Arcane Lawmaker 3 by Dante King

Author:Dante King [King, Dante]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-08-26T00:00:00+00:00

16

“Shit, but I just wish we knew what that slippery son of a bitch Bloodmoon wants with her.”

“What was that, Sheriff?”

Cross looked up from where he'd been staring out over the sagebrush. He hadn't really been fully aware that he had spoken the words aloud. He and Emilio Sangria were riding at the head of their party. Rose and Maria rode side by side, not far behind. After them came Billy and Buster. Bart was bringing up the rear, his head scanning from side to side as he sucked on his ubiquitous roll-up.

It was not long after sunrise. He'd had a simple breakfast of biscuits, coffee, and fried peryton eggs. The eggs had been scrounged up by Billy. He had, before the others had awoken, gone on a foraging mission with Emilio Sangria. They had found the peryton's nest half a mile from their camp in a patch of dense grass.

The eggs were in themselves an excellent find. They had a rich, earthy flavor and were very filling, being about the size of a man's fist. What was more encouraging, though, was the fact that perytons traditionally laid their eggs and built their nests in grasslands that were not far from the forests where they liked to graze. If Winona's captors had decided to seek refuge in the forests or pass through them, that would slow them down. It would, Cross hoped, give the pursuers a chance to close the gap.

"Sheriff?" Sangria said.

"Sorry, I was miles away," Cross replied. "I was just thinkin’ aloud, just thinkin’, futilely perhaps, how much goddamn easier it would be if we knew what Bloodmoon's next move was goin’ to be. What scheme he had in mind. The reason that he wants Winona for."

"What makes you think that he wants Winona and isn't just taking her as a hostage to get to you?" Sangria asked.

"I've been ponderin’ that very question," Cross said. "It just don't make sense. Why kidnap her and bring her all the way out here? Just to get to me?" He shook his head. "Seems thin."

"Do you think it's her in particular that he was after?" Sangria asked.

"I think that the clues point to that," Cross said.

"What do you mean?" Sangria asked.

"I mean that it wasn't just Winona who rode out to deal with those vamps that fired the barn. Abby was there too."

"Good point," Sangria conceded.

"If he'd wanted to get his paws on people that were close to me," Cross said to his deputy, "he had a prime opportunity to get his claws into Miss Callahan while he was busy abductin’ Winona. I just don't understand what Miss Swiftwater could have or know that would interest Bloodmoon. It’s that what I've been tryin’ to figure out."

Sangria nodded thoughtfully.

"Hell, I'd welcome even so much as a hunch at this point," Cross muttered.

"Be careful, Sheriff," Deputy Sangria said. "A hunch and a definitive answer are two different buckets of possums."

"That's true enough," Cross admitted. "If there's one thing you can be safe in

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