Wolver's Reward

by Jacqueline Rhoades

  She trusted him to do the right thing.

  Without any clear reason behind the move, he went back to her, tilted her chin up with the knuckle of his finger, and kissed her. It was no more than a brush of the lips, but it was the sweetest thing he ever tasted and that sappy thought embarrassed him more than sitting up to beg.

  "I won't be gone long," he said gruffly, "and if they find you before I get back, you scream your head off and run like hell. I'll come running back to rescue you."

  She looked up into his eyes and touched his cheek, a tender gesture that meant more to him than it should have.

  "You can't fight off two Alphas," she said.

  As if he could fight off one.

  "Won't have to," he told her. One would have killed the other before they got here.

  Her face paled as if he'd said the last aloud. She closed her eyes and swallowed.

  "I-I never meant it to be this way," she said when she opened them again. Those tear filled eyes pleaded to be believed.

  "I know, baby. Things don't ever turn out the way they should." And because he couldn't help it, he kissed her again. "I gotta go and you need to rest. When I get back, be prepared to run." He winked, turned, and took off, dragging the dress behind him.

  ~*~

  Reb watched him move away. His backside was as magnificent looking as his chest was from the front. Every muscle in his body was clearly defined, every ropy sinew. He moved like he was born to the woods, like every cell of his body was attuned to the world around it. They called it animal grace and they were right. He moved with the flow of the wind, the bending of the grasses, and the bowing of the branches around him. He didn't move through the forest. He became a part of it.

  It was the wolver from whom they'd stolen the truck. How did he find them? How did he get here? She smiled as the thought crossed her mind that she might as well ask the wind how he got from one place to another.

  He'd found her and he'd promised her he'd bring her no harm and she believed him, though not at first.

  At first, she thought the approaching wolver was one of the Alphas or another vile creature like the one in the RV. He'd saved her from that one, too, she now realized. It was his coppery colored arm that held the beast back.

  But she didn't know that when she heard the faint crackle of a broken twig. She only knew that it didn't matter if it was Alpha or beast. She wasn't going through with it. Her residual panic had turned to something else. Her failure at flight had become a need to fight. Anger fueled the need.

  They'd turned her mating day into a battleground. They'd destroyed every plan she and her father had made. They'd tainted the honor of her calling to be an Alpha's Mate. They'd proved to her she was no more than a thing to be used as a means to an end. She hated them, but more than that, she hated herself for allowing herself to be used and for using them. She was no better than they.

  So, in her shame and anger, she fought the one wolver who tried to help her. Again. She'd hurt him. Again. And again, he'd refused to hurt her in return.

  Reb knew he wouldn't hurt her, long before he said the words. Even when he pinned her down and she felt his growing erection pressing against her, she knew. He wanted her, not for what she was or what she could bring his pack. He wanted her solely for the pleasure her body would bring him, but he wouldn't take it from her. No, he wouldn't take it unless she offered it to him of her own free will. Still, she had to be sure.

  There were some who still believed the myth that a Mate could make an Alpha in the same way an Alpha could make a Mate. It was nonsense, of course, but the falsehood persisted. It was one of the reasons her parents had guarded her so carefully. Up until today.

  Her rescuer didn't believe it. She was sure of that. The look on his face, funny and offended as it was, made her want him. Her wolf wanted him, too. It rolled and laughed, and growled when Reb had finally stopped thrusting with her hips. Her wolf hadn't flicked so much as an ear when she'd met with the Alphas. She'd chuffed in boredom and gone to sleep.

  Time was passing and Reb began to pace, and with the pacing came doubt. Her questions about her mysterious rescuer rose to the surface again. Who was he and how did he find his way here, and so quickly, too?

  ~*~

  River moved through the forest and kept his eyes peeled for what he needed. He'd hidden in the woods before, from both wolvers and humans. He'd hidden the pups, too, but he was more animal than wolver then, and he knew the land around him. He was a stranger here. He knew nothing of the streams or ponds or bogs where scent could be lost or disguised.

  He needed an animal, the larger, the better, but he didn't have time to be choosy. He'd take whatever he saw first. Rain was coming. He could feel it in the air. Rain would wash the scent from the air and covering his feet with the animal skin would mask his scent on the ground.

  The full moon was descending. He had to get this done while he could still shift to wolf.

  He shifted. Once again, the change took longer than it should have, and this time he had the full power of the moon behind him. He was exhausted. He was hungry. He needed food and sleep, but he wasn't likely to get either before this job was done. Or before he was dead, he thought wryly.

  "Hunt."

  "Yeah, hunt, but don't eat."

  "Stupid."

  "At least I'm predictable. And don't lose the dress," River instructed as he faded into the background and gave his wolf free reign. It wasn't as good as sleep, but at least his mind could get some rest.

  It didn't take the wolf long to track down and kill two rabbits. It ate the first before River could stop it.

  "Hungry," it complained. "Strength."

  The animal was right. His strength and stamina were shot to hell, and he needed enough for two. He'd forgotten what it was like to have another, weaker creature dependent on him. In some ways, the girl was weaker than the pups he'd sheltered.

  Physically, she was strong enough. He'd seen that in the way she ran and felt it in the long lines of her body. Her muscles were firm and tight beneath his hands though her skin and the palms of her hands were soft and unmarred. She reminded him of the branches of a weeping willow that were long, graceful, and tender looking but had the strength and power of a whip.

  It wasn't her physical condition that made her weak. It was her ignorance of the world around her. River believed her when she said she never meant for this to happen. She'd had no idea that it could. He still wasn't sure she understood it fully.

  His movement through the woods was slow going. Dragging the dress now little more than a rag, was awkward, but he needed their two scents to overlap. It was the girl who'd given him the idea.

  "Mating me won't make you an Alpha," she'd said.

  She had to have heard the belief from someone and if he could make the real Alphas believe she'd been taken by a wolver dumb enough to believe it, it would be an added incentive to follow the scent.

  He came to a likely spot and brought himself home to human. Each shift sapped more of his energy and he was secretly glad the wolf had eaten.

  Secretly? There were no secrets when it came to your wolf. The creature grinned, a stupid look that made its mouth draw back and tongue loll.

  "Need wolf."

  "Yeah, I do," River admitted, "But don't push it."

  They'd crested a steep hill. It wasn't perfect, but it would do. Wrapping the dress in a short chunk of wood, he tossed it as far as he could down the other side. It tumbled over and over, and then skid over the slick covering of leaves and plants before the two pieces separated. The dress fluttered on a whispery wave of breeze while the heavier wood went tumbling on. Again, not perfect, but better than nothing.

  Folding his paws beneath him, River took a moment to rest.

  Chapter 8

  River's head snapped up at the distinct sound of two large wolves moving through the trees. They were moving, but for a moment, he had no idea where they were. He was confused, disoriented, and suddenly worried for the girl. The
Alphas shouldn't be this close.

  "How long have we been gone?"

  "Short time."

  River knew it was a stupid question as soon as he asked it. Short time could mean ten minutes or half a day, sometimes more. A lot depended on how much the wolf was enjoying himself. Time flies when you're having fun, right? And by the feel of the lolling tongue and silly grin, his wolf had enjoyed himself a lot. Had River allowed himself to sink so far back in his wolf's consciousness he'd lost track?

  Wolves had no sense of time. They ate when they were hungry and slept when they pleased. When he first shifted, he'd take off from the pack for a short run alone and come back hours later. There was a Primal Law that said the wolf should never rule the human, and Ryker had warned him of the consequences.

  The Alphas weren't together, but coming from two different directions. They must have been close enough to hear the wooden Mate's fall and came to investigate.

  River couldn't run as man. They would hear him and in a hunting frenzy, might run him down and kill him as men once he was cornered. He couldn't flash to wolf. If they didn't see it, they'd feel it, and the result might be the same. He flattened himself down on the ground to wait and watch, hoping against hope that they met each other before they met him.

  One came from the south. Heavy set and tawny colored, the wolf showed signs of old scarring on its sides. The other came from the west. It was younger, its coat a glossy gold, and it looked more than capable of taking on the older wolf. It was also moving faster. Thug and the Leather Adonis.

  They collided in midair with a force so great, River heard it. In a tangle of fur and fury, the two fell together. He was too far away and his sightline was obstructed by trees, but River felt the power of the Alphas as they fought for supremacy. His head bobbed and jutted with each move. Out of habit, he took note of their styles. The elder relied on size and force, the younger on speed and agility.

  He should have run, but he couldn't take his eyes from the contest below. The power of their magic exploded around them. The air shimmered with it. Both wolves seemed to grow in size and strength. He'd seen Alphas Challenged before and it was always a contest to the death, but he'd never seen anything like this. He was mesmerized by its intensity.

  His wolf nipped at his insides, reminding him that the winner of this battle would follow the trail left by the dress, and in the opposite direction than the one he intended. He started to turn and crawl away when the younger Alpha made a mistake. He tried and failed to use the older wolf's tactic of brute force. The death blow was struck.

  Thug caught Leather's throat and tore. He stepped away and raised his snout in a howl of victory, but he'd underestimated the younger wolf. Leather took two stumbling steps and lunged. He caught the tawny's underbelly, then fell. This time, the older wolf took the time to finish it.

  Too little, too late, and that was too bad. River thought he might have had a chance against the Alpha Leather if it came to that. The guy was bigger, but he was young and obviously not half as experienced or as confident in his style. Yeah, he definitely would have had a chance, even if it was a slim one, against Leather. But not against Thug.

  As if sensing his thought, the victorious Alpha raised his snout again, this time not to howl, but to pinpoint River with his gaze. He snarled, took several steps in River's direction, and then looked down as if surprised his body wasn't functioning as it should. He fell, rose, and fell again, and rolled to the side.

  He wasn't dead. His sides were still heaving, and it crossed River's mind that now was the time for him to attack. He could easily strike the death blow, and that would mean the Alpha's Mantle, the mystical garment of an Alpha's power, would fall to him should the moon see him fit to wear it.

  Several things stopped him. The first was the girl. He was afraid that as Alpha, his need for a Mate would bring out all the ugliness and brutality he knew he carried within. He'd promised to help her and protect her. He couldn't take the chance of betraying that promise. The second was something he'd heard. The Alpha's Mantle could be the death of a wolver too weak to bear its weight, and River was weak. If his hesitancy to take the mantle as his right wasn't proof enough, his fear of defending it was.

  If the moon granted his taking of it, and if he was strong enough to carry it, the Thug's pack would become his. The thought of that made him sick. He'd spend the rest of his short life defending his position for a pack that was too much like the one he was born to. He'd become what he hated most.

  River flashed to wolf as he turned and ran with no thought of scent trails or destination. He ran as he too often did, with a mind numbing need to get away.

  He didn't follow the trail he'd laid, but wolf sense brought him back to where he'd left the girl. Her scent was strong, but she wasn't there.

  What the fuck? River's heart raced. His mouth went dry. "The girl. Where's the girl?" He didn't even know her goddamned name.

  "Tree."

  River was pretty sure the wolf rolled its eyes like River was the one who was dense. It stopped and looked up when an acorn bounced off its head. Another acorn bounced beside him.

  The girl was sitting on a branch about halfway up with a handful of acorns.

  Was she planning to fight off Alphas with acorns? He was so relieved to see her, he laughed at the idea. He couldn't believe how light he felt. His heart had stopped racing, and his breathing steadied.

  She watched him with narrowed eyes. "I'm pretty sure it's you since you have that sour what's-that-stupid-girl-doing-now look on your face, but I'm not coming down until you prove it."

  His wolf chortled. Before River could begin the change, it sat up and begged like a dog. It was the most embarrassing thing a wolf could do. River completed the shift before the wolf had a chance to make a bigger ass of itself.

  The change was slow, too slow, and he knew it was the last he would make tonight. The moon was setting and River had no strength left to draw from it.

  The girl swung from a branch and dropped to the ground. "I like your wolf," she said from the stooped position of her landing. Her relieved smile changed to a worried frown when she stood and looked up into his face. "What's wrong?"

  River wanted to kiss her again to wipe the worry away as he had before, but this time managed to show restraint.

  "Nothing." He started to jog. It wasn't in the direction they'd come, but it was the most direct route to the parking lot and a faster means of escape.

  "Don't tell me nothing. I heard the howl. I thought it might be..." She stumbled and issued a small, sharp cry, though he couldn't see anything that would cause her to trip. "But it wasn't, was it," she said, choking a little on the words. When she righted herself, she again took his hand, this time as he offered it, and began trotting with him instead of countering his efforts. "What happened?"

  "They fought. The young one lost. The other is down and out, but I don't know for how long."

  Her intake of breath and the cry that followed were as sharp as his words.

  "I'm sorry," he said, "I didn't realize..." What? That she would care?

  "I liked him," she said. "I liked what he wanted to do. I'm sorry he's gone." She didn't ask how he died.

  River wasn't sure if he had the breath to jog and talk at the same time. Even if he did, he didn't know what to say if she asked. If he told her the truth, she'd know why he didn't kill the Alpha when he'd had the chance. She'd see him as a coward. He didn't know why that should matter. She'd probably see it soon enough, but by then he'd be gone and he wouldn't have to see her look of disappointment or worse, her understanding acceptance of his failure.

  In spite of his earlier boast, he wasn't even sure he deserved the position of alpha male. He'd been tossed from his pack and what pack would release an alpha worthy of the name.

  The other and more immediate concern was that the Alpha Thug was still alive. Wolver bodies had a remarkable ability to withstand wicked punishment, yet heal quickly.

  According to Mrs. Martin, th
e saying that whatever didn't kill you made you stronger didn't come from humans, but from wolvers. Hunted as they were, both for their wolf pelts and the myths that called them werewolves, their species had to be strong to survive.

  River had no idea what the wolf's injuries were, but by the scoring of the creature's fur, the Alpha had survived some pretty vicious wounds before. The stronger the wolver, the more quickly he healed, and that Alpha was pretty fucking strong.

  River increased his pace and was grateful when the girl made no complaint. If she hadn't sensed the danger before, she did now. Maybe she was stronger than he thought.

  They reached the parking lot and stopped far enough back into the trees that they wouldn't be noticed by the wolvers who remained, eight Thugs far back in the picnic area and four Leathers at the edge of the parking lot. River was glad to see that none of the girl's pack was among them. They'd taken his advice and fled, though part of him thought it was strange and even cowardly of them to leave the girl behind with a stranger.

  The girl must have been thinking something along the same lines because she stepped away from him, suddenly showing the caution she should have shown hours earlier. She'd taken his word, a fool thing to do.

  "Your mother sent me." He kept his voice so low, she'd probably have to read his lips. "The Alpha told me where to meet them." He thought his lie would add weight to his claim. It didn't. She looked at him with even more suspicion. "It was the Mate's idea," he added. He saw the flicker of belief in her eyes. He pressed his case. "We're to meet at the van."

  "Is everyone all right?" she asked as if it had just dawned on her that maybe they weren't.

  He took her hand and pulled her deeper into the trees. Reluctantly, she followed, but he got the impression that she was more afraid of his answer than of him.

  He avoided the question. "Use your head. If I was working for one of those Alphas, don't you think I would have turned you over by now?"