Brave are the Lonely Read online

  Circling the fire, he kept a firm eye on her lest she slip away. Like the Red in the story, he had little doubt that Mariska would charge off into the darkness to face down the wolves. With her temper, she was more likely to scare the wolves off. The wolf growled in agreement. He swallowed the fourth yawn, relaxation a low hum in the tension that normally rode him. Even the wolf seemed to be struggling to stay awake.

  He knew the moment she became aware of him. Her head turned, her chin tilting and the fire reflected a low golden glint off her dark, dark eyes.

  “Ma’am.” Cody removed his hat and balanced it between his hands.

  “Mr. Cody.”

  “Just Cody, ma’am.”

  “Ah, I forgot just Cody. I am Mariska not ma’am.”

  So far so good, she wasn’t spitting at him. Yet.

  “I’ll be turning in soon, ma—Mariska, and I wanted to apologize for any insult that I may have offered.” The fifth yawn irritated him and he tamped it down, the uncomfortable sensation stretching his jaw even as he forced his mouth to stay closed. The last thing he needed to do was insult her further. “And to thank you for the meal and the tale at your fire. I had never heard that one before. I won’t soon forget it.”

  Stringing that many words together in conversation with a stranger, even a stranger as lovely as Mariska, took effort. The casual creep of tired numbed his toes and created a chill in his fingers. He’d be lucky to make it a half-mile from the camp before he passed out. Maybe that month as a wolf had finally taken its toll.

  But the wolf rolled over inside of him, grumbling snores indicating it too was exhausted. Suddenly, it was just Cody alone with Mariska. His next words withered away on his tongue, unspoken.

  “You were the guest of my father. He insisted that I be the one to serve you.” The tart returned to her tone, but her wary expression relaxed. “You truly do not know what you did?”

  “No, ma—Mariska, my apologies. I have never met Travelers before and I am not certain of any customs that I may have overlooked.” Customs were important. Frankly, he put more stock in the fact that he’d saved her life, but among Quanto’s people, it was the height of rudeness to fail meeting the eyes of the elders who spoke to you and ruder still to force face to face conversation with the women if they did not initiate it. Maybe it was the same among her people.

  He hoped not, her eyes were lovely. Were he not about to humiliate himself by falling on his face in front of her, he’d linger to watch the way the light tripped through those eyes. Like two pieces of the night sky with their scattering of stars, placed there just for him to admire.

  “Then you have my forgiveness and no need to apologize.” It seemed a boon, but even with the wolf slumbering inside, he smelled the lie. But which part? The forgiveness or the need to apologize?

  “Need or not, Miss Mariska. If I offended, then please accept my apologies.” The last three words thickened on his tongue, punching holes in the syllables and clinging stickily to him. The corona of light suffusing Mariska clouded. This wasn’t exhaustion.

  The wolf tried to rouse, its teeth baring.

  “You put something in the food.” The half step in retreat she took at his words confirmed his suspicion. He wasn’t tired he’d been drugged. He’d drank the entire glass, eaten every scrap of the over seasoned meat and ignored the odd tastes to keep from offending her.

  Again.

  Lurching forward, Cody fought for his balance. The numbness in his feet spun a heavier web around his legs. Mariska caught him, bracing his bulk with an arm. This close, the scent of her was more like apricots and brown sugar, tainted with the vinegar of her lies.

  “I am sorry, just Cody. You will be well come the midday tomorrow. The powder’s effects last but a few hours. I give you my word, no harm will come to you and we will all be gone when you wake. It is better this way.” She slid an arm around him, her soft body pressing into his side. But he was barely aware of it beyond the heat of her breasts tucking against his chest.

  She nudged him toward the wagon, but his feet dragged the ground, too heavy to do more than drag his feet.

  Kid.

  The boy was in danger. Wheeling, he dragged Mariska around, his gaze searching the fire, but Kid was already flat on his back, unmoving, the woman he’d seen him with earlier absent.

  “Your friend will be fine, I promise. It is naught but a sleeping draught.” Mariska urged him on, turning him again. His stomach lurched, queasiness swimming up from his belly. A quiet, snide voice in the back of his mind thought it would be only fair if he were sick all over her.

  She deserved it.

  “Mariska!” The harsh voice punched through the haze.

  Cody growled—surging to get in front of her— only to collapse, his knees banging the unforgiving earth with enough force to jolt his jaw.

  “Papa, I can explain.” Mariska’s voice faded and returned, as though being carried away by the breeze.

  A hard hand gripped his chin and jerked his face up. Cody grabbed the arm attached to that hand and squeezed. Heinrig released him with a muffled oath. At least he thought the man smelled of the stew, ale and tobacco as Heinrig had.

  “Mariska, he is our guest. You have assaulted our guest.” The words made little sense.

  “It is a sleeping draught…”

  “It matters not, what matters is you have broken the law…”

  The law…what law? Cotton coated his tongue and Cody weaved to his feet, black spots dotted his vision and he wavered, but managed to put himself between the father and daughter, barely catching the man’s large hand, as it would have struck her.

  Then the impossible happened, Heinrig shook him off and he fell, slamming sideways onto the earth. His legs lacked any sensation, the cold creeping over him, wrapping his arms tight and fixing his eyelids. Mariska’s face swam into view.

  “You will be fine, just Cody. Please, stop fighting the draught before you hurt yourself.”

  “I’m…” But the words wouldn’t come. The wolf shifted, the snores filling in his ears and then the world blacked out completely, taking Mariska with it.

  * * *

  Awareness returned with brute force. Cody surged to his feet, fur exploding across his skin. The seams of his shirt rent the air with the sound of their tearing and then he was on all fours, spinning, mouth open to taste the scents lingering.

  The ashes of a fire.

  The refuse of many bodies.

  The river.

  The snow coming from the mountains.

  The frost on the grass.

  The horses.

  Kid.

  Padding over to the still, slumped form of the boy. He pressed a nose to his cheek. The wolf hurt. The boy waved a hand up to shove the wolf’s cold face away from his. But the wolf remained undeterred. Cody shoved his nose harder against Kid.

  “Dammit, Cody,” Kid slurred. “Knock it off.”

  But the boy’s eyes opened and then closed at the harsh light flooding the area. The sun was halfway up the sky. Kid groaned and dragged an arm across his face. “What the hell?”

  Cody growled and gave Kid another shove until the boy finally sat up. Content he wasn’t a prone target anymore, Cody spun in a slow circle, studying the area. The caravan was gone. All the wagons.

  Save one.

  Head cocked, Cody’s teeth bared.

  Mariska stared at him, her mouth open in silent horror.

  He stalked forward, tongue lolling against his teeth. He smelled no one else, just her.

  She was alone.

  Lashed by sturdy ropes to the back wheel of her wagon.

  Face to face, he glared at her.

  The stink of her fear clogged his nose. The wolf arched his head, enjoying the tart scent of it.

  “What the hell?” Kid stumbled to a halt next to him. A hand pressed to his head as though staving off the ache. Like the wolf, he stared at Mariska.

  “Let me go.” His spitting kitten recovered from the shock stippling he
r features.

  “I didn’t tie you up, ma’am.” Kid groaned. “And until I know who did and why the hell I feel like this, I think you can stay right there.”

  Cody growled.

  Agreed.

  Mariska’s gaze darted back to him. His lips peeled back from his teeth.

  She’d better start explaining.

  “What does it want?” Mariska directed her words at Kid, but she never stopped staring at Cody. Even as the musk of her fear peaked, her gaze didn’t waver. The wolf approved, even as it irritated him. She should bow her head.

  She should beg.

  She hurt them.

  No, Cody reasoned, even as the wolf’s fury choked him. She drugged them. It wasn’t quite the same as hurting.

  The wolf didn’t care for reason. It was close enough.

  “Explain.” Kid didn’t bother with a smile or diplomacy. His ashen face and wobbling words carried sickness in them.

  Cody growled.

  Yes. Explain.

  “Now.” Now.

  Wolf and boy echoed the same thought.

  Mariska swallowed. “Will you at least release me?”

  “No.” Kid squatted, one hand dropping to the ground as though to steady himself. “What did you do?”

  “It was a sleeping draught. Naught else.”

  “And?”

  Mariska’s gaze darted to Kid. Cody growled. No, she would not look at him.

  Us.

  “And it was to make you sleep, I told you that last evening.” This time she directed her words at Cody.

  Better.

  “So if we were asleep, why are you tied up?”

  The woman went mute and Cody lunged forward, nose-to-nose. Mariska blanched as his breath touched her cheek. The wolf rumbled his approval. Now, she was paying attention.

  “My father accused me of breaking our guesting laws. This is my punishment.”

  “To be lashed to a wagon?” Kid made no move to intercede on her behalf. The boy needed answers, too. Cody wouldn’t hurt her.

  Much.

  “No.” Mariska growled the word and spared a momentary glance at Kid before Cody surged up to block her line of sight. She would need to learn to stop doing that.

  Agreed.

  “No, my punishment was to be left for Cody. He won me through blood and bone and I have twice harmed him with betrayal coated in friendship and guesting. I am to belong to him.”

  Hmmm.

  Pleasure and annoyance thudded side-by-side against his heart. The wolf was content with the idea of ripping her throat out, but Cody stayed him. His kitten was furious, embarrassment riding high in the color of her cheeks, just barely edging out the fear stinking the air. She’d been abandoned by her people for her crime.

  That was a hell of a punishment in and of itself.

  “She’s telling the truth,” Kid said out loud, not that Cody needed the confirmation. The boy wavered to his feet, but Mariska was smart this time, she didn’t look at him. So Cody turned his head.

  The boy looked like hell.

  “I’m going to throw up. You want to get out of those ropes. Make nice with Cody. He’s pissed.” Kid began to stumble away.

  “You’re leaving me here?” Mariska’s shriek stung Cody’s ears and his head whipped around.

  “Next time, don’t drug me and I’ll untie you.” Kid waved her off and moments later the sound of his retching filled the air.

  The wolf stared at Mariska.

  What the hell am I going to do with you?

  Chapter 11

  Terror licked up the insides of her belly. She thought it couldn’t be worse when her father declared her actions before the clan and the women, not the men, surged around her, dragging her kicking and screaming to her own wagon. Once there, they stripped away her shoes and lashed her arms to the spokes of the wheel. Circled around her, they took turns spitting on the ground before turning their backs and walking away.

  So censured, none looked her way again as they tended the unconscious visitors, going so far as to steal blankets from inside her wagon to cover them. Then in the dark of night, they packed their goods, hitched their horses and rode away.

  The final insult was to take her pair of draft ponies. Her wagon was her own, but with no horse to pull it, she would be completely dependent on the two men and their horses. Two men who had every right to leave her where the Travelers had, or worse, two men who now had the right to use her in whatever way they saw fit.

  She’d thought her grandmother would come back for her, but Ancient Maia paused only long enough to wrap a shawl across her bare shoulders. She never once looked into her eyes nor gave any notice to her apologies. As the last lantern disappeared over the hill, fat, heavy tears began to trail down her face.

  The night was long and lonely. The great fire burned lower, leaving only the faintest sensation of heat as the breeze stirred across it. She truly believed it couldn’t get any worse, but as the sun sliced dawn across the eastern sky, Cody stirred. Half asleep, she’d heard the strange groan from where he laid, just a half a dozen steps from her imprisonment.

  Bracing herself for the repudiation in his expression, she was completely unprepared for the explosion of activity, the violent wrenching of his bones and the tearing of his shirt. Between one breath and the next, the man vanished and left a slavering wolf, golden eyes filled with a riot of anger to stare at her.

  Dear God in heaven, hallowed be thy name, they kingdom come, thy will be done… The recitation canted through her mind, but she could do nothing but stare as the wolf stalked toward her.

  Had her herbs done this?

  Had her father been right? The guesting laws were among their most sacred rules. The wolf their justice. Their arbiter of change, of danger and of protection.

  She’d welcomed a wolf into their camp not with gratitude or respect, but fury and indignation. She’d drugged his food and his drink. He’d taken both from her hand and offered no offense, drinking and eating both.

  Maybe her father was right to leave her here.

  But when the one called Kid abandoned her to retch, she couldn’t help the glare of resentment for the wolf that held her life in his paws. The animal demanded all of her attention, refusing her even the briefest of looks toward Kid.

  “Please.” The word tasted of ash on her tongue. “Please let me go and you will never have to see me again. I meant no offense. Had I known, I would have never offered such.”

  The wolf said nothing. His hot gazed bored into her as though weighing her soul and finding her wanting.

  Her arms ached from their uncomfortable position, her bottom numb and the damnable tears burned in the back of her eyes. “I tell you the truth. My father thought you a worthy mate because you saved my life. He planned to make a gift of me, told me it was my duty to offer myself and I didn’t want too. But then you said you didn’t want me and it made me angry that you dismissed my value…it was the mistake of a foolish girl, one I do regret.” Now.

  The prickly inner voice stabbed at her. Of course you regret it now, stupid girl. You’re at his mercy. But would you feel the same way were your positions reversed? What if he had laced your food with a sleeping draught?

  No ready answer came forth to answer that snide little judge in her soul.

  The wolf rumbled a noise, not quite a bark, not quite a growl.

  A groan came from beyond the warm ashes that remained of the fire. “You want to talk to her, you change. I’m trying not to throw up again.”

  Sneezing, the wolf paced away and returned.

  “No.” Kid’s voice wheezed.

  Unease threaded through Mariska. The sleeping draught shouldn’t make the boy so sick unless…

  “Did you drink only from the ale casks last night?” Leaning forward, she bit back a curse as the ropes bit life back into her numb arms, hard prickles of icy heat stabbing through her muscles.

  “One of the ladies offered me cider, it was sweet and tasted better than that damn
meat pie…ugh…” the words broke off into more retching.

  “Fire and damnation.” This time she did swear. The wolf surged back into her view, hot breath warming her cheek. “You must let me go. The cider is fermented, if it was a little spoiled, it will turn his bowels to liquid and upend his stomach. The herbs in the sleeping draught will make it worse.”

  I’ve poisoned him. But she couldn’t admit that out loud. The poison was slower, like the bloody flux, if they didn’t treat it the boy could die.

  Teeth snapped at her face, the sound ripping away her resistance. She froze, the wolf was right to be angry, but if he didn’t help the boy or allow her to help, his death would stain both their souls forever.

  “I did not know they would bring out the cider, it does not always fare well on long journeys. The pie was not the problem. I put the herbs only in his ale. Zevra offered him the Korcikk to invite him to her bed.” The words tumbled out of her, real fear joining the raw embarrassment and humiliation twisting her stomach.

  “In my trunk, in the wagon, is a medicine bag. In the bag is a leather purse with a fine white powder. They are different herbs, dried and ground down white willow bark, peppermint and valerian root. I swear to you they will help him, they will bind with the toxins in his stomach, they will let them pass out harmlessly.”

  The ropes bit into her skin, warm, wetness dripping down one wrist. The wolf glared at her, but a groan from the boy stayed the growl rumbling in his chest.

  “I don’t know,” came the weakened response. She didn’t know how, but Kid seemed to understand the wolf.

  Sneezing again, the wolf turned away from her to trot out of sight. Moments later, he returned, hostility shimmering the air around him.

  “The bloody flux causes ruptures in the bowel, bloody excrement and excessive vomiting. It is a miserable way to die.” She hated the fat, tears rolling down her cheeks, but her soul screamed at the crime she’d committed. “Please, don’t let me become a murderer.”