Wolf-Way (Wolf of my Heart) Read online

  Cam looked thrilled by my mood swing.

  Chief clearly doubted it. That's because he knew me better. "I found the bread and the lunch meat, but not the mayo."

  "Fridge door." I got it for him.

  "Does this mean you're not mad at me anymore?" asked Cam as I joined them at the table.

  "No. If you every touch me again, Cameron Halter, I'll punch your lights out."

  He blinked. Chief hooted and slapped his knee. "Well said, Tehya."

  Oh how I longed for Wednesday night. But I never let on that things had changed, that I had a plan as I cleared the table, then watched afternoon football.

  When the day finally ended, I crawled into my bed, exhausted from hiding my emotions and pretending to be someone I wasn't.

  Monday morning, Chief went to the community center as usual for coffee and a good gossip with his buddies. After that, he'd drop by the sheriff's office for a while. I canceled my usual jogging again and stayed home to rummage through his files. I wanted anything to do with the wolf-way. Unfortunately, I found nothing to help me figure out how he transformed boys into wolves.

  I began opening desk drawers at random. Nothing in any of them seemed relevant until I noticed that one drawer wasn't as deep as the others. A false bottom? Not for nothing was I granddaughter of a retired res sheriff.

  Sure enough, I found one. Lifting it, I discovered a worn leather book about one-inch thick and six-by-nine inches in size. I quickly glanced through it and saw some pages had what looked like recipes on them, while others offered intricate instructions for spells. I also found a ledger. A quick glance at the contents revealed handwritten entries dating back many, many years--meticulous notes about who'd done what and when. Just as I looked closer, I heard Chief's truck door slam outside.

  With a gasp, I stuck the books under my shirt and shut all the drawers. I made it to my bedroom before Chief came inside, but only had time to stuff them under my pillow before he called me from the kitchen.

  "Tehya?"

  "In here." I took a deep breath and headed his way. "So...what's new on the res?" I asked once I stood face-to-face with him. I kept my expression neutral.

  "Not much. LJ Hines got another DUI."

  I shook my head.

  "Amy Johnson and Brad Lester eloped."

  "No kidding!" They were actually engaged...but to other people.

  "And Mrs. Whitley is retiring."

  My first-grade teacher. Well, about dang time. She had to be ninety-years-old at least.

  "I figured she'd die at her desk someday."

  Chief chuckled, then got serious. "They need a replacement to finish out the year. Have you ever thought about teaching?"

  "Not first grade. If I taught anything, it would be PE or gymnastics. And I don't want to teach, anyway. You know I want to work with old people at a rehab center or a nursing home somewhere."

  "Just like your mom," Chief said with a heavy sigh. "Can't wait to shake the dust of the ol' res off your feet."

  "It's not that I don't like it here." I thought of the things I loved about my life. Things like helping the older tribe members, taking care of the horses, occasional babysitting. "There's a lot of world out there, and I want to experience it."

  "There's no place like home."

  "I know. But everyone needs a vacation now and then."

  "Hmph! Saw Cam at the gas station."

  I didn't reply.

  "He really is sorry about Sunday."

  "I'll bet." I left him for the privacy of the laundry room to end that discussion and began loading bath towels into the washing machine.

  Mid-afternoon, I went out to feed the horses. I found them outside enjoying the sunlight and made short work of scooping oats into their buckets.

  As I turned to leave, I heard a soft, "Tehya?"

  I whirled around.

  "Look up."

  With a gasp, I did and found Rhyan looking down at me.

  "What are you doing here?" I gasped. "Oh my God. Have you been in this barn since I left it yesterday?"

  "No, no, no. I just came back to see you. Figured you'd come in about this time since that's what you did yesterday."

  I rushed forward to climb the ladder and throw my arms around him. He hugged me back.

  "Are you okay?"

  "Yeah, sure. Why?"

  "I saw what that jerk did--"

  "Then you saw me get him back." I raised my heels so I reach him. He pressed his lips to mine in a quick, hard kiss.

  "I'm glad you're here. We need to talk." I told him what I'd found in Chief's desk. "Tomorrow I'm going to the community center. There's a collection of old tribal books there. I'm sure I'll find something on the wolf-way to help us. I'll look through everything tomorrow. I'm thinking we can put our plan in motion by Wednesday."

  "So there is a plan."

  "Yes."

  "Great. Thanks, Tehya."

  "You're welcome. Where did you sleep last night?"

  "In my car, parked in the woods."

  "Oh, Rhyan." No wonder he looked so tired. I pictured him huddled and shivering behind his steering wheel.

  "It's all good."

  "Have you eaten anything?"

  "I had Cokes in an ice chest. Drank one last night and ate some peanut butter crackers with it."

  That would not do. "Where's your car parked now?"

  "Still in the woods. I hiked in. Didn't want anyone to recognize it or me."

  "You hiked in this weather?"

  "It was just a few miles, and I have my coat back."

  A coat that looked damp, filthy, and torn.

  "Why didn't you shift? At least your fur would've kept you warm."

  "Yeah, and I'd have been butt naked when I got here and shifted back."

  "There is that..." I thought for a second. "Sleep in here tonight. I'll bring you blankets and something to eat."

  He kissed me again. "Thanks, baby. But that's too risky."

  "Chief will never know. Now I'd better go. Stay put, okay? I'll come back around four this afternoon. We have supper pretty early when it's just us."

  I turned to go.

  "Tehya?"

  I eased myself onto the ladder and descended a couple of rungs before resting my elbow on the top one. "Hmm?"

  Rhyan stepped closer. "I need to tell you something. Something you might not want to hear."

  Uh-oh. I waited.

  "I'll probably be sorry I said it, but I learned the hard way that I'll be sorrier if I don't."

  "So tell me already."

  He cleared his throat. He hesitated.

  "Speak to me."

  "You're a girl I could love."

  Whoa! Had my ears tricked me? "What?"

  He knelt on one knee to grasp side rails of the ladder, his nose touching mine, his lips curved in a half smile. "I'm pretty sure you heard that."

  Gulp. "Yeah, I did."

  "You don't have to feel the same or anything. I mean it's really too soon for stuff like that. I just wanted you to know. Life can turn on a dime, and the people you care about might never know it."

  My heart back flipped in my chest. I brushed a lock of hair from his eyes. "That's the best thing a guy ever said to me."

  "Too soon, though."

  "Logically speaking? Yeah. But you're a wolf, and I'm a psychic, so logic doesn't apply. I could love you, too. Oh so easily." If I don't already.

  His eyes widened. I grabbed his face and kissed him...a lot.

  I could've been wearing snowshoes on the trek back to the house. My feet felt that light.

  Chief napped in front of the TV, fully reclined in his favorite old chair. At sixty-eight, he did that a couple of times a day when there weren't any guys around, which didn't bother me. I enjoyed the occasional breather, and he deserved a life of leisure after all those years keeping order on the res.

  With Rhyan on my mind, I food prepped for a big supper, then set everything aside. All I'd have to do now is cook. Immediately restless and anxious,
I thought about borrowing Chief's truck to drive to the community center. I didn't own a car, myself, relying on a reservation bus to get me to classes. Chief promised he'd get me one for junior college graduation, undoubtedly using my money to buy a vehicle of his choice. That rankled, but what didn't these days?

  I suddenly wondered if I'd been as tough on Chief as he was on me. In truth, he'd sacrificed to take in me and my brothers, and I loved him dearly for it even though he ticked me off time and again. I tried to see things from his point of view. How would I feel if my wife divorced me and our only child--a child I had custody of--ran away from home at such a young age? Would I hate the so-called older man she married, a Caucasian in his early thirties with two young sons by a dead wife?

  Probably, I realized. Chief now had no one but me, and I must've been a huge disappointment when he needed an heir with powers so badly. The Rainbolts had been in the shaman business for over a century. It had to hurt him to see it all coming to an end even though the role had changed drastically from spiritual and physical healer--we used real doctors and psychologists these days--to homeopath and wolf maker.

  Impulsively, I walked to the living room and perched on the arm of Chief's chair. I nudged him slightly in the process. His eyes opened.

  "I need to borrow your truck."

  He hit the lever that lowered the leg rest and blinked himself awake. "What for?"

  "I'm out of tampons."

  "Oh, uh, sure." Visibly flustered, he dug into his pocket for his keys and handed them to me.

  I kissed his forehead before I stood. "I'll be back in a few. Love ya."

  Chief gave me the funniest look.

  "What?"

  "You haven't said that to me in a very long time."

  I sighed. "Aren't teenagers a pain?"

  That made him grin.

  I patted his arm and left him.

  I saw one car at the community center. It belonged to Helen Pearson, a senior citizen who cleaned the place and attended the Saturday afternoon aerobics class I led. I waved to her when I entered the building and went straight to the library. I found a single book with a chapter on the wolf-way. I copied the pages without reading them and left shortly after, stopping on the way back home to actually get tampons so Chief wouldn't suspect that I'd lied.

  I took pains to make supper extra-delicious, my mind on Rhyan, freezing in the barn. I didn't attempt to deliver the food until Chief headed to the bathroom with a magazine in his hand. Knowing he'd be in there a while, I heaped a paper plate with leftovers and wrapped it in foil. I practically ran to the barn with it.

  "Rhyan?"

  He stepped from the shadows. I thrust the food at him, along with the Broncos blanket he'd used that very first night by the fire.

  "Maybe I should get you a pillow."

  "This is fine." Rhyan set the food aside and pulled me close for a kiss. Then he hugged me for the longest time. "God you feel wonderful in my arms."

  I smiled into his chest.

  "I promise when this is all over, I'll come back and make things right with Chief so we can have a real date."

  Oops. "Um, Rhyan?"

  "Yes?"

  "I need to tell you the plan."

  "I'm all ears." He released me and began eating.

  "In order for us to learn everything we need to, we're going to have to spend some time together."

  "Okay. I assume you're on spring break, right?"

  "Until April fifteenth, yes."

  "Then why don't we work here every night? Or will it be too hard to get away from the house?" A mouthful of crispy fried drumstick muffled his words.

  "It won't be hard; it'll be impossible. We have to leave the reservation, Rhyan. We have to run away together."

  Chapter Seven

  Mashed potatoes spewed everywhere. Rhyan began coughing up a lung.

  "Are you nuts?" His eyes narrowed. "How old are you, and I don't want to hear 'younger.'"

  "Eighteen."

  "You swear? 'Cause anything under that makes you jailbait, and I'm in deep enough shit as it is."

  "Do I need to bring my driver's license next time I come?"

  "Good idea."

  My jaw dropped. "I'm joking. No way will I let you card me."

  "And no way will we run off together. Damn, Tehya. Have you even thought about what you're saying?"

  "Look, Rhyan. I can't argue about this now. Chief's probably already off the pot. So you're just going to have to trust me." I ran to the exit, blew him a kiss, and shut the door behind me.

  As I burst into the kitchen from the side entrance, Chief stepped into it from the hall.

  "Have you been outside?"

  "Yeah, and it's freezing out there." I stomped snow off my Nikes.

  "Why'd you go out?"

  "To check the mail. Wasn't any."

  "That’s because I already brought it in." He pointed to a pile of envelopes and catalogs lying on the cabinet.

  I pretended to laugh at my blonde moment.

  As soon as I could escape to my room, I did so. There, I paced, my head spinning with possibilities. What if Rhyan wouldn't agree to the plan? What if he agreed, but I wasn't able to help him? And why didn't he trust me? He'd said he could love me. I told him I could love him back. Shouldn't people that close to love trust each other?

  I decided it all came down to us not really knowing one another. That meant we probably shared intense emotions based on our dead-end situations. We both wanted to escape the realities of our lives. We both needed change.

  Were our feelings based on that?

  I thought they might be, and that made me sad. Not that I doubted my own heart. I didn't. But I did doubt his. Maybe no one had been kind to him in a very long time. He could easily confuse gratitude for love, couldn't he? That would certainly explain his hesitation about running away with me.

  Suddenly I needed to know exactly where I stood.

  But I waited until almost midnight to act on that need. I dressed in jeans, a sweater, and knee boots. I put on my jacket and slipped out my window, easily managing the short drop to the snow-covered ground. Guided by moonlight, I trudged to the barn and quietly opened the door. Bella whinnied a hello.

  "Rhyan? Where are you?" I flicked on my flashlight and shone it all around. I heard the rustle of hay and directed the beam upward.

  "Tehya?"

  I saw him peeking over the edge of the loft. "What's up?"

  I turned off the bright beam. "We need to talk."

  "Okay." He moved toward the ladder.

  "No, I'll come up there." I climbed it to where he waited. "I'm going to get right to the point. Do you really think you could love me?"

  "Baby, I'm halfway there."

  "But what if you're just feeling grateful or something?"

  He huffed his exasperation. "I'm two months away from twenty-years-old. And while I'm no Brad Pitt, I have had some experience with girls. I believe I can tell the difference between gratitude and love." He paused for a second, his eyes gazing into mine. "If you've had second thoughts... If you're sorry you said you could love me... I'll understand. You've led a sheltered life. You probably--"

  Now I huffed. "I may not be as experienced as you, but I know what I feel, okay?"

  "Then what's the problem?"

  "Why won't you run away with me? I'm legal. I'm willing. It was even my idea."

  "Sit down." He motioned to the floor.

  "But--"

  "Just do it, okay? Because you're right. We need to talk."

  I sat.

  So did he. "My parents lost their only son over two years ago. I haven't told you this, but I actually saw them on the news, pleading with my kidnapper to set me free. Neither of them could talk for crying, and I knew then that what they imagined had happened was even worse than the hell I actually went through. I wanted to die." He looked away, shaking his head.

  I touched his cheek. "I didn't see any of those memories."

  "That's because I buried them s
o deep. My point is no matter how much you hate Chief, you cannot do that to him or your brothers."

  "I don't hate Chief."

  "Then how could you consider, even for a second, running away?"

  "We have no other option."

  "But we do." His whole demeanor changed from pensive to eager. "I think we should talk to Chief. I think you should tell him you have powers, and ask him what you need to do to cure me."

  "No! If I tell him the truth, I'll be stuck here forever."

  "You're eighteen. He can't make you stay."

  "He won't have to. My guilt will do it for him. Girls have way too much of that, you know."

  "Actually, I don't see how anyone, girl or guy, can have any more guilt than me, but that's beside the point. Look into your heart and tell me if you can put Chief through hell. Because that's what'll happen if you run away."