Chapter 2

Mace

I had a week to myself, and our club had a cabin in the wilderness that I’d been given leave to use. I was only a prospect, but Storm, my club president, had been happy with my work for the club and thought I deserved a reward. I was also here on important personal business and my club brothers understood how close to my heart it was.

The cabin was attached to a national forest of several thousand acres. I woke up early. The minute I moved, my wolfdog rolled off the bed and padded away to deal with the necessities. I raised him from a pup and know his habits well. He’d squeeze his oversized form through the dog flap on the back door that was designed for a regular sized large breed dog instead of my gargantuan beast. Nine was what they call a wolamute, a cross between a wolf and a malamute. My friend’s first order of business was always to do his take care of his morning needs then hassle me for breakfast.

Needless to say, I normally followed his good example and today was no different. I headed to the bathroom, leaned forward with one hand on the wall and took a piss. Then stumbled into the shower and let the warm water and minty soap wake me up. My long, black hair flowed down over my shoulders in an inky mass, sticking to my skin. I was too eager to get started with my day to worry about conditioner, so I gave it quick shampoo, rinsed it off and jumped out of the shower. I dried myself as I walked back out to the bedroom. It only took me a moment to comb and fix my hair into one long tight braid that hung down to the middle of my back.

Eager to get a jump on my day, I pulled out some clean clothing and got dressed. After I was geared up in my favorite faded jeans, t-shirt, and my prospect’s vest, I shoved everything I normally carried on a day into my pockets and went downstairs. Pulling on my well-worn black lace up boots, I felt the excitement build up in my chest, because today I was planning to look for an ancient Native burial site that belonged to my people.

If I found it, I would make sure the graves were still intact and document what I found there, before leaving the site to the archeologists my chief had hired. Our small tribe has had a petition before the Bureau of Indian Affairs for official recognition for many years. Finding this site would go a long way in establishing our Native lineage in this area. My mom’s people have always been here, but my father was Scottish American. I grew up proud of both sides of my heritage, though as my father died when I was a kid, I’d been mostly raised by my mom’s people. Having official recognition was important to my elders and I wanted to be able to do this while my grandmother was still living. I quickly made sure I had everything I needed in my backpack and crammed in my handgun as well. I’m pretty adapt at avoiding non-human predators in this isolated area, but it’s the human ones that I needed that extra layer of protection against.

I locked up the cabin before I left and locked the dog flap, then set the alarm. It might seem overkill to have an alarm in such a remote setting, but you never know. Besides, with MC property we always liked an extra layer of security.

Glancing over my shoulder, I whistled and shouted out, “Come on Nine, we have important work to do today.” Nine jumped off the porch and kept pace with me as I raced off through the undergrowth in the direction I’d been told the burial site was located. If I could find this site it would be like the holy grail for my tribe. Most of the members were getting on a bit, so traipsing through the forest might be too much, which is why I volunteered. They had stories about where our old lands used to be, and after weeks of looking at the maps I thought that I was close. Our chief, Jonas, had been in touch with the local college and there were some archaeologists willing to come out and look, but first I had to find some proof.

***

By the time the sun was high in the sky, I needed to eat. I’d been so eager to get on with the search that I’d only had time to grab a coffee.

I dropped down on a boulder beside the river and pulled out my bag of beef jerky and some flatbread. The Native flatbread my family made was the size of my head and deep fried until it was crunchy like a cracker, thinner than the usual frybread, it was what the men used to take with them when they went out on hunting expeditions. I broke mine up and kept it in a plastic container and ate the pieces like potato chips. I sat there eating my food and drinking from my water bottle listening to the sounds of nature that surrounded me. I could hear birds chirping and the scratch of little forest creatures as they scurried about. Fish were making small ripples in the river as they swam against the current. There were bears in the forest, I’d seen some of their tracks and scat when I’d been walking here, but I knew that as long as I kept my wits about me then we would coexist in the forest without any problems. Taking Nine with me was an extra layer of protection as his doggy senses would pick up any large predators, way before my piss-poor human ones would.

I sensed Nine before I saw him and tossed some meat in his direction. He sniffed it and only reluctantly began to chew on it. I could see blood around his muzzle, so I suspected he’d already eaten some small rodent this morning.

Among the usual sounds of nature, I heard a noise I didn’t recognize. It broke through the quiet sounds of the forest, shrill and long. I slowly came to my feet and listened carefully. Nine was already in motion, his ears pricked up as he ran towards the sound. That told me that whatever was making the noise, Nine didn’t think it was a danger to us. It almost sounded like a woman screaming, or maybe an eagle or owl screeching. I threw on my backpack and ran after my companion.

He splashed through the river, managing to bound across using the large rocks in the middle where the river narrowed and forked in two. I followed, though not having my companion’s agility I had to wade through the water, and I realized it came almost up to my thighs as I rushed through it.

He slowed and lowered his head, like animals sometimes do when they sense danger. I came up beside him and pulled my binoculars out of my backpack. Carefully, I scanned the area from side to side until I saw a group of people. My grip tightened on my binoculars as I watched the scene unfold. There was a young woman with long dark hair. An older man was yelling at her. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I could tell by the look on his face and how his mouth was moving that he was angry. I crept closer to try to hear their words.

The closer I got the more shocked I became. I didn’t know who these people were, but they had a whole encampment set up around a dilapidated cabin that I remembered as being extremely unsafe.

The older man was yelling in heavily accented English, “You never look where you’re going. This is a forest. You have to expect there to be snakes. Running around screaming your head off won’t scare off the snake but will draw attention to us. Alicia, I thought you were smarter than this.”

“Clearly, I’m not. You should send me back home. Mom is worried sick about me being out in the middle of nowhere. Tia Elena says she won’t eat and can’t sleep.”

“You let me worry about your mama,” the man told her irritably. Then added, “Head down to the river and see if you can finish washing my shirts without acting like a child.”

He picked up a small basket and gave her a rough shove in the direction of the river, in my direction. When she turned, I had to hold in a gasp—she was the most beautiful women I’d ever seen, long black hair in a braid, olive toned skin, and bewitching eyes. But when I saw her expression, it made a well of empathy swell in my chest. This young woman looked mentally and physically exhausted and her bottom lip was shaking like she was about to cry.

The man, who I assumed was her father, motioned to one of the other men to follow her. The look of dark glee that jumped onto the younger man’s face made me uncomfortable.

I quietly followed her back to the river. She ignored him as she took out the shirts and began to awkwardly scrub them in the water, using a rock to pound them on a small boulder.

The younger man came up behind her and started to talk to her in Spanish. I understood Spanish fairly well, but I was having difficulty following his rapid-fire speech. She glanced over her shoulder and muttered, “You know my father’s rules. Speak English in America, we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.”

He made a frustrated sound and started again. “Why do you insist on provoking your father? Just do what he says, and everything will be okay.”

“For you maybe, Alejandro. You’re the son he never had. I’m the daughter he never wanted.”

The man squatted down to look her in the eyes. “You would better yourself in his eyes by becoming my wife.”

She made a disgruntled sound and went back to rinsing out the shirts and wringing them out. “I’m not marrying you. I don’t care if he punishes me, I’m never going to agree to marry you, Alejandro.”

He reached out and grabbed her by her long braid and forced her to turn around and look at him. “Your father is right about one thing. You are stubborn.”

She tried to untangle her hair from his fist. “Yes. I’m a gigantic stubborn pain in the ass. I’d make a terrible wife. Why don’t you go find another woman to harass.”

His hand released her braid, and he grabbed her throat instead. “Your father has given me leave to take you. Once you are with my child, you become mine. This he has promised to me.”

Anger rose hard and fast in my mind. This asshole was threatening to rape her and force her to have his child. And if his words could be believed, her father has approved of this plan. Nine made a low dangerous growl in the back of his throat, the same sound I sometimes make when I’m enraged. We were in agreement. I pulled my handgun out of my backpack, took the safety off and crept forward.

I didn’t get the chance to intervene because she took the rock she was using to do the laundry with and slammed it into the side of his head. He fell over, holding his head while she made her escape. When he got up and started chasing after her, I decided she needed my help. They were headed down the river in the opposite direction to my club’s property. I shoved the gun into the holster in the small of my back and made chase. Since I’m quick and know this land well, I easily outpaced her. Concealing myself behind a tree, I waited for her to come running past. Then I swept my arm out and pulled her aside and out of view.

She opened her mouth to scream but I quickly put my hand over her mouth to silence her. “Quiet, if you want to make it out of the forest without being molested by that asshole.”

When she stilled, I tentatively lifted my palm away, “Sorry, if you screamed that man would know where we were.”

Her eyes narrowed on me for a brief moment before she asked, “Who are you and how did you find us?”

“I was exploring when I heard you scream,” I said.

We heard Alejandro approaching and both stilled. Something brushed against my leg, and she jumped. I grabbed her and put my hand over her mouth again, sensing another potential scream. “He’s with me.”

Nine rubbed himself against her legs again in a gesture that I believed was meant to be protective. It took her a second to realize the creature was not going to eat her up and then she relaxed again.

That was when several things happened at once. Nine made an aggressive noise and jumped. I realized that Alejandro had doubled back and found our location. Maybe he saw movement when she was alarmed by Nine.

The look on his face was white-hot rage. “Get your hands off my woman!”

I quickly let her go and stepped protectively in front of her to block his view.

“I said to get the hell away from her. Who are you and why are you here?” he demanded.

Of course I wasn’t going to tell him who I was and why I was here, so instead I said, “I’m here checking my traps along the river. I heard a commotion and came to see if anyone needed help.”

“Well, you can clearly see we are not in need of your help. It was a lover’s quarrel, nothing more.”

I pointed out, “You had your hand on her throat.”

“This is not your business, gringo.”

I snorted a laugh because he just called me white. In this part of the country people usually assumed I was Mexican or part Mexican. That is until they saw my braid. I guessed that Alejandro wasn’t very observant. Through gritted teeth I said, “You go back to your camp. Your friend will return when she’s ready.”

“I don’t think so,” he sneered. “She comes with me now, or I’ll drop you where you stand. Your choice.”

I saw him reaching into his pocket and decided in a flash that he was going for a weapon. My only hope was to get to my gun before he drew down on me or pulled out a knife. I slid my hand around and released my gun from the holster a split second before he did.

“Freeze, or I’ll riddle you with holes.” I’ve always wanted to say that.

To his credit the big man froze. “I’m not leaving without my woman.”

For the first time the woman he was harassing spoke up for herself. “I’m not your woman, cabrón .”

The look on his face turned to stone cold fury when her hand came up to rest on my arm as she peered around me to look at him.

He swore in Spanish under his breath and then made a very stupid decision by continuing to reach for his gun. “You can’t leave with this stranger.”

I squeezed off a shot, catching him in the thigh. He fell to the ground and started trying to attend to his wound.

Without taking my eyes off him, I pointed out to her. “Your father and the others would have heard that. It won’t take them long to find us. I can get you out of this situation, but you’ll have to trust me. Or you can stay.”

The man yelled at her. “You know your papa won’t let him just walk outta here. He’s seen our camp. We can’t risk him talking.”

I told him, “Shut your mouth or I’m gonna shoot you in the guts. Trust me, you don’t want that.”

She quickly said, “I want out and I’ll take my chances with you.”

“Alright. Let’s get moving,”

I walked out, took the gun off Alejandro and handed it to Alicia, making sure the safety was on, “Don’t use it unless you have to.”

She looked at the gun and at me, then stuffed it into her pocket without a word.

“Okay, we’d best get going.” I took her by the hand, and we ran until I found a good spot along the river that looked deep. “Can you swim?” I asked.

Her eyes went wide, “Yes, but not well.”

“The river isn’t too deep, but the current is strong. Relax and let it carry you.” We jumped in and let the current carry us away at a rate much faster than we could have walked. Nine was smart and ran alongside the riverbank. I noticed that Alicia was struggling to keep her head above water. I grabbed her, turned her around and gave her a lifeguard rescue, only letting go when I was fairly certain it was safe, and then swam over to the bank and pulled us both out of the water. I wasn’t as bulky as her friend, but I worked out and am way stronger than I looked.

We took a minute to catch our breath on the grass and then I got to my feet and pulled her up as well. “We need to keep moving. The river becomes a stream about a fourth of a mile from here. We’ll need to walk in the water to keep them from tracking us, the ground by the banks is damp so our footsteps would be visible.”

The expression of gratitude on her pretty face was hard to see. “I’ll do anything, walk all day without a break if I have to. I just want to get away from my father and Alejandro.”

“Do you know why they’re here?”

“Not really. They don’t tell me anything.” Her cagey response didn’t seem quite honest.

We started running again, only not quite so fast. We soon found the shallow spot and got back into the water. We didn’t chat much because we were just trying to make good time, finally we got close to the cabin, and I headed towards the riverbank.

“Do you think we’re far enough away?” she asked nervously. “I can’t go back there. I’d rather die first.”

“With the few miles the river tossed us when we first jumped in, and the few more we ran, I’d say that finding us would be a challenge for a good tracker. No one in your father’s group seems like they’d be good at tracking,” I told her earnestly. Though I knew that they’d find us eventually. The cabin wouldn’t be safe for us to hide out for long.