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“Till you fess up and tell your momma and daddy about Maggie Mae Sampson? It’s not like they don’t know. You can bet your ass that Colton’s told everybody. Can’t keep a secret within a hundred miles of that little shit. I swear, I spend more time fortifying my mental shields than anything else since gettin' back here and layin' eyes on that boy,” Jack half-teased.
“You need to take care of your twin,” he kept going. “You know all his secrets. Use 'em if you have to. That super mental mind reading shit of his is for the birds. And don't think I don't know that you have it too. I gotta say, thanks for keeping it to yourself –most of the time. Now, just tell Colton that he needs to do the same, and everything will be good.”
Pointing at his cousin, Jack couldn’t have stopped even if he wanted to. "And don't you say one word to him about Macy and me. Ya’ here me?” Dropping his chin and raising his eyebrows, the older Guardsman added, “I know y’all are twins, and that means a connection none of us can understand but stop with the Amazing Kreskin bullshit. I felt you in my head just a minute ago, and this is thelastwarning I'm givin' ya'. Next time, I'll let Felim deal with you. And trust me… That’s one Dragon King you do not want to make mad.”
“Now, that’s just not right.”
“Whatever,” Jack huffed. “All that aside, I’m pretty sure Cole’s hired the Wilson brothers to fly a banner behind their crop duster announcingMaggie and Heath sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-gto the whole damned desert and the rest of Jeff Davis County.”
“What… It’s not that… I’m gonna… What the hell are you talkin’ about? Nobody knows my business. I keep that shit locked up tight.” Tapping his temple with the first two fingers of his left hand, Heath stressed, “I will say it again. I. Keep. My. Shit. Locked. Up. Tight. You don't know what you're talkin' about, Jack. I would never…."
Shaking his head, the older Guardsman couldn’t help but snicker. It was funny to watch his youngest cousin, the one he'd always been the closest to, stammer and stutter. It was even better when Heath's cheeks turned the color of ripe cherries as he tried to deny his attraction to a certain female Alpha Wolf.
"Practice what you preach, Brother." Tapping his own nose, the older Guardsman mimicked Heath's motion. "When you get your shit together, I promise to follow suit."
“Okay,maybeyou have a point,” Heath begrudgingly admitted with just the slightest hint of a pout in his voice. “But I’m not the one running around, going all Dragon, and covering up the tracks of the Big Bad Wolf from my Mate, now am I?” Getting to his feet, he went right back to jabbing his index finger in the hot, dry air between them. “And why the hell are you doin’ that crap, Jack? Why are you covering up the tracks of the very thing - the bad guy -the Assholeyou are huntin’? Huh? And why the hell hasn’t Macy figured out that you’re the ‘Big Beast’ she keeps seeing and not the real ‘Big Beast’ that’s runnin’ all over the damned desert?”
The older Guardsman couldn't help but smirk as his cousin made exaggerated air quotes as he kept complaining. Holding up his index finger, he scoffed, "She damned sure knows it's a Dragon. I'm talkin' about the tracks she keeps finding on Preserve Lands, not the ones you're covering up. She'smore than well awarethat we’re the only Dragons around for miles and miles and miles and would be the first to know if a new ‘Scaly Boy’ was in town. Shemore than appreciatesthe fact that you’re back home.” Heath waggled his eyebrows. “What the hell gives? Why hasn’t your Mate just called a Dragon a Dragon and put the rest to bed? She should just call you out, then you two can go make up in the privacy of your own damned house and stop stinkin’ up my breathin’ air.” Chuckling at his own innuendo, the younger Guardsman added, “So, to speak.”
“You,” Jack deadpanned, turning towards the horses and motioning for Heath to follow as he continued to explain. “And Aunt Barbara, Uncle Owen, Cheveyo, and your brothers.”
“Huh?” Heath shrugged as he caught up and got in step with Jack.
“Y’all are the reason.Youtold Macy…." Jack tried not to chuckle as he stretched out each word as if he was talking to his three-hundred-and-two-year-old Granny Annie, who was deaf in one ear, couldn't hear out of the other,andjust didn’t care to listen in the best of times. “…that it wasn’t one of us. She asked, and y’all said nope. In turn, she believes you. She trusts all of us – especially your mom and dad. So, she stopped looking at us and is trying to find another explanation.”
Stopping next to his favorite mare, Millie, a gorgeous appaloosa his cousin Jed had given him before he left for Houston ten years ago, Jack rolled his eyes and exhaled sharply before continuing to explain to his obviously flummoxed relative. “Remember when she and Lou showed up out at the ranch a couple of months ago?”
“Right after you got back?”
“Yeah,” Jack tried to keep the irritation out of his voice as he listened to the roar of Macy’s pickup getting closer and knew he didn’t have the time to lollygag but was going to have to anyway. "We were all out back of the big house, your dad was grilling steaks, your momma was filling the table with enough food to feed an army, and…."
“And Colton and I were kicking your ass at Cornhole!” Nearly shouting his reply as the expression of recognition dawned on his face, Heath added with a big cheesy grin, “Okay, I remember all of that, but when the hell did Macy show up?”
"Five minutes later. You and Colton were arguing over him joining the Dragon Intelligence Agency without talking to you, and Ranger stepped in to keep you two from throwing punches."
“Oh, yeah,” Heath huffed. Then, pulling his brown Stetson further down his forehead until the inside brim sat atop his instantly furrowed brows, the youngest MacAllen climbed onto his horse as he grumbled, “That explains why I didn’t know she was there. I was too busy kicking my twin's ass.”
“Yeah, okay, I’ll let you have that one since what Cole did was a dick move.”
Climbing onto his mare, pulling the reins to the right, Jack bit the inside of his cheeks as he gently pushed the heels of his boots into Millie's sides. He just didn't have the heart to remind Heath that both he and his twin had chimed in when Macy asked if any of the MacAllens had been traipsing around on the far side of the Lindon-McDonald Preserve dressed in scales and wings.
It had taken everything in him not to snarl and growl when all the MacAllens answered with a chorus of:
“No.”
“No.”
“Nope.”
“Not since you put up the signs, Macy Jane.”
And…
“No, ma’am. I’d hate to have you after me with a hypodermic. You are one scary woman when you’re pissed off, Dr. Lindon.”
The only woman who’d ever turned Jack’s head, ever made him think he could settle down, who made himbelievein happily ever after, nodded and pushed the long dark curls off her shoulder. "Well, somebody's been out there. I can't go farther than a hundred yards without tripping over a bunch of big ole tracks.” With the cutest tilt of her head and half a grin, she’d added, “You know what I mean. Footprints that point to a certain species of scaly Winged Warrior and are bigger than all of me rolled in a ball." Leveling her gaze, then spearing each of them with an all-too knowing look, she prodded, “Anybody want to revise their answer and save me a whole helluva lotta huntin’ and peckin’? Or better yet, come out and help me find the butthead who’s hellbent on trampling the vegetation I spent the better part of three months plantin’ for the smaller animals? I promise to bring snacks.”
Thankfully, his family once again commented to the negative before offering to come out and help with the search the next day. Blessedly, Macy hadn't looked at him, hadn't so much as glanced his way, because if she had, Jack would've well and truly been busted.
