Last week I found myself floundering with Wolf’s Princess. I was getting bogged down on too much description and losing my focus for the story, so I did some re-plotting. I’ll probably spend the rest of this week re-writing, re-arranging and cutting to get the story back on track. See? Here’s the revised plotting board.

One of the things I like about Wolf’s Lady is that I get to give readers a first glimpse of what Omaha is like. I give you fair warning, it isn’t like Kearney or the den at all.  Sky has changed in his time in Omaha, so focused on what he feels he has to do that he’s pushed his wolf to the background. He certainly isn’t the impatient boy Rose remembers. He’s been wheeling and dealing to make alliances, feeling out who might be sympathetic to a new form  of government in Omaha, trying to find a way to give women back their rights. You see that in this tidbit in Sand and Amanda’s story.

Amanda had to look for Sky. He wasn’t in the waiting room or the hallway. He was found in the corner of a dark patient room, in a huddle with Dean Erikson and Johnnie Case. When she first opened the door and the weak electric light streamed in, Johnnie’s face showed excitement, and Dean looked nervous. The Guardsman pulled his usual cold mask over his face, but Jonnie seemed to struggle to bring himself under control. Sky’s face showed its normal smooth imperturbability. Amanda nodded at Sky.

“Sand’s awake. He wants to talk to you.”

His face lit with relief. He gave Johnnie’s arm a squeeze and slapped Dean on the shoulder. “We’ll talk more later,” he murmured.

Amanda had to hurry to keep up with his long legs as he rushed down the hall to Sand’s room. “Wait a second,” she hissed at him, catching his arm. “You were awfully friendly with Johnnie and Dean.”

Sky stopped and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “It seems Lt. Erikson is offended when wrong doers aren’t punished. Judge Case doesn‘t like it when a man ignores his warning and hires thugs to steal a lady he admires and kill her husband.”

Her heart pounded. “Are they going to do something? Arrest Terry?”

“I believe I talked them out of that, at least until you and Sand leave Omaha.” His voice lowered even more. “Maybe we have another two allies in the fight.”

She was sure the fight to depose McGrath and set the women of Omaha free was the only reason Sky was in the city. He gave her a small smile and strode down the empty hall to Sand’s room.

Sand smiled at his cousin, but held his hand out to Amanda. She went to him and held his hand tightly.

“I love you,” he whispered. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

Something deep inside untwisted and she smiled at him. “Yes. I’m fine.”

“I should have asked before.”

Until he’d said he loved her just now, she hadn’t even been aware of a tiny annoyance that he hadn’t said it earlier. She perched on the edge of the bed and squeezed his hand. “You sort got distracted, throwing up.”

“Sand, how are you doing?” Sky asked.

Sand smiled at her, weakly pressing her fingers with his own before turning to Sky. “Not too bad. Whatever they gave me is wearing off.”

Amanda clutched his hand and looked him over. “Are you in pain?”

He looked away. “Some. Sky, you have to get me out of here.”

He didn’t even need to explain why. Amanda saw Sky’s eyes narrow and comprehension cross his face. “It’s too late tonight; it’s nearly midnight. Tomorrow you’ll come home.”

Sara gasped. “The doctors will never allow that.”

“Never?” Sky tilted his head. “I think they will, with a little incentive.”

And they did. The next morning at eleven o’clock Sand was asleep in her bed in Sky’s House. Sara had asked to come to be his nurse, but Sister Roberta forbade it.

“A novice in the Order of the Sisters of Healing does not attend a man in a house of ill repute.”

Amanda opened her mouth to blast the stiff necked nun, but Sara beat her to it, and in a much more humble and reasonable way than Amanda would have.

“Sister, it is our duty to care of the sick, and Sand is my cousin’s husband.”

Amazingly, the sour-faced nun smiled. “Very true,” she said approvingly. “And I’ve no objection to you visiting during the day, but you cannot stay overnight. If Mr. Wolfe needs care in the night, I will stay and help him.”

Only Amanda caught the slight widening of Sky’s eyes and wondered if a nun on the premises would hurt business. Not that she cared right now. Sara had confirmed, in a low, awed voice, that Sand’s wound was already healing. It looked like it was a week old after less than twenty-four hours. Amanda was so relieved she crushed the younger woman in a bear hug that made her squeak.

She sat in her vanity chair, watching Sand’s bandaged chest rise and fall with his breathing. His hair, freshly washed and braided, lay over his shoulder to spill over the blanket. His color was better, his full mouth soft in sleep, his thick lashes a crescent of black against his cheek. Even his hand, relaxed and brown on the white sheet, was dear to her. He was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen on her bed, the most precious. If he had died … God, she couldn’t bear to think of it.

A hot tear slid out of her eye and ran down her cheek. She blotted it away. She hadn’t prayed since her mother died, but she said a short wordless prayer now: Thank you, thank you, thank you.

One of Sand’s eyes opened a crack. “You’re tired, mate. Come sleep with me.”

“I couldn’t!” she protested. “You’re hurt.”

“Hm,” he grunted. “Too hurt for much more than just sleep, but I’ll rest better with my mate beside me.”

She slipped her shoes off and lay on the covers beside him, stiff to avoid touching him. With a fumbling hand but surprising strength he dragged her under the blankets with him. “Sleep, Amanda,” he mumbled.

Within a minute they were both fast asleep, heads close together on one pillow. A half hour later he roused when the bedroom door opened. Sara poked her head around the door, and her brown eyes widened at the sight of them snuggled together under the blankets. She opened her mouth to say something, but he pressed a finger to his lips. After a moment, she nodded and closed the door.

Sand curved an arm more tightly around his mate. Her scent seduced him into wanting more than sleeping beside her, but her warmth caressed him into drowsiness. He was still too weak for more than snuggling, but soon he would show his mate again just what her luscious scent did to him. He would never been finished showing her that. Maybe tomorrow…

Well, this novella is up to 31,080 words now. Another couple of thousand ought to wrap this up. Just for comparison, Wolf’s Oath is 35,380 words long and Sherry’s Wolf is 32,899 words long. So Wolf’s Lady will be the usual length of one of my novellas.

I’m falling down on the job for my goal of finishing the rough draft of Wolf’s Princess done by mid-October. Either I’ll have to pick up the pace or push the target date back. I still have two months, so all is not lost yet. I think I need more sexual tension between Rose and Sky, so i’ll need to go back and sprinkle some in. it can’t be hard. Sky has wanted Rose since the moment he laid eyes on her in the Lakota Wolf Clan camp. Now that she’s finally within reach, he’s going crazy trying to control himself. Rose is leery of Sky, but he’s very handsome and she’s very curious about sex. Living in the den with all those wolves and their highly developed senses of hearing and smell means she hasn’t dared experiment in private.  Wish me luck in powering through the last two thirds of the book!

Do you recall that when we left Amanda and Sand last, he was in surgery and she was in the waiting room at the hospital? The judge who married them has just walked into the waiting room and announced he was going to write an arrest warrant for Terry Askup.  Please remember this has not been proofed at all, so there will undoubtedly be errors.  Feel free to point them out, but I’m sure the beta readers will catch anything that we miss.

Amanda gulped and shot Sky a glance. Seeing Terry locked up would give her a lot of satisfaction. Pissing Mayor McGrath off could result in widowhood for her and trouble for Sky. Sky moved smoothly toward Johnnie and led him out of the waiting room. Dean looked from their retreating backs to her.

“What’s that about?” he asked.

She considered whether or not to be honest and decided on honesty. “We don’t have any proof of who paid to kill Sand and steal me.”

“Hm. Terry Askup is a logical suspect.”

“Yeah,” Amanda agreed. “Do you know what would happen if you arrested him?”

Dean’s expression didn’t change. “Hm,” he said again, before turning and following Sky and Johnnie out into the hall.

Sara tugged her arm. “Come on. Sand will be awake soon. You should be there.”

When Amanda walked into the small room where Sand lay recovering, her heart clenched. Just for a second she thought his beautiful hair has been cut off, but then she saw it was slicked back into a ponytail. Oh, God, he looked so helpless lying in the narrow bed with the blanket folded down to his waist to reveal the bandage that was wound around his chest. Sara whispered for her to take the chair by the bed and told the nurse she would take over. The male nurse hesitated, then left.

 Amanda traced her husband’s pale face with her gaze, following the slashing line of his eyebrow to his high cheekbone to the straight, stubborn line of his jaw. From the first moment she’d met him in the hall outside her room, she’d thought him handsome. She remembered the first time she saw his chipped tooth. It could have detracted from his looks –maybe even should have– but it didn’t. That one slight flaw kept him from being too perfect. And now that she’d grown to know him, she found his face the most wonderful and beautiful art in the world. Love rushed through her like a tidal wave, crashing over her heart and washing down to her fingertips.

“Oh, Sand, I love you,” she whispered.

The corner of his mouth twitched. Amanda leaned forward to try to take his hand, but Sara pushed her unceremoniously out of the way. The younger woman lifted Sand a finches and tilted his head so he vomited into the basin she held for him.  She held him steady until he was finished then deftly wiped his face with a wet rag.

Amanda swallowed hard, trying to control her own gag reflex. Sara held a glass of water for Sand to sip.

“Now, spit,” she ordered, holding the basin.

He obeyed, and was laid back down. Sara thrust a clean basin into Amanda’s hands. “Here. In case he’s not done. I’ll be right back.”

She walked away holding the used basin and leaving Amanda clutching the fresh one. Her efficiency was almost frightening. Amanda looked at Sand. His face was gray except for the flush on his cheeks.

“Are you okay?” she whispered.

His eyes flicked open. “I’m done puking. I think. Where are we?”

“Hospital. They did surgery to remove the bullet. It broke inside you and they had to take the fragments out. Some ribs were broken too.”

“Oh. That’s why it hurts.” He closed his eyes again for a long minute before opening them again. “If Sky wants to keep the wolf stuff secret, I have to get out of here before they notice how fast I heal.”

“You can’t leave for a while,” Amanda began, but she broke off when Sara came back in, wiping the basin dry.

Sand turned his head to look at the teenager. “Cousin, you are a good nurse. You took care of me quickly and kindly, without hurting me. Thank you.”

“Yes,” Amanda agreed. “I’ve never seen you do your work at the hospital. I’m impressed.”

A flush of pleasure rose in Sara’s cheeks. She ducked her head like a shy toddler. “Will you tell Stone about it? He said I need to grow up and learn to care about someone besides myself.”

Amanda’s head snapped up with outrage. “He said what?”

Sara looked up, lips pressed tight together. “Nursing is the best way I could think of to do that. I’ve only just starting training six weeks ago, but I’ve learned a lot already.”

 “Yes, you have!” Amanda said. “You whipped that pan out like a professional.”

Sara’s brown eyes began to shine with tears. “Thank you. I’m trying.” She looked at Sand. “Tell him that, okay? Tell him I’m trying.”

“I will,” Sand promised. “How soon can I leave?”

Sara sniffed the tears back. “That’s up to the doctor. Four or five days, I’d guess.”

“It’s got to be sooner than that. Tomorrow at the latest.”

Amanda sprang to her feet. “No, you’re badly hurt. You need to stay until you heal—”

He looked right at her. “Darling, I’ll be just about well in four or five days.”

Disbelief made her jaw drop. “What? That’s impos… Isn’t it?”

He shook his head on the pillow. “No. I need to talk to Sky right away. Can you send a message to him?”

“I can do better. He’s here in the hospital. Should I go find him now?”

“Please. Sara will stay with me, won’t you, cousin?”

As Amanda went to the door she heard her cousin say, “You bet. Even if I didn’t like you, I’d stay because it’s my job. But I like you. I always did like you.”

Here is the 30th installment on Sand and Amanda’s story.  I think when I do my revisions I’m going to make some changes to this, as it’s a bit drawn out and boring. It ends with a bag though, and that’s good. So, here you go: Wolf’s Lady!

Amanda leapt up every time someone walked past the waiting room. Sky sat in a chair nearby, his head in his hands, but when the tears she’d held back for so long spilled, he was up immediately and at her side.

“Amanda,” he said soothingly. He pulled her to his chest and held her there. “It will be alright.”

She wiped the tears away angrily. “It better be. If anything happens to Sand, I’ll kill him!”

Sky smiled a little. “You’ll kill your husband?”

“No.” Mindful of the City Guardsman sitting in the corner, she dropped her voice to a hiss. “Askup.”

Tension tightened the muscles in Sky’s chest. She felt him grow very still against her. “Do you know it was him?”

She shrugged, a quick jerk of her shoulders. “Those goons were paid to kill Sand and take me. Who else would have done that?”

“Do you have any proof?”

“No. Do you think I’m wrong?”

Sky tightened his arm around her shoulders with a small shake of his head. “I think you’re exactly right. What did you tell the Guards?”

She wiped away the last evidence of tears. “Nothing. Even with proof I couldn’t accuse one of Tim McGrath’s best friends.”

“No.” Sky’s voice was as cold and flat as she felt. “But he will pay. Not now, but someday, he will pay for what he’s done to you and Sand.”

Another hour crawled by, while Amanda went from staring a hole in the waiting room door to wearing a path in the floor. She was sitting when the door opened to allow Snow and Sara to enter. She sprang up and rushed to Sara.

“Amanda!” Sara gave her a fierce hug. “This is terrible! How is Sand?”

“I don’t know!” she burst out. “No one has told us a thing.”

Sara squared her shoulders in the prim gray cotton uniform. “I’ll find out. They’ll talk to me.”

Only a few inches over five feet tall, and not quite sixteen years old, some try might brush the girl in the novice uniform off. But Sara’s expression said they wouldn’t have any luck with it. Amanda felt a swell of relief crash over her. Sara would find out.

Snow stood close  to Sky, speaking quietly into his ear. Sky nodded from time to time, face expressionless. Amanda barely noticed them because the waiting room door opened, and Sara came back, her hand firmly clamped around the arm of a man wearing a blood smeared white apron over his clothes. With them walked elderly Sister Roberta, wrinkled face set in its usual stern expression.

“Cousin,” Sara said in voice like a general giving orders on the battlefield. “This is Dr. Rogers. Stan, this is my cousin, Amanda Wolfe.”

The doctor looked tired. He shook Amanda’s hand, and nodded at Sky and Snow who came forward. “Your husband is out of surgery. We’ve removed the bullet fragments and done as much repair as we could.”

Amanda clenched her hands together to control the tremble. “They said before that his lung was hit?”

“His lung hasn’t collapsed. It is a concern, however. We don’t know if our repairs will be enough for him to fully recover.”

Sky put a hand on her shoulder. “Mandy,” he said, and for once she didn’t hate the nickname. “He’ll recover. I told you, we’re strong.”

“You must trust in God,” the nun told her. “Pray to Our Lady for your husband’s recovery.”

Amanda was saved from making a very impious retort by the door opening yet again. Her mouth fell open when Judge John Case walked in, followed by Lieutenant Dean Erikson.

“I understand someone attempted to murder Sand Wolfe tonight,” Johnnie boomed. “And I think I know who. I warned that foo not to meddle with the Wolfe marriage. I’m here to write an arrest warrant for Terry Askup.”

It’s time for another Tuesday Teaser already! So without further ado, here’s Amanda!

Sand was taken immediately into a room at the hospital, but the doctors told Amanda she had to wait outside while they examined him. The two Guardsmen stayed with her in the second floor waiting room. She had known Dean Erikson since he was an eighteen year old junior guardsman just posted to her neighborhood. For a few months they’d had a shy flirtation both knew would never go anywhere. His pay grade wouldn’t support a pet dog back then, much less have afforded a wife, and she was on her way to a bordello. Now, six years later, he’d moved up in the food chain to the rank of Lieutenant. But he’d never been one of her appointments.

“Please sit down, Mrs. Wolfe,” he said now. “I’m so sorry to have to disturb you at a time like this, but we have to ask you some questions.”

Amanda nodded. Their interrogation was keen and specific. She answered honestly about the three men, what they had said and done, but when it came to how her husband had defeated three armed opponents, she was vague. They wrote her answers down with no sign of suspicion.

Dr. Walsh came to find her. “Your husband has a bullet in his side that cracked two ribs on entry and nicked the lung. We are going into surgery immediately.”

She stood up so fast she almost lost her balance. “Oh, God,” she breathed. “That sounds bad. Is it bad?”

The doctor’s face was grave. “It can be a very dangerous wound. But Mr. Wolfe is young and strong. He has a chance of making a full recovery.”

That meant there was a chance he wouldn’t recover. “Oh, God!” she cried.

“I’ll come back when there is more news,” the doctor said, and went away.

Dean took her arm. “Sit down, ma’am. Your husband is in good hands. I need to go and brief the crime scene investigators, but Corporal Jones will stay with you. Be strong.”

Only two minutes after he left, Sky came up the stairs at a dead run, with no coat or tie, his shirt mostly unbuttoned. His cousin, Snow, was right behind him. “Amanda! What happened? Where is he?”

She flung her arms around Sky’s neck. “Sky! Sand was shot! He’s in surgery now. He … he might die.”

He squeezed her tight. Snow came and draped his arms around both of them. “No, cousin, he won’t die. Our family is hard to kill. I bet he’ll be up and about before you know it.”

Right. Sky told her years ago that wolf warriors recovered from injury very quickly. Her heart began to slow its wild beating. She gave Snow a wobbly smile. But not everyone knew what Sky and his cousins were. She put one arm around Snow and pulled both he and Sky closer to whisper. “Sand turned into a wolf and killed three men who attacked us. He doesn’t want anyone to know how he killed them, but anyone looking at the bodies would know he didn’t use a knife or a gun, and Dean Erikson is going to find out.”

Comprehension immediately came into Sky’s face. “Where are they?”

“By that empty lot only a couple of blocks from my house.”

Sky nodded. “Snow, go there. Drag the bodies to a hiding place and lure some dogs to them.”

“Hiding place?” Amanda tried to keep her voice down. “Why? He should bury them!”

“No, the Guards will find fresh graves pretty quickly, but if we can get the bodies mauled by wild dogs, they won’t know how they died.” He nodded at her blink of realization and turned back to Snow. “Then come back here.”

“And bring Sara back with you. My cousin Sara. She’s a nurse. She can help Sand. And it gives you a reason to leave and go in that direction.”

Snow smiled at her. “You’re pretty sneaky for a city girl,” he said approvingly. “But I’ll let my wolf out. He can run faster.”

They broke apart. Sky slapped Snow on the shoulder and spoke loudly for the corporal’s benefit. “Hurry then and fetch Miss Nelson. Sand will be glad to family nearby when he comes out of surgery.”

Snow nodded and left, and Amanda drew a long unsteady breath and settled down to wait for news of her husband’s condition.