9. Abigale

I'm muckingthe horse and donkey pens when I hear a noise by the door. As I reach for my gun, I see golden eyes looking into the barn. I'm shocked to see it's the big male wolf that is supposed to be at the sanctuary. Not sure what to do, so I stand still and wait. He slowly and cautiously makes his way through the door and I can see his nose working. When he stops and shifts his head, those eyes find me and I hold my breath. At that moment I hear Grey calling out for me.

"Grey, don't come in, we have company. No, not two-legged, it's your four legged buddy. He found his way back. Take it easy please, don't startle him."

Before I even hear movement, the wolf's head jerks toward the door. I watch the hair by his neck start to stand up but as soon as his eyes see Grey, his entire body seems to relax. There's something about the way the animal is watching him that tells me he knows we aren't going to do him any harm. When Grey is about five feet from the wolf, he squats down and leaves his hands at his sides. I'm worried because if the wolf gets spooked, he might attack Grey and, honestly, I wouldn't know what to do at that point. We are at a standstill for like a couple of minutes before Grey leans back and sits down on his butt, legs stretched straight out in front of him, with his hands on his knees. Our friend has not taken his eyes off of Grey for even a second.

Slowly, the wolf moves to one side and takes a tentative step. We both hear the truck coming up the drive at the same time the wolf runs past Grey, out the door, and disappears. I hear Spirit call out to someone but didn't catch a name. We both run out of the barn door and I see Spirit being twirled around by a mountain of a man who's laughing with her. Could this be her boyfriend or husband? He's huge with long chestnut-brown hair braided down the middle of his back. Next to him, at first, I thought it was our wolf but this one is sitting off to the side watching the big man with Spirit. When it sees us, it stands while its ears go back. Those yellow eyes never move from us.

"Ma?iitsoh, heel, boy. Don't worry, he won't do anything unless I order him too. Hey, Grey, came to check on you and this crazy woman here. Hang on, Spirit, I'll put you down, just watch those feet, don't need you swinging them and accidentally hitting my jewels, ruining my chance to have a family and making me cry in pain, woman."

I don't know who he is, but obviously these two do so I wait, not saying a word. Once Spirit is on her own two feet the big man comes toward me, hand extended out.

"Hi there, I'm nitsaa yikah tsintah which means Big Walking Trees in Navajo. My friends call me Avalanche. I've been told by a good source that you work with wolves, so I brought Ma?iitsoh to see you, as he's having an issue. You are Abigale Styeeks, correct? My brother's woman told me about you. She said you knew her; she goes by Shadow."

"Oh my God, you're Big Bird."

I watch as he drops his head down while Grey and Spirit start to chuckle. Oh no, did I say something wrong?

"I didn't mean any disrespect, that's what Shadow calls you so I thought maybe it's a nickname, though seeing your reaction it's just Shadow being a pain in the butt. Yes, I'm Abigale. What's wrong with your boy? Did Paisley not want to take a look at him?"

"Oh no, she usually does, but with all the other wolves there she didn't want to start a riot. Figured it be easier for me to come see you. Apologize I didn't call first, she did give me your number. Told me about your problems, sorry to hear that some folks can't live in harmony with nature. Do you have a minute or two, Abigale?"

God his voice, the timbre in it sends a shiver down my spine. I hear a growl and look at Ma?iitsoh, but it's not him. Then I hear an oomph and look to Spirit, who's pulling her elbow out of Grey's gut. Uh ooh, that was Grey growling. Not sure why, oh shit, I know why. He could read my face with the way I was gawking at Avalanche. I mean, I am human. Avalanche walks over to Grey, hand out.

"Brother, no worries. I can see what's happening, even if you can't. Good to see ya again, Grey, it's been awhile."

As they talk, I look at Ma?iitsoh and see something is off with him. Slowly I move toward him and when I'm a foot or so away, I put my hand out. He sniffs the air but doesn't move closer. That's when I see the lump on the side of his neck. Immediately, I'm all business.

"Avalanche, let's bring him into the big pole barn, please. I see a lump on his neck so if he'll let me, I'd like to get a good feel for it. Might be nothing or a bite, allergies, or something under the skin, though if it's in his lymph nodes then we'll need to draw some blood. If we do that, I'll have you drop it by Paisley as she can run it, I don't have the equipment. I'll give him a thorough checkup. Bring him in, I'll go first so he can get my scent."

I walk toward the pole barn and when I reach for my keys to open the door one minute I'm there in front of it, the next I'm on the ground with someone on top of me right before I hear a gunshot. Way too close. All hell breaks loose, lots of yelling and then return gunfire. I lie here barely breathing, not sure what the hell is going on or who's lying on top of me. I feel something wet on my back but not sure what it is. I reach behind me and feel hair on a face. Grey's beard. NO, oh my God, please let him be okay.

"Ma?iitsoh, attack. NOW."

Hearing Avalanche give the order then the sound of the wolf taking off scares the shit out of me. If they are shooting at us, they won't hesitate to gun down a wolf. When I lift my head, I see not only Ma?iitsoh but the other timber wolf following him. So two strange wolves are working together. Too bad humans can't grasp that idea. I shimmy my way from under Grey, then turn him to see a ridge on the side of his head, blood all around it.

"Spirit, Grey's down. Please help him. Mom, call Ollie, tell him someone is shooting at us and Grey is injured, I don't know how bad. He's unconscious, which isn't good, I'm thinking, with his prior brain injury. Damn these persistent assholes."

My hands are covered in blood when Spirit slides in next to me. She checks out the head wound then listens to his chest.

"Motherfucker, you ain't dying on my watch. Snap out of it, Grey. Come on, brother."

I watch as she shifts his body so he's lying flat on the ground. She looks at me for a split second.

"Abigale, put his head in your lap, make sure it's higher than his shoulders. Talk to him. I'm gonna tell Ollie we need a medivac for Grey. There's no time to be fucking around at the local hospital. Did you by chance see where Avalanche went?"

Shaking my head, I move and sit down right above Grey's head, gently lifting it, and placing it in my lap. I use my hands to push his hair off his forehead and rub my hands down his beard. I can't believe how soft it is because looking at it I would have thought it would be coarse and rough. Though when he was kissing me, it felt as light as cotton candy. Grey is lying without moving, though he's breathing normally. I can hear Spirit's raised voice then I hear a thunderous noise. Not sure what it is, I hunch over Grey's head unsure what that's going to do.

The noise is getting closer, which means whatever it is seems to be making its way up the driveway. When I can barely hear myself think, I turn to see motorcycle after motorcycle racing up toward us. When they make it to the pole barn, they shut down the bikes, each throws down their stand, and one after another kicks a leg over their machine. An older man on a trike leads the way with a scary as hell man to his left. On the other side is a younger man with an intense look about him that seems kind of familiar, though not sure from where.

"Hiya. I'm Tank from the Intruders. Ollie called us out to get our asses, pardon my language, miss, to hightail it to your location and that there is trouble. We were told Avalanche, Spirit, and Grey are on location. I put a call into my military friend, he's on his way with his MH-60 Jayhawk. Will be here in under five minutes. Holy shit, is that Grey? Yoggie get your bag, we got a man down."

I watch the younger man run back to his bike and pull a good size bag off the back end. When he's beside Grey, he opens the bag and I'm beyond surprised to see all the medical supplies in it. Immediately, he checks Grey's wound then pulls out supplies, from what I can see, to start an IV. The scary guy kneels across from Yoggie and they work as a team.

"Tank, his stats are good, though he's not waking up with stimulation. I'm going to pump him with fluid since he lost a shit ton of blood. Ya know a head wound bleeds a lot. Spirit, got history on him? What are we dealing with?"

She looks lost for a second and it dawns on me none of them know about Grey's injuries during his last mission that went to hell. Thank God we shared some things with each other.

"His last mission tanked. A IED or mine went off and debris lodged itself in the side of his head. They airlifted him out and he finally found his way to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (LRMC), in Germany and they removed what they could. Later, they had to remove part of his skull as his brain started to swell. He's had, I think he said, two surgeries since coming Stateside. His back is severely scarred from the fiery explosion. In other words, he's a mess thanks to the good old USA military."

"Well, thanks, Abigale, nice to know how you really feel about me. Why is my head pounding and I'm seeing everything in double?"

I shut up with a face burning with embarrassment while Yoggie and, from what I heard, Enforcer, question Grey. When we hear loud noises coming from the wooded area, every biker pulls out a gun as three young men are walking toward us, hands on their heads. A wolf is on either side of them with Avalanche following behind. He doesn't even have a gun, not sure how he got these three degenerates to cooperate.

"Abigale, that's my secret. Will tell you I can persuade just about anyone. From what I gather, these three idiots are the kids of one of the ranchers who went after your place. They took it upon themselves to try and finish the job for dear old dad. Tank, might need to put a call out to Shadow or, I know, Spirit can make them talk if we give her a little time. How's he doing?"

Avalanche points to Grey as our wolf actually moves toward the injured man and lays down about three feet away, eyes never leaving Grey's face. We all watch in silence as Grey reaches out with his hand flat on the ground. The wolf leans over and gives it a sniff. Is this why that wolf came back, to check on Grey? I mean, weirder things have happened, I'm sure. That's when I hear it off in the distance. The whooshing sound is getting closer so I assume it's the helicopter. Grey is complaining that he's okay, but no one is even listening. We watch in fascination as the red-and-white helicopter lands in the open field behind the farmhouse.

The side door opens and I see Ollie, Paisley, Phantom, and another man I don't recognize all come running to where we are waiting. The concern on Ollie's face surprises me a little. Grey speaks highly of both Ollie and Paisley, so guessing they are building a close friendship besides the assistance they are providing Grey. He's come so far already. When I hear Ollie's deep voice, my head jerks up.

"What the hell happened? Anyone else hurt?"

"Nope, just Grey and that's because he pushed Abigale to the ground and jumped on top of her. No, you idiots, I didn't say he jumped her bones. He covered her to protect her. He's a hero, you dumbasses. Get him loaded so they can check his noggin out," Spirit summarizes.

With her last words, they surround us and make sure to stabilize Grey's head, neck, and back before moving him to a flat board that I think they brought from the helicopter. Six bikers lift him up and carry Grey to the helicopter where he is then loaded and strapped in. Spirit looks at me with an eyebrow up. I don't know if I should go or not. When Grey reaches out a hand to me, I don't hesitate but walk to him, grabbing his hand. Once I'm strapped in, the machine lifts and I feel my tummy go with it.

"Just breathe, Abigale. You got this, wonder woman."