Page 41 of Kentucky Nights (Dead Man’s Ranch #1)

“Is that any way to greet your son?”

My eyes are heavy from the pain. My hat falls from my head, drifting to the blood-ridden ground. I manage to turn my head to see a tall man standing there with Dru in his grasp. He has her by the throat, claws drawn, and sinking into her beautiful, soft flesh.

A scarlet haze overcomes my sight. My fangs unsheathing, wanting to protect her from this stranger who dares to put his hand on my fated mate.

“Dru,” I rasp, reaching for her with my body.

I raise myself a few inches on the horn, using every bit of strength and energy I have to break free from this spear of a horn.

I can’t.

I sag onto the bull’s head, urging my body, my molecules to heal.

I need to get to her. I need her.

I need .

“Kentucky! Stop! Sweetheart, please, stop. Don’t move!” she cries, a constant flow of tears wetting her angelic cheeks. “Please.”

The scent of her fear is bitter. I’m taken back to when I found and saved her from the shed. She was so afraid of me and had every reason to be. I hated the smell of her terror then, and I hate it even more now.

“Get your fucking hands off my mate.” The words are broken with a wheeze after every breath. “Your issue is with me. Let her go.” Deep crimson rivulets flow down the horn, and the putrid scent of dying clings to the cells.

“My issue is with both of you, Dad. Can I call you that?” He dares to lick the side of my mate’s neck. “She’s delicious. Something about her calls to me. I finally figured it out.”

“I don’t have kids. I can’t have children. You have the wrong man. Let my Beloved go. Or I swear, I’ll fucking kill you!” I roar at a monstrous volume, the timbre vibrating the bleachers.

“Tsk, tsk. You might want to be careful and reserve your energy. From the smell of things, the two of you aren’t doing very well, are you, Dad? Papa? Father? What do you prefer?”

I sneer, trying to launch myself off the horn again. “Where is Lorcan?”

“Kentucky, don’t. Calm down. You must. The more your blood pressure rises, the quicker you’ll bleed out. With us decomposing, Kentucky, you have to be careful.”

I gasp again. Blood drips off my bottom lip in thick strings. I don’t have the energy to spit. “We’re fine, Dru. Everything is okay. We will be okay.” She knows the truth. She’s being too cavalier about decomposing. It isn’t the time to talk about it, given the circumstances.

When we get out of here, I’ll tell her everything I’ve been keeping from her.

“Don’t lie to her, Dad.”

I cut my eyes to him, groaning when the bull adjusts his stance.

“Don’t call me that. I don’t fucking know you.

I have no idea who you are or why you have the delusion that I’m your father.

I’m not. I have no kids. I can’t have kids.

I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that.

Please,” I hang my head in exhaustion. “Let her go. She’s innocent in this.

If you’re problem is with me, let’s handle this like men. ”

“Come here.” The stranger tugs Dru by the throat with his hand, forcing her to follow him as he steps closer to me. “I said, come here!” he yells, throwing her onto the ground.

“Dru!” I roar for her, causing more blood to seep from the wound.

With a tight grip on the back of her neck, he lifts her again, leaving four superficial marks across her throat.

If only I had bitten her. She’d heal. I’m a stupid man. I should have protected her. I failed my mate.

“Okay. Let’s turn back time a little. Shall we? Your friend Lorcan? He got called away to reap the souls in the next town over. All one thousand and twenty-two souls. It might take him a bit.”

Dru sobs, covering her mouth with her hand in horror.

“You killed a thousand people? Why? What did they do to you?” I ask, realizing I’m staring at a vampire whom I was afraid of becoming. The longer I stare at him, the more I begin to notice the resemblance between us.

He has lighter hair than I do, but the same eyes as me. Our facial structure is similar. Same jaw. Same eyebrow shape. Same eyes. People look alike every day and aren’t related—that has to be the case here.

I do not have children, and I refuse to acknowledge that I do from a vampire such as himself.

And if I did, I sure as Hell wouldn’t accept a son like him. No one touches my mate or disrespects her. I might be impaled now, and I might not have the strength to heal, but I refuse to die without having her in my arms. I don’t know what I have to do to make that happen.

Dying alone is no longer an option when my heart is being held by the best company there is.

“How else was I going to get you alone without alerting the Void? You know he can never deny a call for souls. As for Dru, I realize why I’m so keen on her.

It’s because she—” he tucks her hair behind her ear, and she flinches away from him, whimpering when he digs his nails into the canvas of her throat even deeper than the last time.

“—Is your fated mate. I’ve heard of bloodlines being attracted to another’s mate, even feeling drawn to them in a way.

She isn’t my fated mate. Don’t get confused.

The obsession with her though is intoxicating, Dad. ”

“Stop! Stop calling me that. Enough. Let her go. She isn’t yours. You admitted that yourself. She’s mine. Mine. ” I shout when Gunpowder slings me to the left and right, jostling the horn through my chest.

“You might want to watch how you speak to me. I’m controlling him.

I have this nifty ability to speak to animals and people.

I can control their every thought. See, the bull you’re impaled on?

The only thought he has right now is killing you, and he will if you somehow get yourself free from that horn.

No one is coming back. Everyone thinks the rodeo is canceled after that poor bull rider got kicked in the chest. He’ll live. I thought you’d want to know.”

“You controlled the bull to target him? For this? Why?” I spit out another wad of blood. If I were human, I’d already be dead from this type of wound.

“It was…fun,” he chuckles into Dru’s neck, moaning when he inhales her scent. “How have you denied her? How have you denied yourself? It’s a shame both of you have to die because of your mistake, Dad.”

I grit my teeth when I hear him call me by that title again. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I wanted to give her a choice—Ah! Fuck!” I yell when the bull moves again from his command.

“Don’t move,” Dru whispers in a shaky voice.

“Please. Please, I’m begging you. Stay still.

Seeing you in pain is making me ache in my soul, please.

” She sobs so hard, her shoulders shake.

“I can feel you dying.” A dam of tears breaks away from her lash line, and the reflection of the neon lights shining down on the arena shines off her sadness. “It’s killing me.”

My own sadness almost breaks me. Tears burn my eyes, but I refuse to look any weaker in front of this crazed vampire.

“Romeo. Where are you? I need you. Someone has me and Dru hostage.”

I figured he’d be here by now. Something must be wrong.

“If you’re looking for your horse, he’s currently a statue inside your trailer.

Did you know that ‘Cemetery Ophids,’ also known as ‘Stone Snakes’ thrive in Purgatory?

It isn’t hard to find someone willing to smuggle out things that don’t belong here.

” A sick grin spreads across his face, one of manic and instability.

“Don’t worry, Romeo can come back once he meets his Beloved.

Stone Snakes are rumored to have been born from Medusa.

I don’t know if I believe all that, but I thought, ‘How perfect. I only needed to use them on Romeo.’ Look how lucky I am?

You proved yourself weak and useless. I thought you’d put up a fight.

I didn’t have to search for any other method to kill you. All I needed to do was show up.”

No. I didn’t know that about Stone Snakes. I didn’t know fucking anything, and now it’s biting me in the ass. Mourning is proof on my face this time, knowing my best friend is a stone. I refuse for that to be his life. I’ll buy every horse in the world if it means there’s a chance he can wake up.

There are two things in this world that are off limits to others:

My mate.

And my horse.

“I’m going to kill you,” I seethe. “I’m going to rip your fangs from your fucking mouth, tie you to the back of my horse, and drag you across hot pavement until your skin is peeled from your bones.

You won’t be able to heal because you’ll be wrapped in fucking silver!

” I roar, almost pushing myself off the horn when he drives it back through.

“Kentucky!”

“Ah. Ah.” The stranger tsks, tightening his hold on Dru.

“It’s okay, Darlin’. I’ll be okay. We’ll be okay.” Somehow, I know that. I don’t know how or why, but I refuse to die now when I’m so close to living for the first time. “Who are you?” I finally ask him, hoping his name will tickle a memory.

“Oh, that’s right. I’ve made an entrance but not a name for myself. Apologies, Dad.” He pushes Dru forward, keeping her as a barrier between him and me.

She’d be the first to get gutted if he ordered the bull to attack. I have to remain calm. I have to be everything she needs. She deserves someone who can protect her, and I refuse for it not to be me.

“Louisville Reese.”

I can’t tell if I stop breathing because of what he said or if the wound is so bad, I’m dying.

“Oh, that last name rings a bell, doesn’t it? I see you wondering how it’s possible. Your thoughts are whirling.” He twirls his finger next to his temple.

“That’s not possible. She couldn’t have. Audrey wouldn’t have—” I stop myself from completing that sentence.

She would have hidden that from me. That’s the harshest truth of it all. If she could hide the most important part of herself, the part of her being a vampire, then she would hide if she were pregnant.

But why? Why would she hide that? She knew I wanted kids.