Page 24 of Tusks & Saddles
“Fuck you,” she grumbled.
“Nope, for that, you gotta ask nicely.”
Will snapped her head up, glaring at the smug looking orc. His pretty smile curled up behind his tusks glinting in the firelight. He continued with a soft purr, “See? Got you to look at me.”
“You’re a bastard,” she snarled.
“As are you, we’re two peas in a pod. Now, pull your boots off or I’ll take them for you. And you won’t like it if I undress you.”
“Why?” She squinted at him, daring him to test her.
“Cause I won’t be nice about it.”
Will gave him a half-hearted shrug. “Maybe I deserve mean.”
Boone snorted. “You asked for it. Roger?”
“Hmm?”
“My apologies to your ear drums.”
“Whoa!” Will only got a single word out before her Paladin snatched her by the waist like she was a sack of potatoes and threw her over his lap. True to his word, he wrangled her out of those boots, her belt, and her jeans with the mercy of a pissed off rattlesnake. In a moment, she was in just her tank top and leggings, still howling at him and trying to scratch him.
“I warned you. Woman, put the claws away.” He pinned her hands to the bed roll that he so egregiously chucked her into without warning. Will thrashed left and right, ready to show him some fucking claws for calling her woman. Then he slid in behind her and pulled her head onto his arm. His steady heartbeat in her ears, the brush of his breath against the shell of her ear, and the warmth of his body against hers reset her. Like he smacked an off button, she grew still and quiet. He kissed the back of her head. “I’m gonna take care of you Willamina Jones. Fight me all you want, I can take it. Baby, I can handle you…so just let me.”
Willa couldn’t help the broken plea that escaped her lungs. A raspy, choked whisper. “Just don’t leave me.”
“I won’t.”
“Even if he asks you to?” She shifted her head, looking over her shoulder at the massive shadow behind her.
“He won’t.”
She took in a ragged breath. “Even if your goddess asks you to?”
“Will?” He kissed the side of her head. “Get some sleep, Baby. We’ll find Kaffa, get the cattle sold off, and go home where youcan focus all that worry on things that need your worryin’. I’m not going anywhere.”
She lay there in his arms, snuggling down into his warmth, trying to ignore the angry, rotten worm at the back of her brain.Boone doesn’t lie, why would he start now?She would just have to wait and see if he was a Paladin of his word.Gods and dragons and stars above, please let me keep this one.
Will fell asleep after much protesting by her wasp nest. Eventually the angry humming quieted down and she was able to close her eyes. The blanket of the night sky was comforting. Eventually their campfire died and there were only the stars illuminating everything.
And it was the first time that Will sensed it coming before anyone else. Like someone ran a cold fingertip up her spine, she woke with a jerk. Will snapped up in the bedroll, earning a sleepy huff from Boone. Her gaze roamed the camp then the cows, searching for the disturbance. It was Betty that tipped her off. Her horse trotted up to their bedroll, bopping her nose to the side of Will’s head. Crawling out of Boone’s arm and the bedroll, she quietly pushed her feet into her boots, Betty on her hip. When her horse pressed her nose to the pile of things Will left near the bedroll, she saw her horse specifically pointing at the crossbow.Shit.Picking up her weapon, she let Betty guide her.
The pair crept along the edge, keeping an eye on the herd of bodies slumbering in the tall grass. As she stepped around another rump, she saw something. Someone was crouched a few hundred feet from her.And it’s not fucking Roger.They were rifling through a bag. Will raised her crossbow, putting the shadow in her crosshairs as they inched forward.
When she saw a bottle removed, she couldn’t hesitate.If they’re trying to poison the cattle, they gotta die. If they’re trying to chuck some moonshine bomb at us, they also gotta die.She let a bolt fly, its subtleclick and hiss as the mechanisms moved barely reaching the shadow’s ears. Not till it was too late! She watched through her crosshairs as the bolt thudded somewhere in their chest and the culprit fell to the grass with a quietthump.
Betty whinnied, eyes blazing with flames for light but not fully transformed. The pair rushed forward through the grass to their shadow. Will kicked away their weak, flailing hands and put her boot to their chest. Leveling her crossbow on their face, she clicked her tongue against her teeth for Betty. Her horse, without needing an actual command, bit down onto the black, wool face mask their culprit was wearing and tugged it off. Her victim howled as Betty got a good chunk of hair with it. But her nightmare ripped off the mask and tossed it aside like a dog with a toy.
Will’s heart skipped a beat, a cold fear washing over her. Her words came out as a low growl. “Timothy Two Toes Jackson, what in thefuckare you doin’ to my cattle?”
Lights came on behind her as her ranch hand and Paladin woke. It didn’t sway her as she pressed hard on the human man’s chest with her boot. The wound where her bolt stuck out of his shoulder gurgled up blood. She’d gotten him deep in the meat, but he wasn’t about to die from that shot.He will if I let one lose in his face, though.
Timothy Two Toes Jackson was a brown haired, blue eyed, frog faced human. He had an unfortunate couple run ins with other drunks and was always sporting bruising of some sort on his face, on top of his big eyes and unfortunately wide smile. He was off-putting, but normallyharmless. Except, currently, he was under her boot, hands up in defeat. “Willamina, I swear, I didn’t know it was you.”
“Bullshit,” she snapped, poking his wound to make him whine loudly. “Were you the thief? Where’s Kaffa?”
“I don’t know!” Timothy cried out, thrashing but unable to move when Betty stepped on his other hand. He cried out. “Gods, fuck, Willamina, ya gotta believe me.”
