Tuesday Teaser 3/27/18 Stone & Sara
Happy Tuesday!
I have been very busy trying to get moving stuff done, working the day job, taking care of my mom, and polishing, formatting and uploading the books I got back from the publisher. So far I have gotten Wolf Tracker, Eddie’s Prize, and Ellie’s Wolf up at most of the online book stores. That means something has to give, and this week it was writing.
You probably can tell by the title of this blog post that there is no new snip from Gina’s Wolf. Sorry! Right now I am going through Wolf’s Vengeance and it amazes me what a brat Sara is. I mean, I knew she was a brat. I wrote her, after all. But … Wow. Just wow.
When I wrote Wolf’s Princess, I tried to show that Sara had grown up a little. It was a very long book, so the editor suggested removing a few thousand words. There were two scenes about Sara and Stone, and when I write for a publisher I usually agree with whatever the editor suggests. Now that I am self publishing these, I’m wondering if I should add these two scenes back in. Or would they drag the Sky/Rose story down?
What do you say? Add them or leave them out? Let me know what you think.
Sara & Stone Excerpt One
Stone sat on the bottom step of the dormitory beside Snow, offering him silent support. Inside the women’s dorm the doctor was speaking quietly, so quietly that even wolf hearing couldn’t distinguish the words, as he worked on Odell Graham, Snow’s newly found mate. She had been beaten. Who would do something like that to a woman? Every time he remembered Odell’s battered body and bloody face he wanted to kill something. He didn’t know how Snow was controlling himself. Sometimes they could hear her groan, and her breathing alternated between hoarse and rough, and so soft they were afraid she’d stopped breathing altogether. Every now and then Stone heard his mate’s voice answering the doctor in calm tones.
Sara. He dropped his head into his hands. This could happen to her. If she wasn’t married in the next few weeks she would have to go to work in a house, and one of her customers could beat her up. Picturing her soft, pretty face black and swollen, with blood dripping from torn lips and a broken nose, made him spring up from the step. He couldn’t let that happen. Imagining her with other men twisted his guts up, but that was jealous hurt. When he imagined her broken like Odell, a black rage bubbled inside him, fighting to get out and find a victim.
“Stone!”
One of the Omaha men Sky hired to guard the gate to the Limit ran toward them. Snow gripped Stone’s arm in a painful clutch. “Make him shut up!” he snarled. “He’ll disturb my mate.”
Stone sprinted to the man. “What?”
“There’s a man at the gate,” he said, panting. “He’s asking for you.”
Without responding, Stone ran to the gate. He didn’t know what else could go wrong today. But it didn’t look like trouble. The man standing outside the gates holding a fabric bag in one work worn hand was Sara’s uncle.
Mr. Nelson lifted the bag. “I brought Sara a change of clothes and some other things. I figured she might be here for a while.” His lined face wore a look of concern. “How is the lady?”
Stone stood with one hand clenching a bar of the gate. “The doctor thinks she’ll be okay. He’s here with her right now for the second time today.” Sky’s orders were to not open the gate for anyone except one of them or the doctor, but he didn’t think the bag would fit through the bars of the gate. He opened the gate just wide enough for the bag to pass through. “Thanks for bringing this. I’ll see that Sara gets it.”
Mr. Nelson didn’t release the bag. “That’s not the only reason I came. I think it’s time we talked.”
The words whipped through Stone like a cold wind over water. He was pretty sure he knew what his mate’s uncle wanted to talk about. Only a coward would jerk the bag free and turn his back on the older man, and Stone wasn’t a coward. He nodded at Nelson. Maybe it was a good time to walk around the fence to be sure no one was trying to get inside.
“Okay. I’ll come out. We can walk and talk.”
Mr. Nelson let go of the bag and waited for Stone to set it inside the gate. They walked side by side in silence for a few minutes. Stone divided his attention between the brick fence that surrounded the Limit and the man he walked with. The afternoon air was brisk and clean, not obscuring Nelson’s scent, but Stone wasn’t sure what his emotions were. Perhaps nervous, but determined.
“When Sara first came to live with me,” he said in a slow, measured tone, “she was a wreck. She spent at least twelve hours a day crying. If you would have come after her then, I would have done my darnedest to kill you.”
He turned his head to look at Stone, and somehow that lined tired face was deadly. Inside, Stone’s wolf rolled over and exposed his belly. Stone refused to show his throat, but he kept a respectful silence as the man went on.
“I’ve never seen anyone as miserable as Sara those first few months. Every time she’d get to being almost normal, one of your letters would come and the tears would start again.” Exasperation crept into his voice. “If you were only going to write once every four months, couldn’t you have written more than two sentences? Did you like punishing her?”
That was more than he could take. “Punishing her? I wasn’t!”
Nelson’s grunt was loaded with disbelief. “And then when Amanda went to live out west with you all, you stopped writing.”
Stone clenched his jaw. He’d written now and then to let his mate know he was still alive. Amanda was her cousin. She could tell Sara he was still alive. “I didn’t have anything to say.”
Nelson stopped. “Yeah. That’s the whole problem, isn’t it? Instead of talking to her like a man, you just packed her off like a sulky little boy who didn’t want to play with a toy because it had a tiny chip.”
Tiny ch— Sulky boy? Stone unclenched his teeth enough to say, “Do you know what she did?”
“Of course I do. She told me every day and twice on Sundays! She kissed some other man in front of you. Yeah, she told me the whole story. Over and over. Did she ever blame you? Nope, not once. She took all the blame. Said she was stupid, and selfish, and silly.”
“She was stupid and selfish!”
“Yeah.” The older man began walking again. “She was. Seems to me she did it to get back at you for something you did that she didn’t like.”
Stone didn’t stomp as he walked, but he felt like it. Just like a sulky boy. That realization nearly made him stumble. “I went somewhere without her. She couldn’t come. It would have been impractical. And to get back at me she kissed another man. That’s wrong.”
“She knows it. She’s told me so about two million times. Son, she’s sorry. She’s grown up a lot since she’s come to Omaha. Isn’t it time you grew up too?”
Stone walked for a while in silence, wrestling with feelings he didn’t want to admit. “Words are easy to say,” he finally managed to get out. “What happens the next time she gets mad at me?”
“I think she’s grown up enough that it won’t happen. Oh, I’m sure she’ll get mad at you again. Probably lots of times. But she won’t try to get back at you like that.” Nelson thrust his hands in his coat pockets and looked at Stone. “Maybe I’m not an expert on women’s feelings, but I had a sister, and a wife, and a daughter, as well as a niece, and I’m telling you that girl loves you.”
Misery thickened his voice. “I wish I could tell what she feels.”
“Oh yeah. Sara told me you can tell if someone is lying, except for her.”
“I can’t feel her like that at all. It’s like being blind.”
“Can you tell if I’m lying? When I say that Sara loves you, am I lying?”
Stone felt his eyes widen. “No,” he breathed. “That’s true.”
“Darned right it is. Now you listen.” The alpha-like tone was back in Nelson’s voice. “Sara will be eighteen soon. I can’t pay to keep her home. She’ll have to go to work in house, maybe the same house that poor woman was beat near to death in. Is that what you want for Sara?”
“No.” Stone grasped the other man’s arm. “She loves me? You’re sure?”
“Yes, she loves you. You thick headed idiot. You should be ashamed. If she says she loves you, you should believe her, not rely on the word of another man.”
The clean scent of truth swept around Stone. Sara loved him, truly loved him! Elation filled him, making him feel as if he could fly. “I’ll believe her next time. Thank you,” he said fervently. “We better hurry back.”
“Uh-huh.” Mr. Nelson shook his head. “You kids make me tired. But congratulations on finally growing up.”
Sara & Stone Excerpt Two
Sara’s lower back ached from hours of nursing Odell, but she ignored that when Odell struggled to sit up. “I’ve got you,” she told the injured woman in the calmly encouraging tone the nuns had taught her. She braced Odell with one arm while the other hand re-arranged pillows to support her. “Water?”
“Snow.”
The name was a moan slurred by swollen lips, but Sara understood. “I’ll get him,” she said.
But of course she didn’t need to. When she stepped into the hall, the front door of the dorm was already opening. Snow walked down the hall with long, silent strides. She stepped back and he gave her a distracted smile as he passed her. He went to one knee beside the bed and took Odell’s hand gently. Sara watched him stroke his mate’s fingers as tenderly as he would a newborn kitten.
She was over tired. That must be why she felt like crying. Why didn’t Stone show her that kind of tenderness? Blinking to keep back the tears, she turned to bedside table and poured water.
“See if you can get her to take some water,” she said to Snow.
He smiled at her as he took the glass. “Sure. Why don’t you go lie down for an hour? I’ll sit with her.”
“Thanks.”
She quietly closed the door behind her. During their trip to Mel’s ranch a couple years ago, Snow had always been nice to her. He was that kind of guy. Why wasn’t Stone more like him? Sweet, kind, and tender, instead of cold, judgmental and bossy? Even before she had ruined everything by kissing Mord, Stone was often surly. She paused at the dorm’s front door to lean her forehead on the cool wood. Maybe, she admitted privately, he would have been nicer to her if she had been nicer to him. When he made eager protestations of devotion she had laughed at him. And worse. She lifted her head from the door with a weary sigh. She was such an idiot. How could she ever make him believe she had changed?
Sara & Stone Excerpt Three
“Sara!”
At the tiny table in the equally tiny breakfast nook in the women’s dormitory, Sara jerked awake and blinked. She stared blankly down at the remains of her lunch and shook her head to clear her mind. She stood up and crab-walked around the table to the door.
“Stone. What’s wrong?” She looked down the narrow hall towards the door of Odell’s room. It was closed. She looked back at Stone. “Is Odell okay?”
“Sure, she’s fine.” His eyes, the color of raw honey, held excitement. She loved his eyes. “I want to talk to you. You have time to talk right now?”
She’d already wasted half of her sleep break at the little table in the nook, but if Stone wanted to talk to her, she wanted to hear what he had to say. “I’d love to talk to you.”
He took her hand and led her out to the small entryway of the dormitory. “Let’s talk outside, so we don’t disturb anyone. Is it too cold for you? The sun is out and there’s no wind.”
She didn’t want to take her hand out of his and so she reached one-handed for her coat hanging on a hook. Drat. She would need both hands free to put it on. Stone seem to feel the same way, but he let go of her hand and helped her put her coat on. He stood close behind her smoothing her collar down with a hand that seemed… gentle. She felt his breath warm on the back of her neck. For a moment she stopped breathing, wondering if he were going to brush his lips over her nape. She waited for a moment but he stepped around and began fastening the buttons up the front of her coat. He paused for a moment looking down into her eyes. She gazed back up at him, knowing her eyes were wide and her lips dry.
The moment passed. Stone took her hand and put it in the crook of his elbow covering it with his other hand. “Sara, I’ve been thinking…” He trailed off and opened the door to the outdoors. “Let’s walk. I think better when I walk.”
Sara allowed him to lead her down the step to the backyard. Butterflies were doing their very best to create a whirlwind in her stomach. They strolled for several minutes without speaking. She began to wonder if he would ever open his mouth.
“It’s a nice day,” she ventured. “Odell is doing better today.”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s good,” he muttered. Suddenly, he stopped walking and looked down at her. “Sara, I know I’ve been mean to you.”
“No, you haven’t. At least, not more than I deserve.”
“Yeah, I have. I accused you of being a bratty little girl, but I haven’t been so grown up either.” His hand tightened over hers where it lay on his arm. “I never gave you a chance to explain or apologize.”
No, he hadn’t. “I wish you had. What I did was stupid. I was sorry for it right away. But you know what? Until a year ago I didn’t really realize just how stupid it was. So maybe if you would have given me a chance to apologize it wouldn’t have meant as much as it does now. If that makes any sense.”
“I guess it does. Maybe both of us were too young then.”
He didn’t return her trembling smile. His free hand, warm in spite of the cold October air, lifted to cup her cheek. She savored the connection, awed by its sweetness. “Stone, I am so sorry,” she whispered.
His other hand lifted to caress her other cheek. “Sara, tell me one thing. If you say it, I’ll believe it.” His eyes gleamed in the week sunlight, burnished by a shimmer of tears. “Sara, do you love me?”
Tears rushed to her own eyes and spilled over. “Yes, Stone,” she said as clearly as tears permitted. “I love you.”
He lowered his head until their foreheads touched. “Sara, will you be my mate?”
A giggle choked its way out of her tight throat. “We’re already married.”
He didn’t laugh. “Will you accept me as your mate?”
Sara swallowed. Her cousin Amanda had written to her about this. To Stone and his kinsmen, mating was much more than marriage. “Yes, Stone, I accept you. Do you accept me?”
“With my whole heart.” His face was solemn for a long minute before a wide smile broke through. “If it wasn’t for Odell needing quiet, I’d howl loud enough for Taye to hear me way out by Kearney! Can I kiss you?”
She looped her arms around his neck and dragged him down to her lips. The kiss started out hesitant, gentle, even awkward, but the tenderness of his lips made her want to cry until heat flushed trough her body and made her want something else. When he lifted his head she found herself panting.
“Oh,” she said weakly.
“Bad?” he asked, anxiously.
Pure joy made her laugh. “No, good!”
His smile bloomed again, wide and full of the same joy she felt. Something must have caught his eye. She quickly looked around, and saw Katelyn waving from the step of the dorm. “What is she saying?” she asked. “Is Odell worse?”
Stone, with his superb hearing, shook his head. “Odell wants you to come help her with something, but it doesn’t sound dire.” He smiled down at her. “I want a wedding night.”
“Me too!” she said instantly. “But when? Where?”
“I don’t know, but I’ll figure it out.”
“Okay. I better go.”
He walked her back to the dorm. With a quick touch of his hand on her arm, he whispered, “I love you.”
She went inside with his words held tightly to her heart. He loved her.
After the Crash Update
I’ve had a few people email or message me asking where the rest of the After the Crash series is. The answer is: On my Computer. All books will be available for purchase soon!
On March 1, 2018 my contracts for After the Crash books 3 through 7 with Liquid Silver Publishing were done. I’d asked for the rights back, so that I could self publish them. This was NOT because of anything the publisher did. No, Liquid Silver has always been an ethical company. The books began coming down on March 1, and as far as I know, all copies were out of online books stores by March 8. I cannot self publish until they are not available anywhere. And I wanted to review them and make corrections to typos and formatting issues. Several people helped me go through them (hello, Shelley C and Sheryl F, among others) and mark places that needed fixes. So I’ve made fixes and will be re-releasing the books one at a time over the next two weeks.
Also, the paperback of Wolf’s Princess is almost ready for order. I will be giving away a copy through my newsletter very soon. If you don’t get my newsletter,, there is a sign up on the right.
Wolf Tracker, book 3, is already out there, ready to download. For the next three days it is half off. Normally $3.99 but $1.99 until Sunday night. Grab it now
Amazon
Other Online retailers like Barnes & Noble, iBooks, etc.
More books coming soon!
Tuesday Teaser 3/20/18 Gina’s Wolf Part 7
Happy Spring!
Today is the first day of spring here in my part of the world. Not that you’d think so from the weather. humph. But the snow will be gone soon. Even I, who loathe summer heat with a passion, am excited by spring. How about you?
Here is the teaser for this week. I am going add more dialogue between Cole and Gina as he is carrying her so he will be caught up on what happened after he was shot. Right now they are at the farm house, with Nikki, who was on the plane, and her husband. As always this is not edited or even read through for typos. Enjoy anyway!
Chapter Four
Gina barely heard what the woman said. The aroma of ham sizzling on the stove pushed everything else out of her mind. But she noticed Cole’s arms stiffening around her and immediately relaxing, so she forced herself to pay attention to what was going on around her. The woman was not young, but her face had the timeless beauty that perfect bone structure preserved. Her soft brown hair was frosted with silver, the corners of her blue eyes edged with crow’s feet wrinkles, but her expression was lively and warm.
“Come in,” the woman urged. She put out one hand to push her husband back and lightly touched Gina’s shoulder with the other. “Oh, my dear, you’re frozen.” She looked up at Colby again. “Please, bring your mate in from the cold. I’ll take her into the kitchen while you get dressed.”
How did this stranger know that Cole thought of Gina as his ‘mate’? Cole stood silent a moment, and then gently put Gina on her feet. “Thank you.”
Gina’s feet almost failed to hold her up. She clutched Cole’s arm for balance. He steadied her until the farmwife hooked an arm around her waist and guided her into a short hallway that led to a roomy kitchen. The woman’s arm was warm and steady, but Gina was aware of a sense of loss. Cole was warmer and steadier.
Cole didn’t smell like ham and potatoes, though, and the kitchen did. Gina was suddenly ravenous. The woman pulled a chair over to the stove and pushed Gina into it. The stove was blessedly warm. In a few seconds the woman brought a wet washcloth and applied it gently to Gina’s forehead. The pain from the bump flared back to life.
“Sorry,” the woman murmured. “We need to get this cleaned up.”
Gina tried to distract herself from the pain. “Do you know Cole?” she asked, trying to remember what the woman had said. “His name is actually Colby, but he told me to call him Cole.”
“Colby.” The woman paused, obviously thinking. “No, the name is familiar, but I don’t think I ever met him. He would have been just a baby when I married John and left the House to move here. There were many babies born around that time.”
She said the word ‘house’ as if Gina should know which house. Gina didn’t. Cole came into the kitchen, dressed in threadbare jeans too wide in the waist and too short at the ankle, and a button up summer weight cotton shirt a bit too narrow in the shoulders. His feet were still bare. The farmer followed him in, still holding his shotgun, but no longer looking threatening.
“I don’t remember you,” Cole confirmed. “My dad is Taye, from the pack north of Kearney.”
“Oh, sure, Carla is your mom. We were on the plane together. I’m still in contact with Connie and Kathy. We exchange a couple of letters a year.”
Gina was completely lost by this conversation.
“John,” the woman said, wringing out the washrag, “get the extra blanket from the closet.”
Cole came directly to Gina and crouched in front of her. “Are you okay?”
“Sure.” The pain in her head was better now, but her feet and hands were being stabbed by a million red hot needles. That was good. She was still alive. “How about you?”
“Fine.”
The man came back with the blanket but not the shotgun. Cole helped the woman drape it around Gina. She clutched it tightly under her chin, so grateful for its comfort that tears stung her eyes. Cole looked alarmed.
“Are you okay?” he asked again.
“Yes.” She scrubbed the tears away and told a fib. “It’s just the, uh, smoke. Breakfast is burning.”
“I’ll finish breakfast, Nikki,” the man said quietly. “You take Mrs. Wolfe to the bedroom and get her some warm clothes. I’ll finish chores after we get things settled.”
The small bedroom was crowded with a large, neatly made bed and two wooden bureaus. Nikki guided Gina to the bed and turned to rummage through a drawer. She pulled out a pair of jeans, a bright red sweater, and two pairs of wool socks.
“I’m a little taller than you,” Nikki said with a smile, “but we’re about the same size so these should fit.”
Nikki said nothing about the party dress as she helped Gina out of it, but her brow furrowed briefly as she set it aside. Gina wondered what she should say if she was asked why she was outside in a dinner dress and nothing else. She groped for a logical lie in vain. Nothing could explain this bizarre situation. Even the truth was ludicrous.
Nikki didn’t ask. She carefully examined Gina’s toes, fingers, nose, and ears as she helped her dress. “No frostbite,” she said with relief. “Let’s go back out to the kitchen. You need to sit close to the stove to thoroughly warm up.”
Heaven would have thick wool socks. Gina was sure of it. She followed the woman back to the kitchen, each step driving pins and needles through her feet, but by the time she came in the kitchen, the pins and needles were fading. Cole visibly relaxed when he saw her. He took her hand and gently tugged her back to the chair by the stove.
“I want to sit at the table,” she protested.
In answer, he went to the large wooden table, slid one hand under it and lifted it. With no sign of effort, he carried it three yards and set it down in front of her so gently that nothing on it was disturbed. Gina gaped at the sugar bowl and the two place settings before raising her gaze to him. No wonder he could carry her for miles without panting.
The farmer was staring too, but his wife calmly brought more tableware and made two more place settings. “Coffee?” she asked placidly.
Gina giggled. It was a nervous, half-hysterical giggle, but Cole smiled at her and brought the chairs over. He put one chair next to her and sat in it. Somehow, he was just as warm as the stove. Between the stove at her back and Cole at her side, Gina could literally feel herself thawing.
Nikki served them. She apologized for the potatoes, which were a bit scorched, but the ham was perfect, and the eggs plentiful. The bread was toasted, and the butter was rich and thick. It reminded Gina of her stepfather’s dinner party last night.
Gina froze. That was just last night?
“What is it?” Cole asked.
“Nothing.”
The farmer paused in shoveling in eggs. “We should introduce ourselves. I’m John Andrews. My wife, Nikki. I met Nikki in Kearney, when she was working at the Eatery in the Plane Women’s House. We married three months later, after I proved to Des and Connie Wolfe that I would be good to her.”
Cole nodded. “Cole Wolfe. I’m a member of the Pack north of Kearney. This is my mate, Gina.”
Gina made herself small, bracing herself for their disgust when he told them who she was. But he didn’t.
“I came to Omaha with kin for the spring legislative session. That’s where I met Gina. I need to go to back to Omaha,” he went on. “Will you look after Gina for a day?”
“Of course,” Nikki began.
Gina cut her off. “You’re going to Omaha now? Without me?”
“Yes,” he said. “You need to rest.”
“You need to rest, too,” she countered.
“You worry about me?” There was something tender in his dark eyes when he looked at her. That look melted her insides. The melting froze when the tenderness was drowned by arrogance. “Don’t. I am a wolf warrior. You are not. When did you last sleep? I can travel faster without you. I will find my cousins and we will bring you safely home to the den.”
She opened her mouth to argue, drew a breath, and closed it. Why argue? Now that she warm, she was so tired she could hardly sit at the table. “Be careful,” she told him.
His eyes warmed again. “I’ll be careful,” he promised. “Finish your breakfast.”
“Bossy,” she muttered, but continued to eat. She noticed Nikki’s lips were pressed together as if suppressing a smile.
They finished breakfast quickly and Nikki collected the plates and stacked them in the sink while water heated to wash them. John went back to the barn to continue his interrupted chores. Cole led Gina out to the mudroom.
It was cooler here than in the kitchen, so she didn’t object when he put his arms around her. He smelled like lavender and cedar, probably from his borrowed shirt, and something else, something that just him. She buried her nose into his chest.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he whispered into her hair. “Will you miss me?”
She snorted and leaned back to look into his face. “Maybe.”
“My sweet mate.”
He leaned down as if he would kiss her. Gina swallowed irrational panic. “So, what’s with this Plane Women’s House Mrs. Andrews is from?” she blurted “And how does she know you’re a wolf?”
He was even more handsome when he laughed silently. “Ask her to explain it. Now hold still. I need something to keep me warm on the run to Omaha.”
He was going to kiss her! He bent his head slowly, watching her closely. She realized he was giving her time to tell him no. That fact erased her reluctance, giving curiosity room to grow. She lifted her face up and waited for his lips to touch hers.
Tuesday Truth 3/13/18
Sorry! No Teaser tonight. Instead you get a Truth!
On March 1 my contracts with Liquid Silver Books were done and the rights to Wolf Tracker, Eddie’s Prize, Ellie’s Wolf, Wolf’s Vengeance, and Wolf’s Princess reverted back to me. Those books were removed from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. I want them to get back up for sale as quickly as possible, so on top of packing and hauling tons of crap up and down stairs I have been busy formatting and polishing books to self publish them. And I commissioned new art for Wolf’s Princess! Here is the new paperback cover for that. Art by Lyn Taylor.
Tuesday Teaser 3/6/18 Gina’s Wolf Part 6
Ack!! I’m sorry this is so late. Two books that’ I’ve been dying to read came out today and I got sucked in so deep I forgot to post the teaser. Sorry!
The move has kept me very busy, so I haven’t written lately. In fact, last night was the first writing I’ve done in more than two weeks. This isn’t very long, but at least I’ve added a few hundred more words to the file. Off to bed now!
Gina stifled a laugh. “OK. Cole. Are you the wolf? Or is the wolf you? It’s kind of confusing.”
He thought about how to explain it to her. “The wolf and I are two different people. In the Lakota Wolf Clan many boys are born with the spirit of a wolf within them. When the boy hits puberty, the wolf sort of wakes up. He forces the boy to let him out, and then the spirit wolf because a real wolf and the boy is a spirit inside the wolf. The boy has to learn to control the wolf. If he can’t control the wolf, he can’t force the wolf to go back to being a spirit. Then the boy isn’t human anymore. Do you understand?”
She gently shook her head. “Not really.”
He wasn’t surprised. Lots of women who mated wolves didn’t completely comprehend something they had never experienced. “Let’s not worry about that now.” He had no memory of the past week. The wolf had been in control and it chilled him how close he had come to losing himself to the wolf. “I’ll try to explain more when you are warm and rested. Look, the farm house is less than a mile ahead of us.”
“Oh, hurry.”
He ran. With his wolf’s speed, it took only a few minutes to arrive at the fence that circled the yard around the house. The wind his pace created caused his mate to turn her face into his throat. Her breath on his skin was the most wonderful sensation he had ever experienced. Tenderness flooded him, followed swiftly by a fierce desire to protect her. If she hadn’t been in desperate need of more warmth than he could provide, he would have run with her in his arms for hours.
As soon as Cole stopped at the fence, a pack of dogs tore out of two sheds, howling an alert that strangers were approaching. The fence was made of wood and wire, obviously more to keep the farm animals in than to keep intruders out. Although he wanted to leap the fence and rush his mate to the warmth of the kitchen, Cole stood with Gina in his arms waiting for the farmer to make an appearance. Better to wait than have Gina shot.
The farmer came out of the barn in less than ten seconds. His gray-streaked brown hair and lined face made Cole estimate his age to be around sixty. As expected, he held a shotgun at the ready and shielded himself half behind the barn door. Cole approved the farmer’s caution.
“Who is it?” he shouted over the dogs’ barking. “What do you want?”
“I’m Cole Wolfe,” he shouted back. “My wife is freezing. Please, can I bring her inside to get warm?”
The farmer didn’t answer immediately. After a pause, he said, “She’s freezing? You’re buck naked, boy, and it ain’t August, you know.”
Cole considered making up a story about thieves who had stolen his clothes but discarded the idea. Gina’s arm was tight around his neck, so he focused on what was important. “That doesn’t matter. Please, let her in. I can stay out here if it would make you feel better.”
There was another long pause before the farmer stepped away from the door and approached them. He stopped a wary distance away. Cole noted the shotgun wasn’t aimed at them but it would take only a tiny move to lift the barrel in their direction. His eyes matched the gray streaks in his hair as he looked them over thoroughly. Cole found himself tensing when the stranger looked at his mate. His wolf didn’t like another man looking at their mate. The chattering of Gina’s teeth seemed to decide the man.
“You folks better come in.” He gestured with the shotgun toward the house. “You go on to the door at the left. Stop there. I’ll follow you until then, but I’ll go in first to let my wife know you’re guests.”
Cole waited for the man to open the gate and step back, shotgun held casually ready, before walking through and following the path through the snow to the house. The man might be overreacting. Gina was clearly no threat, and he was obviously not hiding any weapons, but he respected a man who took his wife’s safety seriously. He obediently paused below the three shallow steps leading to the door and let the man slip past him. The farmer closed the door, but Cole could hear him speaking inside, explaining to his wife that they had odd visitors and one of them needed pants to be decent enough to come into her kitchen. Cole glanced down at himself, but his mate blocked the view of his nakedness. He hauled her closer to his warmth.
“Soon,” he told her softly. “Soon you’ll be warm.”
“Can’t wait,” she said. “You can put me down now.”
He held her tighter. “No, not yet.”
The door swung open. The scent of frying ham poured out of the warm house. The farmer stood there, a wad of blue fabric in one hand. He held the fabric out to Cole. “You get dressed before you come in. I’ll take your wife.”
A snarl burst from Cole’s throat. The man stepped back, revealing a woman. She resolutely kept her eyes on his face. Her expression went from coolly polite to shocked. She clapped her hand over her mouth.
“John,” she said quickly, “don’t touch her.” She turned appealing eyes to Cole. “We won’t take your mate away from you. Please put her down here in the mudroom and put the jeans on.”
Her husband gave her a suspicious look. “You know him?”
“No, but I know who he is. What he is.” She gave Cole a smile. “I’m Nikki from the Plane Women’s House.”
Tuesday Teaser 2/20/18 Gina’s Wolf Part 5
Moving is such a lot of fun, isn’t it? Yeah. My immediate move has been changed to this weekend. By immediate I mean my bed, TV, desk, computers (one for me and my writing and one for the day job) toiletries, etc. This week is devoted to cleaning my old room at my mom’s and sorting through my stuff here to see what I want to bring to mom’s, what I want to store, what I want to donate and what I want to throw away. I spent about 3 hours tonight going through about half of my craft stuff. This is hard!
It also means I’m too tired to do any writing. I’m afraid there may not be a Tuesday Teaser next week. Maybe you’ll get a Tuesday Truth instead 😉 Or maybe i’ll post a few of the vintage family photos that my brother unearthed when he was clearing out the storage room to make room for some of my stuff. My grandparents were married in 1919. That’s almost 100 years ago! I love that stuff.
While I’m busy sorting and packing, you can read the next little bit from Gina and Colby’s story. Oh, and from now on he wants to be called Cole. He said colby is a kind of cheese. Not cool. LOL
“Colby!” she shrieked. “I’m freezing. I’m tired of following a stupid wolf who won’t even talk to me. Are you in there?”
The wolf trotted on. She ground her teeth to keep them from chattering. You wanted to escape, she reminded herself. Don’t be a baby. Freezing to death was preferable to marrying Jon, Tanner, and whoever else in Falls City. Colby would take care of her as soon as he decided they were safe. She just had to be patient and keep moving. At least he has a thick fur coat to wear. That envious sarcasm was her last thought before she tripped over something and tumbled into the comfort of darkness.
Chapter Three
The wolf heard the woman fall from the lip of the hill he led her along. In a single bound, he leaped to the edge of the slope. She rolled and bounced several body lengths to the narrow stream at the bottom of the hill, and then lay still on the ice, her arms and legs splayed. A whine rose in the wolf, driven by terror. His terror? The man’s? The wolf wasn’t sure. He dashed down the slope. Before he reached her, he caught the scent of her blood. Injured. His mate was injured. The wolf didn’t like that. His mate should never know pain.
She slept. Like the man within him, she wouldn’t wake. He nosed at her face. No response. He pawed her shoulder. Nothing. Blood oozed from a cut on her forehead. He licked it to stop the bleeding. He licked it and licked it, and the bleeding slowed, but she didn’t wake. The man could pick her up and carry her to safety, if he would just wake up. This was their mate who needed help. He blasted all his fear and anger in one internal shriek: Wake up!
There was a sluggish response, more of a groan than a word.
Our mate is dying! the wolf screamed at the man inside. If you don’t help her, we’ll lose her forever. Wake up!
Deep inside, the man stirred. The wolf felt his growing alarm and urged him forward by shoving images of their mate: her unconscious body lying over the crusty ice, her blood welling from the cut at her hairline to stain the ice beneath her, the blue tinge to her lips. That galvanized the man. Like a mighty wind blowing over the prairie, he rose and shoved the wolf back. Relieved, the wolf retreated.
Colby fell to his knees as pain crashed over him. He didn’t know where he was. This empty bit of scrubby land was completely unknown to him. He didn’t know why he was here or how he had gotten here. The place where his memories should be was a gaping black hole. He caught himself with one hand on the ice and put his other hand over his head to try to still the pain. A scent came to him that even a black hole couldn’t wash from his memory. Gina. Mate.
She lay before him in a bedraggled party dress. Where was her coat? He let go of his head to lay a hand over her cheek. Cold. She was so cold. He gathered her close.
“Miss Gina?”
His voice was a hoarse croak. He coughed and tried again. “Miss Gina!”
He eyelashes fluttered. “C-co-cold.”
“Yes, darling.” Gently he propped her against his chest and guided her hands into his armpits. Wrapping his arms around her to enclose as much of her as possible in his warmth, he looked around. There was nothing to see but snow, ice-crusted dead grass, and some scrubby trees. The position of the stars told him it was a few hours after midnight, but did nothing to pinpoint their location. Why were they out in the middle of nowhere?
“Where are we?” he asked her.
“How would I know?” Her voice squeaked with outrage. “You made me follow you out here. Don’t you know?”
He didn’t reply. “Is this Nebraska?”
“Probably.” She pushed her face more deeply into his chest and flinched. “My head hurts.”
“Mine, too. We can’t stay here. We need to get you warm.”
As she whimpered agreement, he carefully stood, balancing her in his arms like a mother with a baby. Flattened grass and scattered snow showed where they had come from. Climbing the steep, ten foot slope made his head jangle with pain. Once on top he searched the landscape for a camp, or a house, or anything that would help his mate. He read the tracks on the top of the hill well enough. His wolf had been leading the way when his mate fell down the slope. He looked in the direction the tracks led. Where had the wolf been going? He tried to remember. There was nothing in his mind. He took deep breaths to calm his panic. Since no better plan came to him, he continued in the wolf’s direction.
“Where are we going?” his mate demanded.
“There is a farmhouse ahead.”
That was only a guess, but a good one. To their left were straight furrows under the snow, indications that this land was under cultivation. The stream on their right would provide water to irrigate crops. Dawn was only a couple of hours away. Soon the farmwife would light the stove to cook breakfast. He would scent the smoke and find the house.
“Thank God. I’m so cold, Colby.” The stars gleamed in her pale blue eyes. He stared down at her, captivated by her beauty. Her eyes frowned slightly as she pulled a hand from under his arm and raised it to the side of his head, but she tucked it back without touching him. “Colby, are you alright? You were shot. I could see the gash on the wolf, but you don’t have a scar.”
He had been shot? Blurred, shadowy memories tried to form, but faded away before he could grasp them. “What has happened in the past week?” he inquired.
She drew a quivery breath. “Nothing much. Not until today. My stepfather probably made me wait that long to torture me.”
A growl vibrated in his chest. “Your stepfather tortures you?”
“Not physically. Mentally. He called for me this afternoon. Or maybe it was yesterday afternoon. He told me I was going to marry the Allersens. They’re from Falls City—”
“You can’t,” he interrupted fiercely. “You are my mate.”
She laughed bitterly. “Tell him that.”
His voice came out flat. “I will.”
She laughed again. “Hopefully we’ll never see him again.”
He silently swore she never would. “Tell me more.”
“Well, my wedding date was set for the first of May, and I would go immediately to the Brotherhood Commune in Falls City.”
“And? How did we end up out here?”
She lifted her head from his throat to look at him. “You really don’t know?”
He shook his head and regretted it. “No, I don’t remember. Normally I remember everything when the wolf is out, but I have no recent memories in my head right now.”
His mate put her face down again. “After supper I went to the outhouse. When I came out the soldier who escorted me was bleeding on the ground and you, that is, the wolf made me leave camp with him. We walked all night.”
“Where’s your coat?” He rubbed his hand along her bare arm. His body heat was something, but not enough. “You’re very cold.”
“The president gave orders that I couldn’t wear a coat. He probably thought that would keep me from running away. I guess he was wrong.” She paused. “Um, Colby?”
Hearing her speak his name made him forget the pain in his head. “Call me Cole. My mom named me Colby, but that is a cheese. I like Cole better.”
She stifled a laugh. “OK. Cole. Are you the wolf? Or is the wolf you? It’s kind of confusing.”
He thought about how to explain it to her. “The wolf and I are two different people. In the Lakota Wolf Clan many boys are born with the spirit of a wolf within them. When the boy hits puberty, the wolf sort of wakes up. He forces the boy to let him out, and then the spirit wolf because a real wolf and the boy is a spirit inside the wolf. The boy has to learn to control the wolf. If he can’t control the wolf, he can’t force the wolf to go back to being a spirit. Then the boy isn’t human anymore. Do you understand?”
She gently shook her head. “Not really.”
He wasn’t surprised. Lots of women who mated wolves didn’t completely comprehend something they had never experienced. “Let’s not worry about that now.” He had no memory of the past week. The wolf had been in control and it chilled him how close he had come to losing himself to the wolf. “I’ll try to explain more when you are warm and rested. Look, the farmhouse is only a mile ahead of us.”
“Oh, hurry.”
He ran.
Tuesday Teaser 2/13/18: Gina’s Wolf Part 4
Happy Tuesday!
Yesterday was my mom’s birthday. She’s in her mid-80s, and she has dementia. She does pretty well, but she really can’t live on her own. My oldest brother lives with her but she doesn’t really want her son to wash her hair, etc, and she doesn’t want a stranger to come in and do it. And even if she’s known you for years, you’re a stranger to her. So at the end of March I will be putting my stuff in storage and moving home.
Frankly, I don’t want to. I like living on my own and it’s been decades since I lived at home. I don’t want to share a bathroom with my brother. 🙁 However, the next door neighbor’s infatuation with his subwoofer is changing my mind about that. Mom’s house will be relatively quiet. I think I’ll be able to write there. Here, I give up after about an hour and have only 100 words written. In the long run, I think this move is the best thing.
I did manage some words this week. Here is the second half of Chapter 2:
After the meal, the ladies were excused so the men could put their heads together and lay their plans. Gina would have loved to linger and listen, but her mother firmly ushered her out. At least she didn’t have to put up with Tanner and Jon anymore. As the cluster of women approached the harem tent, she turned away from them.
“Georgina?” her mother said sternly.
“I need to use the facilities,” she said airily.
One of the guards flanking the door flap halted her. “Beg pardon, Miss Todd,” he said diffidently. “The president has instructed us to escort you wherever you want to go.”
“I’m just going to the latrine.”
“Yes, Miss. I will escort you.” Even in the starlight she could see the blush that rose to his cheeks. “You’ll need to leave your wrap here, please.”
“But it’s cold.”
The blush darkened. “Yes, Miss. President’s orders.”
I won’t be likely to run away without something to keep me warm, she thought sarcastically. “Alright. Mom, will you take my shawl?”
Her mother took the wrap with a frown. “You have a chamber pot in the tent,” she began.
“I need some fresh air.”
With no wrap over her mostly bare shoulders, it really was cold. Gina hurried over the icy ground to the row of tents erected over the latrines. She wanted to escape. In fact, after dinner with Jon and Tanner, she was determined to escape. But running off with a guard hanging on her heels and without provisions or even a coat was impossible. And this young private –Carson? Carleton?—would be in big trouble if she ran away when he was guarding her. She would just be married off to a repulsive commune of misogynists; he would be executed.
She left him waiting a few respectful yards from the latrine tent and did her business as quickly as she could. When she came out of the tent she didn’t see him standing where she had left him. She glanced around, confused. On her second glance she focused on the ground, looking for tracks to show where he had gone, and that’s when she found him.
The gallant young private was a crumpled dark shape on the moonlit snow. A black shadow spilled over the snow around his head. She rushed forward. A large, dark animal sprung out of nowhere to block her path. It was a dog. No, not a dog. Gina squinted in the dim light, trying to ignore the leap of terror in her throat while identifying the animal. It was a wolf. A wolf? The huge head was level with her waist. Fangs gleamed ivory in a gaping maw. Gina froze, not even breathing. There were dark streaks on the teeth. Blood? Gina finally remembered to breathe.
Her scream died in her throat. The top of the broad head had no fur, only a raw place were blood had clotted. She had seen only one wolf up close in her life. She swallowed a shuddering breath.
“Colby?” she whispered.
The wolf moved to her, his eyes shining yellow in the dim light. She backed away. He kept coming. After a minute of retreating from his advance she realized he was herding her out of camp. She tried to side step. He moved with her, now using his heavy shoulder to force her to keep moving. It was too cold out here without a wrap. Her dress was thin, no protection from the wind. Her shoes were sturdier than her evening pumps, but still not warm enough She was sure the camp had guards around the perimeter. One of them would see her and … What? Rescue her? Send her back to Jon and Tanner? Shoot Colby? Ice that had nothing to do with the temperature slid down her spine. Or worse. They would capture Colby and turn him over to Major Ellis and her stepfather to torture.
Colby must have a camp. Hopefully he had something warm for her to put on there. This was her best chance of escape. She turned and allowed the wolf to push her out of camp.
Once it became clear she wouldn’t try to go back to camp, the wolf bounded a few steps in front and led her away from camp. Every few steps he turned his head to be sure she was still behind him. She turned her head too, to be sure no one was following them. It wouldn’t be long before she and the private were missed.
The private. Gina wrapped her arms around herself as she hurried behind the wolf. Was he dead? Cold seeped into her bones, the result of horror mixed with the frigid air around her. The private hadn’t done anything wrong, but the wolf murdered him. Maybe she was insane to be following this wolf through the dark. If she hadn’t seen him transform from a man to a wolf on the train with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have believed it. There really were werewolves, and Colby was one.
She tripped over a clod of frozen earth under the snow and hit her knees hard. The wolf dashed to her side and nipped her wrist.
“Hey!” She batted ineffectually at him. He responded by closing his mouth over her wrist and tugging. She could feel his teeth against the bones in her wrist but he didn’t bite down. “Okay, okay, let go. I’m coming.”
She would have sworn she walked for hours behind the wolf. She grew colder with every step. When they came to the river, she realized they had walked at least five miles. It really had been hours, then. The wolf growled low when she didn’t immediately slide down the bank. She held her arms close to her sides so he couldn’t nip her wrist again and cautiously went down to the river. The frozen river wouldn’t stop any pursuit, but it might slow them down. Where were the pursuers? She had expected them to catch up long before this. She made her way carefully over the river, the wolf trotting before her.
Without trees or hills, nothing blocked the wind on the surface of the frozen water. Her teeth chattered as she laboriously pulled herself up the opposite bank. At the top, she fell. The wolf was there, sticking his furry face into her hers and growling.
“Colby,” she croaked. “I can’t. I just can’t.”
The wolf didn’t accept that. He put his massive shoulder into her side and pushed. She dragged herself to her feet and stood wavering, staring at the wolf.
“How much farther?” she asked.
The wolf growled and stepped past her to lead the way.
She trudged behind him. How cold was it? Forty degrees? Above freezing, so she couldn’t actually freeze, could she? She couldn’t feel her feet, though, and that couldn’t be good. Her upper arms and face stung with cold. At least the wind was dying down. The skirt of her satin dress wouldn’t be much protection, but she flipped it up to cover her shoulders, not caring if the wolf could see her underwear. Modesty was the least of her problems right now. Besides, it was a wolf. Colby had yet to make an appearance.
On and on they went through the cold night. Gina stopped looking back to check for pursuit. If her stepfather’s men caught up with them she might be grateful. They would wrap her in blankets and give her something warm to drink. Just the thought of it brought the threat of tears.
“Colby,” she called.
The wolf didn’t pause, but one of his ears cocked back as if to hear her better.
“Colby, how much farther?”
He didn’t answer.
“Colby!” she shrieked. “I’m freezing. I’m tired of following a stupid wolf who won’t even talk to me. Are you in there?”
The wolf trotted on. She ground her teeth to keep them from chattering. You wanted to escape, she reminded herself. Don’t be a baby. Freezing to death was preferable to marrying Jon, Tanner, and whoever else in Falls City. Colby would take care of her as soon as he decided they were safe. She just had to be patient and keep moving. At least he has a thick fur coat to wear. That bit of envious sarcasm was her last thought before she tripped over something and tumbled into the comfort of darkness.
Tuesday Teaser 2/6/18 Gina’s Wolf Part 3
Here in North Dakota it is still winter. In some places winter is winding down (or it is summer) but we can expect another 6-8 weeks, or more. We’ve had some nasty snowstorms in April in the past. But maybe this year will be an early spring. I love winter, and even I am getting tired of it. I hope you are a=enjoying beautiful weather wherever you are.
I mention weather because poor Gina is going to be quite cold for the next chapter. Again, this is very raw. I think I need to up the tension at the dinner party and make it a little more interesting. The point of the dinner party is to make sure you, the reader, detest Jon and Tanner. I wonder if I need to fill in any more info about the other ladies. They don’t have a big impact on the story, though, so I’m not sure. But the end of this section picks up the pace.
Chapter Two
Only her stepfather would throw a dinner party in a tent when the temperature had dropped below freezing. What’s more, he expected ladies to wear low cut dresses to the dinner. Gina wished for a thick shawl to drape over her bare shoulders. Not just because it was cold, but because that nasty old Brother Saul was leering at her cleavage. He was discreet about it, but Gina caught him at it. When she did, the old man just bared yellow teeth in a smile that made her want to vomit. Thank goodness he was seated across the table at her father’s right hand.
Her mother, as the ranking Mrs. Todd present, sat at the foot of the table with Fourth Mrs. Tod on her right and Fifth Mrs. Todd on her left. Gina sat between Jon and Tanner on her stepfather’s left. Her stepfather’s sister, Tamara, was next to Brother Saul. Gina liked Tammy. Too bad she had to sit next to the old man. The remaining seats were occupied by the ranking men of her stepfather’s army.
Dinner was served by young privates in dress uniforms. They brought in baskets of bread, with small crocks of butter, cheese, and jellies, followed by steaming tureens of soup. One of the privates served her a bowl of soup. The warmth and the scent of it was alluring. Cream of chicken. Gina stared at the creamy broth.
Tanner leaned close. “Do you like the soup?” he asked eagerly.
She took a spoonful and almost swooned at the richness of the broth. Since the forces from Omaha had destroyed the camp’s supplies a week ago, meals had been lean. The President and his family had eaten a little better than the army, but all of them had been on short rations. Todd’s men had been combing the countryside for wild game, and augmented their hunting by collecting food from the local population. At the end of winter, no one had vast quantities of food stores left, but the army of Kansas-Missouri ruthlessly confiscated what they found. Gina hated to think she was eating food stolen from people who had worked hard for it, but she was cold and hungry, so she ate.
“Do you?” Tanner said insistently.
“Yes,” she replied truthfully. In the minefield of politics and her stepfather’s insanity, it might be the only truth she told tonight.
Tanner’s grin was smug. “It’s all from our commune.”
Gina lowered her spoon. “The soup?”
Tanner’s sigh said she was an moron. “The cream, the chickens, the eggs, and butter.”
“Oh.” Gina wasn’t sure what else to say, so she went back to eating.
From her other side, Jon offered her a thick slice of bread thickly buttered. “What my idiot brother is trying to tell you,” he said smoothly, “is that the wagons we sent to Falls City to bring provisions arrived today. You don’t need to worry about being hungry.”
“That’s good to know,” she said politely.
Tanner leaned close. “The Brotherhood knows how to work the land. We never go hungry. Our women get their fair share of the food, too.”
Gina plastered an impressed expression on her face. “How very egalitarian of you,” she said gravely.
Tanner’s prominent forehead furrowed in obvious confusion. Gina hid a smirk. She hadn’t expected him to understand words with more than two syllables.
Jon shook his head at her with a condescending smile. “Men and women are not equal. Men, who have more responsibility, occupy a higher status than women. But that is not to say women are unimportant or without worth. They are honored as mothers. That is their glory.”
“We make sure our women are given everything they need,” Tanner put in. “Even rebellious women have food and clothes after they learn how to behave. You’ll find that out next month when you come to Falls City.”
A month. Only a month of freedom before she would have to marry these smug men who thought a women’s worth was measured only by her children? Too bad there wasn’t anything hard in the soup. Gina longed to crunch down on something. She only bent her head and stared at her empty bowl. It was a subservient position the President approved of. It had the advantage of hiding her face.
“There,” said her stepfather heartily. “You will be taken good care of in Falls City. I did right to reward our allies. When those thugs from Omaha snuck into my camp and burned my supplies, they thought we would retreat in ignominious haste. But thanks to good Brother Saul and his Brotherhood, we have plenty of food to last some time. Omaha will regret attacking me.”
Gina almost looked up, but remembered in time to keep her head down. Reminding him that those thugs had also taken his women captive and forced him to agree to a nonaggression pact would be stupid. She chewed bread vigorously.
With another smirk, Tanner pinched her upper arm. His smile was scary. “You don’t want to marry into the Brotherhood, do you?” When she didn’t answer he pinched her harder. “Do you?”
She swallowed bread. “It was unexpected,” she said carefully.
“Maybe you want to run away and marry that Native werewolf.”
Colby. For a moment, she saw him in her mind’s eye, tall and broad shouldered, black hair gleaming in the sun, a stubbornly set expression on his face when he told her she belonged to him. She shrugged indifferently and buttered another slice of bread. “I barely knew him and didn’t like him.”
Tanner’s fingers reached for her arm again, ready to pinch. Her stepfather’s voice stopped him. Tanner might not have recognized that very pleasant tone, but Gina did. She froze, keeping her head bent.
“Young Tanner, my daughter has displeased me, but she is my daughter, and I expect you to treat her with the respect she deserves. Do we understand each other?”
Tanner sat back. “Yes, sir.”
Gina noted the surly tone. She was sure that as soon as they were away from her stepfather’s reach, she would be a mass of bruises. Her future as the wife of multiple misogynistic men turned her stomach. Eating the rest of the dinner seemed impossible, but she forced herself to chew and swallow the roasted venison, the creamed corn, and the dried apple pie. She would need her strength to get through whatever would come next.
After the meal, the ladies were excused so the men could put their heads together and lay their plans. Gina would have loved to linger and listen, but her mother firmly ushered her out. At least she didn’t have to put up with Tanner and Jon anymore. AS the cluster of women approached the harem tent, she turned from the other women.
“Georgina?” her mother said sternly.
“I need to use the facilities,” she said airily.
One of the guards flanking the door flap halted her. “Beg pardon, Miss Todd,” he said diffidently. “The president has instructed us to escort you wherever you want to go.”
“I’m just going to the latrine.”
“Yes, Miss. I will escort you.” Even in the starlight she could see the blush that rose to his cheeks. “You’ll need to leave your wrap here, please.”
“But it’s cold.”
The blush darkened. “Yes, Miss. President’s orders.”
I won’t be likely to run away without something to keep me warm, she thought sarcastically. “Alright. Mom, will you take my shawl?”
Her mother took the wrap with a frown. “You have a chamber pot in the tent,” she began.
“I need some fresh air.”
It really was cold. Gina hurried over the icy ground to the row of tents erected over the latrines. She wanted to escape. In fact, after dinner with Jon and Tanner, she was determined to escape. But running off with a guard hanging on her heels and without provisions or even a coat was impossible. And this young private –Carson? Carleton?—would be in big trouble if she ran away when he was guarding her. She would just be married off to a repulsive commune of misogynists; he would be executed.
She left him waiting a few respectful yards from the latrine tent and did her business as quickly as she could. When she came out of the tent she didn’t see him standing where she had left him. She glanced around, confused. On her second glance she focused on the ground, looking for tracks to show where he had gone, and that’s when she found him.
The gallant young private was a crumpled shape dark against the moonlit snow. A black shadow spilled over the snow around his head. She rushed forward. A large, dark animal sprung out of nowhere to block her path. It was a dog. No, it was a wolf. A wolf? The huge head was level with her waist. Fangs gleamed ivory in a gaping maw. Gina froze, not even breathing. There were dark streaks on the teeth. Blood? Gina finally remembered to breathe.
Her scream died in her throat. The top of the broad head had no fur, only a raw place were blood had clotted. She had seen only one wolf up close in her life. She swallowed a shuddering breath.
“Colby?” she whispered.
Tuesday Teaser 1/30/18 Gina’s Wolf Part 2
Hello! I hope everyone is doing well. There has been a lot of flu and bad colds going around here. I have been immune in January, but I just got home from supper with a friend who says she is coming down with something. Glad to see her and spend time with her, but I was careful to not touch my hands to my face, and I was quick to wash my hands as soon as I got home. I already had the flu, thank you. LOL
Here is the second half of Chapter One. As last time, this is raw. What you get in these Tuesday Teasers is the fast draft. In this first draft I tend to I dump info in blocks so I have it down. I go in later and break it up so the readers gets little bits here and there. But as I said, this is the raw version. Hope you can enjoy it anyway. 🙂
Oh, and isn’t her mom the best? *cough* I keep trying to make her a more sympathetic character, but it isn’t working!
An hour later, Gina dug her fingernails into the thin mattress on her cot. “I can’t marry him—them,” she said in a furious whisper to her mother. “I can’t.”
“You can,” her mom countered. “And you must.”
Gina scowled at the tarp floor. Of course her mother would take his side. It probably wouldn’t change anything, but Gina tried to convince her. “Do you know how the men in Falls City treat their women? You can’t really call them wives. A man takes a number and when his number comes up, he gets to sleep with one of the women. The women have no choice. Is that what you want for me?”
“Of course not.” Her mom laid a hand on her forearm. “I wanted you to marry Stanton Ellis.”
Gian recoiled. “He’s a monster.” All too aware that the walls, being only canvas, didn’t keep sound from carrying, she lowered her voice. “Do you know what he does to stray dogs and cats? Torturing them is his hobby.” She shuddered, memories of coming across the remains of his hobby making her stomach turn. “I couldn’t marry him.”
“So you put everyone, including yourself, in danger by running away.” Her mother’s lips tightened. “I am very disappointed in you. The major wouldn’t have treated you badly. Your father wouldn’t allow it. If you had stayed in Kansas City instead of running away last summer, you would have been married and living close to me. Any friends you made in Omaha would be safe now. Instead, because your selfish willfulness forced your father to come looking for you, they will never live in peace again. That is on your head.”
Her mom stood up and went to the door flap. “Think about that, Georgina Anne. Your engagement supper will be served in one hour. Wear your nicest dress and don’t be late.”
Gina buried her face in the pillow until she heard the curtain that served as he door rustle closed. Her mother was right. Every person in the city of Omaha and the state of Nebraska were in danger because she had come to Omaha when she ran away last summer. Why hadn’t she thought of that? Or maybe she had, she admitted painfully, but cared more for her own freedom anybody else. Running away from Kansas City had been the bravest thing she’d ever done. Only now did she wonder if was also the stupidest.
But President Todd would have come to Omaha eventually. It was too prosperous a region for him to have ignored for long. She had only sped up the inevitable. She let out a long, trembling breath. She hated him with every fiber of her being.
Nine years ago, when she was eleven years old, her father died. Less than a month later her mother had married Gerald Todd. Mr. Todd, as he been called then, already had a wife. Since there were far more men than women, women did sometimes marry more than one man. Gina thought that was disgusting, but if everyone was happy, it wasn’t any her business. But she had never of a man with more than one wife. A few years later her stepfather became the mayor of Kansas City. Most men would have been satisfied to be mayor, but Gerald Todd wanted to rule the world. And he wanted sons to follow in his footsteps. His first wife had no children. His second wife, her mother, had become pregnant several times but no child had been born alive. He married a third wife and took over all of Missouri. That wife never conceived. A couple of years ago, he expanded his power into parts of Kansas, where he found and married Shelley Parker. He pushed into Illinois and married his fifth wife, Suzanne Dent. None of his wives had delivered a living baby, but Shelley, the fifth Mrs. Todd, had recently discovered she was pregnant.
That was why they were still camped here outside Omaha. Todd didn’t want to have his precious unborn son face any risk. Traveling in March in a badly sprung truck lumbering over prairie that went from frozen earth to mud and back again would present some risk.
Then again, Todd was probably trying to provoke some response from Omaha that he could use as an excuse to attack them. So far he was keeping to the terms of the peace treaty Omaha had negotiated at the prisoner exchange, but that would last only as long as he wanted it to.
She rolled over on her back and put her arm over her eyes. Yeah, her mom was right. Her selfishness would cause her newly made friends in Omaha lots of trouble. People like Lachlan and Ceara McRoberts. When she had escaped from Kansas City – no easy thing, considering that everyone in the city knew who she was and that she wasn’t allowed to leave – she had disguised herself as a boy and hopped on a riverboat going north. When she disembarked in Omaha, she was tired, hungry and scared. Ceara has found her and given her a job in the coffee shop she owned with her husband. They had given her an attic room in their house to live in, a place at their table, and a small wage. Those were all good things, she was grateful for them, but the most important thing they gave her was a new life. No one in Omaha knew she was, so no one was frightened of her. No one hated her. No one tried to get close to her in order to curry favor with her stepfather. For seven months she’d had a good life. Now, her future didn’t look nearly so good.
Gina dressed for supper.
Tuesday Teaser 1/23/18 Gina’s Wolf Part 1
Hey, I’m sorry. I almost forgot to post this!
I have finally begun Gina’s Wolf. It picks up a week after Victoria’s Cat ends. I am not entirely happy with the beginning, but that’s not unusual. It feels a little stilted, and I’m trying a bit too hard to show what Todd is like. I also need to sprinkle in a little more back story, like why are they still camped in the west edge of Iowa and how much food do they have, and does she ever think of Colby. For me it’s better to spit the words out and then go back later and add what needs to be there. So all that was to say, “Hey, please be kind when you read this. It is very raw.” 🙂
You can expect a scene on most Tuesdays through the end of April. Enjoy!
GINA’S WOLF
Daughters of the Wolf Clan 3
© Maddy Barone 2018
Chapter One
The wind that ruffled the wolf’s fur carried the sound of voices to him. They called a word over and over in their human speech. He felt uneasy, as if he should recognize that word. Perhaps he should recognize the voices too. But the voices were of human kind, and though confusion smeared many things in his mind, the wolf knew that humans caused pain and carried death with them. So the wolf eluded the humans, keeping out of their paths until night fell. He trotted away, careful to keep his paws from places that they would sink into snow or mud so that the humans couldn’t track him.
Humans were bad, but somehow he couldn’t bear to leave them entirely. To the north and west there was a large concentration of humans inhabiting solid dens that shut them in completely. The wolf was sometimes drawn to them, but never went too close. To the east, over a wide river, was another, smaller, concentration of humans, who lived in dens that they could take with them when they moved.
The wolf did not have a den. He had made one once, but the human hunters had found it and exclaimed excitedly to one another, saying that almost-familiar word over and over. Cold bee. After that, the wolf only found sheltered places to rest for a few hours.
Cold bee. What did it signify? The wolf didn’t know. The man would know, but the man was still slept, no matter how desperately the wolf tried to wake him. Maybe the man’s head hurt even worse than the wolf’s did. It throbbed with fiery pain when the wolf moved to suddenly or for too long. He cautiously picked his way over the frozen river, ignoring the cold stinging his paws. In the dark, hidden by clumps of dead grass covered with fresh snow, the wolf settled down to watch the humans in the camp of movable dens. The humans here carried the dark sticks that made heads explode. The wolf knew that, and fear crawled through his ruff at the sight of them, but he couldn’t leave these humans for more than a day or two. There was something here, something important. The wolf knew that too, but he didn’t know what. The man would know. Why didn’t he wake?
There had been a time when the wolf had never wanted his human to wake and push him into a small corner of his mind. The man had been only a pup then, and they had waged war to see which of them would be the Alpha and control who was a mere shadow in the mind of the other. The wolf had fought hard, but the human pup had won, forcing compliance to his will. At the pup’s command, the wolf was only a spirit inside the human’s body unless he decided to allow the wolf to come out and run on four paws. Then the pup was a spirit in the wolf’s mind, but even in spirit form the human pup was strong enough to banish the wolf back to a spirit. The wolf respected strength and learned to yield willingly since the pup was wise and strong. The pup grew into a man, and they had forged an alliance that suited them both.
But now, when the wolf wanted him to take control, the man slept. A frustrated growl made the pain in his head flare. He should leave this place and go to where game hadn’t been hunted to almost nothing. He’d eaten only a few rabbits over the past week. Had it been a week? That was a human measurement of time, so the wolf wasn’t sure. He was sure he hadn’t eaten enough.
He got up, intending to go right now. Further south it would be warmer, and the rabbits would be plentiful. His head swung back to the human dens. There was something there. Something more important than even food. Twice, when the wind had been exactly right, he’d caught faint traces of a scent that put him in a frenzy. He didn’t know what it was. And the man wouldn’t come out.
Even now, that scent drifted to his nose, drawing him out from the grass. He had taken several steps before he stopped himself and dropped back down. Wake up, you stupid man! he shouted internally.
For the first time, a sluggish response came. Jee-nah. Then the man was gone again.
Jee-nah. What was Jee-nah? Was that the reason he stayed? Why was Jee-nah so important?
The word came to him so faintly he wasn’t sure if it came from the man or his own fragmented mind. It sent him, belly to the ground, toward the human dens. A sense of danger nagged at him, but the power of the word beat it back. The word sang in his blood and sent fiery elation through every nerve.
Mate.
“Miss Todd? Your father is asking for you.”
Gina clenched her teeth. Her name wasn’t Todd and President Todd was not her father. By the apologetic look on Janelle’s face, she knew what Gina wanted to say. With great care, Gina pushed back from the rickety camp table and stood. The urge to kick her chair over and scream nearly overwhelmed her. But only one person in the Kansas-Missouri camp was allowed to throw fits, and it wasn’t her.
“Thanks,” she said. “Where is he?”
“In the command center.”
Naturally. Gina brushed through the canvas door flap of her room in the harem tent and walked along the narrow corridor to the entrance. She took a wrap from the line and threw it around her shoulders. The sky was blue, and the sun shone brightly, but it was cold. She walked the twenty yards to the smaller tent her stepfather used for meetings. Two guards there gave her nods. One cleared his throat and angled his head so his voice would carry into the tent..
“Miss Todd has arrived,” he announced.
From inside the tent, a man said, “She may enter.”
Oh, joy. Gina swallowed and stiffened her spine. Such formality didn’t bode well. It had been week since she’d been returned to her stepfather, but she’d barely spoken to him. Was this when he would punish her for running away from Kansas City? Gina swallowed and stepped into the warmth of the command tent. The braziers sitting in each corner of the tent might thaw her toes, but they did nothing for her lungs, which had a bad tendency to freeze up when she was scared.
Gerald Todd, the President of Kansas- Missouri, sat at the head of the command center’s table. At first glance, with his thinning brown hair and cherub’s face, he didn’t look like a power-hungry, absolute ruler. He wore his most cherubic smile now. Gina suppressed her shudder. She glanced at General Atwater sitting at his right hand, but the General was focused on some papers on the table in front of him. No help there. To President Todd’s left and a little behind him—the properly subservient position for a woman– was her mother. Gina almost tripped on the canvas tarp covering the ground. Todd didn’t allow women to attend high level meetings. This was going to be bad.
A movement to her right caught her eye. Major Ellis stood there, boyishly handsome in his perfectly fitted uniform. He wasn’t smiling. His cool eyes were fixed on the other side of the tent. Gina followed his gaze to Brother Saul Allersen, whose ascetic face held a self-righteous smirk. He’d worn that same expression every time she’d seen him, but it seemed just a little more self-righteous today. His anal son, Jon, wore his usual suit, his short brown hair meticulously groomed, and looked even more smug than usual. Tanner, his other son, had made some effort to tame his wild hair, but his denim trousers and flannel shirt looked as if he’d slept in them. His smirk matched his brother’s. Why was that disgusting trio here?
Gina pulled her attention away from them and focused on the biggest threat in the room. Her mother’s husband was still looking sweetly angelic as he stood to welcome her. She was supposed to be honored that the most powerful man in eight hundred square miles stood up for her. She tried to paste an expression of humble appreciation on her face.
He stretched out his arms, making her intensely glad the table was between them to prevent an embrace. “My dear, I am so glad to see you well and safely returned to the bosom of your family.” He gestured. “Major, a chair for my daughter.”
Knowing better than to sit without permission, Gina merely nodded her thanks and stood beside the chair until President Todd beamed approvingly and invited her to sit.
“You are a fine young woman.” He dimmed his smile to something gently aggrieved, folding his hands on the table before him. “But you have been very naughty to worry your mother and me the way you did by running off. You know we live in a dangerous world where not everyone is as protective of women as I am. And some people would take advantage of you and try to use you to hurt me.”
That’s the real issue, Gina thought sourly behind her mild mask. Since he didn’t demand that she reply, she was happy to keep her mouth shut.
“It was very foolish of you to risk yourself like that. Your mother has explained it to me. When you were told of the great plans I had for you, you were overwhelmed with maidenly shyness and ran.”
Gina couldn’t help a quick glance at Major Ellis. He noticed of course.
“Is your mother right, my dear?”
Curse it, she had to answer a direct question. “Yes, sir.”
“Well.” He tapped his fingertips together under his chin. “I have changed my mind. You will not marry Stanton Ellis.”
A gasp of relief almost escaped her.
“He is young and handsome and one of my most promising young officers. I had thought you two would be a good match, but I believe you have made it plain that you are too flighty to be his wife.”
Thank you, thankyou, thankyouthankyou, she chanted silently.
“I have another plan for your future, one that suits me very well. I have allies to whom I owe a great debt. How better to reward them for their loyalty that by marriage into my own family?”
Dread crashed over her. Involuntarily, her gaze slid to the side, to Jon’s self-satisfied face.
Her stepfather beamed again. “You are such a clever girl! You’ve already deduced the plans I’ve made for you. You will be the jewel of the Brotherhood Commune as Mrs. Allersen.”
Gina clenched the edges of her chair to keep from jumping up and screaming, but she couldn’t keep her mouth shut. She gazed with horrified eyes at the Allersens. Jon, so prissy, like he had a stick up his butt, round face smug. Tanner, always so sure he was right, and no woman was worth much. “Which one?” she blurted.
Her stepfather’s smile turned sweetly vicious. “Why, all of them, of course.”
