Her choice
1607 Words
*Chase*
We ride west for over an hour with nothing but silence and a soft breeze between us.
I fight to keep my gaze focused on the far horizon instead of on my new Luna. I thought she had looked lovely dressed in white yesterday. In red, she is devastatingly beautiful. The deep shade brings out the richness of her porcelain skin, black hair, and brown eyes.
The combination is almost enough to make me change my mind about what I decided to do this morning. But the hesitancy in her voice when she speaks to me and the fear that still resides in her eyes keep me from altering my plans.
I draw Satan to a halt at the top of the small rise and turn the horse slightly. Beauty stops beside me.
“Why did we stop?” Callista asks.
“To watch the sunrise.”
I can’t explain why I want to watch the sun chase over the horizon with this she-wolf by my side. Dawn isn’t my favorite time of day. I prefer the night, when the clouds fade away to reveal the stars. The stars have guided me home countless times. As a boy, I had even wished on them.
I had thought about asking Callista to ride with me last night when I couldn’t sleep, but I had needed time alone to think, to wade through the quagmire I had inadvertently created. I don’t know if I can untangle the mess, but I’m hoping I can give us a smoother trail to follow.
I hear her small intake of breath as the sun begins to wash away the darkness. I wonder if she has ever watched the start of a new day. I know so little about her. It had all seemed unimportant until last night.
“It’s beautiful,” she says quietly.
‘So are you,’ hangs on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t bring myself to say the words, not knowing how the morning will end.
Barely turning her face in my direction, she gives me a hesitant smile. “Thank you.”
I grimace. “I didn’t make the sunrise. I just brought you to see it.”
She nods slightly and averts her gaze. I would take back the gruffness in my voice if I could. I don’t know why I always sound angry when I speak to her. Perhaps because the fulfillment of my final dream rests on her willingness to give it to me, and for some reason she makes me nervous.
Reaching out, I grab Beauty’s reins and turn both horses away from the rising sun.
*Callista*
I stare at the river, the men lining its far bank, and the barbed-wire fence that stretches along the length of the stream. In the distance, beyond the fence, a cloud of dust rises toward the sky as cattle tromp toward the fence.
I recognize my brothers leading the herd, Rowan with his arm still in a white sling, Ryan and Riley on either side of him. They bring their horses to a halt, and the cattle wander to a stop behind them as the men flanking each side cut off the cows that want to keep moving.
I hear the babbling of the river and low bawling of the cattle. My heart tightens in my chest as I realize why Chase has brought me here: to see exactly what my family had traded me for.
I wish I were skilled enough with a horse that I could simply gallop away.
Beside me, Chase removes his hat and drapes his wrist over his saddle horn. “I have always considered myself easy on the eyes. I have got more land than I know what to do with and enough money that my family and pack will never do without. I assumed any she-wolf would be pleased to have me for a mate.”
I swallow, not knowing what to say.
“Your family and I have been feuding over this strip of land ever since the day you arrived. I want a son. I want the feuding to stop. Marrying you seemed a way to have both. Unfortunately, I failed to take your feelings on the matter into consideration.” He shifts his gaze away from me. “See that man standing by the fence?”
I see a tall, lean-boned man positioned next to the barbed wire, his horse tethered to a post. “Yes?”
“That’s Slim, my foreman. You ride down there, and he will cut the fence for you, let you go through so you can meet up with your brothers on the other side.” He says.
“And you will still pull your fence back?” I ask.
He turns his dark unwavering gaze on me. “This land has soaked up my sweat and blood... and that of my brothers. I won’t give an inch of it away if I receive nothing in return.”
My hopes plummet. “And if I stay here?”
“Raise your hand and lower it. Then my men will pull the fence back. Today I’m giving you what your family and I failed to give you yesterday: a choice. Stay or go. It’s your decision.”
“But we are already married.” I say.
He seems to be chewing the inside of his cheek. “It can be undone easy enough.”
“My father and brothers will be furious.” I say.
He holds my gaze. “I’m prepared to deal with that.”
“You broke Rowan’s arm before. What will you do this time? Kill him?” I ask.
His gaze never falters. “If I have to.”
My stomach lurches. I certainly can’t accuse Chase Moonshadow of being dishonest. My mouth grows as dry as the wind. “You have only given me the illusion of a choice.”
“Sometimes, that’s all life gives any of us.” He says, a tint of regret in his voice.
A few moments ago, I marveled at the beauty of the sunrise, and now I’m seeing the ugliness of men and their greed.
“Do you want to be married to a she-wolf who hates you?” I ask, realizing with sickening dread that I could very well grow to hate this man.
He settles his hat on his head, throwing shadows over his face. “I don’t need your love, but I need your decision. My men have work they need to get to.”
I feel the anger seething through me. "My father was right. You are a coldhearted bastard."
He turns his head sharply, as though he is as surprised by the vehemence in my voice as I am. I have never dared to speak so sharply to anyone in my life. I expect him to do what my father does to my brothers when they use that tone with him: a backhand across my face.
"I'm giving you a choice he wasn't willing to give you," he just says.
I hear the tautness in his voice and marvel at his restraint.
"I will gladly take it," I say as I kick the sides of my horse. I let the mare take a half-dozen steps before pulling back on the reins. I glance over my shoulder. Chase hasn't moved. Not a muscle. I remember him from last night: sitting on the corral, staring at the moon.
What choice had life given him for a mate? I didn't count, but I saw fewer than a dozen she-wolves at my wedding. My brothers are always discussing the absence of she-wolves, speculating where they might find a mate, even answering advertisements in magazines.
Perhaps an illusion of choice is all any of us truly have.
My real choices are to live in the shadows cast by my father and brothers or in the shadow cast by this man. Shadows when I long for sunshine.
Prison is prison, but at least my current jailer gives me the freedom to ride. And I am now pretty sure he is not gonna hit me. It's an inane reason to raise and lower my hand, but I do it, never taking my eyes off my mate. The air suddenly fills with shrill whistles, whoops, and yells.
Chase urges his horse forward until it's even with mine. "You might as well watch what you have given them," he says, his voice low.
I turn my gaze from him as his men lasso the crooked posts and begin pulling them back across the river. My brothers remove their hats, wave them in a circle over their heads, and urge their horses forward, the cattle following.
"I want a son," Chase says quietly.
My heart thuds madly in my chest. "I'm aware of that. My family gets the land they want. And what do I get?"
He removes his hat and meets my gaze. "Anything you want, I will give you anything you wish for."
I consider asking for my freedom, but I know in my heart that I would never abandon a child I brought into this world. His son would bind me to Chase more strongly than any vows I spoke yesterday.
I have never known what it was to hate someone, but now I feel the uncomfortable stirrings of it. My father has sheltered me, protected me, until I became little more than a possession to be bartered away.
"Love?" I ask.
His eyes darken. "Give me a son, and I will find a way to give it to you."
- Writer
