Savage Beloved (27 page)

Hawk Woman again tried to shoo Shadow away, but the wolf still didn’t move. Instead she emitted a low growl from the depths of her throat.

Suddenly Hawk Woman was afraid of Shadow.

Hawk Woman had been taught by the Wichita that wolves were mystical in many ways. She had heard many myths about what they were capable of. She had always thought that the stories about wolves were just superstition.

But now?

Hawk Woman felt the strangeness of what was happening and truly feared Shadow, knowing that she had joined a pack of wolves that lived nearby. She feared that they might join Shadow at any moment now.

Two Eagles rode up and dismounted.

He gave Hawk Woman a quizzical stare, and then
noticed the strange behavior of Candy’s wolf, which was staring almost without blinking up at the woman. He saw that Hawk Woman seemed almost terrified of Shadow, a wolf known for her gentleness.

Two Eagles knelt in front of Shadow and stroked her brown fur. “It is good to have you home again,” he said, but realized that the wolf was paying no attention to him.

Shadow still stared straight up into Hawk Woman’s eyes.

Feeling that something very strange was going on, Two Eagles rose to his feet and turned to Hawk Woman.

He was surprised to see strange fear in the woman’s eyes. She was standing stiffly as she gazed, mesmerized, into the wolf’s eyes.

Two Eagles was suddenly aware of something else.

He turned and stared at his tepee. He only now realized that Candy hadn’t came from his lodge, as she would have upon hearing his voice. Candy always greeted Two Eagles with a welcoming embrace when he had been gone for any length of time.

He hurried inside his lodge, his heart filled with panic when he saw that Candy was not there.

He rushed back outside, but just before he could question Hawk Woman as to whether she had seen Candy, the pack of wolves appeared at the edge of the village, White Wolf emitting a low growl as he, too, focused on Hawk Woman.

His jaw tight, his eyes narrowed, Two Eagles went and stood before Hawk Woman, who still had not budged from her fearful stance. “Why is Shadow
acting so strangely, and what has drawn the pack of wolves to my village when they rarely come close enough for anyone to see them?” he asked, his eyes glaring into Hawk Woman’s as she now met his gaze.

“Hawk Woman, what have you done? Where . . . is . . . Candy? Or should I ask, what you have done with her?”

Her heart pounding, feeling trapped, Hawk Woman slowly stepped away from Two Eagles. Just as she turned to run, Shadow lunged for her and stopped her by sinking her teeth into the skirt of the woman’s buckskin dress.

Now knowing that something was very wrong here, Two Eagles went to the woman and gripped her by her shoulders. “Where is Candy?” he asked forcefully. “Where is my future wife?”

Hearing him call Candy his future wife seemed to snap something inside Hawk Woman. “I hope Candy is dead by now!” she screamed. “For I expect Candy will try to fight off the man as soon as he removes her bonds, giving him no choice but to kill her. He wants tame women . . . not hellcats.”

“The . . . man?” Two Eagles said tightly. “What man?”

“Albert Cohen,” Hawk Woman said. “He was the one who came and demanded food from you. I hid from him. He now has your Candy.”

Rage filled Two Eagles’s being. His fingers dug into Hawk Woman’s shoulders. “Tell me what happened,” he demanded. “Did you stand by and allow that white man to abduct my woman? Were . . .
you . . . laughing as you watched? Did you truly believe that if Candy was gone, I would allow you to take her place?”

Hawk Woman’s words were frozen inside her, as her heart seemed to be frozen. She felt as if her world had just been broken in half.

She hung her head in defeat, then raised her eyes back up and looked defiantly at Two Eagles. “I will tell you nothing else,” she spat out. “Do you hear? Nothing!”

Two Eagles fought off the urge to hit her. He had never hit a woman before.

But this creature standing before him was not a woman!

A fire entered his eyes that made Hawk Woman suddenly afraid of Two Eagles for the first time in her life.

Love laughed again, and said, smiling,
“Be not afraid.”
—John Bowyer Buchanan Nichols

Hawk Woman had never seen such fire in Two Eagles’s eyes.

She was very aware that his shouts had brought the people from their homes. Even now they were gathering around Two Eagles and Hawk Woman.

Following White Wolf’s lead, the wolves were moving closer, something no one had ever seen before.

Hawk Woman flinched when Two Eagles’s grip grew tighter on her shoulders. Her knees were trembling so violently she could hardly stand.

“Tell me everything you know about what has happened to my woman,” Two Eagles said in a low hiss as he leaned his face closer to Hawk Woman’s.

When she still didn’t answer him, he shook her so hard her teeth clacked together.

Truly afraid for her life now, Hawk Woman knew she must give him the truth or possibly die right there, with Two Eagles’s people as witnesses.

“Please stop!” she cried, tears streaming from her eyes. “I’ll tell you everything.”

But only she knew that she would not actually tell him everything. She would never tell him of her intention to kill Candy before she was abducted by Albert Cohen.

“I am waiting,” Two Eagles growled, still holding her tightly by her shoulders. “Tell me now, or I will take you to the white man you escaped from as I go and save my woman from him.”

“No, oh, please don’t make me leave the safety of your village,” Hawk Woman pleaded, her heart racing at the thought of ever having to be with Albert Cohen again.

She loathed the man. He was a beast!

“I will allow you to stay, but only if you give me the answers I seek,” Two Eagles said, slowly dropping his hands from her shoulders.

He placed his fists on his hips. His jaw tightened.

“I am waiting,” he said flatly.

“Alright, I’ll tell you,” Hawk Woman said, glad that his fingers were no longer digging into her flesh. She knew she would have bruises there, for her skin throbbed from the punishment of his grip. “I went into the forest to gather greens for my evening meal.”

She swallowed hard beneath his steady stare. It
felt as though he were looking right into her soul and might know a lie when he heard it.

But she had to try to convince him that what she was telling him was what had really happened.

“But I didn’t get the chance to gather anything,” she said. “I . . . I . . . came upon a dreadful scene of abduction just as Albert Cohen grabbed Candy and dragged her away. Candy had a basket and was gathering her own greens, and had just plucked roses from a vine when he took her.”

Two Eagles grew cold inside as he imagined his woman being forced away by the evil white man.

And there had a been a witness to the crime!

Again he placed his hands on Hawk Woman’s shoulders, his fingers squeezing into her flesh. “When you saw my woman in trouble, why did you not hurry back to the village to seek help?” he said heatedly. “Had you done this, my men might have gotten there before the white man traveled far with Candy.”

But before Hawk Woman could reply, a thought came to Two Eagles that made a flood of hot rage fill his veins.

He dropped his hands away from her as he leaned into her face. “You are not telling the truth,” he said, his teeth clenched; his hands were doubled into tight fists at his sides. “You never leave the village alone for any reason. You know the danger, especially after you saw the man you escaped from come into my village. You have stayed within the perimeters of the village ever since your arrival here, so that no white man or woman could see you. You always feared
that word might spread that a golden-haired woman was living among the Wichita.”

He paused, inhaled a shaky breath, then spoke again. “You have never left my village except for baths, and even then you were safe because of the sentries who protected my people’s women as they bathed. Yet you left today?” he demanded hoarsely. “Tell me the truth. Why were you in the forest while Candy was there? You followed her, didn’t you? Why?”

He suddenly yanked Hawk Woman’s knife from its sheath and held it up to her face. “Is this the true reason you were there?” he asked in a low growl. “Was it your plan to make certain only one golden-haired woman lived in my village? Had you planned to kill Candy and blame the evil deed on someone else?”

Hawk Woman’s eyes wavered; then she bolted and ran, but she didn’t get far. The pack of wolves went and encircled her, White Wolf inching closer.

“Two Eagles!” she screamed, trembling. “Please do something. Don’t let the wolves kill me.”

The wolves parted to make way for Two Eagles as he strode up to Hawk Woman and grabbed her wrists.

“Take me where you saw my woman last,” he demanded. “Then I will punish you for the evil in your heart later.”

White Wolf suddenly made a quick turn and loped back into the dark shadows of the forest, with the other wolves following him.

But Shadow stayed with Two Eagles as Hawk
Woman led him into the forest to the scene of the abduction.

Two Eagles seemed to die a slow death when he saw Candy’s basket and the spilled greens and herbs that she had gathered before her abduction.

He bent to a knee and picked up a lone pink rose. He caressed its petals. He had always compared his woman’s skin to the softness of a rose petal.

He was keenly aware of Hawk Woman turning and running away from him. He allowed it, for he could assume that she wouldn’t get far. The wolves were near and had surely seen her flight.

He paused when he heard her scream and then beg for mercy. He knew that the wolves had stopped her.

Several warriors had followed Two Eagles into the forest. Now they came up to him solemnly as they saw Candy’s basket and were touched by her attempt to gather greens for their chief’s dinner.

Hawk Woman screamed again.

Two Eagles felt no mercy for the woman, but he had no choice except to send his warriors to take her back to the village. Deep in his heart he would have preferred to leave her at the mercy of the wolves, who knew the evil of this woman’s heart.

“
Looah
, go,” he said as he nodded at two of his warriors. “Get Hawk Woman. Take her to the tepee that my woman used upon her first arrival at our village. Guard her. Do not let her leave, no matter how hard she begs.”

The warriors nodded and ran in the direction of Hawk Woman’s continuing screams.

Two Eagles fell to his knees and studied the tracks
that had been made by Candy and her abductor. He saw which direction they went.

Suddenly Shadow barked and nudged Two Eagles in the side with her nose.

Two Eagles looked down at Shadow and knew by her behavior that she wanted him to follow her. Could she know where Candy was?

He smiled at the thoughtful devotion of his warriors as he saw some of them ride up, leading Two Eagles’s stallion. They had stayed behind at the village only because they knew he would want his horse.

Two Eagles mounted his stallion, and soon they were riding through the trees, Shadow leading the way.

Today or this noon

She dwelt so close,
I almost touched her.
—Emily Dickinson

Low in spirits, and aching all over from Albert Cohen’s rough handling, but so glad to have found her mother, Candy sat beside her in the wagon.

They both made sure that Albert didn’t realize they were related. They had no idea what his reaction would be, but they were afraid he was capable of anything.

When they had stopped several times to drink at various streams, Candy had mingled among the women, trying to look nonchalant as she asked them to band with her, to get the best of Albert. But none of the women had the courage. There was fear in their eyes as they told Candy to leave them alone and not bother them anymore.

As the wagon wheels rumbled onward along the packed earth, with the forest at their left side, Candy felt her buttocks ache as she sat on the floor of the wagon, each bump in the road causing a sensation like sharp pins sticking into her flesh.

She gazed over her shoulder into the distance, in the direction of Two Eagles’s village. She was devastated to know that she would never see him again, or be held in his loving arms.

She would cherish those times with him, especially the nights, when he had taught her the true meaning of love. If she closed her eyes, she knew she would be able to hear his voice, smell his flesh, and feel the wonders that come with those moments when they had came together in the final throes of passion.

But she feared that love was hopeless, for she didn’t see how Two Eagles could possibly know where to look for her. The abduction had been so swift, it was all like a blur to her now.

She turned her eyes forward again, finding it too painful to think about Two Eagles and what they had meant to one another, and what they could have been.

They had talked of children. Oh, to have a child in Two Eagles’s image would be something she would have treasured.

But that was never to be, unless she found a way to escape the clutches of this madman. Fortunately, he had not yet approached her sexually. He knew the importance of placing many miles between himself and the Wichita village, for the farther he traveled,
the less chance there was of the Wichita finding him and the women and children who were his family.

Through tears, Candy eyed the rifle that Albert always kept beside him on the seat of the wagon. He had made it clear he would use it if anyone tried to escape, or if anyone happened along and questioned him about why he had so many women and children with him.

Candy knew he would not let anyone interfere in his life. He would shoot anyone who tried.

She knew that it would not be long before he felt it was safe enough to stop for a full night. She suspected that every time he stopped for a night of rest, he chose a different woman to spend that night with him.