Spirit Warrior (2 page)

Present day

Allie rested her head against the truck and slowly counted to one hundred. She would have killed Boseman if she had stopped at ten. Raising her head, she watched as her twin sister, Aleaha, walked toward her. A reluctant smile tugged at her mouth when she saw the firm, straight line of Aleaha’s lips and the dark scowl on her face.

She didn’t know what Boseman said, but if it was enough to piss Aleaha off, it must have been bad. She straightened and pulled open the driver’s door to her full size silver truck. She slid in and slammed the door before putting the key in the ignition and turning it on. A moment later, Aleaha climbed into the passenger side.

“I’m telling dad that we aren’t doing business with him ever again,” Allie muttered, pulling slowly away from the small group of men. “He has no idea how much this is going to cost him, yet. Once he does, he’ll be wishing he had kept his arrogant, unreliable nose out of ranching.”

“I’m proud of you,” Aleaha finally replied.

“Proud of me! What for?” Allie asked as the empty horse trailer bounced behind her as she drove over the cattle grate at the end of the road. She glanced both ways before she turned south onto the main road. “What did he say after I walked off?”

“That you needed a good spanking,” Aleaha answered in a reluctant voice.

“Really?” Allie asked in disbelief as her eyes flew to the rearview mirror to check on the trailer.

“Really,” Aleaha said, laying her head back against the headrest. “He also added he was just the man to do it.”

An explosive curse escaped Allie and her hands tightened on the steering wheel before she started to laugh. That dirty old man wouldn’t know what to do with her in the bedroom. While she was still pissed about driving almost three hours one way for nothing, the thought of Boseman even thinking he had a chance in hell of getting her anywhere near his bedroom was humorous.

“Oh yeah,” Allie grinned when her sister raised her eyebrow in question. “He has no idea of how much money he has just lost. He is dealing with eight ranches right now, including ours. By tomorrow, he’ll be lucky if he has one left.”

“Allie,” Aleaha cautioned in concern. “I don’t like him either, but… it could be dangerous to make a man like him mad at you.”

Allie glanced at her very prim and proper twin. Aleaha may be the older of the two, but she was also the more sheltered. She had focused on her schooling and kept her nose in books while Allie had lived and breathed anything to do with the ranch.

And that,
Allie thought as she drove onto the entrance ramp to the Interstate,
is why she is a doctor and I’m a cowpuncher.

She wouldn’t have it any other way. Allie knew she would have withered and died if she had been stuck inside, or had to live in a big city away from the ranch. Indiana Wild, her best friend and the only person Allie trusted outside of her family, was more like her twin than Aleaha. Even now, Indiana was out there in the mountains somewhere hiding from her own brothers

They had sold the ranch that Indy’s grandfather had promised to leave her, out from under her. Indy’s big brother was a first class ass. Allie had never liked Hayden or Matthew Wild, Indy’s oldest and youngest brothers. Gus, the middle brother, hadn’t been too bad. Hell, he was the only one that gave a damn about Indy and her grandpa after their parents and grandmother had been killed. Even so, he hadn’t come around much the last six years either as he was busy with his own family.

“What is it?” Aleaha asked in a quiet voice, turning her head to glance at her sister. “It is more than Boseman that has you upset.”

“You know, you always freak me out when you do that, don’t you?” Allie complained as she turned her blinker on to pass a slower moving vehicle. “How do you know it isn’t about Boseman?”

Aleaha’s soft, lilting laughter filled the interior of the extended cab of the truck. Allie couldn’t keep the grin off her face. She was still pissed, but it was hard to stay mad for long. It wasn’t like she had never encountered assholes before. She had a long list of names, both male and female, that she would never name her unborn children if she ever had any.

Not likely to happen at the rate I’m going through the alphabet,
Allie thought with a sigh.

“You are missing Indy, aren’t you?” Aleaha asked in a quiet voice. “I can’t believe dad actually let her go. It is dangerous out there alone.”

“She’s not alone,” Allie said in a low voice as she stared at the mountains in the distance. “She has Midnight and Kahlua, not to mention, the dogs. They would protect her with their life. She’s smart, too. She knows how to survive. Dad did a great job showing both of us how to live off the land.”

Aleaha’s nose wrinkled in distaste. Allie knew her sister would be the first to admit that she didn’t like living off of anything that didn’t have indoor plumbing, central climate control, and nice locks on the doors. Allie had discovered that last little detail when she went to visit with Aleaha while she was living in Billings during her residency at Billings Regional Medical Center. If you asked Allie, that had been the two scariest weeks of her life. Give her a good bar fight, and she could take on anyone. Give her rush hour traffic and a Metro map and she was a quivering pile of mush.

The next two and a half hours flew by as Allie and her sister talked about everything from what a jerk Indy’s brothers were to Billy Cloudrunner’s wife, Rosalie expecting again. Most of the talk focused on the ranch, though. It was the one thing that Allie knew and loved.

She knew that Aleaha was probably bored to death listening about it, but her sister’s passenger seat manners were impeccable. Allie was impressed when Aleaha’s eyes didn’t glaze, she didn’t yawn, and she didn’t release continuous sighs as she talked about the new breeding methods they were using on the mares. In fact, Aleaha actually had a few good suggestions that Allie would have to talk over with the vet they had on staff.

“You should have become an animal doctor instead of a people doctor,” Allie complained as she waved a hand out the window as they passed a semi-truck. “It would have saved us a bundle and you would have been great at it.”

Aleaha shook her head. “Sorry, Allie. Humans are more my speed,” she chuckled over the sudden noise of the CB radio Allie used when there was no cell reception.

“That better not be dad telling me that Boseman has suddenly ‘found’ our missing mares and wants us to turn around,” Allie growled under her breath as CB radio squawked again.

Aleaha glanced up at the driver who was grinning and staring back down at her. Cole Jonesboro waved to her before nodding his head toward the driver’s side and using his thumb and pinky as a phone. She pretended she didn’t see the gesture.

“I think Cole wants you to call him,” Aleaha murmured after they passed the truck just as the passing lane ended. “Does he still have a crush on you?”

“Yeah, even after I broke his nose with a chair down at Butch’s place. It was an accident, but still, you’d think the guy would have learned by now that I’m not interested in him. He’s been married at least three times already anyway. I’m not looking to be wife number four,” Allie muttered with a roll of her eyes as she pressed the connect button on the mic. “This is Allie.”

“Hey, Allie,” the voice on the other end said in a cheerful tone. “This is Ansel. I’m out on the logging road up near Wilson’s Creek. Billy is here and he needs a ride back to town. Cole said you had the horse trailer with you and it looked empty. Can you give him and a couple of his friends a lift?” Ansel asked in a lighthearted voice. “Oh, hi, Aleaha. Cole said he saw you too.”

Aleaha chuckled. “Hi Ansel,” she called out.

“Yeah, I can pick him up,” Allie responded in exasperation. “I might as well make use of the trailer since I drove half way across the state for nothing.”

“Thanks, I’ll let Billy know,” Ansel said. “Hey, Aleaha, you want to go out tonight?”

Aleaha covered her mouth and shook her head when Allie stuck her finger in her mouth. Ansel was big, clumsy and usually covered in sawdust and sweat. He was definitely not her sister’s type of guy at all. His idea of a fine drink was a bottle of beer.

“Thank you, Ansel,” Aleaha answered in a voice that hid the grin on her face. “But, I already have plans for the evening.”

“That’s okay,” Ansel replied. “Maybe tomorrow night.”

Allie rolled her eyes again and shook her head. “Tell Billy he better have his ass down at the road and be ready or he can ride the rest of the way in. I’m tired and pissed off.”

“Since when aren’t you?” Ansel retorted good naturedly. “I’ll let Billy know.”

“’Eff’ you, Ansel,” Allie replied before she tossed the mic up onto the dash.

“You aren’t supposed to use that kind of language on the CB, are you?” Aleaha asked with a worried frown.

Allie glanced at her sister. She bit back the sarcastic retort she had been about to make. Aleaha was all about by-the-book rules.

“I said ‘Eff’ you,” she explained instead. “Not fuck you. There are a lot of words in the dictionary that start with the letter F. I know. I play Scrabble with mom and dad almost every night.”

Aleaha’s laughter rang out again. “Oh, Allie,” she replied, wiping at the corner of her eye as the truck started to slow down. “I love your wit and sense of humor.”

Allie placed her right hand briefly against her chest. “Sense of humor? Me? Perish the thought. I’m going for brazen, sarcastic bitch here. You are the brains. I’m just the brawn of the two of us. Don’t blow my image now that you are back in town, okay? I have a reputation to uphold.”

“Why?” Aleaha asked, suddenly serious. “Why do you let others think you’re nothing but a bad-ass, Allie? You’re smart, beautiful, talented, compassionate, and yet, you hide behind this wall.”

Allie slowed the truck to a halt on the side of the road and waited a moment before replying. A lot had changed since Aleaha left home to go to school. Pain swept through Allie for a brief moment as memories of the past threatened to overwhelm her. She wasn’t ready to deal with it yet. There were some things that a person held close to their heart and didn’t tell anyone, not even their twin.

“Billy should be here any moment,” Allie replied instead. She glanced in the mirror to make sure it was safe to exit the truck before she opened the door. “I need to get the back of the trailer opened for him.”

*.*.*

Jacob listened with frustration as Billy explained where they were heading. They needed to head south and were on the backside of a man called Sam Whitewater’s ranch. That was about all Jacob was able to pull from the words running out of Billy’s mouth. He still wasn’t clear what a ‘truck’ was or why a horse would need a trailer. He figured that might be some kind of a wagon.

Pulling back on the reins, he drew his horse to a halt beside his brother. Unease washed through him as he studied the back of Billy. What if this was a trap? What if Spirit Pass didn’t really take them to the future, just to the other side of the mountain? What if… His mind shied away from the thought of what would happen if they really had gone to the future. Would they be able to find Indy in her world?

“Did you understand half of what he just said?” He muttered under his breath.

Jonathan gave him a sharp nod and explained that Indy had shown him some images from her life here. Jacob wished she had shown him a few of them. He’d much rather know what he was facing instead of using his imagination. He had never thought of himself as being a very imaginative guy before, but right now, his mind was thinking of all kinds of horrible things.

Jacob restlessly fingered the gun at his waist. Comfort swept through him to know that they were not completely defenseless. Dropping his hand back to his thigh, he followed Billy and his brother this time. The dogs, seeming to sense they were back on familiar ground, ran back and forth along the small line of horses. The only sound was the panting of the dogs, the occasional snort of one of the horses, and the creaking of the saddles as they moved downhill.

It took about half an hour before they came to a wide road. Jacob’s eyes immediately went to the ground to search for tracks. Confusion darkened his gaze as he saw impressions unlike anything he’d ever seen before mixed with the hoof marks from several horses. Long lines as far as he could see in both directions ran in parallel lines.

“Wagons?” Jonathan asked, pulling back again now that they were on the wider road.

Jacob shrugged as he studied the indentions. “I’ve never seen anything like this. They are too wide and there are funny lines through them. If wagons created it, they are bigger than any I’ve ever seen,” he muttered.

They continued down the road in silence for almost ten minutes before Billy’s loud curse rang out as they rounded another bend in the road. Jacob sat back in his saddle and watched the man with narrowed eyes as he half slid, half fell off Jonathan’s horse. An amused smile quirked his lips when Billy rubbed his ass and walked funny as he turned in a circle.

“What’s wrong?” Jonathan asked.

“Those sons-of-bitches took my truck,” Billy groaned, running his hands over his hair and bending over with another loud curse before he straightened and looked down the road. “It had to be them. I had locked it. They must have taken the keys when I was unconscious,” he added as he started to frantically check his pockets.