He continued to fight her control of him. She released her hold on his words before he really did choke. He spluttered for a few minutes before coming out with something coherent.

“Your problem is that you’ve forgotten that you’re Indian—”

She choked him down again, reined in her temper to a walk, and gave him a Mooncrow Look from half-lidded eyes. “Oh, no. I haven’t forgotten. But your problem, David Spotted Horse, is that you have forgotten the words of the greatest spiritual leaders of all our nations. You have forgotten that we are all human. You are Cherokee first, then Indian, then human.” She finally let her temper show, just a little. It was enough to make him back up an involuntary step. “When you get your goddamn priorities straight, and figure out that it should be the other way around, you can talk to me. Until then”—she gathered her power, and sensed Mooncrow following her lead—“get out of my house.”

She pointed, and Grandfather mirrored her, both of them using their power to send David away. David tried to fight them; his muscles tensed, and his face writhed as he tried to stand where he was and continue the argument. But it was no use, not against the combined force of Jennifer’s anger and Mooncrow’s sheer ability. He found himself walking out of the door, down the steps, and to his car at the edge of their property.

As a final touch, Grandfather made the door slam shut behind him.

She stayed where she was, listening for the sounds of his car starting up and pulling away. When they finally came, she let her temper and her power go, taking deep breaths to help her release her anger, letting it all run away into the ground.

Then she yelped in outrage, as Mooncrow pinched her rear. She pivoted, to see him several steps away, too far away to have touched her—

—physically, the old goat—

—with his arms folded, grinning like a coyote. “About that Blanket Ritual,” he prompted, puckishly.

“When I can take you on a genuine Osage Snipe Hunt,” she snorted; then he laughed, and she headed back to her room to finish cooling off.

For the next hour or so she sat quietly in the middle of her room, relaxing every muscle and nerve, trying to get rid of that incredible buildup of tension. There was more there than she had guessed. Was David making her that angry? Or was it something deeper than that?

And along with the anger, she was having to deal with a very sexual electricity, a force that had sprung up between them even while she was facing him down as if he were an enemy. Which might just be the reason why Grandfather had made that jab.