Right then, she felt like a caged animal.
It wasn’t the room that caged her or Cooper. It was her own fear. The thing inside her terrified her. Releasing it terrified her even more, now that it’d been let out, now that Cooper saw what she really was, No matter how far or fast she ran, she’d never be able to escape the memories of this morning.
They’d haunt her forever.
Below her, the ranch moved in its practiced steps. Animals were fed, stalls mucked out, horses walked around the paddock as prelude to another day’s training. There were things she needed to do, her part to play in Agua Clara’s dance. Marty, the young hand who usually helped her, could handle whatever came up.
And, of course, everyone knew where to find both she and Cooper if either were truly needed. They’d hardly kept their relationship a secret.
Across the room, Cooper leaned against the dresser. Arms folded over his chest, his own coffee mug forgotten, he waited. He didn’t rush her and didn’t demand answers he had every right to ask for. Nor did he offer more about what he knew, what he’d seen before that had anything to do with her curse.
He simply waited for her to begin, and for that, Nikki was grateful.
It gave her the time to decide. If she was going to push her way off the ranch—or if she was going to truly trust him and allow him to help her. The last was a big risk.
“I’ve already seen what can happen to you.” He didn’t move closer, but somehow she felt as if the distance closed slightly between them. “I already know. Tell me where this started and how. Or has it always been this way, Nikki?”
He did take a step closer now, closing the distance between them. He didn’t touch her, and suddenly she wanted him to. Wanted to feel that connection with another. Not just anyone, but with Cooper.
“Cooper,” she said in a hard voice. “Just because you’ve seen me like this doesn’t mean you have to help me.” She shook her head and drew herself straighter. “I don’t want you to have any part of this insanity.” She met his gaze, his determined brown eyes watching her every move. “I’m not well. Can’t we just leave it at that?”
“No.” The word shot between them. Harsh and angry. “Look around, Nikki. Look at where I live. Do you really think I haven’t seen the dark side of people? The mystical? Everything down here is mystical in one way or another. You can feel it around us.”
He stopped, but she didn’t rush to fill the silence. Nikki held her breath and waited. Caught in the web his words wove. Desperate to believe him.
His hand did cup her cheek now, and she didn’t flinch from the contact. “And I’m not scared of it. I’m not scared of you.”
“Then you don’t know what you’re truly dealing with,” she snapped. Jerking from his touch, she stepped back, her eyes focused and angry on his.
“I don’t care!” he shot back, his own anger bubbling over now. “Now how did this start? Where did this start?”
“Cooper—”
“Where did this start?” he demanded, louder now, more insistent.
“It started with my father.” The words slipped out. She hadn’t expected the truth to tumble from her mouth, but somehow it did. Maybe he had a right to answers, she thought, as she looked up at him, the intensity of his gaze as he watched her.
“At least,” she added, the words rushing out now that the dam had broken, “that’s what I’ve been told and have come to believe.”
Nikki glanced at Cooper; he didn’t move but merely watched her and waited. No condemnation crossed his face; it was as devoid of emotion as she’d ever seen it. Taking a deep breath, Nikki decided to continue.
“My father was DEA.” Was this the first time she’d uttered those words? The first time she’d told someone the whole story?
“Before I was born, he worked in Southern California and stopped some sort of import operation from Mexico. In doing so, he killed several members from the same family. Whoever remained wanted revenge, but instead of going after my father, they went after his unborn child. They taunted my father, told him they cursed me.”
Cooper nodded but said nothing. Nikki couldn’t tell if he believed her or not. But she plunged on hoping he did.
He was the first one she’d wanted to tell the whole story to—every moment, every fear and rage and lost moment. Every nightmare that followed her no matter how far she’d run.
“My father brushed it away as superstitious nonsense.” She laughed bitterly at that but wondered, as she had a thousand times before, if anything would’ve been different if he had believed.
“As I grew up, there were signs. But my parents ignored them and I didn’t know differently. It wasn’t until I was in high school that I learned everything, when the symptoms”—she spat the word—“manifested.”
Even now she felt that terror. The same terror that ate at her during every episode. The terror of changing and the terror of a sixteen-year-old girl who should’ve gone to prom and the movies with boys who snuck kisses.
Not the horror of feeling as if her insides were being ripped out. Of blood and death and clawing rage. A rage that never killed her—and there were times she wished it had.
Nikki licked her lips and swallowed a sip of coffee. It tasted of sawdust in her mouth and did nothing to relieve the ache of memory and emotion. “I don’t know how, but I managed to keep it under control.” She sucked in a deep breath. “I was stubborn, or maybe I was just being a teenager. But for the most part I kept it a secret. I went to school, had friends, and did as many normal teenage things as I could.”
She stopped, swallowed. Her voice raspy with tears and memories and self-loathing, she said, “And then there were the violent episodes.”
All too clearly she remembered those episodes and wished she didn’t. The destruction, the fear from her own parents. They never had another child, and Nikki wondered if it was because of her curse. Because they feared another child would be cursed as she had been. She didn’t blame them, not really.
“Twice now, I’ve nearly killed—” Her voice broke.
Nikki sucked in a deep breath, tried to ease the ache in her chest. Those memories were jumbled and disjointed, but the feel of them haunted her. It hadn’t occurred to her until she told Cooper that her nightmares had all but disappeared once she’d started sleeping in his bed.
Clearing her throat, she blinked back tears and emotion and went on. Now that she started, she couldn’t stop. The words tumbled faster and faster.
“I couldn’t control the thing inside me. I had to move away to finish school, but the episodes continued—intensified. I’d change at the slighted threat.” Her voice hitched and she cleared her throat. “I was eighteen and bottling my emotions up as if I never had any. Distancing myself from the world.”
Nikki pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes and fought for control. She never had episodes back-to-back, but she hadn’t the chance to steady herself. And now, with every word she said, every emotion she couldn’t contain, she dreaded the demon resurfacing and hurting Cooper.
“I kept moving; I didn’t want to hurt anyone I cared for.” She shook her head. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I chose to be a vet so I didn’t have to be around so many people, but even the animals sensed it.”
Kept her distance, tried not to get involved. It never ended well when she did. “Today is a perfect example of why I don’t get involved. I don’t want to hurt anyone.” And now she pleaded with him, willing him to understand. “Cooper,” she said, her voice inflexible. She cared about him far too much to have him involved. Couldn’t live with herself if she was responsible for hurting him.
“This is my burden to deal with.”
“Stop saying that.” The words shot between them, halting her when she would’ve paced away, put distance between them.
Nikki hadn’t expected that. Really she didn’t know what to expect. No one had ever readily tried to help her. In the beginning her parents had, but she knew it wore on them. They blamed
themselves—or rather her mom blamed her dad—and things hadn’t been right between them, any of them, since.
“It became our burden the moment I saw you,” he said. His fingers gripped her shoulders, fingers tightening briefly before they ran down her arms. His intent shone clear as day—he meant every word. “If they can do this to you, then there’s a way it can be undone as well.”
“I’ve visited everyone. Priests, shamans, psychics. The priests either didn’t want to believe me or were too frightened of what lay inside me. The psychics were charlatans. The shamans blessed me, but could do nothing else—they didn’t know what monster I carried and were terrified of summoning it into themselves.” She knew she sounded hopeless, that there were desperate tears in her voice, but didn’t care. “I’m at a loss.”
Cooper cupped her cheek and smiled gently down at her. “I may know of someone. And if they can’t help, then we’ll find someone who will.”
It took her a long moment; Nikki didn’t recognize that spark that flared to life at his words. Hope. For the first time since learning of what happened, she felt a spark of hope. She believed him.
* * * *
Cooper didn’t want to let Nikki out of his sight. But she’d asked for it, had all but pleaded for space and to get to work after she’d finished her story.
Nikki needed her own time to process what happened, and he understood that. Not the demon, but letting him in. It’d taken him such a long time to get close enough to kiss her. This was something else entirely.
She’d refused any sort of comfort from him, not even a touch of his hand on hers. Even now, his fingers pressed hard into the edges of the window, itching to feel hers wrapped around them. He’d wanted to comfort her. Not to tell her that everything would be all right.
To tell her he believed her.
He needed to go down to his office, to at least pretend to work, though he had no intention of doing any ranch work. He’d meant what he said to her—they’d find someone to help. She wasn’t in this alone. Not anymore.
Cooper wasn’t sure if she believed him, but she’d promised she wouldn’t run away, and he needed to trust her. Despite that, he’d wanted to tell his hands to keep an eye on her, but didn’t want to spook her into disappearing. Or spread gossip. Instead he’d told Marty that she hadn’t felt good this morning and to watch her—subtly—while they worked.
He ran a hand over his face. This wasn’t how he envisioned his day going. He’d planned a very leisurely morning in bed, a few ranch chores, lunch in bed with Nikki, and, if he was very lucky and no emergencies erupted, dinner in bed as well.
Now Cooper stood at the window and looked over Agua Clara.
In the distance, he could make out Nikki’s lithe form as she met up with Marty, her self-appointed assistant. The teen had taken one look at Nikki when she’d arrived in the spring and had attached himself to her. The Agua Clara was an old-fashioned spread and Cooper liked it that way, wanted to keep it as such. Cooper didn’t mind Marty on the ranch, though he’d never shown any inclination to stay on after he’d finished school; his mother was their cook and his father their top horse trainer.
Nikki laughed; he could see even from this distance how her body relaxed. Her entire posture loosened as she followed Marty into the stables to check on the horses.
A demon.
He’d heard of such things but had never been faced with one the way he’d been with Nikki’s. Thought them to be true. His grandmother had been full of such stories, of demons invading a human and turning them to the devil’s work, of the ancient world. As a boy he’d enjoyed her stories, especially around Halloween. But growing up surrounded by those ancient stories, Cooper had realized most stories held truth.
At least to some degree.
And now, the woman he’d fallen hard for—loved—lived a curse. He’d witnessed it himself. Had seen those markings flash over her face. Cooper berated himself for not drawing them, taking a picture, something—but at the time, he had been far too worried for Nikki. Truth was, he’d been terrified for her and hadn’t thought much about drawing the markings that appeared on her face.
Crossing the room with only a vague plan on what to do next, Cooper glanced at the bottom drawer of the dresser. He didn’t open the drawer; he didn’t have to. He knew exactly what lay there and exactly where. The ring he’d bought Nikki two weeks ago still sat there nestled among his heavier winter clothes.
Yanking open the door, Cooper left the ring, and the room, behind. Oh, he’d still ask her. Nothing would stop him from doing so.
The day Nikki Kent walked up his driveway to ask about work for a vet was the day he lost himself to her. It hit him like lightning; electricity was between them right from the first exchange of words.
But she’d had none of it.
Cooper smiled at the memory, only six months old. Since the first week she worked here, every glance her way was met with a roll of her eye or some other type of avoidance. It’d taken him so much longer than he’d thought to break through her barriers.
To taste that first kiss.
Most of the hands on the ranch had mocked him for striking out again and again. Cooper hadn’t cared. Nor had he let it stop him. Even now he wasn’t sure how, exactly, it’d happened. How he’d fallen in love with her.
But he had. And Cooper would do anything not to lose her. He wasn’t about to let this demon come between them. Not now.
Outside, he scanned the yard until he spotted his closest friend. “Sahale!”
Sahale or Falcon, as his Navajo name translated to, immediately dropped his armload of tack and raced over to him.
“What is it?” Sahale asked.
Cooper looked around the yard, but they were alone for the moment. “I need you to bring Taima here,” he said quickly, his voice low though he knew there was no chance of them being overheard.
To his credit, Sahale didn’t protest or ask why Cooper needed a seer. He did look at him strangely with a long, silent look, but nodded and raced to the truck. In a moment, he’d gunned the engine and spun out of the yard and toward the rez.
He’d be a while; the distance wasn’t that far for New Mexico but it was far enough. Satisfied he’d done what he could for now, Cooper went out to find Harrison, his foreman.
When he found the foreman, he explained that he needed Harrison to take care of the ranch for the foreseeable future, all in broad generalizations that left Harrison confused and a bit annoyed. The other man did have a knowing glint in his eye and looked toward the horse stables where Nikki and Marty still tended the horses.
“Does this have to do with Miss Nikki, boss?” Harrison asked.
Cooper smiled and hoped it was enough to let the foreman think whatever he wanted. He was careful not to let the worry and fear he felt for Nikki show through—no sense in alerting the entire ranch.
“It does,” he conceded.
“In that case, I’d be happy to,” Harrison said with a nod. “About time, too, boss.”
Taken aback, Cooper choked out a laugh. He’d never tried to keep his relationship with Nikki a secret, but he’d been unaware the entire ranch knew just how serious things had grown between them. He nodded to Harrison and returned to the house. The place would know just how serious things were when they saw the seer, Taima, exit Sahale’s truck.
Cursing, Cooper wondered if he could clear out the yard, but that’d draw even more attention to the situation. It didn’t matter; if the hands saw Taima and suspected something supernatural, at least they’d be ready.
Frankly, Cooper didn’t look forward to seeing the seer-woman. In her sixties, she didn’t look the part of a Navajo seer, or even what people assumed a seer should look like. But she certainly exuded an intensity that put everyone on their guard.
He had no idea how to prepare for her arrival. He’d never really summoned her for something like this. She and his mother had been friendly, and when his mom died from breast cancer several years ago, Taima had done a Na
vajo death ritual for her friend. That was the last time Cooper had seen the woman.
Grabbing a cup of coffee and a leftover roll from breakfast, Cooper went to his office and took pencil and paper. He doubted he’d ever forget the markings and the wolf image on Nikki’s face, but he wanted to do his best to draw them before Taima arrived. If she was even half as powerful and as knowledgeable as he suspected, she wouldn’t need his meager drawings. But he had to do something.
Chapter Four
Marty walked her to the rear door of the house before going off to do whatever it was he did when not helping her. He’d stayed very close by all day, and Nikki had a feeling Cooper had said something to the boy.
Probably to keep her from running.
She should have. Nikki knew that. She should’ve left the morning chores to Marty and disappeared.
Nikki didn’t know why she hadn’t walked away from the ranch. Why she’d stayed when she should’ve been long gone by now. The last thing she wanted was to suck Cooper into the hell she lived.
So why was she still here?
Nikki asked herself that question for the hundredth time as she scrapped her boots on the boot scraper and entered the kitchen. Cooper didn’t much care about the state of his floors, but Sylvia did, and Nikki vowed never to anger the woman who cooked her meals.
Oh, Nikki knew why she hadn’t left. Cooper. The look in his eyes when he’d told her he believed her, when he knew how to help, was as seductive as any whispered word in the dark of night as he’d made love to her.
The day had dawned bright and cool, with a hint of winter in the air. Nikki looked over her shoulder but knew the chill she felt came from within her, not from the weather. Shaking it off, she entered the large kitchen. Taking a moment to scan the room for Sylvia, Nikki breathed deeply of the delicious scents.
The other woman emerged from the pantry and closed the door. Seeing her, Sylvia smiled. “Nikki, you missed breakfast.”
Though her stomach recoiled at the thought, Nikki managed a trite smile in return. “Busy morning,” she said and wondered at the understatement.
Cursed Love: A Wicked Demon Tale Page 3
