Maddy Barone's Blog, page 7

Tuesday Teaser 2/26/19 Gina’s Wolf Part 36

Winter is still not over!



The 7 day forecast

Not surprising, of course, since it’s only the end of February. The last day it was above freezing was January 7. We broke the record for the most snow ever in February a few days ago. We’ve had five blizzards now and several winter storms, plus some light snow like we’re having today. I think it’s supposed to be 3 more inches by midnight. I just LOVE shoveling my car out. At least there isn’t much snow in the forecast. Just a couple of inches on Friday, but that’s March so it doesn’t count. As you can tell from the temps, it doesn’t feel like winter is going to end anytime soon.

Digging the car out after a blizzard is fun.

I’m still on overtime at the day job, so writing time has been hard to come by. The thing is I do have time, but I am so tired and crabby after my ten hours that I just don’t want to do anything but play stupid Facebook games. So please excuse the shortness of this teaser. Friday is the last day of overtime so I plan for more writing time this weekend.

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Carla allowed herself to be pulled several yards away and fell into deep, raw sobs. The two men went with her, making timid, ineffectual sounds of comfort. Carla’s grief and anguish sounded too real to be pure acting. As she moved stealthily toward the door, Gina inwardly promised her mother-in-law that she would free Cole or die trying.

Gina
closed the little gate silently and hurried over the muddy snow to the cover of
the brush one hundred yards away. Even outside the wall she could hear Carla
wailing and figured she had at least until her mother-in-law quieted before the
guard would climb back up to the walkway at the top of the wall and look out.
Surely he wouldn’t abandon his Lupa while she wept.

Gina
made it to the brush and paused to catch her breath. She couldn’t hear Carla
anymore, but whether it was because of distance or because Carla had calmed
down she wasn’t sure. She started off toward the river with caution, trying
hard to walk as noiselessly as Cole had on their journey to Omaha, but it was
impossible. She cringed at every rustle of a twig as she passed through the
shelter of the brush. She had to watch where she was stepping so her foot wouldn’t
get sucked into mud. Walking like that was hard and slow. It was about a mile
to the river. How far after that to Todd’s camp? She wasn’t sure. Her pace faltered
as she calculated. Could she even get there before morning? Her heart
threatened to sink.

It
didn’t matter. She would figure it out.

Creeping
through the dark, deserted city had been spooky, but slogging through the dark,
deserted countryside was scary too. Broken remnants of buildings from the Time
Before were the scariest of all. Cold shivers danced along her spine every time
she saw a tumbled wall with windows staring at her like empty eyes. You’re brave, she told herself. What you’re doing is too important to let a
spooky walk stop you. She wasn’t sure about the first part, but she was
determined to find Cole and free him. The details of that plan were still a
little murky, but something would come to her.

She
found the river by stumbling down the bank and skidding on her back through icy
mud.  For a moment she lay there, panting
and trying to force tears back. A sound from the top of the bank, almost too
low to be heard, froze her breath in her chest. A glance up showed two hairy creatures
with gleaming white fangs and ferocious glowing eyes.

The
creatures sprang down the six-foot bank right at her. Tears blurred her vision
before she flung an arm over her eyes.

“Gina?”
cried a male voice above her. “Sister, what are you doing here?”

“Why
do you smell like the chief?” said another.

She
lowered her arm.  Two men stood there,
stark naked, their hair long and black. “Wolf’s Howl?”

Her
young brother-in-law crouched and laid a careful hand on her shoulder. “Are you
okay? How did you get here?” He glanced around. “Where is your guard? You can’t
be here alone.”

She
struggled to sit up. He put on hand under her arm and pulled her to her feet. How
annoying that the teenager was taller than she was. She tilted her chin. “I’m going
to get Cole.”

The
second man, who was just as young as Wolf’s Howl, scowled. “With who?”

“No
one. Just me.”

Instead
of immediately dragging her back to Omaha, Cole’s brother looked thoughtful. “You
can’t go by yourself.”

She
relaxed a little. “I have to. I can’t sit around waiting. Todd is probably
already torturing Cole. Besides, I am the one who knows where Cole will be held
and how to get through the camp without being seen.”

The
second man said, “We’ll go with you.”

Gina
blinked. “What?”

Wolf’s
Howl grinned and pounded a fist into his friend’s shoulder. “Yeah, great idea, Glass.”
He turned the grin onto her. “We will be your escorts. You shouldn’t be out
here on your own. Dad wouldn’t like it.”

She
almost blurted that Taye wouldn’t like them going with her either. She should
refuse. But they were tall and strong, and with them along she wouldn’t be afraid
of the dark. She sighed. “Okay, but we better get going. It’s a long walk to
the camp.”

Tuesday Teaser 2/19/19 Gina’s Wolf Part 35

Sorry I missed last week. It was my mom’s birthday. She’s not as old as I thought she was. She was born in 1935, not 1933, so she is 84. She has dementia, which is an awful, awful disease. She is not as bad off as some people. That is, she dresses herself (when she feels like it. She often stays in her jammies and robe all day) and uses the bathroom herself. She says the same thing over and over, and over. She asks the same question every few seconds because she has no idea she already asked that. Anyway, I brought over supper and my brother baked a cake and stuck a whole forest of candles on it. When we carried it in singing Happy Birthday her whole face lit up. Seeing her big smile always makes me happy.

We’ve had a few days of warmer weather. I think it hit 17F this week. Of course, we’re expecting 2-4 inches of snow tonight. The weather man said he doesn’t expect it to get above freezing until the first week of March. The last day above freezing was January 7. Remember me saying I love winter? Well, I do, but there can be too much of a good thing!

I have been writing quite a bit. Well, actually, I’ve been mostly deleting what I write, since my idea isn’t panning out the way I hoped it to. I’ve decided to just push forward and get something written. I can edit garbage but i can fix a blank page.

Who do you think should kill President Todd? Or should he live? On with the story:

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It
was good to be moving in the chilly air.  Gina wasn’t nearly as smooth and confident
with her blade as Rose, Carla and Patia, but she knew she was better than the
first time she had picked up a knife. Wouldn’t her stepfather be surprised by
her increasing proficiency? Surprised? More like horrified. She bared her teeth
in a smile at the thought.

Her
body slowed as a new thought came to her. She knew how to set Cole free. All
she needed to do was get out of Omaha and into her stepfather’s camp. Taye
would never let her go. She turned to her mother-in-law and blurted out her
plan.

“No.”
Carla’s voice was as firm as her husband’s. She looked away from Gina and
sheathed her knife. “I will not tell the gate guards to let you leave. Taye
would never forgive me. Even if you managed to free Colby, he wouldn’t forgive
me either. Taye will make a plan to rescue Colby.”

“But
not in time!” Gina looked imploringly at Rose and Patia. They appeared sympathetic,
but not encouraging. She turned back to her mother-in-law. “Carla, do you know
what Todd will do to him? He’ll study him. Maybe stab him to see how quickly he
will heal or cut off a finger or two to see if they grow back.”

Carla
shuddered visibly. “I can’t,” she said, slightly less firmly.

“Please,”
Gina begged. “Please, just go to one of those little gates Cole told me about
and tell the wolf on guard to let me out. I can go to the camp and let Cole go
before he gets experimented on.”

Carla
pressed a fist to her mouth. “Even if you made it to camp, how could you set
Colby free? There will be guards.”

Gina tilted
her knife so the weak March light gleamed along its edge. “I know where they’ll
keep Cole, and I know where the guards will be. I’m not very good with this
yet, but I know where to stab a man now.” She looked at Rose. “You can drill me
in it again. We have time since I can’t leave until dark.”

Rose nodded,
but her pale brows pulled together. “We can’t just stroll out of the house to
the wall. Running Fox won’t allow it.”

“I am
Lupa.” Carla’s shoulders went back. “I will be obeyed.”

“Yes!”
Waving her hands triumphantly, Patia did a little dance.

Rose shook
her head. “Do you think an order to open the gate for Gina to leave will be
obeyed? Even coming from you?”

Carla
faltered. “No,” she admitted, stopping Patia’s dance cold.

“Mom!”

“So
we’ll have to be sneaky about it,” Carla went on.

“Mom,
maybe you could just distract the guard for a minute,” she suggested. “Long
enough for Gina to slip out.”

Rose looked
Gina up and down and tapped a considering fingertip against her lower lip. “The
guard will smell you,” Rose said. “We’ll have to disguise your scent.”

A
breath she hadn’t known she was holding rushed out of her. “You’ll do it?”

Carla’s
mouth tightened. “I don’t like it. If anything happens to you…”

She
hadn’t had long to think about it, but Gina knew what she was about to say was
true. “I don’t think I could live with myself if I didn’t try to help Cole. I’d
rather try and fail than not try at all.”

Carla
sighed. “Okay. But this won’t be easy. We can’t leave The Limit without a
guard, much less prance through the city on our own.”

Gina’s
shoulders sagged. That was true.

“You
can ask for Shouting Rain to escort us,” Rose suggested. “His hearing isn’t as
good as some. I think I have an idea.”

Rose’s
idea wasn’t much. All Gina would have to do was slink along behind Rose, Carla,
and their guard through Omaha until they got to the wall, wait until Carla
lured the men away from the door, and sneak out. It could work. It had to work.

After
supper the women spent the hours before full dark rubbing Taye’s T-shirts and
sweatpants all over Gina in an effort to cover her scent with his. She and
Carla practiced synchronizing their walking rhythms so only one set of
footsteps would be heard.

“We’ll
make as much noise as we can while we walk, so no one will hear you following
us,” Rose said encouragingly.

“I
want to go too,” Patia protested. “Aunt Rose is going.”

“No.”
Carla shook her head. “Your father will be furious enough.” She bit her lip and
looked at Gina. “This isn’t a good idea,” she began.

Gina
rushed to cut her off. “Don’t change your mind. Please. It will work.”

Carla
gave in. “Alright. Patia, stay here and make sure everyone thinks Gina is in
her room.”

Patia
reluctantly agreed to stay back. “But only if you promise to talk dad into letting
me go visit Ray in the hospital tomorrow.”

“Promise.
That will be safer than this.” Carla cast Gina another uncertain look. “Okay,
you slip out to the garden while I pitch a fit and demand to go to the wall. Be
ready to follow us.”

It
worked. In a few minutes Carla and Rose came out of the house with a tall,
stocky man Gina vaguely recognized. Both women were talking animatedly and
walking heavily, almost stomping, really. It made it easy for Gina to walk in
time with them, hiding the sound of her footsteps. The streets were completely
deserted. The eeriness of it sent a shiver down her back. In all her months in
Omaha she’d never seen the city empty. She kept about fifteen yards behind Carla,
Rose and their escort, but she wished she could follow more closely, just to be
near other breathing humans.

It
seemed the wall was just as deserted as the city, at least until a shadow moved
from the narrow walkway near the top.

“Lupa?”
called a man softly.

The man
who came quickly down to the ground was also vaguely familiar, but what caught
Gina’s eye was the outline of a door in the wall.

“Lupa?’
he said again with concern. “What are you doing here?”

“I
needed to see the door my son left through,” Carla announced in a loudly tragic
voice. “Colby,” she choked out, covering her face with her hands. “Oh, Colby.”

Rose
put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her away from the door. “Don’t cry,
Carla. Come on, it will be okay.”

“Colby,”
wailed Carla.

She
allowed herself to be pulled several yards away and fell into deep, raw sobs. The
two men went with her, making timid, ineffectual sounds of comfort. Carla’s grief
and anguish sounded too real to be pure acting. As she moved stealthily toward
the door, Gina inwardly promised her mother-in-law that she would free Cole or
die trying.

Tuesday Teaser 2/5/19: Gina’s Wolf Part 34

I’m sorry to say it is still winter in Fargo, ND. Winter is just about guaranteed to hang on through March and most of April, so I have no reason to be depressed, but I am. It was warm(ish) over the weekend, so I had planned to drive up to Winnipeg with a friend. We didn’t get far before we saw cars in the ditch and we started sliding a bit. We decided to abandon our plans. I feel like a need a break. More snow starting tomorrow through Thursday, and then brutally cold temps again. So no break in sight.

Imagine living in this weather with no central heat or electricity. No thank you! Not without a warm, loving wolf warrior who would die to keep me warm and comfortable

Tuesday Truth 1/29/19: It’s Cold

Here in Fargo, North Dakota, USA, it is cold. That is the truth. It may not be as cold as where you are at. Maybe you are much colder than we are here. This cold snap covers a good bit of the US, so just about everyone is far below average. If the normal high is 60F, then having your afternoon high be 30 is darned cold. Fargo’s normal high is 17 for this date. This afternoon at 4:00 it was -25. The windchill was -55. Now the temp has dropped a degree, but the wind is lighter, so the windchill is only -50.

Tomorrow isn’t looking very good either. The low is expected to be -37. That is not a record, but it’s getting close. This won’t last too long, though. We’ll be up to 24 by the weekend. I bet I see people wearing shorts on Saturday.

Frostbit can occur within ten minutes in these conditions. I had to stop and get gas today, and I had my hat pulled way down and my scarf pulled way up. I had long johns on under my jeans and two pairs of socks on in my honking big snow boots. Like many people up here, I have two winter coats. One is good for cold weather. It is kind of cute, and actually has a shape. I reserve the other one for COLD weather. It makes me look like a cross between the Michelin man and the Abominable Snow woman, but it is warm. Strangely enough, everyone I saw today looked just like me.

What’s the weather like where you are at? Are you cold? How are you dealing with it?

Tuesday Teaser 1/22/19: Gina’s Wolf Part 33

I am back from the Barony of Nordskogen’s 12th Night event. I had a great time. I joined the SCA about 20 years ago but don’t play like I used to. Fun events like this make me wonder why I am not more active. I got to see some of my favorite people. It’s the people I miss the most. I meant to take a bunch of pics, but of course I forgot. Grr. Here are a few of the ones I took.

So regal: Dukes Hrodir and Yngvar



Me and my friend Lady Marguerite



Duke Tarrach and Duchess Fina



Me and Mistress Greta

I really had a great time. I’m looking forward to being more involved from here on out. I bought a ton of fabric to make myself more garb. Some court garb (think heavy and fancy) and maybe some lighter weight summer type garb. I’m going to try to stick to Renaissance Italy, which is what my persona is supposed to be. We’ll see! Maybe I’ll post some pics of what I will be sewing from time to time.

I didn’t get that much time to write since I was either packing, or away, or unpacking for most of last week, but I do have a snip for you. I hope you enjoy it!

Gina woke in confusion. The sun was already gleaming weakly through the curtain when someone pounded on her door. Patia’s voice called, “Gina? Gina, come quick. Something awful has happened!”

Gina’s  heart leaped into her throat and stayed there
the entire time she threw on her clothes and ran out of her room. The hall was
dark. Patia grabbed her arm and rushed her down the stairs, through the kitchen
where breakfast was being prepared, to the restaurant’s empty dining room,
where a dim light cast eerie shadows over a handful of people. Taye was there,
face as a hard and grim as stone. His arm was around his wife, and only when he
glanced down at her did his face soften slightly. Carla’s cheeks gleamed with
tears, but her lips were pressed firmly together. Rose leaned her back against
the edge of a table, her arms crossed over her chest and a scowl on her face.
Sky looked about as happy as Taye. He turned when she and Patia came in.

She
forced her voice to be calm. “What happened? Are we under attack?”

“Not
exactly.” Taye reach his free hand to touch her shoulder.  “Cole has been captured.”

Cold
swallowed her. “Captured?” she echoed. “By my stepfather?”

“His
people,” Taye said gently.

The
cold reached her heart. “Is he alive?”

“Yeah.
It will be alright.”

She jerked her head from side to side. “No,” she whispered. “It won’t.”

Taye
left Carla to fold Gina in a fatherly embrace. “Yes, it will. We’ll get him
back.”

For a
moment she let herself believe it. But her mother’s husband would never release
his prize.  A wolf shifter was too unique
to give up. Todd would perform tests on him to find out all he could about his
shifting abilities before finally killing him to dissect him. If Cole was
lucky, he would be dead before the dissection began. She stepped back from Taye
and regarded him numbly.

“My
stepfather will never let him go.”

Taye
glanced over her at Sky. “Then we’ll take him back.”

Sky
nodded and glanced at the window. “It’s time to go.”

“Go
where?” Gina asked.

“To
the wall,” her father-in-law replied. “They’re bringing Cole out so we have
proof he’s alive.”

Her
heart sank. That meant her stepfather wanted something.

“Patia
and Rose will stay here,” Taye said in a tone that made Gina realize where Cole
got his bossy ways. “Carla and Gina are mother and mate. They will come.”

 She went to get her coat and joined the rest of
them in their cold walk to the wall around Omaha. They climbed steps to a ledge
that ran along the inside of the wall near the top. The dozen men already there
squeezed back to let them pass. They could look out over the top of the wall
but their bodies remained safely protected.

The
mayor was already there. His greeted them pleasantly, but she could see the
strain in the lines around his mouth. “They’re out there.”

He
nodded to the wall.  Gina stood on
tiptoes to look out. In the glare of the early morning sun she saw only an
indistinct line of people standing quite a distance from the wall before Taye
gently pulled her back.

“Don’t
show yourself,” he cautioned.

He
and Sky stepped in front of her, solidly blocking her from looking out.

Carla
lopped her arm through Gina’s. “Did you see him?” she said.

“No,”
she whispered. “I didn’t have enough time to get a good look.”

Her
mother-in-law smiled. “No use whispering.” She nodded at her husband and Sky. “They
can hear us no matter how quiet we are.”

Mayor
McGrath drawled, “Is that a white flag? I believe it is. Should we accept their
surrender?” His dark chuckle said he knew Kansas-Missouri wasn’t surrendering. “What
the f—” He broke off with a quick glance over his shoulder at Gina and Carla. “I
wonder what they want.”

Taye
spoke, and Gina thought his words were more for the women behind him than for
the mayor. “There are a dozen men standing in a line just out of gunshot range.
One of them is Cole. He doesn‘t look injured, but he is being held up by a man
on either side of him. Either he is too weak to stand on his own or he is ill.”

Carla’s
hand tightened on Gina’s arm, but she said nothing. Gina herself wanted to push
her way to the wall and look for herself. She stiffened her spine and kept
quiet.

Taye
went on. “Two men are coming closer. They have a stick with a white cloth tied
to the end.”

“Parley,”
said McGrath. He raised his voice. “Let them come closer.”

After
a moment, the mayor shouted again, more loudly. “That’s close enough, gentlemen.
What can I do for you this fine spring day?”

“We
come on behalf of His Excellency, President Gerald Todd of Kansas-Missouri.”

“Oh,”
the mayor murmured as if to himself. “I was wondering who was running around
out there.”

Gina
blinked. Wasn’t he taking this seriously?

He
raised his voice again. “And?”

“The
president has one of your people in his custody. He offers a trade. Send out
his daughter and he will release your man.”

Tuesday Teaser 1/15/19: Gina’s Wolf Part 32

This weekend I am going down to 12th Night in Minneapolis. My friends Dave and Robyn are coming down from Winnipeg and picking me up here in Fargo, and then we’ll drive to our friend’s Ellen’s house to stay. I had hoped to sew a new sideless overdress for my Italian Renaissance gown like this one, but I caught a cold and couldn’t scrounge up the oomph to do that. So I suppose I’ll wear my green and purple Byzantine instead. That’s okay. There is time to make something new later. I hope I’ll remember to take some pics to share with you for next week.

Today’s clip of Gina’s Wolf hasn’t been even re-read, so it probably has a ton of typos. I hope you enjoy it. Next week things get really good!

There were two coming toward him with stealthy care. He thought there might be a third hanging back.

The
men stopped three yards away. Cole’s snarl was weak. “Damn it,” said one, a
quaver in his voice. “I thought he was supposed to be asleep by now.”

“He’s
not a regular wolf,” the second man said coolly. “The tranq must not be strong
enough.”

“Give
him more!”

“And kill him? The President would be a bit miffed with us. No, give it a little time.”

Even
through his blurred vision, Cole saw the first man pale.

“We
gotta do something!”

“We
wait. He’s about ready to go down now.”

He
was. Cole backed up one wavering step at a time, focusing all his willpower on
staying on his feet.

The
cooler of the men narrowed his eyes at Cole. “Don’t move, Wolfy. Jack, shoot
him in the leg.”

From
further behind the two men, Cole saw the dull gleam of a rifle barrel. There
was a third man. He dodged the bullet but the effort sent him into nose first
into the muddy grass. The sound of the shot was oddly muffled. Even so, Omaha
was only two miles away. The shot would have been heard on the wall. Human ears
might not have heard it, but his kinsmen would have. Someone would come to
help. He just had to hold them off that long. He just had to get up and back
away. Come on, he told himself. Get one leg under you. Come on. Do it. Do
it!

But
he couldn’t. His head was too heavy to hold up. With an inner scream of protest,
he rolled onto his side and put his head down. Just for a second, he told
himself. Just one second of rest and them he would get up.

He didn’t get up. As if the noise were coming from a long, long tunnel, he heard the men approach.

“Got
him!” said one.

“Jack,
bring up the cage,” said another. “Let’s get him loaded up and get the hell out
of here.”

And
then Cole heard nothing.

***

“Ladies.”

The Limit’s housekeeper clapped her hands to get their attention. Gina stood between Rose and Carla in the private dining room adjacent to the kitchen with half a dozen other women who worked at the Limit.

“We must make an exact list of every food item we have in the house, right down to the last teaspoon of salt. As a restaurant, the city Council is allowing us higher rations than private households, but we must be careful to use only what we are allowed. We don’t know how long the siege will last so we have to make our rations stretch as far as they will go. Does everyone have their notebook and pen? Very good, then, let’s get to work making lists of everything we have.”

Gina
went into the pantry armed with her notebook and pen and began measuring the
dry goods. Last night Cole had assured her the mayor had made plans for
gathering food so that Omaha would be well supplied when President Todd came. She
became more and more nervous as she measured and weighed the flour, sugar, and
other dry goods. Would there be enough to last through a siege? She hadn’t gone
hungry even once her life. Unless something changed, it looked like she would
be hungry soon. So would everyone else in Omaha. If food supplies got low, who would
be given priority? The soldiers would have to eat to be strong enough to fight.
What about the patients in the hospital? Sick people needed healthy food to get
better. A long time ago, she had heard that her stepfather had cut supplies off
to hospitals. He thought sick people were a liability, and food was given to
those whose work was critical to his empire. Feeling sick, she toiled on in the
pantry until supper time.

Patia
returned to the Limit just as the restaurant opened its doors to supper guests.
There were few. The waitresses took orders and served food. Since only a couple
of the tables were occupied, Carla, Patia, Rose, and Gina took one of the
little tables. Two of the men from the pack sat at a table close by. At a more
distant table three men were obviously and loudly disgusted by the size of
their supper portions.

“There
was a time when a man could actually leave here full,” grumbled one.

“But
it tastes good.” That voice seemed to make an effort to be positive. “And
everyone is going to eating a little bit less for a while. We should enjoy this
while we can.”

The
first man pushed his plate away with a curse. “I want to talk to the manager.”

The
two men who’d escorted Patia home stood up. Their dark eyes fixed on the
whiner. “You got something you want to complain about?”

He
looked up at them and something in his face shifted. His forehead glowed with sudden
sweat. “No. I guess I was just blowing off steam.” He nodded enthusiastically. “I
guess we just better plan to eat small for a while.”

“That’s
right.” His companion nodded. “We are all in this together.”

As Gina
helped with dishes later, she thought about what Omaha could expect in the next
few days or weeks. Hungry people were desperate, and desperate people do stupid
things. She hoped this whole thing would be wrapped up soon.

She
got ready for bed alone. Last night Cole had been with her. She loved making
love with him. She loved the way he held her afterwards just as much. Maybe he
would’ve held anyone his wolf chose with the same tenderness, but she wanted
that tenderness to be just for her. If she wasn’t his mate, would he still
treat her the same way? She hoped so. The bed seemed cold and empty without
him. Wasn’t that stupid? They’d only spent two nights together, but already not
having him there seemed wrong. She wanted she wanted all of this to be over
slushy could go home to his place and start a new life there with him. In spite
of her worry, she fell asleep thinking of that new life.

She
woke late. The sun was already gleaming weakly through the curtain when someone
pounded on her door. Patia’s voice called, “Gina? Gina, come quick. Something
awful has happened!”

Tuesday Teaser 1/8/19 Gina’s Wolf Part 31

Woo-hoo! It’s 2019. That’s a good thing. As long, that is, as it doesn’t turn into 2018 all over again. :O

I’ve been writing again ,so that is a good sign for the coming year. I have the next two chapters plotted and ready to write. The third chapter is still a little muddy, but I’ll figure it out. My time is as always tight. But now that my writing group is doing sprints I am pretty much guaranteed 30 minutes of writing a week. Hopefully a lot more than that, but when I work 40 hours and have various functions 4 evenings a week writing time is hard to find. But as I said, I’m writing again. Gina’s Wolf is approaching the climatic third act. Things should get pretty exciting soon.

This is very rough, so please excuse any typos or boo boos.

The lieutenant
in charge at Headquarters looked up from the papers he was reading when Cole
came in. “Morning. You’re just in time to join the foot patrol. Bob? Here’s
your partner for the morning, Cole Wolfe. Wolfe, this is Sergeant Anderson.”

“Morning,
Wolfe.” Sergeant Bob Anderson held out a leathery hand to shake. “Let’s get
going.”

Anderson
was a lanky forty-year-old who knew the city streets well. Cole, being a
stranger to the city, let him lead. The Omaha native was friendly and
unflappable. Cole was no coward, but when they found two women involved in a hair
pulling girl fight in front of the building that held the food stores, he hung
back. Two men fighting? That he could handle. Bash their heads together. Grab
one by the neck and toss him into the street and give the other a kick in the
pants. But ladies? He let Anderson handle it.

“Mrs.
Morton, you get up off the street. Shame on you. Both of you,” Anderson said
firmly. “Mrs. Brockmeier, what is all this about?”

Each
of the women accused the other of taking more than her fair share of flour. Bob
settled that decisively and calmly, and soon both women left, shooting dirty
looks at each other but not speaking. Cole watched with awe.

“How
did you do that?” he asked as they began walking their patrol again.

“Shoot.
I’ve been a Guardsman for twenty years. Everybody knows me well enough to know
I won’t let them get away with anything.”

It
seemed to be true. There weren’t many people on the streets, but everyone they
saw greeted the Sergeant with respect. His own respect for the older man grew
as their patrol went on.

“So,”
Anderson said when they turned to head back to headquarters, “I hear tell your
daddy sent for reinforcements. When do you figure they’ll be here?”

Cole
calculated. “Maybe tomorrow.” The wolves would come first. Then the men from
Kearney would come, but they wouldn’t be able to move as fast as the wolf
warriors. “Some tomorrow. More in a few days.”

Anderson
nodded, a little grim. “We could use the help, and the sooner the better.”

After
their four-hour street patrol, they returned to headquarters for lunch and
rest. Captain Erickson took the concise report Anderson made and dismissed them
to the day room. Half a dozen men were already there, nursing tin cups of coffee
and playing cards. The men nodded at Anderson. “Sandwich fixings in the
fridge,” one said.

Cole followed Bob to the fridge. The coffee smelled awful, but not as bad as the sour stench of unwashed men. Being here with these stinky men instead of with his mate made his wolf unhappy.

“Hey,
Sarge,” called another of the men, whose teeth were both crooked and green.
“Who’s your new friend?”

  Anderson
didn’t look up from spreading mustard over his bread. “Cole Wolfe from Kearney.
Why don’t you boys introduce yourselves?”

None
of the men did. Crooked and Green leered. “Aw, it’s the bride groom. He got to
go home last night and play kissy-face with the little woman.”

Cole’s
wolf came to sharp alert. When the man made loud kissing noises, the wolf
lunged at the cage that held him in Cole’s mind, trying to break free. Cole’s
nostrils flared.

“Was
it fun, lover boy? Did your bride spread her pretty–”

Cole’s vision shimmered with gold and red as his wolf tried furiously to get free.

“Colby.”

His
father’s voice, heavy with Alpha authority, stopped the wolf. The red and gold
shimmer died as the wolf slunk back to the cage, lips peeled back in a snarl.
Cole took one breath through clenched teeth and forced himself to relax.

“You
will not kill this man.”

It
was a struggle, but Cole made himself tilt his head to the side in submission.

Taye
Wolfe sauntered to Crooked and Green, his face set in a cold expression he
never directed at anyone in his Pack. His voice dropped to a low, lethal growl.
“Do not ever speak of my daughter again.”

The
man couldn’t seem to hold the Alpha’s gaze, he swallowed and looked down at the
table. “Didn’t mean nothing. Just a little friendly joshing.”

The
Alpha of the Pack stared down at the man. “The only reason you’re alive is because
Omaha needs every fighter it can muster.”

The man wilted when Taye turned his attention back to Cole. “Have something to eat and then get some sleep.  You go outside the gate again tonight to patrol.”

***

It was
wet tonight, thought Cole, trotting along the river bank on his patrol. It wasn’t
quite rain, but it was more than fog, and his fur was heavy with moisture. It was
almost cold enough to snow.  It was a
heavy, wet cold that he didn’t like. He loved to romp in the snow, but this wet
cold was no good. It muffled his sense of smell and deadened his hearing.

Romping
in the snow with his mate would be fun. They probably wouldn’t get any more snow
this year, but next year… He had plans for next year. Maybe by then she would
be heavy with his child. That thought warmed him in spite of the cold. He
remembered the warmth of his mate lying beside him in bed. In his mind he
lovingly savored the press of the curve of her breast against his. Would his
father allow him to go back to the Limit again tonight? He hoped so. He wanted
to—

Pain stabbed through his neck, rocking him sideways. His wolf yelped. What was it? It was too fiery and deep to be a thorn. It was… Out of the corner of his eye he saw the end of an arrow. A strange arrow, too little to fly far. The sound of footsteps, muffled by the cold, came to him. He tried to run away, but his legs didn’t work right. Something too close to panic seared his belly. This was like… Like on the train. He remembered the train. Something about the train… He couldn’t remember.

Wobbling, like a stupid townsman who’d drank to much, he turned to face the enemy.

Merry Christmas!

My favorite days of the year are here! I’m sneaking in a little writing time while my visiting brother sleeps. Later this morning we are going to stroll downtown Fargo and have lunch in a little bistro type restaurant. After Christmas mass, the rest of the family will come to my place for a buffet style supper, and then opening presents.

Speaking of presents, I wanted to do something to show my appreciation for YOU, my readers. Below are links for a couple of my books which you can download for free from now until December 31.

Sleeping With the Wolf is free just about everywhere, like here on Amazon

Wolf’s Glory

Ellie’s Wolf .

I hope you have a lovely holiday with a lots of new books to love and fun family time.

Happy Reading and Merry Christmas!

Tuesday Teaser 12/18/18 Gina’s Wolf Part 30

Christmas is only ONE WEEK away!!!  I have so much to do to get ready, and I’m working extra at the day job. I am horribly afraid I will have to wrap presents that I am quilting and knitting, and then immediately take them back to I can finish them. And since I am hosting the Christmas Eve dinner and present opening, I really ought to at least run the vacuum in the living room and hall, and  dust the furniture. Oh, and maybe clean the toilet?  Oy! Anyone else getting down to the wire with holiday preparations? Even so, I love Christmas. I’ve tried to squeeze in a couple of Christmas movies and novellas. I watched Dear Santa. It was corny and sweet, and made me happy. And I’m reading The Christmas Bus right now. 

Do you enjoy Christmas books and movies? Any suggestions for me?

Word Weavers is continuing with the writing sprints format for our meetings. Last night I presented them with some questions I had about the ending for Gina’s Wolf. I knew what I wanted to happen, but I wasn’t sure how to make it believable. We batted around some ideas for about 15 minutes, and now I know how to proceed. I don’t know what I’d do without those gals! Tonight’s snip isn’t very long again, and it may or may not actually show up in the book, but i’m posting it anyway. Since Tuesday is Christmas I probably won’t post a snip that day. We’ll see how things go, but I am going to  concentrate on getting that quilt and shawl done so I can actually GIVE them on Christmas and not just lend them long enough to be opened

Tuesday Teaser 12/11/18-Gina’s Wolf ??

Hello! It’s snowing out there tonight and I’m drinking tea from Paris called Noel a Pekin. It’s a black tea from China  with jasmine green tea, mango, passion fruit and pineapple. I’m not sure how that comes to be considered a Christmas in Peking tea, but there you go. It’s a good night to drink it and knit.

I do have a new snip for you tonight. It is shorter than I’d wanted it to be, but at least I have new words. Here is my Confession Is Good For The Soul statement. It’s true I’ve been very busy. Working full time and a little overtime at the day job 7am-4:00pm. And after work looks like this: Monday=Word Weavers, Tuesday=visit Mom, Wednesday=church, Thursday=SCA meetings, Friday=clean, laundry, etc., Saturday=sleeping late, visit mom, PLAY!!!, Sunday=church and knitting and reading. So actually I DO have some time available to write. Not a lot, but if I was more disciplined I could find an hour a day.  I will try harder to get myself back into the habit of writing. Thank you for being so patient with me.

My local critique group (we call ourselves the Word Weavers) has started a new format for our meetings. We will do critiques for only the first 30-40 minutes. Then we will do a timed writing sprint for 30 minutes. we’ll finish up with 15-20  minutes of talking about what we did during the sprint. I am loving it. Although last night my laptop battery died only 5 minutes in. I got my notebook and pen out and wrote long hand for about 2 minutes when my pen died. I couldn’t believe it!! I sat fuming with my knitting for the remaining 20 minutes. Gosh, it makes me laugh now but last night I was mad. 

So here is the little bit I managed to write the past week. I’m not sure it will make it to the book. But it can be re-written or moved around, or even just deleted if it doesn’t work. The important thing is I’m writing. You gotta start somewhere. Stephen King said that you can’t edit a blank page. So, here you go!

Cole cast one last look around the moonlit river bank before turning and trotting back toward Omaha. He’d seen no men hiding, heard not a hint of trucks or other traffic, and hadn’t caught any unfamiliar scent carried on the night air. His patrol was over. With his paws heavy with mud, and his legs coated with drying goop, all he wanted was to be clean so he could bask in his mate’s warmth.

He wished Todd would just turn his army around and go home. That wasn’t likely. The next best thing would be for him to just attack so this stupid little war could be ended. The initial attack this morning was only a feint, probably to test Omaha’s readiness. Well, they were ready. Ready to send Todd packing with his tail between his legs. Cole wanted to bring his sweet mate home to the den so they could start their life together and he couldn’t do that until Todd was dealt with.

Cole approached the wall of Omaha, careful of where he placed his paws so as to not leave paw prints leading to the small back gate in Omaha’s wall. He quietly woofed to let his cousin xxxxx (haven’t decided who yet) know he was ready to come back in, and the door opened just wide enough to let his furred body slip in.

Paint was there with XXXXX. “Anything?”he asked. When Cole shook his wolf’s head, Pain nodded. “Go report to your dad and get home.”

XXXXX
shot him a sly grin. “You stink. Better wash before you wrap yourself around
your mate.”

Cole wrinkled his nose in a snarl and ran down the street to the house designated as the eastern headquarters. He shifted to human at the steps of the building. It was one of those buildings from the Times Before that housed two families. One side was set up as the headquarters; the other was crammed with beds for the City Guard to sleep in when they weren’t on duty. Cole felt a tiny moment of regret for them. They would be away from the families for days at a time but he got to return to the Limit where his mate awaited him.

Naked,he went into the HQ side and followed his ears to the room which must have been a dining room at one time. His dad was there with Captain Dean Erickson,leaning over a map spread out on the table. Two pimply teenagers were there too, both using so many words to give their report that Cole could barely make out what they were trying to say. The boys stopped, mouths hanging open, when they saw Cole come in. They appeared to be either horrified or fascinated by his nakedness.

“Wolf,” one mouthed to the other.

Cole resisted the urge to show them his teeth. He gave his report to Captain Erickson, describing where he had gone and what he’d seen in brief, concise statements. His dad nodded approvingly.

“You have eight hours down,” he told Cole. “Then get back here.” He cracked a shadow of a smile. “And try to spend some of those hours in sleep.”

Cole bounded up the back steps of The Limit and paused just outside the mudroom to shake his fur out before shifting back to man. He was cold and muddy, so the shower he’d dreamed of would be welcome, but as he padded inside, he caught the faintest hint of his mate’s scent woven through faint aroma of soap. She had been here a few hours ago, maybe mopping the floor he was dirtying with his muddy feet.

Footsteps sounded from the kitchen and a hand flicked the mudroom light on. The young woman screamed when she saw him and fled back to the kitchen. He glanced down at himself. Why would she scream? He wasn’t that dirty. Oh. Maybe it wasn’t the drying mud caking his legs that scared her. Where were the jeans he’d left here before he followed his father out?

More footsteps came, and he looked up to see his mother, sister and Aunt Rose come in. The elderly woman who ran the house was with them. Her silver eyebrows rose as she stared at him.

“Oh, my goodness,” she said mildly, and disappeared.

“Colby,” his mom said anxiously. “Is everything okay?”

He was about to reply with when Ms. Mary came back, holding a towel.

“It’s a shame, really,” she said in her quavering old voice, “but I suppose you should cover up. I don’t know how I’ll ever fall asleep now, with my heart pounding like a teenager’s.” She turned her head to speak to someone behind her. “Such a handsome young man you have, dear Georgina.”

Gina passed through the opening the other women made for her. Ms. Mary handed her the towel with a wink. Gina’s cheeks were brightly pink, but she was smiling.From the very first moment he’d seen her pouring hot chocolate in that coffee shop downtown, Cole had thought she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Her face didn’t have the perfect lines of Mrs. Madison’s, and her body wasn’t the classic voluptuous hourglass like Aunt Amanda’s, but the color in her cheeks was enchanting, and the hint of a naughty smile on her lips as she came to him made him smile back.

Mine, said the wolf fiercely.

“Mine,” agreed the man happily.