Cowboy's Barmaid: A Small Town Military Romance (Lucky Flats Ranchers Book 2)

by Piper Sullivan

  Almond curved, emerald green eyes, framed in thick, black lashes stared back at him. If he thought she was beautiful in Human form, there simply wasn’t a word to describe her Dragon. She wasn’t as large as him, but she was bigger than the average female Dragon.

  Her golden scales held a ruby incandescence when she turned and the light reflected off them. She advanced on him like a predator on prey and for a brief moment he thought she’d betrayed him too. But instead of attacking him, she wrapped her large tail around his middle and sank her fangs into the one penetrable place on a Dragon’s neck, just below the jawline.

  She growled low in her throat and he took that as invitation to complete his part. Using his large arms, he pulled her into an embrace and mimicked her actions. As they drank from one another, a bond as old as time was born. He felt her blood rushing across his tongue, coating his throat and sinking into his own bloodstream. Within moments, he felt as though she, herself, had crawled into his body and claimed him as hers.

  “I wasn’t sure you wanted this,” Wesley murmured gently through their mental connection. “I know all this is difficult for you, I love you but I refuse to force you into something you didn’t want.”

  “I want you,” Beth responded timidly. “I want us - this connection - forever. I understand the barbarism of the Ancient Ways and want you to teach me everything about Modernism,” she explained. “But right now, we have more pressing things to do.”

  Chapter 9

  Wesley threw back his head, unhinged his massive jaw and exhaled a fireball large enough to shoot through the estate’s roof. He leapt forward and covered Beth with his body as wood, ash other debris rained from their new exit. If they survived this war, Wes knew he’d have a lot of work to do on the estate house. Especially after Lance finished ripping the first floor apart.

  Drawing away from his beloved, Wes leaned forward and nuzzled her neck softly.

  “Stay in here and wait for Lance. I’ll send him to take you underground.”

  “But I want to go with you, I can help,” Beth protested. Wesley growled low in his throat, a sign that he was Alpha and his word was law. He was a soldier, through and through and fighting was what he did best. He couldn’t protect Beth and hold off the rebel army at the same time.

  She lowered her lashes and fresh pain shot through Wesley’s chest. Immediately he understood that he’d hurt her. In all their time together, he’d encouraged her to stand on her own feet, pursue her own interests and make up her own mind. Now that she’d decided to follow her heart as well, he stepped into her path and told her she couldn’t.

  Shame engulfed him.

  “I just don’t want you hurt,” he murmured softly. “I am your Prince and I always will be, but I won’t treat you like property. You have your freedom my love, just please leave this fight to me, it’s what I do,” he pleaded. Somewhat shocked that he’d taken that route, Beth nodded her head and motioned for him to go.

  “I understand,” she said softly. “I can feel you, remember?”

  Instead of wondering why she couldn’t feel his intentions to begin with, Wesley shook himself and thrust his wings wide, launching his huge, scaled body through the porthole in the roof.

  Folding his wings tightly to his side, he shot through the opening like a bullet at full velocity.

  Once airborne, he took a moment to survey the scene and fresh anger rushed through him when he realized the number of rebels marching across his lawn. He stopped counting after reaching seventy-five. Knowing the SIN soldiers would never make it in time; he opened his mouth wide and spit a trail of fire between the soldiers and the front of the house. A gigantic wall of fire sprang from the ground, reaching a height of more than fifty feet.

  Satisfied that his diversion would hold them at bay for a few moments, he landed just in front of house and blasted the front door off its hinges. He squeezed through the opening and thundered through the house in search of his brother. A quick glance upstairs and he saw Beth standing over the unconscious bodies of her parents. He wanted them dead, for everything they’d put Beth through, but knew deep inside that he couldn’t take them away from her.

  Resolved to see them imprisoned, he continued his search for Lance. After crashing through the remnants of his brother’s battle, he found the orange-hued Dragon leaning against the kitchen wall. Blood ran in several rivulets over his scales and he noticed several of them were missing from around his throat.

  But he saw no major wound. Frustrated that he couldn’t communicate with his sibling lest he shift back into human form, he turned his head back toward the balcony and let out a soulful wail at Beth.

  Lance immediately sprang to life. Rushing past Wesley, the smaller Dragon launched himself upstairs when little to no effort and instantly draped himself across Beth. He looked down at the Hendersons and then back to Wesley, and the message was clear.

  I’ve got them; you do what you have to.

  Wesley nodded his head once in understanding and then crashed back through the destroyed house to confront the army that greatly outnumbered him.

  ***

  Beth watched in curious fear as Lance took her father gently in his razor sharp fangs. Careful not to hurt the Dragon in Human form, he shifted the man’s unconscious body so that it rested among his back row of more blunt molars. Turning back toward Beth, she inhaled sharply when she understood that he wanted her to do the same with her mother.

  It was a request she refused. Instinctively she wanted to shift back to Human form in order to explain herself to Lance but knew that is she did, she would lose mental contact with her mate; and that she also refused to do.

  Lance growled at her to obey but she shook her head. Her parents had deceived her and betrayed their Prince. Yes, they deserved punishment, perhaps even death should Wesley declare it. But she wouldn’t participate in an act that would take their lives. She just couldn’t do it. No matter how wrong and malicious they’d been, she couldn’t help kill them.

  Lance placed Jeremy limp form back upon the floor and advanced on Beth, shoving her forcefully with the bulk of his head.

  Suddenly, like a rubber band drawn tight one time too many, she snapped or rather the leash on her inner Dragon did.

  In a flurry of action, she thrust her wings from her side and shoved with her hind legs in order to propel herself through the hole Wesley left in the ceiling. She heard Lance roar but ignored him as he flapped her wings and lifted herself higher into the sky.

  In looking down at the carnage littering the expansive front lawn, fear rose up and choked her. Swinging her head back and forth, she searched for Wesley’s vibrant red form. Her blood froze in her veins when she finally found him lying on his side amongst a massive number of dead soldiers.

  She looked back toward the driveway and noticed dust plumes floating in the distance. Apparently he’d killed enough that the rest retreated. Whether they’d return with reinforcements or not, she couldn’t know. Stilling her wings, she glided to the ground near Wesley and nudged him softly with her snout.

  He was still alive; she felt his heartbeat through their connection. But his mind was silent as a grave. She threw back her head and let loose a grief-stricken roar that shook the ground beneath her.

  Within seconds, Lance was at her side. He looked at Beth and then the house where her parents were. She understood what he asked. He needed her to choose; save her mate or capture her parents.

  As far as her heart was concerned, there was no choice. Leaning down, she gently nudged Wesley’s head.

  She understood the enormity of her decision. Her parents would awaken and they would escape or they’d die; their destinies were no longer her concern. The war wasn’t over. It hadn’t even begun. She knew where she belonged and it was at Wesley’s side, defending and protecting their Faction.

  Chapter 10

  Beth paced the strange bedroom suite of the Royal Palace deep beneath the Earth’s surface. Lance had managed to get Wesley to the cave about
ten miles from the estate. Once inside, he’d shown her the both well-hidden and well-guarded portal to their underground city.

  She hated leaving her parents behind and wondered if they survived. If so, she knew her father wouldn’t stop until he’d killed Wesley and she wouldn’t let that happen. She vowed that should she face her father again, she would do whatever was necessary to make him see the error of his ways. Or if that failed, then she’d kill him herself rather than let him hurt her mate.

  For the moment, all she knew was that her mate was in bed, being tended by the Faction’s surgeon. She felt him through their connection and she didn’t like the weak pulse coming from his heart.

  She couldn’t lose him now, not when she’d just found him. She’d been pledged to him her entire life, but she never thought she’d love him.

  A brief knock preceded Lance entering their chambers, his face awash in worry.

  “How is he?” he asked softly.

  Beth shrugged her shoulders and wiped an errant tear making its way down her cheek.

  “He’s weak and lost a lot of blood, the surgeon is sewing his wounds,” she responded. “I can’t lose him,” she added and her voice hitched.

  “You won’t,” the surgeon announced as he approached them, wiping his bloodied hands on a towel. “Your mate needs you,” he added and brushed past them. “Lance, grab my bags please and let’s leave the newlyweds to their privacy.”

  Lance blushed and nodded curtly before retrieving the doctor’s bags and rushing toward the door himself.

  “Wait,” Beth called. “I don’t understand, what am I supposed to do?”

  Lance stopped just inside the threshold and turned to face her. He smiled coyly and winked.

  “Your mating ceremony isn’t exactly complete,” he announced and pulled the door closed behind him.

  Realization dawned and Beth spun to study the unconscious form of her mate. Moving slowly and quietly, she approached the bed and watched the unsteady rise and fall of his chest; his gloriously muscled, smooth chest. Clenching and unclenching her hands several times, she finally decided to hell with tradition and shoved the silk robe from her shoulders, stepping out of the purple pool as soon as it hit the floor.

  She climbed up on the bed and moved to straddle Wesley and shrieked in surprise when his large hands moved to grasp her thighs.

  “You scared me,” she scolded. “You’re weak and shouldn’t exert yourself.”

  Wesley smiled although he’d yet to open his eyes.

  “The day I miss my mate ravishing me is the day I die,” he announced weakly. “And I’m not going to die without tasting you first,” he added and shifted so that he pinned her to the bed with his heavy body.

  “Your stitches,” she screeched and shoved at him. “You’ll reopen the wound.”

  Wesley responded by leaning down and taking her earlobe between his teeth the same time his hand wandered south and penetrated the mound of red curls between her legs. She almost purred at the sensations that racked her body.

  “As you so elegantly pointed out, I am weak and I owe you much more than a quick romp in the sack, but I need you so badly I don’t think I can take it slow and easy,” Wesley murmured as he nibbled a path from her ear, down her neck and then back up to her lips. “Are you okay with that?”

  Beth threw her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, her heels digging into his gloriously firm ass.

  “Take what you need, however you need it,” she answered and gripped his hair tight enough to bring tears to his eyes. “My body is yours for now and forever.”

  Wasting no more time, Wesley drove into her like a starving man after water. She raised her hips to meet him thrust for thrust. She clawed at his back with her nails and bit at his neck, suckling the tender flesh with her blunt Human teeth.

  When she felt that tidal wave cresting, she knew the end was near, so she allowed her fangs to elongate and punctured the skin directly over his carotid artery, almost smiling when he gasped in response.

  “Turn about is fair play,” he panted and punctured her throat in return. They drank from one another until they’d leeched every last remnant of pleasure from one another.

  Beth felt Wesley’s strength returning with every beat of her heart. Her blood had returned him to health and vitality.

  With his skin flushed a deep scarlet, Wesley rolled onto the bed beside her and pulled her against his side in a bone-crushing embrace.

  “What about the war?” Beth asked, although she hated to spoil the moment. It wasn’t as if they were alone on a deserted island. Even though they basked in the afterglow of sharing souls, they were still in grave danger.

  “It will still be there in a couple hours,” Wesley mused.

  “Did you ever meet Phillip the Peaceful?” Beth asked as the thought suddenly occurred. The way Wesley had spoken of him, with a fondness only a close relationship could boast, she felt sure he had.

  Wesley smiled coyly and turned his head to study her.

  “Yes,” he answered simply. “So have you.”

  But before Beth could ask who he meant, Wesley advanced on her with a ravishing gleam in his eyes and she knew well how they’d spend the next couple hours.

  Epilogue

  Henry pulled the old manuscripts and tomes from the book cart and lovingly returned them to the glass case he stored them in. He’d enjoyed enlightening Beth about Phillip the Peaceful’s journey and was pleased when she’d seen the truth and light of His words.

  Although the war had begun, all four Factions were now secured with their Crowned and Mated leaders. The rebels didn’t know the battle that awaited them.

  Shuffling over to the low burning fire, Henry took a handful of finely ground powder from a pouch hanging from his robe’s belt and sprinkled it carefully across the flames.

  “Time to wake up,” he murmured and smiled when the walls and ceilings rumbled in response. As an original Ancient One - the last surviving one - Henry knew if the Elementals were to remain in existence, the last Faction would need to make a return. All their kind believed them extinct when all the while they’d remained in stasis, hidden safely away until such time as they were needed.

  ****

  THE END

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  Nanny’s Halloween Down Under

  Prologue

  “Hey, sis. What are you thinking?”

  I turned around from watching surfers hang ten on the Surfer’s Paradise beach. Cara watched me closely. I could tell she was concerned; her forehead was furrowed. I had seen that look my entire life. Well, Cara was my big sister, and she had a habit of worrying about me.

  “Just thinking about where it all went wrong,” I answered, leaning against the balcony railing. Then I smiled, trying to take the sadness out of my words. “Don’t mind me. I’ll get over it.”

  “It’s not your fault,” she said. “You shouldn’t blame yourself.”

  I knew she was right, deep down. But it was hard to think rationally at the moment. My fashion business, which I had been working so hard to establish back home in San Francisco, had gone belly up. My major investor had suddenly pulled out, due to sickness. I had no choice but to close it down, at least until I found another. Cara had suggested Bryce could invest, but I didn’t know him that well, yet. I just didn’t want to put it on him.

  At least I was somewhere beautiful to lick my wounds. Queensland, Australia. I had been here a week, visiting Cara and her new husband, Bryce. And Charlie, Cara’s stepson. They lived in one of the most stunning places I had ever seen in my life. A waterfront mansion, where you could step out onto the beach. Cara had certainly won the jackpot. Bryce was great, and Charlie was the cutest thing ever.

  Yes, all up it wasn’t a bad place to think things through.


  “Bianca,” Cara said, looking at me gently. “It will be okay. Do you want to start getting ready? I said we’d meet Bryce at the restaurant at seven.”

  I nodded. “Of course. I’ll have a shower and be ready in fifteen.”

  We were chauffeured to the restaurant. I still couldn’t believe Cara’s new lifestyle. I saw Bryce on the restaurant steps, waiting for us. But who was with him? He was a tall man, with sandy colored hair and a rugged appearance. I turned to Cara.

  “Is someone else dining with us?” I asked. Cara looked out the car window, frowning.

  “It’s Zane,” she said. “Zane Connelly. One of Bryce’s friends. Funny, Bryce didn’t tell me that he would be dining with us. I didn’t even know he was in town. He lives on one of the largest cattle stations in the Northern Territory.”

  I studied the man, surreptitiously. Very handsome, if you like the rugged outdoorsy type. But he looked preoccupied, like his mind was a million miles away.

  “Cara! Bianca!”

  Bryce came to open the car door for us. He leaned in, whispering to Cara. “Zane turned up unexpectedly, and he’s a bit down. I asked him to join us. You don’t mind, do you?”

  Cara smiled, touching his face tenderly. “Of course not. He’s very welcome.”

  Introductions were made, and then we all sat down at our table. I looked around, impressed. It was a fancy restaurant, there was no doubt of that. Waiters hovered around us like flies, anticipating every whim. Bryce ordered champagne, only the very best, of course. Well, he was a billionaire; it was an everyday occurrence for him. Whereas I had never even tasted this label before. I took a sip. The bubbles rose to my head like steam in a shower.

  I looked at Zane, sitting across from us. He barely touched his champagne. Instead, he kept checking his phone, frowning.