Page 4 of Fire And Ice

As Amira brushed Nava down, she had time to think about her life. While it was true her father never had time for her, he had never physically caused her any harm. He just never told anyone else that she was in his house. She brushed a strand of her blue hair away and wondered about her coloring. She had dark eyes and blue hair. People who saw her believed that she’d dyed it, but that wasn’t so. Her coloring had made her different from everyone else. She would stare out the window and see everyone had dark hair, or blonde hair or maybe even red. Whenever her father looked at her? which was rare? he always stared at her hair and cursed under his breath.

She paused and again looked at the mountain. What other secrets would she find up there? She placed her hand over her heart and felt her own heart pounding in her chest. Then she frowned as she thought she heard another sound in her chest. Her own heartbeat was echoing a second beat in her chest. She felt the calm of the echo beat as she gazed up at the mountain and smiled. Her mother’s heartbeat beat within her chest. She wasn’t sure what that meant but she could feel her mother surrounding her and she was calm about that fact.

She finished with the horse’s care, went to her bedroll, and laid down. When she heard the snores for the other men, she took a moment to whisper, “I know you mom. I can feel you inside me and I know you will protect me now, as you have protected me all my life. I’m home mom and I’ll never leave again.”

Then as she closed her eyes, a single tear rolled down her cheek.

Chapter Two

As the woman rode away, Luther looked over at Diesel and Steel. “Just what the hell was that all about?”

Diesel just snorted and said, “She didn’t even look afraid of us and most people are. They see us as big bad bikers but she didn’t even flinch.”

Luther looked toward the mountain and shook his head. “Just what is it about that fucking hunk of rock that has people coming around here now?”

His VP and Enforcer had no answer.

Luther paused and remembered something now. “There were stories in town. When we first moved here, I heard people at the diner talking. I believed they were talking about this land out here.”

“Why did you believe it was about our land?” Steel asked him.

He shrugged. “That’s the strange part.”

“Strange how?” Diesel asked.

“One old man said something like, ‘Yeah, the disappearing mountain.’ And another called it the Sleeping Maiden.”

“I heard about that.” Steel nodded. “They say when you see it from faraway, the whole range looks like a woman lying on her side with her hands under her head.”

“Yeah, we’ve all heard those stories.” Luther again turned to look at the mountain. “I just want to know what the fuck is so damned interesting about all the sudden.”

At about 5:30 in the morning, Luther walked out of the clubhouse. He couldn’t seem to get any sleep. He felt like he needed some fresh air to clear his head, so he could sleep.

Nothing seemed disturbed as he looked around, but he frowned as if he knew there was something different. He walked over a ways and looked around a second time. Under the dawn light, he saw the dirt along the road had been disturbed. He went over to the edge of the road and squatted down to have a better look.

He narrowed his eyes at the hoof prints in the dirt. Following them a few steps, he saw where they were leading. “God damnit!” he swore under his breath and went back to the clubhouse.

When he went in the back door, he spotted Diesel, Viper, Steel, and Bullfrog sitting there, drinking coffee.

“Who pissed in your cheerios this morning Luther?” Bullfrog asked. His voice was low and gravely like he’d gargled with gravel in his mouth, hence his call name, Bullfrog.

Luther glared at Diesel and said, “I think the woman with blue hair is back and I think she brought friends with her. I counted four sets of horse hoofs.”

“I wonder what part of, don’t come back she misunderstood?” Diesel growled. “You gonna go lookin’ for her and chase her off again?”

“Oh, I’m gonna look for her.” Luther nodded his head. “And we’ll have a little parley before I kick her off our land again. But this time, I want answers. I want to know what she came here for in the first damn place.”

“I asked Swag to look into the history of this area before we got here,” Steel informed him. “That woman was talking about coming home and I wanted to know why she thought this area was her home.”

“Good idea.” Luther nodded. “Hopefully he finds something soon. But for now, let’s find them and escort them the fuck off our land,” he grumbled.

Everyone there got to their feet and Luther led the way out of the clubhouse. He showed them the horse tracks. They followed them quite a ways before he spotted their camp. Luther motioned for his men to circle the camp and he would go in alone.

His men disappeared into the trees while Luther walked into the camp. He went over to the woman and studied her for a moment then turned to gaze toward the three men, sleeping by the glowing embers of the fire.

He sat down beside her.

She awakened slowly and when she opened her eyes, she saw him sitting there. She sat up slowly and stared at him for a moment before she said, “Good morning.”

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