Wolver's Reward (27 page)

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"

What could he say? That from the minute he
saw her sitting on that bumper, he wanted to save and protect her?
That he didn't need her mother to ask him to go and find her? That
the minute he saw those awful orange sneakers, he had to go after
her? Not wanted to, but had to.

"Aw, Babe," he said with a sad shake of his
head. "You grew up in your little ivory tower, in your safe little
village, in your quiet little university town. Your world was built
around Arnolds and Lawrences and Rosemarys, good things and good
wolvers. I thought you'd be going back to it. I wanted you to go
back without ever knowing that there were monsters like
Donavan."

It was a lie. He knew none of that when he
met her, but how could he tell her that it wasn't for her. It was
for himself, because being with Reb, with her innocence, allowed
him to pretend, if only for a little while, that the world of
monsters didn't exist and he wasn't a part of it.

It was time to stop pretending.

"This is my world you're in now, Reb, a world
where monsters are real."

It was going to be tough, but she was wolver
and as she said, not as delicate as she looked. She was the one who
wanted to learn, who needed to learn, and he was the one to teach
her.

"I thought you got it when you saw the dead
at the park, but it didn't really sink in, did it? You were in the
RV. You didn't see it. Donavan's wolvers went for your father. He
fought them off, but he was too weak to fight for your mother. They
tried to kill her too, Babe. They tried to kill her twice."

Reb felt the blood drain from her face, but
she still couldn't comprehend what he was saying. "That couldn't
be. My mother is no fighter. If she was attacked..."

His laugh lacked humor, but it was a laugh
just the same. "Don't ever underestimate your mother. She fought
pretty damn well, but she didn't kill them. I did. Remember the big
naked guy in the RV, the one with the hard-on? Why do you think he
was there?"

"He thought..." She choked on the words,
knowing she'd said them to River, too. "He said mating me would
make him an Alpha."

"He was Donavan's. I'm pretty sure he was
only supposed to grab you, but there you go. Never trust a monster,
even when he's your own."

He left it there and they continued on in
silence. They were crossing the lawn by the pink plastic flamingos
before Reb spoke.

"Don't tell my parents about this. Not yet,
anyway. Losing their home, relocating the pack, joining with
another, my father's leg, the Chase, losing Felix, my father's
friend and Second. They don't need any more heartbreak or worry.
They need rest."

"I'll get Scar to help me bury the evidence.
They're not pack yet, so there's no connection to the others.
Neither the Alpha or the Mate needs to know."

But Donavan and his pack of monsters would be
back. River knew that, too.

~*~

And so did Scar.

When River knocked softly on their door, he
heard two seconds' worth of soft scuffle behind it before it opened
it and Scar stepped out, closing it behind him. He was fully
dressed in black tee shirt and jeans.

"I need to bury some bodies," was all River
said.

The older wolver asked no questions. He
nodded. "Let me get Ben."

"No."

"Look, you've got the bigger dick. Sooner or
later, he'll figure that out. In the meantime, he's big, he's
strong, and I'm too damn old to be lugging bodies. He can be a pain
in the ass, but you can trust him. You got a shovel?"

"No, but I saw some tools by a shed out back
when I went walking with the Mate. I'll see what I can find and
meet you in five out by the road."

Ten minutes later, Scar trotted across the
lawn. Ben shuffled behind him, wearing baggy shorts and a tee shirt
that was inside out. He scratched his head using both hands and
yawned so wide, River could have counted his teeth.

"Who'd you kill this time?" Ben asked
groggily. "And why can't you dig your own damn hole?"

"Because there are three of them."

"Three? You?" Ben gave his head a sharp shake
to clear it. "Why didn't you give me a call?"

Like he would have answered, but Ben did have
a point. "I didn't have my cell." It wasn't his. It was Wolf's
Head's, so he'd left it behind. "I should have," River said,
thinking aloud.

"Damn right," Ben nodded, satisfied, "You
shouldn't try to go it alone." He grinned and stretched his arms as
an excuse to flex his muscles. "And I could use the exercise."

Ben misunderstood, but it was the first time
he'd sounded halfway agreeable, so River didn't correct him. He
just added to it. "We all should have them, exchange numbers, stay
in contact."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Scar muttered
and then explained. "The Alpha doesn't allow them. Says they'll
destroy...What was it he said, Ben?"

Eyes rolling up, the big wolver thought for a
minute. He shook his head and continued walking. "Not destroy.
Undermine," he corrected and then parroted what he'd heard. "Cell
phones will undermine the cohesiveness and shared purpose found in
the collective mind of the pack. Left unused, the ability to
communicate with our fellow members will degenerate and eventually
disappear. I refuse to allow my pack to participate in any activity
that will have a deleterious effect on wolver society as a whole."
Ben blinked and shrugged. "Don't use it, you lose it, I guess. So
no cell phones."

River was secretly glad Ben added that last
part, because he had no idea what the first part meant except for
the ability to communicate part. "Well, shit."

"That's what I said," Ben agreed. "Dennis
said it won't much matter when we get to where we're going."

"Do you know where we're going?"

The Alpha was being cagey. He'd told River
the routes they were to take and the stops they were to make, but
River knew what he'd been shown didn't add up to the distance Reb
gave him. River didn't like it, but he was the hired hand and it
was the Alpha's call.

"Don't you?"

River shrugged noncommittally.

"You don't, do you." Ben sounded pleased, but
then admitted, "I don't either. I wasn't with them the whole time
they talked, but I don't think Dennis knew. He would have told
us."

"He didn't," Scar agreed. "He saw the
pictures, though, and liked what he saw. It's an old fishing and
hunting lodge and he said it was just what we were looking for,
plenty of land and plenty of game." The scarred rogue sounded
wistful.

The sound of running footsteps had them
turning as one. River was afraid it was a Sweet Valley member, but
it was only the cousins, Toby and Quentin.

"Woke up, and you weren't sleeping in front
of the door," Quentin said when they caught up. "I figured you went
out for a smoke, but Ben was gone, too, so I looked out front and
there you were, sneaking off to have some fun, so I woke up Toby.
We're always up for havin' fun."

"This is why I sleep in front of the door,"
Scar muttered to River. "You never know when these two are going to
wander off and get lost looking for some fun."

"We're wolvers. We don't get lost, except for
that one time where we wanted to see how much it took to get drunk.
You remember that Quentin?"

"Nope."

"Me neither. All I remember is your Daddy
picking us up and Mama whuppin' the hell outta me when I got home.
You don't want to mess with my mama," he said in a confidential
aside to River. "She can be mean, you cross on the wrong side of
her."

"Where we headed?" Quentin asked.

"Gotta couple of bodies to bury," Scar told
him. "Wanna help?"

River flinched at the offer, but Scar gave
him a lift of his chin to say it was alright.

"Yeah? Cool," Toby said while the two were
exchanging glances. "I've never buried bodies before. I've dreamt
about it, but I've never done it."

"That's not normal. You know that don't you?"
Ben's face expressed his disgust. "Normal people don't dream about
burying dead bodies."

"Normal people aren't disappointed they
aren't invited to a killing, either," River thought, but didn't
say.

"So you think we're normal, then?"

"Hell no. Neither one of you are normal."

"There you go then. It's perfectly normal."
Quentin didn't bother to hide his grin. He raised his eyebrows and
waited.

"Don't ask. Don't ask," River thought to
himself, but Ben had to ask.

"How in hell you figure that?"

"You said it wasn't normal for normal people
and that would make it abnormal for normal people, but you said we
weren't normal which makes us abnormal, too, so that would make
what's abnormal for normal people normal for abnormal people like
us. See? Perfectly normal."

"I hope you two are up for digging an extra
grave," Ben grumbled. "'Cause it's three AM and I have to put up
with enough of your shit during daylight. No one would miss you if
I added to the body count."

"Kill not for murder or revenge," Toby
quoted.

"It doesn't say anything about killing for
sanity, does it?"

They'd arrived at the first body.

Scar sniffed loudly and wrinkled his nose at
the smell. "You gonna tell us how this all come about?"

"When I finished with the Alpha, I went for a
run, as man," he added before Ben or the cubs could call him on it,
"I found the car about a mile up the road and I didn't like the
smell of it or the clothes piled in the back seat. That's when I
went over to wolf. I wanted to find out what they were up to. I
found the first one not far from the car. He seemed surprised to
see me." River raised his shoulders and let them drop. "He wasn't
in the mood to answer questions."

"They probably figured all the men would be
over the moon and they wouldn't be running so close to the motel,"
Ben suggested and it made sense. The females would have been
alone.

While the cubs dug a hole in the nearby
field, River told them the rest. "The third one's up there."

Scar measured the distance with his eyes.
"Guess he wasn't up for answering questions, either, huh?"

"No," River said firmly, "he wasn't."

He wasn't, because by that time, River was so
enraged, he didn't think to ask.

"They'll be back, you know." Scar sounded
certain.

"I know. Now, tell me something I don't know.
What are we going to do about it and how are we going to keep it
from the Alpha and Mate?" He told them about that, too.

"We need an Alpha," Ben said.

"You have one. Roland will be fine. I'll see
to it." His words sounded more like a warning, but River didn't
care. He was in no mood to go over this again.

"Not for the pack. For the daughter. She
either needs an Alpha who'll take her away and out of Donavan's
reach, or one like Dennis who'll pull this pack's act together and
stand strong."

Ben did his chest puffing thing. That set
River's teeth on edge, and they were back where they started,
snarling at each other.

"Reb's not ready to become a Mate."

Ben ignored River's glare. "Ready or not,
she'll do it. Pack comes first."

"And you think you're up for the job?"

"Don't see you stepping up to the plate.
You're just hanging around until Roland's back on his feet."

Scar took the second shovel from River's
hand. "I can't see either one of you doing the job. One's too full
of himself and the other's not full enough. A good Alpha would fall
somewhere in the middle, but good Alphas don't grow on trees and
finding one that needs a Mate would be even harder. It's not like
you can put a want ad in the paper." He started to walk away. "Come
on, you two, we got wolves to bury. You'll have plenty of time to
think about this tomorrow when we're on the road. Just don't do it
in the same car."

Chapter 21

River was dirty and tired when he returned to
the Paradise Motel. The job was done, the secret would be kept. The
cubs would no longer think of burying dead bodies as an adventure.
Scar made them do most of the work. By the time they finished
filling in the third hole, Toby and Quentin weren't thinking of
anything but crawling back into bed. He hoped whatever dreams they
had were peaceful. His wouldn't be. Tonight, his two nightmares
would come together. There would be no sleep for him.

His eyes strayed to the bed where Reb slept
the sleep of the angels, untroubled and at peace. And why not? She
was the innocent in all this, he, the undeserving sinner. She lay
on her side; one hand was tucked beneath her cheek, the other on
the pillow that he used. Her fingers were cupped in the form a
caress as if they held his cheek instead of air. Clean and fresh as
a new snowfall, her hair fanned out across the pillow behind her.
He wanted to wake her.

He wanted to see her smile. He wanted to hear
that silly giggle. He wanted to feel the soothing tenderness of her
touch and the softness of her body beneath his. He wanted her to
chase away the demons that plagued him on nights like this. Selfish
thoughts, he put them aside and let her sleep.

Careful not to jostle the mattress, he sat at
the corner and bent to remove his boots. He felt her shift beneath
the covers.

"Hello," she whispered, her voice husky with
sleep.

"Go back to sleep, Babe. It's late and you
need your rest."

Her hand slid up his back, warm and inviting.
"So do you, poor thing. I was laying here thinking how wonderful
you were today, what you did for Father, what you did for me, but
then I started thinking about what it must have done to you. You've
had a hard day, dear, doesn't cover it, does it?"

Her other hand joined the first, sliding up
his back and over his shoulders before sliding back down to the
base of his spine. Rising again, her fingers probed and kneaded the
tense muscles of his back, searching out the knotted tension and
easing it with the pressure of her thumbs.