Wolver's Reward (7 page)

"Give me a few minutes head start," she said.
"We need all their attention on me if we're going to pull this
off."

If asked directly, they couldn't lie to their
Alpha, but if the question wasn't asked, they could keep the secret
of what they'd done. While her parents fussed over her arrival,
Darla would park the truck unnoticed and take another car to
retrieve the others. They could all make it back in time for the
Chase to begin.

The plan worked. Her father, still not fully
recovered from a recent fall, was so relieved to see her, he
happily took her mother's suggestion to nap for a few minutes while
Becky was groomed.

Her mother was not as happy as her
father.

"This is your mating day. We should have had
hours to see to your dress, not minutes. Even the guests were aware
of your absence. The evening has been tense enough without your
late arrival adding to your father's stress." She began pulling
things from the closets and drawers. "Get your things off and let's
see what can be done with your hair. There's no time to arrange it
as we planned."

"Does it really matter?" Reb asked. "They'll
see me for like three minutes and then I'll be running for my life
through the woods."

"You won't be running for it," her mother
snapped. "You'll be running to it." She didn't sound like she
believed it either. Her hand shook as she picked up the brush.

Reb reached for it. "Mother, what's
wrong?"

"Nothing," her mother denied and then
relented. "Oh, I suppose it's only because I'm losing my little
girl, but I don't like the feel of this. I've never seen it done
like this before. Our parents made the final decision before your
father and I even met. Our mating began with dining and dancing.
Everyone was having a good time before the moon began to rise.
This," she waved the brush as she spoke, "This isn't a mating. It
feels more like the prelude to a horserace."

And she was the horse. "It will be fine,
Mother," Reb said, because what else was there to say? She'd
changed her mind? It was way too late for that, and whether it was
now or a year from now, or ten years from now, she would still be
sold off like the family cow.

"I wish your father had allowed me to
interview these Alphas, given me some say in the choice. I would
have known what to look for."

"I had a choice, Mother."

"Oh, what do you know? You're a cub." Her
mother sounded angry and Reb answered in kind.

"No, Mother, I'm not a cub, and it was my
idea in the first place. I had a choice," she insisted more for
herself than for her mother.

"Nonsense. None of us have a choice. We have
a duty to marry an Alpha. That choice is made for us the day we are
born and we must live with the consequences."

"Mother," Reb cried, turning in her seat,
"Please don't tell me that you and Daddy..."

Her mother looked stricken. Her hand flew to
the base of her throat and she closed her eyes. When she opened
them again, all anger was gone, replaced with the gentle softness
Reb knew. "No, no, of course not, dear. I love your father, truly
and deeply. You must never doubt that for a minute." She fanned her
face with her hands. "I suppose it's just the day, the
circumstances. When you didn't show up, it brought back memories of
my mating day, of how frightened I was." The Mate placed her
fluttering hands on her daughter's shoulders and bent low so their
faces were side by side in the mirror. "I remembered how much I
wanted to run away."

"I didn't run away, Mother. We had car
trouble, that's all. I wouldn't run away. My mother raised me to be
stronger than that." Reb smiled to reassure her mother that
everything was all right.

"We should have given you more time," her
mother whispered against Reb's hair before she kissed her
cheek.

But what difference would it have made?

Reb let her mother fuss and when she was
finished, she stood back to survey her handiwork. "You're
beautiful."

And she was. Reb turned this way and that in
the simple snow white gown. The mirror didn't lie. The gown was
made for her and fit her perfectly. Her skin looked smooth and
creamy and her mother's deft hand with makeup had prevented it from
looking washed out. Faint blush colored her cheeks and mascara
darkened her lashes. Her eye lids shimmered with pale color that
looked natural with her pale skin. Her lips were soft and plumply
pink and her pale, almost white blonde hair framed her face in a
fall of shiny silk. A wreath of flowers in the same muted pastels
as adorned her face, circled her head like a crown.

At the sight of her, the Alpha's eyes misted
over. "You're as beautiful as your mother was on the day we mated.
I never thought to see something so beautiful as that again. Be
happy, my beautiful girl."

"I will, Father. I am."

And then Reb was finally left alone with her
thoughts and those thoughts didn't include her happiness at
becoming an Alpha's Mate. She'd faked her smiles and her
reassurances. Her mother had taught her how to mask her feelings
and the woman had taught her well. Neither of her parents suspected
what she was hiding inside. She was terrified. She didn't want to
be the mate of a stranger who had no idea who she was. She didn't
want to be a Mate and lose herself under the mantle of an Alpha.
And yet, her mother was right. There was no choice. In her one last
act of rebellion as an Alpha's daughter, her one last statement of
who she was, Reb changed her snowy white slippers for the orange
sneakers on the floor by the bed.

~*~

"Fuck."

River leapt to his feet. Five minutes had
turned into two hours. He'd fallen asleep, not just asleep, but
sound asleep. Sight, smell, and hearing had been cut off
completely. A herd of deer could have pranced right over him and he
wouldn't have known. He struck the tree trunk with the flat of his
hand as if it were the culprit.

Two hours! That alone was proof of how soft
he'd become living with the Wolf's Head Pack where everyone slept
in soft, comfy beds in heated rooms and never had to worry about
the things that could hurt them or kill them in their sleep.

For the first year he was with them, he'd
been afraid of those beds. He'd spent his nights sitting upright in
a chair, dozing, but never sleeping soundly. He would have
preferred the floor as the cubs did at first, but he was afraid the
Alpha would banish him from the room completely. It took months
before he was comfortable with the girls sleeping in a separate
room and even though he told himself they were safe, he had to
check on them three or four times during the night just to be
sure.

Sound sleep was dangerous. He'd learned that
as a pup when kicks or blows would follow his name if he didn't
immediately answer. Later, he'd learned that names were irrelevant
as long as someone answered the call. He'd taken on the
responsibility to answer most as a way of protecting the pups below
him. He was faster, stronger, and more able to tolerate the abuse
sometimes administered by the adult wolvers in the name of
training. Only the strong survived. River had known pups that
didn't. Pups were a burden the pack didn't need.

Wolf's Head was different. There, pups were
cherished. Cubs were brought up with strict, but gentle discipline.
They were valued members of the pack. As much as River appreciated
the lack of abuse, a part of him could never let go of the idea
that their methods also made for weak wolvers.

He'd allowed himself to become weak and
failure was the result. He still had another twenty-five miles to
go. He would then have to find them, and need even more time to
scout them out. There was no way he could make it all happen by
moonrise and he had to be there and ready when the thieves went
over the moon.

Brain fogged by the blows it had suffered, it
had taken him a while to put it together. Why was such a small band
of wolvers venturing so far from home? They weren't rogues. They
weren't vicious enough. He'd seen enough newly made rogues to know
that.

Vacationers? Sure, some wolvers vacationed in
the same way their human cousins did. Alpha Goodman and his Mate
had gone on several. If their trip came with the full moon, they
usually made plans to be near an open area where they could shift
and run freely when it called. Though River vaguely recalled the
thieves' words, there was a sense of urgency and concern to them
that didn't fit with a trip taken for fun.

When the answer came to him, he almost
smacked his own head at the simplicity of it. They were headed for
a rendezvous with other wolvers. Wolf's Head regularly ran with
Rabbit Creek. Not only were the Alphas brothers, the two packs
shared the mountain. River had heard of a southern pack that
sponsored a festival each year that drew wolvers from around the
country. Jo, Ryker's mate, claimed it was a relaxed way for wolvers
from various packs to make contact, to network she called it. She
also laughingly called it a meet and greet for prospective mates,
since mating outside the pack was encouraged.

River was convinced that this was the purpose
of the thieves' journey. They were meeting others at the wildlife
preserve, the perfect place to go over, to shift, when the moon
called.

"Hurry," she'd said. "We have to get to the
preserve."

"Are you sure you're doing the right
thing?"

"Right or wrong, it has to be done. We can't
afford to be late."

The urgency and fear still baffled him. Maybe
they were going without their Alpha's permission. Maybe he was
already there and expecting them. According to Ryker, different
Alpha's had different expectations when it came to obedience.

In any event, River was sure the band would
be there tonight and the males would run. If their Alpha was there
to use his power to take them over, the females would run, too.

River needed to be there when that happened.
He would fight the moon's call and remain human. When everyone else
shifted, he'd be free to steal back his motorcycle and hopefully
his truck.

He'd counted on five hours. Now he had three.
It couldn't be done. His body lacked the energy it needed for such
a run. He hadn't eaten much for several days and, as he'd just
proven, he was exhausted. His man's body was stronger than a
human's but it wasn't invincible.

He felt his anger rising and he tilted his
head back, ready to howl out his frustration at the injustice of it
all to the dying light of day. And then he felt it as he always
did; his mistress' call. The moon was filling him with the power he
would need to shift when her glowing face rose over the horizon.
He'd been feeling her pull for days. Each time he ran, he felt
her.

It was natural to feel the full moon's call
this close to her rising. It was natural to be anxious with
anticipation for the shift that was hours away. What wasn't natural
was the feeling that he was ready to go over the moon now, before
the moon rose.

His wolf felt her, too. The animal had been
restless since the willowy bitch had stolen his bike. It was
impatient with the rides as if it didn't understand that wheels
were faster than legs. It growled and dug at him to run faster in
between the rides and pulled at him to run overland as the crow
flies. Like River, the animal tended to keep its thoughts to itself
or express them in snarls and growls. When it did speak, its
message was always short and succinct; as it was now.

"
Go. Find. Free
."

"Fucking easy for you to say," River muttered
angrily. "You have four legs and can run twice as fast."

His wolf snapped its jaws together so hard,
River winced at the feeling of the massive force those jaws
contained.

"
Shift
," it snarled.

It had happened twice before when he was so
angry he thought his skin would burst with it. Both times had been
within hours of the moon's rising, once in broad daylight. The
transition wasn't smooth. It came without thought and it frightened
him so badly he tripped over his own paws and skid over the rough
ground on his face. His wolf had been close to the surface then,
too.

He'd never told anyone about those unnatural
shifts. A wolver male needed his Alpha's power to shift without the
full moon, and he was afraid of what his sudden change meant. Did
it mean he'd lost control of his wolf? As much as he loved the
wild, River had no wish to turn feral and remain in his wolf form
permanently. Pack Alphas had the power to force that change,
too.

Could he force the shift? Should he?

The animal inside him snarled and snapped
again.

"Fine," River snarled back, "But if I end up
spending the rest of my life as a wolf, it's gonna be a fucking
short one, because I'll find the nearest highway and stand in front
of the first big rig that comes along. Got it?"

His wolf chuffed and wagged its tail.

Inner argument over, River stripped down to
his boxers, bundled his clothing and boots in his shirt and stood
there feeling more like a jackass than a wolf. He tilted his head
back, spread his arms wide, and let the call of the moon fill him.
He had no idea what he was supposed to do next.

His wolf did, though. Like a beacon guiding
ships to shore, his wolf drew the moon's power into physical being.
It howled with triumph as it rose to the surface and burst through
the human form that contained it. Light flared as flesh and bone
transformed. Hands and fingers molded into long toed paws. Claws
grew where nails once were. Sharp teeth replaced flat molars as his
snout elongated and ears pointed upward. His body tingled with the
growth of fur and the pinch of his tail sprouting from the base of
his spine made him yip and turn to bite at it.