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“I see,” Bull Shield said, kneading his chin thoughtfully. “He has reacted badly to the poison ivy. I have seen this before. I have a remedy—a medicine that will counteract it.”
He gave Miguel a quick glance. “Young man, come,” he said flatly. “Follow me. Bring the ailing one to my lodge. Leave him there. I will do what I can to make him well.”
Pedro was taken there. After he was stretched out on a pallet of furs beside the lodge fire, the Mexican boys were made to stand outside.
Fire Thunder, Kaylene, Black Hair, and Running Fawn were allowed to stay, silently watching as Bull Shield concocted his medicine from several small vials of liquid.
Once the concoction was poured down Pedro’s throat, and Bull Shield shook his rattle over him and chanted, it was only a short while afterward that Pedro came to.
His breathing was even again. The flush to his face had softened into something more normal. He was awake enough to see Running Fawn, and then her father, standing over him.
He gasped. His eyes grew wide with fear.
“Do not allow yourself to get upset by anything right now,” Bull Shield said, as he noticed Pedro’s reaction to seeing Black Hair glaring down at him. “Young man, you are not well enough to make the trip down the mountainside to San Carlos. You will spend the night in Bull Shield’s lodge. I will keep watch on you. Tomorrow, perhaps, you can return home. But not until then. Do you understand?”
Pedro nodded and turned his eyes away from Black Hair.
Kaylene clung to Fire Thunder’s arm as she watched Black Hair grab Running Fawn by the arm and take her outside.
She gazed up at Fire Thunder. “What’s going to happen to her?” she asked softly, not wanting Pedro to hear.
“Now is not the time to discuss that,” Fire Thunder said. He thanked Bull Shield for giving of his time and medicine to cure the young man, then stared down at Pedro for a moment. Fire Thunder felt lucky that he and General Rocendo were close friends, or this incident with his son might have caused war between the Mexicans and Kickapoo.
As it was, Fire Thunder would have only explanations to make, and then he would have the perpetrator daughter to reprimand. He knew almost for certain the punishment he was going to hand down to her and her friends. He had hardly any choice in the matter since they were grossly disobedient, not only to their families, but also their chief.
“Come, we will go to my lodge,” Fire Thunder said, taking Kaylene gently by an elbow. “I no longer wish to join the festival activities. I need to be alone with you. My heart is weary for that which lays before me.”
“You are speaking of Running Fawn’s punishment?” Kaylene asked, fearing his answer.
“Yes, I must make the decision,” Fire Thunder grumbled. “Being chief is many things to me. I am rewarded often by my people for my tendering to them. Then there are times like this, when I am faced with the bad side of chieftainship . . . when the fate of four beautiful young women lies in my hands.”
“Fire Thunder, can’t you be lenient this time?” Kaylene asked, her eyes wavering from his when he turned her way.
“And what is lenience when it comes to more than one of our young people being so blatantly disobedient?” he said, his voice drawn. “That young man could have died. Those young girls could have been taken by the Mexicans and tried for murder. What I will do will be way less harsh.”
Kaylene felt that she had said enough for now. She could tell that he was heavily burdened by his decision. She did not want to make it worse by being a nag. She had to put his feelings before those she felt for Running Fawn.
She followed Fire Thunder into their cabin. She stood over the fire as he closed the door. She watched him as he knelt before the hearth and shoved more firewood into the fire.
Then he rose to his feet before Kaylene. He framed her face between his hands and drew her lips gently to his. “I need you,” he said huskily. “My woman, help me forget for the moment the chore that lies before me.”
Her knees weak with desire for Fire Thunder, Kaylene didn’t have to be asked twice. Her fingers trembled with anxiousness as she undid his breeches and put her hands down the front of them.
She could feel his breath quicken when she circled her fingers around his throbbing member.
When she began moving her hand on him, and he gyrated himself against her hand, she felt the heat rise within herself, as her own needs blossomed within her.
Their kiss deepened as he ran his hand up the inside of her leg. He splayed his fingers across her buttocks and shoved her against his hardness as she slid her hand free of his breeches.
“I need you,” she whispered huskily as his lips slid down and he nibbled at her neck. “Now, my darling. Please make love to me.”
He swept his arms beneath her and carried her to the bed, where Midnight lay beside it in a deep snooze.
Afraid that someone might come in his lodge before they were through, Fire Thunder kicked the bedroom door closed.
His passion-filled eyes smiling down at Kaylene, he quickly disrobed.
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