Wolver's Reward (11 page)

So, in her shame and anger, she fought the
one wolver who tried to help her. Again. She'd hurt him. Again. And
again, he'd refused to hurt her in return.

Reb knew he wouldn't hurt her, long before he
said the words. Even when he pinned her down and she felt his
growing erection pressing against her, she knew. He wanted her, not
for what she was or what she could bring his pack. He wanted her
solely for the pleasure her body would bring him, but he wouldn't
take it from her. No, he wouldn't take it unless she offered it to
him of her own free will. Still, she had to be sure.

There were some who still believed the myth
that a Mate could make an Alpha in the same way an Alpha could make
a Mate. It was nonsense, of course, but the falsehood persisted. It
was one of the reasons her parents had guarded her so carefully. Up
until today.

Her rescuer didn't believe it. She was sure
of that. The look on his face, funny and offended as it was, made
her want him. Her wolf wanted him, too. It rolled and laughed, and
growled when Reb had finally stopped thrusting with her hips. Her
wolf hadn't flicked so much as an ear when she'd met with the
Alphas. She'd chuffed in boredom and gone to sleep.

Time was passing and Reb began to pace, and
with the pacing came doubt. Her questions about her mysterious
rescuer rose to the surface again. Who was he and how did he find
his way here, and so quickly, too?

~*~

River moved through the forest and kept his
eyes peeled for what he needed. He'd hidden in the woods before,
from both wolvers and humans. He'd hidden the pups, too, but he was
more animal than wolver then, and he knew the land around him. He
was a stranger here. He knew nothing of the streams or ponds or
bogs where scent could be lost or disguised.

He needed an animal, the larger, the better,
but he didn't have time to be choosy. He'd take whatever he saw
first. Rain was coming. He could feel it in the air. Rain would
wash the scent from the air and covering his feet with the animal
skin would mask his scent on the ground.

The full moon was descending. He had to get
this done while he could still shift to wolf.

He shifted. Once again, the change took
longer than it should have, and this time he had the full power of
the moon behind him. He was exhausted. He was hungry. He needed
food and sleep, but he wasn't likely to get either before this job
was done. Or before he was dead, he thought wryly.

"
Hunt
."

"Yeah, hunt, but don't eat."

"
Stupid
."

"At least I'm predictable. And don't lose the
dress," River instructed as he faded into the background and gave
his wolf free reign. It wasn't as good as sleep, but at least his
mind could get some rest.

It didn't take the wolf long to track down
and kill two rabbits. It ate the first before River could stop
it.

"
Hungry
," it complained.
"
Strength
."

The animal was right. His strength and
stamina were shot to hell, and he needed enough for two. He'd
forgotten what it was like to have another, weaker creature
dependent on him. In some ways, the girl was weaker than the pups
he'd sheltered.

Physically, she was strong enough. He'd seen
that in the way she ran and felt it in the long lines of her body.
Her muscles were firm and tight beneath his hands though her skin
and the palms of her hands were soft and unmarred. She reminded him
of the branches of a weeping willow that were long, graceful, and
tender looking but had the strength and power of a whip.

It wasn't her physical condition that made
her weak. It was her ignorance of the world around her. River
believed her when she said she never meant for this to happen.
She'd had no idea that it could. He still wasn't sure she
understood it fully.

His movement through the woods was slow
going. Dragging the dress now little more than a rag, was awkward,
but he needed their two scents to overlap. It was the girl who'd
given him the idea.

"Mating me won't make you an Alpha," she'd
said.

She had to have heard the belief from someone
and if he could make the real Alphas believe she'd been taken by a
wolver dumb enough to believe it, it would be an added incentive to
follow the scent.

He came to a likely spot and brought himself
home to human. Each shift sapped more of his energy and he was
secretly glad the wolf had eaten.

Secretly? There were no secrets when it came
to your wolf. The creature grinned, a stupid look that made its
mouth draw back and tongue loll.

"
Need wolf
."

"Yeah, I do," River admitted, "But don't push
it."

They'd crested a steep hill. It wasn't
perfect, but it would do. Wrapping the dress in a short chunk of
wood, he tossed it as far as he could down the other side. It
tumbled over and over, and then skid over the slick covering of
leaves and plants before the two pieces separated. The dress
fluttered on a whispery wave of breeze while the heavier wood went
tumbling on. Again, not perfect, but better than nothing.

Folding his paws beneath him, River took a
moment to rest.

Chapter
8

River's head snapped up at the distinct sound
of two large wolves moving through the trees. They were moving, but
for a moment, he had no idea where they were. He was confused,
disoriented, and suddenly worried for the girl. The Alphas
shouldn't be this close.

"How long have we been gone?"

"
Short time
."

River knew it was a stupid question as soon
as he asked it. Short time could mean ten minutes or half a day,
sometimes more. A lot depended on how much the wolf was enjoying
himself. Time flies when you're having fun, right? And by the feel
of the lolling tongue and silly grin, his wolf had enjoyed himself
a lot. Had River allowed himself to sink so far back in his wolf's
consciousness he'd lost track?

Wolves had no sense of time. They ate when
they were hungry and slept when they pleased. When he first
shifted, he'd take off from the pack for a short run alone and come
back hours later. There was a Primal Law that said the wolf should
never rule the human, and Ryker had warned him of the
consequences.

The Alphas weren't together, but coming from
two different directions. They must have been close enough to hear
the wooden Mate's fall and came to investigate.

River couldn't run as man. They would hear
him and in a hunting frenzy, might run him down and kill him as men
once he was cornered. He couldn't flash to wolf. If they didn't see
it, they'd feel it, and the result might be the same. He flattened
himself down on the ground to wait and watch, hoping against hope
that they met each other before they met him.

One came from the south. Heavy set and tawny
colored, the wolf showed signs of old scarring on its sides. The
other came from the west. It was younger, its coat a glossy gold,
and it looked more than capable of taking on the older wolf. It was
also moving faster. Thug and the Leather Adonis.

They collided in midair with a force so
great, River heard it. In a tangle of fur and fury, the two fell
together. He was too far away and his sightline was obstructed by
trees, but River felt the power of the Alphas as they fought for
supremacy. His head bobbed and jutted with each move. Out of habit,
he took note of their styles. The elder relied on size and force,
the younger on speed and agility.

He should have run, but he couldn't take his
eyes from the contest below. The power of their magic exploded
around them. The air shimmered with it. Both wolves seemed to grow
in size and strength. He'd seen Alphas Challenged before and it was
always a contest to the death, but he'd never seen anything like
this. He was mesmerized by its intensity.

His wolf nipped at his insides, reminding him
that the winner of this battle would follow the trail left by the
dress, and in the opposite direction than the one he intended. He
started to turn and crawl away when the younger Alpha made a
mistake. He tried and failed to use the older wolf's tactic of
brute force. The death blow was struck.

Thug caught Leather's throat and tore. He
stepped away and raised his snout in a howl of victory, but he'd
underestimated the younger wolf. Leather took two stumbling steps
and lunged. He caught the tawny's underbelly, then fell. This time,
the older wolf took the time to finish it.

Too little, too late, and that was too bad.
River thought he might have had a chance against the Alpha Leather
if it came to that. The guy was bigger, but he was young and
obviously not half as experienced or as confident in his style.
Yeah, he definitely would have had a chance, even if it was a slim
one, against Leather. But not against Thug.

As if sensing his thought, the victorious
Alpha raised his snout again, this time not to howl, but to
pinpoint River with his gaze. He snarled, took several steps in
River's direction, and then looked down as if surprised his body
wasn't functioning as it should. He fell, rose, and fell again, and
rolled to the side.

He wasn't dead. His sides were still heaving,
and it crossed River's mind that now was the time for him to
attack. He could easily strike the death blow, and that would mean
the Alpha's Mantle, the mystical garment of an Alpha's power, would
fall to him should the moon see him fit to wear it.

Several things stopped him. The first was the
girl. He was afraid that as Alpha, his need for a Mate would bring
out all the ugliness and brutality he knew he carried within. He'd
promised to help her and protect her. He couldn't take the chance
of betraying that promise. The second was something he'd heard. The
Alpha's Mantle could be the death of a wolver too weak to bear its
weight, and River was weak. If his hesitancy to take the mantle as
his right wasn't proof enough, his fear of defending it was.

If the moon granted his taking of it, and if
he was strong enough to carry it, the Thug's pack would become his.
The thought of that made him sick. He'd spend the rest of his short
life defending his position for a pack that was too much like the
one he was born to. He'd become what he hated most.

River flashed to wolf as he turned and ran
with no thought of scent trails or destination. He ran as he too
often did, with a mind numbing need to get away.

He didn't follow the trail he'd laid, but
wolf sense brought him back to where he'd left the girl. Her scent
was strong, but she wasn't there.

What the fuck? River's heart raced. His mouth
went dry. "The girl. Where's the girl?" He didn't even know her
goddamned name.

"
Tree
."

River was pretty sure the wolf rolled its
eyes like River was the one who was dense. It stopped and looked up
when an acorn bounced off its head. Another acorn bounced beside
him.

The girl was sitting on a branch about
halfway up with a handful of acorns.

Was she planning to fight off Alphas with
acorns? He was so relieved to see her, he laughed at the idea. He
couldn't believe how light he felt. His heart had stopped racing,
and his breathing steadied.

She watched him with narrowed eyes. "I'm
pretty sure it's you since you have that sour
what's-that-stupid-girl-doing-now look on your face, but I'm not
coming down until you prove it."

His wolf chortled. Before River could begin
the change, it sat up and begged like a dog. It was the most
embarrassing thing a wolf could do. River completed the shift
before the wolf had a chance to make a bigger ass of itself.

The change was slow, too slow, and he knew it
was the last he would make tonight. The moon was setting and River
had no strength left to draw from it.

The girl swung from a branch and dropped to
the ground. "I like your wolf," she said from the stooped position
of her landing. Her relieved smile changed to a worried frown when
she stood and looked up into his face. "What's wrong?"

River wanted to kiss her again to wipe the
worry away as he had before, but this time managed to show
restraint.

"Nothing." He started to jog. It wasn't in
the direction they'd come, but it was the most direct route to the
parking lot and a faster means of escape.

"Don't tell me nothing. I heard the howl. I
thought it might be..." She stumbled and issued a small, sharp cry,
though he couldn't see anything that would cause her to trip. "But
it wasn't, was it," she said, choking a little on the words. When
she righted herself, she again took his hand, this time as he
offered it, and began trotting with him instead of countering his
efforts. "What happened?"

"They fought. The young one lost. The other
is down and out, but I don't know for how long."

Her intake of breath and the cry that
followed were as sharp as his words.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I didn't realize..."
What? That she would care?

"I liked him," she said. "I liked what he
wanted to do. I'm sorry he's gone." She didn't ask how he died.

River wasn't sure if he had the breath to jog
and talk at the same time. Even if he did, he didn't know what to
say if she asked. If he told her the truth, she'd know why he
didn't kill the Alpha when he'd had the chance. She'd see him as a
coward. He didn't know why that should matter. She'd probably see
it soon enough, but by then he'd be gone and he wouldn't have to
see her look of disappointment or worse, her understanding
acceptance of his failure.

In spite of his earlier boast, he wasn't even
sure he deserved the position of alpha male. He'd been tossed from
his pack and what pack would release an alpha worthy of the
name.