He was moving fast, looking neither right nor left, trying his best not to catch anyone else's eye as he made his way back to Reb, but Darla didn't get the message. She stepped in front of him and held up her hand.
"Alpha wants to see you first thing tomorrow."
"What for?" he asked because she would expect it.
She shrugged as if she didn't know and then relented. Of course she knew. Darla knew everything. "Some big wig Alpha's coming for a visit. He'll be here in a few days." She laughed at River's expression. "Don't worry. He's not looking for a Mate. Says he wants to come look around, visit. Says he's bringing someone the Alpha wants to meet. I think Roland's hoping he'll invest. I didn't hear it all. I only know that the Alpha is excited and wants the place in ship shape."
"This Alpha got a name?"
"Everybody's got a name." Darla hadn't changed. She still gave him a hard time. River liked her in spite of it, or maybe because of it.
"I don't," he started to say, but stopped himself. He did have a name, and it was a good one. "So? You gonna tell me, or keep we waiting while I got better things to do?"
Another shrug and a lopsided smile. "I don't know. I was outside while they were talking and there was a lot of noise. That battle tonight set everybody off. Wild, huh?"
"Darla," he warned. He thought he knew who the visitor was. He just had to hear her say it.
"Okay. It's Bags, or Bigley I think."
"Begley. Eugene Begley."
"Yeah, that's it. You know him?"
"I don't know him, but I've met him." River blew out his breath. "Tell the Alpha message delivered. Now I've gotta go. Like I said, more important things to do."
"Reb's waiting, huh?"
"Yeah, Reb's waiting." And time was flying by.
River hurried off, breathing deeply and loosening the tense muscles in his shoulders in an attempt to hide his mood.
Fate had finally shined her favor on him. She'd given him everything he wanted. The Alpha was alive and getting better every day. The pack was settling in and forming bonds. The monster no longer posed a danger to Reb. Eugene Begley had found her an Alpha, one, no doubt, who would love and care for her as she deserved. Everything was fucking fine.
So why did he still feel like he'd been kicked in the teeth?
~*~
Reb ran to River as soon as he opened the door. She threw herself at him with enough force to push him back against the closing door. It slammed with a bang.
"Hey, careful, you'll bring the house down."
She didn't care if she brought the house down. She didn't care if the whole world fell down around their ears. River was here, with her, and that was all that mattered. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed him. Everything she felt went into that kiss.
He kissed her back, wet and warm and intoxicating, but it was more than a kiss. She felt that, too. It was deeper and more meaningful than just a prelude to sex. It was as if he was pouring everything he couldn't say into that kiss.
Unlike their other kisses, this one didn't become more strident. It didn't escalate as the heat grew with their bodies' needs. Tongues lingered in leisurely exploration. Lips took their time discovering places on face and neck that had been neglected before. They took their time, savoring each moment and taste.
River's lips left the underside of her chin to move down the side of her neck and across her shoulder. He made a sound of frustration when he reached the strap of her sundress which was very thin and not really a hindrance. He pushed it over her shoulder and out of the way.
"I'm filthy," she murmured.
"You're beautiful." He used his finger to raise her chin to give him access to the base of her throat. "Every inch of you."
"We need a bath," she said and rolled her head to the side so his lips could reach the other side of her neck. She sighed happily when he reached the sweet spot behind her ear.
"We'll get to it," he said before worrying the lobe with his teeth.
She let him search for the zipper that wasn't there. She said nothing, because his fingers felt so good running down her back especially when they passed her waist to investigate the line between her cheeks. He made a humming sound of pleasure and the sound alone had her pressing closer to him. Not finding a zipper at her back, his hands moved to her sides, fingers dancing. It tickled and she pulled away.
His head dipped and his teeth caught the bow at the center of her chest, right above her breasts. One tug and the bow was undone. His finger worked the gathering free.
"Clever wolver," she murmured, as he lowered the dress to below her breasts and trapped her arms with the straps. When she tried to extricate herself from the minimal restraint, his hands stopped her. "But I want to feel you, too."
"You'll feel," he told her in between sucking her breasts and pulling at the nipples with his teeth. "You'll feel me over every inch of your body. I want you to remember."
"Remember what?" she asked torn between the pleasure of his mouth at her breasts and the niggling sensation that something wasn't right.
"The first time we went over the moon."
Mouth busy at her breasts, his fingers loosened the bow gathering the dress beneath them. The straps slid from her arms and fell with the dress. River's hands slid over her bare bottom and he chuckled.
"Father didn't warn us." Her undies were nylon. She lost them in the shift.
"Clever Alpha."
River left her breasts to trail his lips down her body, tickling her ribs with his tongue and spending too much time kissing the concave of her belly between her hips. He was on his knees and her fingers were in his hair. He ignored the pressure of her hands to drive him lower and the torment continued.
The heat had risen in her body and she was burning with need.
"Touch me," she whispered. She tried to hide the whine and failed.
"Why?"
"Because I want you."
One hand slid up the center of her back, fingers spread wide. The other arm went behind her knees, their gentle force a silent command to bend. He held her firmly as he lowered her to the fluffy turquoise rug Arnold had placed on the floor at the foot of the bed.
Her legs went over his shoulders and his mouth descended to her center. His tongue played over the sensitive nub and within seconds, she was gone, carried away by the shivery tingle that coursed through her body. When her eyes opened, River's face was above her, watching.
"Remember," he said softly before he kissed her, but she knew he wasn't saying it to her.
Again, she felt that niggling sensation but she drove it away when he helped her to her feet and led her to the bed.
Later, while submerged to their chests in the wide comfort of the deep, clawfooted tub, they enjoyed their long delayed bath, he played with her. He laughed and splashed water back and forth in a mock battle as they sat facing each other. He taught her how to squirt water by clenching her hands together and made fun of her failures. He laughed even harder when she finally succeeded and squirted him in the eye. This was the River she wanted to keep, the one other people so seldom saw unless he was playing with pups.
She ran her toes up the inside of his leg until she reached the semi-erectness at the apex. Toes wiggling, she laughed when it bobbed and came fully awake.
He laughed, too. "You're looking for trouble, Babe."
"You should laugh more often. Don't just save it for the pups." She had to move her foot to rearrange her body to lean forward. Her knee slipped on the slick bottom of the tub and she fell into his chest. "Have I told you my middle name is Grace?"
River chuckled, and kissed her, and shared. "It's easy with them. They remind me of the cubs."
He always referred to Forest, Dakota, Ranger, and Meadow collectively as the cubs.
"They taught me how to laugh, which is pretty remarkable considering we lived in shit. Forest didn't laugh much. She was older, more like me. She'd forgotten how. But the younger ones still remembered. It didn't take much to make them l
augh. I didn't want them to forget. I didn't want them to be like me, so at first I faked it." He kissed her again. "No pup should forget how to laugh."
They made love again, right there in the tub, laughing the whole time. But even then, she knew. River laughed and smiled. He enjoyed the silliness of sliding around the tub, but he was too intent on watching every move she made, every look that crossed her face.
Remember. The word kept getting in the way and Reb kept pushing it back. She didn't want to remember. She wanted River in the here and now.
She tried to keep it light. She fed him fudge from the little pink box by the bed. It was Arnold's gift. He meant it as a humorous play on the word Reb used to correct River's language. He had no idea the chocolate treat had come to mean something more between lovers.
Later, much later, as the grayness of dawn began to lighten the room, Reb lay next to him in the bed, hearing nothing of the awakening outside world, only her own panting breaths in counterpoint to his deep ones after another round of lovemaking. She closed her eyes and must have drifted off because she didn't feel the bed sag when he turned.
She awakened to his touch, though he didn't mean her to. He was on his side, head propped on one elbow, so absorbed in what he was doing that he missed the flutter of her lids. She relaxed them again, too worn out from their night of lovemaking to make the effort to fully open them. She savored instead, the feel of him.
Light as a feather, his finger traced the line of her hair around her face. One knuckle ran the length of her nose as gentle as a butterfly's kiss. The backs of his fingers moved across her cheek and down along her jaw, cool against her warm skin. The rough pad of his thumb ran across her lower lip, again and again, testing its softness.
Remember. The word pierced her heart.
When he leaned in to kiss her, it was so lightly placed she might not have felt it had she been truly asleep.
River was saying goodbye.
~*~
Easing from the bed as gently as he could, River picked up his dirty clothes from the night before and emptied the pockets. He traded his three gifts of love for the last piece of fudge which he wrapped tightly in its waxed paper holder. He left the pink box on the dresser where Reb would be sure to find it.
Someone had left clean clothes neatly piled on the chair. He smiled ruefully at the white pair of boxers lying on top. They were folded to expose one of the buxom and lip-puckering wolves. Another of Arnold's jokes, he supposed. He would remember that, too.
He dressed quietly in the darkest corner of the room, keeping his eyes on the sleeping beauty. No longer a babe-in-the-woods, she was now strong and capable and wise to the evil that existed out there in the world. Most importantly, she was safe. She would find her Alpha and spread the clean, clear beauty of her soul to her pack as their Mate. She would be what she was meant to be with a combination of beauty, grace, and orange sneakers.
River was rolling the last of his things in his jacket when he saw her eye open. He winced, wondering what he'd done to awaken her.
"River?"
"Everything's okay, Babe. Go back to sleep," he told her quietly.
Both eyes were open.
"You're leaving, aren't you?" It wasn't really a question.
This was what he'd hoped to avoid, so he told a half-truth as he moved around the foot of the bed to the door. "I have some things to take care of."
"But you'll be back, right? You promise?"
He couldn't. "Go back to sleep, Babe."
Reb curled her body in half and crawled the rest of the way to the foot of the bed. "Tell me you're coming back."
River wanted to look away, wanted to run for the door, but he was afraid she would follow. He needed to keep calm. And he couldn't keep his eyes from the long, lithe, and naked body kneeling before him at the foot of the bed. Damn, but she was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen or ever would see.
He should have lied, but his years of practice in the art deserted him. He couldn't speak, so he waited, not knowing which would be worse, her begging him to stay, or saying nothing and letting him go. She did neither.
She put her hand to his chest, gently over his heart.
"Is this normal, then?"
"Normal?"
She nodded her head, the movement so slight her fine white hair barely moved. "You know. Is this what a normal guy says to a normal girl instead of saying goodbye? Because that's what I asked for isn't it? A normal guy who would treat me like a normal girl." Her lips started to quiver and she pressed them together. A single tear leaked from the corner of her eye. "Only you turned out to be anything but normal. You turned out to be special."
She didn't wipe away the tear and it took all River's self-control not to run the pad of his thumb across the soft skin of her chin where it lingered.
"No Babe, not special. I'm only me, the wolver who came to get his stolen truck and stayed on as a temporary boyfriend and Champion to the Alpha. It was a paid gig and it's over now."
"It isn't over. Not for me. It'll never be over for me. I love you, River. My wolf does, too."
"It isn't love," he said angrily. "It's a rebellion. You'll get over it. So will your wolf."
"No," she argued, her tears falling freely. "You can't get away with that. I won't let you. You can't use anger to cover the hurt. I love you, River. I know. In here." She tapped his chest with her delicately boned fingers. "And you do, too. This isn't me acting out. This isn't my little rebellion. This is me saying I'm an adult. I know my own mind and I make my own choices. I told you that before, remember? I choose you. You're everything I want. I knew that from the beginning, but I was afraid to say it. My wolf knew it, too."
"I can't be what you need me to be."
"You already are, River. Remember? You're kind, and brave, and handsome."
He wasn't being kind. He certainly wasn't brave, and he sure as hell wasn't handsome. He backed away from her touch.
"That's all in your mind, Babe. It's fantasy. You'll see. The real thing will come along. He'll be a great Alpha, and you'll be one helluva Mate."
He turned from her and left, back stiff and shoulders straight. Though the door was closed behind him, he heard her parting words clearly.
"I love you, River Goodman. I always will. Remember that, when you remember me."
As if he could ever forget.
Chapter 30
River drove. He stopped for food when he was hungry. He stopped and slept in rest areas for a few hours when he was tired. He washed and changed his clothes there, too. He went through the motions, did what needed to be done.
He'd expected more argument from his wolf. The creature had given one long keening howl as he'd walked away from Reb. It was the same howl River heard all those years ago at the deaths of Skeeter and Crow. The wolf had remained silent ever since.
He drove, radio blaring, and tried not to think. He had no destination in mind. There was no place he wanted to be. He had no plan except to drive until his money ran out. Then he'd find a job, any job, until he had enough money to drive some more.
Sooner or later, he'd get used to the loneliness. Sooner or later, he'd get used to the feeling of being lost. Sooner or later he'd stop dreaming of the faces he'd left behind; Roland, Margaret, Darla, Scar, and the others. He'd never stop dreaming of Reb. Hers was the one face that still made him smile. His worst moments came when he awakened to find she was only a dream. He would get used to that, too.
It wasn't his intent to retrace the route the pack had taken to their new home. He went where the truck took him and it wasn't until he saw the Paradise Motel that he realized what he'd done. He drove past the pink flamingoes, resisting the temptation to stop and rent a room with ugly hula girls dancing beneath a glaring sun.
He was back on the highway when he saw the car, a forty year old Cadillac Fleetwood pulled off onto the shoulder of the highway headed in the opposite direction. The car was in mint condition; no rust, no dents, and chrome that shone like mirrors.
It was perfect; no black and foul smelling smoke pouring out from the exhaust, he noted. For the first time in days, River smiled.
The little old lady was standing by the open trunk, hands on hips and staring at the flat tire on the car.
River drove on until he found a spot in the grassy median shallow enough to make an illegal U-turn. She was struggling to pull the spare tire out when he reached her.
"Need some help with that?"
The red lipsticked mouth spread into a grin. "Well look who's here. Paul always said every good deed gets repaid in one way or another and I could sure use one now. I took your advice, you know. Got a new engine put in, a re-built they called it. Runs like a charm."
"Looks like you could use a couple of new tires, too."
He pulled the spare out and leaned it against the bumper while he set up the jack.
There was nothing wrong with the old lady's memory. "That the truck you were looking to get back? You ever find that girl? What about your motorcycle, your pride, you called it. You get that back, too?"
He'd gotten a lot more than his pride. "Long story," he told her. "You wouldn't be interested."
She laughed and then sputtered the cough of a longtime smoker. "I guess you forgot. At my age, the only adventures I have left belong to other people. Come on, tell me about it," she urged. "What else do you have to do while you're changing that tire and I'm standing here twiddling my thumbs."
So he told her. He was only going to give her the bare bones of it, but once he started, he couldn't stop. He carefully worked his way around the parts he couldn't tell and put some of the story in terms a human would understand. He needed to tell someone and there was no one else to tell.
The tire was changed, the jack back in place, and the trunk closed long before his tale was done. They sat side by side on the bumper while he finished. The old lady oohed and aahed, and nodded her head. She smiled and frowned in all the right places until the end.
"You're a damn fool," she said when he finished.
Wolver's Reward Page 28