Tainted Trail (37 page)

Sam was still driving the van cross-country and willing to
consider
a job offer once she got there. The smiles she gave Max indicated it would be more than a mild consideration, but she also wouldn't commit more positively than that. Max wavered through quiet terror and giddiness about her visit. At least, he stated, she had seen them at their god-awful worst and anything that happened in Pittsburgh would be simple. For Max's sake, Ukiah hoped that he was right.

The Kicking Deers gathered together clothing for Ukiah: moccasins, fringed buckskin pants, beaded shirt, and eagle feathers. He was combing his hair when Alicia found him.

“Hi!” He smiled at her, although he felt weirdly awkward around her. It was like he had opened a friend's diary and read her private thoughts—but in the meantime, a quiet, sad-eyed stranger had come and taken her place. Would this new Alicia even like him?

“Does she know?” Alicia asked.

She who? Know what?
He looked at Alicia in confusion and then realized what she must be asking. “Does Indigo know that I'm—I'm not human? Yes.” He considered things he could say to make things better, but they were small offerings. “You are my first and best female friend. I love you dearly, but I never thought of you in that way.”

Her mouth twisted in a wry smile, but her eyes stayed wistful. “You were an innocent; you didn't think of anyone that way. She seduced you. She corrupted you.”

He supposed it would be easier on Alicia to let it go with that: She lost out because she was the nobler woman. But it wasn't the whole truth, and letting false assumptions ride had caused so much harm recently.

“No. It wasn't all her, Alicia. I didn't have the words to describe how I felt the first moment I met her—she
did
teach me the words and actions—but the feelings were mine. I wanted to be with her. I couldn't stop thinking of her.”

“O, my little Wolf Boy, you grew up and fell in love when I wasn't looking.”

“I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you.”

“You haven't,” she whispered and reached out to braid one of the eagle feathers into his hair. “I hurt myself. Sometimes it's like looking back and watching someone else; someone who was very good at deceiving herself. You were so beautiful and safe, and I was tired of being walked over.”

“I still care for you.” Ukiah caught her hand and squeezed it.

She laughed. “It wouldn't have worked out. I thought you were sweet and tame because you were young and overprotected. I figured you would change once you got older and your moms gave you more freedom. I wanted you as a wild wolf man, not the safe Wolf Boy. I saw you at the picnic—you're going right from sheltered Boy Scout to happily married man.”

Ukiah thought of Jay, the mischief-maker, who Magic Boy had loved more than those that walked the straight and narrow. Alicia would have loved him too. “I've lived too long to be the man you really want.”

“I know that now,” she whispered. “I need someone that enjoys screaming in the face of conformity, who bangs out their own beat and dances to it. I know it's just my way of defying death because my parents died so young—but I don't want to change. And I don't want to change you either.”

 

Last time he was at the roundup, he had been Magic Boy, and the world had been a totally different place then. Horses were still needed for transportation and to have many was a sign of wealth. All the Native Americans would come to the roundup mounted, and the parade into the ring was an endless stream of the sturdy Cayuse-bred horses.

RVs now sat next to teepees, and in both, people readied for the parade. Ukiah stood in the tiny bathroom of Cousin Lou's RV and looked at his reflection, acquainting himself with his new face. It surprised him to see a warrior gazing back at him. It was more than the freshly applied war paint, or the heavier lines of a man's face finally emerging, won through hard battle. He had grown beyond the Wolf Boy, and Magic Boy, and the cub, each with their little slice of
humanity and alien. He was finally growing to be a man, something greater than all the parts that had gone before.

With a tap, Jared appeared at the door, and said in Nez Percé,
“Uncle, it's time. Coming?”

Ukiah was pleased that Jared registered on his senses as Jared, and not Rennie, although there was no denying the Pack presence coming from him. He answered slowly,
“Rush. Rush. Rush.”

Jared grinned and tapped his nose.
“Try and not miss everything, slowpoke.”

So he followed Jared out, his feet already finding the ancient rhythm of the drums, to take his place with his family, his friends, and the Pack.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's Imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

 

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