Page 47 of Cowboy Wolf's Secret Baby

They rode back to the barn. Sometimes they talked about what they saw and heard, but they mostly rode in a comfortable silence.

They took care of Beth’s horse when they got back and took the other two back to the rodeo grounds. The three of them brushed Zephyr and Pegasus and made sure there was plenty of food and water.

Beth ordered pizza when they got back to her place. Taryn got out her board games and they decided on Sorry! She won the first game fairly. They were about to start a second game when the back door flew open and Matilda came in like a rush of bad breath.

“How cozy,” she said.

“Mother. How many times have I told you that you have to knock before you come in.”

“Nonsense. I’m your mother. Your home is my home.”

“No, it’s really not,” Beth said.

“It looks like you have quite the party going on here. You seem to be having so much fun.”

“We are. Did you want something?” Beth asked.

“No. I was just checking in,” she said. Then, with an evil smile, she told Conner, “Enjoy it while it lasts.”

Then, just as quickly as she came in, she blew out like a tornado.

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Conner

“Well, isn’t she just a breath of fresh air,” Conner said, finally breaking the heavy silence that had fallen over the three of them.

“That’s just grandmother. I think she wasn’t hugged enough when she was a kid,” Taryn said.

Everyone laughed, breaking the tension.

“She hates shifters that much, huh?” Conner said.

“It’s not just that. She still thinks, somewhere in the back of that addled brain, that if I’m broken and miserable, I’ll join her coven. They are doing everything from basic robbery to cleaning out people’s bank accounts and ruining people’s lives because they think it’s fun.”

“It sounds like a lot of petty crimes for such powerful witches,” Conner said. “A few years ago, we had a witch problem in Angel’s Creek. She wanted to kill all the mundane humans and control the supernatural world.”

“To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was up to something like that. She just hasn’t told me about it because I can’t be trusted. She knows that I would do whatever I had to do to stop her.”

“Me, too,” Taryn said.

“Do you have another set of particular skills that would be beneficial to her cause?”

“Potions,” Beth said. “A few pinches of this and that combined with a spell, and I can do a lot of good or a lot of bad. Technically, I could create a potion that would have wiped out the Gestapo.”

“Eye of newt, leg of toad,” Taryn intoned gravely, making Beth and Conner laugh again.

“What about Taryn?”

“Her skill goes beyond just calming and curing animals. She could force them to do her bidding, even against their will. Just as she can calm a raging bull, she could cause a sweet little bunny rabbit to attack,” Beth explained.

“I could see how that would be useful in the dark world,” Conner said.

“What she doesn’t get is that I would rather die than hurt an animal. Making it do something against its will is the same as torture, and I would never do that,” Taryn said fiercely.

“I know you wouldn’t,” Conner said. “You are a good person and wouldn’t harm anyone or anything on purpose.”

“No, I wouldn’t,” Taryn said. “Except when I kick your butt at Sorry!”

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