He'd expected some sympathy. "Excuse me?"
She ground out her sixth cigarette and pointed her finger angrily at his nose. "You keep saying Fate had a hand in this. You keep saying all this was meant to be; those folks finding a place where they'd be happy, that man being healthy enough to lead his flock, getting rid of the bad guy, all of it was meant to be. Not once did you stop to think all this wasn't meant to be for them. Fate, as you call it, meant it for you. I know," she said with a firm nod of her head.
"I was meant to be driving along that road all those years ago. My Paul was meant to be hitchhiking, too. We were meant to find each other in the most unlikely place. He stuck it out and in his way, he fought for me, knowing we were meant to be. You, mister, were meant to find that girl sitting on that bumper. You were meant to get rid of your ghosts and see all the love you've been given to share. That girl was meant to love you and don't hand me that baloney about her getting over you. She'll mourn you the same way I mourn my Paul. She'll hang on to the most important thing you gave her. You were given it all, and you, you damn fool, tossed it all away. You didn't fight for what was meant to be. All you've got is your pride and how much is that worth now? Nothing," she answered her own question. "Pride isn't worth anything unless it's connected to love.
"I've been thinking a lot about you and how I wanted to give you a piece of advice, but didn't. That was about pride, but now I've got another piece and I'm going to say it. You get off of that high horse of yours. It's taking you in the wrong direction. You get back in that truck. You go back to where you came from and fight for that girl. You tell her parents, and her people, and that fella they set her up to marry, but most of all you tell that girl all this was meant to be and you've got a lifetime to convince her of it. Fate handed you a gold mine, son. Don't throw it away."
River stared at the old woman. He wanted to tell her how wrong she was, how she didn't know what she was talking about. He was putting the words together in his mind, but when he opened his mouth, the stupidest thing fell out.
"Can I kiss you?"
"Like any woman my age would turn down an offer like that from a young man as handsome as you."
She offered her cheek, but River picked her up and whirled her around before he set her on her feet and gave her a smacker right on the lips.
"Thank you," she laughed, "And for changing my tire, too."
"No, thank you, ma'am, and get yourself another tire. That spare doesn't look much better than the one I took off."
"You're good at taking care of people, aren't you?"
"I am," he said and then he laughed. "It's what I was meant to do."
He held the door for her and made sure she had her seatbelt set before he closed it. He waited until she started up and drove away before putting the truck in gear. He was careful of his speed. He had a lot of miles to cover and he had no time to waste being pulled over by a cop.
He was going home. Where he was meant to be.
~*~
Reb wasn't very good at hiding what she felt. She tried, but all the women knew. Most of the men did, too. Gossip travelled fast in a pack. Her mother tried to talk to her, but Reb refused.
"You warned me, Mother. I knew the consequences and now I'll have to suffer them. I don't want to talk about it. I won't talk about it. I'll be all right. Just give me time."
Her friends surrounded her with sympathy and comfort. She didn't want that, either. Celia tried a different tactic to console her. She attacked River's character. Reb snapped at her.
"Don't. Don't you dare. He's none of those things. None, do you hear me? And don't you ever repeat those things outside this room. River is a good man, a good wolver. You know it. You saw it. I loved him and now he's gone. That's the end of it. I'll be all right. Just give me time."
She hadn't slept well since he left. She awakened every time she felt him in the dark, every time her hand slid across the empty sheet and he wasn't there. She heard him in the bathroom when no one was there. Sometimes she thought she heard him shout. She saw him trotting across the compound. He never walked. But he wasn't really there.
She was empty, and she was lost without the feel of him, the sight of him, the sound of him. She would not be all right. More time would only make it possible for her to learn how to hide what she felt. It would never go away. Her wolf would never sing again. She knew that, too.
The animal was curled inside of her, unmoving. Only its occasional whine of lonely despair told her it was still alive.
The days passed and she did what needed to be done. She took on extra work since she had no need of free time. She smiled when she needed to and did her best to cover the pain she kept locked in her heart.
She would take a page from River's book. She would survive. She would do what needed to be done.
She fingered the tiny heart on the bracelet he'd left for her. The picture was so small she had to borrow the onyx handled magnifying glass that sat with the matching letter opener on her father's desk to make out its subject. Four small cubs sat smiling for the camera. Behind them stood a much younger River, not smiling at all. She'd made him smile, and the very fact that he'd left this for her said he loved her, too. The marble and the duck, she wasn't sure about, though she thought she knew. These things were precious to him and he'd given them to her. He trusted her with their safekeeping.
He wanted her to remember.
He loved her. So why did he leave? It was a question she would ask herself for the next hundred years.
She heard the commotion out in the compound, but she ignored it. The noise wasn't fearful or panicked. She continued folding the sheets that were hung early that morning to dry.
"Where is she, damn it? Where the fuck is she?"
Reb stopped folding. She'd almost convinced herself it was another hallucination when the shouting continued.
"Darla, you get the fuck out of my way or I will rip you apart. Don't threaten me. Tell me where she is, damn it. Babe. Babe!" That was no hallucination.
Clean sheets tumbled to the floor and tangled about her feet. She kicked and struggled free, and then she was running, running, running, through the shed where they did the wash, around the two cabins that stood in her way, and into the clearing at the center of the compound, and he was there. He was real.
She stopped twenty feet away.
River. Kind and brave and handsome. The sun caught the red in his hair and made it shine. The tight tee shirt molded to the broad chest she knew so well. His jeans were worn at the knee and he wore his leather jacket along with those ugly black boots. He was beautiful.
"Babe, we were meant to be," he said.
And then she was running again. She leapt. He caught her. She wrapped her legs around his waist.
"We were meant to be, Babe," he said again and then he kissed her.
It was the best kiss ever. It was everything she'd dreamed of alone in her bed. It said this was all he needed, all he would ever need, all she would ever need. The kiss went on and on and on, and as far as she was concerned, it could go on forever.
Her wolf started to sing. It howled its joy to the sky and the moon hiding behind the sun. And wonder of wonders, yet no wonder at all, another wolf's voice joined in.
River heard it, too. It so startled him, he broke the kiss and dropped her to the ground. Eyes wide with surprise, he muttered, "Fuck."
"Fudge," she corrected automatically and the next thing she knew she was running again, this time as he held her hand and dragged her behind him across the compound to the main lodge.
"That," he pointed to the fancy pickup truck parked out front, "Is leaving. Now. Along with everyone who came with it."
He didn't give her a chance to speak or explain. He dragged her up the stairs and across the wide wooden porch. Once inside, his head snapped back and forth, searching for Reb wasn't sure what.
"River, they just got here this morning," she tried, but River wasn't listening. He was moving again, eyes pinned on the door t
o the big dining room.
Her father's guest was sitting at the table. A small and unimposing little wolver, he smiled benignly when they came storming through the door. He was dressed like a department store version of a lumberjack in heavy canvas trousers and a thermal shirt beneath a buffalo checked wool one. He wore heavy work boots. It was all brand new.
Two pies, one with a slice missing, sat in front of him. A stack of plates, forks, and napkins stood next to them.
"Hey there, boy. Good to see you again. Want a slice of pie?" Eugene Begley pointed with his fork at the half eaten slice on his plate. "Somebody around here makes a mighty fine pie."
Chapter 31
"No, I don't want pie. I want you gone, and you can take your Alpha with you."
"Well, I can see your manners haven't improved none." The little wolver sat back in his chair and dabbed his lips with his napkin. "Eugene Begley, miss. Don't know whether to say pleased to meet you, or run for your life."
He was a funny little wolver and Reb liked him immediately. "I'm Rebecca."
"And she's mine. You've got no say in it, Begley, so fuck my manners. I'm sorry you came all this way, but you aren't needed or wanted here. Take your Alpha and go home. Or, I'll kill him and then you can take him home."
"Careful, boy." It was clearly a threat. The little wolver's face suddenly changed. A ripple of power rolled from him and he didn't look so harmless anymore.
River didn't look like he was going to back down. She put her hand on his chest. "River, honey, what's this all about? Mr. Begley is obviously an Alpha and it's obvious you've met." She turned to the Alpha. "What is your business here, Mr. Begley?"
"I'm known as a matchmaker, Rebecca, specializing in Alpha's Mates. River's the one recommended me to your daddy. Seems the boy thought you were in need of an Alpha."
Begley grinned like a cub who'd just won a schoolyard argument. Reb wouldn't have been surprised if he'd stuck out his tongue.
River's anger was, as always, the result of his fear. This was one fear he needed to get past once and for all.
The hand on his chest went to her hip. "River, is this true?"
"Babe, I wanted you to be safe. I wanted you to be happy. Aw, damn it, I thought Mr. Begley was the one who could make that happen."
"You never thought to ask me."
"I should have, Babe, but I thought..."
"I know what you thought, River Goodman, but in the future, you'd better think again. I'm not a Babe-in-the-woods when it comes to my wolf and my heart." She turned to the little Alpha. "I'm sorry, Mr. Begley, but I don't share my fudge with anyone but River."
River hung his shaking head and muttered, "Fuck."
"Fudge," Reb corrected.
Eugene Begley burst out laughing.
"River Goodman, you'd better learn to watch that mouth. There are pups present." A woman stood in the doorway with a baby balanced on her hip.
"What are you doing here?" River asked looking from the little Alpha to the woman. Once again, he grabbed Reb's hand.
"Well, that's a fine hello. I thought your mood might be a little more forgiving after all that's happened. In spite of his rude behavior, I can assure you he wasn't raised in a cave," the woman said to Reb. "At least not for the last seven years." Shifting the pup to her other hip, she held out her right hand. "By the grip he has on you, I'm going to assume you're Reb. I'm Kat, his Mate and erstwhile mother. It's very nice to finally meet you. Your mother said you were feeling under the weather. I hope you're feeling better now."
Reb extracted her hand from River's to shake. "I am. Much better, thank you."
Kat held her hand, turning it to inspect the bracelet. "He must love you if he gave you that. I never thought he'd part with it."
River's face turned red. "You knew?"
His erstwhile mother laughed. "Of course I knew. I'm the Mate. I know everything." She laughed again, this time to Reb. "No matter how many times you tell them, cubs always think they can get away with things. The Mate or the mother, we know. You'll see."
Reb felt River stiffen beside her. She slipped her hand back into his and squeezed. "A mother maybe, but never as a Mate. I don't want it."
"Good luck with that. I didn't ask to be one either and then this house painter came along and wham, bam, thank you ma'am, I was a Mate. It's not a bad gig once you get the hang of it."
"Reb's not going to get the hang of it," River snarled. "Now where's the Alpha?"
Reb sighed. They were right back at square one.
"Right here, and watch how you talk to my Mate. We've had this conversation before." Reb knew who he was when the Alpha, Charles Goodman, smiled at his Mate. "Hey there, little Red Riding Hood." He came around behind Kat and kissed her neck, then chucked the baby under the chin with his knuckle. "The cub giving you a hard time?"
"The little one? No. The big one? He's gone back to acting like a little pri...naughty boy."
"Must take after his old man." The Alpha winked at River and kissed his Mate's neck again, this time adding a tickling finger behind her ear.
"Don't start what you can't finish, Big Bad."
"Will you two stop it? It's embarrassing," River growled. "Now where's the Alpha?"
"Which one?" Begley asked.
"Were you looking for me?" Roland held the door for Margaret.
"River, dear, grinding your jaws like that isn't good for your teeth." As if he wasn't about to explode, Margaret kissed his cheek. "Sit down and have some pie."
Everyone else took a seat, but Reb stood with River. She wasn't quite sure what was going on, but knew her place was with him.
Roland held out his arms and Kat passed him the latest Goodman. Jiggling the little boy on his knee with a giddy-up motion, he smiled at his mate. "I wouldn't mind one or two of these about the place. They'd provide a delightful entertainment in my dotty old age."
"It will be a long while before dotty sets in, dearest, and let's not jump the gun. She isn't mated. Yet. Rebecca, please take a seat. You and River are making people nervous. It's becoming a habit."
"Get used to it," Charles advised. "He's been making us nervous for years."
River shook his head in disgusted defeat. He held a chair out for Reb and as she sat, he whispered in her ear. "They're crazy, every last one of them."
"But we ain't deaf." Begley pointed to River's chair. "Set yourself down, boy, and have a piece of pie. Then we can stop all the yammerin' and get down to business.
"All I want to know is where's the Alpha who's supposed to mate with Reb?"
"Dead," Begley said flatly. "The first one, anyway. And now I've got another poor girl crying her heart out down in Arkansas. You mind cutting me another slice of that pie, ma'am?" He pushed his empty plate toward Margaret.
"Of course, Mr. Begley." She cut him another slice and passed back the plate.
He was talking about Dennis and everyone knew it. Reb bowed her head. Dennis was a good man and a good Alpha, but she could never have loved him the way she loved River.
"I don't get it. Who cares about some girl in Arkansas?"
"I agree with River on this one," Reb interrupted her train of thought. "I only care about River and me. I'm not mating an Alpha. I'm mating River." She closed her eyes in a flinch. They hadn't even talked about mating. She just assumed.
She was so relieved when River laughed and draped his arm around her neck. He pulled her to him and kissed her forehead.
"Why do you think I came back, Babe?"
So relieved, she started to giggle. "For fudge?"
"That, too."
He seemed calmer now, more relaxed, so she finished what she'd been about to say. "I feel bad for this heartbroken female, but I don't see how it should be my concern."
"Not you, him." Begley glared at Kat. "I thought you said he can read?"
"Can and may, Eugene. He can read. He may not have."
The glare turned to River. "Didn't you read them papers I gave you?"
River shrugged.
"I was gonna."
"Was gonna don't put food on the table. It don't stop from adding to my headaches, neither."
"What the he..." With four wolver's staring at him, three of whom were female, River changed tack. "...heck are you talking about?"
Charles snickered. "Coward."
"You're one to talk," River snickered back.
"That poor miserable girl in Arkansas is waiting for the Alpha who's set on mating Rebecca," Begley said, "Of course, she doesn't know it yet. Human you know," he said to the others.
Kat raised her finger. "Careful there, Eugene. I was human once."
"And you didn't know what you were, did you? Neither does that poor girl. There's a little pack down there that needs a good Alpha and that Alpha needs a Mate. You," he pointed to River, "screwed that up."
"Well, let me unscrew it for you." River slapped the table. "Send Reb's Alpha right on down to Arkansas to make that little pack and that poor girl happy. Problem solved."
"I don't think Miss Rebecca would like that," the little wolver said, rather happily, Reb thought. Begley grinned and winked at her.
The others were grinning, too, and Reb was beginning to think River was right. They were crazy. All of them.
Still grinning, Begley shook his head from side to side. "Thick as mud, the two of you."
River leapt from his seat so abruptly, the chair would have fallen if Reb hadn't been quick handed enough to catch it.
"No." No anger, just, "No."
His eyes darted about the room as if he was searching for an exit from which to flee and judging his chances of making it. The wolver who claimed to be afraid of nothing, looked frightened.
Reb grabbed for his hand, but he moved and she captured his forearm instead. She tugged at it to bring his eyes to her.
"Whatever it is, River, I've got you."
"As a good Mate should," Margaret agreed with a nod to Kat.
"I'm not..." Reb began.
"I'm not an Alpha," River's protest overrode Reb's.
"Of course you are." Charles was no longer smiling. "We've known it for a long time. Didn't admit it until recently, but we knew it."
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