Fall into Fire (Shamans of the Divide, Book 2)

Chapter Four

Somewhere in the distance, a drum was beating.

It was erratic and fast. It would pause, and then start again.

Bang bang bang bang.

Pause.

Bang bang!

Peeling my eyes open against the morning gunk, it became clear the banging was actually much closer. It was at the front of the guest house. Someone was beating the hell out of the front door trying to wake me up. I pulled on a pair of shorts and walked slowly to the door, working on not limping as my doctor had instructed.

Yanking the door open, I was surprised to find Cody Townsend standing on the stoop.

"What the hell?" I skipped the pleasantries. The sun hadn't made its way up yet—there'd better be a fire somewhere on the property.

"Well, good morning," he drawled and I was pretty sure he could tell how pissed I was. "You ready?"

I looked around in the quasi-darkness, half expecting to see Leonard in the bushes somewhere laughing at me.

"Ready for what? Breakfast?" I crossed my arms in front of my chest. "No, I'm not."

A slow smile slid across Cody's face and I finally took in the guy in all his Wrangler and cowboy boot glory. His hair was highlighted, just my guess, from hours out in the sun. His t-shirt was fitted and was some throwback to a youth rodeo. It was navy blue and it matched Cody's dark eyes. He wasn't dangerous looking (my first impression of Renn), but Cody gave me the feeling he knew how to have a good time while skirting petty things like laws. He was a bad boy, from what I could tell, but he was a bad boy you could fool your mom with.

"I'm on babysitting duty today. They don't want you left alone because of that, whatever that is," he was pointing to my leg again.

"Bear attack," I said a little too quickly.

"Yeah, well," Cody said and smiled. "I've never seen a bear go for an all-American ankle pick and not put a nick anywhere else on a person."

The image made me laugh despite myself. Some brawny black bear in a wrestling singlet, complete with headgear over his furry ears. It did sound a little ridiculous to someone who knew anything about animals. Lucky for me, they had been few and far between. I just shrugged at Cody and didn't answer.

"Anyway," he continued. "I've got work to do, so you need to come with me now. I'm leaving in five minutes. Make sure you wear pants and real shoes."

He didn't give me a chance to argue and simply turned on the heel of his dusty ropers and left me standing in the doorway. Frustrated, I heaved the door shut with a bang of my own. Pants and real shoes? I hadn't packed for anything other than a hot, dry summer. My suitcase up ended on my bed, I finally found a pair of jeans that technically might have been a size too small (that became obvious when it hurt to inhale too deeply), an old swim team shirt and tennis shoes that had seen better days. I was never much of a runner.

Nine minutes later, I walked out front and was greeted by the snort of two impatient horses and the stare of death of one very impatient cowboy.

"You're lucky I didn't leave you," he said jumping down from his large black horse. The animal was gorgeous—and terrifying. He walked beside the second horse, a smaller auburn colored horse with a sweet face. I didn't know horses.

Cody stood beside the second horse and looked at me expectantly.

"What?"

He shook his head and laughed.