Wolver's Gold (The Wolvers)

by Rhoades, Jacqueline

  “In a pit, a mineshaft, I suppose...”

  “Parson’s claim,” Rachel added. Anyone who’d lived here long enough would know which mine was which.

  “Their bones are still there,” Washington said gently, “along with whoever owned this watch. You were right, Mrs. Mullins. They never left Gold Gulch.”

  Bertie sat down heavily. She looked as if she might cry and Bertie never cried. Her eyes misted and she blinked back the tears.

  “Ora never liked Gold Gulch. She didn’t like the clothes or the way things were done, but she loved Harold and she made the best of it, with him always promising to take her away. When he finally got around to it after all those years, she was happy as a lark. Said she’d miss us, but not this town and the first things she was going to buy were a pair of sunglasses and flip-flop sandals like the tourists wear, and a big flouncy dress that would cover up whatever her corset let loose. She deserved that. She and Harold, both. Somebody took that away and somebody needs to pay.”

  Bertie’s eyes had changed and even though it was the Hunter’s Moon when the shift was easier for a woman, Rachel couldn’t imagine the kind of anger it would take to bring Bertie’s wolf so close to the surface.

  “Someone will, Mrs. Mullins, I promise,” John said. He took her hand and when the older woman looked up into his eyes, she visibly calmed. “But I need help. I need a list of everyone you can think of who has left Gold Gulch in the last fifteen to twenty years. Not the young cubs who go off to mate or to school. We’re looking for the ones like the Rutherfords or like Lucius Hornmeyer, who died while in good health.”

  “People who had money saved, unmortgaged businesses, businesses that could be sold again if there was no one to inherit...” Rachel started putting it together.

  “Should I be feeling lucky?” Eustace asked.

  “I think you should,” John Washington answered seriously. “Being left with nothing but your life is a lot more than the Rutherfords got.”

  “What about Liddy?” Rachel asked.

  “No!” Bertie answered sharply before Washington had a chance. “She’ll be upset and likely go to her son and I’m not sure on which side of the line he stands, or if he stands at all, the selfish little bas...”

  “Bertie!”

  “Well, he is,” Bertie insisted, “And that mate of his is a greedy little bitch if there ever was one. They’re back to speaking because Mr. Washington here left them no choice, but they haven’t taken her in, have they? And they still wouldn’t offer her a dollar if they found it in the gutter. Whatever Lucius Hornmeyer did or didn’t do, Liddy had no say in it.”

  As if on cue, Liddy Hornmeyer called hello from the dining room.

  “I thought you might need some help setting out Tea,” she said cheerfully as she entered the kitchen. She immediately took in Bertie’s livid face and the other’s silence. “Is something wrong?”

  “You bet there is,” Bertie said angrily and she flung the soggy dishcloth at Eustace. “Tell this layabout he needs to quit beatin' the devil around the stump and ask the Widow Cove to mate him.”

  “Aw, keep it to yourself, you old bat,” Eustace snarled as he peeled the rag from his head. “I don't care a continental what you say, anyway. Me and Maudie’ll decide what’s best.”

  They continued to argue as Liddy looked over at Rachel and made a sympathetic face. “They’ve been going at it all day?”

  “All day.” Rachel nodded and closed her eyes, hoping Liddy wouldn’t see the tears forming there or would mistake the cause if she did.

  This was her family, socially inferior and yet superior in every way, and they had taken Liddy Hornmeyer into the fold. Rachel was going to miss them terribly when it was time for her to go. She slapped the table with the palms of her hands, mostly as a warning to herself to keep her feelings to herself, but the others thought it was for them.

  “Enough! Argue about it tomorrow. We have Tea to get ready and I won’t have the customers listening to your bickering instead of enjoying our food. Liddy, would you mind checking the tables and then see if my father is ready? Bertie, get the water on for tea and then slice the aspic. Eustace, we need sweet pickles from the pantry and has anyone seen the olive fork?” She turned to John. “I’m sorry, Mr. Washington, but we have a business to run. Let me see you out.”

  “I can help if you need it.”

  “Thank you,” she said, shifting her eyes to his injured leg, “But not today. Will I see you at supper?”

  “You will indeed, Miss Kincaid, and I insist on helping you clear.”

  “That, Mr. Washington, will be most appreciated.”

  Chapter 28

  As good as his word, John helped her clear the supper dishes with the aid, she was stunned to see, of the Misters McKinley and Doughman.

  “It’s quite all right, my dear, quite all right,” Mr. McKinley told her when she offered her thanks, “Quite ungentlemanly for us to sit and let a lady like yourself do all the heavy lifting.”

  What had been perfectly acceptable for six months was now, under the tutelage of John Washington, simply not done.

  “We shouldn’t let you shoulder the whole burden of our care,” Mr. Doughman added. “Your rates are reasonable and where could we find a more amenable atmosphere with such distinguished company? We thought we might ask a few friends in for cards some evening. No gambling, mind you. Not those kinds of cards.”

  “The Gentleman’s Parlor is always open for your use, Mr. Doughman, though should your party be mixed, the Ladies’ Parlor might be better. I’d be more than happy to set a table or two and provide refreshments should you wish it.”

  “And I should expect a bill for the services,” Mr. McKinley offered, not to be outdone.

  “You gentlemen are most kind.”

  “How did you do it, John?” she laughed when the two men were gone. “Poor Mr. Doughman barely says a word and Mr. McKinley is so full of himself, he won’t pass his own coffee cup to be refilled.”

  “They’re lonely. Like you, they no longer feel a part of something. Like you, they only needed a little push in the right direction. They need to be brought back into the pack.”

  “And how did you discover that?” she asked while arranging the dishes to be washed; glassware, silver, and china, saving the pots and pans for last. She pointed her chin at the table “You sit. I know you said you’d help, but you should give that leg a rest. Prop it up on that chair.”

  “It wasn’t my discovery,” he told her as he took his seat. “Lenora put me on to it. I only had to give them a push. She’s been leading me right along toward the ones who might want change. You don’t mind, do you?”

  “Of course not. She’s the Mate. Isn’t that what she supposed to do, find the best means to help the members of her pack?”

  “It is, but it’s something she only recently learned.”

  “Doesn’t the knowledge come with the mating?” Rachel had never really thought about it before.

  “No. The power comes with the mating. The wisdom to use it well is an entirely different thing. Lenora never learned to use it well.” John started to rise. “Look, I can’t sit here and watch you do all those dishes alone. Where do you keep your towels?”

  Rachel started to protest, but he was already rearranging the chairs so he could reach the draining dishes and the table once they were dried. She handed him a dry towel.

  Hands now busy, Washington went on. “She was too young and had no one to guide her but Sterling. He told her it was the Mate’s job to keep the members of the pack content, so she did.”

  “Like a drug.” Rachel turned to him, keeping her soapy hands over the sink. She was surprised by the anger she felt. “That’s not good enough. She was young, but only at first. She had to know what she was doing and she didn’t have to do it. She had a choice and took ours away.”

  “Did she? Was she with you twenty-four hours a day? Yes, she brought you peace and contentment, but Lenora didn’t lock you in this hotel.
She didn’t keep you from seeing the world right outside your door. She didn’t choose to put your wolf to sleep.”

  “I was young,” Rachel protested.

  “But only at first,” he said quietly, using her own words against her. “Complacency is easy. Change isn’t, and most of us don’t embrace it until something slaps us in the face.” He moved his injured leg from the chair and stood, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I’m not saying the Mate has no culpability here. You have every right to your anger. I’m only asking that you temper it with a little understanding. You had your rude awakening. Hers was much more painful.”

  “Edmund,” Rachel whispered and saying his name in light of what John revealed earlier, she was struck by a terrible thought. “Eustace never believed he committed suicide.”

  “Lenora doesn’t think so either, though I don’t think we’ll ever prove it. She encouraged both those boys to question everything and think for themselves.” He smiled. “No drugs, no complacency. She thought one of them might be the Alpha some day and they would need that strength of character. It was that strength of character that made Jeremy leave what he couldn’t change and made Edmund want to stay because he believed he could.”

  Both cubs were liked and as young men, admired. Not so, the youngest, Randall.

  As if he knew what she was thinking, John continued. “She began the same way with Randall, but after losing Edmund, she thought it safer to leave his care to his father.”

  “Does the Mate know what you and McCall are planning?”

  “She set the ball rolling, though I don’t think she’s ever said outright that she wants him overthrown and she’s never participated in any way except to continue to refuse to be the pack’s drug. I don’t think she can go any further than that. The bond between the Alpha and Mate is too strong.”

  Outraged, Rachel slammed the last pot into the sink. Water cascaded over the side and onto the floor, leaving a puddle at her feet.

  “Damn it,” she muttered and bent to mop it up.

  Washington chuckled. “McCall’s teaching you bad habits.”

  “Yes, and some of them feel good,” she snapped. “How can the woman love a man who may have had a hand in his own son’s death?”

  Washington snapped right back. “Love has nothing to do with it. It’s the bond, Rachel. It’s unbreakable except through death. She loved him once, or maybe she only thought she did. And maybe he loved her, or maybe he saw a young and beautiful woman who was also malleable to his purpose. I don’t know. I don’t think she does either. No one understands how the bond works, but I do know that when it breaks, something inside Lenora will break, too, and it’s going to kill me to watch her suffer that pain.”

  Rachel saw the look pass over his face as he spoke of Lenora. She recognized it as the same look she saw in her mirror when she thought of losing McCall.

  “You love her,” she said softly.

  Startled, he blurted, “Yes! No! I don’t know! How would I?” He ran his fingers through his hair, closed his eyes and then said in a much quieter voice, “She’s an Alpha’s Mate, damn it.”

  They were two of a kind, she and John Washington, each loving someone they could never have. Of the two, Rachel felt she was the more fortunate. She, at least, had Challenger McCall for a little while.

  “Where is he?” she asked and John understood who she meant.

  Visibly relieved at the change in subject, he fetched his leather bag from where he’d left it earlier.

  “He’s hunting.” John began pulling folders from the bag. “He won’t be happy with me for doing this. We argued about it earlier. He doesn’t want you involved.”

  “I’m already involved.” Right up to her heart.

  “No,” John told her and placed his hand over hers, the one that was already fingering the folders, itching to see what they held. “Right now you’re in a position to deny any knowledge. They couldn’t prove it one way or another without Lenora’s help. So, you need to think this through, Rachel, because if we lose, it could mean your life.”

  “If you lose, I have no life.” She told him about Coogan and Holt, about the trust set up by her mother’s family, and what she’d overheard. “Holt said my father would go the way of the others. It sent chills up my spine when he said it and after I saw what you brought back, I knew why.” Rachel closed her eyes. “I know what Papa is. I know what he’s done and I know it’s his fault we’re in this position, but he’s my father and I love him and I can’t think of his ending up in a pit.” She took a deep, steadying breath, and opened her eyes. “So I have nothing to lose. What do you need me to do?”

  “McCall and I broke into the Bank and Land Office last night. We need to get back in. Victor made sure there were enough loose shutters to distract the guards and with the noise and lightning, it wasn’t all that risky, but there’s no counting on another storm.”

  “Victor? Bertie’s Victor?” Lazy, like-to-play-dead Victor, was part of the conspiracy?

  Washington laughed, too. “Yes, Victor is a part of it. There are others, too. Still more will join us when we present the evidence. If the majority of the pack is with us, we may be able to pull off the first bloodless Challenge.”

  “But a Challenge for Alpha ends in death,” Rachel argued. “You said so.”

  “Only if the Alpha wishes to keep his position. The old Alpha of my birth pack grew old and stepped down. He voluntarily released the mantle to fall on another’s shoulders. He and his Mate lived another ten years in peaceful retirement. It doesn’t have to be by violence. Pack comes first and the pack should have a voice in how they are led.”

  John reached out his hand to touch her shoulder. “We are designed to live in packs because there is safety in numbers, but there is strength there, too. Working together, we can ensure our survival. We can do more as a pack than we can as lone wolvers. That’s why pack comes first. Not Alpha, but pack.”

  His words gave Rachel hope. In his calm and reasonable way, John Washington made her believe that this plan would work and the power of numbers would prevail.

  “Tell me what your plans are and how I can help, but first I want to know what Challenger McCall is up to.”

  “I told you. He’s hunting.”

  Chapter 29

  She listened. She learned. She looked at maps and read through papers. She watched the clock. Where was McCall?

  She turned back to the papers spread across her kitchen table. It was all speculation, but the theories made sense. The Alpha and his second were buying up land, land the pack couldn’t afford, and all for the sake of a few bars of gold.

  “Not a few, Rachel. Those bars would be worth millions.”

  “Close to twenty-five million, if they even exist.”

  She repeated her girlhood calculations and got the same amused look from Washington as she did McCall. They were a pair. One would look to the other and telegraph some silent message. One would smile, the other would grin. Message sent and received. They looked so very different, one light, one dark, but both quite handsome. McCall was more physical, Washington more cerebral, and they fit together like hand and glove. Rachel loved spending time with each of them, but her bedroom thoughts always strayed to McCall.

  Where was McCall?

  She tapped the stack of papers to her left. “Millions of dollars will do them no good if the loans are called in before they find it. Look at the dates. They’ve been searching for years.”

  Gold Gulch was set up as a corporation, which was why all monies were run through the bank. Banker Arnold Slocum was listed as the Chief Financial Officer. The Land Office, run by the Municipal Manager, Morris Fillmore, was listed as corporate headquarters. Their offices kept the books, took care of paperwork, paid the wages and the taxes. They kept the government happy and out of Gold Gulch’s business. Next to the Alpha and his Second, these were the two most powerful wolvers in Gold Gulch and they had to know what was going on.

  Jack Coogan worked in those offices.<
br />
  “I know things about the wolvers in this town,” he’d said, “I have markers I can call in once they know what I know.”

  How many others knew and where was McCall?

  “My question would be what started it? You’d think after all these years Gold Fever would have run its course. This pack should be immune. Who brought the disease to Gold Gulch and when?”

  Dates. Rachel shuffled through the papers to find the first purchase and then stared at the map. She found the next purchase and did the same. John watched her closely, but she didn’t explain. Instead, she went to the drawer and came back with a pencil. She sat, looked at the paper in front of her and put pencil to map.

  “No!” Washington stayed her hand. “We have to put them back until we’re ready. If someone should look...”

  “Oh dear.” She frowned. “Do you have any paper?”

  “I’m a schoolteacher,” he laughed, “It’s like asking a carpenter if he has a hammer.” John reached into his bag. “Here, use this. It’s Billy Smith’s spelling test. That poor cub couldn’t spell if you gave him a dictionary.”

  “You have to be able to spell to use a dictionary,” she said, sucking in her cheeks as she took the paper. She tore it in an odd shape, marked it with a date and laid it on the map.

  He gave her a wry look. “Smart a...um.” He coughed into his hand.

  “Go ahead and say it. My association with the sheriff has rendered me immune.” She checked the papers again and started to tear another piece.

  “It’s a bad habit.” He leaned over the map. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “I’m matching dates with land purchase. I can read them, but I need to see, or see under them, so to speak. There’s something about the dates and...” she put another piece in place, “there it is.”

  “There what is?”

  “They bought as they searched.” Rachel pointed to the points marked on the map, all three marked with an X, though one had a penciled circle around the X. “These three are on Gold Gulch land, or our land before the purchases.”