Saddle Up Read Online Free

for wranglers for some emergency horse gathers. They’re removing seven hundred head from the checkerboard, and then they have another emergency roundup scheduled out in Nevada.”
    He pushed his hat back. “Why you telling me?”
    â€œC’mon, Cuz. Don’t be ridiculous,” she chided. “I can’t believe you’d rather dig holes and pull wire.”
    He jutted his chin. “Someone has to do it.”
    â€œI don’t get it. Why are you wasting yourself like this?”
    Why? He stared down at the hard, unforgiving earth, as hard and unforgiving as his grandfather’s heart. He’d come back seeking peace and anonymity, only to learn he’d lost what had once mattered most. He’d brought shame to his family and to his tribe; now he had to pay the price. His worst penance, however, was self-inflicted—he hadn’t touched either a woman or a horse in almost a year.
    â€œYou know I don’t believe in that program,” he said. “Most of those horses are going to fall into the hands of idiots who don’t know what the hell they’re doing.”
    â€œAt least the animals don’t starve,” Tonya argued.
    â€œMaybe not in body, but what about the spirit, Ton? Captivity is no life for them. It’s no better than prison.”
    â€œLook, Keith, it is what it is. We can’t change the system, but we can try to make the best of it, right? So why don’t you at least help? You know those mustangs better than anyone. This is a chance for you to make some money and also get first pick of the horses.”
    â€œI’m not doing anything with horses anymore. Haven’t you heard?” He gave a bitter laugh. “I’m just a counterfeit, a con artist, the Native American gigolo.”
    â€œDon’t look to me for pity. You brought all that on yourself by playing up to the Twinkies. You exploited our heritage. You know that’s not our way.”
    He dropped down to the ground, resting his elbows on his knees, gazing off into the distance. “Is that what you think too, Ton? That I sold out?”
    â€œDoes it really matter what I think? You’re the one who has to live with your conscience.”
    â€œI asked you, didn’t I?”
    â€œLook, Cuz,” she replied, “I try not to judge because I live in the white world too, but the elders still follow the old ways. Huttsi calls you her apple child, red only on the outside but all white on the inside. You first came out here because you said you wanted to be one of us, but then you left, proving that deep down you aren’t. So why did you come back?”
    Keith dropped back onto his elbows to gaze up at the fast-moving clouds. “Because I had nowhere else to go.” Only a couple of years ago, there were thousands of people who’d treated him like some kind of rock star, but those relationships were as shallow as a creek in drought. Now that he needed a home, some place to lick his wounds, he had no home. Huttsi and Kenu, who had once embraced their half-blood grandchild with open arms, now rejected him. They hadn’t exactly told him to leave, but they hadn’t welcomed him either.
    After a long silence, he murmured half to himself, “They won’t take me back, because I fed the wrong wolf.”
    Tonya’s forehead wrinkled. “What? I don’t understand you.”
    â€œDidn’t I ever tell you how I got my Shoshone name?”
    â€œNo. You didn’t.” Tonya dropped down beside him, offering a beer that he waved away.
    â€œWhen I first came to the rez, Kenu said he’d had a vision the night before I arrived of a black wolf and a white wolf fighting.”
    â€œSo that’s why he called you Two Wolves?”
    â€œYes, but there’s more. He said the white wolf represented all of the good things I desired, and the black wolf represented all of the bad. When I asked him which of the wolves