The Accidental Guardian by Mary Connealy

Author:Mary Connealy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Fiction;FIC042030;FIC042040;FIC027100
ISBN: 9781493413669
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2018-01-12T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

16

Well, Trace would surely prefer talking about his dog to whatever else Deb had on her mind.

“His mama was a dog. No doubt about it. I—” he broke off. Why in tarnation had he thought this was a good idea? “I k-killed her.”

Deb’s head whipped around. “I suppose she was dangerous.”

He could tell she didn’t mean it. She’d just decided he was a low-down, mother-killing sidewinder. It was nice of her to pretend she wasn’t horrified.

“It was late in the spring, winter still hard upon me, and I found a pack of six wolves pulling down a wild mustang mare. She was standing in front of a spring colt that was maybe a couple months old, not a newborn thing. The mare was fighting for her baby’s life, but she was losing. She looked like an old one, tough but at the end of her years. At least I like to hope so.”

They walked past the barn. The trail here led all the way to Dismal, but they sure enough weren’t going that far.

“I jumped into the fight with a pistol and a rifle.” Trace was silent a moment, remembering the terrible sight.

Deb nodded. “And you saved the mare?”

“Nope. Each of my guns was a one-shot. I managed to finish four of the wolves, because twice I was able to put a bullet through one and it passed through and killed the wolf behind it. I had my knife in hand, ready to wade in and fight the last two, but they ran off yelping. The mare was bleeding bad from her throat. She was barely on her feet. She turned, saw me, and tried to charge, still fighting for her baby. But she was used up, and I got far enough away she didn’t have the strength to catch me. She circled back to her baby, and just as she reached him, she stumbled to her knees and then rolled to her side. She just lay there, breathing hard. I reloaded my guns, thinking of the wolves and wondering if I oughta put the horse out of its misery. I hated the idea of shooting the old girl. Before I’d worked up the nerve to do what I knew was the right thing, she died. Her poor baby just lay down beside her, shivering, as if it had no plans to go anywhere.”

Deb’s hand reached for Trace’s arm. “That’s so sad.”

Fine snow drifted down on their heads. The wind was quiet tonight, and Trace heard an owl hoot in the woods that grew out of the mountain that rose up on the west side of the trail to Dismal.

“I saw that colt planning to stay put, probably until more wolves came, maybe until it just starved to death. I pulled a lasso off my waist and roped him. I didn’t try to move him or lead him anywhere. I just secured him to a tree. Then a glint of light from one of the wolves drew my eye. I realized as I looked at her that she was no wolf.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.