The Wolf

The Devil Wears a Suit and Tie

It had been at least a week since Elizabeth had been in Valentine. She lost track of the days pretty easily, seeing as she essentially lived in the forests, always roaming. She had used what money she had collected to make a supply run to Blackwater. She had almost long since forgotten about the men she'd stolen from, but there was one she'd never forget about.

Dutch van der Linde.

Each thought of his name sent a shiver down her spine, even now. She had expected him to send someone to hunt her down and steal back what was stolen... or just kill her and rob her afterwards. But that never happened. A few days after she had hightailed it to Emerald Ranch, she quit looking over her shoulder.

And maybe letting her guard down was what hurt her the most.

"Well, well, well. Would you look at this pretty little thing?"

Elizabeth scurried away from her campfire and onto her feet, dragoon revolver already at the ready, aimed at the head of the man that had somehow managed to creep up on her. She cursed herself for daydreaming.

"What do you want?" Her teeth were bared in a snarl, words spit out maliciously.

"Why, we want whatever you have, little lady."

We...?

Sure enough, three more horses were directed into the clearing, three more men sitting atop their saddles, guns out and grins on their faces. Elizabeth had gotten herself into plenty of trouble before, but this wasn't a situation she felt confident in being able to handle. There were four of them and one of her.

Maybe if she were able to bluff and scare them enough that she could at least get on her horse and run fast and far, she would have a chance to live another day.

So she did her best... and her worst.

"I promise you don't want to mess with me," she growled out, cocking her gun, nothing but fire in her green eyes. "I don't think Dutch will appreciate it all that much."

There was a beat of silence, and the man that had first spoken squinted his eyes. "You're part of that gang? Well, that just makes this more fun, darlin'"

That response wasn't what Elizabeth had been hoping for, especially not when one of the other riders took out a rope and clicked his tongue to bring his horse closer. The redhead took a step back, fully prepared to just make a mad dash for it. She could fight, and she could take a man down if she had to, but there wasn't a reasonable way for her to do that without being killed in the end.

One of them would put a final bullet through her.

So she ground her teeth together and with a growl, flung herself at the man with the rope. She heard the gun fire first, then felt the wind from the bullet barely graze past her head. She fought him down to the ground, stomping his head in with all the strength she could muster in her state of fear.

"Goddamn it! Shoot her!"

She acted as fast as she physically could. She shot at the next nearest assailant, proud when his horse reared and bucked him off. He'd be down for a few moments after that. She let out a grunt when she felt arms wrap around her, pinning her gun to her side. She twisted her head around, most definitely tearing some muscle, and sank her teeth into his arm.

She was released roughly, and she huffed, struggling to keep her balance. But she wasn't about to go down now, not when she was already feeling more hate and adrenaline rather than fear. She rolled her neck, hearing a soft crack, and blew her hair from her face.

"Alright, gentleman. Let's get this over with."

The words had barely left her mouth when several shots rang through the surrounding forest, and the four men dropped dead without much time to protest.

Elizabeth crouched down where she was, eyes scanning through the leaves before she caught the glimmer of sun on metal. She aimed one last time and almost fired, but then she saw it - the hide of a snow white horse grazing peacefully only a few yards away.

She hadn't given it much thought since she had been on the run from Valentine, but she definitely remembered that that horse had been hitched beside hers when she fled the saloon. So that meant it had to belong to the only person she had spoken with there.

There were two more horses - she could see them now too - but that didn't make her feel much better. In fact, it made her feel much worse.

He was here. And he'd brought friends.

Elizabeth practically pounced into her saddle, digging her spurs into her mare and forcing her into an instant gallop. She wasn't about to stick around after that, especially not after that meet and greet with the other men. She would have to go further this time - possibly even up north. She was never fond of the cold, but she was fond of living.

She wasn't paying attention, and nearly sent her horse crashing into the rider blocking her path. Alois let out a shrill neigh and reared back, but desperation allowed Elizabeth to keep ahold of the reins.

Except she had nowhere to go.

Below was a cliff that dropped into a river. Above was a massive stone wall that neither she nor her horse could climb. She directed Alois around, only to find that she was indeed stuck right where she was.

The blue eyed man from that night at the saloon was the one in front of her, pitch black horse excitedly hopping from one front hoof to the other. The rider behind her had a dark grey horse, which honestly complimented his smoky black hair. But she didn't have time to observe every little thing about the two before her eyes once more caught sight of that beautiful all white stallion.

She couldn't run, but she could fight. She aimed her revolver at Dutch's head, not surprised when the other two men aimed their own guns at her. But she didn't back down before, and she wouldn't do so now. She wouldn't die a coward.

"Miss, you seem to be followed by quite a bit of trouble." Dutch chuckled slightly, resting his hands on the back of the stallion's neck.

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?" As far as she knew, she hadn't caused any trouble since Valentine. "If you mean those men.. I've never seen them before."

Dutch nodded, rubbing his hand over his mustache.

"That much I could see. But they had been tracking you for a few days. I was inclined to think that you had known, but I suppose I was wrong."

The red head felt embarrassment prickle at her skin. Days? She hadn't even so much as thought about the fact she may have been followed. She knew she must have had enemies - what she did for a living was definitely cause enough for people to hate her.

But to be followed for days and not notice - she was getting rusty.

"So you must have been following me too... if you knew that." It was a bold statement, one that made Dutch laugh. "Well, no. I'm afraid not. But Mr. Morgan was inclined to keep an eye on you after you robbed me."

Now Elizabeth couldn't keep the anger out of her face. "So you have one of your dogs track me for days and almost let me die rather than just finding me yourself? If you want your damn money back, then take it."

She dug into her satchel, throwing the bills onto the ground. It wasn't all there - she had spent some of it on food - but it was enough to hopefully distract Dutch and his men long enough for her to run.

Except, he didn't take the bait.

"I'm not here for the money, Miss Wolf. I'm here for you."