Hunt for the White Wolf

by J. R. Roberts

  “What the—” Willis said.

  “They must be after the wolves,” Cole said. “Let’s leave our horses here and go on foot.”

  They rode the horses away from camp, then tied them off and went on foot. They were able to follow the tracks in the snow to the cave.

  “There,” Cole said. “They’re waiting outside that cave.”

  They watched as Evie suddenly broke away and ran for the cave.

  “Evie!” Clint Adams shouted, and went after her.

  Jesse Trapp stayed where he was.

  “Okay,” Cole said. “Trapp is alone. Now we’re gonna take him.”

  Clint tried to catch Evie before she ran into the cave, but she was too fast. He had no choice but to go in after her. He looked around for the torch Jesse had used. He saw it in the snow and picked it up, hoping there was still enough oil on it. He flicked a lucifer to life with his nail, held it to the end. For a moment he thought it wouldn’t take, but suddenly it flamed on.

  He held the torch high and went into the cave.

  Cole and Willis moved around behind Jesse, intending to come up behind him. They moved as slowly as they could, but snow crunched beneath their feet. The hunter’s keen hearing alerted him, and he turned.

  “Who the hell are you?” he demanded.

  “My name’s Cole West,” Cole said. “Does the name West mean anythin’ to you?”

  “No,” Jesse said. “Should it? Are you the one who’s been followin’ me?”

  “That’s right,” Cole said. “I’ve been followin’ you.” I’m gonna kill you.”

  “Why? I don’t even know you.”

  “Your brother, John Henry,” Cole said, “he killed both my brothers.”

  “If John Henry killed them,” Jesse said, “they probably had it comin’.”

  “And he has it comin’,” Cole said.

  “Then go try to kill him.”

  “I can’t find him,” Cole said, “but when you walked into that saloon in Little Town and started tellin’ your stories, I knew it was fate.”

  “Wasn’t no such thing,” Jesse Trapp said. “It was just a bunch of tall tales.”

  “Yeah, but your tales told me who you were.”

  “Then why didn’t you try to kill me then?” Jesse asked. “Were you afraid?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Cole said. “I’m gonna kill you here and now.”

  “You and your friend,” Jesse said, “go ahead and take your best shot.”

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  As Evie entered the cave she immediately realized her mistake. It was dark, and she couldn’t see. She tripped on a rock and fell to her knees. She scraped her palms as she put her hands out to catch herself.

  “Damn!” she swore.

  She hesitated, figuring her eyes might adjust to the darkness, but there was no hint of light in the cave. She was virtually blind.

  Clint entered the cave with the torch held out in front of him. He heard Evie stumbling around ahead of him, then heard her swear. He knew she had to be blind.

  “Evie, stay still,” he said. “I’ll come and get you.”

  “Clint?”

  “I have a torch,” he said. “Just stand still until I get there.”

  “Okay.”

  He moved forward, hoping he’d find her before one of the wolves did.

  Evie was thinking about the pups, thinking of them as babies who needed her. Maybe she should just keep moving forward with her hands out ahead of her, and Clint would catch up.

  She started to move, then stopped when she heard something ahead of her.

  Growling.

  She froze.

  Clint kept moving until he saw Evie up ahead of him. She was standing still, like a statue. As he reached her the light from his torch spread out ahead of her, and illuminated a gray wolf baring its teeth. When struck by the light, though, the animal turned and ran farther into the cave.

  “That was the mother,” Evie said.

  “You were ten seconds from having your throat torn out,” he told her.

  “God.”

  “Let’s go back,” he said. “The wolves are still in here. We have to go back and tell Jesse.”

  That was when they heard the shots. Clint turned and started running with Evie close behind.

  The first shot from Jesse’s Sharps struck Dave Willis in the stomach, and tore out his back in a spray of blood and guts.

  Cole drew his gun, threw himself to one side, and fired. The bullet seemed to be swallowed up by Jesse’s skins, but didn’t slow the man down. He leapt to the side, reaching inside his skins for his pistol while still holding on to his rifle.

  Cole pulled the trigger five more times, hoping to catch Jesse at least one more time. Ducking down behind a rock, he quickly dumped the empty shells from his gun and quickly reloaded.

  Jesse was able to reload his Sharps, sticking his pistol underneath his arm as he did so. Only then did he holster the pistol.

  He and Cole both remained silent, listening. There was no sound from Willis as his blood stained the snow red.

  Clint came running out of the cave, discarding the torch as he went. Evie came out behind him, holding her rifle ready.

  “Stay here,” he told her.

  “But—”

  “Stay here!”

  “But . . . the wolves.”

  “They won’t come out,” he said. “Not while this commotion is going on.”

  She hoped he was right.

  Cole saw Clint Adams come out of the cave and cursed to himself. He’d let Willis push him into this, and it had gone bad. Now he had to get away. He couldn’t face Trapp and Adams, not alone.

  He rose into a crouch and started firing as he ran.

  Jesse stuck his head up to see what was happening. That was when Cole started to fire. He ducked back down. He became aware of a searing pain in his side, but put it out of his mind.

  For the moment . . .

  Clint was coming down the slope when Cole began to fire. He ducked, saw Cole running in a crouch. He also saw Jesse crouched down behind a boulder. He ran over and joined his friend. “What happened?” he asked.

  “This feller showed up, said they wanted to kill me because John Henry killed his brothers.”

  “You know him?”

  “No.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “West . . . um, Cole West, I think. You know that name?”

  “No,” Clint said, “never heard it.”

  “Where is he?” Jesse asked.

  “Looks like he ran off,” Clint said. “Want to try to track him?”

  “No,” Jesse said.

  “We could probably do it easy in this snow—”

  “I can’t!”

  “Why not?”

  Jesse looked at Clint. “I think I got a bullet in me.”

  THIRTY-NINE

  “Let me see.”

  Jesse pulled his skins aside. He had a bullet wound in his left side. “Hurts,” he said.

  “Doesn’t look too bad,” Clint said. “I’ll have to see if the bullet is still in there.”

  Clint waved at Evie to come down. She did so, on the run.

  “Is he all right?”

  “He got hit by a lucky shot,” Clint said. “We have to get him back to camp.”

  “Who shot him?”

  “Later. Help me get him up.”

  “What about the wolv—”

  “Later!” Clint snapped.

  Together they managed to walk Jesse back to camp and set him down by the fire. As they walked past the dead man she looked down at the body, but did not ask any questions.

  Cole made it back to the horses. He took what he thought he needed from Willis’s horse, loaded it onto his own, then mounted up. He decided to go back to Wolf Creek and wait. Eventually Trapp and Adams would come back, after they had tracked and killed the wolf. After that they’d probably split up. That was when he’d take Jesse Trapp.

  “I need some water,” he sai
d. “Melt some snow in the coffeepot.”

  “Okay.”

  “Roll onto your side,” Clint told Jesse. The man obeyed. “No exit wound. You’ve got lead in there. I’ll have to get it out.”

  “Okay.”

  He used the melted snow to clean the wound, then held the blade of Jesse’s knife over the flames.

  “Evie, you’ll have to stay on watch.”

  “For the wolves?”

  “For a man, or the wolves,” Clint said.

  “And if I see any?”

  “Take the shot.”

  “Who’s the man?”

  “Just somebody looking for some revenge.”

  “Against Jesse?”

  “Jesse’s brother, but Jesse was handy.”

  “Can we—”

  “No more questions, Evie. Keep watch while I get this bullet out.”

  “All right.”

  Clint leaned over Jesse. “You ready?”

  “As I’ll ever be. I’ve seen you do this before, years ago.”

  “Yes.”

  “Yes.”

  “You any better at it?”

  “Probably not.”

  Jesse winced.

  “Go ahead.”

  “Want something to bite down on?” Clint asked.

  “Naw, that don’t help,” Jesse said. “Just do it!”

  Clint felt with his fingers first for the bullet, located it, then probed with the tip of the knife.

  “You’re right,” Jesse said, halfway through, “you ain’t any better at this.” He passed out.

  “Is he—”

  “He’s just out,” Clint said. “I’ve . . . almost . . . got it.”

  He got the bullet out, held it up to her so she could see it, then tossed it away. He used the rest of the water to clean the wound, then bandaged it tightly because he couldn’t stitch it. Then he did his best to get Jesse comfortable and warm, keeping him by the fire and wrapping him in a blanket.

  “Now what?” she asked.

  “We keep him warm,” Clint said, “don’t move him for a while, and keep a sharp eye out.”

  “For man or beast?”

  “Right.”

  FORTY

  After dark, Jesse began to shiver and sweat.

  “He’s got a fever,” Clint said. “He needs another blanket.” He took the one he had wrapped around himself and added it to the one already covering Jesse.

  “You want mine?” she asked from across the fire.

  He looked at her all wrapped up and said, “No, you’ll freeze.”

  “Well, you’re gonna freeze,” she said. “Come over here and we’ll share.”

  He looked at her for a few moments, then said, “Okay, thanks.”

  He walked around the fire to her, poured two coffees first, then sat next to her. She spread her arms. He grabbed the edge of her blanket and pulled on it until it covered them both. He snuggled closer to her so that their bodies touched.

  “Body heat’s the best thing,” he said.

  “Right.”

  Clint thought he could feel the heat of her body even through her skins. Her face was dirty and her skins smelled, but she was a young, vibrant woman and snuggling up to her like that was making him aroused. There could have been a man in the dark getting ready to shoot at them, or a wolf getting ready to strike, and he was feeling randy.

  And maybe she was, too.

  She leaned over against him, put her head on his shoulder.

  “I’m glad he didn’t kill those pups,” she said.

  “We might still have to,” he said.

  “Not you,” she said.

  “Why not?”

  Her hand fell into his lap, touched his thigh.

  “You’re too gentle,” she said. “You wouldn’t kill them.”

  She started to stroke his thigh; he could feel the heat from her hand.

  “You sure of that?”

  “Oh, yeah,” she said. “I don’t have a lot of experience, ya know, with men, but you . . . you’re special.”

  “I am, huh?”

  He wasn’t sure she even knew what she was doing as she touched his thigh, but then her hand came into contact with his hard cock through his pants. She froze, and for a moment he thought she’d pull her hand away, but then she left it there. The warmth of her hand juts made him get harder . . . and then she began to rub him.

  “Evie—”

  She removed her hand, undid the front of her skin and her shirt. Then she took his right hand in both of hers and pushed it inside her shirt. Her flesh was hot; the nipple of her small, firm breast was hard. When she let go of his hand, he left it there. She moved her hand back to his erection and squeezed him.

  “It’ll help us stay warm,” she said.

  He squeezed her breast, rubbed his palm over her nipple in a circular motion, then did the same to the other breast, and all the while they kept everything under the blanket, where the heat began to increase. She was right. The sexual excitement was making them warmer—hotter.

  But if she kept squeezing him, and rubbing him, he was going to make a mess inside his pants.

  “Evie,” he said, putting his left hand over hers to stop her, “enough.” He removed his hand from her naked breasts. “Button your shirt.”

  “But—”

  “It’s hot enough under this blanket,” he told her.

  He had put down his coffee cup to touch her breasts. Now he picked it up again.

  “Clint—”

  “You’re very young.”

  “Old enough,” she said. “I think you can tell that . . . can’t you?”

  “Okay, so you’re a young woman, but this isn’t the time or the place.”

  “Then when is?” she asked. “When we get back to Wolf Creek?”

  “Maybe” he said. “Why don’t you get some sleep? I’ll keep watch.”

  She leaned over and put her head on his shoulder.

  “It’s nice and warm in here. I’ll sleep right here,” she said, and in moments, she was.

  Clint didn’t mind. He was warm, and he had access to the coffee, and his gun. And he was able to keep an eye on Jesse.

  He wondered if the wolves would stay in the cave, or use the night to creep off and find another home?

  FORTY-ONE

  Oddly, Jesse woke before Evie did the next morning.

  “Ow!” he said as he tried to move. “What happened?”

  “You got shot. Remember?”

  Jesse frowned, then said, “Yeah. How bad?”

  “Could have been worse,” Clint said. “You took a bullet in your side. I dug it out. I don’t think it hit anything vital. In fact, I may have done more damage with your knife than the bullet did.”

  “Yeah, I figured,” Jesse said. He flinched, then sat up. “She sleep like that all night?”

  “Yeah,” Clint said. “Pretty much. I’m warm, but my left arm is asleep.”

  “Well, wake her up and tell ’er to make breakfast,” Jesse said. “Then we can get a move on.”

  “I’ll wake her and she’ll make breakfast,” Clint said. “but you’re not going anywhere for at least another day.”

  “Those wolves ain’t gonna wait.”

  “They may be gone.”

  “Well,” Jesse said, “if I can’t move, that’s gonna be up to you to find out.”

  While Evie made them some breakfast and looked after Jesse, Clint climbed back up the slope to the cave. He once again retrieved the fallen torch and was able to relight it. He entered the cave and, by the light, was able to determine that the wolves were gone.

  He went back to camp with the news.

  “The pups, too?” Evie asked, passing him a cup of coffee.

  “Yes,” Clint said. “All of them.”

  She looked at Jesse, who was already working on some beans and bacon. “So it didn’t matter if there was another way out of that cave or not,” she said. “They must have left in the dark.”

  “Now we’ll have to track �
�em,” Jesse said.

  She handed Clint a plate of hot food. “Why not just let them go?”

  “Who says they’re goin’?” he asked. “Maybe they’re lookin’ for somebody—or somethin’—else to kill.”

  She sat back with a plate of her own. “Okay, so what if we track them and they’re movin’ away from Wolf Creek?”

  “Then they’re somebody else’s problem, is that what you’re sayin’?” Jesse asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Well, you’re wrong,” he said. “I can’t just let them go to some other town and start killin’ again. So, if they’re movin’ away from Wolf Creek you can stay home, but Clint and I will be goin’ after them.”

  “And what about the man who shot you?” she asked.

  “We’ll be going after him, too,” Clint said. “I’m not going to wait for him to strike first this time.”

  “No, I guess you’re right about that,” Jesse said. “We can’t take a chance on him getting more help. We’ll have to take care of him quick.”

  “So you’ll track him, too?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Clint said.

  “Then I’ll come along.”

  “He’ll probably head back to town,” Jesse said.

  “So we should head back, too,” Evie said.

  “First,” Jesse said, “we’ll have to find the wolf tracks and see which way they’re goin’.”

  “I can do that,” she said, “while you recover.”

  “I think Clint should do it.”

  “Why? Don’t you trust me?”

  Jesse grinned at her.

  “I trust you to find those pup’s tracks and cover ’em up to try and save ’em, Evie.”

  She frowned, but didn’t try to deny it.

  “Clint,” Jesse said, “you got me wrapped up pretty tight. Maybe I can—”

  “Not a chance,” Clint said. “You’re going to stay still until tomorrow. I’ll go out today and look for some tracks.”