by Lisa Rae
Not wanting to discuss it anymore Wolfe replied, “Pack up and let’s get going.”
The following days were long in the saddle as they would ride from sunup to sunset. Wolfe respected Angel’s privacy, believing in what she had told him about having to be married first. What he hadn’t told her was, as soon as he found a preacher, they were getting married whether she liked it or not.
They avoided towns and settlements as they traveled until they were within a day’s ride to the hideout. Riding into Colorado City one bright early morning, Wolfe and Angel discussed the staples they needed to hold up a while at the old Phantom Gang’s hideout. When they finished shopping, they purchased two pack saddles for the other two horses, and loaded their supplies.
Wolfe never let Angel be more than an arm’s length away from him. She had him believing that she wanted to marry and be with him, but he wasn’t taking any chances that she may change her mind. With the horses loaded and ready to go, he grabbed a hold of her arm and asked the next man that walked by, “Excuse me, can you tell me where I could find a preacher?”
Angel froze. Her plan to keep him off her had worked well until now. Apparently he was tired of waiting. If she pushed him to hold off the wedding, he may snap and kill her like he did his step-father. What could she do besides go through with the ceremony?
The stranger told Wolfe where to find the preacher’s house and Wolfe dragged her along, so eager that he did not notice how reluctant she was at going. The rest was all a blur for Angel as she went through the steps of the wedding ceremony. Had she objected; she knew the preacher, his wife and children, and possibly even her would die.
On the ride to the hideout, Angel let her gelding lead the way out of habit from riding in there so many times before when they were trying to take down the Phantom Outlaw Gang. Thankfully her horse knew the way because she was too numb to think straight. What was she going to do if her brothers and Diablo were not already at the hideout waiting for them? She left clues at numerous places along the way, but there was no guarantee that the men happened upon them. For all she knew they could still be headed west.
* * *
Diablo and Gabriel reached the Phantom Outlaw Gang’s hideout the day before Angel and Wolfe reached it. It gave them time to scout the remains of the few buildings that were still standing, decide where to attack from, and how they wanted to go about it. They left messages for Roark along the trail, but they doubted he would get to them soon enough to make it in time to help them. They were on their own . . . or were they?
Diablo happened to look up along the ridge of one of the canyon’s steep walls and saw a line of Indian warriors watching them. “Oh hell, get down!” He said diving for cover behind the remains of a building as he pulled his revolver.
Gabriel, following the direction of Diablo’s eyes, saw his warrior brothers and couldn’t help but laugh as he waved hello to Spotted Elk.
“I hope you’re waving because you’re friends with them,” Diablo said nervously.
Laughing some more Gabriel said, “I hope so, considering the head warrior up there is my brother-in-law.”
Diablo felt a little foolish now ducking for cover, his love and worry for Angel had him jumpy. He had completely forgotten that Gabriel had told him that his Indian family lived in this area.
When Spotted Elk and his warriors came down, Gabriel and Diablo told them about Angel, and Wolfe, the evil outlaw she was being held by.
This was when Diablo had a smart idea. “I think Angel’s life would be more in danger if Wolfe sees the two of us. He would play us against each other just like he did with her in the past with her husband, whereas he wouldn’t think Angel meant anything to Spotted Elk and his men.”
“He is right, my brother,” Spotted Elk commented. “He may even give her gun back to her so she help shoot Indians.”
Gabriel grinned. “Sounds like a good plan. Diablo and I will stay hidden unless it goes south and we’re needed. That way we keep an element of surprise.”
Knowing Angel and Wolfe couldn’t be far behind, they took up their hidden positions and waited. They didn’t have long to wait. Come sunset they watched as Angel led the way into the old abandoned camp.
Just as they entered the huge canyon, the evening sun receded back over the canyon walls, casting dark shadows and leaving it too dark to see well enough to attack.
Gabriel and Spotted Elk had already decided if it was this dark by the time Wolfe and Angel arrived, that they would wait till daylight. They didn’t want to take any risk with Angel’s life. Diablo and Gabriel took turns sleeping and keeping watch from a distance hidden in the rocks.
For Angel, what she feared . . . had already happened. They arrived after darkness engulfed the canyon. Even if Diablo and Gabriel were here, she knew they would wait till daylight to try to save her and kill Wolfe. They were legally married now. How could she hold Wolfe off one more night?
Angel led them to the old shack that use to be the saloon in camp. It was one of the few buildings still standing, even though it was shot full of holes from the attack and apprehending of the outlaw gangs last year. She took her time unpacking the packhorses while Wolfe tried to look around in the dark. Angel was in no hurry to go to bed tonight. She tasted bile at the thought of Wolfe touching her. Then she had an idea . . .
Finally Wolfe stopped milling around outside and walked into the old saloon. Angel had found an old lantern full of oil and lit it, casting a glow throughout the big room. One of the first things he noticed was she had two separate beds made up. “We are now married, I intend on having you tonight!” he growled.
Putting on her best act yet, Angel hurried over to him and placed a hand on his chest in an affectionate way. “Dear, a first night for a husband and wife is supposed to be very special. It’s a night I don’t want to ever forget. With that being said, I would like us to wait just one more night. That way I can bathe tomorrow in the stream and get prepared properly for you.”
Wolfe stood there silently considering what she had just said. He badly wanted her, but she was his wife now, and he wanted to treat her better than his step-father had treated his wife. For once in his life he wanted to do something right. “All right, but only one more night.”
Smiling Angel said, “Yes dear, only one more night. Now we better eat and get some rest. It’s been a long day and I’m tired.” Turning away from Wolfe, Angel prayed hard that her brothers and Diablo were outside waiting for daybreak.
Wolfe took the bedroll nearest the door, and still had her pistol tucked into his waistband. As much as he wanted to, he still did not trust Angel completely. He kept telling himself that when she willingly was his wife in every sense of the word, he would let her have her Colt .45 back.
In the early hours before daylight, Spotted Elk and his warriors slipped in and took up positions around the saloon where Angel and Wolfe slept. Hoping Wolfe would come out alone to relieve himself in the morning.
Their wishes were granted as the bright sun started to peek over the canyon walls to the valley far below. After about ten minutes, Wolfe walked outside of the saloon, looked around till he saw his desired destination, the outhouse, and proceeded to go inside it to take care of his business.
What the warriors hadn’t expected was that Wolfe noticed the toe of a moccasin showing through a hole in the outhouse wall down low as he walked in and sat down. One of the young warriors had hidden behind the latrine and when Wolfe entered, the warrior stepped around to the side waiting to ambush Wolfe as he stepped out.
Wolfe waited a few minutes to appear as if he was taking care of business in there. He pulled his pistol from his holster and Angel’s Colt from his waistband so he would have a gun in each hand. Readying himself, he flew out the door running for the saloon, firing the pistols at every Indian he saw.
He managed to hit two of Spotted Elk’s braves before reaching the safety of the saloon, but not before one of the braves put an arrow in the back of his shoulder.
The shooting woke Angel and she quickly hurried to a window to look out to see her brother’s people trying to kill Wolfe as he raced back. Instantly she felt relief seeing the Utes here. That meant her brothers and Diablo did make it here in time. The relief quickly left though, when Wolfe made it back into the saloon alive.
“Here,” Wolfe said as he tossed Angel back her pistol. “We’re being attacked by Indians!”
Catching her pistol, the moment that she had been waiting for, for nine years, had just arrived. When she palmed her Colt she aimed it straight at Wolfe and yelled, “Hold your fire! We’re coming out.”
Wolfe turned to look at Angel in shock. “What are you doing? They will kill us!”
“No Wolfe, they may kill you, if I don’t beat them to it, but they won’t kill me. The leader out there is my brother in-law,” Angel answered with years of hatred in her voice. Waving her pistol she ordered, “Now carefully drop your pistol and walk out the door with your hands raised.”
Angrily, Wolfe did as he was told, having a hard time raising the arm that had an arrow embedded into that shoulder. As he walked out with his hands raised, the warriors stepped in closer and surrounded him with their weapons drawn. Some held knives, others held bows, while a couple held rifles.
Seeing they had Wolfe under control, Angel lowered her pistol and tucked it into her waistband as Diablo and her brother rode up on their horses. Diablo jumped off his horse before it even came to a complete stop and ran the rest of the way to Angel. “Are you alright? He didn’t harm you did he?”
“No, I’m no worse for wear,” Angel replied enjoying the comfort of Diablo’s arms around her as she hugged him close.
Watching Angel with Diablo, Wolfe knew she had been playing him all this time. He became so enraged the warriors thought they were going to have to kill him. Then he said something that took all the men by surprise. “Diablo, get your hands off my wife!”
Laughing, Diablo turned to face Wolfe. “Your wife? Seriously Wolfe, Angel would never marry you.”
“Well she did, and willingly I might add. I got the marriage license to prove it!” Wolfe goaded, trying to rile Diablo and the rest of the men into making a mistake, giving him the chance to make a run for it.
Diablo turned to Angel and asked, “Is this true?”
“Yes, but let me explain!” Angel said pleadingly. “Diablo─.”
It was too late. Diablo was only seeing red as he plowed through the warriors and lunged for Wolfe, prepared to kill him with his bare hands. The commotion gave Wolfe the opportunity he needed as he wrestled a knife from one of the warriors and turned the table by holding the knife blade to the warrior’s throat. “Now all of you step back or I’ll cut him wide open.”
Diablo and the rest of the warriors stepped back from Wolfe, waiting to see what his next play would be.
“Angel, my dear, please gather our horses and bring them over here,” Wolfe ordered.
Angel did not want to see one of Spotted Elks warriors or anyone else get killed because of her again. Reluctantly she did as he told her to do.
Gabriel and Diablo protested at the same time, “No Angel!” But Angel ignored them as she went and gathered their horses and walked over to Wolfe.
“Give me your iron!” Wolfe demanded.
Pulling her Colt from her waistband, she handed it over to Wolfe as he flung the warrior away and painfully reached for the pistol and Angel at the same time.
Diablo’s heart jumped up in his throat at the sight of Wolfe holding a gun to Angel’s beautiful head. And Angel, she looked at Diablo pleadingly with tears in her eyes, remembering the conversation they had had about if this ever happened to her again. For what seemed like forever, Diablo and Angel just stared into each other’s eyes.
With an evil laugh Wolfe said, “Ain’t this touching! He cries for the well being of my wife.”
Before anyone realized what had happened, Diablo shot Wolfe, just as Angel had made him promise to do. To do this though, he had to shoot Angel too. The bullet went clean through Angel’s shoulder and lodged in Wolfe’s spine after going through one of his lungs. She collapsed to her knees on the ground beside Wolfe, holding her shoulder as blood oozed out between her fingers.
Paralyzed, Wolfe tried to talk as bloody bubbles came out of his mouth, but no words formed. Angel reached for her Colt that he dropped when he was shot. Holding it to his head, she pulled back the hammer and stared deep into his eyes with hatred she had never felt before.
With a gentle voice now Diablo said, “Don’t do it Angel. You are much better than him.”
Angel’s hand began to tremble. Fearing that she may accidently pull the trigger, Diablo squatted down beside her and carefully took the pistol from her hand as she watched Wolfe take his last breath. “It’s okay now. It’s all over,” Diablo said in a comforting voice as he set her pistol down. He took her into his arms as she now cried uncontrollably.
Chapter 16
Gabriel bandaged Angel’s bleeding shoulder as best he could and said, “We need to get her to the doctor down in Colorado City before fever sets in.”
Spotted Elk’s warriors prepared their dead for travel back to their village and said their goodbyes, telling Diablo and Angel to come visit them as soon as she was up to traveling.
Roark showed up just before they were ready to leave. “Seems I missed the party.”
“Yes, but you can help me onto my horse,” Angel replied with a faint smile.
Roark gladly assisted his sister onto her red roan. Then he switched out his saddle to a different horse for the full day’s journey to town. The trip to town was extremely hard on Angel as every step the horse made jarred her shoulder, sending pain shooting through her whole body. She about passed out from the pain many times. When the men tried to stop to let her rest, she insisted on continuing.
“Angel, you need some rest before we go any further,” Diablo said with concern in his voice. He could see the pain she was in, and he was amazed she hadn’t passed out yet.
They were about to cross a long narrow ledge of a trail that was only wide enough for the horse to walk. One false move, and horse and rider would fall over fifty feet to the rocky stream below. It was the same area that Gabriel almost died at last year when he was shot off his horse. Luckily he landed in one of the few deep pools of water there were in that small stream, and a Ute medicine man just happened to be by the stream when he fell.
“No, I will be fine,” Angel answered stubbornly. “If I get off this horse now, I won’t be able to get back on.” Not waiting for any further argument, she asked her horse to continue on slowly. Knowing better than to argue with their sister, the brothers went out on the narrow ledge before her, while Diablo followed her with the small pack-string of horses. All three men were praying for her safety, and their own, as they crossed the dangerous path.
Rocks fell from the edge at the horse’s feet. Diablo constantly gave Angel encouraging words as they crossed, trying to keep her from passing out and falling from her horse. Twice Diablo yelled at Angel to keep her from losing complete consciousness and falling.
When they were safely off the narrow ledge, Diablo rode up to Angel and stopped her horse. “We will rest here,” he said in a tone that dared anyone to argue.
Diablo had already dismounted and was standing beside Angel when she tried to argue. Not taking ‘no’ for an answer this time, he reached up and gave her injured shoulder a little shake. Not enough to cause harm, but in the state she was in, it was enough to make her pass out from the pain and fall into Diablo’s waiting arms.
“I can’t believe you just did that. She’s going to kill you when she wakes up,” Roark said.
“I’ll take my chances,” Diablo replied dryly.
“I was considering doing it myself,” Gabriel commented. “But then I realized I’d rather tackle a momma bear with cubs.”
Diablo couldn’t understand why two grown men, who were both U.S. Marshals, would be scared of a w
oman, especially their own sister. They made her sound like she was meaner than a rattlesnake. Then he saw Gabriel wink to Roark out of the corner of his eye and knew they were funning with him.
“Hurry up and throw a bedroll down,” Diablo ordered as he carried her. Once a bedroll was laid out for her, he laid her down gently.
While Angel slept, the men set up camp. They gathered wood and started a campfire, groomed and cared for all the horses before hobbling them out to graze by the nearby stream, and then started cooking dinner.
While she was still unconscious, Diablo changed Angel’s bandages and checked her wound. She had lost a lot of blood. Before he wrapped her shoulder back up, Gabriel walked up with a handful of moss and said, “Pack this into the bullet holes. It will help slow the bleeding.”
The men had already finished their dinner and had been sitting around talking for hours before Angel started to stir. Diablo was the first to be by her side as she opened her eyes. “It’s alright sweetheart, I’m here,” he tried to comfort her as he gave her a sip of water.
After taking the sip of water, Angel quickly faded back out. “Guys, she’s already burning up with fever!”
Serious worry came over all of them. They knew it would be too risky to move Angel while she was with fever. It would be too hard on her body and she would probably die. As it was, she could still die . . .
They all took turns sitting with her over the next couple days. When Diablo wasn’t sitting with her or sleeping, he was praying for her to live like he had never prayed before, begging to give his life for hers.
Finally on the fifth day her fever broke. A couple hours later she woke up hungry. Roark had shot a couple rabbits earlier that day, so they made rabbit stew for her to eat.
After her supper, Diablo sat quietly with her. She was still very weak and tired, but she could tell something wasn’t right with him. “What’s bothering you?” she asked.
“It’s because of me you almost died,” Diablo blurted out.