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.