The Town 0f No Return: Special Edition (Half Breed Haven Book 11)

by A. M. Van Dorn

  He swayed for a moment, and as he steadied himself, his blue eyes turned as cold as ice as he met the gaze of Crazy Elk. It took all his willpower to remember he was here on a mission of peace and not to throw down with the brave that had manhandled him not once but twice. He forced himself to turn his attention away from the glowering man and looked the woman straight in her face and smiled.

  “Hello, Sky. Seems like whenever I am in the presence of your company somehow I wind up flat on my back.”

  “At least this time you have been spared having your nose bloodied, but the day is not over yet,” she said as a smile slowly lit up her face.

  "It has been many moons, has it not since we last have seen each other? You have grown into a lovely woman; I am pleased to see." This seemed to widen her smile at the same time it elicited a hostile grunt from Crazy Elk.

  "And you, a most handsome man. That is no surprise. Even as a boy you were the talk of all the girls in our tribe."

  Blue River dusted himself off and straightened as the pain from striking the ground was receding, and he nodded at her. “I had eyes only for Summer Sky though.”

  “And you had an interesting way of showing it,” she said, her hands slipping to her hips.

  “Enough talk, Summer Sky! We kill him now! Little Flower said that he was there when Charging Bear died at the hands of a white man. He is with them! I am sure of it!”

  The other braves whose bows had dipped slightly during the exchange between Summer Sky and Blue River suddenly raised them again, prompting Summer Sky’s hand to shoot out.

  “Lower your arrows! It is my wish to hear what he has to say!”

  She then pivoted around and stared up at Crazy Elk, her eyes narrowing in anger as she did. “You would do well to remember that my brother has put me in charge while he and the others are away on the hunt. Not you.” With that said she turned to face Blue River.

  “Forgive Crazy Elk. His threats were out of line. He has always been full of bluster. You may recall that from those many seasons ago when you walked these lands with us.”

  Blue River looked at the scowling man and searched his memory until his mouth fell open. When Crow Woman had mentioned him earlier, he did not make the connection and for good reason. He now he remembered a boy named Crazy Elk, but then the boy by that name had been a reed-thin youth who was always at Summer Sky's side. That this colossal figure could be the same person astounded him.

  “You seem to have been well fed over the years, Crazy Elk.”

  Crazy Elk gritted his teeth before saying, “I grow strong as a true brave and not the—as the white man say—a bastard whelp of some white eyes.”

  A spark lit within Blue River and he began to take a step forward, but Summer Sky glided between the two men. Crazy Elk looked down at him with a smug expression on his face knowing his words had gotten to him.

  “Why are you here, Blue River?” Sky demanded, her tone firm, yet urgent.

  "Around you, I see the preparation for a war on the people of Horseshoe; a war that will cost many lives on both sides. Your anger is great, and it is understandable. One of your people lost his life, and the truce has been broken, but you have my word, I and my sister will do everything that we can to uncover the killer and bring him to justice."

  “Bright Feather is here with you?!”

  He didn’t have a chance to answer as Crazy Elk let loose with a sneer behind her. “No, remember long ago when they came and with them stories that he has another family, a family of the white man with strange sisters of all shades. Little Flower said she saw one with him—one who comes from the people of the yellow man from beyond the great pond.”

  Blue River ignored the man. “It’s true, it’s not Bright Feather but another one of my sisters, her name is Lijuan. Her skills are great, and I believe that we can catch the killer.”

  “Yet you have no idea who it was that killed Charging Bear?”

  “No, but we have narrowed it down to the only possible people that could have done it. We will uncover the man responsible.”

  She shook her head and locked eyes with him, "Not good enough. If it had been a white man killed by an Indian, the cavalry would have been summoned, and those marauding white men would arrive to slaughter us. Now we shall do the same."

  His mouth tightened, and his fists balled up in frustration. So much of what she had just said was wrong. His cherished brother Dutch was an officer in the army and not a ruthless killer. She was painting all the troops in a broad stroke, and it wasn't right.

  "Revenge! We will have our revenge!" Crazy Elk cried out, and many of the other braves echoed his cry.

  “Sky … please. It’s not fair to attack and kill innocent people when it was but a single jasper that committed the murder. You can’t hold the entire town responsible!” he pleaded.

  “Who are you to come here and tell our people what we can and can’t do?” Crazy Elk snorted, rocking back and forth on his feet.

  The chant of revenge grew louder behind the trio. Summer Sky held up her hand to silence them. The brave's mouth fell silent, but there was a smoky look in his eyes for Blue River.

  "What is not fair, Blue River is that my father High Eagle lay sick on his deathbed, his own body killing him, in no condition to lead the tribe and that fell upon my brother. This was all happening at the same time the white fathers in the place called Washington demanded we give up our free range of these mountains and settle here. He was still a boy, and he gave in to the white man. The warriors wanted to fight, but he was now the chief. Our lands and many of our freedoms are gone. The white man takes but does not give! He takes more and more and more. Now he would take the lives of one of our tribesman! They will answer for this. They will learn you cannot strike down a Mescalero and expect he will not be avenged. The spirit of Charging demands it!"

  He had observed her during her fiery oration. There was a drive and determination on her beautiful, yet hard face that told him she was a woman of great conviction and a natural leader. It was no wonder even Crazy Elk deferred to her in her brother's absence, and he now had little doubt the talk of her being a true power in this tribe was true.

  Still, inside of her, he knew had to be that carefree young girl that he had known almost a decade earlier. What he had not told Lijuan was that hours later after their fight, leaving Crazy Elk and the other youngsters behind they had adjourned to the banks of a nearby creek and had been each other's first kiss. He had to reach that young girl that he had shared a connection with before it was too late. If they attacked Horseshoe, she would eventually be condemning her people to death.

  “Sky, I promise you that I will find the man who killed Charging Bear. We know with certainty that it must be one of four men. Stay your hand and do not go on the warpath that will cost more lives beyond that of Charging Bear—lives of both the townspeople and your own people’s lives.”

  Summer Sky gazed at him for a long time. It could have been Blue River's imagination, but he thought, he might have seen a softening in them. Perhaps she remembered two clumsy youths on the banks of a stream, slowly drawing their heads together, their lips becoming one.

  Finally, she looked away, and her eyes traveled from face to face of the warriors who were assembled around her. Her eyes stopped their travels when she looked into the stony face of Crazy Elk. Blue River could not see the expression on her face, but she saw the man’s jaw clench and his gaze shift down just before she turned back to him.

  “Blue River of the Yavapai. I give you the chance you ask for. Return by the time the last rays of light fade from the sky and moon bathes the land with news that you have the killer and as you say are bringing him to justice …”

  “The white man’s justice,” Crazy Elk snarled.

  “Silence!” she snapped over her shoulder before once again turning her attention back to Blue River.

  “Fail and no white in this basin will be spared our wrath. Do you understand?”

  Slowly he placed his foo
t in the stirrup of Rainbow’s saddle and swung himself back up on the horse. Looking down on the fierce and proud Mescalero maiden, a thousand thoughts seemed to rush to his head at the same moment but dominating them all was the knowledge that he felt doomed to fail. It seemed unlikely that without any solid leads pointing to any of the four suspects they would be able to pinpoint the murderer for sure. They would do their best, but at the same time, he hoped that Lijuan and Ross Tatum's preparations to fortify Horseshoe for a coming battle were in full swing.

  “I understand, Sky, and I thank you.”

  “My father held your family in high regard those many moons ago. I can do no less. Please reward my faith in you Blue River.”

  Without looking, she pointed to one of the warriors at her side and swept her arm so that the index finger of her hand was pointing towards Blue River. The young brave came forward and handed him back his Colt, and he slid it into his leather holster.

  "Sky," he said quietly as he pulled on the harness to turn the horse around.

  Crazy Elk stepped forward and slapped the horse hard on its hindquarters. Rainbow reared up in the air and shot towards the gate. Blue River looked back over his shoulder, his braids trailing behind him. His thoughts turned to the hope that once this was over, there would be a chance to come back, reacquaint himself with Summer Sky, and settle a score with the brutish Crazy Elk.

  CHAPTER 10

  THE BADLANDS

  Palmarez, Mexico,

  As Blue River charged back towards Horseshoe, his mind filled with grim thoughts, south of the border his older brother was in an entirely different frame of mind. Feeling alive for the first time in hours, Captain David “Dutch” Wilde braced his hands on the sides of the porcelain tub and used his brawny arms to boost himself up. Eager to get back to his Indian love Bright Feather who awaited him in their room, he lost little time toweling off the bathwater that ran down his body in rivulets. Being the gentleman and seeing how there was only one bath, he had allowed her to go first and then had to wait while a waif-like Mexican teenager had refilled the tub for him with the soothing hot water. Consequently, however, she had been waiting for his return for some time now.

  Wrapping the towel around his waist, he reached for his gun that lay on a nearby stool. A weapon wasn’t something one usually toted into a bathroom but not only were they across the border in a foreign land operating undercover, masquerading as people they weren’t, they were also in Palmarez, one of the most dangerous towns in Mexico where no sane person traveled without a gun at the ready.

  Emerging from the bathroom Dutch hurried down the hallway, passing by the teen employee. With a big grin, she repeated, "Gracias, gracias," still pleased by the tip he had left her earlier. It wasn't lost on him when her eyes wantonly roamed his muscular body, and her brown orbs sparkled with interest, but he merely smiled at her and continued towards his room at the end of the hall.

  As he drew up outside his door, he glanced back over his shoulder and caught the eighteen-year-old still watching him. Embarrassed, she hustled into the communal bath to clean it up. He had looked back at her with regret about having given her the tip earlier. The girl had earned it no question, but it had been an error. He and Bright Feather were there playing the roles of a desperado and his woman, and he doubted such bad men handed out gratuities, especially in a run-down place like they were staying in. It was proof that he wasn’t at the top of his game and hadn’t been … since the party.

  Two nights ago, at the family's sprawling Cedar Ledge Ranch, his father had been hosting a grand party for the elite and well to do of the Alamieda area. At that gathering, his beloved sister Lijuan had made a slip of the tongue that could have had disastrous effects on the entire family. He had been livid with her and had done something he'd never done before: shut her out. Theirs had always been the deepest of bonds. As children, he had been proud to be her big brother, especially when a jealous Cassandra had kept their little half-sister at arm's length. Lijuan had naturally gravitated to him, and until the party, he could recall few instances when they had quarreled as adults.

  Now Lijuan had become a problem, and he'd known it for a long time. Unlike the rest of his family, his sister held a thinly veiled dislike for Bright Feather, the love of his life. Dutch had been placed in an impossible position and continually tried to look the other way regarding Lijuan's hostility to his love. It wasn't fair to Bright Feather, and he knew it. So, when she had made her slip at the party, his frustration had boiled over, and he had turned a cold shoulder to her.

  Now a couple of days removed it was eating at him even more. He didn't like the idea of tension between the sister he adored and himself. They had never been at odds like this before, and it was distracting him, leading him to make mistakes as he had done with the tip. He and Bright Feather had come to Mexico in pursuit of a very dangerous man, and he couldn't afford mistakes.

  Trying to focus on the present, he knocked three times on the door, his signal to Bright Feather that it was him returning to the room and not one of the vermin that infested this haven for criminals. In the brief moments he waited, he quickly laid out what they would do next. They had arrived earlier in the day on their assignment from the U.S. Army to slip across the border and retrieve a most wanted man believed to be hiding out here in Palmarez.Upon their arrival they had decided to get a bite to eat at the rundown café next to the ramshackle hotel, and then check in before setting out on what had proved to be a fruitless search in several of the saloons. They had decided to return to the hotel, get cleaned up, and once recharged they would return to the seemingly endless string of saloons to once more seek out their quarry.

  Quickly following the sound of a bolt being slid back, the door swung open, and he felt a familiar rush come over him. Holding the edge of the door, Bright Feather stood before him in the nude. He relished the sight of her long ebony hair in twin braids resting atop each of her large firm breasts that lorded over a tapered waist that bloomed out into a pair shapely curvy hips, whose center housed a thick patch of the same glossy ebony hair. Every time he saw her nude, it was like seeing her lush caramel-colored body naked for the first time.

  Without hesitation, he slipped into the room and slid the bolt back into place before turning to look once more into her smiling face. Her cocoa brown eyes glistened with a look of desire as both of her hands jammed themselves between the towel and his skin.

  “Before we go out my love, I thought we might practice our roles,” she said with a hint of coyness in her voice. “Tonight, you’re not the decorated war hero Captain Wilde—you’re an outlaw south of the border looking for help in the biggest score of your criminal career. That was our cover Col. Caine assigned us, yes?”

  “You know it is,” he said, the corners of his mouth turning upward, “So what did you have in mind before we go back out into this sinkhole of crime?”

  “You’re a bad man, and I’m your woman. Take me as a bad man would take his woman!” And with that she yanked the towel away and tossed it over her shoulder as his large endowment swung free, eliciting a look of eagerness on her face.

  "Okay, I guess a bad man wouldn't ask for what he wants, he'd just make it happen." He laughed as he laid his hand on the top of her head and began to push her down until she was kneeling in front of his rising member.

  Locking her eyes on his, she licked her luscious lips ever so slowly and saw his cock twitch in anticipation. Bright Feather lowered her mouth to it, and artfully she swirled her tongue over the head before sliding her mouth up and down the shaft, enjoying the different sensations on her tongue. Dutch struggled to keep control as his beautiful lover pleasured him and he enjoyed seeing her tits bobbing as she sucked powerfully as she slowly stroked his hardening shaft with her soft hand.

  He busied his hands by undoing her braids to allow her gorgeous, jet black locks to tumble free. Dutch swept away a shock of it that fell across her face, so he could keep gazing into her alluring eyes. Her tongue and lips con
tinued to lick up the side of his bulging dick, and then she rubbed the tip across her wet lips, sending chills through his body. He had forgotten all about the role-playing they had started and simply surrendered to the passion of making love to the woman of his dreams.

  Gently he grasped her wrists and pulled her up looking over Bright Feather's incredibly sexy naked body with his eyes mapping her curves and edges as he lustfully adored her. Gazing on her shapely body, he ran his hands down the gorgeous feminine figure, and one of his fingers found its way to her honey-well leaving her to shutter and fall into him as they collapsed to the floor of the ancient hotel room.

  After toying with her between her thighs for a spell that left her writhing, he slid his hands up to her hips and tenderly massaged her smooth, tanned skin. She lay there moaning with half-closed eyes that were clouded with passion and pleasures. Dutch leaned down and kissed her sweet lips. Their kissing soon grew more and more passionate.

  He wrapped his arms around her and pressed her more into him, his lust was getting out of control as he couldn’t wait to enter her as soon as possible. His hands ran down her back as he grabbed her tight, sexy ass pulling her up off the ground as she spread her legs around him. Locking her ankles behind his back as they continued to kiss.

  Bright Feather straddled him and lowered herself slowly onto his throbbing cock. As she slid carefully down his length, he grabbed her hips and thrust all the way inside her firmly, almost making her explode with the erotic violence of the gesture. They rocked together, finding a rhythm that began to build both of their pleasures.

  Her large exposed breasts jutted proudly towards Dutch face, bouncing madly as he gave her a buckboard-like ride on his shaft, his hands providing the support to get the balance needed. Her own hands reached back and grabbed the back of Dutch’s head as she pressed his face tightly to his cleavage, her back arching, a sign that she was about to cum as she held Dutch’s head even firmer.