Territory - Prequel
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks so much to
Sandara
for
the awesome cover art.
Check out her work at:
This story is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places
, and incidences are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication can be repr
oduced or transmitted in any for
m or by
an
means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from Susan Bliler.
DEDICATION
For
Mama
Our
true
pack leader
C
hapter 1
What in the fuck is he doing here?
Chloe seethed at the sheer audacity
, her
dark
almond shaped eyes glinting with fury
.
Releasing her mother’s hand,
she
stood and
stepped out of the pew before s
he strode determinedly down the
a
isle without looking back.
Outside the church, she found a secluded corner and tucked her slight frame into the dark recess before exhaling
slow
ly. Her breath escaped in a great
white
puff.
The rain had been f
alling for five straight days, and in Montana cold always accompanied the rain.
Chloe
tilted her head up to the
drearily darkened
sky and let the fat drops splash down on her too warm cheeks.
Five days of rain
,
and five days since her brother had been killed
.
God she wished she smoked, or drank, or had some horribl
e habit that could give her even a
minimal
respite
from the throbbing ache of misery that had settled in her chest. She couldn’t breathe and she didn’t want to. She wanted to find a dark
corner, curl up,
and sleep for
a hundred years so that when she woke the memory of her
older
brother would have faded and she wouldn’t know the dull pain that
now
squeezed her heart so tight that she didn’t think she could stand it.
How much pain c
an
a person take?
She’d asked herself that question over a
hundred
times in the past five days.
God, I can’t do thi
s!
Tears stung at the back of her eyes and she inhaled deeply, surprised that her tears would choose now to come forth.
All throughout the day she’d waited for her tears, but they hadn’t come.
They hadn’t come when her mother moaned in agony as her brother’s casket was wheeled into the church, and they hadn’t come when she’d stood to tell the room full of strangers what a wonderful human being her brother had been.
Finally,
after
enduring
dry-eyed
the misery
of her only sibling
’s funeral
,
she’d concluded that she’d cried every last tear that she could and there simply weren’t any left within her to shed.
But now
tears welled in her eyes and it disgusted her
that her emotions were so raw that she honestly didn’t know if they came from sadness at the loss of her brother or anger at the appearance of
her enemy.
Pushing off the wall, she dropped her head
and looked down at her hands. They were s
mall hands, but capable. Anger roiled within her as she envisioned stalking back
into the church and wrapping
those very
hands around the throat of Dell Blackbird.
Motherfucker!
He’s got some serious
brass to
show his face here
!
I
t was insulting. As if her family hadn’t been injured enough by the Blackbirds, now in their most so
lemn hour Dell had the
nerve
to show up.
For what? Out of respect?
Her teeth clenched and her hands balled into tight fists at the thought of Dell extending his hand to her mother and offering up his sympathies.
Son
of
a
bitch!
But even the ang
er c
ouldn’t last. She was too exhausted. Over the past five days she’d
run
the gamut of her emotions
, and she’d felt
pure
raw
sentiment
more
powerfully than she’d ever believed she could feel. Now it seemed she couldn’t hold on to any
one emotion longer than a few
fleeting moments. It took too much energy, and at the end of the
day
she knew that no amount of anger or agony would
bring her brother back.
***
Dell
walked confidently
to the front of the church.
His powerful frame donned the appropriate form fitting black suit.
He shouldn’t be here
he knew
, but it wasn’t in his character to stay away. He heard audible gasps as members of the
Lott family watched him
stalk
to the front of the church.
The
room reeked of pain and sadness. It was stifling, but the worst was the heavy air of regret. Not
his own
regret
, but God knew his contributed
.
Then slowly, t
he deeper he
walked
into the church, the
scent of
anger
grew stronger as more and more acknowledged his presence
.
It was a risk to be here, but it was honorable and whether the Lott family knew it or not, h
e was an honorable man. H
is family was honorable.
He pulled a braid of sweetgrass from the inside breast pocket of his
dark
suit jacket and stepped up to the casket. Donnie Lott looked more peaceful in death than he
ever
had
in life. Dell had only ever
seen the other man
angry
and he swallowed back bitterness at the knowledge that the Blackbird family had been
the
cause of Donnie’s anger
and death
.
Donnie was
a me
re two years older than Dell, t
he exact age of Dell’s older brother, Mace. St
aring down at the still cold for
m, Dell remembered the ridiculous headline in the local paper f
our
days earlier. ‘Two Men Fight t
o t
he De
ath
Over
Suicide of Local Woman
.
’
Dell exhaled deeply as he tucked the sweetgrass under Donnie’s stiff fin
gers. “
Swift travel
brother.” He turned then and was slammed by the overwhelming scent of
blinding
fury. His eyes slid over the church, not making direct eye contact
with anyone in particular as he tried to pinpoint the source.
W
hen a slender female in the first row
stood and
turned to storm
down the
a
isle, he knew the scent had come from her.
Chloe.
Dell had heard nothing but good things about Donnie’s sister.
While he’d never
actually
met her, he knew that s
he was well liked in the
community
for her generosity and kindness.
Dell watched as she shoved
open
the back doors of the church and disappeared into the rainy night. With her fury gon
e, the room settled back into their pain
and misery
and none was more prominent than that of the elderly woman in the front row.
Solem
n
ly,
Dell approached the woman he knew to be Donnie and Chloe’s mother. If she knew who
he was,
Bea
didn’t let on as she stood to accept his outstretched hand and to thank him for coming. Dell inhaled deeply trying to catch the slightest hint of anger or res
entment, but there was only pain. It was t
he type of pain that could only emanate from
a mother attending the
funeral of her only son
.
He’d scented the same agony yesterday when his family held ceremony and his mother watched as his own brother was buried.
“On behalf of my family, I’d like to express to your our deepest regret and most sympathetic condolences. Please know that we pray only peace, hope, and strength for you and your daughter.”
The
frail looking woman clasped Dell’s large hand in both of hers before nodding
and looking up. Her mournful brown eyes shimmered with unshed tears, “I
too pray we
all
find peace.”
Her words spoke volumes. She knew who he was, and with a divine
beauty,
she stood before him wishing him and his family well as she stood attending her own son’s funeral. Dell’s throat thickened with emotion as he nodded once before lifting her hands to his lips and kissing them before he released her soft fingers.
Dell made no eye contact with any other attendee as he strode from the church.
***
Chloe tucked her body tighter into the dark corner as she heard the church doors creak open.
Is it over?
She groaned inwardly as she realized the funeral continued, someone
had
just
decided to leave
early. She
eased out of her dark
recess
and inched down the wall to peer around the corner that hid her from
view of the church’s front steps. Catching sight of the hard frame dressed in a sharp black suit, she
recoil
ed instantly
forcing her frame harder against the wall.
Dell.
Anger swelled within her again as she debated confronting him.
But what was the use? It wouldn’t solve anything.
They
killed your brother
!
She shoved off the wall,
prepared to confront a man she’d never even met,
but
her resolve dissipated when the sound of approaching footsteps had her plastering herself back
up against the wall
.