No! Where is the one I spoke to in the field? I peered around the brave fellow's solid frame and scanned the pack for the one who'd addressed me with that horrible word earlier.
The one who'd called me ma'am earlier didn't seem too worried about his friend's transgression. "Panther, she doesn't like to be called ma'am," he noted calmly.
"Miss Josie," Panther immediately corrected.
Well, that explains their fear of little old me. Damn Hostillian. He tried to scare them with my reputation. "Well, boys, let's just say you're stuck with me for the night." I shot them a wink.
Another round of questioning glances flicked between their stoic masks.
Sometimes, you really had to love how people feared such a tiny female. Me. I choked down a giggle.
Maybe the sleepover won't be so awful. Maybe I can show these youngsters how rumors rarely stand up to reality. At least, in my case. After all, Hostillian disliked me. That didn't mean everyone has to. My reputation merely means my shooting, hunting, knife-throwing, and various other warrior skills deserved some respect. Time to teach these boys a lesson. I rose and smiled. "So, who does the cooking around here?"
Panther's black eyebrows rose. "I do for the most part."
Oh, I can smooth talk him. "Don't you just love science in action?" I took a casual step toward his big bare toes. "All the mixing of special ingredients? The measuring? The altering of recipes to create a new dish that appeals to your taste buds?"
He nodded with a cock of his head while thought creased his brow. "Actually, I do." His gaze roamed down my body.
Not good. All the knife butts, poking out from everywhere that I could slide a blade strategically into on my person, couldn't give these fellows much hope for a clean escape. I really need to start thinking things through before arming myself to the hilt. I'll have to give him something else to think about. "Well, what's on the menu? Anything I can help prepare?" After all, I'd spent the past seven years cooking for my sire and brothers.
And that part of my life had ended. Abruptly. Thanks goodness I can think about losing my past, now, without collapsing into a Gods-damned sobbing puddle.
"Hostillian's roasted a wild turkey today. I'm just preparing the sides."
Panther's answer shook me from the realization that I'd come to grips with my loss. "Well, what will everyone else be doing while you cook?" I scanned the other sets of wide eyes.
"Chores," the tall one who'd spoken in the wheat field droned and stared the others down until they moved off in various directions.
So he calls the shots when Hostillian is away.
Panther disappeared into a doorway draped with curtaining a heavy woolen blanket.
Probably the pantry or storeroom. When he returns with supplies and help, I'll show these boys I'm not an ass. Hostillian certainly told them I am.
****
Hostillian grabbed Marine's saddle and heaved the heavy weight from the stallion's back. The horse hadn't balked at being led to the barn. Bizarre as usual, he noted. He'd always fought anyone trying to approach him except Josie and I. The stupid animal should fear me most. I'm much taller than him and I shape shift. Werewolves eat meat like horses. But, just like Josie, the insane animal chose me to antagonize. Even if the torture proved merely acceptance by the female of Wolf's choice. The one I could never stand having nearby. Oh yes. Even her accursed beastly stallion has to choose me.
And Josie would be trouble by the way the students lined up and stared at her before I shut the cabin door to bed Marine down for the night. But making it impossible for her to escape after Bounder-inforced curfew was more important than supervising the antics inside the lodge at the moment. Just in case Josie got out of the cabin to run off, delaying her escape by making her saddle the stallion would help when I need to catch her. Slow her down. Gods know, I couldn't have her dodging Bounders in the darkness, muddying my name. Or getting eaten alive.
There's more than one way to get eaten around this outpost.
Mine, Wolf snarled.
Trouble. That's Josie. Always jacking with my Wolf. I threw her red saddle blanket over the stall's upper wooden rail and dragged a brush along the curve of Marine's strong back and hindquarters.
Maybe she's far more dangerous locked away inside my outpost's walls. Unmated. Packing eggs. Dangerous female. And one that could throw a room filled with men into chaos in a blink if she chose to use her weapons and honed fighting skills. Not good from the last few times I'd witnessed such mayhem. All it takes is setting off two Shifters out for a bite, fighting to possess her, while she laughed her tail off from a distant corner of the room.
Not my students. That one wouldn't have fun with my charges. She needs to leave the youths alone and find a male or two her own age to toy with. Tomorrow. Somewhere else after sunrise when it's safe for her to wander the prairie while Bounders sleep. I left Marine isolated from the three other geldings in a stall, stepped into the deepening golden glow of the setting sun's weakening light, and returned to stare at the door's hewn timber.
Nothing.
Not one sound seeped through the solid boards. This could be good. Or she'd already had her way with the boys and stood over their carcasses while the last drops of life bled out of them. What was I thinking abandoning the vulnerable teens to her care? I'd never live down the reputation of such a fiasco. Had Josie done something so dark and vile? I sucked in a deep breath and pulled Wolf into my nose.
Intoxicating.
Delicious.
Female.
Mine! Wolf leapt into a frenzy, clawing at the underside of my ribcage.
Gods-damn-it. I gulped down a choking lump and held my breath, pushing.
Forcing the crazed beast back into the chasm where Shifters kept their Wolves deep inside their chests. No more relying on Wolf's sense. Must remember. Until sunrise. She'll be gone tomorrow.
My heartbeat slowed.
Back to as quiet an accursed thump a man could expect given that female was beyond the door.
Mine, Wolf whimpered.
I swallowed another gulp of air and corked his whine.
Time to deal with the aftermath. Shouldn't have left her alone with the students. I pressed a palm of splayed fingers on the rough surface of the door and heaved.
The hatch swung into the amber glow of firelight, revealing the students involved in evening meal preparations. All but Jaguar who Josie knelt beside. She held a large glinting blade, definitely sparkling with the evidence of the doting care a warrior such as herself would honor the weapon while using a whet stone. Jaguar stared at the knife's gleaming edge with such awe that Josie had to be recounting every surface she'd ever traced using that grossly over-sized dagger.
Like he was under some spell. Enchanted.
Maybe I should have just let her go on her merry way. Bounders or not.
"It's ready, Josie," Panther announced from the work surface table top situated along the distant wall where he labored over something for supper.
She flicked her gaze his direction, eyeing me for a moment, and rose.
To sashay her tail across the room as if everyone did exactly as she'd instructed.
My charges! Teenagers. It's a wonder any ever survived long enough to mate and produce children.
Josie graced me with a now defiant glance of cutting blue eye and arched brow.
The wench. As if I stood inside the door to her territory. Invaded her domain. And worse, the students observed my reaction to her. I shot the boys a glare.
Each one turned back to his work.
Wise. I'd just resume command. I strode to the single wooden arm chair resting in half shadow near a log wall, dragged it to the fireplace, sank into the firm seat a good two feet from the dancing flames, and propped my heels upon the stone hearth.
A female voice danced as much as the flames across the room.<
br />
Softly. Sweetly lilting. Just enough to coo a babe into listening. But I wouldn't when the feat required smacking Wolf into submission. He could just sleep in his hole until she was long gone tomorrow.
The floorboards creaked.
Producing Panther's tall mangy carcass wielding a covered cast-iron skillet and the most perfect view of a woman's round ass on the planet. Hers. Presented on two long slender legs. Packaged in well-worn denim. Sweet heavenly death, come for me. If I had to stare at that sight much longer, Wolf would burst through my skin and chase her tail around the room until he'd planted his seed deep inside those quivering legs and womb.
The skin prickled to chilly attention along my arms.
Damned Wolf. I snapped my gaze to the flat stone surround of the slate fireplace and ticked off numbers in counting the slabs used in the masonry.
"Just allow the syrup to form and bubble until the dried apples have softened," she told Panther.
Cooking? What a pastime for a female. Rather bizarre after Josie's little knife display.
"What other dried fruits have you made cobblers with?" Panther asked.
Swapping recipes? I suppose it can't hurt. We could use some new dishes to eat around here. Something Panther cooked!
Josie's attentive antics carried on for almost another hour. She boldly and skillfully ignored me while chatting with each youth at some point about cooking, setting the table, discussing the day's chores, the boring blue skies, the books a few students spent the time reading, wheat farming, and even irrigation.
Bless the stars we finally sat around the platter of sliced turkey. But with elbows propped along the solid arms of my chair at the end of the table, I still felt the odd man out. The stranger. The guest at my table merely allowed to dine while she ruled my roost.
Panther passed a bowl of boiled carrots smothered in wild leeks off to Jaguar at his left.
The sweet scent of maple wafted across the room.
Maple? Not something he normally mixed with leeks. But asking might lead to a recipe discussion. With Josie. I'll just eat whatever wound up on my plate.
Everyone helped themselves to smoked turkey, carrots, biscuits, and wild asparagus before I learned nothing on the menu had been tainted with maple. Although, the biscuits would have been nice with syrup. I wasn't about to suggest we frivolously use such a treat. Only youths made such demands.
"Miss Josie?" Jaguar asked.
Foolishly thinking her gentle enough for the label Miss.
She locked a gaze on the teen from the Idaho Territory, her fork frozen over her plate with a bite of turkey on the prongs. "Yes?"
"So you're from The Big Woods?" he casually asked.
A hint of something almost made her face tick.
Something impossible to define.
"Yes." She glanced down at her plate as if she thought something had gone amiss but turned her unflinching mask back to Jaguar.
He didn't seem to notice her attempt to conceal whatever she almost hid. "I hear the forest is so dense that day feels like night up there."
Her external wall didn't buckle this time. "Yes it is."
Neither did the fork wielding the bite of fowl she held frozen beneath her chin. Something ate at her more than she ate at her meal. What could possibly bother the kick-ass Josie?
"Have the beaver taken control of the forest?" Jaguar's eyes glinted with fascination so much he couldn't see she paused just a moment before replying to his questions.
The hesitations sucked me into the conversation like a pit of quicksand. I felt as if I sat in her lap, staring at the delicate curve of her lips, the finely-sculpted length of her small nose, the long eyelashes she fluttered with each blink. Looking. Waiting. For the bomb to drop. For that singular detail that would flood this room with whatever she defined as a catastrophe. Just what could be so horrible that had Josie poised, frozen with the threat of blurting her secret, completely unseated? This is the news of the century.
Jaguar wriggled on the bench and continued drilling Josie with questions.
Him and his love of nature set the room with an electric charge. Or my Wolf did. Until dinner graded into apple cobbler sweetened with maple. A Wolf's nose always picked a meal apart though. Whether a woman sat two seats down or not. Unfortunately, Wolf couldn't touch what gnashed away at Josie. No. She'd always been a mystery. Always teased us with her secrecy. It's almost as if she relishes toying with males. She's the worst kind of female--one that wears down brotherhood.
She'd lost her enthusiasm to visit though. Sitting, with fork in hand, scrapping bits of apple around her aluminum camping plate. Her interactions with the students seemed forced now. And Jaguar hadn't let up on The Big Woods. The issue must lay back where her sire resided. What could have happened to make her behave so edgy? Had she lost control and flipped out back home? Had she been outlawed, barred from his lodge? I can't have her turning loco on my students. We'll just see how she handles a question about her father. "How's your sire, Josie?"
Her gaze snapped to mine, those blue eyes widening for a heartbeat.
I guess I should have spoken a bit more tonight instead of harping on the singular thread of upsetting discussion that obviously set her off. My voice must have felt like it came out of nowhere. Shit. Josie had unraveled me again. I'll just wait for her answer.
She inhaled, so deeply everyone had to hear the rush of air. "He's dead." Her gaze held me skewered, trapped, but simultaneously slipped away.
Somewhere far away. Like her soul raced to hide. Or to search for something.
My insides began to crawl with a chill.
How in the Gods-damned Hell had her sire died? Shifters are almost impossible to kill when set against Normals. Had she been the one to manage the feat?
My gut twisted.
But she didn't emit the fear of discovery. Rather, her whole countenance resonated sadness.
I hadn't known. Nor did I intend to cause any discomfort with my question. But Josie would never think me innocent of such things. No. Josie would react negatively. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. He was a well-respected Shifter who deserved many more years among his loved ones."
Her cognizance flicked back into her pale blue eyes like an inner flame sparked to life, anchoring her soul back inside her body. Fueled by something more. Anger? But that Gods-be-damned gaze merely bore a hole through me. What could I say to rectify the situation? It was better to simply say nothing.
She dropped her fork into her plate, rather threw the utensil, and shoved off the bench.
Nothing. Say nothing.
She rose, throwing her leg over the bench.
More like climbing for escape. Ready to kick out and attack. Strike. Not good with a room full of my charges.
She turned to the door.
What the hell? "You can't go outside, Josie. Remember the curfew." She'd risk the students' safety if she stepped through the doorway and had us on her tail to protect her ass.
"I can take care of myself," she snarled, storming toward the exit.
The contrary female. She'd give me no rest. Not an ounce of respect. I should have known one night in my care would boil down to my tying her up to maintain peace throughout the night. I met each confused gaze poised around the table and firmly glared. "Stay here."
The door creaked a warning of someone's departure.
Crap. I rose and plowed into the cool kiss of night's breath to save the insane woman I had unknowingly catapulted into a night filled with alien creatures that prey upon human flesh--to break the curfew that protected humans from venturing into the night.
Her form passed in and out of the rays of moonlight shooting through the overarching canopy as she maneuvered through darkness toward the barn where piercing yellow lantern light etched out the gaps that needed packing for winter between the structure's beams.
Of course she'd go straight for her mount. The best mode of escape after darkness when Bounders lurked just beyond the palisade. Does she think I'd just allow her to open the gate and let the flesh-eating alien monsters at my youths too? Bounders didn't seem to differentiate between Shifters and Normals. I stretched my stride and followed her slender form.
Surely she knows she isn't alone. But she kept on task.
She heaved the barn door wide, creating a rectangle of soft amber light.
Who'd left a damned lantern burning? Just her luck. The woman had ten lifetimes worth of luck. She could pull a knife on a Shifter or Normal male in a fraction of a blink. Put a bullet between a person's eyes blindfolded. String her bow in absolute darkness. Even though she was Normal. That angry little bundle of curves had to harbor more alien DNA gifted to her by her sire than my body. And mine is twice the size of hers.
She'd vanished into the gaping doorway.
Inviting me for a fight. Oh, she'd get one.
By the time I caught another glimpse of the curve of her tight little tail, she quickly brushed Marine's back and hindquarters inside his open stall. Preparing to saddle him. "You can't open the gate, Josie."
She spun the most venomous mask I'd ever seen my direction. "Don't tell me what I can and can't do."
What set her off? Me talking? This is my home. I can speak. "What did I do this time? I provided you sanctuary, fed you and your stallion, allowed you to visit with the students. What else did you want?"
"What else?" she hissed and whirled back to heatedly brushing the curve in the horse's back before tossing a blanket on him. "You're such an asshole."
"Why? Because I follow the rules? Because I fit into the bigger picture?"
She hurled the heavy brush at me.
A projectile easily evaded by ducking.
"You have no idea how much of my life I've spent trying to fit into a bigger picture," she growled, edging toward me with slow miscalculated steps.
Yes. Little badger. Come closer. The closer the better. I'd grab her tail and lock her up till sunrise. Make certain nobody was injured from my momentary loss of sanity in providing her shelter for one fucking night.
Big Bad Beast (Werescape) Page 3