Page 11 of Tusks & Saddles
Boone smiled to himself, letting his eyes slowly close. “I promise.”
At some point, he stopped counting the seconds between her breaths, gauging how long she inhaled for versus her exhale. It was better than counting sheep, as his mind slowly slipped away. It allowed him to settle into the bedroll and sink into his dreams. There weren’t images or people in them, just soft colors that whizzed past his eyes. Sensations, like the feeling of something brushing against his arm, the sound of her dreamy sighs, or a snort from a cow far away from his ears. Boone floated happily in that abyss, cradled in something warm and soft.
It was only when his ears picked up movement, that he began to wake up. There wasn’t quite light yet, the sun still teasing the other side of the dunes but with the moons gone, it was hazy at best. Boone didn’t realize his arm had shifted in his sleep till he realized he was unconsciously brushing his thumb back and forth over something. It was soft, satiny, and there was a peak that he would brush up to the top of, pinch it between his forefinger and pad of his thumb, then brush back down. It was a soothing motion that he repeated over and over. Blinking to clear the sleep from his eyes, he flopped his head to the left to see what was nestled comfortably in his palm. Warm, soft, like a pillow fitted just for him palm.
Oh shit.Boone’s body tensed as he realized he’d curled his arm around Willamina in the night. She was nestled in the crook between his side and elbow, smiling, lost in a dream. His hand cupped her breast, and it was her nipple he was slowly teasing. Like his own salacious toy, playing with it subconsciously. Somehow, and he had a few inklings how, he’d slid that lecherous hand under her tank top.Oh, fuck me.His cock hummed with early morning need and seeing himself play with her.Play with my Will, with the only person to come to mind when I wanted to take care of business…and she feels just as good as I imagined- No! Fuck, no, I shouldn’t be…He awoke sharply, the blurriness of sleep finally slipping away. Reality was, Will didn’t ask for that, he’d not been granted thathonor. No matter how soft her skin was, how warm or how she fit perfectly in the cup of his hand. As he went to move, to let go, to slither out without another touch, her back arched into it. A breathy sound escaped her, and he choked.Abort, get out of there Paladin!
Boone ripped his hand out of her shirt as fast as he could, which, of course woke up Will. She gasped, stiffening in his arm. He laid there, face burnt to a dark forest green, and eyes wide. As if things couldn’t get any worse, while Willamina twisted in the bedroll to face him, he realized that rustling that woke him…was someone rifling through their bags. Maybe the Sun Bringer granted him a little mercy, for it seemed Roger, Will, and he realized someone else was in their camp at the same time.
“Oi!” Will didn’t even bother opening up the bag, she scrambled hand over ass…and over Boone to get out of the bedroll. He found his way out as she rushed across the sands. Three people covered in cream colored clothing and face masks ransacked their camp. The world was topsy-turvy as he did his best to get his bearings.
When he stood up at the center of camp, he saw Will lasso one of them by the legs. She had him bound and gagged on the leather, her clawed hands holding his face to the sand. Roger was chasing after one riding off into the distance on a horse. Only, the third pulled a pistol out of his waistband and everything stopped.
“Boy, I’m warning you right now, you don’t wanna do that.” Boone put up his hands, trying to pat down the air. “Look, you three got caught. You tried it. Now you gotta have the sense to leave it with your skins still intact.”
“Fuck you! Let him go!” The third, a human from the looks of it, jerked the muzzle from Boone to Will. In his other hand was a supply sack, the remnants of it spread across the sands. Whatever they were looking for, they didn’t have the time to find just yet.
“What rich fuck did you steal that rickety ass pistol from? Huh? You even know how to fire it?!” Will snarled, eliciting a yowl of pain from the thief she had pinned beneath her. Her claws left tracks in his scalp as she yanked him by the hair. “Tell your friend to drop it.”
“Sam! Drop it!”
“No! Fuck you! Let him go!” He jabbed the muzzle directly at Will and Boone growled, stepping forward. When he did, the pistol was pointed at him. It was like the thief put two and two together, because he kept his gaze locked on Boone, but turned the barrel down to Will.
“Trust me, boy, you don’t wanna do that,” Boone’s lip curled around his tusks, “cause if you hurt her, I’m gonna have to kill ya and she’s still going to crack your friend’s skull. But if you put that gun away, and walk away, I’ll make sure your friend goes with you. Understand?”
“Let him go first.” The human thief jabbed the gun in her direction.
“That wasn’t the deal, now was it?” Boone stepped closer, his blood nearly to the point of boiling.
“Get back! I swear I’ll blow her head off—”
“Sam! Just drop the gun!” the daemon missing chunks of hair shrieked from Will’s hands.
The pistol thudded into the sand. “There! There, let him go!”
Boone looked at Will, watching her face screw up at the center. When it was obviously she wasn’t going to just honor it on her own, he huffed, “Will, let the kid go.”
She snapped her fiery gaze to him, but he merely raised an expectant brow. The woman, who not just a few minutes ago was snuggled safely in his lecherous hands, steadilydetached her claws from the head of her prey and crept off their back. She tugged her lasso and it fell loose, allowing the thief to scurry out of her trap. Boone returned his attention to the masked human, and his eyes widened. Before he could yell, before he could demand, before he could defuse, the human pulled a second pistol out of the back of his pants, aimed, and fired at Will. It was like breathing, that Boone summoned his armor from the ether. As the sun rose higher, lighting the world in reds and oranges, Boone lit up like a lantern and his sword appeared in his hand.
He swung. The fury of the Sun Bringer in his veins, he sliced through them like warm butter. Blood splashed the sand at his feet and he stared at the bottom half of two robbers who didn’t know a thing about self-preservation. Glinting in the early morning light, his golden armor heavy on his shoulders, Boone took a moment to assess what happened. And felt the change in the air as something with wings flew at him, talons out.
He twisted, arm out, snagging Willamina by the waist and holding her back before she could dirty her claws on the corpses. “Will!”
“Fuck you!Bastards! Fuck you!” Willamina thrashed in his arm, blood seeping from the cut along her cheek. It wasn’t deep, but it was dripping down her jaw. Boone tightened his grip on her and hugged her close.
“Will!” he barked.
She trembled in his embrace, still not looking at him.
“Willamina, look at me,” he breathed. Her gaze slowly twisted to him. Boone set her down on her talons, avoiding getting her bat wings to his face. “It’s done.”
Then, with the steadiest hand he could manage, he swiped his thumb across her cheek. The cut hissed as the seam in her skin was pressed back together. Like damp clothes under a hot iron, her skin steamed as it stitched itself back together. While he couldn’theal all wounds, a bullet graze was definitely in the realm of possibilities for him.
Roger finally came galloping back, Killer huffing up a storm. He looked at the pieces of their thieves, then sighed. “Damn.”
“I warned them.” Boone shook his head, kicking one of the pairs of boots away from him.
“Lost the third one, dunno where he went.”
