Ronan glanced at Kira who seemed to be busy trying not to look his way, but he caught her eye anyway. “Mornin’.” He tipped his hat toward her and watched the blush color her pale cheeks.
“Morning.” She smiled then moved out of the way as he passed her to open up the truck door. He eased her in with his hand on her elbow and then winked at her as he closed the door. Mira and Steve were already getting in as he headed to the driver side.
“Still not telling us where we’re going?” Steve hedged, sounding eager to learn their destination.
“My ranch” was all Ronan replied as he gunned the truck, put it in drive, and headed out of the parking lot. His eyes roamed the area looking for danger. It was habit, more so with precious cargo in his truck.
“Ah, dude.” Steve leaned up close. “I have to be at work tonight. I don’t think we have enough time to head west.”
“Don’t make me find a pole, Steve,” Ronan warned with narrowed eyes. “Sit back and enjoy the ride.”
“You did try to take me out that night.” Steve leaned back and crossed his arms. “I knew it.”
Ronan shifted, his knuckles hitting the side of Kira’s leg. She moved it immediately without looking at him. He grinned, ignoring Steve once again explaining to Mira about him almost running the truck into a pole to shut Steve up. The next time he had Kira in his truck, she would be sitting beside him, not close to the door, but close to him. The windows were cracked so not to blow too much wind on Drew. Kira’s scent drew him in like no other. It was earthy with a hint of sweetness that he wanted to sink his teeth into.
If he didn’t stop, he was going to be driving the whole way with a raging hard-on. Soon, man. Very soon.
Steve and Mira continued the conversation between themselves as Ronan and Kira remained silent, each with their own thoughts.
“How did you sleep?” Ronan finally broke the silence, his eyes still on the road.
“Fine, and you?” Kira answered a little too quickly. Ronan glanced at her to see she had squeezed her eyes shut with a frown. “Okay, that was dumb. You don’t sleep.”
“No, but I miss sleeping,” Ronan replied, knowing she was nervous and wanted to ease her into conversation with him. He didn’t like the uneasiness about her. It wasn’t natural, and he definitely didn’t want her to have those type of feelings when she was around him.
“Really?” Kira glanced his way, the curiosity in her voice exactly what he wanted to hear.
“Lazy rainy days just lying in bed with nothing else to do but sleep?” Ronan gave a deep manly sigh. “Even though it’s been a very long time ago, I do remember those days and miss them.”
“Yeah, but if I didn’t need to sleep, do you have any idea how much I could get done in a day?” Kira chuckled with a shake of her head. “My Goddess, it would be like having two of me.”
“Oh no,” Mira said from the back seat. “The world couldn’t handle two of you, Kira.”
“True,” Kira agreed, then glanced over the back seat at Steve. “What do you miss about being human, Steve? Do you miss sleeping?”
“Nah, not really.” Steve shook his head. “My human life wasn’t all that great. Foster homes, being constantly bullied, and having no family or friends isn’t anything to brag about. Ever since I met Nicole and Damon, my life changed for the better. I belong, have great friends, and never have to worry about where my next meal will come from.”
Ronan never really knew Steve’s history and dammit, no wonder he was drawn to the kid. He was like the unwanted animals around his ranch he never sent away. They came and he took care of them. His respect for young Steve grew.
“What about you?” Kira glanced back at Ronan. He sensed her stare at the side of this head. “Anything else you miss other than sleeping?”
“Nope, that pretty much sums it up.” Ronan didn’t want to get too involved with these questions. He tried to live his life day-by-day without looking back into the past too much. It had been so hard to see his family and close friends grow old and die while he remained young, knowing he would live forever. He mostly watched from afar, but during his father’s illness, he found himself inside his father’s room. The talk they’d had, the understanding his father had given him was something he never took for granted and would never forget. If he could be half the man his father had been, then Ronan would say his life was a success.
“I’m sorry.” Kira’s voice broke into his thoughts.
“For what?” Ronan asked, his eyes still on the road. He knew if he looked at her, she would see his pain and at that moment, with others in the truck, it wasn’t the time to open up. He would share his whole life with Kira Grail, but in time.
“You just seemed, I don’t know, sad,” Kira replied with a whisper, so only he could hear her. “I didn’t mean to be nosey.”
Stopping at a red light, Ronan looked over at her. “You can ask me anything you want, Kira.” Ronan quickly glanced at the light, then back. “But when we are alone.” A smile tipped her lips, and he reached for her hand, which she gave without hesitation. “I don’t need Steve running around the compound telling my life story.” Ronan frowned, then chuckled when she laughed.
“Goddess forbid.” Kira glanced in the back seat, then back to Ronan. “He really looks up to you.”
Ronan looked at Steve, who was staring out the window. Then their eyes met. Steve gave him a huge smile, and Ronan looked away, feeling much better about what he was going to offer Steve.
Kira enjoyed the ride, but mostly enjoyed being with Ronan. She’d done her best to stay away from the man because of fear. She was so sick and tired of not taking what she wanted. Her eyes drifted toward their loosely held hands. She wanted him, no doubt about it. He was different from the other Warriors. He wasn’t as intense, he thought before he spoke, and he genuinely seemed to care about others. Not that the other Warriors didn’t, but they were more in your face, more extreme alpha than Ronan. His laidback cowboy was way more attractive to her because of all of those qualities. And even though she’d seen him angry, it was a rare occurrence. Maybe because of all the turmoil in her life, she needed his kind of stability. It suited her, made her comfortable.
They slowed and turned onto a dirt road, the trees lined the road on each side, giving shade. She glanced out the window and up, loving how they formed a canopy over the road. It was absolutely beautiful.
The road opened up, and the trees disappeared onto a beautiful piece of land with a house, barns, and activity bustling all around. Two school buses were unloading, and Kira smiled at the excitement on some of the kids’ faces as they looked around. Almost like she had been doing.
“This is your place?” Kira asked as Ronan parked.
“Yes, ma’am.” He got out of the truck, came around to her side and opened the door. She slid out, her eyes still taking everything in while he helped Mira out as Steve worked the car seat to get Drew.
“It’s beautiful.” She sighed as she continued to take everything in.
“Thank you.” Ronan smiled down at her, then glanced at Steve and Mira. “Listen, we were running a little behind, so I need to take care of a few things real quick. You can come with me or walk around. You’re welcome anywhere except that barn over there.”
Kira looked that way, curious. “Why not that barn?”
“We have unbroken horses housed inside during visits like this.” Ronan glanced over his shoulder. “Just make yourself at home. If you want, you can go in the house. The refrigerator should be stocked.”
“I want to go with you,” Kira responded quickly, wanting to know exactly what Ronan did here, see him as not just a VC Warrior, but as a man outside of that world.
Her words seemed to please him as a smile spread across his face. He held out his hand and she took it, letting him lead wherever he wanted to take her.
Ronan headed straight toward the kids who were busy talking excitedly, almost to the point the teachers were having a hard time quieting them down.
“Hi.” Kira smiled, noticing the man was not a vampire, but a human with a kind, weathered face.
“Same thing as last time?” the man asked Ronan, who nodded. “Seemed to work. What do you all think? Anything we can change from last time or just keep the same routine?”
Kira glanced around and realized they were surrounded by men, all human and all different ages. A few tipped their hats at her, others just gave her a kind nod of acknowledgment.
“I think the last time was a success,” one younger man said above the silence. “The kids seemed to enjoy it, and that’s what counts.”
“Then that’s the plan.” Ronan dropped her hand, but not before giving it a squeeze. She watched as he walked toward all the kids and gave the loudest whistle she’d ever heard. The kids instantly stopped talking. Impressive. They looked like rambunctious middle-school-aged kids, both of the human and vampire race, excited to be out of the classroom. She also noticed that all the teachers were looking at Ronan with a keen interest in their eyes, no doubt for a possible after-school project.
Her eyes went to Ronan, and she couldn’t say she blamed them at all. He was all kinds of handsome, from the top of his cowboy hat, black T-shirt, fine fitting Wranglers, to his boots. Sorry, ladies, her mind screamed, this is all mine.
“Listen up!” The authority in Ronan’s voice, which also tinged with kindness, made her jump and realize she was staring at him like a piece of meat. Glancing around, she saw a few other guilty looks on the other women’s faces. “I see some familiar faces and some new. We have rules here that need to be followed.”
“You gonna break one of them horses again, Ronan?” One heavy-set boy, who was shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand, looked up at Ronan. “That was the coolest thing I ever saw.”
“Well, Randy, if everything goes right and everyone follows my rules, then we’ll see what we can do about that,” Ronan answered with a definite nod. “Sound good?”
Kira could tell that Ronan knowing the boy’s name meant a lot to the kid. Her heart swelled seeing this other side to Ronan; she absolutely loved it. As Ronan went quickly over the rules and began separating the kids into groups, she glanced over at Steve and Mira. Mira wiggled her eyebrows at her as if impressed by Ronan.
Taking a step back, she watched as Ronan talked to each child who approached him. He went to each group making sure they were having fun and learning about the ranch life. Finally, he found his way back toward her.
“What is all this?” Kira smiled, looking around at all the activity.
“It’s something I do every month for underprivileged kids. Let them come to learn about the ranch, what we do, how we take care of animals, and just let them escape their problems at home.” Ronan shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal. “Everyone seems to enjoy it, so as long as that’s the case, I’ll continue operations around here until it’s time to shut it down.”
“That’s pretty amazing, Ronan.” Kira felt a sense of pride for him. It was a strange feeling—pride for someone else—but she did, and it felt damn good.
“Dude, are you really going to break a horse?” Steve asked, almost as excited as the boy Randy from earlier.
“Probably.” Ronan chuckled at Steve’s fist pump. “We have quite a few that need to be tamed. My men are having a problem with one in particular so I may give him a go.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?” Kira frowned, not knowing if she was going to like this.
“Nah, I’m sure being a Warrior is much more dangerous,” Steve answered quickly, giving Ronan a “don’t ruin this” wink. “Right, Ronan?”
“It can be, but I’ll be fine.” Ronan grinned down at her. “You want to meet my horse?”
Kira nodded, still not feeling especially excited about watching Ronan break a horse. Maybe if she kept his mind occupied, he’d forget about it.
“Hey, mister,” a kid yelled toward them. “When you breaking a horse? Randy said it’s freaking awesome.”
Kira rolled her eyes, sure she was going to be watching Ronan hop on a dangerous, wild beast because everyone thought it was “freaking awesome.”
“See, all the kids are excited,” Steve said from behind them. “What about you, Drew Boo? You want to see Uncle Ronan break a wild, untamed horse? What was that? Drew said, hell yeah.”
“She did not,” Mira scoffed, “and you best stop teaching her bad words.”
“She’s going to cuss like a Warrior and ride wild horses too, aren’t you, baby girl?” Steve said to Drew. “You’re going to be one badass chick, aren’t ya?”
“Looks like you got yourself a fan, Uncle Ronan. And I’m not talking about Drew.” Kira laughed at the look on Ronan’s face before his smile broke through.
“Guess I do at that.” Ronan shook his head as they walked through a barn toward a fenced-in area. He gave a loud whistle, and the biggest horse she had ever seen lifted his head and took off at breakneck speed straight toward them.
A scream was ready to escape her throat as the horse stopped on a dime right in front of Ronan, with only the wooden fence separating them.
“Jackson, meet Kira Grail.” Ronan reached out, touching the horse’s muzzle. “Kira, this is Jackson.”
Kira had never touched a horse in her life. Lifting her hand, she tentatively reached toward the magnificent animal. “Nice to meet you, Jackson.”
Just before her hand made contact, Jackson snorted loudly, shaking his head. Kira yelped and jumped into Ronan’s arms.
“He was just saying hello.” Ronan laughed, but held her tightly. “Guess you’re a city girl.”
“You guessed right,” Kira agreed, then tried again. This time Jackson remained still, letting her touch him. She glanced up at Ronan with a frown. “It must be hard to be away from here so much.”
“It is,” he agreed, staring down at her, his arms still around her. “But I have a job to do outside of this, and I have good men and women who run the place when I’m gone.”
“Hey, boss, you ready for Buck?” A younger man with a cowboy hat rushed by, heading toward the barn that Ronan said to stay away from. “We got all the kids situated safely.”
“Yeah, I’ll be right there.” Ronan glanced over to where Steve and Mira were petting one of his other horses that made its way toward them.
“Buck?” Kira frowned, glancing at the barn nervously.
Ronan grinned, then yelled out, “Gary, take Kira and the guys to where it will be safe to watch.”
A heavyset man with a long beard, headed their way. “Absolutely. It would be my pleasure.”
“I’ll see you in a bit,” Ronan said as he let her go.
“Please be careful,” she whispered as he walked away, giving her wink.
“Don’t worry about it none, ma’am.” Gary led them away from the barn toward an area where the kids stood. “Ronan knows what he’s doing, and he heals real quick like.”
Before Kira could ask what he meant by that, the old man had lumbered off.
“Okay, this might get a little intense.” Steve’s eyes were as wide as the kids’. “But freaking awesome.”
At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to kick Steve’s ass as well as the next person who said this was freaking awesome. Nothing was even happening yet, and she was a nervous wreck.
Chapter 14
Before taking out Buck, he stood on the rails and watched him. This untamed animal was beautiful in so many ways. He was dangerous to not only humans but to himself as well. If Ronan couldn’t tame Buck, the owner would have him put down.
“What do you think?” Fred stood next to Ronan, watching the horse pace in agitation.
“We have to try, but not sure I want to do this in front of a bunch of kids.” Ronan took his job seriously. This wasn’t just to show off for kids who were wanting to see something exciting. “What’s your thoughts? You’ve been around him longer than I have.”
Fred was “the man” when Ronan was gone. He ran the day-to-day operations, and was Ronan’s right hand when it came to the ranch. Their specialty was training as well as taming horses. It was what Ronan was good at, was what his father taught him. Ronan listened to his men. While he made his own decisions, he wanted to hear their opinions.
Tipping his hat back, Fred scratched the top of his head. “Well, being you’re the best, I think it can be done. But I’d hate to see you get your ass stomped in front of those kids, not to mention that pretty lady you’re mooning over.”
Ronan took his eyes off Buck to stare at Fred. “Mooning over?” Ronan rolled his eyes, then glanced back at Buck. “You been watching Little House on the Prairie again?”
“She’s a fine-looking lady. I’d sure hate to see you embarrass yourself or cause her much distress.” Fred ignored his question. “Now the kids, well, at their age, I’d bet they’d like to see some blood, maybe a snapped bone or two.”
“Why do I ask you shit?” Ronan chuckled with a shake of his head. Glancing around, he noticed that his other men, overhearing their conversation, were grinning like idiots. “Get me the ropes.”
“You got this, boss.” They shouted their encouragement as they went to go do his bidding.
Ronan hopped over the rail, landing in the stall. Buck stopped pacing, his head swaying back and forth as he watched Ronan. “Easy boy.” Ronan’s voice was calm and barely above a whisper, but he knew the horse heard him as his ears perked up. Buck had already been roped and attempted to be broken by two of his men. They had failed. Now it was Ronan’s turn.
His men, one by one, came into the stall, one of them handing Ronan a rope already looped and ready. After a few more minutes, Ronan, with lightning speed, had the rope around Buck’s neck and back in place without the horse realizing what had happened. Benefits of being a vampire. He did that two more times. With himself and two other men holding the ropes, Ronan took that time to stare into Buck’s eyes. Once they made eye contact, neither looked away.
“You’re going to give me a little trouble, aren’t you, boy?” Ronan murmured, seeing the stubbornness in Buck’s gaze. “Okay, let’s go,” he ordered as they led Buck out of the stall.
Ronan Page 9
