“I’m one of them.” He wondered what was keeping the other one. “Other than coming here to collect your bounty, why are you here?”
“We wanted our share of the Wyoming territory. The bounty and reward money Marshal Ford offered were hard to refuse since we’d already set our sights on your land.”
“You got that part right anyhow. WolfDen is our land. We have no reason to leave.”
“After last night, we see now how much you love it. We won’t bring you further harm.”
Frank processed what the fellow was telling him. He didn’t believe him as far as he could see him. “So you just give up. Just like that?”
“That’s right.”
“Fought all night like Sam Hill was making you do it and now that’s it and that’s all. You’re done here.” Frank pondered on that about like he used to consider the pros and cons of visiting a whore house. In his youth, he frequented many a-whores. “Either my men killed most of yours or you need some time to regroup. Maybe it’s a little of both.”
“If that were the case, do you think I would’ve stopped here to shake your hand?”
“I don’t recall my hand gripping yours.”
The fellow dropped his arms to his sides. “We don’t want to fight. From what we could tell last night, you folks are good people. You didn’t want this battle here anymore than we did.”
“We didn’t go looking for it,” Frank said, wishing Jock would shake a leg and show up for this meeting sometime in the near future.
“I’m here to make amends.”
Frank scoured the land behind the werebears, acknowledging the death surrounding them. “You should’ve considered ‘making amends’ as you say, before you killed off our pack.”
“Yes, we should’ve.”
“I’m not sure if what happened here can be pardoned, Gage.” He reached inside and grabbed his unloaded rifle from Carla. As he suspected, she was standing right inside the door. “The first one to shift, dies.” He aimed his rifle at Gage and hoped the poker face he pulled was good enough to win a large pot at a crowded table.
“I understand why you feel the way you do, Frank.” Gage frowned. “I’m sorry. I let the love of riches and promises of the land we wanted get in front of my better judgment.”
“By the looks of you, I imagine you were lacking there anyhow.”
“I came to apologize. I won’t stand here and take your insults.”
Frank took a step forward. Hours of raging fury pumped through his veins as he considered what his and Jock’s packs had endured. “You’ll stand right here until we take a headcount and figure out how many women and men we lost last night. Then, you’ll help us bury our dead. By the end of the day, you’ll know exactly what you’ve done here and maybe I’ll better understand how much I can forgive and whether or not this is something we can put behind us.”
Chapter Fourteen
It was almost dark by the time Jock and Heck returned. Frank had just handed over the first shovel and the werebears were burying their dead.
“What’s going on?” Jock asked.
“Nice of you to show up,” Frank muttered. As soon as they’d crossed over into the Wolfden and Wyoming Wood Pack territory, Frank had been able to pick up on their conversation. Apparently, Jock and Heck had chased some of the smaller bears all the way to Bear Mountain. By the time they returned, they looked like they’d been chased back to WolfDen.
Heck and Jock had bitched every step of the way. Every few miles, they’d phase and run as wolves, transmitting messages back and forth. If they found a topic worthy of debate, they’d shift again and discuss it for a few miles.
“We got here as fast as we could,” Heck said, snarling at the werebears digging the graves.
“Let it go,” Frank said, under his breath.
“You mean to tell me you’re going to forgive and forget something like this?”
“I’ve been keeping them busy until Jock returned.” His gaze met Jock’s. “I have an idea. Would you like to hear about it?”
“Not really,” Jock said, walking inside the cabin.
Frank shook his head and stared at Heck, hurriedly transmitting silent messages. When he finished, Heck said, “It might work.”