She turned to look through it, up and up and up some more… to the four faces of the gods carved into the side of the Great Mountain. Weathered by the ages and covered in vines, they were still clearly visible for miles. The civilization who’d built them had passed into history a millennium before and still the mysterious sentinels were worshipped.
The woman gazed at them, growing pale. “Oh… shit.” She finally whispered.
“People are always saying that when they first see those heads.” Manston edged his barstool closer. The guy had tried and failed to bed every female in a tri-polis area and he was clearly eager to keep his perfect record intact. His eyes greedily roamed over the woman’s lush body, his muddy aura alive with creeping browns and angry streaks of violent red. “The four of them founded a great world, ya know. Before the flash took it all away, they ruled everything. Their cities had buildings five stories tall and filled with food.”
The woman didn’t seem to hear those outrageous claims. Or maybe she just didn’t understand them. “I’m at Mount Rushmore.” Her eyes stayed fixed on the granite faces. “Why am I at Mount Rushmore? I thought we weren’t touring Mount Rushmore until Thursday. Where is Mount Rushmore? South Dakota, right? How did I get to South Dakota? And why does everything look so… old?”
“Those faces were carved a thousand years ago.” Manston volunteered, not giving up even though the woman hadn’t even glanced his way. “No one knows how. It must have been magic.” He leered at her. “Come home with me and I’ll show you some real magic, flower.”
Several other patrons laughed at that remark.
“What did he say?” The woman sent Cade a quick look and he could tell she didn’t understand most of Manston’s drunken come-ons. Not surprising since she didn’t seem to communicate in anything but the obsolete tongue of the elite and Manston’s broken vernacular was barely intelligible even at the best of times.
“Manston says he’s fucking a goat.” Jacobi put in when Cade didn’t answer. He glanced over at the huge miner and smirked, enjoying the fact that the jackass couldn’t comprehend a word of that insult. “It makes him very proud, since he’s mostly had to settle for ghaa beasts.”
Deke snorted in amusement, which was almost as rare a spectacle as a lady in the saloon. These days, the middle Westin brother was a silent specter in his own life. He hadn’t recovered from the War. Unless a miracle occurred, he probably never would.
Cade supposed he owed the woman for that slight smile.
“Oh.” She clearly didn’t care about Manston’s love life. She looked back out at the Great Mountain, again. “Look, I have to get back to Yellowstone. Which is ironic, since I never wanted to go to Yellowstone, in the first place. I mean glamping? Really? That trend is so over.”
“What is ‘glamping’?” Jacobi asked Cade in a stage whisper.
He shrugged. Grandmother must have skipped that word.
“It’s like glamorous camping.” The woman explained. “It’s this year’s company retreat, although I certainly didn’t vote for it. I voted for Vegas. Do I look like someone who glamps? I flunked P.E., for God’s sake. Who flunks P.E., except the really unathletic, fat kids? I always knew no good would come from exercising and now look at what’s happened!”
Cade had never heard of a place with yellow stones, either. Not that it mattered. Someone needed to talk some sense into the woman and it seemed like it had to be him. He focused on constructing sentences that she would understand.
“You will not…” Shit, what was the word he was looking for that was like “life”? “You will not live if you go searching for yellow stones in this weather. You were correct in looking for shelving.” Not shelving. Fucking hell, what was it called? Shepherd? Shelter! That was it. “Shelter. The snow is very deep and it is getting worse.”
“You’re right. I know. I just…” She looked over at Cade, again, like something new had occurred to her. “Shit, what do you charge for rooms here? You probably don’t take American Express, right?”
His eyes traced over her face. Most of her words were a mystery, but the woman had the smoothest skin he’d ever seen. He knew he was acting like an idiot by staring at her, but he couldn’t stop. She was so beautiful… and so far out of his reach. If he didn’t get rid of her quickly, she would upend his whole life. He knew it as surely as he knew the sun would set in the west.
“There are other places you could stay.” He declared, trying to come up with another spot where she’d be safe. “You should find other shelving.” Fuck. He couldn’t think straight when those green eyes were blinking at him. “Shelter.”
His brothers squinted at him, taking in his uncharacteristic behavior.
“But, I don’t know where else to go.” The woman fumbled in the front pocket of her pack and came up with a leather wallet decorated with interlocking Cs. “Here.” She placed a half dozen… things on the bar in front of him. Flat and thin, they were covered in formal writing, but most of the words were unfamiliar. “Do you take any credit cards? It doesn’t even matter what you charge, just let me stay here.”
Cade’s eyebrows drew together and he picked one up, turning it over in his hand. What were these “credit cards” made of? Whatever the hard, smooth material was, he’d never seen it before. He caught it between his teeth and bit down, testing its flexibility. A jagged piece snapped off between his molars.
She blinked at the destruction and then gave a hysterical laugh that quickly turned into a sob. “Jesus. You’re eating my credit cards. Of course you are. I just… can’t. I just can’t do this.” She laid her head down on the bar, her shoulders shaking with the force of her crying. “If only I’d dieted, like I resolutioned for the past twenty New Years, I would already be thin and my idiot coworkers couldn’t have guilted me into hiking on my vacation. Well, I’m sorry if I’m not a size two, but this is really not helping!”
Cade gave up trying to understand her teary rant and concentrated on figuring out what the hell he was going to do with this woman. Christ, where was he going to send her? Defenseless, clearly lost, and possibly insane, she’d just turned her back to a roomful of thieves and killers without the slightest awareness of how vulnerable she really was.
Manston edged even closer to her.
“Cade.” Deke said quietly in their normal dialect. “What are we doing?” They all knew this situation was about to go bad. The Westins could smell a fight coming a mile off. “Yes or no on this girl?”
“No.” She couldn’t stay there. Her mere presence would upset Cade’s shaky status quo with the rest of the polis. A human lady staying with a Voltyn…? Gods, there would be blood in the streets. “She has to go.”
His mother’s blood screamed at him over the denial. Logic be damned, it wanted her, and that golden aura, and the damn click she made.
Deke didn’t say anything else, but Cade could feel his disapproval. Under the craziness and bad temper, Deke had always had soft spot for strays. It was why the War did so much damage to him. Well, that and the time he’d spent as a prisoner of the Outlanders.
“No.” Cade repeated more firmly, trying to convince them both. “She’s got to leave.”
“You want to toss her into the snow, then? You think she’ll last out there?” Deke glanced pointedly at Manston.
Godsdamn it.
Jacobi looked between his brothers. “Deke’s right, Cade. We can’t just kick her out. Especially, not when you want her so bad.”
“I didn’t say I wanted her.”
“You didn’t have to.” He lowered his voice. “Look at your palms, moron.”
Cade swore under his breath and put his hands into his pocket, before anyone else noticed the glow. “If she stays here, she’s going to cause us nothing but trouble.”
“So what?” Jacobi shrugged with all the careless optimism of his sixteen years. “I’ve never seen you react that way to anyone, Cade.” He was still whispering to prevent eavesdropping, which was unusually perceptive for the kid
. “This girl is supposed to be yours. You have to keep her.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Cade hissed back. “Look at her! She’s a lady, Jake. You think someone like her would ever be with me? Just having her here is dangerous.”
The woman was the most valuable thing within a hundred miles. Getting involved in her mess would be inviting a shit storm of epic proportions. The smart play would be to let some other bastard deal with all the turmoil she’d cause. Judging from the patrons’ eager expressions, there would be no shortage of volunteers to take her in from the cold.
“A bar is no place for a pretty flower like this.” Manston interjected, picking up on the broad strokes of their argument. “She can’t stay here with you, Cade. That’s for sure.” He edged closer to the woman as she wept. “I’m happy to take her off your hands.” He reached out to touch her hair, his filthy fingers running over the pristine curls.
The woman jerked away from him in surprise and alarm, her gaze flashing over to Cade like she expected him to do something. Of course, she expected him to do something. Clearly, she was useless and spoiled. She came from a world where the rich son of some rich asshole protected her from reality.
Manston was an illiterate scumbag who literally lived in a cave, while she was the kind of lady who existed exclusively in the beds of wealthy men. She was so damn pretty, she could have anyone she wanted. …Meaning there would also be quite a few she didn’t want, wanting her. On her own, the woman would be at the mercy of every degenerate in the polis, starting with Manston. The bastard wasn’t exactly a girl’s dream beau.
Neither was Cade.
He was half Voltyn. The woman would run screaming from him, if she knew.
The thought did nothing to improve his mood, but forest green eyes kept staring at him, depending on him for help, and Cade realized he didn’t have a choice. Voltyn had been bred to defend. To fight and sacrifice and die to ensure the safety of others. When someone was in their care, all that mattered was offering protection.
This woman had been dropped here --Handed to him-- like someone was asking him to shield her. She was his responsibility. He knew it. Cade couldn’t throw her to the wolves, no matter how much easier it would make his life. He just… couldn’t.
This girl is supposed to be yours.
“She stays here.” Cade said in resignation. “Everybody else get out.”
Manston glowered at him. “You can’t keep a human woman…”
“I can.” Cade interrupted, using the local dialect. “My saloon. My rules.” He gestured towards the woman and his powers crackled the air. “Nynan.” He said, using his mother’s hated language. All humans recognized that word and the pain that would result if they ignored it.
Manston backed down with a hateful glare. “For now, Voltyn.” He spat out and stalked from the bar.
Cade’s jaw ticked.
It still took the rest of the men a good ten minutes to reluctantly file out. Probably twice the time it would take them to spread the story of the Westins’ mysterious visitor all over the polis. Cade sighed and crossed the tavern to lock the door behind them. If this woman was staying, he might have to hire armed guards, because she was going to draw every pervert and Outlander for a ganton.
He slanted Jacobi a glare, blaming him for putting this crazy idea into his head. Jake would’ve been the first to agree that he was a perpetual screw up, so why was Cade even listening to him? “When she gets us all killed, remember I was the one who wanted her gone.”
“I see the way you’re looking at her. I know what you want and it’s not about her going. It’s about you coming.” Jacobi grinned widely at that wordplay. The kid had always been a wiseass. “Where do you think she lives, anyway? Deadwood?” That possibility delighted him. “It’s gotta be a big polis. Really big. Maybe even Cody.”
“How the fuck could she get from Cody to here? Cade snapped, feeling frustrated with the world at large. Hardly anyone in Shadow-of-the-Gods had been farther than Hot Springs. Even that trip was difficult. Reaching a huge metropolis like Cody was next to impossible.
“Well, she had to come from somewhere, right? She didn’t just drop from the sky.”
“Wherever she came from, she’ll have to go back. She’s not staying here for long.” Cade was serious about that. …But he still stopped to add some more wood to the already healthy fire, because he didn’t like the idea of the woman being cold.
“Cade, don’t be an idiot.” Deke intoned. “Jake’s right. You want her so bad that your hands are as bright as the flames.”
“What difference does it make?” He shot back. “I can’t have her. You know what will happen if I even try.”
“I’m not suggesting you marry her. Just fuck her a few times and get this out of your system.”
Cade had the horrible feeling that wasn’t going to be enough to free himself of this woman. His heart was pounding, the skin of his palms glowing more than it ever had before. “She’s a lady and I’m a Voltyn.” He reminded his brothers. “They will hang me just for looking at her. The three of us versus a hundred bigoted, sex-starved miners. Do those sound like good odds?”
Deke shrugged. “If I worried about odds, I’d have been dead in the Wilderness.”
“To be fair, there’s only eight girls in this polis and two of ‘em are over eighty. Your woman would draw notice no matter what she looked like.” Jacobi argued. “It’s just a lady like her is gonna draw a little more notice than most.”
Cade made a disgusted face at that colossal understatement. “A little more notice? We’re going to be dragged into a war, Jake. Is that what you want?”
“If we throw her out, she’ll die or get raped on the street.” Deke shook his head. “I’ve caused enough death. Give the girl a room and stop being an ass.”
The woman sat on her barstool, her forehead resting in her palms, as they bickered around her. Part of the wooden counter had come free under her elbow and Cade briefly frowned in annoyance. Why did his carpentry projects never stay fixed?
“Are you guys arguing about me?” She asked in a dull voice.
Cade knew he should answer that, but he was too busy staring, again. Just looking at her small hands, he knew she’d never done any work, at all. They were smooth and gentle and her nails were painted purple. Who painted their godsdamn fingernails? Not anyone he knew. All that time and money wasted on something that had no practical purpose. All that time and money wasted just to be… pretty.
Four gods, she was pretty.
“We’re just discussing the weather.” Jake lied. He really wasn’t a screw up, so much as he was young. One day, he’d have his moment. Until then, he was the best possible choice to have around when you needed to talk to a lady. He smiled at her, nonthreatening and polite. “I’m Jacobi Westin and that’s my brother Deke.” He pointed across the bar. “You already met Cade. The three of us live here and we’d be happy if you stayed with us for a while.” He flashed Cade a prompting look. “Wouldn’t we?”
Cade knew this was a mistake, but the woman turned to look at him and he was… beguiled. “For one night.” He told her grudgingly, shoving his hands into his pockets again. “Two at most. By then your people will have found you, right?”
No one around here could afford a woman like this. No way. She had to just be passing through, which meant some stranger was probably scouring the countryside for her shiny red head. Hopefully, when the jackass showed up, the Westins could return her for a nice reward. Cade had just spared somebody’s pampered pet from a brutal gang rape by miners, so he figured he at least deserved some fair compensation for the trouble.
“When will your people come for you?” He repeated when she just frowned in confusion. “They must be searching, yes?”
“Maybe, but I doubt they’re looking in South Dakota.” Her eyes went to the snow piling up outside the windows. “Maybe no one will find me here.” Her words were so quiet he barely heard them. She seemed to be falling into some kind of shoc
k. “Maybe no one will even notice I’m gone.”
Cade sighed at her miserable tone. He moved his head so he could meet her damp gaze. “They will search for you forever.” He said with absolute certainty. Whoever she belonged to would come for her, no matter the hardship. A human male would have to be out of his mind to leave her behind. No other woman like this existed in the entire world. “Your man will find you. I’m sure of it.”
In fact, what kind of fucking lack-wit would let her get lost to begin with? Did the asshole figure it was enough to just buy her expensive lotions and fingernail paint? Didn’t he think about keeping her away from places like this and safe from men like Cade? Just for spite, Cade added a zero to the end of the reward amount he’d be “requesting” from the bastard.
“I don’t know what that means exactly, but sure.” She gamely nodded. “Some search-and-rescue guy will find me. I mean, think of the bad press Brown’s Glamping Tours would get, if I never came back. There’s a reasonable explanation for all of this. There has to be. And in the meantime, I’ll just stay here.”
“For one night.” Cade reminded her. “Two at most.”
That jolted her from her pep talk and she scowled at him.
Jacobi rolled his eyes and headed up the stairs. “I’ll go get our most kinda clean room ready for her.” He called in their language. “Might as well, since she sure won’t be sleeping in your bed tonight. Great work, idiot. Way to win the girl over.”
“I’m not trying to win her over!”
Deke ignored that protest, nodding like he was suddenly an authority on the feminine mind. “Be softer, Cade. I know it’s hard for you, but fucking try. The woman is spooked as it is. You’re making it worse by antagonizing her.”
They were taking her side? God, Cade wished he’d been born an only child. “Fuck you both. You’re not looking at this human’s aura. It’s like she’s surrounded by godsdamn magic. Do you really think someone like her belongs here?” He shook his head. “I said she could stay the night. What more do you want from me?”
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