“I…can’t help being confused…and a little afraid,” Mia murmured.
He drew her into his embrace. “Just know this, my woman,” Wolf Hawk said softly. “I will always protect you and love you. Just remember my promises to you about how things are between us and always will be.”
Now recalling the time when she had seen him materializing from that strange mist, Mia wondered if she would be seeing something similar again.
She squared her shoulders and tightened her jaw, for she would have to be strong. Was she going to discover that this man she loved with all of her heart was even more mystical than his Shaman grandfather?
No matter what happened, she could never love him less.
“I shall remember,” Mia murmured, smiling at him, then hurrying outside the tepee.
They were soon at the longboat where the two trappers were sat, their eyes filled with terror.
Wolf Hawk helped Mia into the boat, to sit beside him. The trappers stayed where they were, facing her and Wolf Hawk.
Mia could see how shaken the men were as Wolf Hawk shoved the boat out into deeper water, then boarded it and grabbed up the paddle. Again he headed the boat toward the fort.
As they rounded a bend in the river, Mia gasped at what she saw. The earthquake had loosened the land all around the fort, and that whole section of shoreline was close to breaking away, which would take the fort with it.
She looked quickly to where she had buried her father. She sighed with relief to see that the grave lay untouched beneath the shade of the trees.
“Lord, oh, Lord, don’t take us back to the fort,” Jeb suddenly cried out, causing Wolf Hawk to glare at him. “The land is just barely clinging to the shore, and the fort is on that piece of ground that has loosened. Please don’t take us there. Have mercy. Oh, please
have mercy on our souls.”
Wolf Hawk looked away from him and continued paddling toward the fort. When he reached that stretch of land that led to the gates of the fort, he beached the boat. He stepped from it and helped Mia to the ground.
Then he nodded at the trappers. “Come with me,” he said hoarsely. “Now.”
The men reluctantly walked toward the open gate of the fort.
Mia stepped aside when they reached the gate, and Wolf Hawk shoved them both inside.
Mia sheepishly followed. She grew pale when she saw where Wolf Hawk was taking the men. It was to a dark, dank cabin, where chains hung from the walls.
She knew this must have been where prisoners were once kept.
She saw how the two trappers cowered, then cried out in pain, as Wolf Hawk fastened them to the wall with the chains.
Suddenly a lone wolf entered the tiny space. The men cowered and grew even paler at the sight of the wolf pacing back and forth in front of them, its eyes never leaving them.
Even Mia was afraid, for she knew that the wolf could kill them in an instant. She tried to tell herself she was safe because she was with Wolf Hawk.
A moment later he stepped outside and let out a strange sort of howl, to call more wolves there. Goose bumps sprang up on Mia’s flesh. She was stunned, yet she fought off her fear, for she knew that Wolf Hawk would never do anything to harm her.
Yet she trembled and stepped as far away from the men as possible when several more wolves appeared and entered the dungeonlike room. The beautiful animals ignored Mia, pacing back and forth in front of the two trembling trappers.
Another wolf came into the room and stopped at Mia’s side. She swallowed hard and forced herself not to be afraid when that wolf suddenly transformed itself back into Wolf Hawk.
He turned to her. He saw the look of wonder in her eyes and was so glad there was no longer any fear there. She now knew his secret, and had found a way to accept it.
“It is time to go,” he said. “All that must be done here, is done. The rest will take care of itself.”
Mia slowly nodded, took his hand, then glanced over her shoulder at the men. They screamed and begged for mercy as the wolves got closer and closer to them.
Mia left the fort with Wolf Hawk, stopping just outside the walls.
“I shall wait while you spend a few moments with your father and then we must return home,” Wolf Hawk said, taking her hand for a moment, then releasing it as she walked over to the mound of earth, and bent to her knees beside it.