The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,218

Letty turned abruptly.

“My poor man,” she said softly, then took a pan of warm water from the hearth and carried it to the bed.

Eulis would hate what was happening to him, but in a way it was just as well that he didn’t know. He would have rather died than know he was soiling himself and that Letty was cleaning him up as if he was a baby.

Once the job was finished, she carried the waste water outside and dumped it on the other side of the lean-to. When she turned around to go back into the cabin, she found herself face to face with a wolf.

“God in heaven,” she gasped, and took a step backward.

The wolf snarled as it lowered its head. It was then Letty saw the blood spreading around its foot and staining the snow. It appeared as if some toes were missing, probably from being caught in a trap. Back in Lizard Flats, she’d heard trappers talking about catching wolves in traps only to have them chew off their own foot rather than stay caught.

The wolf’s sides were gaunt. It was obvious he’d been unable to hunt, and she was standing between him and the scent of elk meat. The wolf’s upper lip curled, showing a mouthful of sharp teeth. Hunger had overcome every fear it might have had regarding man, and was willing to do what it took to feed.

A growl rumbled low in its throat as it slunk forward.

Letty thought of the rifle inside the cabin and groaned.

“Get!” she shouted, and waved the pan in the air.

The wolf flinched and dodged, but didn’t go far. When she moved toward the cabin, instinctively, the wolf shifted, too, and again, she was pinned. To her horror, the wolf started toward her, and this time with no intent of stopping.

Letty moved backward, all the way to the firewood. When she hit the stack with her heel, she suddenly realized she had all the weapons she would need at her back. Her fingers curled around a large branch, only seconds before the wolf leaped.

Letty screamed as she swung. The branch hit the wolf in mid-air, landing solid up the side of its head. Blood splattered again, only this time on her. The wolf dropped at her feet then twitched, probably in the throes of death, but Letty wasn’t taking any chances. She hit it again, and then again, until blood and brains were spilled all over the snow and she was staggering from the shock of what she’d done.

She dropped the branch into the snow and looked around for her pan. It was right where she’d dropped it, but when she bent down to pick it up, she swayed, then went to her knees. She took what she meant to be a deep, calming breath, and then started to sob. She cried until her head hurt, and her feet and legs were numb from the cold. When she tried to stand up, she stumbled and fell, only to find herself lying face to face with what was left of the wolf. She stared long and hard at the flattened skull and sightless eyes and then gritted her teeth. It was dead. She was not. This time when she stood, she was steady on her feet.

She toed the carcass with the end of her boot.

“You shouldn’t have gotten in my way,” she muttered, and then went into the cabin.

Eulis was right where she’d left him, clean and warm beneath the covers. She felt of his forehead, which was still hot to the touch, then slipped her hand beneath his head and raised it just enough that he might drink from the cup she held to his lips.

“Drink, Eulis. Open your mouth and take a drink.”

He began muttering the same thing over and over.

“Don’t drink… not anymore… not anymore… not anymore.”

Letty pried his lips apart and gently poured the liquid in.

“Swallow it, Eulis. It’s just water. I swear.”

The water dribbled down both sides of his lips, but enough went into his mouth to satisfy her intent. She eased him back down and went to check on the broth. It was bubbling.

She looked down at her pants, frowning at the blood on the legs, then looked at her hands and shuddered.

She’d killed a man once when she’d taken him to bed, but that had been in the throes of sex, and he’d paid her to die. She’d never killed anything with her hands before, and had often wondered if she had