Wolf Shadow’s Promise (21 page)

He heard her gentle groans, soft and high-pitched, the sound almost sending him over the edge. And as he drove within her, he felt the power between them building, building until she began to trip over the edge, her muscles contracting around him.

It was more than he could take and still remain immune. He let himself go all at once, spilling his seed within her,
rejoicing in the sensation of being one with her, if only for a moment.

He floated for a moment, above his body, above hers, the essence of who and what she was staying with him as though neither one of them could afford to leave the other, not even in spirit.

And as her hands ran up and down his back, he uttered again, “
Kitsikakomimmo
,” and fell immediately into an exhausted sleep, his wife, his love, still wrapped firmly within his arms.

T
he tinkle of laughter, the clamor of feminine voices, and the clinking of teacups and saucers combined to fill the Clayton parlor. Two young women sat before her, dressed in the very best Dolly Varden walking suits, one adorned in a green foulard polonaise overskirt and the other in peach silk. Each young lady sat clutching a cup and saucer in their hands and gazed in rapt attention at Alys.

As she had expected, the announcement of her engagement to Bobby Thompson had become the talk of the town, thus allowing the rather limited social circle in Fort Benton to seek her out.

“Tell us, Alys.” It was Emma speaking, the governor's daughter, the pretty blond who appeared to have very little on her mind except fashion and climbing the rather limited social ladder. “Tell us, what made you decide to marry Bobby?” She gave Alys a brief, forced smile, as though she were trying to veil some hidden intention. “Truth to
tell,” the young lady continued, “you two seem quite ill matched.”

“Do you really think so?” Alys countered. She cast a swift glance at the other young lady, Abigail Flint, who sat directly to her right. The two young women, Abigail and Emma, had called upon Alys late in the afternoon, clearly more than a little curious about the announcement of her engagement.

Under more normal circumstances, Alys would never have sanctioned the two women in her own home, but things had changed. She had to remember Bobby, her commitment and her pledge to him. She said, “Then I suppose you have never heard about the royalty on Bobby's side of the family.”

“Royalty?” Emma seemed to choke for a moment. “Surely you jest. If there were royalty in his family, do you think we wouldn't have heard of it before now?”

“Ah,” Alys gave her challenger a conspirational wink. “That's just it. Bobby doesn't speak of it much because it's too painful. But truth is, his mother was a countess.”

“A countess?”

“Emma, please, keep your voice down.” This came from an elderly matron who had accompanied the two women.

Alys continued in a voice barely above a whisper, “Bobby doesn't wish to speak of it because his mother chose to marry a commoner. At the time, her family disowned her, and she and her husband sought to lose themselves here in the west. But that is all behind them now, the rest of the family is wanting to make it up to Bobby. Did you know that we have an invitation to Austria at the end of this month?”

“Austria.” This came from the winsome Abigail. “I have always wanted to visit the Continent. You must be excited no end.”

“Oh,” said Alys, “I am.” She straightened away from the back of her chair, delight etched in her eyes as she continued, “But that's not the only thing that makes Bobby such a handsome matrimonial match.”

“No?” Emma, replied disbelief coloring her tone.

Alys sat forward, lowering her voice at the same time. “Have you ever been kissed by a man who really knows how to kiss?” Alys added a note of enchantment to her voice. “Have you ever been held by a man who you know will never desert you? Who you know will stand by you all your life?”

“You are not speaking of the same Bobby Thompson that we know, are you?” Emma said, Abigail remaining conspicuously quiet.

“That I am, ladies,” said Alys. “That I am.”

“Oh, my dear, I feel I must protest,” Emma giggled slightly, fanning herself furiously with a free hand. “Kissing Bobby Thompson? Really, banish the thought.”

“His kisses are divine,” Alys improvised, “heavenly really, and he makes me feel like a princess.”

“Bobby Thompson?” This from Abigail.

Alys nodded. “I feel like I walk on air whenever he is around me.”

“Well,” said Emma, “this is certainly a side of Bobby that none of the rest of us have ever seen.”

“And thank goodness that you never have, otherwise I might have all of you as competition.” She gave Abigail a brisk glance, repeating Emma's words. “Banish the thought.”

Gunfire sounded from outside, causing all three women to jump.

“What was that?” Alys was the first one to speak, sitting up a little straighter and staring out the window.

“I don't know,” said Emma, “but I'm certain it's not something I want to be a part of. You don't suppose it's
that Wolf Shadow again. The man is becoming quite a menace.”

Alys grew morosely silent. She rose, pacing toward the window, her guests forgotten for the moment.

She hoped it was nothing to do with the Wolf Shadow, although lately Moon Wolf and Makoyi had been taking too many chances—even challenging the soldiers during the daylight hours. What was wrong with the man?

If she didn't know him as well as she did, she might be led to believe that he was trying to cause his own demise. What was more, she hadn't seen him or talked to him since that night in her bedroom almost a week ago.

It was practically more than she could stand. She dared not seek him out in the cellar; he did not come to her. It was a situation she would have to change, but how?

She voiced, almost to herself, “I certainly hope it is not the Wolf Shadow.”

“Heaven forbid. As I said before, the man is a menace.” Emma's cold voice penetrated Alys's meanderings.

Alys swung around to face her guests. “Do you think so? Do you really think the man is a menace?” she asked.

“What do you mean, Alys? Of course he is, destroying the merchandise on the bull trains. I would think, you being engaged to Bobby and all, that you would be more concerned about it.”

Alys glanced back at the pretty blond. “Those shipments have nothing to do with Bobby. They originate with the government and go through the Indian agent. Trading with the Indians is not like it used to be in the old days when the Indians bartered directly with the general store. The government now controls what gets sent to them, what gets bought from them and anything else that pertains to them. Heaven only knows what would happen if the government agent were at all apathetic to their cause.”

“My father says the Indians need to be exterminated from this land,” Abigail asserted.

Alys sent the woman a sharp glance.

“That way,” the young Abigail continued, apparently unaware of the onset of friction in the room, “civilized man can use the land for profit and for his own benefit. Why, my daddy says it's the only way this state will ever be admitted to the Union.”

“Humph,” replied Alys. “Thank goodness not everyone shares your father's opinion on that.”

“What do you mean, Miss Alys?”

“I'm sorry, Abigail, but your father makes it sound like the Indians are nothing more than animals.”

“What do you mean? They are little more than animals, aren't they?”

Alys gave Abigail a tolerant smile. “Hardly.”

“Well,” Emma volunteered, “I guess we will have to allow that you feel the way you do, seeing as how your mother always was a bit eccentric—”

“Please, do leave my mother out of this. It has nothing to do with her. No, it appears to me that we, as the newcomers here, are doing no more than stealing land from the Indians. But we don't seem to stop at that. Not only do we want the Indians' land, we seem to desire to change him into our own image.”

“Really, Alys! How vulgar of you,” Emma declared.

“It's easy to pretend the Indians are animals,” Alys continued on as though Emma had not spoken. “It then makes it all right to commit all manner of evil upon them, doesn't it? It seems a harder, although a much more humane route, to admit that the Indians, too, are human, just like ourselves, and to try to find a solution that benefits both cultures.”

Both women sat stunned. Alys could see it upon their faces.

Emma was the first to speak. “I think that perhaps your viewpoint is too radical for this town,” She picked up her fan and straightened it out with a flick of her wrist. “And I do believe that if you persist in this outlook you might find yourself ostracized by the very best people.”

Alys smiled. “Ah, the very best, you say?”

“I do.”

Alys sighed. “Tell me, ladies. Will you risk taking a challenge?”

Both young women glanced at one another.

Alys carried on, “If you can catch him some night, look again at the figure of the Wolf Shadow, if you dare, that is. And when you do, then you will have to tell me true if you have ever seen a man or an animal as handsome or as well built as the man we call the Wolf Shadow.”

Emma and Abigail exchanged a more wide-eyed gape, both ladies coming to sit up perhaps a little straighter than was necessary. Emma commented, “Why would you notice such a thing?”

Alys turned her back on her visitors, choosing to stare, instead, into the early evening. “Who wouldn't? In truth, young Emma, your comment makes me wonder about you.”

“Whatever do you mean?”

“You do prefer the male gender, do you not?”

Her question was met by the loudest of gasps. “Why, I never.”

“That's what worries me about you,” came Alys's rejoinder.

As though her chair had suddenly been set afire, Emma jolted to her feet. Chin out, nose in the air, she commented, “I did not come here to be insulted.”

“No, I suppose you expected to give out ridicule, not receive any.”

“Really, I refuse to stay here one more instant and endure your—”

“Hush, Emma,” Abigail commanded. “We are here as guests of Miss Alys and you have done little this evening but insult her. If you cannot keep a civil tongue in your mouth, then I suggest you leave here with all due haste.” And while Emma clucked, young Abigail turned back toward her hostess. “Thank you so much for the tea and the chat. It has been enlightening seeing you and talking to you. I hope that you will excuse Emma's impudence and will not hold it against her. I, for one, will communicate your opinion to my father. It is certainly a fresh outlook.”

Alys nodded toward her.

“I also hope that you will come and visit me soon where we can…talk some more of your trip to the Continent.”

“Of course I will. Thank you for dropping by to see me.” Alys inclined her head toward them. “Now, please, our maid will see you to the door.”

And with that said, Alys turned her back on the two women and their chaperon, retracing her steps to the window, the click of the door signaling their departure.

Alys's thoughts immediately turned to Moon Wolf. Was he out there, she wondered, challenging the soldiers? And if he was, why was he doing it, fighting them in the light of day? What did he hope to accomplish with such recklessness?

But most of all, and where her thoughts really were leading, was simply this: why had he not sought her out this past week?

She thought back briefly to the night they had shared. It had been wonderful. It had been perfect. But, if she really thought about it, Moon Wolf had been acting strangely then, too.

Was something wrong?

Well, standing here at her window certainly accom
plished nothing. She had best leave the house and go and determine what the commotion was all about. If it were the Wolf Shadow doing something, she would do what she could to help him.

This decided, she turned away and hurried toward the door.

 

Her stomach fell, her heart stopped for a moment, then it raced on, thumping wildly, as though it might never stop.

She gazed on at the fight as though in a dream.

What did he do? In one part of the fort, a fire blazed—the Bureau of Indian Affairs's storage building—while farther away another fire twisted through the army barracks. Soldiers and civilians alike tore from one part of the fort to another, weapons forgotten as each man and each woman made ready lines for water. Shortly, she heard the reverberation of shots fired from even farther away, from the stables. Soon frenzied horses raced through the streets.

Alys didn't see him. She couldn't find
Makoyi
, either. But she didn't need to; she knew the Wolf Shadow was responsible for this. He had become reckless this past week, starting skirmishes, battling the soldiers single-handedly.

Why? Why had he taken to fighting in the light of day? Did he not know that such a confrontation would be difficult to win? Especially since he could not fade into the shadows?

Her eyes scanned the horizon for a glimpse of him. Nothing out there until…There, off in the distance, barely discernable, raced a figure…a man with a wolf by his side. Up, up he climbed to the top of a mound,
Makoyi
by his side.

Briefly,
Makoyi
howled, and Moon Wolf cried out his war whoop before the two disappeared down the other side, their figures lost within a group of Indians that had
appeared from out of nowhere. No shots followed their trail, the townsfolk remaining too busy putting out the fires.

An explosion ripped through the air as ammunition caught fire. Efforts to put out the blaze doubled. Lieutenant Warrington rushed past her, issuing orders.

Lieutenant Warrington? An idea suddenly flashed. Was it possible her home might not be so heavily guarded at the moment? Could she take this opportunity to steal into the caves?

She had to try. She had to speak with Moon Wolf and discover his plans. She had never seen him so reckless as he had been this past week. If he continued taking so many chances…she didn't want to finish the thought.

Turning away from the throng of people, she picked up her skirts and hurried back toward her home, fighting the crowd that pushed her in the opposite direction. It took a few minutes for her to free herself, a few more to ensure no one watched her, and then, lifting her skirts once more, she ran as quickly as she could toward the back of the fort.

 

Where was he?

She had been waiting for what seemed like hours. Was he still using the caverns?

She had expected him to be here when she arrived. But she had figured incorrectly.