Sawyer blinked a few times.   "You're here too?  Well, isn't this something?  All my friends are showing up.  How did you hear about my wife and my precious sweethearts?  About the murdering sons of bitches who killed them and nearly killed me.  I'm going to get them.  You watch."
   Nate darted between his friend and the animals.  "Hold on, Jeremiah," he said kindly, putting a hand on the man's chest.  "You're not going anywhere right this minute.  You need food; you need some sleep.  And we have to talk."
   Sawyer's features clouded and his spine went rigid.  "Get out of my way, Nate.  I can't afford any more delays.  Those butchers have a lot to answer for."
   "You're not leaving."  Nate said.
   It was plain as the nose on his face that his friend was extremely upset, so Nate expected to get an argument.  What he didn't expect was for Sawyer to haul off and take a swing at him.
   "No!"  Jeremiah wailed.  "You have to let me go!  Those bastards have to pay!"

Locked together, Nate and three half-breed exerted their sinews to the utmost.  Nate blocked a knee to the groin and countered with a head butt to the jaw, which rocked Santiago backward.  But instead of weakening, Santiago roared like a berserk grizzly, opened his mouth wide, and swooped his gleaming teeth at Nate's throat.
   In the nick of time Nate jerked his head to one side.  The breed's short teeth sheared into the fleshy part of his shoulder instead of the soft tissue of his neck.  Excruciating anguish rippled down his body.  Blood splattered his skin.  Nate threw himself backward to break Santiago's grip and nearly cried out when his shoulder was torn open.
   Santiago reared up, a patch of buckskin and a flap of skin hanging from his bloody lips.  He spat them out, bent back his head, and howled like a demented coyote.
   Nate drove his forehead into the breed's gut.  It was like slamming into a wall.  His blow had no effect on Santiago, but it did make Nate's senses spin.
   Venting a howl of savage glee, Santiago stabbed downward....