Wolver's Reward

by Jacqueline Rhoades

  "What's up?" he asked when he reached them.

  "Shouldn't we be asking you?" Toby curled his arm at his side. His fist pumped suggestively.

  River's wolf snarled and his human lips twitched with it. Before he could think about what he was doing, his hand shot out and he gripped the cub's neck with enough force to bring the cub up on his toes. Toby's eyes bulged.

  "She's your Alpha's daughter. Show some respect."

  The cub's head bobbed that he understood. River let him go and left him gasping for air.

  "He's not our Alpha yet and by the looks of it, he's not going to be anyone's Alpha, but you already knew that, didn't you?" Ben's pretty face became a pouting mask of resentment.

  "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

  "He's sick. He's weak, and you're putting the make on his daughter."

  "I took her out to supper. I was hungry," River said it in a way that dared Ben to contradict him. "And now I'm not."

  He wanted Ben to know that he was at full strength, that any weakness they'd seen in him earlier was gone. Ben was bigger and stronger, but River was better trained. Ryker had seen to that.

  Ben didn't take the hint. "You fucked her."

  Scar removed the cigarette from his mouth before putting a restraining hand on River's arm. River shook him off.

  "Reb was cold, wet, and exhausted. She slept. Only a dog would have made a move on her when she was like that," he said. To call a wolver a dog was the worst kind of insult and River knew he scored a hit when Ben's face flamed with frustration.

  The blond giant would have moved on Reb, but to challenge River's insult would be to admit it and therefore admit he was a dog.

  "So now we know neither of you wear pretty little collars and cutesy sweaters," Scar interrupted before someone rang the bell for round two.

  Ben tried to ring it anyway. "You're no Alpha and you never will be. You've got no business sniffing around the daughter."

  The fucking bastard couldn't even use her name and it wasn't like he didn't know it. Ben was no different from the three Alphas who were willing to run her to ground at that damn Chase, St. Dennis included. They didn't want to know her. They didn't want to make her smile. To them, Reb was nothing more than an accessory to be worn along with the Mantle. She was a necessity to grow their pack. Without her, the pack couldn't breed.

  River felt Scar's hand on his arm once more. "Don't let it get the best of you, son. Take a breath and let it go."

  But River couldn't let it go. As always happened, the anger took on a life of its own. It burned inside him, a growing, fiery ball with a searing need to be released. The best he could do was tamp it down and keep it banked until he could run it off.

  "Then that makes two of us, Ben." His breath came in deep inhalations as if he'd already completed the needed run. "And Reb'll decide who she wants sniffing around. Not you, or me, or anyone else. Not anymore." And just thinking about the reasons she'd given for choosing him made River's anger subside.

  He was brave, handsome, and kind. She wasn't the first one to say those words, but hers were the first to touch him someplace deep. He wasn't brave. He was a survivor, and a survivor did what they needed to do to stay alive. He sure as hell wasn't handsome. In spite of his teasing, you'd never find a wolver like him on the cover of a book. And kind? He wasn't sure what she saw in him as kind.

  Brave, handsome, and kind were things people said when they knew about his past. They were meant to make him feel better. They didn't, but when Reb said it, he suddenly wanted to be those things, to give her what she expected in these few short days. There wasn't much he could do about handsome, but the others? Yeah, he could try.

  Ben still stood with his body firmly braced, fists clenched, and a belligerent look on his face. A trickle of tightly controlled power leaked out and pushed against River, but he made no move and didn't speak.

  The young wolver cousins looked like they wanted to run, too. Their bodies were poised for it, weight balanced on their feet and ready to push off. When River glanced their way, they froze.

  "Jesus," Toby whispered.

  "You all right now?"

  Anger gone, River ignored the cubs and answered Scar. "Right enough. What the hell happened to the Alpha? Darla said he was down. What does that mean?"

  "More like he went down. He was walking across the parking lot on his way to see us, I think. He had his hand raised like it, anyway. He said something like nail or hail and then he went down. His leg gave out and then his eyes bugged out like it surprised the hell out of him, and then he fell like someone shot him in the back."

  "Everybody came running, but me and Toby got there first. We got him up and took him..."

  "You mean I took him. Me and Chubs."

  Toby pointed to a heavy set wolver standing by a minivan, Arnold, by Reb's description. He was wearing a pink polo shirt and had his nose in a book.

  The cub was right. The guy's bulk was more fat than muscle.

  "I could have," Quentin argued.

  "Yeah," his cousin snickered, "But he has a booboo and the Mate didn't want him to overtax himself." He rolled his eyes. "She called him dear."

  "She was trying to be nice. I'll bet she calls everyone that," Quentin defended himself. "And you can't say no to a Mate. Scar says even he wouldn't say no to a Mate. She's like a mom, ya know?" He posed the question to River.

  "Yeah, I know." Not that he'd ever had a mother.

  Toby brought them back to his role in the drama. "The Alpha had a funny..."

  "I think he's dying," Ben interrupted. His spine straightened to increase his height another half inch and his chest expanded to pull his polo taut. He wasn't looking at any of them. He was watching the RV and the people entering it.

  "And you think this because?" River asked. He hated to do it because it was Ben, but he needed to know.

  Ben blinked, bringing his mind back from wherever it had been wandering. "He stinks of it."

  "How would you know?" Toby said, miffed because Ben had stolen his thunder. "You were in the shower."

  "Because you told me, dumbass." Another trickle of power followed the comment, this time directed at Toby, and the younger wolver stepped back.

  To his credit, the cub defended himself in the face of a superior power. "I didn't say he was dying. I said he smelled funny." He looked to his cousin for support. He didn't get it.

  Quentin saw it as an opportunity to get Toby back for the earlier dig. He shrugged and made a superior face. "Same thing."

  "No, it's not. The Alpha is sick. That doesn't mean he's dying." Not yet, River thought, but didn't say.

  As a rule, wolvers weren't susceptible to many of the ailments their human cousins were. Colds, flu, and other diseases common to humans were unknown among wolvers. No matter how deep the wound, most wolvers never saw any signs of infection. Their bodies healed so quickly, the nasty bugs never had a chance to take hold. That didn't mean they couldn't get sick and when that happened, human drugs couldn't help. Wolvers metabolized them the same way they metabolized alcohol, so rapidly as to render them useless.

  "So what if they smell different? The end will be the same."

  River didn't think Ben was talking about wolvers in general. The blond giant was still watching the gathering crowd with a lot more than casual interest.

  "Not always," River countered, mainly because it was Ben who made the claim. He hated to admit the wolver was right even if it wasn't for the right reason.

  Wolvers could and did fight off sickness in the same way humans did before the advent of drugs. Only the strong and healthy survived and it was often a wolver's strength of will that made the difference. For an Alpha, death was more likely. If he was sick, he was vulnerable, and if someone chose to Challenge him for the mantle, the Challenge couldn't be refused. It could, however, be answered by someone other than the Alpha.

  "Anybody know who their Second is?"

  "He's dead," Scar said. He lit the cigarette, inhaled dee
ply, and then wedged the roll-your-own below the knuckles of his first two fingers and removed it to speak. "He was the first to go down, but he was the only one they lost. They've got more luck than muscle, I can tell you that. Darla said they buried him last night." He shrugged at the looks coming his way. "Hey, it's good to make friends in high places."

  "She didn't say they've got another one?" Toby asked.

  Scar's exhaled smoke swirled above their heads. "No, but I don't doubt it. Where'd you hear it?"

  Toby grinned. "See the pretty one in the yellow dress?" He pointed to a young female in the crowd by the RV. She was watching them and not the door. She smiled and waved.

  "Way to go, Cuz," Quentin said. He gave his cousin a poke with his elbow as a show of appreciation.

  Toby's single, pointing finger turned into a flutter of four as he waved back. "She says the Alpha put Darla in the position just a little bit ago."

  "Must have been after we talked," Scar said with another shrug. "Can't say I'm surprised. The woman knows what's what."

  "A female?" Ben blew a derisive 'pfft' through his lips.

  "She looks like she could handle herself," Scar said as the female in question stepped down from the RV. "And good Seconds are more than muscle. You ought to know that, Ben."

  Ben snarled, not liking the older wolver's reminder.

  "She's loyal," River told them. "They trust her. And yeah, she can hold her own in a fight."

  But not as her Alpha's Champion. She could probably hold her own against a threat from within, if the few males he'd seen were an example of Sweet Valley's strength. But despite her size and ability, Darla wouldn't stand a chance against the brute power of a fully capable male.

  She was making her way across the lot toward them. When she was near enough to be heard, she pointed and called out, "Hey! Bad Boy. The Mate wants to see you."

  "Who, me?" River pointed to his chest.

  "Who the hell else would she be talking to," Scar laughed.

  "You," River answered out the side of his mouth.

  "She might, except I ain't no boy, boy. My cub years are long gone and that one knows a man when she sees one."

  Darla had her hands on her hips. "Are you coming or not?"

  "Better go on, Bad Boy, before she grabs you by your ear and drags you over there."

  River trotted over to her. Behind him, he could hear the cousins chanting.

  "Whatcha gonna do when Darla comes for you, bad boy, bad boy."

  River turned to snarl back at them and they gave him a thumbs up. He ended up grinning and giving them his middle finger.

  Ben was snarling, too, but not at the cubs.

  Chapter 14

  River got ready for a lecture on the inappropriateness of his association with the royal daughter. He tried to prepare an answer, but he couldn't find one. Someone like him shouldn't be associating with someone like Reb, but she'd asked him to and he'd said yes. He couldn't very well tell the Mate the reasons why.

  "I don't know why she's doing this now," he muttered to Darla who, he figured, knew all about it. "Seems to me, she's got more important things to think about."

  Darla grabbed his arm and forced him to turn. "There is nothing more important than this. I backed Reb on this. I vouched for you. You betray her in this and I'll..."

  River ripped his arm from her grasp. "Yeah, yeah, I know. You'll put a knife in my back."

  "Oh no, it won't be nearly so quick as that. I'll make it slow and a lot more painful."

  The Mate must have been watching for them because she left the RV as soon as River and Darla started toward it. She was immediately surrounded by members of her pack. She spoke to and touched each one she passed. Her hand caressed arms, patted shoulders, and stroked the cheek of one elderly woman. She bent to kiss the top of a pup's head. Her manner was serene and she shared that serenity with her pack.

  If Reb was a princess, this woman was a queen. She was built like her daughter, but where Reb's slender frame showed the athletic agility of youth, her mother showed grace. She didn't walk. She glided across the ground as if her feet never touched it. Even though she wore a pair of tailored slacks and a shirt similar to Reb's, it wasn't hard to picture the Mate in a gown with that same string of pearls at her neck. Her hair was swept up and away from her face in a pile of curls on top of her head.

  Yep, she was royalty. No doubt about it.

  When she reached them, she held out her hand. "Will you walk with me, River?"

  Like he could refuse. He nodded and she took his arm, wrapping hers around it like he was her escort to the ball. She led him around to the back of the motel at an easy stroll, past a work shed and garage and into the overgrown pasture beyond.

  The ground was still wet from the storms the night before, but the Mate didn't seem to notice the mud collecting on her shoes. The full green growth of summer was already tinged with brown, a warning of the coming fall. The bright yellow of a few remaining Black-eyed Susans dotted the field, but most of the blooms had turned to seed. Close to the ground, tiny vines wove their way between the clumps of grass and weed, waiting to trip the unsuspecting.

  The Mate didn't speak and River began to wonder of if there was a hole dug somewhere in the middle of the field where she was planning to push him in. Bury the problem.

  He actually looked behind him to see if Darla, my lady's personal assassin, wasn't following behind with a shovel. She wasn't, and there was no hole where the Mate stopped.

  She tilted her head back, closed her eyes, and took a single deep breath though her nose. When she'd released it through her perfectly painted lips, she smiled up at him with sad and tired eyes.

  "It is sometimes difficult to maintain the pretense of the calm and tranquil Mate." She widened those eyes in mockery of his. "Are you surprised that it's a pretense or that I'm admitting it." She drew in another breath and let it out. "Or are you thinking of your own Mate?"

  "Kat?" He hadn't been, but he was now.

  "Is that her name?"

  "It's Katarina, but everyone calls her Kat and I wouldn't call her tranquil exactly. The Alpha says our Kat has claws."

  "How so?" she asked and before River understood what was happening, he was telling her about Kat and Wolf's Head pack.

  "She's a lucky woman, then, to be able to show her feelings so freely," the Mate said when he'd told her more than he intended. "I was an Alpha's daughter, raised to be an Alpha's Mate. From the very beginning, I was trained to keep my feelings under strict control. I know no other way, but it isn't easy, you know, to never allow your true self to show."

  The Mate patted his arm with her free hand and laughed. It wasn't Reb's delighted giggle, but a more refined chuckle of amusement. "But of course, you know how hard that can be. You do it, too."

  "No, ma'am, I don't. What you see is what you get."

  "And what is that exactly?" She laughed again and patted his arm. "Forget I asked. No one can truly answer that unless they've been put to the test. Let's start with something simpler. Your name is...?" She drew the open phrase up into a question. She wanted him to supply a last name. He didn't.

  "Just River."

  "Well, just River, what name do you use on your driver's license then?"

  "You've been talking to Reb." How else would she know he even had a driver's license? "I used Goodman. It's my Alpha's name, the one who took me in, the one who mated Kat. He loaned it to me so I could get the license."

  "Nonsense. An Alpha does not 'lend' his name to anyone who needs a license. He must have thought a good deal of you to give you his name." She pursed her lips and gave him a so-there nod. "So tell me, River Goodman, if I were to write to this Alpha Goodman, who lends his name to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who needs one, and ask his opinion of your honor and loyalty as a wolver and member of his pack, what would he say?"

  "He'd say he had no complaints," River told her. "I didn't try to lie, cheat, or steal from him or the pack. I did my job."

  The nod she g
ave him acknowledged his answer with no indication of whether or not she believed him. She began to walk again, this time heading for the edge of the field.

  "Why did you come to my aid during the troubles at the Chase?"

  River forgot who he was talking to and snorted a laugh. "Troubles? That was a helluva lot more than troubles."

  She raised her eyebrows at his rudeness, or maybe it was his choice of words. Turned out it was both. "What would you have me call it then? Without swearing, please."

  "A disaster." Mindful of her correction, he left out fucking. "You could have been killed."

  "So? It was none of your affair. Why risk your life for me or mine?"

  "It wasn't for you or yours. Your daughter stole my motorcycle. And my truck," he added to give more weight to his story which was true up to a point. "I was angry and looking to blow off steam."

  "One does not blow off steam by tearing the throat from another."

  River shrugged, a gesture he knew would bug the crap out of her. It worked.

  "Do not shrug me off and do not lie to me." It was said firmly, but there was something desperate about the command and the lady issuing it. She tapped his chest with a long and delicate finger. "You're not of my pack. I cannot feel what you feel, but do not think I'm easily fooled. I have been a Mate for a very long time, and I have learned to see beyond that which is presented to me. Don't forget, I am an expert at pretense."

  "I didn't lie," River told her and while he tried to keep his voice cool and steady, a little of the burning anger crept in.

  "Yet, you didn't speak the truth." She touched his arm, this time with a grip that emphasized her words. "I am a Mate. I am a keeper of secrets and I have reason to ask for yours. I need the truth, River. It's important to me, to my pack, and to my mate." Her voice cracked on the last few words. The cool and collected shell began to crumble and she closed her eyes. A tear formed in the outer corner of one of them. The Mate released him and bowed her head, shaking it slightly.

  "My true self," she said as she wiped the tear away. "You should feel privileged, River. Not many get to see it." Her breath whistled through her lips as she sought to gain control. "My demand was unfair. Forgive me." she whispered. "I have no right to ask what you have no wish to tell."