sunset when one of the outriders, an Eagle’s cowhand, spotted a big dust trail up ahead.
“They’re almost to the river. There are lots of trees for cover and it’ll make a good place to ambush them. If we’re careful, some of us can go around and get ahead of them. There’s a slight rise that would make for good shooting if the ladies would take their rifles up there. You’re some of the best gunmen,” he pointed out reasonably when Charlie’s eyes narrowed.
“An excellent idea,” Tochtli said smoothly. “Miss Lions has already risked her life; I should hate to see it endangered again so soon.”
The possessive, confident look he sent her made her want to drop a bead between his eyes, but she satisfied herself with a curt, “Fine.” The outrider’s suggestion made sense, even if the lot of them were being overprotective.
“No sense getting killed,” Alex said as they followed the scout to the designated position. “Harmon and the girls need us.”
She had a point, but the thought of Harmon being dependent on them was startling. Charlie had never thought of him in that light, but when was the last time Harmon had been able to sit a horse? His cowboy days were over. He worked as hard as he could around the ranch house, refusing to take laudanum or the doctor’s morphine except on bad nights, and his face was often etched with lines of pain. He worked like a man who knew he had little time.
She was so distracted, she didn’t take offense when Dakota drew near and issued quiet orders. “Keep your head down and don’t take any risks. I don’t like having Tochtli’s men here. Keep a sharp eye on them, or this could go south in a hurry.”
Startled, she shot him a look. She hadn’t even thought of that. “I hope you’re wrong.”
“Just in case, you girls should be ready to ride. I don’t care if you kill your horses, but get to the Eagle ranch. You’ll have a better chance there than if you head home.”
Queasy now, she nodded. Since Levi didn’t look surprised by Dakota’s concerns, she assumed they’d already talked. Why wait to the last minute to say anything?
After a couple of tense miles, she saw the rise the scout mentioned, and she and Alex broke away and headed for it. They tethered their horses in a thicket of trees behind the bluff and watched as the others fanned out and melted into the woods.
Dust heralded the arrival of the rustlers. The thirsty cattle picked up their pace as they scented water, eager to get to the river. The rustlers bunched along the sides and back of the milling mass, making a nice cluster of targets.
Charlie took careful aim and a bloom of scarlet flowered on her target’s chest. Another jerked and fell off his horse, courtesy of Alex. Dakota and the posse rode out of the trees, scattering cattle in all directions, firing into the thieves.
Hopelessly outnumbered, one man dropped his rifle and raised his hands. One of Tochtli’s riders shot him down like a rabid dog.
Dakota swerved out of the way of a cow and snarled at the shooter. Charlie registered Dakota’s furious expression and guessed he was swearing, though she couldn’t hear over the bawls of fearful cattle.
Suddenly Alex grabbed Charlie’s shoulder, jerking her to her feet. “Cow coming!” They barely had time to swing up in the saddle before a wild-eyed steer charged to the top of the hill. Charlie went right, and Alex split left…too late. The deadly horns hooked Alex’s arm. She screamed, and the steer’s shoulder rammed into her pony’s flank, sending them both off balance. The pony teetered and stumbled to its knees.
“Get up here!” Lev
i appeared from nowhere and grabbed Alex’s good arm, pulling her up in front of him.
Charlie saw more cows headed their way and swore. Grateful for his help, she grabbed Alex’s horse’s reins and raced after Levi, working hard to escape the maddened cattle. She glanced back as she rode, eyes widening as several cows leapt over the edge and crashed heavily into the trees below.
With the bandits defeated, they concentrated on settling the cattle. The bodies of the rustlers were piled near what would be their gravesite. A couple of them were wanted men; most of the others were unknown Aztecs.
Dakota was still steamed at the cowboy who’d shot the surrendering rustler. Levi practically had to sit on him.
“We might have got some names if they’d lived,” Dakota said in a low growl. His eyes were glowing. “Tochtli’s men made sure that didn’t happen.” He sent a hot glare at the cowboy, who lifted his lip in acknowledgement. Tochtli glanced their way. He’d been conferring with one of his men some distance away, but he must have sensed trouble, for he headed over, followed by the sheriff.
Levi blocked Dakota’s line of sight. The last thing they needed was an alpha stare down. “Now’s not the time,” he warned, glancing at Charlie and Alex.
Dakota followed his gaze. Alex’s arm was badly bruised; she’d have a hard ride home tomorrow. Her horse strained a tendon, but it would make it back.
It could have been worse. Levi swore one of Tochtli’s men purposely jumped those cows the girls’ way. There was no reason for the cattle to take that rise when it was easier going around it.
While he hadn’t seen it happen, Dakota didn’t doubt it. He wondered if Tochtli had given up his attempts to court Charlie. He glanced at the dead bodies. If he was right, and Tochtli was behind this, he wasn’t leaving witnesses.
He looked at the Aztec. He seemed cool and dangerous as he smoothly reasoned the sheriff out of arresting his man. “Would it not be a waste of time? The rustlers were destined for a rope; my man simply saved you the trouble.”
