Wolf’s Princess

by Maddy Barone

  Cousin, your mate is not willing to wait for you anymore. I have given my permission for her to see other men so she can find a husband to give her children. If you want to keep your mate, come at once. Taye.

  Damn it! He crumpled the note in his fist and hurled it at the wall. The limp, lifeless thud of the paper didn’t satisfy him so he did it again with his coffee cup.

  “Sky?” Ms. Mary, his business partner, hesitantly poked her head around the door. “What on earth is going on? Katelyn nearly ran me over in the hall. She looked like she was being chased by all the devils of hell.”

  “No,” he muttered, glaring at the spray of coffee over the pale wallpaper and the shattered bits of his cup littering the rug by the wall. “Just me. I’ve had bad news.”

  “Oh, no.” She came into the room, wrapped in a frilly pink robe better suited to a woman a third her age. “What is it?”

  He let her put a motherly arm around him. She had acted like a mother ever since that day nearly eight years ago, when he and Quill had rescued her from a gang of men intent on doing her harm. Neither he nor Quill had understood exactly what was going on. They’d only seen a lady alone on a city street being pushed around by a bunch of men, and had acted according to the standards they’d been raised with. When a man of the Lakota Wolf Clan saw a woman in trouble, they stepped in to keep her safe. She had thanked them by bringing them home with her and giving them jobs. It had been the beginning of a new life for him.

  “Do you remember that first day, when you brought me and Quill here?” he asked.

  If she thought the topic was odd, she didn’t say so. “Oh, sure. You boys did me a big favor that day. You didn’t know what you put yourselves in the middle of.”

  “We didn’t then,” he agreed, moving over to seat her in the mistress of the house’s place at the foot of the table. She sat and let him pour her a cup of coffee. Instead of moving to his usual spot at the head of the table, he sat close to her and sighed. “We were such hicks.”

  The woman he and Quill saved that day wasn’t just anyone. She was Ms. Mary, owner of one of Omaha’s whorehouses, and she’d been set on by hirelings of other whorehouse owners to teach her a lesson.

  “You hired us to be security when no one else would hire us for anything at all,” he said softly. “We might have starved if you hadn’t been so generous.”

  “Generous! I couldn’t even afford to pay you wages, and you refused to allow me to pay you in services. Any of the girls would have been happy to give the two of you as many freebies as you liked, but you never accepted their offers.” She looked at him with shrewd, brown eyes. Someone who didn’t know her well would be misled by her innocent face and silly clothes. With her thin silver hair rising like dandelion fluff around her plump face, she looked like a perpetually surprised and confused elderly angel. Sky knew better.

  Ms. Mary took a sip of coffee. “You said you had a girl waiting for you at home. Is this about her?”

  Somehow, she always knew what was wrong with him. Townspeople discounted the possibility of magic, but he was Lakota, and his people knew the world was full of more than what could only be seen or touched. “Yes.” He clenched a hand on the arm of his chair. “I have to leave.”

  “Now?” Dismay rang in her voice. “But the meeting with the City Council is this afternoon.”

  “I know.” He dragged a hand over his jaw. “Joe will have to represent us.”

  “Joseph Sullivan is a good man, and a fine lawyer, but he doesn’t command the respect you do in the City. They won’t listen to him.”

  “I know,” he said again. “But the train leaves this morning. There isn’t another one to Kearney for a week. I can’t wait that long.”

  She leaned over the table to lay a hand spotted with age on his shoulder. “Sky, we’ve worked to change this law for years. Without your voice during the hearings, it very well might go against us. Can’t you put this other thing off for just a week?”

  How long would it take Rose to find another husband? When had Taye written his letter? The wolf inside him, who was hardly more than a stranger to him these days, howled. Sky tried to cover it with a cough, but by the startled look on Ms. Mary’s face he hadn’t succeeded.

  “No, I can’t put this off. I must go or I might find my wife married to another man.” He pushed his chair back and went to the crumpled letter on the floor and picked it up. “Have someone find Joe and send him up to my room.”

  “All right,” she called after him and then muttered in a low tone that only his wolf-born hearing allowed him to catch, “I told you she wouldn’t wait forever.”

  *

  One week after her talk with Taye, Rose walked up the wooden steps to Martin’s Trading Store, followed by her escort. Today was her first trip into Kearney since Taye’s agreement that she could talk with men. Not that she never spoke with men, of course, but those conversations revolved around the weather, their wives and children, or other safe topics that wouldn’t rile an over-protective wolf. This would be her first chance to really talk with a guy. And her private inner radar told her Jasper was near. From the time she was in seventh grade she just sometimes knew where things or people were. No one at home ever believed her, but the Pack accepted her weird ability without question.

  She paused on the top step so White Horse could enter the store first. She waited for him to come back and nod that it was safe for her to enter. Three of the wolves in man form scattered inside the store to take up watch posts, and White Horse stationed himself near the door. With Stone flanking her on her right and Paint on her left, she walked into the store.

  She loved coming to this store. She couldn’t catch scents the way the wolves could, but she could tell someone had made up a new batch of potpourri and the wood floor had recently been polished with lemon. Eight years ago she might have thought a general store quaint. Well, no, she wouldn’t have used a word like quaint. She probably would have said it was boring. But now, with no mall to hang out at and no mega discount stores, the Martins’ place was her favorite place to shop. They had a little bit of everything, and Hannah Martin was half of Lisa & Hannah, the duo who created designer clothes that were in high demand from Denver to Omaha.

  Hannah smiled at her from the counter. “Good morning, Rose. Be with you in a minute.”

  “No rush. We have a shopping list from the den for you to fill, but I’ll just pick out some yarn for my winter knitting until you’re free.”

  A six year old boy barreled out from behind the counter. “Rose,” he shrieked, and flung himself on her. “Guess what? I start school tomorrow! My first time! Jack gets to go too, but he’s already gone for four years, so he doesn’t care. But I do! It’ll be fun, won’t it?”

  “I bet it will, Petey,” she agreed, smiling down into his excited face. What would it be like to have a little boy of her own? Her smile grew when she remembered she would soon have a chance to find out. “I’ll be back in town next week. You can tell me all about it then. I can’t wait to hear how you like school.”

  His small white teeth showed in a big grin. “I heard there’s gonna be two girls in my class.”

  Rose made her expression appropriately impressed. “Two? Imagine that.”

  Petey agreed with vigorous nods. “Dad says I have to be especially nice to them or the wolves will eat me up.” He sent a nervous sidelong glance at Paint, who was rather fierce looking with his scarred face and eye patch. She saw Paint’s mouth twitch with a suppressed smile. “Will they really eat me?” the boy whispered.

  She leaned down to whisper back. “No. Just be nice and they won’t hurt you.”

  He thought it over for a moment. “Okay. Come on. I’ll show you where the yarn is!”

  She knew perfectly well where the yarn could be found. The store was one big room crowded with everything from nails to toiletries to bolts of fabric. She stroked a hand through Petey’s hair. “Okay, you show me.”

  She followed him past the aromatic sacks of
coffee beans, around a display of cups and plates, and past a few other customers. She knew most of them, but one, standing beside Paul Cruz from Odessa, was a stranger. She gave Paul a polite nod but didn’t pause to speak to him because she saw the very man she’d hoped to find in town a little ways past him. Jasper Packard, tall and lean in a work shirt and jeans, with his sandy hair long enough to brush his shirt collar, stood at a barrel, counting out nails.

  Rose zeroed in on him with a flutter in her stomach. She walked up to him with a smile she couldn’t control. She hoped she didn’t look like a clown as she struggled to make her smile small and friendly. “Good morning, Jasper.”

  He smiled back and his hand lifted as if to touch her, but a glance at Stone made him drop his hand. Too bad. Stone’s face wore its usual cold expression, but he wasn’t growling or showing his teeth, which would have been his reaction a week ago. “Good morning, Miss Rose,” Jasper said, his tone cautiously friendly.

  Rose had to use a little force to get past Stone, but she managed it. She didn’t quite have the nerve to lay a hand on Jasper’s arm, but she kept her gaze and her smile fixed on his face. He wasn’t the most handsome man in Kearney, or the richest, but she liked him a lot. He had passed Taye’s exacting standards for what sort of man was allowed to court her. Jasper would make a great husband and father.

  “So, any new foals?” she asked, at the exact moment he said, “Nice to have cooler weather.”

  They both blushed and stammered for a minute. Jasper mimicked drawing a zipper closed over his mouth and gestured for her to speak.

  “Yes,” she agreed. “I love summer, but by September I’m always glad for the cool nights and less heat. Too bad it’s followed by winter, though.”

  His smile was sympathetic. “My brother feels exactly like you do. He likes the warmth of June, July and August, but after that he’s done with summer and ready for fall. Um, how is Flora working out for you?”

  They were almost flirting! At least, she thought this was flirting. Maybe? Well, perhaps talking about her horse wasn’t quite flirting. “Wonderful. I rode her to town today.” Duh. Rose almost slapped herself. He knew she always rode Flora to town while her guards walked. “She’s in the stable behind the Plane Women’s House. I know your dad bred her, but you trained her, didn’t you?” She fixed what she hoped was an admiring expression on her face. “Taye says you are one of the best horse trainers in the region.”

  His lean suntanned cheeks darkened a little. “That means something, coming from him.”

  She moved a step closer, closer than she had ever been to a man outside the Clan or Pack, and shot a warning glare at Stone before smiling again at Jasper. “I wonder if you’d like to join m—us for lunch at the Plane Women’s Eatery today around one o’clock?”

  His flush darkened, then drained away as he sent an alarmed glance at Stone and Paint. “I-I—Are you sure?” he blurted.

  Paint grunted. Stone folded his arms and glowered, but neither said anything. “Yes,” she said firmly. “I’d really like that.”

  His grin emerged triumphant. “I would like that, too. One o’clock.”

  Relief eased her shoulders. “Yes, one o’clock. We can eat, and then maybe watch the train come in?”

  He nodded enthusiastically. “That sounds good.” He scooped up the nails he’d been counting. “I’ll see you then.”

  Rose watched him walk to the counter with a jaunty step and hardly suppressed a skip herself. She had a date! For the second time in her life, she had a date. Her first date had been when she was in tenth grade, with Greg…Gary? She wasn’t sure about the name. Her life in the Times Before was distant from the here and now. They went to see a movie, but she couldn’t remember which one, and in the car when they were idling at a stop light he stuck his tongue down her throat. Rose shuddered at that memory. Even Sky’s attack had been less gross than that kiss.

  This date would be different. For one thing, she and Jasper would be chaperoned by her escort, and by Des and his Plane Women’s House Pack. In the unlikely event of Jasper trying to stick his tongue down her throat, blood would be shed, and he would probably be short a tongue. As for entertainment, watching the weekly train arrive at the station was the height of excitement around here. Half the town would show up to watch the few passengers disembark and the freight be unloaded. They wouldn’t be alone, so Taye couldn’t complain.

  Petey broke into her thoughts by poking her in the side. “Look!” he said, pointing to a rainbow of yarn hanging on hooks on the far wall. “We gots lots of yarn. Whatcha gonna make?”

  As Rose moved toward the yarn she heard an unfamiliar voice murmur, “That’s her, isn’t it? The one they call the Princess of the Wolves? Nice ass.”

  A low growl seeped from Stone’s throat. Eight years with a pack of wolves gave her the training needed to prevent bloodshed. She wheeled and grabbed his arm just as he lunged at the stranger. Her weight was negligible compared to a wolf’s strength, but it stopped Stone dead. The fingers that were mere inches from the stranger’s throat curled into fists. The stranger stood frozen, eyes horrified circles in his suddenly white face.

  “Just ignore it,” she hissed. “Help me pick out yarn for new socks.”

  Two years ago, Stone would have joined in yarn shopping with boyish enthusiasm. Now he cast one last icy glare at the stranger before folding his arms and standing like a guard dog at her side while she surveyed the wall of yarn. She tried to distract him by asking his opinion of the red compared to the blue yarn. He grunted at her choices, continuing to keep most of his attention on the stranger. From the peek Rose snuck at Paul and his companion, she could see the stranger’s face hadn’t regained its color. Moron. What kind of idiot whispered things about her when she was surrounded by her Pack escort? Did he not know they could hear a pin drop in the next room? And did he not realize that his comment on her anatomy bothered her less than his comment about her being the Princess of the Pack?

  “I love how they wet themselves whenever we scare them,” Stone said with a sneer.

  Irritation made her toss a skein of vivid blue yarn away.

  “That one would match Sky’s eyes,” Paint remarked. “Are you going to make him a pair of socks for Christmas again?”

  “No.” She had knit her supposed mate socks for Christmas for the past several years, but no more. She had waited for him for eight years, but she wasn’t waiting any longer. Jasper’s eyes were mossy green. She scanned the wall of yarn for something in that color.

  Nathan Martin, Hannah’s husband and the owner of the store, approached with a respectful smile. “Good morning, Miss Turner. Do you have the shopping list for the den?”

  She nodded at Paint, who handed it over. It took Nathan and his elder son Jack about twenty minutes to collect the items on the list, and she spent the time planning a sweater and a pair of socks to knit for the man she was sure she would marry. She made her yarn selections and brought them to the front counter, still smiling.

  The men of her escort had the extra strength that the wolves within gave them. Standing Bear hefted two one hundred pound sacks of sugar to his shoulders with no sign of stress and three of the other men were similarly loaded. Only Stone and Paint were unburdened, alert for any trouble. Rose occupied the safe place in the middle of the group as they walked to the Plane Women’s House. Rose smirked to herself. Jasper didn’t know it yet, but he was about to become prey for a woman who learned to hunt from wolves.

  Chapter 2

  Des Wolfe, the alpha of the small Plane Women’s House Pack, met Rose and her escort at the door of the Eatery, his face even more grim than usual. His dark eyes fixed on Paint. “That Packard boy is here. He says he’s eating lunch with Rose.”

  His tone indicated his willingness to pitch Jasper out a window. When Rose first saw the Plane Women’s House eight years ago, it was a rundown apartment building with very few windows intact. Now, eight years later, it was restored to something close to its former Art Deco
glory, with windows gleaming in the red brick. Rose doubted Connie, Des’ mate, would appreciate a broken window.

  Paint adjusted his eye patch and shrugged. “Taye says it’s okay.”

  Des made a noise common to the wolves when communicating wordless disgust, and stepped aside for them to enter.

  “Yeah,” Paint grumbled in agreement. “It okay if we keep these supplies here until we head back to the Den later this afternoon?”

  When Des nodded and said the stall next to Rose’s horse was open, Paint sent a couple of the men around to the back to put the things they’d bought in storage until they left for the den. Then he and the rest of the escort walked Rose into the foyer. Jasminka Keric O’Connor, acting today as hostess for the Eatery, stepped forward to welcome them, but Des waved her back.

  Even though this was a safe place guarded by two dozen men of Des’ Pack, her escort clustered around Rose as she entered the lobby. There were two men sitting in the seats Connie had arranged for those who were waiting for a table to open. She didn’t recognize them, so they must be travelers passing through the area. They stared at her as she and her personal army moved past them into the dining room. She heard one of them say something about a princess. She refrained from snarling at them.

  Jasper saw her—with six scowling men around her she was hard to miss—and rose from the small table beside one of the side windows. A sunbeam fell on his hair, turning the tips from sand to gold. Seeing him waiting for her gave Rose a thrill. She’d gone only a few steps toward him when she was cut off by a wide bony chest in a crisp white shirt. Raven. Sky’s sixteen-year-old brother. Dang it. She tilted her head to look up at him.

  “Hello, Raven.”

  She kept moving forward, and he allowed it, but walked backward in front of her, frowning. His eyes were nearly the same blue as Sky’s under the dark, gracefully curving brows that were a family trait. The adorable fugitive dimple beside his mouth wasn’t in evidence right now, but with his full, soft mouth and high cheekbones, he looked almost exactly as Sky had the last time she saw him. “You’re going to sit and eat with a man? Do you think Sky would like that, sister?”