Unexpected (18 page)

“I will not.”

“You will.” His voice rose, causing her expression to drop.  “I will not lose you, or risk leaving this family without the only man, if I go.  Cogan wouldn’t expect it. You need to quit thinking with your heart Josie.  Think of Thomas and Hattie.”

She snapped her jaw shut and clenched her teeth to resist the tears from falling.  Of course he was right. She turned away and
crossed her arms under her breasts while walking to the screen door and looking out at the horrid night.  The rain was coming down in sheets now.  Lightening flashed across the sky frequently followed by the booming sound of thunder.  Of course it would rain like this today, of all days.

“He’ll be fine.” Ryker may have said the words, but inside he was feeling the same angst.
  His arm went around his sister’s shoulders.

“I hope so,” she murmured.

***

“You’d better
fucking lying!” Butch threw the crystal glass against the far wall shattering it beside Deak’s head.  He actually meant to hit him, but the boy ducked.

Deak
was terrified.  He was already bleeding from a spill off his horse and saturated from the rain. Butch didn’t even wait for an explanation.  Deak’s condition said it all. Then he started to ask questions and Deak’s fear increased.  If he threw a glass at him just seeing the condition he was in, what was he going to do when he told him what happened?

“Is
Cogan Reid dead?”

“I—I don’t know,”
Deak answered.

“
Goddamit kid! Where the hell is Doyle?”

“Dead.”
  He wished he could be somewhere else at that moment.  Butch’s eyes popped wide and it looked like his head was going to explode.

“Say that again.”

“It was that bear! It—”

He held up his hand cutting him off and lowered his voice to a deadly calm.
“Again with the fucking bear.  Are you and your brother related to stupid?”

“It was huge
, boss.  Doyle shot the gunman and he went down like a two ton stone.  I know he hit him square in the gut because I saw it.  Then when we went to see the body and some—something big jumped out of nowhere and knocked us clear off our horses!”  He started to tremble. “It ripped Doyle in half.  Oh God!  He was still screaming, but his legs were gone—” Deak couldn’t continue.  He was physically trembling.  That sight will haunt him for the rest of his life.  Doyle’s blood curdling screams still filled his ears, until the bear ripped his throat out.

For the first time Butch was speechless. 
Deak was visibly terrified.  Yet fear can cause men to see things, and Deak was always acting like a timid child.  His brother was more reliable, and Butch hired Deak because Elroy promised that Deak was an asset.  However, he didn’t see it.  He only needed him because he was short men.  Now he was short Doyle, but he had enough men.  His expression turned impassive as he turned back toward his desk, and walked around to the front, so his back was to the window that over looked the street below.  Now he was facing the young man again.  “You know Deak, I don’t think you make a good fit here.”

“Boss, it was a b
ear.  I swear.  The bloody thing stared right at me with yellow eyes when it was ripping Doyle’s throat out!”  It was raining by then, and the night was dark, but Deak would never forget those eyes in the flash of lightening.

Butch reached into the top drawer of his desk and withdrew his revolver. “Yeah, well that’s your version.”
  He lifted the gun and aimed it at Deak.

***

Josie may have been lying in bed, but she sure wasn’t sleeping.  She was just staring at the ceiling still biting back tears. Cogan had come to help their family and had paid the ultimate price.  He had no reason to sacrifice himself for her family. Tomorrow she was going to go to town and shoot Butch McAllister between the eyes.  She was done with all of this harassment and killing of innocent people.

The
Stroubs were run off their land the day before, and she’d heard about it when the Doctor stopped in to check on Ryker.  She was sure her brother had ideas of his own on how to handle Butch, but she wasn’t that patient.  She was too darn angry.  Around Cogan, she was discovering feelings that she wasn’t sure existed because they’d never appear before.  Now he was—

She sat upright as a noise from the hall interrupted her thoughts.  She thought
Ryker might still be up, but there was still the worry of Butch and his men.  She swung her legs over the side of the bed and reached into her bedside drawer removing her derringer.  She didn’t bother with her robe.

When she stepped out into the hall a chill hit her. And she could see light coming from under Cogan’s door. She pulled the hammer back on the derringer and walked down the hall quietly.

She may have tip-toed but the floorboards creaked under her toes causing her to still her steps.  She could see a shadow moving back and forth under the door.  Again she paused, dropped her gun arm and stared at the door. It couldn’t be!  She didn’t even think about knocking but turned the knob and pushed open the heavy door.

Cogan turned around
to face her. He was naked from the waist up while drying his hair with a towel.  Without thinking she dropped her gun, rushed forward and embraced him with a cry of relief.

Cogan circled his large arms around her and held her back while lowering her head on hers. “I’m fine Josie.”

“God, I thought they killed you.”

He scoffed.

She lifted her head and looked up at him and finally, the tears she’d been holding back fell down her cheeks.

“
Are those for me? It’s unnecessary,” he soothed softly, while reaching up and wiping them off with his thumb.  “It takes a lot more than someone like Butch to kill me.”

“I wanted to go look but—“

“That’s the last thing I’d want you to do.  Ryker made the right call.”

“How’d you know?”

“He was waiting on the porch for me.”  He moved his hand up and brushed her hair back off her face tucking it behind her ear. “It seems that I’ve been worried over, but there was no need.”  His dark eyes searched hers.

She didn’t realize how hard it had hit her brother too.  She should have known he’d wait up all night for some form of hope.
“Of course Cogan.” She managed a small smile. “After all, we are supposed to be married soon.”

“
Yes, soon.” Before she could say anything he lowered his head and touched his mouth to hers.

That’s all she needed to know.  Her arms circled up around his neck as she tried to get closer to him.  He was powerfully built, strong, and his body was warm. 
In his arms, she felt safe for the first time in a long time, and when his mouth touched hers, she invited him to take it further by opening her own.

Cogan didn’t need any more encouragement.  She tasted of fresh rain and her body was supple, melding into his like she was made perfectly for him.
  He pulled back from her, gripped her head and tilted her face up toward his. His eyes moved over her lovely face.  She was so damn beautiful. Her mouth was pouty and her eyes were closed.  There was no doubt, she was his now.  He took her mouth again, a little more aggressively this time and her hands moved over his thick shoulders, down his hard chest, then to his abdomen.  Suddenly she pulled back and looked down.

“Oh my
God
, Cogan, you’ve been shot!”

Jesus, she’d made him forget about that.

There was dried blood there, but the hole had almost healed.  She lifted her hand and looked at the wound, then up at him. “Doesn’t that hurt?” he didn’t look the least bit in pain.

“I’m fine.  It was a flesh wound.”

She looked down again. “Cogan, I’ve helped the doctor out more than once. I know what a bullet hole looks like.  Don’t lie to me,” she scolded. If he tried to pass it off as an old wound, he would be lying.  She’d seen him bare from the waist up not too long ago. She had that memory burned into her mind as if it were yesterday because of how perfect he was made. There were no wounds there then.  Yet, even though she knew it wasn’t, this wound looked at least three weeks old.  Further, no man usually survived being shot in that area. Most abdominal wounds were fatal. There was something terribly wrong here.

He nodded and looked toward the ceiling praying for guidance here.  How the hell does he explain this?
He couldn’t.

“Cogan?”

He met her eyes again. “Yes, I was shot.”

“But—how—
when?”  She stepped back again and stared at the wound.

Josephine was too smart for her own good.  Nothing but the truth would help at this moment.
“There’s a reason I don’t fear anything. I’ve got this condition—”

“Condition?”

“I heal quickly.”

She shook her head
all the while a prickly fear started through her body. Instinctually she knew there was something unnatural here.  She drew back. “There’s no such thing,” she responded softly as if she was afraid of her own voice.

“
There is.  It’s just not common. In fact, it’s rare.  Most of us don’t mix with others besides our own kind.”

She paled.
Now she knew.  Everything started to make sense.  “You’re
not
human…?”

He held up his hand in protest.
“Yes I am. I’m as human as your brother. I eat, sleep, and feel emotion, like love, just like any other man my age. Here, Josie, sit and I will explain.” She started to tremble.  He knew it was a shock, but she needed to know. He took her hands and led her to his bed urging her to sit on the side.  He stood back and looked down at the wound that had nicely fleshed over in the last few hours.  Yeah, it was still pretty obvious.  If it was the next day, he wouldn’t have to explain himself. “As I was saying.  I am human, but I’m also something else.” He took a deep breath and released it.  “I don’t want you to fear me.  I would never harm any of you.  You need to understand that Josie.  Do you?”

Despite everything, of course she knew that.  Cogan had made himself part of their family.  In her heart she knew he
couldn’t hurt them.  She’d seen him with the animals, her brother, and again, as their savior. She nodded once.

“
I was born with this condition.”

“You’re sick?”

“No, not really.” He paused staring at her lovely upturned face again.  She sat there doing best to have an open mind and his admiration for her went tenfold. “Josie this is going to be shocking.”

“I think we’re beyond that,” she countered softly.

He nodded. “All right.  I’m what you would term a werewolf.”  There he’d said it.  “My kind has been around for eons, but we keep hidden within humanity.  We don’t go out of our way to be noticed like I am doing.”

Her jaw fell.
“That’s a myth.”

“Myths
always
come from some form of truth Josie.”

“What—I mean when did this happen?”

“When I was eleven, the traits appeared.  I haven’t aged a day since I was twenty four.” He took a deep breath knowing what would come next and he was right.

“And
when
exactly did you turn twenty four?”  Somehow she knew the answer would send her reeling and it did.

“
1306.”

“Excuse me?”

“Josephine, it is the year I turned twenty four.  I was born in 1282.”

Now Josie couldn’t remember a time in her life where she had fainted, but now seemed a good a time as any.
She swayed and fell forward.  Cogan cursed and quickly stepped in catching her. He eased her back onto his bed laying her gently along the length of it. 

“Well that could have gone a little
better.”  He sighed out loud, picked up his towel and finished drying his upper half off.  His eyes stayed on her. Tomorrow the wound wouldn’t show at all except for a discolored scar that matched the other several dozen on his upper torso.  His eyes went over her slowly as he pulled a clean shirt on.  Her body was clearly outlined in that cotton chemise she wore.  Sensual and seductive.

“Ah dammit to hell.”
He bent down and scooped her up to carry her to her room.  After he’d tucked her in, he berated himself for removing her from his own bed.  Then, he went back downstairs to repeat his information to Ryker.  Chances are he’s going to want to know why his sister is acting crazy the next morning.  He was certain she would be.  Who wouldn’t?

***

It was a good ten minutes before Ryker finally spoke.  Cogan waited patiently for his reaction. It wasn’t what he expected. 

“Don’t tell Aunt Harriet.  She’ll chase you out of the house with a meat cleaver.”

“I can leave if you want.  I understand.”  Ryker was still sitting out on the covered porch watching the lightening show and the rain come down in buckets.  The yard was a soupy mess now. The three ranch dogs were curled around his feet.  They wagged their tails in greeting when Cogan came out onto the porch.

Cogan sat beside him and just bluntly told him what he told Josie moments ago.  He even lifted his shirt and showed him the
rapidly healing wound.