Wolver's Reward (13 page)

"Coming," a woman's voice answered the
call.

The girl swayed forward and back while River
buckled the jacket around her and brushed back the hair that was
clinging to her face. It was the best he could do, under the
circumstances.

He gave no thought to his own appearance
until the woman came through the front door of the house. She was
big and round and wore some kind of tent-like dress covered in
flowers that matched the ones in the pots.

"Terrible night, isn't it? Not fit for man
nor beast."

River stepped in front of the girl and toward
the counter. The friendly smile left the woman's face and she took
a step back.

"Harry? Harry," she screeched through the
open door and then to River, "We're full up."

There wasn't a car in the lot. Apparently, in
this woman's eyes, he and the girl rated somewhere below man and
beast.

"Ma'am." River tried to sound polite though
inside he was seething. "We got caught in the storm. I know what we
look like, but my girl here can't take anymore." He stepped aside
so the woman could get a good look.

She had no sympathy. "She's drunk. That's not
my doing and we're full up. There's another place up the road a
piece, about twenty miles. Harry?" she screeched again.

The girl couldn't go another twenty steps
never mind twenty miles. River's hands curled into fists and his
jaw hardened.

Harry shuffled through the door, tightening
the belt of his blue plaid robe. He pushed his glasses from the top
of his head down to his nose. "What's the problem?"

His wife put her hands to her hips. "They
are. Tell them they have to leave. Tell them we're not that kind of
place."

"We're not that kind of place," Harry
deadpanned. "You got a credit card?"

"Harry!"

River reached for his wallet. "I do," he said
and hoped like hell that Charles hadn't cancelled it.

"There, you see, Sweetie Pie? They're cold
and wet and need a place to stay. If they do any damage, we'll
charge it to the card. You go on inside now and I'll handle
this."

"This will ruin our reputation," she huffed
as she moved back inside. "Ruin our reputation."

"What reputation?" Harry muttered when the
door closed behind her. "We've had three customers in six weeks and
they were all like you. They just dressed better. Gonna have to
charge you for a full day, but the sheets are clean. You got
cash?"

"Um, yeah, sure."

River returned the credit card to its slot.
The man quoted a price, a round figure that he said included tax,
and handed over the key once he had the money in hand.

"Aren't I supposed to sign something?"

"You sure you want to?"

"I guess not."

"Didn't think so." He nodded toward the girl
and winked. "Dry her off, warm her up, and have a good time." He
continued talking as he turned toward the door. "I was young once
you know, and then I married Joan."

"Thank you," River called after him.

Harry waved his hand over his head and closed
the door.

Since he couldn't manage both, River left the
bike where it was and walked across the parking area with the girl
in his arms. It was still raining, but he didn't have the energy to
run. While the east showed faint signs of the coming dawn, it did
little to lighten the skies around the Paradise Motel. River didn't
need the light to recognize the three figures emerging from the
unit at the far end.

"Shit."

"Shoot."

It was the first word she'd spoken since he
put her on the bike. He wasn't sure if she was agreeing with him or
correcting his language. Since her face was buried in his neck, and
he was pretty sure her eyes were closed, he chose the latter, and
it made him smile.

Unit Five was his and three of their four
followers met him under the overhang that covered the cement
walkway in front of the rooms. They didn't make any threatening
moves, but he didn't like the way the big blond eyed the girl. The
wolver's eyes had gone from cold to calculating.

River held the girl a little closer.

"Give me a minute to get her inside," he said
before they had a chance to speak. "I'll give you your money and we
can call it quits." He hoped the money was what they wanted and not
the girl. If they wanted the girl, he'd have to fight.

His wolf snarled in agreement.

"We don't want the money."

Shit.

"Shut up, Toby." Blue eyes made a threatening
move toward the wolver who'd spoken and the smaller wolver shrank
back.

"Knock it off, Ben. The cub's right. We don't
want the money. Or the girl," Scarface added when River's lip
curled.

"What do you want, then?" River slid the key
into the slot. The lock turned easily and the door swung open.

"Talk."

They tried to follow him in. He blocked their
way.

"Not here."

"Our room then."

River nodded. "Give me ten minutes." He had
his foot hooked around the edge of the door, ready to close it,
when he stopped. He narrowed his eyes. "How'd you get a room when
you were behind us and where'd you stash the bikes."

Scarface smiled, his good eye almost closing
with it. "Wheeled the bikes in real quiet while you kept them busy.
Parked 'em around back and then worked a little magic." He wiggled
the fingers of his right hand in the air. "Same way we always do
it, except our standards are a little higher than yours."

"Sorry, the Regency was booked. Where's your
other little buddy?"

"In bed."

"Then you better get him up. I want to see
the four of you standing outside that door before I walk away from
mine. Just in case your talents are contagious."

"But Quentin's hurt," Toby complained, giving
away a weakness in their numbers.

Quentin and Toby. Frick and Frack.

"How bad?"

"A couple of busted ribs. The ride did him
in."

"Busted ribs won't kill him. Get him up and
I'll see you in ten, fifteen minutes." River stepped back, closed
the door, and turned on the light.

He didn't need the light and almost turned it
off again, but he couldn't. It was like watching the results of a
horrific car accident. You knew you shouldn't look, but you
couldn't turn away.

The furniture was mock bamboo with woven mats
of plastic fronds. The same plastic, though darker, filled in the
headboards and drawer fronts. In keeping with the tropical theme,
palm trees were everywhere; on the curtains, and the chairs, and
the bedspread. They were even woven into the carpet. River could
have lived with that. Hell, he'd spent the night in a lot worse
surroundings, but what put this place over the top of awful was the
mural behind the two double beds. It covered the whole wall and the
colors were so bright, they hurt his eyes.

Someone had let a ten year old without an
ounce of artistic talent run wild. The sky was bright blue
interrupted with lumps of blinding white that were supposed to be
clouds. The sand was yellow mixed with brown so it wouldn't be
confused with the glaring yellow ball shining down from the corner
that he assumed was the sun. Marching across the wall was a row of
- surprise! - palm trees. They looked like telephone poles with
ragged green umbrellas on top. Hula girls danced between them. He
recognized them by their coconut bras and grass skirts, but if this
was someone's idea of a sensuous scene, they'd missed the mark.
Unless you got off on fucking the dead.

He sat the girl on the side of the bed and
bent to take off her orange sneakers. She listed to the side and
almost fell, so propping her head against his shoulder and
balancing her weight against him, he turned his attention to
removing the jacket and tee shirt first. She reminded him of
Meadow's old ragdoll, smudged and stained and a little frayed
around the edges, but in Meadow's eyes, still beautiful.

Just like that doll and the little girl who
owned her, his Babe-in-the-woods was beautiful, too. He stroked her
hair and tucked the strands that hung by her face back behind her
ear. She smiled, a dreamlike curling of the lips, and rubbed her
cheek against his hand. Wet, and mud stained, and beautiful, and
way too trusting.

Meadow was too old for ragdolls now, but
River remembered how she slept, curled around that doll in the same
way he'd curled around her when she was a pup. She never said a
word, but her little hand would clutch his shirt while she slept as
if she was afraid he'd leave her behind in whatever abandoned shed
or car they sheltered in. He never would have left her.

It was the little girl who left him when she
turned her loyalty to Charles and Kat. River was happy for her. The
Alpha and Mate gave Meadow all the things that he never could.

His current ragdoll raised her hand to the
side of his head and, soft as a whisper, ran the pad of her thumb
across his cheek.

"Are you crying?" she asked, not critical,
but concerned.

River blinked and sniffed. "Nah, just
tired."

She plunked her forehead into the middle of
his chest. "Me, too. I want to sleep and sleep and never wake up. I
want it all to go away."

He knew that feeling, too. The problem was
that no matter how long she slept, her troubles would still be
there. They always were. Still, exhaustion fogged your brain and
dulled your instincts.

"Then sleep," he told her, "But only for a
little while."

She sighed and River felt the flutter of her
eyelashes against his chest.

"You won't leave me, will you?"

She really was a babe in the woods; tired,
brain fogged, and instincts dulled.

River bent and kissed the tangled hair at the
top of her head. He made sure his touch was light, so she wouldn't
feel it. He used to do that with Meadow, too. Only she was always
sound asleep.

He laid her down and tucked the covers around
her.

"I'll only be gone for a few minutes, but
I'll be nearby. I'll keep watch while you sleep."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

"What's your name?" she asked drowsily.

"River."

She didn't open her eyes, but her lips turned
up in a dreamy smile. "River. I like that. It suits you."

Whatever. "What's yours?"

"I don't know anymore. I used to be Rebel.
It's who I wanted to be, but I guess I'm just a Becky after all."
Another sigh. "I just want to sleep."

River wasn't sure what the hell that meant.
Was she Rebel or Becky? "Sleep then. I'll be back soon."

He was already at the door when she spoke
again.

"River?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell them to come. Tell them they're
welcome."

"Tell who?"

She rolled to her side, facing the back of
the room, and snugged the covers up around her neck. "Your talk,"
she mumbled. "They want to come with us. Tell them they can."

"Oh, Babe, I don't know if that's a good
idea."

He'd thought she was asleep. That she'd heard
the conversation and still wanted them to come was proof of her
exhaustion. Brain fogged, definitely, though he was beginning to
wonder if she had any instincts at all.

"We need them and they're a lot like
you."

She was right about that. They said they were
pack, but they smelled like rogues. Just like him.

"River?"

"Yeah?"

"We need you, too."

No, they didn't. They needed to go home to
wherever they came from, where the Alpha could play
King-in-a-lawn-chair and his Mate could serve tea. They needed to
find their daughter a suitable Alpha who lived the same way. They
needed Eugene Begley.

He wasn't sure why she thought they needed to
bring in guys like the Leathers or wolvers like him.

She was asking for trouble, but it was none
of his business. As soon as he returned her to her parents, he'd be
on his way. When that trouble came, it wouldn't be his fight.

"Shit," he muttered.

"Shoot," came the mumbled correction.

Chapter 10

The four were waiting for him outside their
door just as he'd demanded, and they hadn't lied about Quentin. He
was leaning against the doorframe, looking pale. His arms were
braced around his middle to support his broken ribs. River felt for
the cub. Busted ribs were a bitch, but they healed fast. A day or
two and he'd be back on the road, unless they got caught and thrown
out.

Scarface caught River's glance at the office.
"We paid."

"Waste of good money if you ask me," the big
guy, Ben, snarled.

Apparently, no one had. Scarface ignored him
and went on.

"Rigged Toby up in Dennis's suit." He
shrugged. "The pants and shirt, anyway. The jacket was too big. The
cub looks good in a tie." The sideways look he gave the young
wolver, said it wasn't really a compliment. "The old lady was
thrilled to have such a nice young man in her respectable
establishment. Come on in."

River followed him into the room. The same
ten year old had decorated this room, too. "Damn, you guys lucked
out. Caveman surfers beat hula zombies hands down."

"No kiddin'? Hula zombies? Can we see 'em?"
Toby was off the bed and headed for the door.

"Not unless you want to play whose ribs are
busted up the most." The grin River gave him wasn't playful. "Stay
away from her," he warned. He heard his possessive sounding mistake
as soon as it came out of his mouth, but he wasn't about to stutter
a correction.

The cub grinned and wiggled his brows. The
other cub snorted and then winced and grabbed his ribs. What the
hell was their Alpha thinking? Bringing those two cubs to that
disaster in the park was like going to war with two pissing
dicks.

Blue eyes took exception to his order. "Fuck
you. You can't tell..."

River cut him off. "I just did." He let it
hang there for a moment, just long enough for the blond wolver to
recognize it for the challenge it was and then added, reasonably,
"You saw her. She's exhausted and she needs sleep to think
straight. Nobody's going to take that away from her." He left
"especially you" unsaid, but his look made it clear. "You'd have
told them the same thing," he added to give the guy an out.