COWBOY ROMANCE: Devon (Western Contemporary Alpha Male Bride Romance) (The Steele Brothers Book 2)

by Amanda Boone

  Every new second was another moment her body grew into his. This whole thing was surreal, dreamlike, but she couldn’t let herself sit there any longer. This Kaharan would be the death of her. She stood up, knocking her chair over and ripping her hand out of his all in one motion.

  “I’m sorry.” She glanced around at the people who sat around her, confused expressions on their faces.

  “What is it?” Lycon stood.

  She dropped a handful of cash onto the table. “I can’t really. Please. Don’t ask.” She scurried out of the café, tears streaming down her face. She had only traveled a couple of steps before the gravity of the situation locked her in her spot. She pressed her back against the wall on the outside, turning her face up to the sky.

  How cruel it was that she had been presented with all of the answers only to have them accompanied by an impossible ultimatum.

  “Emily?”

  She groaned. “Oh God.”

  Lycon had run after her, his jacket flying behind him.

  It had taken everything in her to run away the first time.

  “What did I do wrong?” He approached her, a cautious look in his eyes, confusion morphing his face.

  Emily looked at him and saw in him a window to her past…and her future, and yet she was helpless to go through it. “Nothing. You did nothing wrong. This has nothing to do with you—”

  “So what is it, then?”

  He was so close. She caught his scent in the light breeze, warm and sharp at the same time. “I just can’t do it.”

  “Are you afraid?”

  “Yes,” she lied.

  They were inches apart. “Don’t be.”

  Her breath came in shallow wisps. “Isn’t there anyone else you can pick?”

  “I had my heart set on you.”

  Her stomach turned, butterflies coming to life and flying all over. “I’m sorry…” Her voice faltered as she caught sight of his lips, hanging right there…

  “I’ll take you up to the space ship with me. I can introduce you to whoever you want to meet. I can show you who you are.”

  The desperation in his voice cut right to her core.

  Emily started to consider it. She could stay right now. She could go with him and see his ship and meet his people…her people. But one thing would lead to another and she would find herself right back here, making this same damn choice. Her only option was cut it off, right here. Right now.

  But then she got another look at him gazing down at her, scanning her from head to toe, inside and out. Their faces hovered less than an inch apart…

  She felt him before he touched her. Her whole body anticipated him. She saw him with her eyes and her hands and her skin and her heart. Then their lips met and her eyes rolled back. Her knees buckled. She clung to him with everything inside her, holding ever tighter because she knew she would soon have to let go.

  “Please, just come with me.”

  She knew it wouldn’t be smart to look at him after that, but she couldn’t resist. His stare was just as cloudy as hers felt. His droopy eyelids told her that he had felt what she did. “Yes. Okay, I will.” She thought if she lied to herself and to him that she might be able to make it out of that whole thing alive.

  Chapter Four

  Lycon stood at their agreed place: a clearing in the woods behind the beach. Rain came down hard and heavy, the first one of the season, but he kept his eyes trained at the empty path, his heart thudding in his chest.

  She was late.

  Too late.

  Fifteen minutes could be excused. Twenty. Thirty. But forty. All he could think of was the fear in her eyes, the way she had trembled when he touched her. Perhaps he had not been persuasive enough. Perhaps he should have done more than kiss her. Perhaps he should have done nothing at all.

  And all he could think of was the look in her eyes when he had pulled away. He had felt her affection like a sweet scent oozing off her. She was falling for him, he could be certain of at least that much.

  But then an hour passed and there was still no sign of Emily.

  His heart burned hot, his blood boiling and his fists clenching. She was his last hope at redemption. He didn’t believe that the commander would give him another six months to make headway on the colonization project. If he didn’t do it with her, he would just be relieved of his post and sent back up to the space ship, where he would live out the rest of his days praising the real soldiers while cleaning waste receptacles and being largely ignored by everyone that mattered.

  He had only really known her for little over a month, and yet she had managed to betray him in a way that one else could. After another ten minutes passed, he decided to return to his raider and gather his hunting materials. He would rather drag her kicking and screaming than go back with nothing at all.

  ***

  Emily rummaged around her room, stuffing everything she could lay her hands on into the duffel bag she had pulled out of the back of her closet. As soon as she had left Lycon in front of that café, she had regretted her decision…to go out with him in the first place, that is. Now that they had met and talked and touched and kissed, how were they ever going to let each other go?

  She knew that he had been stalking her all of this time with her largely being unable to detect it. It then followed that he could come back here at any second and take her against her will. She knew she would have to get away.

  There was a soft knock on her door, followed by the sound of it being pushed open anyway. “Emily?”

  Mauve stood in the doorway, his arms crossed and his face folded into a frown of confusion.

  She sighed. God good, she definitely did not have time to explain. “Uhm, I have to go away for a while.”

  “That’s quite all right. But where? And why?”

  “I…” Her breath came quick and heavy as she darted around the room.

  Underwear.

  Toothbrush.

  Rain coat.

  “I think I found a lead on what I’ve been looking for, and I have to go after it.”

  “What lead?”

  She brushed past him, running down the stairs. “I really can’t explain, Mauve! I’m late for the train!”

  She had no intention of taking any form of public transportation, for Lycon could probably find a way to track her through it.

  She slammed the door behind her and hopped into her truck before he could say more. In the next short moment, she had pulled out of her driveway and set off down the road to the main highway.

  ***

  Lycon swerved into Emily’s driveway. He had driven so quickly that his fingers were still pruned from the ocean and his hair still dripped salty water. He wondered how he could have been so soft as to give her the choice in the first place.

  He stepped out of his black Volvo, slammed it, and made his way to the front door.

  The man, Mauve, answered the door on the second knock, his head jutting out and his eyes wide. “What is it? Who are you?”

  “Have you seen Emily?”

  Perhaps this wasn’t the best first line he could have come up with.

  Mauve just stared at him for a little too long and then replied, “No.”

  Lycon clenched his fist, sucking in a breath and huffing it out before he replied, “Please, it is essential that I find her.”

  But Mauve just shook his head. “I don’t think I feel comfortable with telling you anything more.” But just as he tried to shut the door, Lycon grabbed it and held it open.

  “You don’t understand. I have to find her. We had an agreement.”

  But Mauve glared at him with crazy eyes, his lips pursed. “I have nothing more to say.” With that he shoved on the door with all of his weight.

  Lycon ripped his hand away to prevent his hand from getting bashed in. Once Mauve had the shut the door on him, he stepped back onto the driveway and started thinking. Her car wasn’t there, which meant she must have left. Run away?

  Most likely.

 
But where?

  West.

  Lycon knew, just like any other Australian, that if you wanted to disappear you went west, or south, whatever direction would take you into the uninhabited desert center where you could go undetected, where no one would dare follow you.

  Lycon’s heart fluttered at this realization and at the prospect of another hunt. Yet, as he set off onto the highway, a small part of him wished she hadn’t gone out that way. He wondered how she presumed to survive.

  ***

  Emily’s tears flowed quicker than she could wipe them away. Her scarf and jacket had become soaked at their neck lines. Her face was damp and clammy from the salty liquid. A pile of tissues sat in the cup holder. She wondered if it were possible for a girl to run out of tears, but two hours of crying had proved this untrue.

  She peered straight head, the blur of her tears amplifying the ambiguity caused by the rain. She could barely see five feet in front of her. The road flooded, but the thought of stopping didn’t even cross her mind. How could she?

  She had to get away from Lycon and away from her own destiny as quickly as possible.

  Her life depended on it.

  She reached down and grabbed another tissue, which she then used to wipe her eyes. As she placed the damp thing back in its place, she looked back at the road to find something quickly approaching.

  A cat? A dog?

  She slammed on her breaks, but the resistance caused her wheels to lock, skidding over the water. Everything from the road ahead to the trees on either side of the path whirled all around her until it became a nondescript blob.

  Her whole body froze up except for her arms, which feverishly turned the wheel this way and that as she attempted to get the car going back in at least one direction. The next thing she knew, the smooth road had been replaced by something bumpy. Her car thudded along before the front slammed against something.

  Emily jerked forward, her hair falling out of its tight bun and landing in a curly mess in front of her face. A sharp pang shot up her neck. Her eyes flashed wide at the pain, tears of shock streaming down her face.

  As soon as her body drifted back, the entire truck flipped over whatever it was that it had hit. Her head slammed against the roof before the thing finally met the ground. Her seatbelt dug into her neck as the truck skidded to a stop, its right side slamming into the wood of a tree.

  The last thing she heard was the sound of it falling over and hitting the ground with a resounding boom.

  Chapter Five

  Lycon stood in front of the clerk at the last gas station before a long stretch of highway. He thought he would make sure he was going in the right direction before he committed.

  As he slipped the candid picture he had taken of Emily out of his back pocket, he reassured himself that she would have stopped here. She had to have. Anyone with their head screwed on right would want to fill their tank before heading out west…and this was the last place she could have done so.

  He presented the picture to the disinterested cashier, inquiring about the woman. He gave a curt nod, the blank stare in his eyes making it obvious he didn’t know or care what Lycon planned to do with this information.

  Lycon left the gas station with a tentative smile on his face, telling himself that he was that much closer to securing what he had always needed.

  ***

  Emily’s eyes flashed open, her head pounding. She tried to get up but found herself inhibited by her seatbelt. The first logical step was to take it off. When she did this she collapsed onto the ceiling of her tuck. A pained grunt slipped out of her mouth and diffused out into the air surrounding her.

  No sooner did the resounding ache in her shoulder from this fade away than she became aware of all the other pains that plagued her. She couldn’t believe it was possible for her chest, or her head or her legs, to hurt so much without her being dead.

  She knew from an adventurous childhood that she could heal quickly, but her brow furrowed as she fought her way out of that truck, because a prominent part of her didn’t think she would make it out of this alive.

  Once outside, she quickly learned it hurt far too much to stand up straight. She hunched over, her arm clutching her abdomen as she told herself to ignore the ripping pain. She scoured the area around the totaled truck, looking for her bag. She found it strewn about twenty feet away, but when she tried to pick it up, the pain erupting in nearly every part of her body told her she probably wouldn’t be able to take it with her.

  She knew of a small settlement about ten miles out. She bit her lip, telling herself that she could do it. She could walk ten miles without getting dehydrated, or advancing her injuries or being attacked by something wild.

  She shook her head. She couldn’t think of any of that. She had to keep going.

  She just had to.

  ***

  Lycon drove for almost two hours before he saw anything promising. He slowed the Volvo at the sight of skid marks on the pavement straight ahead. He glanced right and left, using his enhanced vision to guide his search until he saw it, a glint of metal in the post-storm sunlight coming from several hundred feet off road.

  He parked his car and followed the sight until he found himself staring at what was undeniably her crashed truck. His heart stopped as he stared.

  “Emily,” he muttered as he rushed toward it. But he stopped just short of the driver’s door. He couldn’t deny the cloud of guilt inevitably rolling in. What if she was dead? That thought filled him with guilt in light of his previous anger. The thought that he had lost her was more than he could bare. How could he have let her die on his watch? How could he have driven her out of town like this?

  His stomach rolled around and his heart thudded against his chest as he took the three necessary steps to the driver’s seat. But his eyes flashed wide when he found it empty. He glanced all around him, looking for a body. To him, it was far more likely that she had been thrown from the truck and then somehow continued on away.

  But as he continued to search, the latter seemed like the only explanation.

  With his relief came a perplexed stare. She must have been desperate to get away from something other than him.

  ***

  Emily stopped walking. Her feet were beyond hurting. She couldn’t even feel them anymore. The sun beat down on her, burning her tender skin. Sweat sprouted from her pores, dripping into her cuts. The burn added to the chorus of other ailments distracting her from her purpose.

  But as she stood, gazing straight ahead, too tired to even shield her eyes from the sun, she could hardly find a reason to keep going. Fatigue dominated her every thought, the pain a cloud looming over head.

  Before she knew it, her legs had buckled and she was heading toward the ground. Her head hit the hardened dirt with a thud. Her body relaxed, the burn throbbing through her muscles, her rib cage, crying for mercy.

  She could sense her heart slowing before her eyes flickered shut. No. This was too far. She never meant to sleep…

  But now she hardly had a choice.

  Chapter Six

  Emily awoke to find herself in her own bed. She sucked in a breath, noting how simple this task was. Pain free. She closed her eyes and opened them again, but she was still laying in her own bed. This wasn’t a dream.

  Lycon. Somehow she felt his presence but, she couldn’t see him anywhere around her.

  Mauve sat sleeping on her small couch.

  She licked her lips, her tongue no softer than sandpaper. She spotted a glass of water on her right side table, but when she went to pick it up, it slipped right through her fingers, crashing to the floor.

  Mauve jumped at the sound, glancing around him before his eyes finally landed on Emily.

  A soft smile stretched across his face. “There you are.”

  “What happened? Did you go after me?”

  But Mauve shook his head.

  Emily’s heart dropped. That meant Lycon must have found her, which meant her little problem was far from
being resolved.

  “There was a man that came looking for you. He said that you had made some sort of agreement?”

  Emily nodded. “Lycon.”

  “Well he came back hours later with you.” Mauve stood up and came to her bedside. “I couldn’t take you to the hospital because of who you are, but he seemed to know what to do.”

  Emily furrowed her brow. “So what did he do?”

  “You were near dead and you had lost a lot of blood, and we had no medication so he just gave you his.”

  Emily’s eyes went wide. “He gave me his blood?”

  Mauve nodded. “It was the only way.”

  “Is he okay?”

  “I think so. He slept for hours but he’s gone now.”

  Emily’s heart fell. Why would he leave her? She had spent so much time under his magnifying glass that she felt empty and exposed without it. “He’s gone?”

  “He said something about…” Mauve shook his head. “It wasn’t worth your life? He would find another way? I don’t know.”

  Emily’s eyes went wide. He had given up on her. “That was my last chance at uncovering Mum and Dad. He’s Kaharan, Mauve.”

  His eyes went wide. “I’m sorry, love.”

  Emily closed her eyes. “It could never have worked. You know my condition.”

  “… about that…”

  Emily’s eyes flashed open.

  “It turns out that you and Lycon were somehow a perfect match. The transfusion saved you. Your blood and body are different now because of him. You can live a normal life.”

  Her eyes prickled with tears of joy. “So I can…”

  “Have a child, yes…and survive it too.”

  She clutched her sheets. “This is so strange,” she whispered. What were the odds that this unique set of events would transpire? What were the odds that they would lead to her getting her life back?

  Lycon.

  There it was again, the essence of him. She could feel herself being pulled, but not just to the idea to him, to an actual location.

  Could it be?

  “I have to find him.”

  She sat up, ignoring the way her head spun.

  “How?”