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Shame engulfed her in cold splashes that her own father could have forced such a thing upon a small child. She hung her head as tears swam in her eyes. Then chilled with fear, she sat stiff and silent.
Midnight hovered nervously at the edge of the forest, close to the village, his eyes reflecting the moon.
Slowly he paced back and forth as he watched the activity in the Kickapoo village wane, until Kaylene was the only one left outside. He started to leap out into the open, but stopped when he saw a small child come into view, her shadow slight beneath the rays of the moon as she crept toward the cage.
His impatience running thin, Midnight growled and showed his pearly white fangs as his eyes followed the child’s movements.
Chapter 10
What clasp, what kiss mine inmost
heart can prove?
O lovely and beloved, O my love?
—DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI
Shivering from fear and cold, and feeling the total aloneness now that everyone had gone to their lodges, Kaylene huddled in the cage. She still found it hard to believe that Fire Thunder could have done this to her. This had to mean that he hated her. Would his next move be to kill her, to be rid of her in his life forever?
Yet she found that almost as impossible to believe as her being in this dreadful cage. Although she was his captive, she had seen something in his eyes too often that told her that he felt something besides loathing for her. She had seen his silent appreciation of her, the silent need, as though he desired her as a man desires a woman.
“But if he feels anything at all for me besides hate, why would he do this to me?” Kaylene whispered, a sob escaping across her lips from the depths of her throat.
When she heard a twig break from somewhere close by, then heard the soft patter of feet moving toward her, Kaylene leaned forward and grabbed the bars. She watched and waited, hoping that it might be someone who would release her. The cold night air made the wound in her shoulder pain her even more severely.
She hoped that someone would take mercy on her and would not only release her from the cage, but would also take her away from this place, even if it meant never seeing Fire Thunder again.
She would force herself not to have feelings for a man who treated her like an animal. When thoughts of him entered her mind, she would force herself to hate him.
Her eyes widened when Little Sparrow came into view, a blanket draped across her arms.
“Little Sparrow!” Kaylene whispered, surprised to see her there, for it was in blatant disobedience of her brother.
But seeing that it was only Little Sparrow, who would not dare release her from the cage, Kaylene’s hopes were dashed. Except, oh, Lord, how she welcomed the warmth of the blanket.
She watched anxiously as Little Sparrow shoved the blanket through the bars of the cage, made the sign of friendship, then turned and fled into the darkness again.
“Thank you,” Kaylene whispered, although knowing that Little Sparrow could not hear her.
But Kaylene knew that Little Sparrow knew that she was grateful. Little Sparrow had been in a cage. She had known how cold it could get as darkness threw its mighty black shroud all around her.
As she wrapped it around her shoulders, Kaylene snuggled into the blanket. She sat against the bars at the back of the cage, then forked an eyebrow when she heard the sound of someone else approaching.
Her hopes soared again when she saw that it was Running Fawn. She knew that Running Fawn was capable of going against everyone’s wishes and might be the one to set her free.
But she soon discovered how wrong she was to assume that. Running Fawn came only to thrust another blanket through the bars of the cage. She gave Kaylene a downtrodden gaze, then moved into the darkness again, leaving Kaylene as alone as before.
But this second blanket was all that Kaylene needed to ward off the total chill of the night. She wrapped it around her legs and feet, sighing as her body absorbed the warmth of the blankets into her flesh.
Bone weary, sad, and disillusioned about life in general, Kaylene hung her head.
She must sleep. She would sleep away the awkward hours that lay ahead of her. She would try and find escape in dreams.
“But I don’t want to dream about Fire Thunder,” she whispered to herself. “Never again! I hate him!”
A sound, the familiarity of it, caused Kaylene’s eyes to fly open. She scarcely breathed as she squinted into the darkness. She understood the sound of the language of her panther’s padded footsteps.
Her insides melted as Midnight’s eyes gleamed back at her as he came toward her.
