The Vow (Black Arrowhead #1) - Dannika Dark Page 0,53

his shoulder and leg healing. He waited to see if Tak needed help, but the situation seemed under control. Lakota shifted back and stalked toward the wolf Melody had taken down. He had half a mind to shove that arrow right back where it belonged and finish him off, but the idiot had done enough damage by shifting while it was still in him—enough that it had knocked him unconscious from either pain or blood loss.

Tak morphed into human form when the wolf beneath him fell still.

“Do you know them?” Lakota asked, out of breath.

“Local rogues.” Tak nudged the dead wolf with his foot. “They don’t belong to a pack.”

Lakota wiped the blood from his face. “What the hell are they doing out here?”

Tak’s expression darkened like a thundercloud. “Looking for trouble, and they found it.”

“We need to get out of here. Now that the cops are done with their crime scene, it won’t take long before people in town get curious and want to check this place out, and here we are, bathed in blood.”

Tak swiped his arrow off the ground and cursed. “Those wolves are going to lie to the Council. That chickenshit who ran off was an alpha.”

Lakota raised his eyebrows in surprise. Usually he could sense an alpha, so it must have been a weak one.

“That means he saw us with the girl,” Tak continued, blood trickling down his back. “Rumors are going to fly. Two Natives hanging around a crime scene with another white girl—they’re going to call it sacrificial or some bullshit.”

Yanking up his pants, Lakota said, “The girl took off. We need to find her before she winds up on someone’s territory.”

While they were heading back to the horses, Tak reached over his shoulder to an unhealed wound that was leaking a lot of blood. “Maybe we should just let her go.”

“Yeah, nothing suspicious about that. Girl goes missing, last seen with us, and they find her Jeep on your land.”

After Tak shifted once and back again, he put on his pants and collected his weapons off the ground. His mare was rattled, so he took the reins and stroked her neck, his voice soothing and firm. “Easy, girl. I know you love me.”

But Lakota’s Appaloosa wasn’t showing him any love. It backed away when he neared it.

Tak slung his quiver over his shoulder and mounted. “Approach her like you would a woman in bed: slow and easy.”

Lakota flashed him a peevish glance before he untied the reins and mounted. “Maybe my women like to be tackled.”

“I didn’t know you liked football players.”

They clucked their tongues and headed into the woods.

Once Tak’s horse learned the direction they were heading, Tak let go of the reins and began plaiting his hair. “Women like to see your intent. You’ve got to treat her gently—ease up on her and make her feel safe. She has to trust you before you decide to lift that skirt and make her feel like a woman.”

Lakota’s horse picked up speed. “Maybe you frighten women too easily, and that’s why you have to crawl on them like a snail.”

Tak finished tying off his hair and shrugged off the comment. “I can’t deny that. Women don’t like to look at my face.”

“I didn’t think it was your face they were busy looking at.”

Two warriors, fresh from a kill, laughed like schoolboys.

They veered right, the horses huffing as they climbed a steep embankment. Once they reached the top, Lakota dismounted. Tak’s horse pranced in a circle, still full of energy.

They’d been following Melody’s tracks, but those tracks had begun turning in circles, indicating that her wolf had stopped to rest. She would be tired, and the heat was oppressive without any wind for relief. Lakota led his horse toward the sound of splashing water.

“There’s a swimming hole up ahead,” Tak said. “I bet she stopped for a drink.”

Lakota stalked through the thinning brush. He could smell the water and hear it trickling. As he ducked beneath a vine, he spotted a wolf on the edge of a flat rock just ahead. He slowed his pace when he saw the cliff, his hands up. “Easy, girl.” From his position, he couldn’t tell how steep the drop was. Lakota kept a watchful eye on her hind legs, which were precariously close to the edge.

Lakota was silenced by her beauty. Melody reminded him of a patchwork quilt with her unique coloring. She looked like a white wolf someone had painted orange and brown markings on. The