by Marie Harte
“What do you want, Butch McKenzie?”
“A woman with direction. I like that. What do I want, Pilar?” He smiled again, and the expression made her uneasy. There was something not quite right about the man. She clutched her spear tighter.
Butch motioned for her to sit. She did so reluctantly, and only to prove that he didn’t intimidate her. “I’ve been interested in the railway for years. But it occurred to me that I’ve never had a better chance to make a profit from it than I do now.”
“Oh?” If he tried horning in on her gold, he’d find himself looking at the wrong end of her spear.
“You’ve proven you have a feel for timing your strikes. You hit the treasure cars hard and fast. In fact, you could probably take much more than you do if you had the resources to carry it all. Resources I have at my disposal.”
Pilar frowned. “What do you mean?”
“The line you and your friends have been stealing from not only carries large amounts of gold from Four Corners, it also connects a lucrative ore mine to a group of investors that have been less than polite to me.”
“So what do you want me to do for you?”
His eyes gleamed. “What an interesting question. What would I like her to do for me, Gregor?”
Gregor blinked and glanced up from the desk, where he’d been reading something. “Join us, Pilar. Organize the gangs terrorizing the rails and take charge. Thieve to your heart’s content. Then the McKenzies will step in and help clean up a bad situation, making us an invaluable asset to those investors he mentioned.”
“But why me? Why not just do it yourselves? You have the manpower.”
“True,” Butch answered. “But you have a reputation as a woman who can get things done. You get to keep anything you steal, and I’ll pay you as well.”
She didn’t trust him. It made no sense to bring her in when his men could have easily managed. Butch wanted something else from her.
“Me, Deke and Brian. All of us or none of us.”
“Loyal, aren’t you?” Butch purred. “Gregor, go take care of what we talked about earlier. I need to discuss a few details with Pilar.”
Gregor pursed his lips in disgust before he turned on his heel and left them alone.
“Get to the truth of it. I don’t have the time or patience to deal with lies.” She stood and clenched her spear in both hands, ready to use it.
“You’re a very passionate woman, I can see that. I was hoping you’d live up to my expectations, and you do.” Butch moved closer until only the sharp end of her spear in his throat stopped him. “Go on, push it in. I bet you’d love to see me bleed.”
Memories of another blond man threatening her, testing her, promising lies before he hurt her, pushed her to violence. She dug her spear deeper and watched as a trickle of red ran down his throat.
To her bemusement, Butch approved. “I’m glad to see I was right about you, Pilar. Would you mind me asking, where did you get that purple flower on your cheek? What does it mean?”
As if he wasn’t bleeding, she continued the polite conversation. “I do mind you asking. But I will tell you that the flower is only given to the best and hardest warriors of my people.”
“A mark of honor.”
She cringed inside. Had she been a person of honor, she never would have made a bargain with that blond haired devil.
“You remind me of a woman I recently met,” Butch was saying. “She didn’t have your mark, but she moved the way you do. And the knife she used, it had the same pale diamond on its handle as you have on your spear.”
Pilar froze. A coincidence? “Tell me more. What did this woman look like?”
“Do we have a deal, Pilar?” He moved closer, digging the spear deeper into his throat.
The excitement on his face made his brown eyes look black. She didn’t mean to, but a glance over his frame showed him as aroused all over. She’d heard of men like this but had never met one until now. Males aroused by pain or by the threat of it.
She drew the spear away and slapped his face, then slapped him again.
He didn’t fight back.
“Tell me what I want to know,” she demanded.
He panted and licked his lips. “Yes, that’s it. Hit me. I need that as much as I need you to organize activity against the railroads. But Pilar, you’re only to strike me in the privacy of my room, and no marks where they show. No one else can know what we do here. Do we have a deal?” He sounded hoarse.
Now that she knew his weakness, she intended to take full advantage of it. “I’ll work for you. I’ll even beat you black and blue if you like.” She ignored his slow moan. “But first you’ll tell me what I wish to know.” She yanked him forward by his hair and forced him to lower to his knees. Dominating him gave her a strange sense of pleasure.
“Yes, Lady.” He sucked in a breath and spoke.
The woman he mentioned had dark hair, green eyes, and a beauty that had captivated him from the first. Her cunning and strength, as well as the knife with its ivory handle and gems from The Cave, sparked a flurry of emotions Pilar was hard pressed to name.
“Thais,” she whispered.
“Yes, that was her name.”
“You had her here but she escaped. How many days ago?” Had Thais been so close all this time? Another Amazon wandering the Territories? And if she had survived, who else might be out there? Aliane?
Fear struck the very heart of her.
“She’s been gone for two weeks, Lady.”
Terror and anticipation mingled. The chance to battle to regain her honor tempted her as nothing had in a long time. Then again, did the surviving Amazon know of her guilt? Her compatriots in treason had gone their separate ways, but she had no urge to see any of them again. Renata, Marcela, Bruna, all whores with no more mind than to accept whatever male demanded their obedience. Hell, Renata had willingly left with Bartel, without thought of the horrors he’d perpetrated on their own kind after promising not to.
But if it was in fact Thais out there, the Thais she knew…? A chance to battle Aliane’s precious daughter. Yet she was Thalen’s child as well, a fact that never failed to torment and sadden Pilar. Thais should have been her daughter. And Thalen should have been her man. Instead, he’d fallen under Aliane’s spell, just like everyone else ever had.
She yanked Butch’s head back again. His eyes watered and he looked to be in serious pain. It was then she noticed the movement of his hand between his legs, beneath his trousers.
“You and I are in agreement, Butch McKenzie. You provide me with what I need, and I’ll give you the treatment you need.” The treatment you deserve.
“Yes, Lady.”
“Now finish. We have plans to make.” She used her spear to strike blows to his back and his belly while he pleasured himself.
He groaned and trembled, finding his release. She let him go, wondering how best to make use of her new situation. Her goal had always been to find Bartel and make him pay, but along the way, she’d found something special with Deke and Brian. Males she could tolerate and use to accomplish her mission. Men who might one day give her a child.
Butch McKenzie was another matter. She didn’t understand the arousal he experienced from pain, but that small demonstration showed her she liked hurting him. It did nothing for her sexually, but the power gave her a heady sense of strength. The McKenzie ranch had gold, guns, and brawn. She could use that. She would use that.
She wandered his study as he cleaned himself, patched up his neck and changed his shirt, now stained with blood. Pilar noted the many valuable books, ornaments and pieces of glass that lined the shelves of the room. Footsteps behind her drew her attention. But she didn’t turn around fast enough.
Butch wrenched the spear from her and gripped her by the throat in the blink of an eye. For a man who’d just taken pleasure from being hurt, he had no problem doling out pain. She wouldn’t underestimate him again.
“Just so we’re clear. I like my sex violent and I like to bleed.
But make no mistake. I run this ranch with an iron fist. If you so much as whisper what went on here today, you’ll pay.” He squeezed harder, but she sensed no joy from his threat, only cold purpose. When he released her, he helped steady her and handed her spear back with a nod of respect. She found his control more perturbing than his obvious strength.
“Your friends are welcome to bunk with the men. You, however, will stay here in the house. You will be afforded every courtesy. I regret the firmness with which I had to hold you, Lady. But I won’t lose what I’ve fought for so many years to gain.”
Nor will I. Pilar nodded, guarded. She could feel his fingerprints throbbing around her throat. “I’ll go fetch my men. You have my word I’ll not speak of what we did.” Her gaze held on the covered gouge at his neck, where she’d bled him but good. Where she’d bleed him again, and soon.
He crooked his elbow and nodded to it. “Shall we, then?”
Angry and uncertain and trying not to show it, she placed her hand on his arm. She left the room, no longer so sure who held the upper hand.
***
Thais stared off through a window in the large room, content to gaze at the mountains in the distance. Purple and black and capped with snow, they looked like something out of a fantasy, so very different from the jungle where she’d grown up. Though she’d spent years in the Territories, most of Temeco had been less than majestic. Pretty in a barren way. What elevation the land did have was sparse in vegetation and extremely dry, except along the coast. Four Corners more closely resembled the Amazon, not in climate but in density. The territory had mountains, forests, and lush grasses, and teemed with a multitude of animals, birds and insects. But none of the territories she’d been through compared to the grandeur of Big Sky.
I could happily get lost here, it feels so close to the Goddess. Thais wondered how far the eye could see from the top of those peaks so far in the distance.
A clatter brought her attention back to the table, where the family gathered for the mid-day meal. Platters of wheat cakes flavored with honey, roasted beef, and carrot stew filled the air and made her mouth water. Two pitchers, one of water, the other of fresh goat milk, complemented the home cooked meal. Hinto claimed his family still struggled to rebuild what they’d once had. What it must have been like before they’d lost anything.
“What’s with the limp?” Mahpee asked Hinto with a bluntness that fit her initial impression of him.
“I was shot.” Hinto tucked into his food with gusto. How nice not to be saddled down with turbulent emotions and a niggling sense that his world spiraled out of control.
She nibbled at her beef as she stole glances at him, wishing she felt as calm.
“Shot how?” Wolf asked, his plate even more full than Hinto’s.
“The usual way. With a bullet.” Hinto motioned to his father, who handed him the pitcher of water.
Dan turned to Thais. “Did you patch my boy up?”
“I tried. He’s very stubborn.”
Dan snorted. “Gets that from his mother.”
Mahpee and Wolf exchanged a glance.
“Sure, Dad,” Wolf said dryly. “It’s Mom’s fault. You have nothing to do with Hinto’s hard head.”
“Do you mind?” Hinto scowled. “I’m trying to enjoy Dozie’s cooking. Haven’t had a meal this good since Thais fixed us some rabbit on the trail a few days ago.”
Dozie wobbled into the room, glared at Thais, and plunked a tray of braided bread on the table. She muttered under her breath as she left the room.
Wolf ignored her. “You can cook?”
“Not as well as Dozie,” Thais answered.
“Damn straight,” came a grumble from the other room.
“You’ll have to forgive Dozie,” Dan apologized. “She’s a mite possessive about her boys.”
“Hey Dozie,” Hinto called. “Can you come out here?”
The gray haired termagant returned carrying a bowl of apples.
“My favorite!” Hinto caught the apple she tossed him.
“I know.” Dozie gave Thais a superior sneer and focused on Hinto again. “Whaddya want, boy?”
“You know everything that goes on around here. You seen a woman with a flower painted on her cheek, name of Pilar? How about a blond man, a few heads shorter than me? He’s ugly, cruel, and goes by the name of Bartel.”
“A flower on her cheek, eh? Now where’d I hear about that?”
Thais and Hinto traded glances.
Dozie’s eyes widened. “That’s right. Friend of mine at the new Runner station brings me word. You know how many gangs are growing ‘round them railways? Mark my words, sooner or later we’re gonna get some marshal law around the lines. Only hope the UTO keeps their god-awful noses out of it.”
Wolf shook his head. “Aw, come on, Dozie. You know the UTO’s just tryin’ to keep the peace. Without them, we’d be overrun by polluters.” He then had the temerity to ask for an apple.
The old woman threw it at his head. Only his quick reflexes saved the fruit, and his skull.
“Here we go.” Dan sighed.
“Peace my ass,” Dozie swore. “Damned UTs kicked us off our farm when I was six. Claimed it was official UTO property and that my pa was dirtying up the water source out back. Lake was as clean as it ever was. Not pa’s fault the fish were dyin’. Those sky rocks did it. Not us.”
“Your father was dumping illegal sky rocks in the lake, Dozie.” Dan sounded as if he’d had this discussion a number of times. “They didn’t throw you out to punish you, but to save you.”
“Those sky rocks were dead. Weren’t no glow left to ‘em when Pa tossed them away. We was scared we’d be forced to move if the UTs found out. And they did. Kicked us the hell off our own land.”
“Dozie, those sky rocks weren’t dead, and you know it.”
The way he said “know” made the hair rise on the back of Thais’s neck. She couldn’t read the look Hinto shared with Dozie and his father either. The table grew eerily silent.
Fascinated but eager to return to the subject at hand, Thais changed the subject. “Ah, I don’t mean to interrupt, but could we get back to the lady with the flower? Dozie, have you heard mention of her? Has anyone seen her around here?”
Dozie answered with a sniff at Dan. “Matter of fact, one of my friends is a Runner who shares my hankerin’ for fancy tales and bank robbers. Your flower lady is a part of the Flower Gang that’s been robbin’ from the railroad in Four Corners for months. Three of ‘em, two men and a woman with a flower on her cheek, have been stealing the railroads blind. No one can catch them, and they kill anyone who fights back.”
“Where exactly in Four Corners, Dozie?” Hinto asked.
“The Watchco/Redville line.”
Hinto turned to Thais. “That line runs right past Morrow and Little Valley.”
“They stole over a thousand in gold just four days ago, not too far from Ermine,” Dozie added.
“We have to go back.” Thais pushed her chair from the table but Hinto grabbed her arm.
“Not yet. We need to have a plan, especially since Butch is likely to have a ton of men out looking for us, and you in particular. Making it as far as Shine was lucky.”
“And safe. Butch won’t expect us this far from Morrow.”
“Exactly. Just give me a few days more to heal and we’ll head back.”
“But I don’t need Kitty’s information now. There’s no need to kill Gregor if I can track Pilar myself. You could find her for me,” she realized. Hinto’s ability to track people had impressed her. She hadn’t understood how much of a help he might really be.
“Hell no. First of all, Gregor and Butch need killing, if for no other reason than that they’re monsters. They’re ruining Morrow, Thais, and they’re bullies. You saw what they did up close, remember? If not for you, Daisy and Tilda might have been really hurt.”
He had a point. But after four years of searching, Thais couldn’t imagine letting her quarry slip through her
fingers.
“I don’t need you to go with me. I’ll track down Pilar. You fight McKenzie if you need to.”
“It’s dangerous.” He tightened his grip on her arm.
“Life is dangerous. I think we both know that.”
“Don’t be stupid. I said I’ll go with you, and I will. Just give me some time. Have a little more patience. Trust me.”
As she stared into his white-blue eyes that blazed with an emotion she didn’t dare examine too closely, everything else around her faded. Ever since meeting Hinto, she’d had to question her motivation, her loyalty to her sisters. She’d already given him her trust, and he hadn’t disappointed her. But could she afford to lose sight of the bigger picture? Just days away from Pilar, and who knew how far away Bartel might be. The crown might just be within reach.
And then what?
In less than four months, she was due to meet with her sisters and share information. They had all agreed not to move on Bartel unless they could do it together. Yet she couldn’t help thinking how wonderful it would be to arrive with news of their enemy’s deaths, the crown in hand.
Is it pride that drives you, sister, or vengeance? Would you kill them to keep us safe, or for you own selfish satisfaction? Bringing back the crown won’t absolve you of your sins. Only you have the power for forgive yourself.
She could hear Yara’s steady argument in her mind; They’d had the same conversation for years. Now as before, Yara’s words rang with truth, no matter how much Thais longed for a different answer.
“Fine,” she said to Hinto in a rusty croak. “I’ll give you a few days to recover. Then I’ll follow that trail wherever it leads. With or without you.” She pushed away from the table and left the room. Needing space, she exited the house and walked some distance across a grassy field beginning to yellow with the onset of a dying season.
The clouds overhead gathered and dispersed, caught in an ambivalent wind that blew with no seeming direction. Without her hat, her braid tossed to and fro and finally loosened from the band she hadn’t thought to tighten after her interlude with Hinto.
Thais wished she could attribute her need to leave Hinto behind to an overwhelming sense of duty. The truth, however, was harder to face. She’d come to care for the male, very, very much. The more time she spent with him, the harder it would be to eventually leave him. Seeing him here, in the bosom of his family surrounded by those he loved, didn’t help. She sensed how much he held her in esteem, and it both scared and thrilled her. Had he considered her a threat, he would never have introduced her to his family. He’d also shown a marked possessiveness around other males, and he’d demonstrated all too easily he could own her, body and soul.