Wolver's Reward (41 page)

Reb reluctantly admitted that was probably
true, but there was more. "And when he left? You couldn't tell me
then?"

"What purpose would it serve? Your heart was
broken. He'd left and you'd let him. It was up to him whether or
not he came back. I had no control over that. It's something you
must come to terms with, Becky, if you are to be a Mate. There are
some things over which you have no control. People aren't puppets.
And I did offer you consolation," she added. "You rejected that,
too. As a Mate, I have the power to ease someone's pain, but they
must open their heart to it. It's another hard lesson to
learn."

"You're young," Kat added as if that was
consolation.

"It's called being young and stupid," the
little Alpha added. He didn't sound sympathetic. "Young and stupid
causes me more problems than I care to think about. How do you
think I ended up with Arkansas?"

"Arkansas again," River muttered.

"Yes, Arkansas again. If you'd read those
papers, you would have known to meet Dennis in a bar I had all
picked out. He would have helped you screw your head on straight
and you would have helped him figure out a way to avoid the
Chase."

"That's not fair," Reb protested. She didn't
care who Eugene Begley was. She wouldn't allow him to add another
ghost to River's dreams. "River was not responsible for Dennis's
death and don't you dare say he was."

"I never said he was. Dennis did that all by
himself. Like I said, young and stupid. By the time he told me what
he'd done, it was too late to stop it. River here was supposed to
be with Dennis when he found you broke down on the road. With
River's help, Dennis would have convinced you to run off, mate
under the full moon, and come back too late to undo the damage.
River was supposed to head on down to Arkansas, find the pack, meet
the girl, and," Begley slapped his hands together, "problems
solved.

"Now I got me an Alpha who doesn't want to be
an Alpha, a Mate who doesn't want to be a Mate, and another one
crying her heart out because she doesn't know she is one." He
pointed his short, stubby finger at River. "And if you think I'm
paying you what I quoted in those papers, you've got another think
coming. I ain't paying for young and stupid."

"It never would have worked, Eugene. Their
wolves would have won in the end." Kat looked to Margaret for
confirmation.

"I'm afraid she's right, Mr. Begley. You
cannot dictate terms of the heart. Might I suggest that next time
you consult your Mate."

"Don't have one," Bagley muttered.

River missed the exchange of raised eyebrows
and knowing glances between the Mates. His head was still bowed.
When he raised it, he ignored their words and referred to the
Alpha's.

"You're right on the money, Alpha. I'm young
and stupid. Young and stupid doesn't make a good Alpha."

"Seemed to work out okay for my brothers,"
Charles laughed.

Kat nailed him in the ribs with her elbow.
"For you, too, Big Bad. For most of us," she added for River and
Reb's benefit. "Fortunately, being young is a passing phase."

Roland raised his finger to interrupt. "If I
might add my own observations to the discussion." He cleared his
throat and intoned, "River Goodman, you show great promise. You
are, as my daughter so aptly stated, kind and brave. You put others
before yourself. You have a noble sense of fairness. You question
everything and form your own conclusions. You are modest in
admitting your strengths, but more importantly, you recognize your
fallibilities. Because of all these things, you have the potential
to become wise.

"The cure for youth, River, is to outlive it.
There is no cure for stupidity. It is a recurring affliction and
you will periodically suffer from it throughout your life." He
reached for Margaret's hand. "It is therefore essential that you
find a mate who will support you in all things, yet never hesitate
to diagnose stupidity when it occurs. Our disastrous Chase is a
case in point. I ignored the diagnosis. Stupidity won out.

"I admit my prejudice as regards your choice
of said mate, but I believe you have chosen well. Rebecca suits you
admirably and I shall be happy to call you son. I therefore
recommend that you discuss this with her. Hear what she has to say.
She is an excellent diagnostician. After all, I am her father and
she had her mother to set the example."

~*~

The sun had set and the air held an autumn
chill, but the three women chose to sit on the big front porch of
the lodge. Swept clear of the cobwebs and debris that originally
adorned it, the porch was a pleasant place to sit. It was sheltered
from the wind, and being wolvers, any excuse to remain outdoors was
a good one. It was the perfect time to sit and get acquainted.

Their men were out running the woods together
as wolves. Being Alphas, they didn't need the full moon to shift
and since River's secret was out, there was no need for him to stay
behind.

"This view alone will sell the place." Kat
relaxed back into the comfort of the chair built to reflect the
rusticity of nature. "Those mountains are spectacular."

"They are," Margaret agreed, "But it's the
air that impresses me most. It's thinner than we're used to, but so
fresh and clean. Frankly, I love the taste of it. I'm in danger of
becoming a mouth breather." She laughed lightly and held up her
hands, inspecting one side and then the other. "I think I've worked
harder here these last few months than I have in my entire life.
I've swept, scrubbed, and scoured. I've hauled rock from the river.
I've even chopped wood."

"About three strokes," Reb snickered and then
explained. "Darla made her stop. My mother is dangerous with an
ax."

"I suppose I was a little awkward, but the
point is that I did it. A good Mate should set an example to her
pack and to tell you the truth, I'm enjoying it." Margaret looked
away from the mountain view and over to the side where the cabins
lay dotted amongst the trees. "The feeling is different here with
all of us working to one purpose. There's a camaraderie that I find
delightful in spite of the grumbling and bickering, and even that
allows me to exercise my power in a most satisfying way. You can
see the changes and accomplishments every day. Roland is worried
about money."

"That's a first," Reb cut in.

Her mother smiled. "It would be disloyal of
me to agree. Nevertheless, you prove my point. Everyone is changing
and for the better, I believe. This place will be a success," she
said confidently. "We may see some hard times, but we will make it
work."

"Ben has some good ideas to expand beyond
hunting and fishing. River says they're good ones."

"I'm glad River's gotten beyond his silly
jealousy and sees Ben as the asset he is."

"I'm glad to see River's gotten beyond being
River. With the exception of yesterday's little display, he's
happy. You make him smile." Kat offered a smile of her own to
Reb.

Reb didn't smile back. "He only did that
because he was afraid," and then hearing the defensive sharpness of
her reply and understanding Kat meant no offense, she added, "We're
working on it," and then confessed some more. "He was afraid of
losing me to an Alpha's touch."

"I would not like to be the Alpha who
attempted it," her mother said lightly.

"I know, but he's afraid of that, too. He
says he knows no fear, but I think it's fear that drives him and
not just of losing me." Reb waved her hand over the compound. "He's
afraid of losing all this. He's afraid of what will happen to the
pack. He's afraid they'll go hungry. He's afraid they'll be cold.
He's afraid of losing one of them. He's lost so much, fear has
become his constant companion."

"He fears losing the things he loves,"
Margaret concluded.

"Love is something River blocks out. He
refuses to feel it. I tried. God knows I tried, but I could never
get him to accept it. To him, it's a four letter word."

"Then he ought to be quite comfortable with
it," Margaret joked, but Reb felt the need to defend.

"That's because of the way you met. You knew
what he was, where he came from. He felt it as pity and that's one
thing River won't accept. When we met him, we didn't know about his
beginnings, so it's different for him here. No one knows."

"You do," Kat said softly.

"I do, but that had more to do with trust
than pity." It was all she could say. Anything else would be a
betrayal of that trust.

The two older women smiled at each other as
if they knew what she was thinking.

"How like a Mate," Margaret said proudly.

"That better be with a small 'm', Mother,"
Reb warned.

"You're happy with his decision, then?" Kat
asked softly.

"It was our decision," Reb answered. "I'm
happy to be with River. Staying here is the perfect compromise for
me. I have my pack. As an Alpha's daughter, I can help my mother
with some of the women's problems, and I can be a mate. With a
small 'm', Mother," she added as an aside, "to the wolver I love. I
get the best of both worlds and River gets the world he's always
wanted." She shrugged. "We get to be normal."

Three days later, Eugene Begley left with his
three passengers in tow. Kat cried like the baby she held in her
arms when River gave her a hug along with his goodbye.

"Thank you," he'd told her and held her in
his embrace much longer than he normally would. "For showing me the
way out."

Both she and Reb knew there was so much more
hidden in his quiet words of farewell.

Not only did River know that he was loved, he
returned the feeling as well.

Cha
pter 32

It was the Hunter's Moon and it was snowing.
Reb had traded the traditional white gown of cotton or silk for a
dark purple woolen one. She called it violet. Her mother called it
a violation of mating tradition.

"Sorry, Mother, been there, done the white,
not a happy memory. This time we're doing it differently and River
likes violet."

River had to laugh at that. He didn't care
what color it was. His goal was to get her out of it as quickly as
possible and keep it that way for the three days the pack promised
to leave them alone. The only reason Reb said it was because
Margaret was old fashioned enough to believe a male's wishes should
be honored. Who was he to argue with that?

The whole lodge was festooned with purple and
white crepe paper ribbons and big purple flowers made from tissue
paper. Every table was laden with food, most of it stuck with
frilly little toothpicks. Arnold had missed his calling. The man
should have been a general the way he marshaled his forces. He had
women running everywhere for days, thus cutting River's forces in
half.

"There's work to be done," he'd complained to
Darla. "Winter's here. It's snowing already and this is nothing
compared with what's coming later. Rosemary figures we need at
least another six cords of wood. We haven't finished the last two
cabins..." He continued the list until Darla interrupted.

"Hunting's been good, though. Me and Scar are
thinking about taking a party out tonight. Let them hunt as a
pack."

"By the looks of it, we'll need it. The way
these wolvers have been chowing down all day, we'll probably be
starving by Christmas."

"Ah, knock it off, Champ. These wolvers have
been doing what needs to be done twenty-four/seven for two months.
Let them have some fun and quit worrying. They need a break."

"I understand a break, Darla, but this is
going way overboard. There'll be matings every full moon, the way
things are going. We can't keep this up."

"River, look around you. They're not doing
this because it's a mating. They're doing this because you chose
them over Arkansas. They're doing this to say thank you. They're
doing this because you stayed."

"Didn't have a choice. This was where Reb
wanted to be."

One side of Darla's face turned up in a
smile. "You just keep telling yourself that, but don't say it out
loud unless you want to be laughed at. There's not a soul in this
pack would believe it. Our Rebel would follow you to the moon if
you said you were going, and she'd be smiling when she got there."
She bumped him hip to hip, a light tap that nearly took him off his
feet. "You can't fool us, River Goodman. You love us, and if I
don't get a chance to say so later, welcome to the pack."

Two hours later, River was dressed in a pair
of white cotton trousers with a draw string at the waist. His shirt
was white cotton, too. He only hoped he and Reb wouldn't freeze to
death before they reached the one room cabin in the woods.

There would be no Chase. Reb didn't want one
and he understood why. Instead, they would state their intent
before the pack and together, walk to the one room cabin he'd been
working on all week and spend the time together in a real bed,
without interruption. Later, they would go over the moon together.
He wasn't worried about any of that. He was worried about what he
would say to the pack. Though it wasn't required, they'd be
expecting some kind of vow.

Worry fled at the sight of Reb walking down
the stairs to meet him. Purple, violet, whatever you wanted to call
it, she was a vision in that dress. Plain cut and long sleeved, it
clung to her slender frame, accentuating everything he loved about
her body while revealing none of its secrets. Her hair hung loose
and looked even whiter against the deep color of the gown. Roses
wreathed her head, Reb's one concession to her mother, and River
was glad for it. The crown of roses was as delicate looking as the
woman who wore them. Best of all, beneath the rosy crown and purple
gown, she wore her orange sneakers. Like fudge, the sneakers had
become a private joke between them.