Mercy Thompson 06 - River Marked

Jim between Calvin and me.
    “So you were raised white,” said Calvin in disapproving tones.
    I should have told them I was Hispanic and any Indians in my bloodlines were South American and unknown. Half of my customers thought I was Hispanic. Telling them I was Hispanic felt like it would have been less of a lie than telling them I was Indian. As if I were claiming ties that weren’t there.
    “Browning, Montana, makes him Blackfeet,” Jim told me kindly. “Piegan. The Blood and the Siksika are Blackfoot.”
    I knew that. It just hadn’t tripped off my tongue.
    “What were you doing out here? It’s an odd place to be running around at this time of night.” Jim didn’t say naked. He didn’t have to. “Boy,” he said abruptly to Calvin. “Don’t you make your mother ashamed of her son.”
    The young man’s mouth tightened, but he looked away from me. A few years ago his regard wouldn’t have bothered me the way it did now. But things had happened since that made me uncomfortable standing nearly naked with four strangers—five if I counted Benny, which I didn’t.
    “I just got married,” I told him, reminding my too-jittery self that Adam would be on his way back by now. If something happened, and I had no reason to think it would—especially as they had handed over a blanket to cover me without a word—Adam would be here before anything too bad happened. I wouldn’t be caught in the trap of assuming all men were bad—but I wouldn’t have been human if I weren’t wary. “We were swimming.”
    “Good thing for Benny,” said Jim. “We’ve been by here twice. It would have been morning before we could have seen that boat under the trees. And morning would have been too late for him.”
    Fred (I could tell because he wore a red flannel shirt, and Hank wore a gray one) left Benny to his brother and came over.
    Evidently he’d been listening because he said, “I called 911, Jim, and they had already gotten a call from her husband. There is an ambulance on its way. I told the operator that we could get Benny up to the road. It’ll be a rough trip. The road’s only a half mile or so as the crow flies, but this is horrible country for a fast trek in the dark. But they’d have to make the trip twice that we need to make once.”
    “What about taking him on the boat?” asked Calvin.
    Fred shook his head. “We might get him to the hospital faster that way—but the ambulance will have medical personnel on board. He’ll get faster medical care, and time matters. If he stays in shock, we could lose him—but when he warms up, that foot is going to bleed like a fountain.”
    “Whatever you and Hank think best,” said Jim, which seemed to make the decision for everyone.

5

    THE ONLY BRUSH OR TREES IN THIS PART OF THE gorge that weren’t cultivated—very little of the ground on either side of the river was cultivated—were right on the river. For the most part our footing was cheatgrass-covered basalt, not horrible hiking if I’d had shoes.
    It would have been better if I could have shifted into coyote, but I didn’t know these men—and I don’t make it a habit of telling everyone what I am. Too many bad things happened to people who admitted too openly what they were without a powerful group behind them—and sometimes even with a powerful group behind them. I’d survived a long time by keeping my head down and blending in; I wasn’t going to change that just to make my bare feet feel better.
    The Owens brothers and Calvin took turns carrying Benny. Jim led the way and carried a couple of flares to flag down the ambulance with. We all, except for whoever was carrying Benny, carried flashlights, which did a fair bit to destroy my night vision. I brought up the rear—though they had all suggested I stay down by the river.
    I could have done that, but what if they ran into Adam? Under normal circumstances, they’d be perfectly safe. But Adam had had to make two fast changes tonight and experienced a number of stressors. He’d been forced to leave me naked and vulnerable. Benny had been so afraid—in addition to all the blood and pain.
    Adam was not human and hadn’t been for a long time. His control was very good—but this was not a good night for him to be meeting up with strangers carrying a bleeding, hurt man.
    So I insisted on going with them.
    We might have been a half mile from the road, but that half mile was all up the side of a very steep hill that was broken up with