Savage Beloved

“I heard them, too, upon awakening,” Candy said. “Shadow couldn’t have been gone for very long. Surely she will come back soon.”

She wanted to snuggle up to Two Eagles, but the sores on her arms and legs were too uncomfortable for her to lie beside him.

Slowly her eyes closed and she felt the peacefulness that came when sound sleep was near.

“I will be leaving early tomorrow,” Two Eagles said, drawing Candy’s eyes open again.

“Where will you go?” she asked.

“On the hunt with Proud Wind,” Two Eagles said. He noticed the worried look in her eyes. “It is best that we hunt now in order for his people to prepare the meat before the sharp winds of winter come.”

“Of course I know I can’t go with you, so I won’t ask,” Candy murmured. She winced when she turned and a blanket brushed against her bites. “Anyway, I’m not feeling well enough to go very far on a horse.”

“I’m certain you can find something to occupy yourself with while I am gone,” Two Eagles said. He leaned close to her and brushed a soft kiss across her lips. “But make certain Hawk Woman is nowhere near you.”

“Once we are married—” Candy began, but he interrupted her.

“Once we are married, Hawk Woman will finally know that she has to look elsewhere for a husband,” Two Eagles said firmly. “And it will have to be someone outside my village. There is not one man among my unmarried warriors who would want her in his bed.”

Chapter Thirty-three

I regret little,

I would chance still less.

—Robert Browning

Restless with Two Eagles off on the hunt, Candy had decided to do something constructive with her time. She could not bear to sit in the tepee and wait for Two Eagles to come back home. She was walking in the woods to gather herbs to season their supper. She wanted to prove to him that she had learned which herbs were edible.

She knew now that although the Wichita’s basic foods were meat, corn, squash, and beans, there were many other plants, such as edible roots and greens, available near the village in the forest, along the riverbanks, and in the open fields.

She already knew that searching for food was a constant project, particularly among the women.

Her welts no longer burned, and she was not so afraid of Albert Cohen right now. The true threat to her well-being was back at the village.

Hawk Woman.

She was now constantly on Candy’s mind, for Candy knew that she had to be alert at all times in case that spiteful woman tried something else to harm her.

She sighed, for she felt safer away from the village while Two Eagles was gone than in it. She was finding this walk through the trees wonderfully relaxing.

“I will certainly surprise Two Eagles when he comes home tonight and finds a pot of greens cooking over the fire,” she whispered, proud that she now knew how to make a tasty meal.

But she had so much more to learn, and she would. After she was married, she wanted her chieftain husband to be fed well enough so he could perform his duties to his people.

She smiled almost wickedly when she thought about how he must have his strength for other things which included only his wife!

The sun was just barely making its way through the thickness of the trees overhead, looking like golden threads as it slanted downward. Candy walked on, occasionally looking over her shoulder to make certain she would not get lost, as she had that other time she had left the village alone.

She did not have Shadow to keep her company, for the wolf was still gone.

Candy wished there were a way to encourage her pet to stay with her, but in the forest was a pure white wolf that had chosen Shadow as its mate. Now there was a bond between them that no one could break.

She wondered where the wolves were staying now that Spotted Bear was no longer living in his tepee. Surely they missed his company. When she had visited him this morning to see how he was doing, he’d told her that he missed the wolves.

But he was happy to be home among his people and would never leave again, not now that they, for the most part, accepted him among them.

She was glad that he had recovered from the illness that had caused his terrible fever. She would never forget the heat of his flesh against her hand that night.