Her happiness grew even greater when after only one moon she’d found herself to be with child. This was made even better when the child was born – a strong, healthy son.

As she sat rocking her son, she once more wondered why the gods had chosen her for these blessings. She had never been a particularly religious person, and had often been reprimanded for her irreverence. She soon understood that the gods were only playing with her; they had to give her so much in order to take it all away.

Chapter One
In the five years since the birth of their son, Lone Wolf had changed. He’d grown demanding and was often violent. If things weren’t just as he wanted, Shining Star was verbally reprimanded and often beaten for her lack of respect.

She thought about leaving, but realized that in so doing she would leave her son to be the object of Lone Wolf’s rage. As long as she was there, she could keep him safe. Besides, if she hadn’t resisted the first time Lone Wolf tried to bed her after the birth of their son, he would never have realized how much dominating her aroused him. If he’d never learned this, she never would have had to hurt him in such a way that caused him to be unable to father any more children. While this had saved her the indignity of having him force himself on her, it had also caused the beatings to become more frequent and more vicious.

Shining Star turned her attention back to the task at hand. She sighed as she realized that this was the life the gods and always meant for her to have. They had always planned to punish her for her lack of proper respect.

Soon Lone Wolf and Red Bear were heard entering the village. Others gathered around as the two of them continued past their home to the council house. Shining Star looked up from where she was finishing their evening meal. She relaxed when she saw the look of pride on Lone Wolf’s face. He was pleased with how things had gone on today’s outing, and the meal would be ready when he arrived; she was safe – at least until the morning.

The commotion slowly died down and Red Bear came to his mother’s side. “I have brought you a gift,” he said. “At least, I meant it to be for you when I helped Father capture it.”

Shining Star stopped her preparations and looked at her son. “Where is your father?” she asked.

“He has called the council together. He needs their permission for us to keep him,” Red Bear replied with a smile lighting up his face.

“Him?” Shining Star inquired, putting aside her spoon.

Red Bear nodded. “The white man we brought to help you,” he said.

“Oh,” Shining Star replied. She moved the cooking pot to the side of the fire so the meal wouldn’t burn, and then took Red Bear’s hand. Soon they were standing just outside the council chamber, listening as Lone Wolf explained with pride how his small son had tricked the young man in front of them so Lone Wolf could capture him. It was true that the man was injured, but still he'd been tricked by a boy of only five summers into giving himself up.

“I would like to give him to my wife,” Lone Wolf said. “She does her best, and I am pleased with my choice, but at times she could use assistance. Since we have no daughters, I thought perhaps, after she nurses him back to health, she could train him.”

The elders discussed it for a few minutes and decided to grant Lone Wolf’s request. Perhaps if Shining Star had help, she could do a better job of keeping Lone Wolf satisfied; he wasn’t pleasant to be around when she upset him.

Shining Star took the gift and thanked her husband and son for their thoughtfulness. She headed back to their home with her new possession. As she began to tend his many wounds, she realized many of the other women were jealous of her good fortune, but she knew the truth – this was just one more thing the gods had placed in her life to torment her.