“That was my intention. I figured those coolers weren’t holding a change of clothes.” Elizabeth took the gun to her shoulder and sighted down the barrel. “I don’t think they’re coming back today, but I won’t take any chances.”
“Those coolers are for the wolvers, but I think I can rustle up some fat meat for you.”
* * *
The day passed slowly. From the sacks came more eggs, bacon, sausage and the makings for biscuits. Ruby added flour and milk to the crumbled sausage drippings and made ‘gravy’. Served over biscuits, it was the best breakfast Elizabeth ever tasted.
Maggie wasn’t kidding when she said the coolers were for the wolvers. She had the women empty the contents on the plastic tarp. They were filled with meat and after Marshall had taken his choice, the others set to. The tarp, licked clean was removed to the back porch.
“What did you expect?” Max asked when she saw Elizabeth go wide-eyed at the snarling and growling. She shrugged and laughed. “They’re wolves.”
She’d slept late into the morning and now looked alert and refreshed. In borrowed slacks and blouse, she took her turn on watch. Her wolf never left her side.
Elizabeth dozed on and off as did the others. She took her turn on watch, this time at the side of the house facing the ravine. She sat on a kitchen chair.
“Might as well be comfortable,” Gwenna said when she dragged it out.
Gwenna had been offering small kindnesses all morning and Elizabeth knew it was her way of saying thanks. The chair wasn’t comfortable, but it beat standing for an hour. She’d been scanning the trees for about ten minutes when Marshall padded out to sit by her side.
“I don’t think anything will happen until nightfall,” she told him.
His eyes widened and she thought he might be asking, “Why?”
“That’s when you’ll have to expend energy to change the others back. You’ll spend more precious energy healing George and anyone at the other hideouts.”
Marshall chuffed.
“You want me to say the other word, don’t you?” She wasn’t sure how she knew.
Marshall lowered his muzzle in a regal nod. He was a Wolf King, she decided and it suited him. That didn’t mean she was comfortable with the term magic.
“Sorry, your Highness, but I’m not one of your subjects and I’m having enough trouble dealing with your furry features. So energy it is and if you don’t like it, you can bite me.”
Marshall gave a little snarl followed by that silly grin.
“That was a dirty thought, wasn’t it?”
Again with the regal bow. Could a wolf be sexy? Elizabeth laughed.
“Do you want to hear this or should I just write it in my journal?”
Marshall gave an exasperated chuff and looked out at the trees. He was waiting for her to continue.
“That’s better. And no more distractions. I’m on duty here.” She peeked up at the kitchen window where she was sure she heard someone snicker and then went back to scanning the tree line. “If I were running things for the bad guys, that’s when I would attack. And I’d do it as wolves. You’re still weakened from last night, Marshall, and after changing the wolves to men and healing, you’d then have to change your men back. You’d be at a low point for attack or challenge. What do you think? Am I making sense?” She waited for Marshall’s comment. None came. His head was on his paws and he was sound asleep.
Well, there you go, Mother. I took your advice and got a man and a dog and you were right. Neither one of them answers.
“I should have stuck with the cats,” she muttered.
Chapter 16
Nothing happened. No one came to challenge Marshall and there were no more attacks.
About three in the afternoon, two ancient pickups made their way up the long driveway. The first barreled up and came to a gravel spewing halt at the back door. Two old men tumbled from the front seat, muttering curses and glaring at the driver, a short, round, red headed woman with a close cut cap of curly hair.
She wore a professional looking gun belt with a pistol at each hip and carried a shotgun the size of a small cannon when she emerged from behind the driver’s door.
“Aw quit yer belly achin’, old man,” she laughed. “The way you drive, we liked to never get here.”
“We liked to never get here as it was.” Elizabeth recognized the speaker as Roy, the coffee drinker from the Dizzy Dish and Maggie’s errant husband. “There was no call to take those turns at ninety miles an hour.”
By this time, the other car had pulled up in a much more respectable manner. The driver was as old as Roy, but his grinning face said that he enjoyed his ride. With him was another older man and a middle aged blond woman who looked familiar but Elizabeth couldn’t quite place.
“Had to come over Hawley’s Hill,” the red head said. “The loop is blocked in too many places. Only one big ole tree blocking the Hill, but these guys had to stand around and talk about how best to get it out of the way. Never heard so many tree stories in my life. You’d think they could just cut the damn thing up and move it to the side, but no-o-o, they have to jaw about it ‘til nature rots it away.”
“Hey! I’m supposed to be keeping an eye on the town. I ain’t supposed to be clearing roads.”
Maggie was threading her arm through Roy’s and dragging him into the house. “You’ve done lots of things you weren’t supposed to be doing, old man. I’m just glad you’re here. I’m guessing you’re snarling at each other ‘cause you didn’t meet no one else to snarl at along the way.”
“Yeah,” Roy agreed, “Poor Harmony was a might disappointed. She came out of that office loaded for bear. You should see what she got loaded in the truck bed.”
Ah, the famous Harmony, sender of help and spreader of gossip. Elizabeth had thought the voice was familiar. Marshall, who’d slept at her feet for most of the day, stood by her side and it wasn’t until Harmony approached, hand outstretched to shake, that Elizabeth realized her right hand was fingering the ruff of his neck. She snatched it away self-consciously.
“Nice to have a face to go with the voice,” she said as they shook.
“Yeah, sorry about that. It threw me a bit, hearing a woman at Marshall’s place. Not that there haven’t been contenders before, mind you…”
Marshall snarled and snapped and Harmony stepped back and lowered her head. “Sorry, sorry. Well, it was real nice to meet you.” She turned back to the others. “We got more meat in the truck. May as well feed ‘em up before the sun goes down. There’s a box of clothes for them that needs ‘em.”
Clothes? Did they lose their clothes during the shift to wolf? Would she have a houseful of naked men when they turned back? The thought was intriguing, but decided the event wouldn’t look quite the same in fact as in theory. Marshall and Henry were wearing cotton pants when she met them in the woods; the kind with a drawstring at the waist. Marshall’s were long and Henry’s were cut off at the knee. She thought at the time they’d come from bed and blushed at where that thought had led. She leaned down to whisper to Marshall.
“Are you naked under all that fur?”
The big, bad wolf actually coughed and sputtered and Elizabeth laughed.
“Or are you wearing those cotton thingies you had on last night.”
Marshall rolled his eyes heavenward and issued a soft whine.
“How am I supposed to learn if I don’t ask?” she huffed. “I think I deserve a little credit here. Bizarre as all this is, I think I’ve handled it pretty darn well. You’ll have to excuse me if I have a few questions. I could be locked and screaming in the bathroom you know,” she added, borrowing Maggie’s words.
The wolf’s shoulders slumped in defeat.
“So, naked?”
Marshal moved his head slowly in the negative.
“So when you switch back, you’ll have pants on.”
His head moved slowly up and down.
He was obviously uncomfortable and Elizabeth was enjoyi
ng it. “Apparently, some of you are naked or Harmony wouldn’t have brought clothes. Does this mean you’re more modest than the others?” She paused for effect. “Or do you have something to hide?”
He huffed out a stream of air so strong his lips flapped. Elizabeth giggled when he turned and stalked into the house following the coolers of meat.
Dear Mother, sometimes having a man/dog who doesn’t talk back is kind of fun.
Maggie called them together just before sunset. “They’re going to be most vulnerable during the change, so if they’re coming back, that’s when I figure they’ll hit.” She turned to Elizabeth. “It takes some of them a few minutes to readjust and it’s worse the longer they’ve been beasts,” she explained and then to the group, “If they come as wolves, get out of the way. It’s Marshall’s war.”
She made sure everyone was armed and stationed around the outside of the house. The only one missing was Gwenna who refused to leave George’s side when they moved him to the bed in anticipation of the change. No one argued with her.
The sun, which always set too quickly for Elizabeth, seemed to take forever to lower past the horizon. She could feel the tension build. As it finally winked out below the trees, hands gripped weapons a little tighter, eyes watched the trees a little more sharply.
“Watch for flashes of light,” Brie whispered beside her. “That’ll mean their coming as beasts.”
They watched for several minutes and then Roy put his fingers to his lips and whistled loud and shrill. There was a light from the cabin bright enough to illuminate the covered windows, a series of groans and sighs and after a few more minutes, the door opened and a few of the younger men began to come out. They looked little more than boys.
“Eyes on the trees,” Maggie snapped and Elizabeth knew she wasn’t the only one who’d forgotten her task.
“Damn fools,” Roy shouted, “Get your butts back inside. Marshall told you to wait for an all clear and I ain’t given it yet. When he gets back he’ll have your hides decorating his barn. Damned pups think you don’t have to follow orders.” The young men quickly moved back inside and slammed the door behind them. Roy went on to mutter something about young’uns not knowing their place anymore.
“Marshall? Isn’t he here?” Even to her own ears, Elizabeth sounded a little desperate. She flushed a deeper red when Roy chuckled and winked.
“He’ll be back. Don’t you worry. He’s got to see to the others. Send folks home. There’s a few wounded that need tending, then he’ll come back here and take care of George, though as far as I can see, you did a fine job of that yourself.”
“Thanks,” she murmured, her mind still on Marshall. She didn’t know why she should be worried about him. He was the Alpha, the Big Dog, the Boss Man. This was his job. He’d no doubt done this before. And yet…?
Roy waited another fifteen minutes to sound the all clear and Elizabeth thought he waited that long to prove a point to the ‘young pups’.
This time when they emerged, it was with a great deal of whooping and hollering. The general consensus was that they had done enough damage to the other side and run them off. Elizabeth wasn’t so sure, but reasoned that these people had more experience than she in such matters, so she didn’t voice her doubts.
Maggie was waiting for them. She laughed at their antics. It wasn’t only the younger ones making noise and then she got down to business.
“All right, you lazy good for nothin’s,” she called. “Let’s get this place back in shape. Come on there. You boys have been lazing around eating all day while we’ve been doing all the heavy lifting.”
In little over an hour, the place looked like the day had never happened. Floors were swept clean, furniture was replaced, and kitchen and bath were spotless. Two freshly washed blankets were in the dryer, while out in the yard, four young men in teams of two, wrung out two more blankets to be hung to dry on the rail. A load of towels was in the wash.
“You need to talk to that skinflint landlord of yours about that washer,” Maggie joked about her ancient wringer, “That thing is as old as Ruby.”
Ruby, who was standing a few feet away, didn’t miss a beat. “Which is two months younger than you, you old crow, and both of us are too old to spend another night anywhere but in our own beds. Let’s get these boys loaded up and to home. These old bones need a long soak in a hot tub. And I ain’t getting up until noon tomorrow.”
“Ruby Taylor, you never slept ‘till noon in your entire life…”
Elizabeth shook her head as she watched the bickering friends walk out to the trucks and smiled at Roy when he came up beside her.
“Those two have been best friends since before they could walk,” he told her. “Burt and I found them all the way over in east Texas, brought them home together as brides. One wouldn’t go without the other. That story you heard makes good tellin’, but it was the biggest mistake of my life. I was a damn fool.”
Elizabeth was touched by the emotion in his voice and she squeezed the old man’s hand. “Someone recently told me that all of us could make that claim. You either stay that way or change your ways. It seems to me you changed your ways.”
“I did and that old woman was good enough to let me. I’d spent all those years wondering if I chose the right one. Sure enough, I did.” He looked over the yard and back at the house. “Marshall will be back shortly. We’ll drop this lot off and someone will come back to get George and Gwenna. You gonna to be all right?”
“I’ll be fine, but don’t send anyone back tonight. George needs rest and Gwenna is exhausted. They can have my bed tonight. I’ll sleep in the chair.”
George’s color was good and he seemed to be in no pain and one of the men had told her that Marshall checked him over before he left and said George could wait until he saw to the others. That was good enough for her.
“And if you see Marshall, you tell him we’re fine. He can come by tomorrow. He doesn’t need to come back tonight.”
“Like that’s gonna happen,” one of the teenagers snickered as he walked by.
Roy’s hand snapped out faster than a whip and caught the boy in the back of the head. “You mind who you’re talking to and who you’re talking about. Where your Alpha is and when ain’t none of your business, boy. You show Miz Elizabeth some respect.”
Most of the teenagers she was acquainted with would be looking sullen and angry. Not this one. He looked genuinely shamefaced.
“Sorry, ma’am.” He nodded his head.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“Ronnie, ma’am.”
“I’m pleased to meet you, Ronnie. Everyone’s very proud of you men.” She saw his eyes brighten when she referred to him as a man. “I’m sure it was a slip of the tongue because of all the excitement, so no offense taken…” She felt Roy stiffen beside her. “…this time. And I’m sure there won’t be a next time.”
“No ma’am there won’t.” He was grinning very much like a boy as he ran off to climb in the back of the truck.
“You’re a keeper, Miz Elizabeth,” Roy chuckled, “A dove among the crows. You lock up now and keep watch. You don’t let anyone in but Marshall. He’ll be here more soon than late.”
“But…”
“I know. I’ll tell him. Don’t mean he’ll listen. He never does.”
Chapter 17
The blaring of a car horn woke her. She grabbed the shotgun, ran to the back door and peered cautiously out. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, first in fright and then in pique when she saw Marshall standing in the headlight’s beam. He carried a large paper grocery bag. She snapped back the bolt and opened the door.
“What is the matter with you, standing there making all that noise?” she said as he came through the door. She bolted it behind him. “George and Gwenna are sleeping and they both need it. You need to be quiet.”
“I tried. You were snoring so loud you couldn’t hear me knock,” he laughed. “I tried the doors and the windows. I could hear
you, but you couldn’t hear me.” He set the grocery bag on the counter.
She set the gun next to it and placed her hands on her hips. “I do not snore.”
He eyed her flannel shorts and orange t-shirt and sighed. “I had such hope of tiny rosebuds.”
Elizabeth couldn’t help it. She laughed and said, “Hope springs eternal.”
“From the human breast,” he finished the piece, “Man never is, but always to be blest. Alexander Pope.” Marshall shook his head. “I was never much of a fan. And yet, ‘Hope is a pleasant acquaintance’.” He bowed low and made her laugh again.
“But an unsafe friend.’ Where on earth did you dig up Haliburton?”
The man read! He made her laugh. These items were not mentioned on her mother’s list of What To Look For In A Man, but they were definitely on hers.
“I had a great aunt who hailed from Canada. I got her books when she passed.” He looked thoughtful for a moment and then shrugged. “If I’d gone to college like my mother wanted me to, I probably would have majored in English or literature of some sort. Didn’t happen, but I still like to read.” He nodded at the bag and closed his eyes for a second. “Can you cook?” he asked when he opened them.
“Oh Marshall, we’ve been standing here playing games and you’re exhausted. Go sit down.” She looked in the bag at the white freezer wrapped packages, the bottle of wine and the loaf of bread. “I can cook a steak.”
“Three steaks, rare, and there’s one for you, too. When was the last time you ate?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m eating now.” Elizabeth shooed him with her hands. “Go. Sit. Down.”
“I can’t. I have to check on George. It’s the reason I came, you know.”
He was through the kitchen door before his statement registered. It was a good thing, too. Elizabeth felt her smile fall along with her jaw and her eyes fill unexpectedly with tears. She shook her head angrily. Just because the wolf kept her company didn’t mean the man was interested in the same. Stupid woman. A little friendly flirting wasn’t the same as a come on. She’d blown her chance and now she’d end up as ‘just a friend.’
The Alpha's Mate Page 12