Free Wolf Shadow by Madeline Baker Page A

oath, he went into his cousin’s lodge and
crawled into his lonely bed.
    * * * * *
    Winter Rain woke early after a restless night. Sitting up,
she saw that her mother and father were still sleeping. Snuggling back under
her blankets, she closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep but she was too
agitated by her upcoming marriage to rest, too nervous to stay in bed.
    Rising, she dressed quietly and slipped out of the lodge.
    Only a few people were outside. She glanced toward Strong
Elk’s tipi, wondering if he was as nervous and uncertain as she was and then,
as if pulled by an invisible string, her gaze moved toward Kills-Like-a-Hawk’s
lodge. Would Wolf Shadow come to the feast?
    Needing something to keep her mind from paths better off not
taken, she walked toward the timberline, thinking to gather some wood for the
morning fire. Tonight, she would be building a fire for her husband. The
thought did not please her as it should have and the next thing she knew, she
was walking toward the river.
    And he was there. Clad in clout and moccasins, his skin like
burnished copper in the early morning light, his arms raised above his head.
Wolf Shadow. His hair fell past his shoulders, thick and black. The scars on
his back shone like a fine silver web in the pale sunshine. Her heart quickened
at the sight of him and she knew in that moment that she would never be happy
with Strong Elk, or with any other man.
    As though sensing her presence, Wolf Shadow slowly lowered
his arms and turned to face her.
    His gaze met hers, intense, unwavering. “Today is your
wedding day.” His voice was soft, but she heard the hard edge beneath it. “Shouldn’t
you be getting ready?”
    “There will be no wedding.”
    His eyes narrowed. “Why not?”
    She placed one hand over her heart. “It does not feel right.
In here.”
    He took a step toward her. “Is that the only reason?”
    She felt her heart begin to pound as he took another step
toward her. “I…” She made a vague gesture with her hand. “I think you know the
reason.”
    One more step, and he was near enough to touch. “Tell me.”
    She looked up at him, feeling as though her heart were
trapped in her throat. What if she poured out her heart to him and he didn’t
feel the same? How could he, when she wasn’t sure what it was she was feeling?
    “Tell me, Rain. Why can’t you marry him?”
    “Because when I lay in my bed, it is you that I think of
when I should be thinking of him,” she said, the words pouring out of her in a
rush. “Because I cannot stop thinking of you, dreaming of you. Because…”
    He didn’t let her finish. His hands curled around her upper
arms and he drew her up against him. When he spoke, his voice was low and
husky.
    “Because he doesn’t make you feel like this,” he said. And
kissed her.
    Her eyelids fluttered down as she gave herself up to his
kisses. Warmth flowed through her. Millions of butterflies seemed to be dancing
in the pit of her stomach. She pressed herself against him, her breasts crushed
against his chest, her arms locked around his waist. A low moan filled her
ears. She was embarrassed when she realized it was coming from her own throat.
    She was dazed, disoriented, when he put her away from him.
“What…what’s wrong?”
    She stared at him a moment, only then realizing he was not
looking at her. She followed his gaze, gasped when she saw they were surrounded
by a group of mounted warriors armed and painted for war.
    “Don’t move,” Wolf Shadow said quietly. “They might take you
alive.”
    “What about you?” she asked.
    He stared at the warrior riding toward him, war club raised
above his head. “I’m a dead man,” he muttered. “Remember what I said. Don’t
fight them.”
    The words had barely left Wolf Shadow’s mouth when a warrior
clubbed him along the side of the head. Wolf Shadow dropped to the ground, a
splash of bright red blood spreading across his temple.
    She would have screamed if another