Dark Warrior: Kid (Dark Cloth Series Book 2) by Lenore Wolfe Read Free Book Online Page A

her.
    Meg’s cracked blue eyes turned, and she studied Kat. “You’re tortured, aren’t you—but,” she leaned in from the other side, “you’re relieved, too, aren’t you?” she whispered.
    Kat really did start to cry now. She couldn’t have been more amazed. Mandy and Meg knew this, and that only stirred up more of the emotions that were already running too deep.
    When Cord stepped back into the store, he found all three women dissolved in tears. He stared at one woman, then other, in stunned silence. He clearly had never witnessed either Mandy, or Megan, in tears—and he obviously didn’t have the slightest clue what to do about it. He turned, as if to escape.
    They saw him stop—heard him mutter—his back still to them.
    “Awww, damn,” Cord said.
    Kat couldn’t help it. She dissolved into a fit of giggles. It didn’t take but a moment for Mandy and Meg to join her. Emotions were running high.
    Cord obviously didn’t know what to make of it. He’d seen Kat try to skin McCandle with her skinnin’ knife. Now, here she sat, bawling like those weak-minded females, she’d always despised so much.
    He’d apparently witnessed many things from Mandy and Meg—and this hadn’t been on the list. His face turned pale, as he took in first one of his friends—then the other.
    Kat let him off the hook. “I’m leaving for a while,” she nearly whispered. The words sobered her instantly. She felt the shock of disbelief run through her—that she’d actually uttered them. She couldn’t really be thinking of doing this?
    Cord’s face was the only one who didn’t register surprise.
    “I’ve been wondering how long it would take you,” he said, his tone gentle.
    The three of them turned and stared at him. Meg’s mouth dropped open.
    He shrugged. “Take it from a wanderer. Cutting those wings can be brutal,” he said, by way of explanation.
    Kat felt the catch in her throat keenly, felt her heart twist. “So what did you do to get past it?”
    Cord’s gaze narrowed on her, but his eyes seemed distant, like his thoughts lay far in the past. “I had to go out there—search for answers.” He sighed as if bracing for the torrent of words her friends were going to shoot at him, and he shot Mandy, then Meg, a warning look before going on. “And when I was ready—I came back home.” He came forward and sat in the chair across from Kat, taking her hand gently into his. “But don’t take too long,” he said in low tones. “You can’t get back lost time.”
    Kat knew he referred to his dead family—murdered. They were the reason he turned gunman. When it was over, he’d put up his pistols for good—and hid from those who would seek out his gun-hand behind the boring facade of running a mercantile, vowing never to turn killer again.
    Very few people knew this secret about him. The three women had only learned about it because of what had happened between Hawk—and McCandle—when Mandy’s father had stipulated in his will that Mandy marry Cord if her mysterious fiancé didn’t come forward. But Mandy had only made up the story about her mysterious fiancé—to keep McCandle at bay until the man she’d been dreaming about—for years—had actually shown up.
    Mandy frequently had them—these dreams about her future—and about danger too. Her mystical teachers, the wise women in the nearby Cheyenne village, taught her how to understand them. Mandy also received guidance from the grandmothers—her ancient ancestors from beyond the spirit realm.
    But it turned out that Hawk had been the man from her dreams, and it hadn’t taken them long to marry, once they’d found each other—here—in this lifetime, too.
    Mysticism, Kat understood. Marriage—on the other hand—she did not. She squeezed Cord’s hand, her thoughts snaring on one thing. “Do you really think I’ll find the answer to what ails me—out there?”
    Cord nodded. “As long as the seeker seeks her answers from a pure