Indigo Blue by Catherine Anderson

each bite. The juice, he discovered, was blackberry and tasted finer than any expensive wine.
    He was beginning to realize that the Wolfs’ lifestyle, simple though it seemed, was, in its way, far more pleasurable than his own. Jake figured he probably could buy a thousand mountain clearings but would never have time to enjoy them. Even if he made time, he doubted he’d find a picnic companion among Portland’s elite. Emily wouldn’t dream of sitting on damp ground to eat a sandwich. Emily . He couldn’t envision her face.
    The realization made him feel a twinge of melancholy. Until coming here, he thought he had everything. Now he felt a vague dissatisfaction. There was more to life than paperwork. The years had cheated him, and the realization made him feel frustrated. How could a man with his wealth be made to feel poor by a girl who drank blackberry juice from a chipped vinegar jug?
    When Lobo joined them, Indigo peeled the newspaper wrapping from his lunch, a generous portion of raw meat, which Jake assumed was venison. The wolf devoured it.
    “With your father bedridden, shouldn’t you take care with the meat stores?” Jake asked. “How can you feed Lobo and a toothless cougar without running short?”
    “There’s always more where this came from.” She wiped her fingertips on the towel and picked up her sandwich again. “I bring home most of the meat, so my folks don’t mind my being generous with Lobo and the cougar.”
    His gaze dropped to her slender shoulders. “You shoot a rifle? I’d think the kick would set you on—” He broke off.
    “Sometimes a rifle. I prefer to use a bow.”
    Jake considered that. She killed animals, which meant she probably gutted and skinned them as well. How in hell did she tote a deer? Because she no longer seemed as tense as she had earlier and because he wanted to keep her talking, he asked.
    “I quarter it, carry a section home and go back for the rest on Molly. I don’t go far. These hills are filled with game.”
    What a puzzle she was, a girl who befriended a wolf, who fed the wild creatures, and then had the heart to slay them. Jake studied her small face, trying to understand her and failing. What bewildered him most of all was that she seemed so nervous around him. Maybe Jeremy was right and he glowered too much. Or maybe she sensed how she affected him.
    “Does it bother you? Killing animals, I mean.”
    Her mouth firmed and drew down at the corners. “My family must eat. The animals, they are tao-yo-cha , children, of Mother Earth. Sometimes, they must die so we may live.”
    She truly did love the animals; he could see that in her expression. “It hurts you to kill them, doesn’t it?”
    “It makes me feel sad, but only for a while. As my father says, ‘That’s the way of it.’ We can’t question nature’s ladder. If I were a deer, I would probably be eaten.” Her gaze dropped to his hand. “Your sandwich is made of venison.”
    Jake chuckled again. “Point taken. It’s just that one doesn’t envision a young lady like yourself going hunting. That’s usually a man’s job.”
    “I’m a little different from most young ladies,” she admitted, “as I’m sure you’ve noticed. I gave up trying to be something I’m not years ago. I walk my own way.”
    Jake thought it would be a shame if she changed. Indigo Wolf was an original. One day soon, a young man would come along, take one look, and snatch her up. The thought made him stop chewing. If only he were ten years younger, he might have been in the running. There was something about her that appealed to him in a way other women didn’t, in a way Emily didn’t.
    But he wasn’t younger. And it was probably a blessing. A girl like her would be an outcast in his world, and the social restrictions would make her miserable. She belonged here beneath a laurel tree, with the breeze playing in her hair.
    He took another bite of his sandwich and relished the taste. “ Tao-yo . . . ?”
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