Savage Dawn

Yet he could not stop thinking about Nicole and where she might be, and whether or not she would remain safe.

It was hard not to wheel his horse around and go after her.

Suddenly he saw the wolf that he had saved from its terrible injuries. It was elusive, but seemed to always be near, somehow, staring at him with its mystical, yellow eyes.

And then, as always before, it suddenly ran away into the darkness of the trees.

Eagle Wolf’s eyes searched for the wolf a moment longer, and then he set his full attention on returning home.

Today he had lost two beings that he had grown to love.

The woman.

And the wolf.

He hoped someday he would see them both again.

Chapter Thirteen

As the morning brought its sweetness to the land, with birds singing and the sky so blue and peaceful, Sam Partain sat in his saddle. His gang surrounded him as he paused in the shadowy depths of a forest of birch trees.

From this vantage point, Sam could see a small settlement in the distance.

He knew about it. This was a settlement of Mormons. He had never been there before, but he had heard about it.

He had thought long and hard about where Nicole might go when she found Tyler City burned out. He had concluded that she would be too afraid to go to the mountain to hide, for she had to know that the Navaho were entrenched there in their stronghold.

What woman wasn’t afraid of Indians?

And since the nearest fort was so far away, Sam had surmised that she would surely go to the closest place to find sanctuary.

Yep, he might even now be looking at that very place.

He cackled to himself as he thought about the men who lived in Mormon towns. Did they not make it a practice to take more than one wife?

Now, if given the opportunity, who wouldn’t want Nicole as one of those wives? He had admired her beauty in St. Louis. She was petite and beautiful, with fiery red hair that hung down to her waist.

Sam laughed throatily as he recalled how clear she had made it that she had no interest in good ol’ boy Sam Partain. Well, soon she’d have no choice about associating with him.

“Do you think she’s there?” A voice broke through Sam’s thoughts.

He turned and gazed at his right-hand man, Ace Koontz. “I’d bet my bottom dollar on it,” Sam said, snickering.

He stroked his scraggly golden beard as he again looked at the town called Hope. “Yep,” he said thickly. “She just might have gone to those Mormons for help. Well, there’s no time like the present for this ol’ boy to find out.”

“Want us to go with you?” Ace asked, tilting his head slightly sideways as he was wont to do.

His black hair hung to his waist, and his skin was sun bronzed. At a distance, he might be mistaken for an Indian. But up close, his sea blue eyes showed that he was a white man.

“Naw, not yet, anyhow,” Sam said, tightening his hold on his reins. “I’ll go in, sololike, and ask whether that pretty thing is there or not.”

“How are you going to get them to give you answers, you bein’ a stranger and all?” Ace asked as Sam turned to look into his eyes once again. “If’n she saw the massacre, might’nt she have warned those people not to trust anyone who comes to ask ‘bout her?”

“I know what I’m doin’, so shut yore mouth, Ace, do you hear?” Sam said. He almost reached out to slap Ace, but stopped short of doing it. He had more things on his mind besides reminding one of his men that he was the boss.

“Sorry, boss,” Ace said, tucking his head, so that his pointed chin almost touched his chest.

“I’ll be leavin’ you now, boys,” Sam said. “Sit tight. I shouldn’t be long. If she’s there with the Mormons, hiding out, God be with them, for I won’t bat an eye over killin’ ’em all in order to get that pretty thing all to myself.”