by T. S. Joyce
He whined and licked my forearm once before he bounded over me. The bed caved noisily under his weight and he flopped down beside me. He inhaled and released and explosive sigh before his eyes closed. Fine, snow colored hairs outlined his dark eyelids, and I traced a fingertip up the soft fur that led from his nose to between his eyes. Twitching, his ears seemed to pick up a hundred things I probably couldn’t hear and I leaned closer and rested my head on the pillow beside him. The rise and fall of his chest slowed and his muscles relaxed.
And in no time at all, in the shadows of night with the one who kept me safe and warm, sleep found me, too.
****
I don’t know where Gable found his clothes, but the next morning when I woke, he was watching me from a rocking chair in the corner. He’d even managed to find time to shave. When I looked at bright morning sunlight streaming through the window it was apparent why.
“Why’d you let me sleep so late?” I asked, rubbing my eyes.
“You seemed like you needed the rest.”
“Did you see Oupita?”
His eyes darkened. “Yes. Are you angry?”
I waited for anger but it didn’t come. Nothing came. “No. She’s the mother of your child and you’ll always worry over her. The boy’s safety depends on hers so I understand.”
“They’re safe on reservation land. Or as safe as they can get, I suppose.”
“Were you scared?”
He nodded. “I thought I wouldn’t be able to get to him in time.”
“Like with Bryant?”
Another nod.
I handed him the folded wanted poster from the night stand.
“What’s this?”
“A picture of me, so anytime you need to run off into the night, you’ll have something to remember me by.”
He opened it excitedly like I’d actually drawn a picture of myself for him, but an expression of shock and rage filtered across his features when he saw what it was. “Ralston?”
“Yep. Sheriff brought it by yesterday.
With a tilt to his head he said, “You look a lot prettier than your wanted poster.”
I squeezed my eyes closed and shrugged my shoulders. “Flatterer.”
“Well, okay. We knew he’d catch up at some point so maybe it’s time we take matters into our own hands. Control the situation a little better. He was a good hunter in England, but America’s different. America has packs of werewolves.” The fire in his eyes said he was hatching a plan that I likely wouldn’t appreciate. “Go on get dressed. I need to go talk to Luke and Jeremiah.”
When I emerged into the early afternoon sunlight, which successfully singed my eyes, the Dawson brothers were nowhere to be seen. The distant sound of gunfire was a little unsettling, so I asked Kristina about it. She sat on the front porch, sweating freely as she churned butter.
“They’re target shooting. It’s a nasty habit to let get rusty.” She stopped mid-churn and lit up like a lightning bolt. “You should go beg a lesson. Lorelei and I know how to shoot and the ability has come in handy more times than I can count out here.”
“Will they be mad if I interrupt their, you know, man time?”
“No. Gable should’ve already put a gun in your hand before now anyway. Go on.”
Slinging pistols wasn’t something they taught in finishing school. In fact, other than Kristina and Lorelei, I hadn’t ever met another woman who shot pistols or even carried knives around in the pockets of their dresses. I stumbled on the last porch step and hobbled for the noise of gunfire.
It was quite apparent I was slowly morphing into a man.
Through the woods I stalked until I came to a meadow. Luke and Jeremiah reloaded matched pistols while Gable took shots at a trio of wooden targets they’d set up. He flicked his wrist until the pistol pointed and the sky and turned. The white of his smile against tanned skin was enthralling.
“You want to shoot?” he asked.
Luke jerked his head. “Don’t be shy around the weapons. We’ll teach you how to handle ’em safely.”
Gable put the metal in my hand and it nearly dropped my arm to the table. It was much heavier than it looked.
“This here’s a single action Colt Navy revolver. We used these in the war and it’s still my pistol of choice. Now, this is a six shot. It’s important to remember that. Always keep a tally in your head, Lucianna. Knowing how many shots another man has could mean the difference between life and death.”
I jumped as Luke stood beside me and rattled gunfire into the targets, using the palm of his passive hand to slam the hammer back between rounds. He didn’t miss a one.
“Six shots. Right.”
Gable moved around me and held my arms up straight in front. “When you get ready to pull that trigger, hold your breath so you don’t move, and lightly pull it back like your touching the side of my face. Look down the sight. Close your left eye, that’s right. And when you have it lined up, gently squeeze that trigger.”
The sound was thunderous and the gun recoiled in my hand like an angry rattle snake. Through the terror, the smoke cleared and I squinted at the target.
“She hit it,” Luke whooped. “I bet you won’t hit it the second time though. You’ll be anticipating that recoil and you’ll jerk it.”
Jeremiah rolled his eyes and slammed the cylinder in place on his own pistol. “Don’t listen to him.”
“You want to bet she misses?” Luke said as he shoved another six rounds into his gun.
“Stop putting pressure on her, you dipweed,” Gable grumbled.
“I’ll bet you I hit it,” I said bravely. Someone should put Luke in his place at some point.
“Oh, yeah? What’ll you bet?”
“I’ll brush out your horse for a week if I miss.”
Amusement danced in Gable’s eyes as his glance bounced from me to Luke and back again.
Luke asked, “And what do I have to do if you hit it?”
****
I sat happily on the porch with Kristina and Lorelei, blowing on a steaming metal coffee mug when Luke appeared out of the barn. He wore a pretty red dress with no laces in the back to save him from ripping it. The hem came up to his knees.
Kristina sipped the steaming brew with a half-cocked grin. “Now, how’d you get him to wear my dress during mornin’ chores again?”
Luke did a fine attempt at a curtsy as he hauled buckets to the water pump.
“He said I couldn’t hit a target twice and I did. Of course he didn’t specify which one, and the entirety of the thing was the size of the broad side of the barn, so my aim wasn’t exactly on but it was good enough to win the bet.”
Kristina’s giggle was downright wicked. “You’d make a pretty woman,” she called.
I snorted. A pretty bearded woman. The man hadn’t shaved in three days, at least.
Gable whistled from the roof of our nearly finished house and waggled his eyebrows. “Lookin’ good, little sister.”
I couldn’t hear exactly what Luke grumbled but it sounded suspiciously like, shut up.
Even Jeremiah sported a grin that stretched from ear to ear as he hopped the steps and kissed Lorelei. “Y’all come on in. I need to talk at you.”
We sat at the wooden dining table except for Luke, who stood with his hands on his hips in a way that clashed his masculinity with the feminine dress.
“Take that dress off,” Jeremiah said. “I can’t take you seriously in that get-up.”
Kristina pouted but her husband disappeared down the hallway and reappeared in his western garb again. Gable leaned back on two legs of his chair and draped an arm around my shoulders as Jeremiah began.
“We need to figure out what we’re going to do about Ralston. We can’t just sit on this forever. The longer we wait, the greater the chance he’ll show up on our land, and we can’t have that.”
My insides revolted at the thought of him here, and I agreed. “No, we can’t. He’s a fan of burning homes. There’s been enough fire on t
his land to last a lifetime. He can’t make it this far.”
“Let’s use Lucianna as bait,” Luke said.
Gable leaned forward until all four legs of the ladder backed hickory chair were on the floor again. “I don’t like that.”
“How else do you suppose we draw him where we want him?”
“I said I don’t like it. I didn’t say no.”
All right, my heart was going to gallop right out of my chest. I raised my hand tentatively. “What’s the bait supposed to do?”
Gable picked apart a scrap piece of paper with a distracted furrow to his brow. “You’ll stay where we designate and lure him in.” His eyes drifted to his brothers in turn. “Then we’ll kill him.”
I swallowed hard. “Where?”
It was Jeremiah who answered. “Up near the pass, there’s an open clearing half way up the mountain. It’ll leave her easily visible and well away from the homestead. That’s where those outlaws were hiding that we hunted down. They damn near killed us but this time it’ll be different. We’ll be the ones who know the area.”
Lorelei had been quiet with her arms crossed over her still flat stomach. “There’s still the problem of the wanted poster. If you just kill him, she’ll still be dragged to trial eventually, and the man who really killed her family will be dead and unable to confess.”
“He wouldn’t ever confess in a trial,” I assured them.
“No, but he’d confess to you,” Kristina said as she turned to me. “If he’s as terrible as all this, he won’t be able to resist rubbing it in your face that he won. All you need is a couple of witnesses to attest to it.”
“Okay.” I rubbed my bleary eyes and rested my cheek on my palm. “How will we get him out onto the mountains? We have to figure out a way to let him know where I am in a way that doesn’t spook him. He can’t send men to do it this time. We need him to come thinking he needs to finish the job himself.”
Gable kissed the back of my hand. “That’s where Sheriff Hawkins comes in. I think it’s time we pay him a visit.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Lucianna
The horses picked their way up the steep hills and alongside valleys. I held onto Barney’s saddle horn for dear life when she’d take a running start at steep embankments. The trail was nonexistent, but Gable and Jeremiah seemed to know exactly where they were going. Luke, Sheriff Hawkins, and Elias followed quietly behind. When I’d asked why Elias was here, Luke had told me quite simply, he was the quickest human draw with a pistol he’d ever met, and that was good enough for me. We also needed a second witness outside of our family.
The only sound was the careful clomping of our surefooted steeds and the occasional rock that was loosed and fell down the mountainside behind us.
Gable’s gaze drifted from the woods to me and back again, like his instincts warred within him on where to focus his attention.
We’d taken Lorelei and Kristina to stay with Trudy until this was over either way. It was strange being separated after I’d become so used to their constant presence but it was an unnecessary risk to put them in the sights of Ralston.
I didn’t envy them waiting to see if their men would come back whole and alive again. At least I’d know instantly, or I’d die and it wouldn’t matter so much to my corpse. Such morbid thoughts I had, rattling around in my head. But how could I help it? I hadn’t cared about living that night in the fog, but now, things were different. I was different.
Sheriff had answered the wanted poster and tracked down Ralston himself. He advised him he thought he’d seen me hiding out in the mountains with a man, but in order for him to bring me in, he’d need proof of my identity. The poster he’d received in Colorado Springs was spotty, he claimed. He gave specific directions and advised him to send someone who’d seen me in person before.
The clever lawman had left a juicy beef bone in front of a hungry dog and walked away.
My hunter was close. He could be here as soon as tonight if he traveled straight through. The hairs rose on my neck and I scanned the woods for the hundredth time. Nothing but occasional patches of high altitude snow and trees that dripped pine needles.
From the bear that had attacked the house, Kristina had made a fur cloak to fit me. I’d be sleeping rough tonight and without Gable’s warmth, it would serve as my bed and blanket. Gable seemed to like the look of the bearskin cape. He said I looked like a warrior but it was probably my hair, worn long and down and whipping in the frigid wind to lure in my almost lover, that made him see me that way. The cloak cascaded across Barney’s hips and contrasted against her pale coat. Snow and earth.
Gable donned a warm duster jacket that skimmed the tops of his boots. His cowboy hat was pulled low to keep the wind from his ears and when he turned in the saddle, his eyes blazed the color of crystal. He was a beautiful monster in a dashing man’s skin. The raw power and anticipation that drifted from him made me feel like I was humming with it, too. His effect was evident in the lightened colors of Luke and Jeremiah’s eyes. From the way Sheriff Hawkins and Elias carefully avoided eye contact with the brothers, it was obvious they knew what they were and how best to avoid challenging them. Even with the blunted instincts of a man, they knew the Dawson’s were bringers-of-destruction.
A wolf howled long and low in the fading light and from his profile, Gable smiled. His eyes held a faraway look, like he knew the animal’s song.
Jeremiah turned in his saddle from up front with a similar expression. “You hear that, brother? The wolves know we’re here. They’re welcoming us home.”
If ever I’d been to a haunted place, this was as close as I’d come. There were no animal sounds of life. They’d all moved down the mountain in search of better food and warmer sleeping places. The trees groaned and rocked in the cradling breath of the keening wind, and in the dim light, dark shadows were cast across the path ahead.
“This is it,” Jeremiah said. “This is as far as we go.”
Luke and Jeremiah tipped their hats and drove their horses upwind.
“See you on the other side,” Luke said.
Unwilling to say goodbyes, I waved.
“Don’t shoot any wolves,” he called behind him.
How was I supposed to tell between the wild ones and werewolves?
As if Gable could read my mind, he said, “Werewolves are bigger.”
Right. Well, if they stood side-by-side, that would be helpful.
Elias pulled his mount up on the thin trail beside me. “Miss Lucianna, Sheriff and I will be close but you won’t be able to see or hear us. We’ll be on that ledge up yonder. Call out if you think he’s going to pull the trigger on you, but be wary. We need to hear his confession so be sure.”
“Don’t worry,” Sheriff Hawkins said. “We’ll be right up there with eyes on you. And we don’t miss.”
I tried to smile a reassurance that I wasn’t falling utterly to pieces, but my lip trembled too badly to pass as anything but a grimace.
Elias and the Sheriff followed the snow-trampled trail Luke and Jeremiah had forged, and Gable nudged his horse forward. He could come with me to make camp because his presence would be expected by Ralston. He could make a second set of hoof prints in the clearing and help me make dinner before he disappeared into different skin.
My fingers shook as we tied the horses to a line Gable secured between two saplings. He grabbed my hands in his gloved ones and set a firm look on me. “You’re going to be all right. Do you trust me?”
I nodded. With all of my heart I trusted him. My trembling hands didn’t get the message though.
He brushed my cheek with the soft leather of his gloved fingertip. “I swear, I won’t ever let him hurt you again.”
We set up camp at the edge of the clearing, closer to the towering ledge above to accommodate the human eyes, ears, and aim of the men stationed there. When I looked up, I couldn’t see them at all.
Gable pulled a fur hand warmer from Barney’s saddle bag and told me to sit
on a stump he’d dragged in. When he seemed satisfied that I was comfortable, he cleared snow away and built a fire wide and high enough to attract attention. I huddled near the warmth of it while Gable made meticulous tracks in the snow that told a story I wouldn’t understand but that Ralston, if he was half the tracker he thought he was, would read like a book.
I might’ve relaxed near the warmth of the flames if Gable didn’t freeze and look up every couple of minutes. He would give a slow, arched study of the surrounding woods before he would return to whatever chore he was in the middle of. It unsettled me. One of these times, Ralston would be here. I just felt it in my bones. Gable told me to listen to my instincts when they screamed this loud.
Tonight was the night I’d start my life or end it.
“Don’t,” Gable said quietly as I stood to help make dinner. “Let me take care of you.”
I sat back down onto the log slowly. Why did I get the feeling this would be my last dinner on earth? I had to stop. I’d been fated to die in the hidden room of my parents’ country manor. Instead, I’d been plucked from death’s grip and placed in Gable’s protective embrace. I was supposed to die loveless and unwed, and instead I’d lived an entire lifetime since that night in the fog. I’d been happy on my borrowed time. Those extra moments had given my life balance. At least I would spend my last dinner with the man who held my heart.
A deep rumble sounded in Gable’s throat. He was crouched in front of the fire stirring a small iron skillet of beans and salted ham. A rough meal for a rough night to come. “Lucianna, I can practically hear your thoughts.” He leaned back and wrapped a strong arm around my shoulders. “I’ll protect you. I wouldn’t ever allow you out here if I thought I couldn’t.”
His eyes dropped to my heaving chest before he leaned into me. His kiss was consuming. Like wind, it filled everything up and I swam in the soothing warmth he created within my body. Pulling the bearskin cloak around him, I stretched closer until the cotton of his shirt brushed my neck. He was so powerful, the hum of it brushed against my hands and I lost myself in the demanding way his gripped my waist.