Chapter 12
There had been no time for post-coital snuggles—although, surprisingly, Jasper had yearned for that very thing. Holding Savannah in his arms, every inch of her body pressed against him… That would be heaven.
But the noise they created soon had the sounds of many feet and a few hollers of “What the hell?” racing toward them. They had a matter of seconds until the barn door flung open. Thankfully, they were able to escape with clothes in hand, but not on their bodies, through a side entrance and into the horse stables. There, they hunkered down in Beretta’s stall, stifling their laughter.
They dressed quickly. The mare whinnied her reaction to their disheveled appearance.
“You can grill me with twenty questions later, Beretta, on my love life. Right now, we’re trying to lie low, so shush.” Savannah turned to Jasper and winked. The horse nodded.
“Don’t tell me all the details of what we just did is going to be gossiped around the entire rodeo,” Jasper lamented as he hauled his boots back on.
“Just the animals.” She grinned broadly. “No humans, I promise.”
He walked over to run his hands along Beretta’s long chestnut mane. “You won’t snitch on me, will you, sweetheart?”
The horse answered with an exaggerated shake of her head. As her reward, he fetched an apple out of a rusted steel bucket hanging just outside her stall.
With them both fully dressed now, Savi’s expression morphed from playful to serious. Her eyes narrowed, and her lush lips pressed into a thin line.
“I guess playtime’s over, huh?” Even he recognized the veil of disappointment in his own tone.
“For now.” A wide grin broke out on her face once more. “But not necessarily forever.” Savannah grabbed his hand and led him out another door into the blinding light of the midmorning sun.
“There you are!” Mama’s hoarse voice sent a tremor of irritation through him. “I thought you’d be resting, Savi, dear. Are you hungry?”
Jasper’s vision adjusted so he saw the woman did not have the Nurse Nightingale look of concern, but one of barely restrained fury.
He opened his mouth to answer for them both, but Savannah stepped in front of him. “I don’t need rest. What I do need is to speak to you… privately.”
Mama’s beady hazel eyes widened just a fraction and she stepped back. Jasper felt the power emanating from Savannah. A white light radiated off her aura, spiraling outward at an incredible speed. It spread over them, then continued outward and upward, almost taking over the sun’s job of illumination.
He knew most humans wouldn’t see this light, but they would most certainly feel it when it hit them. Pure light energy eradicated every shadow in its path. Jasper had witnessed this phenomenon from light workers, but never on such a grand scale.
“Let’s go to your trailer, if you don’t mind.” Savannah’s voice was clipped as if she was the boss, not the employee.
Mama simply nodded, pivoted, and they all walked to the back of the property where the boss lady kept her personal recreational vehicle away from the others. He doubted the woman had ever taken orders from anyone. A flash of pride sparked in his chest that Savannah was taking charge of the situation. He doubted things were going to turn out well for the rodeo boss lady, if what he suspected was true.
Not a word was spoken as they crossed the barren field to Mama’s RV. The scent of honeysuckle carried on the same breeze that also stirred up a dust devil a few yards away. Jasper stretched his neck from side to side as the tension among the trio built with every step.
Glancing at Savannah, he was surprised to find her completely at ease. Not a hint of doubt or uncertainty colored her aura. She was in control, and—by the saunter of her hips as she walked—she was enjoying it immensely.
That’s my girl.
However, Mama’s aura was darkening by the second. Her steps grew slower, and she leaned on her walking stick more. For the first time, he released his guardian angel senses to canvas the cane—in particular, the large black stone handle. He stumbled back a step as its negative energy pierced his heart with the force of a taser on full strength.
“Fucki-n-A!”
Both women stopped to turn around and stare at him. Neither said a word nor asked if he was okay.
“Oh, I’m fine, by the way. Thanks for asking.” He called to them. They had already proceeded into the camper without a glance.
As far as living in your own vehicle went, Mama Wedgefield’s RV was unexpectedly luxurious—leather sectional sofa, granite countertops, even a sparkling crystal chandelier hung over the kitchen island. There were frilly pillows scattered across the furniture, framed shadowboxes hung on the walls displaying dried roses of all colors, and a plug-in air freshener nearly suffocated him with the scent of roses. He didn’t know what he’d imagined the woman’s living conditions were, but it had not been this. Mama was a hardened, no-frills type of woman who had spent her life working hard for every nickel she had. But the inside of her camper showed a completely new side of her.
She shuffled over to the sofa and plopped herself down with a huff. Savannah perched across from her. Feeling like the odd man out, Jasper stood farther back, but within striking distance if someone—or something—got nasty.
“What’s this about, Savi?” Mama’s tone was low, and he swore her voice trembled a smidgen.
At this point, he was really wishing he and Savannah had spent time discussing their game plan prior to confronting the woman head-on. Besides, he didn’t even know if they were on the same page. Whatever the Lakota spirits had told her by the creek had solidified her resolve. Too bad she hadn’t yet filled him in on what that was.
Without warning, Savannah’s hand snatched the cane from Mama’s grip. “Nice new cane, Mama. How long have you had this one? What happened to the one carved from redwood with the eagle’s head?”
She twirled the stick around. An angry light danced off the large stone handle, not taking kindly to the pure white light from Savannah that encompassed it now.
The other woman didn’t even attempt to grab it back. Instead, she slumped against the sofa and pulled a cross-stitched pillow to her chest. “I found it at an estate sale while we were driving through Wyoming last spring. Thought it was pretty and it sorta called to me, ya know?” She refused to look up at either of them, just kept picking at the stitching of the pillow she clutched.
“And”—Savannah held it up as if she were an antiques dealer evaluating a new acquisition—“that’s around the time things got dicey around here, right? All the accidents and uncontrollable animals. Even with my skills to calm them down… Nothing worked.”
Mama straightened her back at the accusation in Savannah’s voice. “You can’t possibly blame a friggin’ stick for all that’s happened? That’s all on you, girlie. It’s your job to make sure the animals stay in control. You swore when you joined up that you could do that, but you didn’t. Robby’s paralyzed from the waist down; we had to put down two horses, one steer, and how many calves were trampled in the stampede last night? And now, Cody’s in the hospital, hanging on for his life! That’s on you!”
Jasper stepped forward to set the woman straight, but Savannah’s hand flew up to stop him. She craned her neck and glanced at him with a fierce determination in her eyes. Yes, this woman could fight her own battles. She knew that now, and it was something he’d better learn quickly.
Mama continued her rant. “Don’t think I don’t know what the two of you were doing while we were dealing with all the escaped animals last night. Don’t think I don’t know what you were doing in the horse stables just now. That wasn’t working, girlie. Unless you’ve got a new job.” Her lips curled up in a snarl, but quickly vanished when Savannah reached across and slapped her—hard.
“Do not turn this around on me. One—it’s none of your damn business what I do with my personal time. Two—what happened last night was triggered by something else, obviously not me. I wasn’t even here, so how the hell is that my fault? If it hadn’t been for me, things would have been much worse.”
Both women’s faces were flushed with anger.
The white light surrounding Savannah’s aura had a harsh crimson outline. She stood up abruptly with the cane between both her hands. She raised it over her head and brought it down onto her knee, snapping it in two.
An inky-black smoke sputtered out from the cracked wood, but it wasn’t what sent a thin tendril of dread through Jasper’s veins. The smooth black stone at the handle pulsated like it was breathing—small pulses at first, followed by heaving ones, seemingly growing.
Yes, it was indeed growing. What was once a small round rock was soon the size of a small dog, and it wasn’t finished. Savannah gasped and dropped both shards of the cane, backing away and stumbling over a small end table. A silver lamp with a shade decorated with pink fleur-de-lis in uneven rows fell, tumbled off the table.
A howl of desperation erupted from Mama Wedgefield, a sound no human could replicate. “Look what you’ve done, you bitch!” She lunged for Savannah with a speed that belied the state of her health and age.
Jasper jumped in between them, taking the brunt of the older woman’s body. Her fingers slashed at his face. They would be superficial wounds, he knew, but they stung like hell.
“Heitva!”
What the hell had Savannah just shouted? He did not know that language, but it had its effect. Mama stopped in her tracks and quickly backed away until she fell back against the sofa. Jasper turned to Savannah to ask what she had just said, but the words died on his lips.
Her cornflower blue eyes were no longer. In their place were two orbs of iridescent silver light shining out. He flinched away from their intensity. Jasper glanced down. The stone from the walking cane had disappeared completely. Where the hell had that gone?
Behind him, Mama stuttered, “She’s… Sh… Oh, my God!”
Everything in him told him not to do it, but he had no choice. Not really. He brought his gaze back up to Savannah, but that wasn’t his lover in front of him.
A silky voice cooed at him with a slight rasp like a snake who had perfected the art of speech. “Now, that’s better. Staying cooped up like that was cramping my style. Leave it to the lovely Savannah to find a way to unleash me completely.” Her head jerked in Mama’s direction. “You”—the word came across as a curse— “are no longer necessary. Not that you were ever that helpful in the first place.”
“Savi…”
She turned with a sickening smile plastered across her face and wild, gleeful silver eyes. A shrill giggle erupted from her lips, piercing the air and his heart. “Your little girl is no longer here, guardian. She’s on a vacation far, far away. But I’m sure we can have fun, too.”
“Manea, you bitch! Release her!” Even to him, his voice sounded like a small, frightened child.
With a snap of her fingers, a blinding light filled the camper along with the stench of sulfur. Jasper squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them again, Mama was slumped over on the sofa. Her chest no longer rose and fell.
And Savannah was gone.