“Oh, yeah?” Cooper asked, a pleased smile on his face. “I like the sound of that, especially since I’m getting used to you, too.”
When he kissed her this time, she was prepared for the punch of pleasure and desire that stampeded through her, but it was over much too quickly, and she was left watching his back disappear down the stairs. She turned away to go back to her room and let out a surprised yelp when she saw Gilda standing a few feet away, a big smile on her face, then felt her cheeks heating in embarrassment.
She opened her mouth to explain, but words escaped her and she ended up standing there with her mouth hanging open. Gilda laughed. “I remember what falling in love is like,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s a wild ride, but one everyone should experience. I think my grandson picked well. Come and waitwith me for him in my room. I’m sure it won’t take him long to chase those ruffians off.”
Pleased more than she thought she would be, she followed the older woman into her bedroom, taking the seat by the window when Gilda gestured to it. “I hate being a woman and hiding out,” she said. “When I was younger, I would have gone with Cooper, but I’m too old for that now.”
She opened her mouth to reply, but there was a huge bang, then a loud whoosh, and the night outside the window was suddenly illuminated by a big fire. Jumping up from the chair, she stared at the fire for a second, then remembered the horses inside the barn and started for the door.
“The barn is on fire, I have to go help,” she said, already one step into the hallway. “Call anyone you can to help; we can’t leave them trapped inside.”
“Stephanie, wait, Cooper will get to them,” Gilda said. “You shouldn’t go out there, it’s not safe.”
“I’ll be fine, they’ve already done the damage they came to do,” she said, shaking her head. “They’ll be long gone by now.”
Gilda opened her mouth to protest some more, but she didn’t wait to hear what she had to say. She ran to her room, threw on her clothes, then raced down the stairs. The barn was fully engulfed when she came barreling out the front door, the flames lighting up the night and guiding her way. She was almost to the barn when a figure stepped into her path, and unable to stop, she crashed right into him, almost taking them both down.
Assuming it was Cooper, she tried to untangle herself. “The horses, we have to get them out,” she yelled over the noise of the flames. “They’re trapped; we can’t let them die.”
“Actually, that would be just fine with us,” a voice she recognized said. “A few dead horses will get our point across.”
She was thrown back a few steps by a pair of strong arms, stumbled backward and landed on her butt in the snow. Anotherman came walking up. “What you got there, Butch?” he asked. “Wow, she’s a pretty one, you gonna share?”
“Sure, why not?” Butch answered with a shrug of his shoulders. “But I’m going first, so back off.”
CHAPTER 16
***COOPER***
Cooper kept his feet planted as he fought to keep the huge hose pointed at the flames on the barn's roof. They were slowly dying away, but the ground beneath him had become a slippery mess, and he couldn’t risk falling. It was a relief when he saw Ricky come sprinting around the side of the barn toward him, a look of determination on his face, and then he was standing behind him, helping with the powerful spray of water.
“The horses are all out, and the sprinkler system is doing its job inside,” Ricky called over the roar of the water and the fire. “If we can just get the roof out, we’ll be fine.”
He nodded but didn’t waste any energy replying; instead, they fought the last of the fire together, their combined strength making it easier to wrangle the firehose. Just as the last flames began to die away, he heard a scream come from the path to the house and froze, then looked over at Ricky.
“Did you hear that?” he asked, shutting down the hose and listening again. “I’m sure I heard someone scream.”
The second scream seemed much louder than the first, and he knew instantly that it was Stephanie. “I told her to stay inthe house,” he said, dropping the hose. “I’ll kill them if they hurt her.”
“Go, I’ve got this,” Ricky said. “They’re out of control; there’s no telling what they might do.”
The thought that someone might hurt Stephane woke the dragon inside him, and all he could think about as he raced away from the still-smoldering barn was getting to her. Sprinting toward the sound of her scream, he kept the dragon inside but barely, then he saw them: three silhouettes standing in the pathway. One of them backing away from the other two who were laughing and slapping each other on the back.
He was on them before they noticed him and he enjoyed the look of surprise on their faces when he stepped in front of Stephanie. “You boys should have run away when you had the chance,” he said, barely controlling the creature inside him. “I was going to let the law deal with you, but you’ve stepped over the line. I’m going to give you three seconds to get out of here, then what happens is your own fault.”
They started to laugh. “Look, Butch, little Cooper is a tough guy now,” Marvin Amos sneered at him. “He thinks he can take us both and keep our prize for himself.”
“Not going to happen,” Butch said, shaking his head and taking a step toward them. “She’s ours fair and square, we captured her. Now get out of the way before I have to hurt you.”
“She’s not a prize, she’s a human being, and you’re both disgusting for thinking anything else,” he growled. “You’ve been bullying everyone in this county for years, and it’s time it stopped. My grandmother isn’t going to sell out to you. This is her land and will be until the day she dies, and if that day is any sooner than it’s supposed to be, you’ll have me to answer to. You’re done, boys, the harassment ends here and now.”
Butch charged at him first, his fists raised, a deep growl coming from his chest, but he deflected him easily, throwing himinto the nearest snow bank, his strength fueled by the magic surging inside him. Marvin made his move next, hurling himself at Cooper, his eyes filled with brutality. But he simply stepped aside, and the enraged man went thundering into the snow-covered bushes, instantly trapped in their thorny branches.
They were both raging, shouting threats and curses as they fought their way back to their feet, and he braced himself for the fight that was coming, hoping he didn’t have to shift. The decision was made for him a second later when both Butch and Marvin released all their magic filling the air with power that crackled around them. A second later, with an audible snap, they disappeared, and two huge wolves were standing in their place, snarling and growling at him.
He heard Stephanie gasp behind him, but didn’t dare turn away from the deadly creatures in front of him. Instead, he did the only thing he could and gave in to the instincts humming through him. The dragon emerged just as the wolves charged at him, and they bounced off his chest, landing on the ground with a cry of surprise, then lay still for a few seconds. When they stumbled back to their feet, he thought they would back down, but as their senses came back, a hunger for vengeance filled their eyes, and he braced himself for another attack.
When they came at him for a second time in a frenzy of teeth and claws, he defended himself with his sharp beak and pointed talons, leaving the pair bleeding and defeated. They ran away, tails between their legs, whimpering and yelping in pain. The night became strangely quiet, and he realized that Stephanie was cowering behind him, her face filled with fear and uncertainty.
