Savage Abandon (19 page)

Mia looked toward the entrance flap, her heart skipping a beat when Wolf Hawk stepped inside. She got quickly to her feet and met him as he walked to her.

“You could not have gotten to the fort and still had time enough to come back to the village,” Mia said, searching his eyes. “Why…have…you returned?”

Wolf Hawk took her hands in his. “Because of you,” he said thickly. “I realized that you should go to the fort with me and the two trappers. I want you to witness what will happen.”

“Truly?” Mia said, her eyes widening uncertainly. She looked past him, then into his eyes again. “Where are the trappers?”

“They are in the boat being guarded by one of my trusted warriors,” Wolf Hawk said, now reaching a gentle hand out and taking one of hers. “Come with me now.” He stopped and turned toward her. “But you must know that you will
witness things that might frighten you. I ask that you do not let the things you see change your feelings toward me. Always remember that I am who I am, no matter what you might see.”

“I…can’t help being confused…and a little afraid,” Mia murmured.

He drew her into his embrace. “Just know this, my woman,” Wolf Hawk said softly. “I will always protect you and love you. Just remember my promises to you about how things are between us and always will be.”

Now recalling the time when she had seen him materializing from that strange mist, Mia wondered if she would be seeing something similar again.

She squared her shoulders and tightened her jaw, for she would have to be strong. Was she going to discover that this man she loved with all of her heart was even more mystical than his Shaman grandfather?

No matter what happened, she could never love him less.

“I shall remember,” Mia murmured, smiling at him, then hurrying outside the tepee.

They were soon at the longboat where the two trappers were sat, their eyes filled with terror.

Wolf Hawk helped Mia into the boat, to sit beside him. The trappers stayed where they were, facing her and Wolf Hawk.

Mia could see how shaken the men were as Wolf Hawk shoved the boat out into deeper water,
then boarded it and grabbed up the paddle. Again he headed the boat toward the fort.

As they rounded a bend in the river, Mia gasped at what she saw. The earthquake had loosened the land all around the fort, and that whole section of shoreline was close to breaking away, which would take the fort with it.

She looked quickly to where she had buried her father. She sighed with relief to see that the grave lay untouched beneath the shade of the trees.

“Lord, oh, Lord, don’t take us back to the fort,” Jeb suddenly cried out, causing Wolf Hawk to glare at him. “The land is just barely clinging to the shore, and the fort is on that piece of ground that has loosened. Please don’t take us there. Have mercy. Oh, please have mercy on our souls.”

Wolf Hawk looked away from him and continued paddling toward the fort. When he reached that stretch of land that led to the gates of the fort, he beached the boat. He stepped from it and helped Mia to the ground.

Then he nodded at the trappers. “Come with me,” he said hoarsely. “Now.”

The men reluctantly walked toward the open gate of the fort.

Mia stepped aside when they reached the gate, and Wolf Hawk shoved them both inside.

Mia sheepishly followed. She grew pale when she saw where Wolf Hawk was taking the men. It was to a dark, dank cabin, where chains hung from the walls.

She knew this must have been where prisoners were once kept.

She saw how the two trappers cowered, then cried out in pain, as Wolf Hawk fastened them to the wall with the chains.

Suddenly a lone wolf entered the tiny space. The men cowered and grew even paler at the sight of the wolf pacing back and forth in front of them, its eyes never leaving them.

Even Mia was afraid, for she knew that the wolf could kill them in an instant. She tried to tell herself she was safe because she was with Wolf Hawk.

A moment later he stepped outside and let out a strange sort of howl, to call more wolves there. Goose bumps sprang up on Mia’s flesh. She was stunned, yet she fought off her fear, for she knew that Wolf Hawk would never do anything to harm her.

Yet she trembled and stepped as far away from the men as possible when several more wolves appeared and entered the dungeonlike room. The beautiful animals ignored Mia, pacing back and forth in front of the two trembling trappers.

Another wolf came into the room and stopped at Mia’s side. She swallowed hard and forced herself not to be afraid when that wolf suddenly transformed itself back into Wolf Hawk.

He turned to her. He saw the look of wonder in her eyes and was so glad there was no longer any fear there. She now knew his secret, and had found a way to accept it.

“It is time to go,” he said. “All that must be done here, is done. The rest will take care of itself.”

Mia slowly nodded, took his hand, then glanced over her shoulder at the men. They screamed and begged for mercy as the wolves got closer and closer to them.

Mia left the fort with Wolf Hawk, stopping just outside the walls.

“I shall wait while you spend a few moments with your father and then we must return home,” Wolf Hawk said, taking her hand for a moment, then releasing it as she walked over to the mound of earth, and bent to her knees beside it.

“Papa, oh, Papa, I miss you so,” she whispered. “And, Papa, I have so much to learn, but Wolf Hawk is eager to teach me.”

She closed her eyes for a moment and recalled how moments ago the man she loved had been something besides a man…a powerfully muscled wolf who seemed to have control over those that had gone into the cabin to torment the evil men.

“I will be alright, Papa,” she went on. “I could not have a better man to protect me than Wolf Hawk. I love him. He loves me. When I have our first child, I shall bring the baby here for you to know.”

She could feel Wolf Hawk waiting for her, she herself wanted to leave this place of mystery as fast as she could. Once they returned to the village, surely all of this strangeness would be left
behind. She had never seen Wolf Hawk be anything but his people’s leader while she was at the village with him. She doubted that his people even knew the true powers that he held within his grip.

“I love you, Papa,” Mia whispered, then rose to her feet and went to Wolf Hawk. “I’m ready.”

She shivered when she again heard the two trappers screaming and shouting. They had been made to know the evil they did.

Mia would not think of what their final end might be.

All she knew was that the wolves were still there with the men. She believed that those wolves were the spirits of some of Wolf Hawk’s warriors who had left this earth.

“Let us put this all behind us,” Wolf Hawk said, lifting Mia into his powerful arms. “What you saw today was something that could have made you afraid to love me. I am glad that your faith in me and my love for you is so strong that you could accept what you saw. There is even more, my woman, that you will also learn about me, but for now, this is enough.”

“Yes, enough,” Mia murmured as he drew her lips against his and gave her a kiss filled with passion and heat.

“The moon is full,” he whispered against her lips. “The river is calm. Let us go home, my woman, and make love.”

“Yes, let’s,” she whispered, sucking in a wild gasp of plea sure when he reached a hand up inside
the skirt of her dress, his fingers caressing her where she already ached for him.

“I love you so,” Mia whispered against his lips. “I love everything about you. Everything.”

That was all Wolf Hawk needed to hear.

The morning sun was creeping up from the horizon, tinting the sky a soft pink as Mia awakened after her first full night of being Wolf Hawk’s wife.

“You are awake,” Wolf Hawk said. He moved closer to Mia amid their pelts and blankets beside the fire pit, where only cold ashes now lay.

The temperature outside had risen, so that no fires were built inside the tepees. All of the cooking was done outside by the women of the village. And the very bottom edges of all the tepees were rolled up and secured, allowing fresh, cool air to sweep through the opening.

Mia felt it even now, the sweetness of the morning air, which held the scent of cook fires already being built throughout the village.

“Yes, husband, I am awake,” Mia said, turning to Wolf Hawk. “How could I not be? We forgot to cover Georgina last night and daylight awakened her. She is already singing.”

“And a beautiful song it is,” Wolf Hawk said, gazing over at Georgina, who was moving back
and forth on her perch as she continued to serenade the two love birds.

Mia moved even closer to Wolf Hawk, whose nakedness fired her senses. She felt somewhat shameful because she always needed him.

But she loved him so much, and he loved her, it was only natural for them to ache to make love whenever they could.

And, ah, how wonderful it was for Mia to be able to go to sleep in her husband’s arms, as well as wake up snuggled next to him.

“I love calling you husband,” Mia murmured, slowly running a hand down the smoothness of his chest, then lower, past his flat stomach.

She giggled when her touch caused his manhood to jerk with plea sure beneath her fingers.

“And I love doing this to you,” she murmured.

He reached out and swept her body against his. Her hand now rested on his muscular buttocks.

“I love doing this,” he said huskily, covering her lips with his. Passion ignited quickly between them.

Mia wrapped a leg over his, their bodies now fused, as though they were one. She twined her arms around his neck as he quickly and gently slid her beneath him and rolled on top of her.

Their lips quivered with the passion building between them.

Mia sucked in a wild breath of plea sure when Wolf Hawk swiftly entered her. His manhood seemed to swell in her tightness, the pressure
causing their plea sure to intensify as he began his thrusts.

He moved his lips downward and swept a tongue around one of her nipples, causing Mia to moan with a plea sure she’d never known was possible until she and Wolf Hawk had made love that first time.

And now she was the wife of this man who always seemed to know exactly where to touch her. His caresses made her go almost wild with plea sure.

She clung to him as he kissed her again, his body ever moving against hers, causing ecstasy to sweep through her.

Happiness bubbled from deep within her as his fingers moved tantalizingly over her breasts, making maddeningly designed circles over each of them.

His eyes glazed, drugged with desire, Wolf Hawk paused to gaze into Mia’s eyes. He saw that they were hazy with her own building passion, while he, himself, felt the curl of heat growing in his lower body.

And then he kissed her again, his mouth smothering her outcry of ecstasy while he moved incessantly inside her, his own senses now reeling in drunken plea sure.

Her body a river of sensations, Mia twined her arms around Wolf Hawk’s neck and rode with him in rhythmic ecstasy.

Wolf Hawk slid his lips from her mouth and breathed hard against the slight curve of her neck
as he groaned out his plea sure. He made one last wild thrust inside her, knowing that she had found the same peak of plea sure as he. She was sighing and moaning, her eyes closed in the ultimate ecstasy.

And then their bodies became quiet, yet still together, as they both tried to catch their breath.

“I…I…have never felt such a wondrous joy as I just experienced. Ah, such a beautiful passion,” Mia murmured, finally breathing softly.

Wolf Hawk rolled away from her and now lay beside her, his hand resting on her flat belly.

She turned to him and slowly ran her fingers through his thick, black hair, smoothing it away from his handsome face so that she would have full view of him.

She smiled at how this powerful chief’s cheeks were flushed, and how she could see his pulse still beating hard in the vein in his neck. Clearly, he had received as much plea sure from what they had shared as she.

“And we have a lifetime ahead of us of the same,” Wolf Hawk said.

He took her hand and guided it down to where he still throbbed from the intense plea sure that he had received from her body.

He closed his eyes and sucked in a wild breath of plea sure as she moved her hand on him. She now knew just how intensely or slowly to stroke him, to bring him alive again there and filled with need.

“You are very skilled, Lady Hawk, ah, so very skilled at what you do to your husband,” Wolf
Hawk said, almost breathless now from the building rapture.

“Lady Hawk,” Mia murmured, sighing. “I do love my Indian name. Thank you for giving it to me.”

“My Lady Hawk,” Wolf Hawk breathed out, then slid her beneath him and again gave her the plea sure that she begged of him.

And then they fell apart once more, each as flushed as the other.

“My energy is all gone now and the day is just beginning,” Mia said, laughing softly. “I am not certain I can make you bread today, husband. Nor anything else, for that matter.”

“What you just gave me is much more welcome than any bread,” Wolf Hawk said, chuckling.

Then he sat up away from her. “And as for our meals today, would you like some fresh fish?” he asked.

He reached a hand out, gently took one of hers and drew her up to sit before him.

He gazed intensely into her eyes. “You told me once that what you enjoyed most about riding the river was fishing,” he said.

“Yes, I did learn to love to fish. It always made my father so proud when I brought in a big catfish or trout,” Mia murmured.

She recalled the last time she had fished with her father. The day before her mother’s death she had brought in the largest catfish she had ever seen.

She would never forget the pride she had seen in her father’s eyes as he held the fish out and
measured its length with his eyes, then gave it back to her to prepare for their evening meal. She had proudly fileted it, and oh, how delicious it had been right out of her mother’s frying pan!

“Why do you bring that up now?” Mia asked, raising her eyebrows. She laughed softly. “Are you wanting to have fish for our evening meal?”

“Only if you catch it for us,” Wolf Hawk said, smiling as he saw Mia’s eyes widen in wonder.

“You want me to…?” she said, then laughed softly. “Of course you jest.”

“No, there is no jesting about food in our lodge, Lady Hawk,” Wolf Hawk said, rising. He reached down and grabbed her by the hand. “Come. Dress. A canoe awaits us, or would you rather go fishing in your Mia boat?”

“Mia boat?” Mia said.

“
Ho
, is not the longboat named after you?” Wolf Hawk said, now handing her a lovely doeskin dress that his cousin Little Snowbird had sewn for her to wear on outings with her husband, one that had no fancy designs of beads.

It was just a plain, fringed dress, but her husband had told her every dress looked beautiful on her, beaded, or not.

“Yes, it was named after me,” Mia said, pulling the dress over her head, then reaching for her hairbrush.

Wolf Hawk quickly took the brush from her and turned her so that her back was to him. He began brushing her hair for her until it was freed
of all tangles and lay shining over her shoulders and down her back.

He dropped the brush to the floor and turned her to face him. He framed her face between his hands, brought her lips to his, and sweetly kissed her.

“My wife,” he whispered against her lips. “It is a wonder to me that you are now all mine. My Lady Hawk, my wife.”

“Your wife,” Mia said, her eyes taking in his handsomeness.

“Come, we will embarrass the warriors of my village when you, my wife, bring in a great catch of fish,” Wolf Hawk said.

When they got outside, Mia was very aware that most of the women were already cooking over their fires and hers was not even lit yet.

She felt somewhat embarrassed about that. Surely the other women knew why her fire was not yet ready. They must have guessed what had delayed the newly married couple…that their chief and his wife were making love.

Mia blushed at that thought, squeezed Wolf Hawk’s hand, and followed him to one of the canoes.

Inside the canoe Mia spotted fishing poles lying on the bottom and handmade lures.

She had always used worms or crickets when she fished rather than lures. She had enjoyed fishing even though it made her cringe when she placed a cricket on her hook. She loved hearing a cricket’s song at night, especially now with Wolf
Hawk, when the stars were bright in the heavens and love was in the air.

At times, her new life seemed almost unreal. She could hardly believe that she had met such a wonderful man, someone who could care so much for her that he seemed actually to idolize her.

Well, she knew that he could not love her any more than she did him. He was everything to her. He was her world.

“Lady Hawk,” Wolf Hawk said as he pulled the paddle rhythmically through the water. “In former times, my people used the
woca
, or spear, to fish. We would go out on the river at night, using torches of pine pitch to light our way. But today we fish by the sun’s light, using special lures I have made.”

Mia stiffened with excitement when she saw a fish suddenly flip from the water. She gasped, for it was the largest catfish she had ever seen, much larger than any she had ever caught before.

“Did you see it?” Mia squealed, picking up the fishing pole that was ready to use. Wolf Hawk had prepared it the day before.

“Steady,” Wolf Hawk said, laying his paddle at the bottom of the canoe. He moved closer to Mia as she prepared to cast the line out into the water.

“Steady,” Wolf Hawk said again, this time reaching out and actually steadying Mia’s hand.

He watched with her for the catfish to make another leap. When it did, Wolf Hawk held his hand away from Mia as she flung the line out into the water near where they had seen the catfish.

“The catfish in this part of the river are huge,” Wolf Hawk said, watching the water. “My people tell stories of them, and some of my warriors claim to have seen fish as big as a man.”

“Truly?” Mia gasped, turning to gaze at Wolf Hawk in wonder.

Just as she said that, she felt a jerk on her line, and then a harder one. She gasped when the pole snapped in two and she watched the line moving quickly away in the water, with the fish at the other end.

Wolf Hawk suddenly dove into the water. He swam hard toward the line that was still being dragged through the water behind the fish, then grabbed it.

As he treaded water, he pulled on the line until finally the fish was in sight on the far end of it.

“There it is!” Mia squealed.

Wolf Hawk saw it, too, as it came closer and closer. Finally the fish was within touching distance.

He reached out, grabbed it, then holding it by the line, swam quickly back to the canoe and threw the fish into it. Mia clutched the line to stop the fish from flopping over the other side, into the water again.

She always avoided the eyes of the fish she caught, for she was so softhearted, she knew that if her eyes and the fish’s eyes met, she would not have the heart to keep it out of the water any longer.

“Food is survival,” Wolf Hawk said, pulling
himself into the canoe when he saw Mia’s expression. “Do not ever feel guilty for having brought food to our lodge, be it fish, or deer. Be proud, especially today, the first day you are learning the ways of our people. This is only one lesson. There will be many more.”

“I never want to disappoint you, so I will not let myself feel guilty at taking such a large fish from the water. Instead, I will feel very, very proud,” Mia murmured.

She watched Wolf Hawk remove the line, then hold the fish out toward her again.

“Hold it and feel its weight,” Wolf Hawk said. “I have never caught one so big, myself. Lady Hawk, you have made your husband very proud.”

Mia beamed as she held the fish in her arms once again. But when she realized where the canoe had drifted, she turned pale.

She recognized this stretch of the river. Just around the bend was the old fort.

She and Wolf Hawk exchanged quick glances just as the canoe drifted past the bend.

“The…the…fort and the ground on which it was built are gone!” Mia gasped out, actually feeling the color drain from her face. “Gone!”

She looked quickly where she had last knelt beside her father’s grave, and sighed with relief when she saw it was still there.

Then she looked at Wolf Hawk again. “How…?” she murmured.

“The earthquake weakened the land, as you remember, and the tide must have finished the
destruction,” he said thickly. “It is now gone. All of it. And as my grandfather planned, the trappers have been removed from our land for always.”

“The young braves shall now rest in peace,” Mia murmured.

“
Ho
, in peace,” Wolf Hawk said, reaching for one of her hands.” Let us go ashore so that you can speak to your father and tell him how happy you are in your new life. He will have cause to smile at you from the heavens.”

“Yes, I would love that, and then I want to go home,” Mia murmured. “Our home, husband. I want to cook you some fish!”

Wolf Hawk smiled at her, then took up the paddle and guided the canoe to shore.

He helped Mia from the boat and held her hand as he led her to the mound of earth. He stood with Mia as she gazed down at the grave. He could feel her pain as she spoke to her father, of how she missed him so much, and then her pride as she talked of her marriage and her happiness.