Dark Heart Wolf - Haley Weir Page 0,60

the dresser and grabbed the matches from the top. Her hands shook as she lit the lamps and sconces.

In the faint light, Talia settled down, and her tears stopped falling. Mary Ann set her daughter in the bassinet. After checking on Blake, she peeked through a crack in the shutters. Wendigo. In daylight. They moved slower and uncoordinated, but their hunger for flesh was still unmatched by any other predator in the region. She wished she had been smart enough to keep a weapon in the nursery in case of emergencies.

By the grace of the heavens, Sam and Boone came down the road in time to see the wendigo. They pulled out their revolvers and shot the creature dead. Mary Ann didn’t know how many there were. She grabbed the children into her arms. Blake and Talia rocked gently from side to side as Mary Ann remained completely silent. Boots came down the corridor, and Sam broke the handle off the door. He sagged to the floor and held his arms out. Mary Ann crawled over to him with the children. “I thought it got to you.”

“I had to get to the children.”

“I’m so proud of you, sweetheart.”

“Where are the others?” Mary Ann asked. “I didn’t see them…”

“Beth and Abigail were with us. Ruth went into town with Ariel to help her find a new home. Itsá is with them. Gabriel and Charlotte are in the forest searching for any sign of the ghost witch. Jesse was supposed to be here.”

Mary Ann brushed a lock of overgrown hair from his face and shook her head. “Don’t be upset with Jesse. We’re fine. He must have gotten busy with something. Go make sure he’s all right. He hasn’t been the same since he was attacked in the caves.”

“I should kill him.”

She handed him Talia and handed Blake to Boone. Mary Ann left the brothers with the children and walked down to the body of the wendigo that laid upon the dirt road. She knelt beside the dead creature with rapt fascination. “It looks...almost human. Not like the others.”

“It’s only half turned,” Wesley said. “We’ve been killin’ a lot of them lately. Maybe they’re getting more desperate. Ethan hasn’t shown his face since we saw him at the caves.”

“Whatever it is, it got too damn close to my daughter.”

“What are you thinking?”

“I say we follow the track this thing left behind and we retaliate,” she replied. “You and Boone can handle the explosives. Sam and I can take the guns. We box them in and blast them away. Whatever come crawlin’ out of the wreckage gets gunned down.”

“Cold-blooded.”

“You call it cold-blooded; I call it bein’ a mother.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Colorado Territory

Fog still hovered above the ground as Sam and Mary Ann rode along the path. He stopped for a moment and crouched down, brushing his hand against the dirt. It was loose despite the overgrown nature of the area and the damp air. "Someone has been through here. They brushed the trail to obscure the tracks. I smell bear on the wind, but no shifters. This was a human."

"One of Ethan's people?"

"Most likely," Sam answered. He climbed back into the saddle and smiled at the rifle strapped to his wife's back, as well as the modified revolver at her hip. "You ain't got to come along, Mary. The fellas and I could handle it on our own."

"Doubtful. The four of you miss a lot on your own. Itsá and Gabriel too, for that matter," she countered. "Besides, it was my plan to do this, and I need to keep sharp after givin' birth to Talia."

Sam reached out for Mary Ann. "Ethan implied that the Daoi may not need me no more now that Malia is here. I don't want our daughter to fight this on her own—”

Mary Ann snatched her hand out of his grasp. "If you're askin' me to leave you behind, the answer is no."

"Mary Ann, think about our little girl. She needs you." Sam trotted ahead, leaving her to her thoughts. He couldn't blame Mary Ann for how she felt. Sam doubted he could cope well if she ever got hurt on the mission. Talia could grow up happily with Marry Ann as her mother without him in her life, but without Mary Ann, Sam wouldn't survive on his own, much less with a child.

He eased them around the corner and saw fresh-looking tracks. Instead of speaking, Sam pointed them out to Mary Ann. She dismounted from her horse, walking beside