Wolver's Reward

by Jacqueline Rhoades

  Chapter 18

  Darla and River no sooner left than someone else knocked at the door. Reb reluctantly left the bed, taking the sheet with her. She opened the door a crack and wasn't surprised to see who it was.

  Celia didn't wait for an invitation. She pushed her way in. She took one look Reb and said, "Well?"

  The others crowded in after her and Arnold closed the door.

  "How was he?" he asked and then sputtered a correction. "I mean, how are you?"

  "Wonderful." Reb didn't bother to hide her grin. "Spectacular. Amazing. Breathtaking. Splendid. Outstanding..."

  "Oh dear," Lawrence interrupted with a worried frown at his partner.

  "Uh-oh," Celia said at the same time. "I knew this would happen. It always does when they wait too long."

  Rosemary fanned herself with her hand as sat on the edge of the bed. "I feel faint."

  "Why?" Celia was laughing. "Because you've waited too long? Because Reb's feeling wonderful, amazing, and splendid? Or because River is a spectacular, breathtaking, and outstanding lover?"

  "All three?" Both hands continued to fan.

  Lawrence took a step forward and held out a calming hand. "After the first time, it isn't unusual, Rebecca, for one to mistake these euphoric feelings for..."

  "Don't, Lawrence." Reb raised a warning finger and wagged it along with the words as she spoke. "Don't you dare lecture me on first time feelings. Don't forget, I know how many males you slept with before you met Arnold. Zero, wasn't it? So don't you dare try to take this away from me." She included the two women and Arnold in her glare. "If I feel wonderful, amazing, and splendid, it's because River made me feel this way, and I've never felt this way before. I'm beautiful. Did you know that? River told me so."

  The three exchanged wary glances. Rosemary kept fanning.

  "Of course we knew, dear. You've always been beautiful."

  "You'd have to say that, Arnold. You love me. It's different when someone who..." Reb felt a pinch near her heart at what she'd been about to say. "Oh, never mind. I have laundry to do." She waved an imperious hand and twirled away.

  And tripped over the trailing sheet.

  Regaining her balance and what little was left of her dignity, she spied a pillow that had fallen to the floor, picked it up, and stripped away the case. She began filling it with River's pile of dirty clothing.

  Celia walked across the room and plucked the pink undies from the lampshade. "You want these, or were you using them for ambiance?"

  Reb poked out her chin and wrinkled her nose. "Very funny," she said, but then she laughed. "We needed something to distract us from the hula girls on the wall."

  Celia tossed her the slacks that lay on the floor by the same lamp.

  "Our hula girls are much bigger than yours. Actually, they're hula guys," Rosemary offered. She raised her arms, bent at the elbows and wrists, in a muscleman pose. "Uga, uga, ugly."

  Arnold rolled his eyes at the horror of the scene. "They're smiling, and their teeth..." He spread his thumb and forefinger as wide as they could go. "Their teeth are this long. I thought for sure they were going over the moon, assuming that big, round ball with the crooked eyes and horrid nose is the moon."

  "If I ever look like that when I shift, just shoot me, Arnold."

  "In a heartbeat, Law. In a heartbeat."

  "Just what does that mean, Arnold?"

  "One brassiere, coming up." Celia tossed the bra to Reb. "You really did have a good time, didn't you?"

  "I did, Ce, I really, really did." Reb closed her eyes in remembrance. When she opened them again, she took one last glance around and snatched her inside out blouse from the pillow on the unused bed. Hefting her stuffed pillowcase she asked, "Does anyone have any change? Those machines usually take only quarters and all I have are bills."

  "Darling," Lawrence left off his bickering to answer. "Don't you think you'd better change? Togas are so passé.

  Reb looked down at her sheet and laughed self-consciously. "Brain fog, I must be hungry."

  She grabbed some clothes from her bag and headed for the bathroom to shower and change.

  "What on earth is brain fog?" she heard Rosemary ask.

  "I have no idea," Celia laughed, "But I'll wager hunger isn't the cause."

  Her mother was making up the bed when Reb came out showered, hair combed, and fully dressed.

  Margaret chose to misinterpret her daughter's look. She waved her hand at the bed. "I know, I know. They have staff to take care of this, but I never could abide an unmade bed."

  "Mother, what are you doing here? I told you not to interfere. I meant it."

  Her mother smiled. "River sent me. He said you might like the company and I could use some rest. Arnold said he and the others would take care of your laundry. Do you have laundry, Becky?"

  "No, mother, you know I don't. It's River's. He doesn't have all that much and what he has needed to be washed. Since he was busy with Father, I thought I'd..."

  "Take care of him. I know. Becky..." It was a hesitant pause and Reb interjected before she could continue.

  "And that's another thing, Mother. I spoke of it before, but now you must listen. I'm not Becky. I know you loved the book and named me for her and I know you wanted a Becky of your own, but I'm not her, and I can't be her. I've tried and it doesn't work for me. I'm not a Becky Thatcher."

  Becky Thatcher cried all the time.

  "And River is no Tom Sawyer."

  Reb laughed at that. "Huck Finn perhaps, but definitely not Tom."

  "And what happens when Huck Finn breaks your heart?"

  "He won't," Reb wanted to say, but she knew that wasn't true. In a few short days, River would be gone and her heart would break into pieces. She knew this and so did her wolf.

  Would she survive it? She would. She was no Becky Thatcher. She was destined to be a Mate. With a good Alpha by her side, and the help of his magic touch, she'd survive. She'd bear his pups and grow old and gray with him. She'd learn to love her Alpha. She'd be a good Mate. She'd mend those broken pieces of her heart, but one of them would always belong to River.

  "River and I both know what my future holds, Mother. Think of this as a life lesson that will make me a more understanding Mate." Surprised by the inner calm she felt, Reb continued with something she should have said a long time ago. "This isn't me acting out. This isn't a tantrum, though it is a rebellion of sorts. This is me saying I'm an adult and for better or worse, I make my own choices."

  "So be it, Rebecca, but don't say you weren't warned."

  "I won't."

  How could she, when the warning flashers had been going off in her head ever since she hit him with her bat?

  ~*~

  River had to admit he'd had his doubts about the first family of the Sweet Valley pack. He'd seen them as weak and incompetent. He still thought the Alpha was wrong in his insistence that all wolvers were good at heart. If life hadn't shown that to him, then the Chase disaster should have. Roland might talk like a wise old Alpha, but when it came to his fellow wolvers, he was just like his daughter. He was a babe in the woods, though nowhere near as sexy. Nevertheless, in the past hour, the three had shown a strength River never would have expected.

  Darla was sent to fetch Margaret and Reb. Holding hands, Mate and daughter presented a composed and united front as they crossed the parking lot. They even stopped to smile and speak their reassurances to the few who sought it. Reb looked as calm as her mother, and that calmness was projected onto the other females who were close enough to feel it.

  He knew this because Forest was an Alpha's daughter too, and the older she got, the more her feelings were broadcast to the females of her pack. When Forest got upset, every female within two hundred yards became upset right along with her, until Kat intervened. Mrs. Martin, the old housekeeper, said Forest would learn to control it as she matured.

  River felt a stirring of pride for the strength and control Reb, who wasn't much older than Forest, showed. His Babe-
in-the-woods wasn't a girl like Forest, though she wasn't quite as strong as her mother, either.

  As they'd stood in the narrow space beside the bed and listened to her father's explanation of what happened to his leg, her hands began to shake. She'd shoved them behind her to hide her weakness and River, who was standing at her back, clasped the grasping fingers in his own.

  "I've got you," he whispered and she immediately calmed. All Reb needed was something to hang onto to restore her cool.

  The Mate took it like a champ. She didn't bat an eye. "I think it's a reasonable diagnosis, Roland. It's logical, don't you think? Your body has been strong enough to confine the poison, but not strong enough to defeat it. Drain the poison, clear out the damaged tissue, and give your body the chance to do the rest. It makes perfect sense and should be done immediately."

  "I heartily concur, my dear."

  River heartily concurred, too, mostly because he didn't think the Alpha had much time left. When he told the old wolver about cutting out the poisoned flesh, River never thought about who would be doing the cutting.

  "What do you need?" Roland asked.

  He never thought the Mate would agree to it, either.

  "Yes, River. You must tell us what needs to be done."

  That was easy enough. "You need to find someone you can trust with a knife," he told her, hoping she'd get the hint.

  The Mate smiled at him. "That would be you, dear."

  "Are you nuts?" he blurted, completely forgetting who he was talking to. "You don't even know me. You've already been scammed once. Didn't you learn anything at all? I could be lying. I could be planning to kill you and take over the pack."

  He felt the anger rising and if it hadn't been for Reb clutching his fingers in what was now a death grip, he would have walked out. He would have hopped on his bike, left his truck and his belongings behind, and taken off into the night. When he ran out of gas, he would have shifted and run as a wolf until the dying moon brought him home.

  "I've got you," Reb whispered and something in the way she said it restored his calm. The anger was still there, but it was under control.

  "Why would you tell us this if that was your plan?" the Mate asked.

  Because that was the best way to run a con. You exposed all the flaws and possibilities to the mark, so they would come to the same conclusion as the Mate.

  "I wouldn't," he admitted because they wouldn't understand, it would take too long for him to explain, and there were questions he didn't want asked about how he knew these things.

  "I told you," Margaret said to her mate.

  They were holding hands, too, and Roland returned her reassuring squeeze. "I accede to your wisdom, my dear."

  River kept Reb's hand in his while the plans were made. He didn't let go even after the Alpha dismissed them, and the Mate stayed behind to help him dress for the short walk across the lot.

  Roland insisted his pack see him on his feet and walking tall. With that leg, River thought it was a wonder the man could walk at all and his reluctant admiration grew.

  "They're crazy. You know that, don't you?" he asked as together they watched the Alpha speak to his pack.

  "I know," Reb said with a hint of a smile. "But it's in a good way and it works for them." She squeezed his hand. "So far, it's worked for the pack, too. They've been lucky that way."

  "What happens when their luck runs out?"

  Reb shrugged. "Then they find someone like you to bring it back again."

  "Babe, I'm the most unlucky wolver alive."

  "Maybe." Reb shrugged again. "Or maybe your luck is changing, too."

  Chapter 19

  "You think you're locking this up tight, don't you? Big hero, save the Alpha, win the daughter..."

  "I don't think there's much winning to do. He's already got the daughter."

  "Shut up, Toby." Ben gave the cub a shove. "Don't you have something you should be doing, someplace you're supposed to be?"

  "Uh, it's the full moon, so ye-ah, we should be running, but no one else around here is, and where are we supposed to go?"

  "There's fifteen fucking miles of cornfields around here. Pick one."

  "But there's only two of us. That's no fun."

  The bickering continued. River did his best to shut it out. He needed quiet. He needed time to think, but there was nowhere to go to do it. Everywhere he went, wolvers followed.

  "How long will it take?"

  "How long to heal?"

  "Will he be able to walk?"

  There weren't that many wolvers in the Sweet Valley pack, but to River it seemed like there were hundreds. They came to him in rotating groups of twos and threes and fours, and all asking the same questions, over and over and over, as if he knew the answers. They were starting to repeat themselves.

  He took note of their body shapes which would translate into the bodies of their wolves. He memorized their faces and matched them with their scents. It was a waste of time and he knew it. He wouldn't be around long enough to see them go over the moon. The Alpha, through his Second, had decreed that no one was to run this month. He wanted them to stay close.

  If River had the power, he'd send them all over the moon. They were driving him crazy.

  The wolvers who surrounded him asked their repeated questions out of fear. The Alpha and Mate had shut themselves off from the pack. The feelings they had for what was about to happen were too personal to be shared. For the next few hours, the pack would be without the connection they normally shared.

  These wolvers had never been without it before. For them, it was like cutting off an arm or a leg; painful and frightening. So they were looking for comfort and reassurance, and they were looking to River.

  Questions, questions, questions. But no one asked the one that lay behind all the others.

  "Is the Alpha going to die?"

  His answer for that would be the same as it was for all the others, an answer he never spoke, but thought repeatedly.

  "How the hell do I know?"

  This wasn't his business. It wasn't his fight, but once again he'd opened his fucking mouth and swallowed his tail, and now he was in the middle of it.

  Ben and the cubs were still arguing and the constant hum of their voices sent River over the edge.

  "Would you guys shut the fuck up?" He waited a beat to give Ben a chance to say "Make me", and was disappointed when he didn't. "The Alpha said no running. That's it. The end. And don't," he warned, "Give me any crap about whether or not he's your Alpha. You're either in or you're out. If you're out, leave now."

  Ben hit him with something better than "Make me". "We'll make that decision tomorrow when the rest of the pack shows up."

  River snapped his eyes to Scar. "You said you were going to meet up with them on the road."

  Scar sucked in his cheeks and shrugged. "It wasn't my idea. Dennis made the plans."

  "And Dennis isn't here." Ben did his thing with his chest and let a little of his power leak out. "So I changed them. They'll be here tomorrow afternoon."

  River took several slow and deep breaths, first because he needed to absorb the impact, and second, because he needed to counteract Ben's plan. The bastard grinned at him and it wasn't pleasant. He knew his plans blew a hole in River's.

  River grinned back and released a little of his own pent up energy. "Then you'd better call them back, because we won't be here tomorrow afternoon. We'll be moving out early in the morning. Why don't you two make yourselves useful and spread the word."

  Quentin and Toby were off like a shot.

  "You can't do that," Ben argued. He poked his chin at the wolvers milling around. "It's already late. They'll be exhausted."

  They would and hopefully, the new ones would be too. Exhausted wolvers were less likely to cause trouble. That thought gave River another idea.

  "They'll be exhausted the next day, too, and the day after that. When we're not on the road, they're training. Their new home is nothing like their old one. They need to ge
t in shape."

  "Ours are already in shape."

  "Then they need to learn to work together as a pack. No ours, no theirs, just pack. The Alpha can hold the ceremony on the next full moon, but fancy words and a big hurrah doesn't make a pack. I said it and I meant it, Ben, and that goes for all of them. As soon as we hit the road, they're pack or they get out."

  "You talk about pack, but you're not..."

  "That's right, Big Ben, I'm fucking neutral, and that means I don't give a shit about either side. It also means I don't have a problem kicking the shit out of anyone who gives me trouble."

  "You do have a way with words, River." The Mate stood behind him. "Crude, but effectively to the point. The Alpha is ready for you now."

  River wondered how much she'd heard and then decided it didn't matter. She'd hired him to do a job and if she didn't like the way he did it, that was too damn bad. He made another decision as well.

  "I need you two and the one Toby called Chubs," he snapped his fingers searching for a name. "Arnold, that's it, and his partner, Larry."

  "Lawrence," the Mate corrected. "He hates being called Larry. May I ask why you need them?"

  "I'm not going to do this alone. I want Darla in there, too. Lawrence can guard the door. Celia can stand with him. There might be a little noise." Screaming, actually, but the Mate would figure that out soon enough. "I need her to run interference if anyone from the office comes out."

  "If you gentlemen will be so kind as to fetch Arnold and Lawrence, I'll see to the others." Margaret nodded and walked away.

  "What are we there for?" Scar asked.

  "To hold him down," River sounded more confident than he felt. "I don't want the Alpha jerking around once I start to cut."

  "Are you saying you trust us?" Ben asked it as if River would be a fool if he did.

  "Hell no, I don't trust you, but I'll be the only one holding a knife, and it won't bother me to use it." He turned his attention to Scar. "And I want witnesses if it slips."