Her Perilous Wolf by Julie Steimle (free e books to read .txt) 📖

been able to truly wash up. It was best that she take advantage of her situation while she could.

Darth sat at the foot of the tub while she washed, watching her. Once or twice, she stared at him and murmured, “I hope you’re not a were-dog. It would be embarrassing if you were a guy watching me like this.”

Darth made no reaction except to gaze fondly at her and lick her nose. He was just a dog.

The bath helped ease her aches some. When she dressed again, it was in comfortable clothes—a loose tee shirt and shorts. Barefoot. Her stomach was grumbling again when Dennis showed up with Winnie and Mercy—both women looking put out for having to take care of their foreign invalid. Audry decided to nip this one horror in the bud before it got worse.

“They don’t have to stay with me if they don’t want to—and I know they don’t want to.” She looked to Dennis pointedly, ignoring the scowls on Winnie’s and Mercy’s faces.

“We came to be part of this operation for you,” Winnie said. And though this was the truth, it was not the same meaning as Dennis had. They blamed her. They didn’t want to help her. They were forced to.

Audry shook her head. “I don’t want grudging help. I—” but her stomach cramped and she immediately rushed to the bathroom again.

Dennis pushed past the two women, hurrying in after her. “Are you ok? Where is Hezzy?”

“Looking for a doctor,” Audry said after dry heaves into the toilet.

Stepping back, Dennis nodded. “I see. It is worse than I thought.”

Audry shook her head, but could not answer.

“I have to tell Juma.” Dennis pulled out his phone. Yet with a look in his eye, he said to her, “Perhaps you should call your parents.”

“And tell them what?” Audry murmured, sitting on the bathroom floor.

Thinking a moment, he shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe just to talk to them.”

Winnie and Mercy came into the bathroom. At first, their expressions were skeptical and harsh, but Mercy’s eased when she saw how green Audry looked. She drew in a breath.

“It can’t be that bad,” Winnie said.

Dennis shot her a dirty look, yet Mercy said, “The snake bite got worse?”

Audry held up her hand. “It’s fine.”

Mercy leaned back further, pointing to Audry’s chest. “Where is your charm? The one Juma got you.”

“It broke,” she said.

Dennis and Mercy exchanged a panicked look.

“What is it?” Winnie said, still peevish.

“Bad luck,” Dennis muttered. He looked to Winnie. “Make some broth. I will take her to bed.”

Mercy nodded, going quickly.

Dennis crouched down and picked Audry up. She didn’t want him to, but he gave her no choice. Her head was killing besides.

When he took her to her room, he made her stay in bed. He ordered Winnie to get Audry a pot for her bedside in case she vomited again. Winnie didn’t like being bossed about, but did as he told her—especially since he was her employer. Mercy returned a short time later with a warm mug of broth for Audry to sip. For a brief moment, Audry was not sure she should drink it.

“I did not poison it,” Mercy said with a half glare of disdain, though the other half of her was apologetic.

Audry took it, slowly drinking the strong beef-flavored liquid.

When Hezzy returned, the doctor on his heels, Darth hopped up and paced around him nervously. This entire time he had been by Audry’s side. The doctor took her temperature, drew some blood, listened to her breathe, then offered advice. He spoke only to Hezzy and Dennis, though—and in the local dialect. Mercy and Winnie listened in. Even Winnie looked stunned by the end of it.

“What do I have?” Audry asked once the doctor departed with Hezzy, who had brought him in the jeep.

Mercy stared at the floor. Winnie shifted her feet, but her chin was raised indignantly. Dennis shrugged. “He does not know yet. He will test your blood back at the hospital.”

“But he has an idea,” Audry said. “You could see it on his face.”

Mercy nodded, though Dennis did not see. He shrugged. Winnie remained stiff.

Audry looked to Mercy. “Come on. Don’t try to spare me.”

“Did you think you would not catch anything simply because you are white?” Winnie said.

Shooting her a look, Audry snapped, “What are you talking about?”

“You did not get your shots,” Winnie said.

Rolling her eyes, Audry sat up in the bed. “I got my shots. I always get my shots. I have the paperwork to prove it.”

Dennis stared at her. “When that snake bit you, did your amulet break then?”

Audry nodded.

He and Mercy exchanged another look.

Winnie rolled her eyes.

“What?” Audry demanded. “What happened?”

“Do you believe in curses?” Dennis asked. Mercy watched her carefully.

Shaking her head, Audry closed her eyes. Was that what happened?

“The white girl thinks she is superior to us,” Winnie grumbled out.

“Shut up!” Audry snapped at her.

“You think you can tell me what to do!” Winnie shouted back.

Shaking her head, Audry rose from the bed, her body aching.
“You are acting like an ass! Stop jumping to conclusions! I happen to know there are curses. I just never believed it until recently. That’s why Juma got me that charm. I’ve been seeing things this entire trip that—”

“Don’t call me an ass!” Winnie reached out to push her. But Dennis stopped her, seizing Winnie’s arms.

“She is sick, fool!” Dennis wrangled Winnie around so she could not hurt Audry. “And she is right. You keep imagining that she is being racist to you. Stop putting words into her mouth.”

“But she is—!” Winnie shrieked.

“How?” Dennis demanded. “What has she done to you?”

“Not to me!” Winnie shouted. She pointed to Mercy. “She is stealing our men!”

“Oh my gosh!” Audry grabbed her head. But then she felt sick. Quickly she set down the mug and seized the pot, heaving up what little soup she had just drunk.”

“See!” Winnie pointed at her.

Squaring his shoulders, Dennis stood between Audry and Winnie. “What I see is your jealousy. Stop it now, or I will have to fire you.”

“You would fire me over a white woman?” Winnie snapped, hands to hips.

Mercy pulled on her, shaking her head. “No. Don’t do this.”

Winnie shook her off. “Your brother is blind. She has blinded him. She has blinded them all.”

“You have blinded yourself,” Dennis shot back. “Why so much hate? You don’t even know her.”

Sticking out her chest and chin, Winnie said, “I know she is a rich white woman. That is all that matters.”

“And you call me racist?” Audry muttered.

Winnie’s eyes widened in fury at her. “I cannot be racist. Racism is privilege plus power.”

With the driest look, Audry replied, “What power do I possibly have here in Kenya? I’m a foreigner. You’re a local. I am away from my family. You are at home—”

“You are white!” Winnie snapped back.

“Technically,” Audry said, “I’m tan with freckles. And for the record, I’m not rich.”

Winnie tried to shove past Dennis. “You live in a big fancy house back in—”

Audry hopped out of her bed, setting the pot to the side. “I’ve been living a tiny house on wheels for the past two years in freezing Idaho! I’ve worked for every penny I’ve earned! And I am not hear to ‘steal your men’! Fact is, I have the worst luck with men. The last boyfriend I had was a sexual predator, and I was lucky to get away from him! The one before that was a stalker!”

“But you want Juma!” Winnie shouted.

“No! I don’t!” Audry snapped. “I don’t want to be in a relationship right now! I like Juma as a friend, but I’m interested in him like that!”

“You lie!” Winnie snapped.

“You promise?” Mercy stepped up.

Audry nodded to her. “Yes. I know Juma is a great guy, but he’s not my type. I’m sorry he’s been flirting a lot with me, and I can tell you like him. But I have been trying to discourage him all this time. I don’t want to marry him.”

Winnie stared at her in horror. Then at Mercy.

Dennis looked to the ground, keeping his eyes out of the conversation. He realized now he was not exactly supposed to be involved, and he clearly had his own feelings on the subject. However, he did say, “What is your type, can I ask?”

The ladies craned to listen.

Audry shrugged, tossing up her hands. “Knowing my track record? I don’t know. Every man I’ve ever dated was dangerous in one way or another. I don’t think I have good judgement when it comes to men.”

Dennis chuckled. “Which is why you reject Juma. He is a great man.”

She shrugged again, nodding. “Probably. Maybe I just have a death wish.”

He shook his head.

Mercy looked thoughtful. And Winnie was uncommonly silent. It was as if she did not like not having a good reason to hate Audry. After a few minutes of this silence, Winnie stormed out of the room. Audry had a feeling, along with the bang of a door, that she had stormed out of the house also. Audry wondered who among those men she liked that made Winnie despise her so much.

Audry spent most of the day in bed. Mercy kept a cool cloth on her head, which she changed often, and she had fresh broth ready for Audry in case this time she could keep it down. By the evening, Hezzy came back with Joram and Sefu. They brought food and also came in to check in on her.

Audry remained in bed the entire time. Her body entirely ached by this time—but she wondered if it was merely because she was bedsore. She attempted to get up and stretch, but they pushed her back in. They had also tried to call Darth away, but he wouldn’t leave her.

For the next three days, Audry remained sick in bed… drinking and vomiting broth. Juma visited the next day after their trip out. He came looking a degree abashed—even sorry. He explained that Akachi told him about her wolf more—that he wasn’t an amazimu. But he was jealous. He wanted to know who the man ‘Rick’ was.

Audry shook her head. “No. You had asked me to lure him to Africa so you could shoot him. He doesn’t deserve that.”

Juma shrugged again. “What can I say, Ife? It upsets me that you are in love with a demon.”

Her expression went dark. “He’s not a demon. And… I’m not in love.”

He shook his head. “You love the wolf.”

She blushed. “Not the same.”

Juma rose. “For you? I don’t think so. You worry more about my dogs and that lion than me. You love for animals over human beings is imbalanced.”

Blushing more, as that was admittedly true since she asked about the lion and Mixie as soon as he had come into her room. Was the lion healing ok? Was Mixie about to deliver her puppies? But more, she had asked if that Chinese snake man had come back and hurt anyone else? Juma had not answered that one yet. He had gone straight to asking about the wolf.

He finally said, “Ok. Uh, we searched for that demon. But we have not seen that man or the snake at all.” He also handed her the pieces of the broken charm. “I found this. Dennis told me what happened to it.”

She nodded.

“I do not know about Chinese demons, but if your wolf upset him this much, he must have done something terrible to incur his wrath to attack you.” Juma shook his head. “Ife, can you give me any hint?”

She thought on it, then shook her head. “I have no clue about any connection he has to China except for his friend Chen.”

“And the Monkey King,” Juma muttered. Apparently he had been talking to Luis.

“I know nothing about a monkey king,” Audry said. “Just the gist of the story.”

“But you know witches,” Juma replied accusingly.

She folded her arms, huffing. “I didn’t believe in any of it then.”

“But you believe him,” Juma retorted, his envy resurfacing.

Exhaling, she shook her head. “I believed my eyes. I