Wolf’s Glory After the Crash, Book 2 Maddy Barone Published 2011 ISBN 978-1-59578-840-5 Published by Liquid Silver Books, imprint of Atlantic Bridge Publishing, 10509 Sedgegrass Dr, Indianapolis, Indiana 46235. Copyright © 2011, Maddy Barone. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author. Manufactured in the United States of America Liquid Silver Books http://lsbooks.com Email:
[email protected] Editor Jean Cooper Cover Artist Lyn Taylor This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author‟s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.
Blurb When goth-girl Glory Peterson‟s plane crashes she walks to find help. What she finds are people living in teepees like it‟s the Old West. Wolf‟s Shadow knows Glory is his mate. Glory‟s happy to take a roll in the hay with him while she‟s waiting for transportation back to civilization, but when she finds out she‟s gone fifty years into the future and Shadow is a bossy werewolf who thinks he owns her, her attitude changes fast. Shadow is used to giving orders that are obeyed. Glory hasn‟t obeyed an order since kindergarten. When two strongwilled lovers clash, who will win? Dedication I dedicate this book to the entire DME Adjudication and MSP Recoupment Teams at NAS in thanks for letting me borrow their names. A big thank you to Gary, Jill, and Razz Lura. You know why. And especially to Jessica Pease, because this one is for you. Thanks, Jess. You rock!
Chapter One Maybe they were doomed to walk the prairie forever, never finding help. Glory shook her head fiercely. No, that was tiredness and hunger speaking. There had to be people somewhere. This rotted old railroad track would lead them to civilization eventually. Glory threw a desperate look around and saw nothing but tall dry grass and blue sky as far as her eyes could see—just empty prairie as bare as it must have been when the pioneers first settled the West. If she and Jane didn‟t find help, people would die. Maybe people had already died. It had been over twenty-four hours since they‟d left the crash site, and dozens of people had been hurt, some so badly that they hadn‟t regained consciousness before the rescue teams had left the crash site. Jane still trudged along in her sensible librarian‟s shoes, but turned her head back to look at Glory, a thin eyebrow raised in inquiry. “Just hoping I might have missed some sign of civilization,” Glory muttered. She watched Jane pull out her cell phone and try again, for the millionth time, to make a call. Glory sighed when Jane returned her cell phone to her purse. “Still nothing?” Jane‟s brown hair, having fallen out of its prim bun, pushed her shoulders when she shook her head. “Maybe a search and rescue team has already found the crash,” she said hopefully. “Maybe.” Glory didn‟t say anything else. What was there to say that they hadn‟t already said? Their plane had crashed, and the only surviving member of the crew had tried repeatedly to send a Mayday, but the plane‟s radio didn‟t work. Nor did any cell phones, and none of the survivors could connect with the Internet to send an email Mayday. The co-pilot had told them that help was certainly on the way, and organized the efforts to free those trapped by the debris and make the injured more comfortable. “Perhaps the co-pilot has gotten the plane‟s radio to work by now.” Jane persisted in her cheery optimism. An optimist Glory was not. “Fat chance,” she grunted as she stumbled over the rough ground. “She spent hours trying to call, right?” “Yes. She did.” Jane was slightly subdued, but lengthened her stride in determination. “Now it‟s up to us to find help.” Glory had to hand it to Jane. She had plenty of energy and enthusiasm. And she had to hand it to the co-pilot. Even though her ankle was smashed to smithereens, she had kept it together. She had done everything she could to get the passengers help. But hours later, with no help yet on the scene and medical aid desperately needed, she had asked for volunteers to pair up and walk for help. Glory had volunteered, and so had a bunch of others. The co-pilot rejected some as too young or too hurt, leaving six to be paired up into three teams that she sent in different directions. Glory had been paired up with Jane Harris, a forty-something librarian from St. Paul, and they‟d been walking since yesterday afternoon without finding any sign of people at all. The prairie seemed eerily empty. Glory caught up with the librarian and resumed walking. “You know, I was so excited yesterday morning when I got on the plane in Minneapolis,” she ranted. “Four years as a glorified aquarium cleaner at the Mall of America‟s Underwater World, and I finally landed a face-to-face interview with an international ocean-life study center. Dream come true, you know? It‟s the reason I got my degree in marine biology.” “Yes, you mentioned that,” Jane murmured drily. “Repeatedly.” Okay, maybe Glory had already had this conversation a couple dozen times, but … “Dammit!” Glory swore when her low-heeled pump got caught in the thick grass covering the rail, making her stumble again. Damn, that hurt. Jane gave her a prim glance of reproach, and Glory forced back more curses at her new shoes. “Are you okay?” Jane asked.
Glory wondered what Jane would say if she cut loose with her normal repertoire of fourletter words, and cleared her throat. “Fine,” she grumbled. “Why did I buy these stupid shoes, anyway? Oh, yeah, because they go with this stupid business suit.” “You want to make a good impression at the interview,” Jane said, looking approvingly at the boring business suit Glory was wearing and less approvingly at her hair. True. Glory wanted the job so much that she had bought the sedate navy blue trousers and jacket for the interview. She doubted her usual dressy goth gear of black jeans, black satin bustier over a blood-red silk T-shirt, and ankle-length black duster would have impressed them much. Too bad. She loved the way the bustier cinched in her waist and emphasized the curve of her hips. She was a big woman, but she had all the curves a woman could want. And then some. Her figure was more along the lines of Marilyn Monroe than Tyra Banks. Too bad ultra-thin was in and ultra-curvaceous was out. Her best friend Jill always said Glory would have been a sex goddess in another era. “Yeah. Like this outfit is going to impress anyone now. It‟s ruined.” “I‟m sure your prospective employer will reschedule your interview. You can wear something else to that one and do something about your hair color. Our misadventures are completely out of our control. It‟s probable they are already aware of the crash. I‟m sure that by now rescue teams have found the crash site.” Geez, talk about Miss Pollyanna. The never-ending wind blew Glory‟s hair into her eyes, and she shoved it behind her ear with an impatient hand. She had stripped the purple, red, and black streaks from her hair and changed it to a pink that matched the blouse she‟d bought to go with the suit. Yesterday before boarding the plane she‟d smoothed it into a sleek French twist. Now it blew like a ragged curtain over the tops of her shoulders. She had left her nose ring and the rings for her left eyebrow at home, wearing only a tiny fake-diamond stud in her nostril, with a matching pair of studs for her ears. When she had boarded the plane she had looked like a successful business person. A little boring … Well, a lot boring, but she really wanted this job. They were supposed to land in San Francisco at 2:36 p.m. Pacific time, and her interview was at 4:00. She figured she‟d have time to touch up her hair and makeup in the airport ladies‟ lounge before taking a taxi straight to the interview. Well, she had missed the job interview, and her new suit was ruined by her misadventures. She liked that word—misadventures. It sounded better than “her shitty luck.” “You‟re probably right.” Glory tried for some of Jane‟s optimism. “They‟ll reschedule the interview, won‟t they? Sure, they will. After all, we‟re heroes, braving the wilderness to get help to save the rest of the passengers.” The cheerfulness died when she stepped on a rock and bit off another four-letter word. “It never seems this hard in the movies.” “Heroines,” Jane corrected. She smiled, but it was sober. “You‟re right. The movies make things look comfortable and quick. But we‟re still better off than the ones left at the plane.” So many of the passengers who had boarded the plane yesterday morning had been killed, including the little girl whose whiney complaints about not being able to run around had made Glory want to slap her during the first hour of the flight. Remembering her made Glory feel sick. What was she doing, worrying about her clothes and her feet and her interview when that little girl would never have a chance to grow up and have a job at all? Hey, was that—? Glory squinted at a distant low hill. Yes! Something had moved out there! People? Her heart pounded so hard it felt like it was making the stupid ruffles on her fuchsia silk flutter. “Hey, Jane, look! Look!” She jabbed Jane in the arm to bring her attention to the dots bobbing along in the distance and began hollering and waving her arms madly. Jane was more sedate, but she waved her arms too. “Thank God,” Jane said. “Finally, we‟ve found help.”
The dots came closer, turning into a half-dozen people on horseback, with a bunch of big dogs running alongside. Glory gaped as they rode up to them at a gallop and formed a circle around them, the horses kicking up so much dust that she began to cough. What the hell? When the dust settled a bit she could see that they were Indians. They had long black hair and bare brown bodies made barely modest by a strip of fabric that covered their important bits in front and back but left their chests and legs bare. Every last one of them was model handsome. Damn. Their bodies, unconcealed by clothing, were mouthwateringly perfect. What was this, a movie set? These guys looked like they were actors in a Dances With Wolves movie. The dogs were huge. She thought they were wolves, but they were too big for that. Maybe a mixed breed? One of the dogs came right up to her and sniffed her crotch. She slapped at its muzzle, shouting, “No! Bad dog!” Some of the Indians looked shocked. Laughter bubbled in her throat. Hysteria? Gloria refused to do hysteria. She swallowed hard to force it back. The dog stared at her for a minute, grinning at her with its tongue hanging over sharp teeth, then trotted off and disappeared behind the horses surrounding her. She turned her attention back to the Indians, searching them for phones. She didn‟t see any phones, and none of them wore enough clothing to hide a cell phone in, so she supposed they didn‟t have any with them. “Um.” Glory had to clear her throat to cut through the dust coating it. “Hi. Sorry to interrupt. But can you help us? Our airplane went down back that ways and … and … Wow.” Another Indian walked between the horses, tightening the string around his waist that held his diaper thing up, and Glory completely forgot what she‟d been saying. It was a movie set! That was her favorite wrestling star in makeup and a really long black wig. And very little clothing. Yowza. He was living proof that guys like the ones on romance covers really did exist. She swallowed, wiping a hand over her chin in case she was drooling, and started over. “Hi. Look, sorry to bother you, but our plane crashed, and we need help. Like an ambulance. And…” Her voice trailed off again because all these men were looking at her very strangely and sniffing the air. She and Jane weren‟t freshly bathed, but, geez, talk about rude. “Hey!” She snapped her fingers. “Listen up! This is important.” Jane gave her a patient look and took over. “Yes, gentlemen, Glory is correct. We need immediate medical assistance. There are approximately three dozen injured at the crash. Our cell phones are not working. They may have been damaged in the crash, or perhaps there‟s no coverage here?” Her voice lifted at the end, inviting them to make a call for an ambulance. Glory restrained herself from rolling her eyes. Jane was a nice lady, boring as beige paint, but nice. But who talked like that? Glory had a master‟s degree in biology, and she didn‟t talk like a prissy British butler. She and Jane were total opposites. Glory listened to Nine Inch Nails and Linkin Park; Jane loved Bach. Glory and Jane both loved to read, but Glory liked hot vampire romances; Jane read literary masterpieces. The romance cover model look-alike ignored Jane. He stepped even closer to Glory, and boy, did he smell good. She took a couple quick breaths to savor his scent. What cologne did he wear? Something spicy and so yummy that she wanted to push her nose into his neck and inhale. He growled something over his shoulder without taking his eyes from her. She should try to pay attention to what he was saying, but damn, he was so gorgeous she had trouble focusing. Any movie with a hot piece of eye candy like this guy would get her money at the ticket booth. And if he was dressed like he was now, they‟d get her money multiple times. Holy cow, he was so big and buff he made her feel like a size ten. “Look,” she told him. “Mister … um … I‟m really sorry to interrupt your movie stuff, but like Jane said, people are hurt. We need to get them some help right away.”
“You can call me Um if you want,” he said in a low rumble that made her want to melt into a puddle of feminine goo at his feet. His smile was quick and white. “My name is Wolf‟s Shadow. What is your name?” Yum, is more like it, she almost blurted. “Gloria Peterson. Well, Glory. And this is Jane Harris.” He was really into his part. Unless he wasn‟t an actor? It sure looked like he must be an actor, or maybe a model, with that handsome face and even more handsome bod. How many guys looked that good, especially wearing only a diaper? Well, not a diaper. A breechcloth. It showed off the side of his body from ankle to armpit very nicely. He must do some serious lifting, to have such a well-developed physique. Glory could look at him all day. Too bad they didn‟t have time for that. “Can you help us? Do you have a phone?” He looked from her to Jane, a slight frown pulling his brows toward each other. “We have no phones. Where are your men? Why did they send two women out alone?” Glory swelled with tired outrage at his critical tone, but Jane‟s voice was mellow. “All the men are injured or killed. There was no one else to go for help.” Wolf‟s Shadow turned his head toward another of the Indians, and the wind lifted his hair. Was that shiny black curtain falling down his back and brushing his butt real? Holy crap. “Stag, take the others to the injured.” He looked at Jane and indicated one of the other men. “My cousin Jumping Stag has medical training. He and the others will go with you to help your friends. I will take Ms. Peterson back to our camp to rest.” Glory was tired, and her feet in their new pumps were killing her. But Jane must be just as tired. Neither one of them had slept well last night. Without sleeping bags or a tent to keep them warm, they had huddled so closely together that in some cultures they would be considered married. It was one of the few mornings in her entire life that Glory had been glad to see the sun come up. “Jane is tired too,” she began. “I don‟t think we should separate. The co-pilot said we should stick together.” Wolf‟s Shadow frowned. “You will come with me to camp,” he ordered. Glory eyed his magnificent physique with disgusted appreciation. Wasn‟t that just the way it went? Guys that good-looking were just naturally bossy. It came from being used to getting what they wanted. Too bad for him she was used to going against the flow. “Sorry. We‟re sticking together. No offense or anything, but I don‟t even know you.” For some reason that made him smile approvingly. “Don‟t worry. I promise my intentions are strictly honorable.” Pity, thought Glory. Jane asked, “How far is it to your camp?” “Not far,” said Wolf‟s Shadow. “For a small woman like yourself on foot? An hour away, perhaps a little longer.” Glory looked at Jane questioningly. “I don‟t know.” “Go ahead, Glory. Someone needs to make a call for help, just in case no search and rescue team has found the survivors yet. We‟ll need air ambulances to evacuate the injured. You notify the authorities, and I‟ll lead these men back to the crash.” “Okay, that makes sense.” And she would get a chance to get to know Mr. Big and Gorgeous on the way back to civilization. “Take it easy, Jane.” Wolf‟s Shadow talked to the other Indians, saying something to them in a voice too low for Glory to catch. Three of them dismounted and handed their horses over. One of them, a slender man in his late twenties, helped Jane up to the horse‟s back. She didn‟t seem to notice the way he sniffed at her. Then Wolf‟s Shadow lifted Glory up into the saddle like he was lifting a little kid who weighed nothing. The saddle wasn‟t much more than a folded blanket. She scrambled to stay on, her purse swinging wildly. “Hey, me and horses don‟t get along.”
“We will go slowly, Gloria Peterson,” he promised. It sounded like he tacked on her last name, as if he wanted to call her by her first name. “Here, give me your bag, and I‟ll carry it so it doesn‟t pull you over.” His hand on her thigh was warm when he gave her a quick caress before slinging her purse over his shoulder and swinging onto the other horse. Damn, only a guy like him could make her big purple purse look small on his shoulder. And he didn‟t seem to mind carrying it. Her last boyfriend would have bought her tampons before he would have carried her purse. Wolf‟s Shadow raised his hand to the others, and he led her away from the Indians at a fast walk, with a couple of the dogs dancing along. She wondered how long the ride would take. She‟d like to call the study center before it closed, to let them know that the plane had crashed and set up a new interview. Glory clutched the horse‟s mane with one hand since there weren‟t any reins, and waved good-bye to Jane with the other. Then she clamped both hands in the horse‟s mane. The last time she had been on a horse she had ended up with a broken arm and a concussion. She felt about horses like she now felt about planes. Evil creatures. Wolf‟s Shadow rode close beside her, his knee brushing hers from time to time. He was watching her with an odd expression, like she was dessert. And he leaned close every now and then and inhaled. The sight of her purse, bright purple patent leather, slapping against his back, made her smile. The sight of his chiseled, hard pecs and long, muscled legs made her drool. At a half inch under six feet, she was used to towering over most women and quite a few men. He was five or six inches taller than she. She liked that in a guy. But in her experience, guys who looked like him were not interested in girls who looked like her. Then again, his eyes kept going over her, and every time they did, he smiled. What could it hurt to try to get to know him? If she was stranded here overnight … She could definitely stand to spend a little time with him in bed. The Nine Inch Nails song “Closer” passed through her head. Oh, yeah. She‟d like to eff him like an animal. “So,” she said brightly, looking up at him with what she hoped was a flirtatious smile. “Who are you? I mean, where are you from, and what do you do?” He smiled back at her, and that white smile made her breath catch. “I‟m Wolf‟s Shadow. My friends and family call me Shadow. I‟m from here.” He waved his arm broadly to indicate the empty prairie. “I am my father‟s Beta in the Lakota Wolf Clan. We migrate to where the hunting is best. Once or twice each season we go down to Kearney to visit kin and trade for supplies. Our cousin Taye leads a pack there.” She had no flipping clue what he was talking about. “Lakota?” she asked with interest. “I lived not far from the Standing Rock res for a while. Are you from there? Or maybe Pine Ridge? Or…?” She trailed off to give him a chance to answer. He shook his head, and the wind lifted his hair again, making her want to pet it. “No, the Clan doesn‟t live on a reservation. We live on the plains like our ancestors did long ago.” Weird. Not that it was any of her business. “That‟s nice,” she said instead. “But what about in the winter? It must get pretty cold.” “It‟s warmer in the Sacred Lands. We move there for the cold months. It‟s a good time of the year in spite of the cold. We gather in each others‟ lodges and sing and tell stories. The Grandmother and the other women teach the young reading and history and math. And…” His voice sank to that sexy rumble, and he smiled at her. “It‟s a time for loving.” Glory swallowed hard. The way his black eyes were looking at her dried her mouth and wet her panties. “Oh?” she said stupidly. “The Grandmother?” She attempted to get her wits back and make coherent conversation. “Is that a title? Like The President?” He ignored that, leaning close. “I‟m a good hunter.” His voice was still low, forceful. “I can provide for a mate. I didn‟t think my hunt today would be so successful. I wasn‟t expecting to find you. You‟re so beautiful. To whom do I pay your bride price?”
Glory eyed him sideways. “You‟re acting, right?” she suggested doubtfully. “This is part of your script.” “Acting? Pretending?” He snarled at one of the dogs who trotted around them. It looked to Glory like the dog was laughing, its tongue hanging out. “I‟m not acting. You‟re my mate, Gloria Peterson. Can‟t you feel it?” “Quit kidding around. It‟s not funny.” It hadn‟t been funny in tenth grade when she‟d believed Rob Jorgenson liked her. He‟d flirted with her for a month before he announced loudly and publicly that he had only done it to see what it would be like to sleep with a big fat cow. Glory had walked up to him and punched him in the face so hard that she‟d sprained her wrist and broken one of his teeth. Being suspended from school had been a small price to pay to see the look of shock on his face when she punched him. She stared coolly at Wolf‟s Shadow. “And quit calling me Gloria Peterson. That‟s my mom. Call me Glory.” He stopped his horse, and hers stopped too, with a jolt that made her slip sideways. He reached out one brawny arm and pulled her back up effortlessly. “I‟m not kidding. This isn‟t a joke.” He frowned a little bit, and pulled a windblown lock of shiny black hair away from his face. She found her eyes tracing the hair to the straight edge of his jaw to his full lips. “I‟ll court you if you want,” he said. “You‟re worth it. I can‟t believe that my mate is such a beautiful woman.” “Beautiful?” she snorted. “If you want to get in my pants, you don‟t need to…” Then she paused. If she wanted to spend a little time in bed with him while waiting for transportation back to civilization it might not be such a good idea to offend him. “Beautiful?” she said again. She spread her hands to indicate her anything-but-slender figure. “Yeah, sure. Look at me. Not exactly what you‟d see on America’s Next Top Model.” He did look at her, black eyes hot. “I don‟t know what you mean by that. I suppose you have plenty of suitors. Maybe there‟s one you already favor.” That deep voice went deeper, almost flat. “But he can‟t have you. You‟re mine. I won‟t give you up.” Something twisted painfully in Glory‟s chest. “Hello? We just met. Maybe I‟m not a teeny little stick. But that doesn‟t mean I don‟t have feelings. So just cut it out, okay?” “I‟m not a little stick either,” he growled back. He snatched her hand and held it to the front of his breechcloth. “See? That is what you do to me!” “Holy shi—!” Wolf‟s Shadow should be named Anaconda! She snatched her hand away so violently she almost fell off the horse again. Her pink hair was pale compared to her embarrassed blush. “What the hell do you think you‟re doing?” “Sorry. I got carried away,” he muttered. “I‟ll court you.” “Just knock it off, okay?” “Why are you angry, Glory? I know you want me. I can smell your desire. It‟s the same for me. Every time I scent you I get harder.” Glory snorted in disgust. What a typical egotistical jerk. She wasn‟t pretty or slender, so he thought he could make fun of her. She could remember her mother‟s plaintive voice telling her she‟d be pretty if only she‟d lose some weight. Even now, a decade later, that memory hurt as much as the memory of Rob laughing at her. She kicked her horse to get it moving again, and it bounded off at a dead run. She shrieked and fell off like a kid doing a belly flop. She was gasping desperately for breath when Shadow‟s moccasins pounded into her line of sight. He fell to his knees beside her, his long hair falling on the ground next to her face when he bent over her. “Lie still, Glory,” he commanded, running quick hands over her. “Let me see where you‟re hurt.” She grimaced and managed to roll over. “Just my pride,” she wheezed. “I didn‟t mean for that to happen.” She found her gaze level with his crotch, barely covered by his breechcloth. It looked like he hadn‟t lost interest. “Ah, geez.” She groaned and jerked her
eyes higher. That view was pretty nice too, and safer; his chest and abs were a work of art. He pulled her to a sitting position with one arm behind her back. She took a deep, calming breath. Damn, that cologne was going to make her drool, and she wanted to be cool and collected. “You are so hot,” she wailed. “Why do you have to be such a jerk?” “If a jerk is a man who is happy to have found a beautiful woman to love, then I am a jerk. You‟ll have to live with it.” She slapped a hand flat on the ground. “I don‟t appreciate being made fun of, so just quit it.” He stroked a hand up and down her arm. “I don‟t know why you‟re angry at me. I‟m telling the truth. I‟m not making fun. You‟re beautiful. So soft and curvy, just like a woman should be. I‟ve never seen a woman as well filled out as you are. What would I do with a tiny woman? I‟d crush her.” He sounded like he really meant it. “Seriously?” she asked hesitantly. He nodded. “Very seriously. You‟re the woman my wolf wants as a mate. I want to get you home and in my lodge as fast as possible.” His hand went to her hair, smoothing the windblown mess gently, with a wondering look. “Your hair is … pink.” He was really hung up on wolves. “Yeah, temporarily.” “I like it. It‟s pretty.” His forefinger lightly brushed over the stud in her nostril. “And this is pretty too.” “Yeah.” Glory wasn‟t sure she believed him, but his physical reaction was hard—Glory snickered to herself at the pun—to fake. She wouldn‟t be here long, just until she contacted the study center and made arrangements to get to her interview. If he wanted to sleep with her, why shouldn‟t she go along with it? Even if he was only using her, she would enjoy herself and never see him again. He could laugh with his buddies later, and she wouldn‟t be around for it. Sure, a roll in the hay with Mr. Buff and Bodacious, and then off to her interview. She allowed her hand to linger on his muscular shoulder when he lifted her to her feet and gave him a smile that glazed his eyes. Oh, yeah, they could have some fun while she was here. “Sorry I‟ve been such a bitch.” Just to tease him she pressed a quick kiss to his chin. His arm tightened around her back, and his lips were hot and eager, and not on her chin. Or, not just on her chin. But he ended it too quickly, pulling her back to that blasted horse and lifting her up. The dogs by the horses got up and shook themselves before following along when they started off again.
Chapter Two Shadow watched the woman riding beside him with wonder. At last, his wolf had chosen a mate for him. And what a mate. This was no thin scrap of a woman. No, his mate was tall and strong, with soft lush curves that he wanted to explore in great and loving detail. Her face was a soft oval with startlingly pale blue eyes and a soft, plump mouth that he wanted to taste again. He couldn‟t stop looking at her hair. “Why is your hair pink?” he asked, fascinated. She flashed a smile at him. “Because it matches my shirt.” He looked at the shiny fabric half hidden beneath a loose blue jacket. He had heard of women changing their hair color to hide gray, but not to match their clothing. Her clothing was unlike anything he had seen before. The townies—people who lived in towns—tended to wear many layers in cold weather, and even in summer, they covered nearly their entire bodies. He and his people would prefer to go naked if they could, but the Grandmother had forbidden that. He cast another look at his mate, imagining her without all the layers covering her soft, curved body. Shadow allowed himself the pleasure of that thought for only a moment before cutting it off. He focused on his mate‟s clothes instead. Those layers were constructed of unfamiliar fabric. An impossible thought disturbed him. She and the other woman had talked about phones and planes. “Glory, where are you from?” “Oh, I‟ve lived all over,” she said breezily. “Born in Illinois, grew up in North Dakota, college in Florida and North Carolina, and I live in Minneapolis now. But I‟m interviewing for a job in California…” The breeziness died briefly, and turned to fervent earnestness. “I‟m really hoping I get this job.” Confusion struck him. Who could live in so many places so far apart? And a job? His first instinctive thought was that he would never permit his mate to leave him and have a job. His second thought was that California didn‟t exist except in history books. His stomach swam with a vague feeling of dread as he looked at his strange mate. If what he suspected was true, then she had no idea what he was. “Glory…” He hesitated to ask what year she was born, so he quickly changed his question. “What job?” “It‟s a research position with the Marine Life Study Center in San Francisco. I have a master‟s degree in marine biology. It is exactly the sort of job I‟ve always wanted.” She looked so happy talking about her job plans that he didn‟t have the heart to disappoint her. They would get that straightened out later. After he had fully claimed her they would talk more plainly, and she would understand where and when she was. “What about you, Shadow? You said you worked for your dad? Is it a family business?” “I‟m his beta. Second in command.” She grabbed a hank of that incredible hair and put it behind her ear. Tiny sparkles in her earlobes matched the sparkle on the outside of her nostril. Her personal adornments were fascinating. “What sort of business is it?” He shrugged. The idea of a job, with set hours and routine, was a townie thing. Mostly, he hunted, taught his younger brothers and cousins how to fight and hunt, and protected the few women of the Clan. The women were their greatest treasures, and now he was bringing another precious woman into the Clan. He would die to protect Glory. “We provide food for communities in the area and trade for what we need. We live as our ancestors did, as closely as we can.” “Oh.” She clearly didn‟t understand. “Where did you go to school?” “The Grandmother and other women in the Clan teach the children to read and write, and math and history.” Right now he wished he had paid better attention to history. “We live
closely with the land. It is important to preserve our culture and our land. We don‟t need a great deal of schooling.” “So … You do historical reenactment?” His mate looked confused, but ready to be enlightened. He looked at her blankly. “What?” “You recreate life in the Old West? Like, you live in teepees and go on hunts and stuff like that?” “Yes. That is how we live. The Wolf Clan wants to teach others how to care for Mother Earth. That is my family‟s business, and it‟s important. If we don‟t care for the earth now, what will future generations have to live with?” “Oh, like a naturalist or conservationist company that does education? That‟s cool.” She flicked those stunning eyes at him again, smiling with approval, and he felt it all the way down to the base of his spine. “You have the most beautiful eyes I‟ve ever seen,” he breathed. Glory‟s soft pale cheeks flushed slightly, but she let him hold her hand and kiss her palm. Her scent drove him crazy. How soon would he be able to make love to her? He couldn‟t wait to get her back to his lodge where he could peel off her layers of clothing and taste every inch of her. * After only a half hour of riding they came upon Shadow‟s camp. Glory wasn‟t sure what she‟d been expecting, but it wasn‟t dozens of conical tents neatly laid out in concentric circles. An office building with a sign for the Wolf Clan Conservationist Society, maybe, but not this. It was a lot like the teepee encampments she had walked through at the powwows she‟d attended in high school in North Dakota. She looked around with interest as Shadow lifted her off the horse. He put her down gently, like she was a fragile doll, made sure she had her balance, and handed her purse back to her. He made her feel special, and she liked it. There was still doubt lingering in the back of her mind. They had just met. Why would he be attracted to her? She and Jordan, the man she had dated in grad school, had been friends for months before they moved in together. That relationship had been real. Not deep enough to survive him getting a job in a small town in Ohio, but a good relationship of mutual liking. If she could find another guy like that, one who would be willing to move to where she could work in her field, she‟d grab him in a minute. Shadow slid an arm around her waist and gave a sharp look to the teenage boy who came and took their horses. That look didn‟t prevent the kid from staring at her. She was used to being stared at. A six-foot-tall woman with black and purple hair, a miscellany of silver studs, hoops, and chains, and wearing an ankle-length black coat tended to attract stares. But this kid seemed awed. Admiring? Weird. Shadow led her through the camp to the central open area to a couple of women standing outside a teepee. “Mother,” he said to one. “This is my mate, Gloria Peterson.” Holy cow, he was introducing her to his mom, and he‟d called her his mate. Glory wasn‟t sure exactly what he meant by “mate,” but it made her imagine hot and sweaty fun in the dark. Things she shouldn‟t even be thinking about in front of his mom. His mother was five foot one, dressed in a leather dress, with reddish brown hair threaded with gray and greengray eyes. Her son must take after his dad. Unless this was just an actress who played his mother in the movie? She clearly wasn‟t Native American. Geez, thought Glory, you’d think they’d find someone who looks a little more like him. But no, she had decided that he wasn‟t an actor in a movie. He worked for his dad‟s conservation company and just happened to be drop-dead gorgeous. So this must really be his mother.
Glory nodded politely. “Hi, nice to meet you. I wonder if I could borrow your phone? Mine is dead.” She dug through her purse to hold up her phone. “I need to contact someone about the plane crash, and I‟d like to make a couple long distance calls. I can pay for the minutes.” The other woman screeched, “Glory?” Glory stared. This woman was so old she looked like a mummy with thin white hair dressed in two skinny braids. Shadow took her fragile hands in a very gentle grip. “Grandmother, this is my mate.” “She‟s my friend,” said the grandmother shakily, milky blue eyes staring at Glory. “We were like sisters.” Glory smiled uncomfortably. The old lady was bats. Alzheimer‟s for sure. “You‟re Glory Peterson,” the old lady insisted. “Gloriana Danielle Victoria Peterson. You graduated from Hankinson High in 2005. I‟m Jill. Jill Lampett.” She was bats! Jill was twenty-eight years old, not 128! Still, how did she know Glory‟s full name? No one knew her full name. “Lady… You looked that up on the Internet, I bet.” “There isn‟t any Internet anymore, you twit. You don‟t believe me. I don‟t blame you.” Shadow‟s grandma raised shaking hands and tugged on her skimpy white braids in a gesture of frustration. “But what about the time in the ninth grade, when we broke your mom‟s new lamp while your mom and dad were out? Remember, we walked to the store and bought a new one? Barely got home before they did. Your mom never knew we broke her lamp. I never told anyone about that; did you? So that wouldn‟t be on the Internet, now would it? If there was one, which there isn‟t and hasn‟t been for fifty years.” Glory gaped before saying weakly, “What?” “It‟s 2064, Glory. Fifty years have passed. I don‟t know how you can be here. I thought you died fifty years ago. The day you went off to San Francisco, nuclear bombs wiped out just about every big city in the world. The people who survived ran away to small towns in the country. In less than five years there was nothing left of the world as we knew it. I heard an earthquake dropped California in the ocean.” A shiny tear slipped down her face and lost itself in a network of wrinkles. “I thought you were dead.” Glory stared at her so hard her eyes burned. “Huh?” She looked wildly at Shadow for help, but the old lady charged on. “Electricity didn‟t work right anymore, and cell phones stopped working after a while. I tried calling you every day until my battery died. Then people started getting sick. Listen, Glory, I‟m not kidding! By 2020 there was hardly anyone left alive. And of those left alive, hardly any were women. We called it the Woman-Killer Plague. And there was no government anymore, just some men who decided how things should be run. And as long as they could get the other men to go along with them they became like kings of their own little kingdoms.” “What?” said Glory again, more weakly. “Look, lady, I think—” The old bat rushed on, spitting the words out as fast as her toothless mouth would let her. “In the Hankinson area the local king was Keith Berenson. Remember him? Used to torment my grandpa? Well, he decided that since there weren‟t many women it was up to him to decide how women should live. He figured that women should be locked up—for their own protection!—and married off to who he thought was best. I ran away to the reservation. Women were treated better there. Some of the Lakota already knew how to live without all the modern conveniences. They left the res and started wandering like their ancestors did. I went with them. I married a Lakota man, and I‟ve been with the Indians ever since.” She tottered toward Glory and threw her arms around her and hugged her. The thin arms gripped Glory‟s shoulders tightly. “I don‟t know how you can be here, but I‟m so glad you are!” Glory gingerly patted the narrow back. “Um, thanks… Um…”
Shadow moved forward to pull his grandmother away and support her elderly frail body with a brawny arm. “Glory‟s from the Times Before? I thought she must be, like those other women … Wonderful! But, Grandmother, you shouldn‟t tire yourself like this. Glory looks sick too. You should both go lie down and rest. You can talk again later. I‟ll take Glory to my lodge. Mother, take Grandmother in and make her rest.” Glory admired the way the muscles in his chest shifted when he hugged his grandmother. Jill. Her friend? That was impossible. Nuclear war? Plagues? That old lady needed a shrink, like right now. She watched Shadow‟s mom put an arm around the old lady and tow her away. Shadow curled his arm around her own waist and guided her in another direction. Glory leaned on it, grateful for its strength. She usually preferred to stand on her own two feet, but after the last few days she was glad to have him there. A girl could take only so many shocks in a row before she lost it. The few men they passed stared at her. She stared back, too tired to be polite and smile. Since she was practically glued to him she could feel Shadow‟s chest rumble when he growled at them. It was cute in a “Me, Tarzan” sort of way, but if she had to hear much more of it she would want to smack him. A kid around seven or eight years old with hair in two braids all the way to his butt came around one of the tents and stared at her with wide eyes. She could tell it was a boy because he wasn‟t wearing anything except moccasins. Geez, where were his clothes? Shadow wasn‟t wearing much, but at least he had on something. Glory stared back, careful to look only at his face, until Shadow said something to the kid about finding food. The kid nodded and trotted off, still staring over his shoulder at Glory. Shadow held the flap of a teepee open for her. “Raven will bring food.” “Great, I‟m starved.” Glory ducked to go inside the teepee. “Nice place you have here,” she fibbed, looking around at the fire pit in the center of the grassy floor and the neat pile of blankets and furs on one side of the pit. The walls were made of heavy off-white canvas instead of leather. The canvas let in some light, more than leather would have. She was glad to see Shadow wasn‟t completely sucked into let‟s-imitate-the-past. At least he didn‟t live under the skins of murdered animals. She felt his large gentle hands turn her around and stroke up and down her back before clamping on her derriere to pull her against his big, almost naked body. “Glory,” he whispered. “I want to kiss you.” Glory decided that playing hard to get would be stupid. She wanted to kiss him just as much. She stood on her tiptoes to press her lips against his. Cool. She‟d never had to stand on tiptoes to kiss a guy before. Wow, he sure knew how to use his mouth. He used exactly the right amount of pressure to make her open her mouth for him, and his tongue glided along hers with a lazy surety that made her want to purr. But the feel of his hand pushing up the silk T-shirt woke her out of her passion. She tried to pull away, and for a second his iron-hard arm around her waist didn‟t let her. But he finally lifted his mouth away with a small moan. “Glory, you‟re so soft.” She couldn‟t resist arching and rubbing against him. “And you‟re so hard. But we better slow down.” “But why?” His hand was dark against the white skin of her upper breast when he brushed the jacket aside to push the neck of her top down. “You are so beautiful.” She slapped at his hand. “Because it‟s broad daylight! Geez.” She managed to choke back that she didn‟t want him to see her naked body in daylight. He was a big man, but he didn‟t have an ounce of fat on him. She was a big woman, and she was nothing but fat. “Besides, I‟m starving. And I could use a shower and a nap.” “Then, tonight?” he whispered. “When it‟s dark, may I love you?”
Feeling deliciously wicked, she gave him a brazen smile. “Oh, yeah. I‟m looking forward to that.” He looked like he‟d just won the lottery. After one last kiss he stepped back. Good thing, too, because the kid was back, all big curious eyes and long black braids. Shadow took the bowl of stew and shooed the kid off. He settled her on the furs with the stew and sat down in front of her. They hadn‟t talked much on the ride; he had spent most of it looking at her as they rode. She had told him a little of her job and her hopes for the interview. He had had a slight frown between his brows when he listened to that, and told her a little more of his childhood and his Clan. This Clan seemed weird. Kind of similar to a historical reenactment group like the Civil War reenactment people who re-fought Gettysburg with blanks. Only it wasn‟t just a few weeks in the summer; it was all year long. He had spoken about it, but she hadn‟t really understood until she got here. As she spooned warm stew into her mouth she looked around his tent. Spartan didn‟t begin to describe it. Glory hated camping even more than she hated clothes shopping. Good thing she wouldn‟t be here long. Wolf‟s Shadow took her left hand as she was eating. “You have beautiful hands,” he murmured, bringing it to his lips to kiss each fingertip. “Strong, but gentle.” “Callused and dry,” she said ruefully. “I need to put some lotion on.” He turned her hand over to run his fingertips over her palm. “You‟ve worked hard.” “Carrying buckets and cleaning aquariums,” she breathed. His touch was driving tiny shivers through her blood. Heat settled thick in her belly, speeding her breathing. It was worth a night in a tent, she decided. If he could do this to her when he was only holding her hand, imagine the fun they would have tonight. What aftershave was he wearing? Or, she looked closely at his smooth chin and jaw, maybe it wasn‟t aftershave. It looked like he didn‟t need to shave. “I love your cologne,” she told him, inhaling. “What is it?” “My what?” he said blankly. “Your scent. It‟s yummy.” His gorgeous white smile flashed. “It‟s the mating scent. Just for you.” The Mating Scent? She‟d never heard of that one. Or was it called Just For You? Whatever. It was delicious. She set the bowl aside and yawned. He kissed the back of her hand. “You need to rest. Lie down.” His grin peeped out again, with a wicked slant to it. “Sleep now, because I‟m going to keep you awake all night long.” A thrill swept through her. “Promise?” He licked her palm. “Promise.” How many hours until dark? She watched him leave and shimmied with anticipation. Damn, he was hot. She‟d slept with a few men, but none like him. His appeal went beyond physical good looks; it was that, plus raw animal sex appeal. None of her previous lovers had licked her palm and made her so wet so easily. A few hours with him would rock her world and make her forget the stress of the last two days. It was only after she‟d lain down on the blankets that she realized she still hadn‟t been able to notify the study center that she would need to reschedule her interview.
Chapter Three Night had fallen when she woke up feeling like she hadn‟t brushed her teeth or peed in a week. She really needed to find the bathroom. She sat up, groping in the dark for her purse to paw blindly through it for her travel toothbrush. Thank goodness she had brought a toothbrush and toothpaste along so she could freshen up before her interview. And speaking of that, as soon as she‟d used the bathroom, she should find a phone and call. Or, no, maybe she should wait for morning. The office would be closed now. Glory wrestled her way out of the teepee. It was too dark to see the door flap or how it fastened, so she ended up tripping and almost doing a belly flop into the grass. She had just managed to get clear of the darn thing and get her balance back when a man spoke right behind her. “Hello. You are my son‟s mate?” Glory squeaked, slapping a hand over her chest and peering through the gloom to try to make out the man. “You scared me!” Boy, now she really needed to find the bathroom! “What? Yeah. Hi. Glory Peterson. You‟re Wolf‟s Shadow‟s dad?” “Yes. My name is Arthur Muddy Wolf. I want you to know that you are safe here. No one will force you to do anything. You can stay with the Grandmother if you need more time to make a decision about my son. Are you married?” “What? No! If I were married I wouldn‟t be—” Glory cleared her throat, not wanting to admit her eagerness to sleep with Shadow in front of his dad. “Look, do you mind if we finish this later? I really need to use the little girls‟ room. Could you point me in the right direction?” The man‟s shadow didn‟t move. “Little girls‟ room? We have no girls here.” Good grief! She resisted the urge to roll her yes. If he was trying to be funny it wasn‟t working. “The bathroom. You know, nature‟s calling?” She wiggled urgently to give him a hint. “The latrine. Yes, it‟s—” A familiar scent came to Glory, and Shadow stepped close to put his arm around her. The night air was cold, and Glory leaned discreetly into his warmth. “I will take care of Glory, Father.” “It is her decision, son. Just one more question, Glory. Is my son hurrying you? Would you like some time to get acquainted with him before you share his bed?” Ack! Not too embarrassing! “It‟s fine, really. I like Wolf‟s Shadow. Oh, God. I am going to die of embarrassment before I can get to the bathroom.” Her eyes widened. “Did I just say that out loud?” Wolf‟s Shadow‟s arm gave her a quick cuddle. A cloud shifted just enough to let the moonlight illuminate them. She could see Shadow‟s smile and an identical smile on his dad‟s face. Although Wolf‟s Shadow was taller and broader than his dad, they looked a lot alike. Arthur Muddy Wolf nodded at Glory. “My son is a lucky man. But if you have second thoughts you can always stay with the Grandmother.” Shadow began towing her away, so she tossed her thanks over her shoulder before poking him. “Honestly, that was so embarrassing I could have died on the spot.” “My father only wanted to be sure I wasn‟t forcing you to be with me tonight. I am not, am I?” “No.” Just let her use a toilet and brush her teeth and she would race him back to the blankets. When Shadow led her to a canvas shelter and opened one end of it for her, Glory‟s mouth fell open. There wasn‟t a toilet, just the shelter made of canvas around a hole in the
ground, and an ancient phone book with half of its pages torn out lying on the grass. The only reason she could see that was because there was no ceiling, just the starry night sky above. She whipped her head around to stare at Shadow. “Are you kidding me?” she squealed. “Haven‟t you heard of Porta Potties?” “No.” He sounded honestly puzzled. “I‟ll wait for you over there.” He indicated a tree about twenty feet away, and left her. Glory braced herself and entered the shelter. Ugh. Is this how the Indians did it in the old days? Gross. But with her bladder insisting, she did her business as quickly as possible. She gingerly tore out a page of the phone book to wipe herself with. Thank God for the liquid soap outside. She didn‟t even want to imagine how gross her hands were after using the phone book page. She wiped her wet hands on her grimy jacket to dry them. And thank God for the toothpaste, because just brushing her teeth with water alone would not have made her mouth feel minty fresh. Feeling more refreshed, she turned to look for Wolf‟s Shadow. He came out of the shadows to steer her back to his teepee. Glory leaned on him because she didn‟t want to trip in the dark. Totally the only reason. Yeah. “Why are you living out here like this? I mean, teepees? No running water? Why not live in a town? Your cousin lives in a town, right?” Shadow‟s voice was a bass rumble in her ear as he held her tight to his side. She loved the way his voice did that rumble, and she especially enjoyed the sexual shiver it gave her. “The Clan tries to live like our ancestors did. We don‟t have some of the conveniences in our camp that a town has. But we don‟t waste and pollute like the townspeople do. The things the earth gives us are precious and should be used wisely.” Okay, cool. She was all for recycling and being green. But camping? Not her thing. A hotel room was more her style. With room service, please, and a view of the city skyline. And a wet bar and a private Jacuzzi. But for one night with Wolf„s Shadow the Stud Muffin, she could put up with a tent. Shadow‟s hand smoothed over her shoulder in a gentle caress, and thoughts of hotel rooms and camping were lost in the scent of all that bare warm skin. Just For You was now her very favorite cologne. She let her hand rub up and down his taut back, reveling in the ridges of muscle. “Damn, you‟re in great shape,” she told him as he held the tent flap open for her. She stepped in with Shadow following close behind her, and the flap fell closed. Darkness hid the inside of his tent. It was good for hiding her nerves, bad for being able to find the bed. “Hey?” she said, reaching for him blindly. His hands found her shoulders, and his mouth devoured hers with such fierce hunger that she felt deliciously overwhelmed. And with the first brush of his fingers over her nipple a pulse flared to life between her thighs. Her toothbrush and toothpaste dropped from her hand, lost somewhere in the trampled grass of the floor. She stroked her hands over his chest, exploring that incredibly buff body, feeling the swell of his pecs and the ridges in his abdomen, but stopping short of going below his waist. She curled her fingers into claws that she scraped down his pectorals. She liked the small breath he released in a gasp when she went over one of his nipples. She loved his groan when she crushed herself against his hardness. “Glory,” he groaned. Her lips curved in a naughty smile against his shoulder, but she kept her voice demure. “Yes, Shadow?” “Glory.” It seemed the only thing he was able to say with his voice, but his lips and tongue continued to speak sweet nothings against her throat in a wordless song. She hoped she didn‟t smell too bad. Shadow‟s cologne was driving her crazy. Who knew Indians living in tents
used cologne? She tilted her head back to give him better access to that spot below her earlobe. “Glory,” he said again in a muttered groan. “I need to touch you.” “Well, what are you waiting for?” As if it had only been waiting for an invitation, Shadow‟s big warm hand dove inside her shirt. He was gentle enough when he cupped her breast, but his palm was rough with calluses. She wiggled her shoulders, trying to shrug her jacket off. Wolf‟s Shadow realized her intent and practically tore the jacket off her and began tugging on the shirt. “Hey, take it easy, big guy,” she giggled. “Don‟t tear it. This is all I have to wear.” His frantic hands slowed, petting her over her shirt as if he were memorizing her shape. “I‟d like that. My mate in my lodge, with nothing to wear but my blankets.” “Ha-ha.” She reached up and kissed his chin and then his lips. “This is 2014, not the stone age, Mr. Tarzan.” Just for fun she moved lower, looking for his nipple with her lips. He stiffened and shuddered. “Ah-hah! You like that, huh?” “Oh, yes. But Glory, this isn‟t twen—Ah!” She smiled, smugly proud of herself for being able to get such a reaction out of him. In the safety of the darkness she felt bold and beautiful. “Help me take off my shirt.” He did, and the cool night air pimpled her skin except where Shadow touched her. She loved the feel of his hands on her. “You smell fantastic,” she told him, playing with his nipple. “You smell fantastic to me,” he growled, easing the shoulder straps of her bra down to free her breasts. “Really?” She shivered with excitement when he found her nipple with his mouth. “I haven‟t had a shower in almost two days, and I‟ve been sweating like a pig. You‟d think I‟d reek.” “We‟re mates. The scent of a mate is always appealing.” He nibbled gently at her nipple. “I knew this afternoon that you were my mate when I first scented you. I always hoped I‟d find a mate, but so many don‟t… And you are so beautiful. I have been so lucky to find you.” Mate? He was really hung up on that word, wasn‟t he? But Glory lost track of the conversation, flushed with pleasure. “Kiss me.” Glory savored the delicious rush of heat that shot to the junction of her thighs when he sucked on her breast. She widened her legs. “Touch me,” she demanded. “Make tonight special, so I‟ll always remember it.” “I‟ll give you all the memories you need, every night for the rest of our lives.” The heat between her thighs made her ache to have him touch her there. She lifted one leg so she could grind herself against him. Then something poked at the back of her mind. “Hey, Shadow? You know I‟m only here tonight, right? I have to get back to civilization. You know I‟m leaving as soon as I—” “Leaving?” The strength of that roar made Glory‟s eyes spring wide, but she couldn‟t see his face in the dark. She could only feel the way his hands gripped her ass, holding her tight. “Well, yeah. I have an interview for the job I‟ve been wanting my whole life. You‟re a great guy, and I really want to spend the night with you, but this isn‟t forever, you know.” Shadow‟s hands weren‟t quite hurting her, but they weren‟t caressing her either. “Glory, I‟ll never let you go. You‟re mine.” “Excuse me?” Glory‟s roar almost matched his. “Since when do you own me?” “Since the moment my wolf claimed you as my mate!” he roared back. Her failure to push his hands off fired her temper even more. She glared into the darkness where she thought his face was. “Take your hands off me, moron! And gimme back my shirt!”
“Glory.” His voice was a little hoarse. “Please don‟t be angry. You don‟t need your shirt—” “Of course I need it! I‟m not going out there half dressed!” “Going where?” “You don‟t have to yell!” she screamed, conveniently ignoring the fact that she had been yelling even more than he had. “Your dad said I could stay with your grandma if I changed my mind, and I’ve changed my mind! So give me my shirt and then get me the hell out of this tent!” His hands let go of her shoulders and in only a second he was pushing fabric into her hands. She jerked her bra straps back up and pulled the top on. It was backwards, and damn near choking her, but who cared? Her arm flailed, trying to slide into her jacket, but she couldn‟t find the sleeve until Shadow‟s hand guided her. “Glory, don‟t leave. You wanted me. I could smell your desire. Let‟s finish what we started.” Did he have to sound like a general giving orders to his troops? “Ha! In your dreams, buddy!” She poked her finger into the dark and yelped when it hit a hard chest and her nail bent backwards. “OW! Shit, shit, shit!” “Glory?” The roar was gone from the voice, replaced by concern. “Are you okay?” She tried to jerk her wrist away from his hand. “Just let me go. It‟s not like you can see anything in the dark anyway.” “Of course I can see in the dark. I‟m a wolf. Quit trying to pull away, mate.” “You‟re delusional, that‟s what you are. Let me go, or I‟ll scream. Maybe your dad will come and beat the snot out of you.” She was pulled forward by his hand on her wrist. The tent flap was thrown open, and the moonlight was bright compared to the darkness in the tent. She almost tripped going out and snarled at Shadow‟s helpful hand catching her elbow to steady her. And there was his dad, standing with folded arms a few yards from the tent. He unfolded his arms and stepped forward. “Glory, I will walk you to the Grandmother‟s lodge. Son, you will stay here.” Wolf‟s Shadow snapped that she was his responsibility, and his previously mildmannered father growled something about Alphas furiously back. The son stared angrily a moment, then tipped his head back so his chin pointed up. That apparently ended the argument, because Arthur Muddy Wolf held out his arm to indicate the way. Glory took a step but couldn‟t resist one last glance back at Wolf‟s Shadow. He was staring at her with a set face. “This isn‟t over, Glory. You will talk with me tomorrow.” “Whatever.” It would have been a good exit line if she hadn‟t tripped again in the grass. She settled for scowling. The old lady‟s tent was only two down from Shadow‟s, and she must have been waiting for them because she pulled the door flap open as soon as Arthur Muddy Wolf called softly. “Glory,” she said calmly, not sounding like the crazy lady from this afternoon. “Come in.” She nodded at the man. “I‟ll take care of her.” Glory tried to smile at Wolf‟s Shadow‟s dad. She didn‟t need to be a bitch to him just because his son was a bossy jerk. “Thanks.” “Goodnight, Glory. Don‟t worry about my son. You‟ll work things out.” Yep, Shadow and his dad sure looked alike. They had the same killer smile, one which made her think of the Rock. Glory nodded and went into the old lady‟s tent. She had a fire burning. It gave enough light to see, but not enough light to see well. But Glory appreciated
its warmth. Her suit jacket wasn‟t very warm, and she felt the cold all the way through. Shadow had kept her warm… She wouldn‟t think about that jerk! The low bed was made out of wood bars that fit together like Lincoln Logs. Shadow hadn‟t had a be—Glory clenched her teeth and turned to face the old lady, who was bending over a big wicker basket and pulling out blankets and furs. This tent probably wasn‟t any smaller than Shadow‟s, but with the bed and some chests made of woven wicker it seemed to be smaller. “Here, Glory, you can make a sleeping bag out of these for tonight. Now, tell me what‟s got your panties in a bunch.” Geez, what kind of language was that for an old lady to be using? “Nothing,” she muttered. “And I‟m the tooth fairy. Spit it out.” Glory resolutely bent to spreading out her bed. Wolf‟s Shadow had ruined her best chance in a year at getting laid because he had to go turn into Conan the Barbarian. Why did he think she would stay with him forever? What gave him the right to decide her future for her? This job at the study center was a dream come true. Even if she didn‟t get the job, why would she want to live in a tent in the middle of nowhere with a guy she‟d known for less than a day? She had a job in Minneapolis—not a great job, true, but still a job. And she had an apartment with a flushing toilet and a shower and a real bed and chairs. The bed creaked when the old lady sat down. “C‟mon, Glor, tell me what Shadow did.” For a second the old lady sounded just like her friend, Jill. To Glory‟s horror, tears rose and spilled. She scrubbed them away. “I‟m not crying because I‟m sad,” she snarled. Flickering light from the fire painted the old lady‟s face one minute, shadows hid it the next. “I know. You always did bawl when you were angry. At least, that‟s what you always said. I always said that you were as much hurt as angry, like that time when Heather called you fat. So what did Shadow do?” God, she really did sound like Jill. This was creepy. “He said he wouldn‟t let me leave tomorrow. That I belong to him, like I was his dog or something. We only just met! What is he, crazy?” “He‟s an Alpha wolf who has just found his mate.” “Mate! That‟s what he called me. This is freaking me out! Wolf? What the hell does he mean, wolf? He keeps talking about his wolf.” The old lady sighed, a soft sound almost lost in the snap of the fire. “Do you remember what I was saying earlier about what year it is and who I am?” Glory shifted uncomfortably on the hard ground. She had been taught to be polite to her elders, and she had pretty much stuck to that even when she‟d been in her gothiest phase. So she didn‟t want to tell the old lady she thought she was nuts. “Um… Yeah, I remember.” “I probably dumped too much info on you at one time. Do you still think I‟m crazy?” Glory wiped a hand under her nose. “Well…” “Glory, it‟s true. I am Jill. Fifty years have passed since you got on that plane. I read that text message you sent me right after the plane took off a million times before my battery died. I don‟t remember exactly what I replied, but it was something like „Break a leg. Call me asap after the interview.‟ But you never did, and I never heard what happened to your plane. Don‟t ask me how it happened, but you‟ve gone forward in time. Something similar happened about ten years ago. Three or four women from the Times Before came to eastern Wyoming.” Glory swallowed, remembering Jill‟s text. “You don‟t want to believe me because then you‟ll have to accept that your old life is over.” The old lady smiled wryly. “You always were absolutely the most stubborn person I ever met. From the day you gave me a black eye in third grade because I wouldn‟t ask Billy
Westfall to kiss you, I knew you were the most obstinate person I would ever meet. But you were also the most loyal friend I ever had. I‟ve missed you.” Glory swallowed, searching the fire-lit face. The shadows thrown by the fire danced across that face, one minute making it a mask of wrinkles, the next making it appear young. Could it be … It was Jill. How…? “Omigod,” she whispered. “But … you‟re old!” “Thank you, Captain Obvious.” “No, I mean … You … I…” “Never mind, Glory. It will take you a while to get used to. It‟s taking me a while to get used to it, too.” Glory squirmed, and not just because there was something poking her in the butt through the blanket she was sitting on. “So, that means there really was a war? And my job…?” “Yeah, there really was a war. No one knows exactly what happened. But I do know that terrorists had a big plan to set off nuclear devices in hundreds of cities simultaneously. They were mostly successful. Millions died in only a few days.” “But…” Glory protested weakly. “I know. It sounds crazy. But it‟s true. Television was still working for a little while, and I saw it on the news. The hospitals couldn‟t keep up with the wounded, especially the radiation victims. And then, everything else that could go wrong, did. Meteor strikes, earthquakes, tsunamis. I heard that parts of California broke off and sank into the ocean. And the plagues. So many died that they couldn‟t be buried. In the Dakotas and Nebraska we didn‟t have the nukes or the natural disasters, but the plague killed a couple hundred thousand. We don‟t have cell phones, computers, or cars because there isn‟t anyone left who knows how to make them or maintain them.” A cold ball of goo swam in Glory‟s stomach. Her dream job was gone. The center was probably sitting in the Pacific. Her whole life was gone. Her best friend was here, but she was old enough to be her grandmother. “Oh, God, you‟re Shadow‟s grandma?” “Wolf‟s Shadow? No, Shadow‟s actually my great-nephew-in-law. His grandfather was my husband‟s brother. Everyone calls me the Grandmother because I‟m the oldest living person for five hundred miles. Even Josh Gray in Kearney is three years younger than me.” “When Shadow talked about you I thought „the Grandmother‟ was a title.” Glory scrubbed at her face with hands that trembled. Was she dreaming? This was too crazy to be real, wasn‟t it? “Where are my parents?” The wrinkled old face seemed to get more wrinkled. “I don‟t know what happened to them. But it‟s been fifty years. Even if they survived the Terrible Times, they‟re gone now.” Glory took a deep breath and pushed the thoughts of her parents away. “Okay, so tell me about this „my wolf‟ and mate thingy. What is Wolf‟s Shadow talking about?” Jill studied her wrinkled hands in silence for a minute. “You‟ve a lot to take in already, so let‟s just stick to basics for tonight, okay? We‟re the Wolf Clan. The Wolf Clan has existed for hundreds of years, even during the reservation days. You know wolves have one mate, and they mate for life?” “Yeah, sure. Before I settled on marine biology I thought about studying wolves. I did some research. You know that. So … you guys like, uh, act like wolves?” “Sort of. Shadow‟s inner wolf has chosen you to be his mate. Nothing can change that, but no one will force you to accept him.” “Damn right no one‟s gonna force me to accept him!” The brief flare of anger seeped away, and Glory sagged. “Jill, what‟s going to happen to me? Where will I live? My apartment in Minneapolis is probably rented out to someone else, if it‟s even there anymore. All my stuff … And I‟m gonna need a job.” Jill reached a hand to touch Glory‟s hair. “You don‟t need to worry about that tonight. We can talk more tomorrow. I‟m exhausted, and you must be beat too.”
Glory was tired, but too keyed up to sleep. She let Jill show her how to bank the fire for the night, took off her jacket and lay down between two toasty layers of blankets and furs. Fifty years ago Jill wouldn‟t have dreamed of using the skins or furs of animals. Things had changed in fifty years. Glory tried to imagine what the world was like now. What had happened to her apartment with her clothes and everything else she owned? Was her car still sitting in the airport lot? She needed to find something to wear besides this useless business suit. Maybe the luggage from the plane had survived. She would ask Sha—No, she‟d ask Shadow‟s dad about it tomorrow. She wasn‟t going to ask Wolf‟s Shadow for anything. That idiot probably thought he was the alpha and she was the omega who should roll over and show her belly every time he gave an order. Ha! He was in for a rude awakening if he thought that. She had never taken orders well, and she for damn sure didn‟t plan to start now. Shadow was only a pretend wolf, and she was not going to let him dominate her. But what was she going to do? She couldn‟t stay here. Camping sucked. Winter was coming, and she hated winter even in a heated apartment. There must be a town where she could get a job. Not in her career field. If this was central Nebraska as the co-pilot said, then they probably didn‟t have jobs for a marine biologist. But she was willing to do anything. Bowling alley attendant. Waitress. Hell, a job in a fast-food joint would do. Anything except stay with Shadow in a tent in the winter. **** Shadow went back into his lodge, the ache in his cock subsiding but the pain in his chest growing like a howl wanting to tear free. He had found his mate, and she‟d rejected him! He wanted to drag her back and force her to stay with him. His father was right. He knew that. The Clan never forced their mates to accept them. As the Clan Alpha, his father would be the one to punish him if he hurt Glory. His mate‟s bag lay forgotten on the grass. He picked it up and carried it to his furs, burying his face against it. Her scent rose from it, sweet woman faintly overlaid by an acrid chemical scent. He remembered how surprised he had been this afternoon when he had first seen her and the other woman alone on the plains. He and cousins had hurried to them, keeping an eye out for any men who might be using the women as bait to lure them into a trap. Her unusual beauty caught his eye and his breath. And he remembered how her scent had hit him like a fist to his gut. His wolf had pressed his nose to her female place to roll in that scent, and she had not hesitated to chastise him for taking that liberty. The scent had captured his wolf, but it was her boldness that made his wolf howl inside his heart: Mine! My mate! He should have been completely honest with her from the first. He‟d guessed that she was from the Times Before when she‟d talked about phones and planes. It was impossible, but what other explanation was there? She couldn‟t have known about the Clan and their wolves. She‟d believed the Clan were a group of people playing at recreating life on the plains in the nineteenth century, and he‟d let her keep that belief because he was too much of a coward to tell her the truth. If he‟d taken the time to explain the Terrible Times and about his wolf choosing her to be his mate, would she have stayed with him tonight? He would have comforted her. Even if she had denied him sex, he could have held her while she mourned her old life. Tomorrow he would talk to her, convince her to come back to his lodge and stay with him. But if he had to, he‟d court her until she accepted him. She wanted him; he had smelled that plainly. How he adored her scent when it sharpened with desire. Remembering it now, he went hard again.
Shadow let his breechcloth drop, lay down in his blankets, and closed his eyes. He held his mate‟s bag cradled against his chest with one arm while he caressed himself with his other hand. Tomorrow night it would be Glory‟s hand touching him like this. He wouldn‟t bring himself to pleasure now. It would be sweeter to wait for her stroke over his hard, eager flesh. He released his cock, set the bag beside his head where he would easily catch its scent, and pulled the blankets over himself. Tomorrow he would bring Glory back to his lodge where she belonged.
Chapter Four The woman who had been known as Jill Lampett fifty years ago and now was called Grandmother by every member of the Clan, let her friend sleep late the next morning. It had been so long since she‟d been called Jill. Her husband had been dead for eighteen years, and she missed him still. He and his brothers were the only ones to call her by name. Their three sons were gone too. She was an honorary grandmother to the whole Clan, but she had no immediate family left. Glory had always been like a sister to her. Having Glory here was almost like having her family back. She dressed in her everyday work dress and smiled at Glory lying on her side, mouth half open, pink hair stiff with old hairspray standing out in every direction. How strange, to see Glory here. She was so painfully young. And still loud and headstrong. Shadow would have an interesting courtship. Jill wasn‟t sure how it would end. Shadow was strong and determined, but Glory was as stubborn as a mule. She left the lodge to use the latrine and on the way back Shadow waylaid her. She‟d been expecting it. Dressed in his best leggings and breechcloth, with a carved bead necklace hanging down his bare chest, he looked very handsome. She wouldn‟t say Glory was crazy for turning Shadow down, but … Glory was crazy. His long hair hung loose, glossy and black, down his back. She held up her hand to stop his eager voice. “Your mate is sleeping, Shadow. She is exhausted from her ordeal.” “Ordeal? W—” She held up her hand again. “She was flying in the sky, higher than the clouds, in a giant metal bird from the Times Before. It fell to the ground. It‟s a miracle she wasn‟t hurt or killed.” Shadow‟s broad shoulders tensed, the muscle bunching under the skin. “She could have died?” “Easily.” She enjoyed his horrified reaction, the fear that gleamed in his black eyes. Glory deserved this man to love her utterly, the way no one else ever had. “Many of the people in the airplane died or are hurt. Then she walked for two days with little food or water, to find help. Imagine what would have happened if woman stealers had found her.” “I would have killed them.” Shadow‟s growl made it a vow. “I‟ll kill anyone who tries to take her away from me.” Fifty years ago Jill would have rolled her eyes at that threat. Now, after fifty years with the Clan, she knew it wasn‟t a threat but a promise. “And then you tell her she belongs to you, as if she were your horse or your moccasin.” “She‟s my mate!” “Shadow, I know Glory well. We grew up like sisters. I know that you will be a good husband for her. But you will have to convince her of that. In the Times Before she was taunted for being so tall and big. People used words to hurt her.” “Tall and big? Grandmother, she is my mate. She‟s perfect. My wolf wouldn‟t choose a scrawny woman for me.” Jill wished Glory could hear this. “You‟ll have to tell her that, and make her believe it. And I tell you, she doesn‟t understand about mates. She doesn‟t know about your wolf. Why didn‟t you tell her? You must have known she wasn‟t from this time and place.” Shadow raked an impatient hand through his hair, ruffling its glossy perfection. “Grandmother, I hoped I was wrong about her being from the Times Before. Who doesn‟t know about the Wolf Clan? Since those fools stole our women all the townies within five hundred miles know about our wolves. Will you explain it to her?”
The Grandmother almost accused him of being a coward, but sighed instead. “Shadow, I‟ll tell her, but Glory is from the Times Before. I don‟t know how she‟ll react when she hears about your wolf. Don‟t be surprised if she rejects you.” Shadow was the Beta wolf of the Clan to his father‟s Alpha, but he cringed. “She won‟t be like Aunt Naomi? I can‟t woo her for three years! I‟ll die of wanting her by then.” It took a little effort, but the Grandmother hid her pleasure at his attitude. “Listen to me, Shadow, and that won‟t have to happen. First, you must leave her alone for a few days while she rests. Then you should begin courting her. Bring her gifts. She will need clothes and blankets and furs to keep her warm. She loves jewelry. And don‟t give her orders as if she were a young wolf in need of direction. Glory is an Alpha too. Speak softly to her. Tell her she is beautiful.” “I‟ve already told her that!” “Tell her again.” “I want to see her.” “Not now, Shadow. She‟s sleeping. Go hunting. Or go see if you can find the plane and help the other survivors.” Shadow‟s shoulders slumped a little. “As you say, Grandmother.” **** It was close to noon when Glory woke up, her mouth dry and her hair a wild pink tangle. She ached all over, and she could have sworn she had slept on rocky ground. And she needed to pee desperately. After that she had to call the cent—No. Her stomach dropped when the memories rushed into the hollow place inside her. She had tried to talk herself into believing that she had been dreaming about the terrorist attacks. But it hadn‟t been a dream. She went outside the tent and looked around. She wasn‟t sure she could find that disgusting bathroom on her own. Luckily she didn‟t need to. There was a row of four little boys, crouching in a neat line outside the tent. Their naked bodies were brown, their long hair black and braided. She didn‟t see Jill or anyone else around. “Hi, there. Can you tell me where the latrine is?” All four round faces looked at her solemnly. Geez, they had that stoic red man thing down pat already, and the youngest looked like he wasn‟t older than four. Only the wideness of their eyes when they looked at her hair made them look like little boys. All of them stood up. They weren‟t quite naked. They wore small breechcloths and moccasins. The tallest one was probably around seven or eight. He looked familiar. Wasn‟t he the kid that brought the stew last night? He spoke. “You‟re my sister. I‟ll take you.” “She‟s my cousin!” another little boy objected. Her bladder went from nagging to screaming. “Fine. You can all show me, okay? Let‟s just get a move on.” The bathroom was as disgusting as she remembered. She used it as quickly as she could, washed her hands, and rejoined the boys. She had to talk to Jill about going somewhere with real bathrooms. But first she needed to eat. Then she needed to find a toothbrush. Crap. She had left her toothbrush behind at Shadow‟s place last night. In fact, her purse was there too.
She didn‟t want to see him right now, but she needed her purse. It had her comb, if nothing else. She looked at her little escorts. “I bet you guys know Wolf‟s Shadow, right?” They nodded. The oldest one said, “He‟s my brother.” “He‟s my cousin,” said the other three. It figured they were related. They all looked alike. Someday they‟d all be as handsome as Shadow. “Great. Would you do me a favor? I left my purse back in his tent. It‟s about this big, and purple and shiny. Would one of you go get it for me?” The oldest one gave quick commands, and one of the other boys trotted off. “Chase will bring your purse. I‟m Raven; this is my cousin Singer and his brother Matt.” Matt was the one who was four. He was adorable. Glory wiggled her fingers at them all. “Hi. I‟m Glory.” Raven looked ridiculously handsome for a little boy when he nodded. “Are you hungry? My mother has food ready.” Hungry? She was starving. Some Cap‟n Crunch or Fruit Loops would be good now. Or a sausage, egg, and cheese bagel. “Lead the way—Oh, wait. Is Wolf‟s Shadow there?” “My brother is hunting.” Weight rolled off her shoulders. “Okay. Great. Let‟s go.” The three boys clustered around her as they walked, staring at her. Glory didn‟t know many kids. These were starting to creep her out. She tried to look around while they walked, but except for the conical canvas tents and a couple of big dogs lying in the sun, there was nothing to see. She glanced back down at the kids, and they were still staring at her. She was never at her best first thing in the morning. “What are you staring at?” she grunted at them. “You.” Glory rolled her eyes. “Duh. Don‟t do it. It‟s rude.” “But you‟re a woman,” said Singer, in the same excited tone a little boy might normally reserve for a particularly cool bug. Tiny little Matt spoke around his thumb. “Your hair is pink. And you need to comb it.” Glory huffed, just as Raven chimed in, “You‟re my brother‟s mate.” The huff was strangled by indignation. “I am not!”
All three boys stopped walking to stare open-mouthed at her. “But,” Raven protested, “Shadow‟s wolf has chosen you.” “I don‟t give a flying fu—” The innocent brown faces pointed at her made her break off. “I don‟t care about Shadow or his inner wolf. They can both take a long walk off a short pier.” Young faces looked confused. Glory sighed, feeling like a foreign freak of nature. “Let‟s just go eat, okay?” Jill—Glory still couldn‟t believe it was her—was with the other woman Glory had seen yesterday. Three other women were about a hundred yards away, doing something disgusting with a hide stretched flat over the dead grass. Jill was relaxing in a wooden chair that looked like it would fold up. Shadow‟s mom was standing by a fire, stirring something in a pot that looked like a witch‟s cauldron. It wasn‟t Cap‟n Crunch, but it smelled pretty darn good. It was closer to lunch time, and stew was a good lunch food, as long as she picked the vegetables out of it. Was there a bowl handy? Her three escorts abandoned her to rush over to the women. Matt and Singer went over to Jill, draping themselves over her legs like overgrown puppies, and Raven went to his mother. “Mother!” said Raven. “Sister Glory says she is not Shadow‟s mate!” Sister Glory? She wasn‟t a nun, and she‟d like to tell that little tattletale a few things. Several dogs trotted over, and Glory thought they must be drawn by the scent of meat and gravy, but they paid no attention to the pot, only stared at her like she was lunch. Matt looked like he was going to start blubbering. “What‟s a short pier? Will it hurt Shadow if he walks off one?” Jill snickered before letting out a thin cackle. “Glory! What did you tell the boys?” Glory glowered. “Nothing.” But she looked a little guilty when she glanced at the younger boys clinging to Jill and then over at Shadow‟s mother. Chase ran up to her, carrying her big purse against his thin bare chest. She grabbed it from him with a fervent and heartfelt thank-you and dug through it for her comb. “You‟re welcome.” Chase had a sunny, gap-toothed smile. “You have a lot of funny things in there. Shadow must have liked some of it a lot. His scent is over all of it, but especially the book and the pink bullet-shaped thing.” Pink bullet…? “What?” gasped Glory, hand going protectively to her vibrator. “I have the best nose in my generation,” Chase reported proudly. “Even if I never get a wolf, my father says I‟ll be as good a tracker as my uncle Dan.” Glory grabbed her comb and snapped her purse shut.
“How come the lady on your book isn‟t wearing many clothes?” Chase went on innocently. “Why‟s she so skinny? How come she‟s not soft and beautiful like you? Doesn‟t she get cold? All human ladies get real cold real easy. That‟s what my uncle says. And—” Jill came and put a hand firmly over the little motormouth‟s face. “Hush, Chase. You do not go through other people‟s private belongings. Go help your mother.” Glory felt sorry for the kid. He‟d called her beautiful. Maybe the opinion of a sevenyear-old didn‟t matter, but it still was nice to hear. “Aw. He‟s just a kid. Leave him be.” Chase squirmed free of Jill and gave Glory another gap-toothed smile. Shadow‟s mom shooed him off and gave Glory a tight hug. Glory steeled herself to not jerk away and patted her shoulder gingerly. “Glory.” Shadow‟s mom stood back, still holding onto her shoulders. She was so short it was a long reach to Glory‟s shoulders. Her face was earnestly pleading. “Give my son a chance. He has waited for you a long time.” Jill said briskly, “I agree with you, Tara. Shadow will make an excellent mate. But the choice is Glory‟s. It will do him good to have to work for something he wants instead of getting it with just a smile. Here, Glory, eat.” Glory grabbed the wooden bowl and moved off to find a comfortable piece of ground to sit on. Comfortable piece of ground? Wasn‟t that an oxymoron? But it looked like the only chair was Jill‟s, and Glory wasn‟t going to take that. If Wolf‟s Shadow expected her to stay here he‟d better get a chair and a bed for her. If she stayed here … Where else could she go? The boys all grabbed their bowls of stew and came to sit by her. Raven was a cute kid, but he was sitting way too close. She gave him a narrow-eyed glare. He didn‟t seem to mind. “Why don‟t you want my brother?” Glory swallowed without intending to and ended up choking on a piece of some unidentified vegetable. “Good lord, kid! You trying to kill me?” “No. Why don‟t you want my brother?” Glory shoved a spoonful of stew in her mouth to give herself time to find a PG sort of way to say she wouldn‟t mind jumping Shadow‟s bones, but there was no way in hell she was going to belong to him. There wasn‟t one. She swallowed her stew and growled, “None of your business.” He was going to keep asking, Glory could tell, but the other three women came over then. Only one looked to be full-blooded Lakota. She was probably in her late forties or early fifties, and the first Native American woman Glory had seen here. All three seemed pretty excited to see Glory. They booted the boys out of the way to sit in a circle around Glory with their stew and interrogate her. The boys carried Jill‟s chair over so she could sit with them.
”I‟m Emma Two Birds. Muddy Wolf is my brother,” the Native American one said. “This is Sandra Link, the wife of your mate‟s brother, and here is my daughter, Stands Tall Woman. We are so glad you‟ve come!” Yeah, Glory didn‟t know why they‟d be glad, but their big smiles and eager faces showed how glad they were. And they reached out to touch her as if to assure themselves she was real. “So you are going to teach my nephew to behave?” Emma said. “My nephew Shadow, I mean.” Geez, Glory hoped there wasn‟t going to be a pop quiz on the Clan‟s family tree later. Sandra looked like she was about Glory‟s age, with light brown hair worn in a single long braid down her back. Her face would have been pretty except for the sour expression that settled on it as soon as her smile died down. Glory wondered if she always looked like that or if she was just having a bad day. She sat next to Glory with a grunt. Glory scraped her spoon along the bottom of the bowl. “Well, I don‟t know.” “You need to,” said Stands Tall Woman earnestly. She was a few years older than Glory, maybe early thirties, and the shape of her features marked her Lakota blood the way her sunbleached blond hair didn‟t. Chase was apparently her son, since he was leaning on her, and they looked a little alike. “He‟s a good man, but he always gets what he wants without putting himself out. Make him work for you.” Sandra smiled evilly. “I heard you stopped him last night just when things were getting interesting. Good for you! Serves him right.” Glory flushed and cast a glance at the boys still lingering in the area. “Uh…” She turned the conversation quickly. “I noticed that some of you have native names, like Stands Tall Woman and Wolf‟s Shadow, and some have two names like Arthur Muddy Wolf and Emma Two Birds. Are the second names last names? Should I call you Mrs. Two Birds?” The older woman laughed and lightly touched Glory‟s hair, as if she couldn‟t resist the pinkness. “Oh, no. My Christian name is Emma and my Lakota name is Two Birds. Most of us have both names. Call me Emma, please.” Stands Tall Woman said brightly. “The older generation often was given two names like that. I guess that‟s how they did it in the Times Before. Mother‟s first husband, my father, was Carl Stensrud. My brother is officially Daniel He Continues To Leaf Stensrud, but townies call him the Tracker and we just call him Dan. We don‟t use last names anymore here. If we need one, we just call ourselves „Wolfe.‟ So my uncle Arthur Muddy Wolf would be Arthur Wolfe to strangers. But here we mostly call him Muddy Wolf. Is that clear?” “Uh-huh,” lied Glory. “Aunt Tara wanted to name Shadow Norman. He hates it, so if he‟s being especially annoying, you can call him that and he‟ll back off, roaring.” Norman, huh? Glory couldn‟t imagine Shadow being called Norman.
Shadow‟s mom, Tara, came and sat with them. “What‟s wrong with the name Norman? It was my father‟s name. You girls shouldn‟t be so hard on Shadow. What has he ever done wrong?” “Nothing,” said Emma promptly. “That‟s just it. He‟s so perfect. His hunts are always successful. He got his wolf when he was only twelve. He‟s an alpha. The men look up to him. Women think he‟s handsome.” She glanced quickly at Sandra, then away. “There was that girl down by Kearney.” “She wasn‟t his mate!” Tara snapped, jerking her head at Glory meaningfully. “Still, you see? Everything goes his way without him having to lift a finger for it. Glory will make him work to get her.” Emma nodded. “She‟ll be good for him.” “Glory, do you hate his wolf?” asked Stands Tall. “That‟s not the reason you stopped Shadow last night, is it?” Glory blinked uncertainly. “Wolf?” She shot a look at Jill. “No one has told me what that means yet.” Jill rocked forward in her chair. “Glory doesn‟t understand about us, yet. In the Times Before no one knew about our wolves, remember? And Shadow was too much of a coward to tell her himself.” Tara made a wordless sound of protest, but backed down under Jill‟s eye. “Tara, you give in to the boy too much,” Jill scolded. “He‟s my first born. An Alpha.” “Spoiled brat,” muttered Sandra, sourly. Glory was surprised by her attitude. Emma and Stands Tall seemed fond of Shadow, although they were hoping Glory would teach him a lesson about always getting his way. Sandra, though, was bitter. “Oh!” Emma nodded, ignoring the byplay. “That‟s right, Glory‟s from the Times Before. Well, Glory, hundreds of years ago the Wolf Clan got its name because some of the warriors were wolves. About two dozen men in a generation were wolves. But after the Europeans came, fewer and fewer boys had wolves until during the reservation days the wolves within were just a memory. But with the first generation after the Terrible Times the wolves returned. At puberty a boy may turn wolf. Sometimes it takes as long as a year for him to learn to control his wolf, but once he does, he is an adult. It‟s the wolf that chooses a mate. Once he‟s chosen, the man will never have another woman.” Glory stared, trying to figure out what she was saying. Sounded like a Native American spirit religion, until she threw in that bit about mates. “That‟s nice,” she said lamely. Jill smiled toothlessly. “The men become wolves.” She nodded to the big dogs lying in the sun a few teepees over. “See?”
“What?” Glory‟s eyebrow soared. “Werewolves?” Instead of winking or laughing, Jill nodded solemnly. “When Muddy Wolf first turned, everyone was shocked. My husband and his brothers and cousins knew the traditional stories, but even they didn‟t believe them until our sons began turning. Now it‟s normal and natural for us.” “Get out!” said Glory. “Werewolves?” Jill shook her head. “Not werewolves, like in books or movies. Just men who have a wolf spirit inside them who can shift their bodies. It sounds strange, but is it any stranger than being fifty years in the future?” “But…” Glory looked helplessly around. “Am I on Punk’d?” Jill cackled. “Nope. This is the truth. And we are so glad to have another woman in the Clan.” The other women all agreed, and Glory thought they were all sincere, even Sandra. “I have five sons,” said Tara almost tearfully. “Now at last I have a daughter.” Tiny, protective mother hen Tara thought Glory was her daughter-in-law? Good grief. Sandra made an angry sound under her breath, and Tara turned quickly to her. “Of course you‟re my daughter too,” she said quickly. “But Jimmy White Elk isn‟t wolfborn, so you aren‟t mates. Not like Shadow and Glory are.” Ouch, thought Glory. Dissed by the mother-in-law. Maybe that was why Sandra seemed a bit sour. “Where are the other women?” Stands Tall, who Glory thought looked as much Norwegian as Lakota, shook her head. “We‟re all the women there are in the Clan now.” Glory looked around. There had to be fifty teepees in the camp. And there were only five women? If she were living in a tent on the prairie with dozens of men who could turn into wolves but only a few other women, she‟d be glad for another one too. But werewolves? They had to be pulling her leg. “Are any of you … uh, wolves too?” Sandra shrugged. “I‟m from Littleton. I didn‟t know much about the Clan before Jimmy married me.” Glory looked at Emma, who by her looks, must have been born to the Clan, but Emma said, “Women can‟t be wolves.” “Geez, sexist werewolves? Seriously?” Glory glared at the nearest dog. “What a scam. Who knows about it? I mean that you guys have wolves in the Clan. Like the white people in town. Is it a secret?”
Emma shook her head. “It‟s not a secret. We‟re respected, although some townies fear us.” “When Del claimed Naomi as his mate, her brother tried to kill him.” Tara frowned at an old memory. “He stole her and brought her here. They ended up being happy, but it made bad feelings between the Clan and some of the people around here.” Jill leaned forward again. “Del died about ten years ago. Naomi took their son to her family and tried to reconcile, but her brother refused. It split the Clan. Not in a bad way. We were getting too big to feed ourselves easily. So some of us live near Kearney now. That‟s Taye‟s Pack. The rest live here. We are the Clan; they are the Pack. Naomi never liked living free as we do. She and Del only had one son live to grow up, so she adopted some Clan boys, and they made a settled home for themselves near Kearney. Some of the young men went with her. It‟s a nice place. It has hot running water. Naomi tried over and over to be accepted by her old family, but they never allowed her back. She took that sorrow with her to her grave.” A settled home with hot running water—and maybe flush toilets?—sounded good to Glory. These people with their inner wolves and Wolf Clan fantasy were just plain weird, and she‟d kill for hot running water. “I‟m sorry for her. But I‟m not staying here, either. I need to go somewhere with walls and floors and furniture.” Now all the women paused to stare at her. Tara wailed, “You can‟t go! My son would be devastated.” Emma nodded decisively. “Shadow wouldn‟t like that. It would be too dangerous.” “Well, I can‟t stay here. I need to get a job.” Out of the corner of her eye Glory saw Sandra and Stands Tall whisper together. “I‟m not comfortable here. I need my own space, you know? Maybe I can find a job in Kearney.” No, apparently none of them did. Emma said, “Glory, I don‟t know if Shadow‟s wolf will allow you to leave the Clan.” “Tough Twinkies,” Glory snapped. “He doesn‟t own me.” There was shocked silence that Jill broke. “You are his mate, though.” She fell silent for a minute, apparently thinking hard. “You know, I think it‟s a good idea. You and me will go to Taye‟s Pack in Kearney for the winter. Come spring, Shadow can court you.” The women seemed even more shocked at this. “Grandmother!” gasped Stands Tall. “You can‟t leave the Clan!” “Why not?” said Jill. “Your brother Dan is almost never here, and Lobo and Jimmy White Elk wander all summer long. I‟m an old woman now. The cold makes these old bones ache. Me and Glory will be safe in Taye‟s den. His Pack will look out for us.” Tara frowned. “Shadow may let you go, Grandmother, but Glory? His wolf will go mad imagining her with other men.”
Glory huffed. “It‟s none of his business if I go out with a dozen men!” A couple of the big wolf-dogs howled. “He would kill them all!” Tara warned. Jill nodded reluctantly. “Yes, that really is true, Glory. But I‟ll be there to chaperone you. And Taye‟s Pack won‟t let any strange men near you. So I‟ll talk to Muddy Wolf about it tonight. We can leave before the Clan heads off to the winter camp in the Black Hills.” Glory climbed laboriously to her feet. This sitting on the ground was going to kill her. She hoped Taye‟s den had chairs. “Hey, Jill, who‟s Taye? Is he, like, part of the Clan?” “He‟s the grandson of my husband‟s second brother. Del and Naomi‟s son. You heard their story just now. Taye‟s Pack is part of the Clan, but they live separately from us in a remodeled motel. They are the ones with the hot running water.” That sounded good. She still didn‟t know who any of those people were or how they were related, but hot water sounded good. Glory nodded with enthusiasm. “Rock on. When can we leave?” “First we have to clear it with Muddy Wolf. Then pack. Probably a couple days.” “But Grandmother,” wailed Stands Tall. “Who will lead us women when you‟re gone? You‟re our Lupa.” “You girls will have to figure that out yourself. I won‟t be around forever, you know.” No, Glory agreed to herself. Jill already looked so frail she could die any minute. Her heart jolted. Jill was all she had here. Jill was all she had, period. She noticed the women looking at her. “What?” “You are an alpha, Glory. You will be the next Lupa.” Emma was serene about it, almost congratulatory. Yeah, and she could fly, too. “No, thanks.” Glory looked down at the women still sitting on the ground. “You seem pretty calm about me being here. I mean, how often do you meet people who were living in 2014 just a few days ago? Especially ones you want to put in charge?” The women exchanged glances. Stands Tall Woman shrugged. “Never. But what can we do about it? You‟re here. You‟re an alpha that Shadow‟s wolf chose for his mate. We‟re just glad you‟re here.” Glory stared at them. What were they, zombies? Shouldn‟t they be mad at her for butting in their territory? She opened her mouth to ask, but the dogs were standing now, staring in one direction. The boys leapt up and abandoned the women to go see what had the dogs all riled up. After a minute the littlest of the boys came trotting back. “Grandmother! Women are coming!”
The women all jumped up, looking awfully excited. Glory suddenly remembered that she hadn‟t combed her hair yet. She looked for a place to put her empty bowl, and her eyes found Jill still sitting in her chair. “What women are coming?” she asked, juggling her bowl as her purse fell off her shoulder to jerk her elbow down. Jill‟s scanty eyebrows lifted. “I don‟t know. These days women don‟t just wander around without an armed male escort for protection. Maybe they are survivors from the plane?” Glory blinked at the idea that a woman had to be led around by a man as if she were a puppy on a leash. That explained Shadow‟s question about she and Jane being alone yesterday. And that was probably why his “wolf” had “chosen” her for his mate. She was probably the only single woman he knew. “The plane? Already? Cool.” A thought occurred to her. “Uh-oh. Do they know yet about the war and the time change?” Jill shrugged narrow bony shoulders. “We‟ll find out. Pick up the bowls and put them by the fire for now.” Glory did, then stood beside Jill, looking at the Clan women hurrying to the edge of camp. Emma Two Birds and Stands Tall Woman were tall and stately. They didn‟t actually seem to hurry. But Tara was tiny, so just to keep up she had to trot. Sandra was in between them in height, and she lagged behind a little bit. “So what‟s up with Sandra?” Glory asked. “She doesn‟t like me, does she?” Jill shrugged thin bony shoulders. “She‟s married to Shadow‟s black-sheep brother. That boy courted her for a year, begging her to marry him. But once she did, he lost interest.” “Great.” Glory snorted her disgust. “I thought wolves mated for life.” “Wolves do. Our men who have wolves inside them are called wolf-born. Jimmy‟s not wolf-born, just plain old fickle human.” “What‟s that got to do with her not liking me?” “She‟s jealous,” Jill said simply. “She grew up the acknowledged beauty of her hometown. When she married Jimmy she lost status. Not being number one any longer must have hurt her self-image. Like any wolf pack, we have a pecking order. I‟m the head woman here, being Lupa and the oldest. Emma is second, with Stands Tall and Tara third. Sandra is last. You will probably be second until I‟m gone, then you‟ll be the head woman.” Glory gaped. “What am I supposed to do? Fight for dominance? Duke it out with Emma?” “Silly. Didn‟t you hear Emma? She accepted you as the next Lupa. We haven‟t had a dominance challenge in two decades, not since Muddy Wolf was challenged.” Whatever. It wasn‟t like she was planning on sticking around and becoming den mother to a bunch of werewolf groupies. Glory thought about Sandra‟s bitterness. Shadow‟s brother
had charmed her into living in a tent on the prairie, then left her? “So, why doesn‟t Sandra just dump her husband‟s ass and go back home?” Jill looked sad. “She loves him. He comes back often enough to suck her back in and get her pregnant. You know, the world has changed since 2014, but human nature hasn‟t.” Shouts signaled the approach of the strangers. They were survivors from the plane crash, the ones who hadn‟t been badly injured or who had stayed behind with injured loved ones. There were about twenty women, only about half of the survivors. Some were walking and some were up on horses that the Clan men led. Glory knew these women shouldn‟t be strangers to her. They had spent some of the most horrific hours of their lives together. But she recognized only some of the faces. The expressions of numb exhaustion were more familiar. That was the exact expression she had felt on her own face last night. Jill stood watching while the men helped the women down from the horses and brought them over to her. One of the men, almost as handsome as Shadow, spoke to Jill. “Grandmother, these are some of the women from the airplane. They are not hurt as badly as some others, so we brought them first. The others will have to wait until travois can be made to bring them.” “Ladies,” said Jill gently. “You‟ve been through a terrible ordeal. I am Jill Lampett, and this is the camp of the Wolf Clan. We will help you as much as we can. Stands Tall, add water to the stew. Tara, collect bowls so the ladies can eat. Sandra, have your boys move into your lodge so we can have places for the ladies to stay. Boys, make room for these ladies and collect as many blankets and robes as can be spared. Ladies, follow Emma to the cook fire. She will get you something to eat.” The bedraggled women from 2014 straggled past Glory. One managed to have fairly clean clothes, and her red hair was artistically disheveled, and unlike the others‟ slow staggering, she walked with swinging hips and head held high. Their eyes met and Glory‟s mouth fell open. She watched the redhead pass her and turned to Jill. “Did you see her?” she demanded. “Was that—?” Jill scratched her ear. “It‟s been fifty years for me, Glory. Who do you think she is?” “Heather Mikkelson!” “The bitch who treated you like crap in junior high and high school? Hmm.” Jill nodded. “Let‟s go join the ladies, and I‟ll take a look at her.” When they got to the area where the stew pot was, the redhead was sitting in Jill‟s chair while the other women were on the ground. Stands Tall and Tara were scooping the thinneddown stew into bowls and passing them around. Jill paused to stare at the redhead. She gripped Glory‟s arm. “You‟re right. That‟s Heather Mikkelson, for sure. She didn‟t used to be a redhead, but she still thinks she‟s a princess, doesn‟t she? Why don‟t you go and help with the stew. I‟ll have a few words with Ms. Mikkelson.”
Glory didn‟t want to miss it, so she hurried to take a bowl of stew from Tara and bring it towards Heather. She was in time to hear Jill tell the woman to please vacate her chair. Heather did, apologizing in a sulky voice that turned quickly sweet when one of the handsome young Clan men walked up. “Grandmother, there are four lodges empty for the plane women,” he said. “We might need more, though. There are still another twelve or fifteen to come when their wounds allow it.” Heather spoke up in a husky purr. “Thank you so much for doing this for us.” She turned from Jill to lay her hand on the bulging bicep of the handsome man. “You‟ve saved our lives.” The Lakota man‟s black eyes fell on her cleavage, revealed by the low neck of her tight sweater. He flushed and backed hurriedly away. Heather‟s smile curved her plump lips as she watched him go. Jill observed tartly, “Our young men aren‟t accustomed to women who dress like you do.” She ran a critical eye over Heather‟s tight jeans and sweater, and then her heavily madeup face. “Or act like you do. Heather, isn‟t it?” The redhead stiffened. Her eyes fell on Glory and narrowed. “Well, Glori-ana, you recognized me? I‟m not Heather anymore. I‟m Desiree Diamond now.” Glory shoved the stew at her. She hated the way Heather pronounced her name in a mocking sneer. “Sounds like a porn star. Here. Have something to eat.” “It‟s good money, sweetie.” Heather smirked. “More money than a blimp like you would ever make. Even if you ever bothered to comb your hair.” Glory considered throwing the stew in her face. “Doesn‟t matter here. They don‟t have movies anymore. I guess you‟ll have to find something else to do to make money. Hmm … Let me see. What profession are you qualified for? Oh, I know! The oldest one.” Heather‟s face wasn‟t really pretty, especially with that expression on it. “I‟m not staying here. Is this the best you could do in the help department? A historical reenactment group pretending to be Indians? You‟re useless. Honestly. I‟m heading back to California as soon as I can.” Glory laughed. “Good luck with that, considering it fell into the Pacific fifty years ago. Feel free to go, though. Please.” Heather‟s surgically plumped lips flattened unattractively. “And you‟re crazy, too.” Glory got right up in her face, using her taller frame and greater bulk to push Heather back. “You got a problem with that, bitch?” Glory almost tripped over one of the big dogs who had started growling and trying to shove between them.
Jill pushed the dog back and stepped between them. “That‟s enough, Running Wolf,” she told the dog. “Glory, calm down. Heather, take the stew and go sit down and eat. This isn‟t junior high.” Glory watched Heather saunter away. Her figure was damn near perfect, and her face hardly showed that she was closing in on thirty. Probably made that way by drugs and surgery. Glory felt a sick hatred for her. Heather and her brother had made her school years a living hell, always making fun of her for being so tall, and then for being fat. They‟d lied about her to get her in trouble with teachers. Heather had laughed louder than anyone when Rob had humiliated her, and she‟d seduced the only real boyfriend Glory had ever had in high school. Aaron had been a tall, skinny, and pimply computer geek whom Glory had met in a gaming club. Since he wasn‟t good-looking like Rob had been, she‟d believed him when he said he liked her. Heather had taken him away not because she liked him, but because she wanted to hurt Glory. The only person Heather cared about was Heather. Even though she hadn‟t been injured in the crash, she had declined to go for help. She hadn‟t changed a bit. Bitch. Of all the people for Glory to have with her in this new world, why Heather?
Chapter Five The sun was setting when Shadow came back to camp with a deer over his shoulders. His hunt had been successful. He‟d spent hours running in wolf form. He loved the feel of freedom and power that came from his wolf. But the run hadn‟t given him the usual feeling of joy. Instead he wondered morosely if his wolf would give Glory another reason to reject him? There was a tangle of strange scents coming from camp. For a moment his wolf panicked, unable to find Glory‟s scent amid all the strange ones. But then he had it, unidentifiable chemical scent and warm sweet woman. Calmer, although not less tense, he greeted Black Horse, one of his younger cousins, and let him take charge of his horse and the meat. He listened to his cousin‟s excited explanation of the dozen women from the Times Before who were in the camp. But these strange women were not Shadow‟s focus right now. He needed to find his mate. He followed Glory‟s scent to the cooking area outside his Aunt Emma‟s lodge. Glory was standing a little apart from the other strange women, speaking to a painfully thin woman whose bosom was so large it threatened to tip her over. He hardly noticed how conversations died as he cut through the strangers to get to Glory. His mate was too intent on the other woman to notice him, but the strange woman certainly did. Her eyes widened, and her fat lips spread in a smile as he approached. Glory was saying, “—you were so broken up about your boyfriend dying that you couldn‟t bear to leave him to go find help for the others, and—” “Glory.” His dark rumble cut through her voice, and she wheeled on him, pale blue eyes wide and then narrowed. “Oh, you‟re back.” Her voice was ungracious. “I‟m back,” he confirmed, eyes caressing her soft cheek and the shell of her ear revealed when she swept her hair behind it. “Darling, we‟ll talk now.” She held her hand out, palm facing him. “No, thanks. Uh-uh. Just stay away from me.” The other woman raised half-moon eyebrows. “Darling?” She had a piercing laugh like a child‟s. “That‟s so funny, Glori-ana. Does he mean you?” Glory transferred her narrow-eyed glare from him to the woman, then she snorted and looked back at him. “You want a woman to jump into bed with? Well, here you go.” She waved her hand at the other woman. “Heather-Desiree, meet Wolf‟s Shadow. Wolf‟s Shadow, meet Heather-Desiree.” She whirled and stomped away, leaving him to stare after her with shock. The other woman took advantage of his state and plastered her bony body up against him. He stared in horror at her hand rubbing over his heart before thrusting her away. “Excuse me, I have to talk to my mate.” Glory tried to outwalk him, but he caught her just outside the Grandmother‟s lodge. “Glory, wait! I want to talk to you.” “Why don‟t you go back and chat up Bimbo Barbie? She can give you what you want.” He wouldn‟t let her shake off his hand. “Glory, no other woman can give me what I want. Now, are you going to talk to me?” She whirled on him with furious eyes. “Why should I?” she shouted. “You didn‟t talk to me! Did you tell me anything important yesterday? Like, hello? Werewolf? Mate? No, you just fed me half-truths and outright lies, thank-you-very-much! I don‟t care what anyone says, you‟re not my husband!” Shadow clenched his fists and took a breath to calm himself. “No, not your husband. Your mate.” He could feel a snarl on his lips. The Grandmother had advised him to not give Glory orders, so he tried to sound humble. “Glory. Please. I don‟t want to argue. It hurts me when you yell at me. Can‟t we just talk?”
She seemed to deflate. “All right, fine. Talk.” The words didn‟t want to come. Humility went against his nature. “Walk with me.” He gritted his teeth. “Please.” She agreed with a grumble and walked beside him out past the lodges. It pleased him that her legs were long enough that he didn‟t have to take baby steps so she could keep up. The sunset was glorious in the west, the perfect frame for her hair. The color was so unusual. Pink, just a few shades darker than the sunset itself. He couldn‟t resist stroking it. She slapped his hand away. “I said I‟d let you talk. Not pet me like I was a puppy,” she barked. Shadow stopped walking. “Glory, you are my mate. Not my pet. You said last night that I think I own you. Maybe that‟s true. But it‟s not the whole story. You own me, too. We own each other.” “Gag me.” She snorted. “Glory, do you know about my wolf?” She looked wary and uncomfortable. “Jill and the other women talked to me about it.” “You know my wolf has chosen you to be my mate?” “Yeah, yeah.” “And what do you think of that?” She shrugged, turning her face away. He made sure his hand was light against her cheek when he turned her face back to him. The surface of her cheek was chilled. He covered it with his palm to warm her. “Glory, don‟t turn away from me. This is important.” “How do you eat an elephant?” He blinked. Maybe after they‟d been together fifty years he‟d understand how her mind went from one thought to the next. Maybe. “What?” “One bite at a time, Shadow. So, don‟t rush me, okay? I don‟t like being bossed around. Let‟s just take this slow, okay?” One bite at a time. She thought their mating was like a large mythical animal to be eaten? He wanted to lay her on the ground and prove his dominance to her in the most primitive way. She wanted him to go slow. Slow might kill him. But for her, his mate, he would try. This was too important to ruin with haste. “Glory, yesterday you liked me. You wanted me.” “My mistake,” she snapped. He wanted to howl that it wasn‟t a mistake, but he wrestled his snarling wolf down. “Still, you wanted me. And I want you. I want to take care of you. I want to keep you safe. What can I do to please you?” “You can drop dead!” She whirled to leave him, but he quickly caught her arm. “Glory, be serious. You said we should take this slow. I‟ll try to not boss you around. Can‟t you even stay at my side for an hour?” She looked at him with an expression he couldn‟t decipher. “You know what, Shadow? You‟re hot. Stud-muffin-licious. You could have any woman you want. Any of those women back there would trample me flat to get to you. So why the hell do you want me?” It was so obvious to him that he couldn‟t comprehend why she didn‟t know. “Because you‟re my mate. I knew it as soon as I scented you, and I couldn‟t believe how beautiful you are. I know you don‟t love me. I don‟t expect that. But I will do everything I can to persuade you to accept me.” “Damn.” Glory sounded almost tired. “You don‟t play fair, Shadow.” He could smell the faintest hint of arousal in her scent. “May I kiss you, Glory?” Her tempting lips compressed as she thought about it. He wanted to use his tongue to tease them back into softness. “All right. One kiss.”
He would make it last, he thought, carefully touching his lips to hers. Her body felt cold in her thin coat so he wrapped his arms around her back and pulled her tightly against him. She had lush curves that fit him perfectly. Their lips clung, shifted, parted. He was drowning in wet heat, his wolf stretching in glee inside him. At least, until Glory punched him in the side. “I said one kiss,” she snarled. Shadow found himself almost dizzy with her scent. “Yeah,” he groaned, controlling his wolf with effort. “I‟m going back.” She was going to kill him. “I‟ll walk you back, darling.” She punched him again. “Don‟t call me darling.” “I‟ll walk you back, darling,” he said again, smiling into her glare. She was his mate, and he would jump through hoops to win her, but he couldn‟t let her win every skirmish. “Whatever,” she grumbled, turning away from him. * It was all Glory could do to keep from licking her lips after Shadow had escorted her back to Jill‟s tent. Damn, that man could kiss. Jill had a smirk on her face that made her look like the Jill Glory knew, in spite of the wrinkles. “What?” she demanded defensively. The smirk disappeared. “Nothing. I‟ve sent Jumping Stag to Taye‟s Pack for more supplies for the victims of the plane crash. How many more are coming, do you think?” Glory‟s pleasure from the kiss died under memories of the crash and the broken bodies of the dead. “There were fifty-two alive when I left. Six of us went for help. That left fortysix with the plane. There were maybe thirty of those hurt pretty bad. They might not make it.” Jill put her hand on Glory‟s arm and nodded solemnly. “Let‟s go over to the center of camp. We‟re going to party tonight. Muddy Wolf is breaking out his liquor. We‟ll have dancing and storytelling and singing.” “Booze? You guys have booze in 2064?” Jill cackled. “As long as there are people to make it, there‟ll be booze. Come on, Glory. Time to party, Clan-style.” Glory wasn‟t sure what she was expecting from a Clan party, but it wasn‟t rotgut whiskey and the kids dancing while the adults watched with amusement. She walked with Jill to a set of rough benches circling a bonfire and got her settled. It looked like a hundred men were there, mostly prowling around the women from the plane. One of the clan men came over and gave her a wooden cup full of clear liquid. Water? The first gulp singed hairs in her nostrils. While Glory panted in a desperate attempt to keep her eyeballs from exploding, Jill laughed until she cried. One of the little boys from this morning—Singer?—bounced over to Glory and took her hand. “Come dance, cousin,” he said in a treble voice that bordered on command. “You‟re gonna be just as bad as Shadow someday,” she accused him, setting down her drink with relief. “What kind of dancing?” Jill waved her off. “Nothing hard. Go and dance with the boys.” It seemed like every boy under fifteen was in a double line between the fire and the benches, facing a friend or one of the women, and there were a lot of boys. Glory let Singer pull her into the line and waited for the music, expecting powwow drumming. Instead of drums or even guitars or pianos, the boys hummed the music to the Chicken Dance. “The Chicken Dance?” Glory yelled at Jill. “Have fun!” Jill yelled back. “You always loved the Chicken Dance, and you know it!”
Well, yeah, Glory did like the Chicken Dance. It was the only dance she‟d do at weddings, and only after she‟d had a few drinks. But Singer was having such a good time flapping his arms and wiggling his scrawny butt that she couldn‟t help laughing and joining in. After a few rounds they changed partners and did it again. And again. And again, until Glory dragged her partner out and went back to Jill, sweating and panting. She gave the boy—Chase this time—a smacking kiss on the cheek and told him to go have fun. She sat down next to Jill and grabbed her drink. She sipped more cautiously this time, but still felt like the lining of her throat was peeling off like old paint. “Jeez, what is this stuff?” “Don‟t worry about it. It‟ll grow on you.” Glory was looking at the dancers when she noticed Shadow moving through them toward the women from the plane. Heather wet her lips and gave him an inviting smile, shifting so her practically bare boobs caught the firelight. Glory took a large gulp of her whiskey and hardly wheezed this time. Heather had been a slut in high school and had only become a bigger slut since. Porn movies? Seriously? What a loser. She turned her back and looked around at what else was going on. Full dark had fallen, making it hard to see in the flickering firelight. On the other side of Jill were Arthur Muddy Wolf and Tara. They were sitting side by side, her head leaning on his shoulder with such sickeningly sweet adoration that Glory had to look away. The Clan men—all those who looked to be eighteen or older—seemed to be finding a reason to drift toward the plane-crash women, walk slowly past each one, then move away. Were they sniffing the women? Gross. Muddy Wolf kissed his wife‟s forehead and stood up. “It‟s time.” His voice was loud enough to cut through chatter, deep enough to hook the chatterers‟ attention. “Come close and relax, friends and kin, and hear our history. This is the story of the Wolf Clan for twenty generations. We tell it each time we celebrate to remind ourselves where we came from and to teach our children who we are.” Oh, goodie, thought Glory. It’s story time. And here’s me without my kindergarten nap mat. She lifted her cup to the man holding out the bottle for another refill and accepted a blanket from another. Soon she had a couple of little boys sitting at her feet on the ground, and the blanket spread over her knees. Everyone gathered around the fire, either sitting on benches or standing beyond the firelight. She thought Shadow was opposite her, across the fire in the dark where the light didn‟t reach, with a dozen other men. Even in the dark she could swear she could see his eyes glowing at her. “Once, more than two hundred and fifty years ago, the Lakota lived free on the prairie, hunting the buffalo for our food and shelter. We do not have time tonight for a full telling of our history, but you will hear enough to understand who we are.” Glory sipped from her cup, enjoying the rich sound of Muddy Wolf‟s voice. It was deep and formal, and tinged with a hint of an accent. She lost a bit of her abrasive skepticism while she listened to him talk. “In those days the Wolf Clan was respected. We were part of the tribe, but stood apart from other men, because we were not like them. We were men who held wolves within us from our births, and when the wolf grew strong enough he would burst from our hearts, and then the man would be inside the wolf. Few could stand against a wolf warrior when his wolf hunted. So we became famed and feared by friends and enemies alike. “And then, two hundred years ago the white man came to the plains. As their numbers grew and their power crushed us to living like beggars on reservations, our wolves weakened until they lived only within our hearts. The Clan was no longer feared and respected except by those few who knew the stories of our heritage. For a hundred years no wolf was known to a Clan man. The stories were still told among the Clan, but no one believed. It was a time of darkness, even though our homes were lit by electricity.
“The Terrible Times began when I was just a boy barely walking. War had come to the cities in the east and the west. Stars fell from the sky and ruined the lands south of us. People fled from their homes, but they were followed by Disease. Disease was greedy for death, and nothing pleased Disease more than striking down women. This disease was called the Woman-Killer Plague. Soon, there were so few women left that men began shutting them up in protected rooms so other men could not steal them. Some women ran away so they would not be imprisoned. That is how the Grandmother came to us. The machines used in the Times Before the Terrible Times no longer worked. People who had been good and loving became monsters during the Terrible Times. My father and mother and other elders of the Wolf Clan decided to leave the reservation to live as our ancestors had here on the prairie. My father, his three brothers and four of his cousins, and all their wives and children became the new Wolf Clan. “We continued to tell the histories of our Clan, as we do now, tonight. And some of us boys began to hear whispers in our hearts, the whispers of the wolves who had been born within us when we left the white man‟s world. When I was fifteen years old my wolf tore free of me like a babe forced from its mother‟s womb. Then we knew the Wolf Clan had been born anew. Many of our sons have been born with wolves within them. Our Clan is strong and will grow stronger. Once again we are feared and respected. “That is the story of the Wolf Clan.” Glory finished her drink with a feeling of wonder. Muddy Wolf told a hell of a good story. The mellow feeling was ruined by Heather‟s little-girl voice rising in the respectful quiet. “So why don‟t you have very many women here? You have all these big strong men, but only five women. You men must be…” Her voice dropped to a husky, suggestive tone. “…very lonely.” There was silence except for the snap of the fire. Glory glared at Heather. But Muddy Wolf‟s voice remained smooth. “Fifteen years ago, while our women and children were bathing in a private bend of the river, men fell upon them to take them away from us. We defeated them but not before they slew our wives and daughters. The Clan‟s vengeance is still spoken of today in the towns for hundreds of miles. But vengeance cannot bring our women back to us, and those of us with wolves will wait until our wolf chooses a mate for us. That is why our women are so few.” Humph. Was the vengeance story a parable or true life? These men looked pretty harmless. But she was sure they could be fierce if necessary. Glory buried her nose in her empty cup. She was definitely going to need some more of this whiskey. Jill was right; it did grow on a person. “Excuse me.” This voice was different. Glory looked up and saw one of the plane-crash survivors politely raising a hand like a kid in school. Well, it made sense. She was still in the all-arms and gawky-legs stage of being a teenager. “Excuse me. What exactly do you mean by wolves within you? Is it symbolic?” Oh, kid, thought Glory, looking around for the nice man with the big bottle, that’s the question we’d all like answered, isn’t it? It was answered when a couple of the men lingering in the shadows beyond the firelight stepped into the circle of light around the fire and turned into wolves. Glory blinked stupidly at the big gray wolves, wooden cup dropping from her hand. Oh, shit. Jill and Tara hadn‟t been fooling this morning. Oh, shit. She looked for Shadow, but didn‟t see him. The teenager said in a small voice, “Oh.” And then the screaming started. Several women, Heather included, were shrieking and crying and scrambling to back away. So, of course, Glory did nothing of the sort. She stood up and made a point of yawning. “You‟d think they‟d never seen wolves before,” she announced in a loud, bored voice. “It‟s been a long day. I‟m ready for bed. How about you, Jill?”
“I‟m all in,” Jill agreed. “Lend me your arm, Glory.” Glory dared her to say anything about her shaking hand when she held it out for Jill to grab. Jill hoisted herself to her feet and leaned on Glory‟s bulk. “Latrine first?” she said, raising her voice to be heard over the sobbing. “Sure.” They passed Shadow on the way out of the ring, and he started for them. Jill waved him off. “Tomorrow, Shadow,” Jill said kindly. “Come visit tomorrow.” He dropped back reluctantly. Glory eyed him, trying to imagine him turning into a wolf. That was the scariest thing she could imagine, in a very cool way. Men who could turn into wolves blew her away. Dude. It was crazy, but true. Unless she had had too much to drink and this was a hallucination? The teenager came up to them. “Can I come with you to the bathroom?” she asked politely. She didn‟t seem too upset by the werewolf thing. At least, she was acting calm. Glory stuck out a hand. “Glory Peterson, Minneapolis.” The teenager tucked her chin-length blond bob behind her ear and shook Glory‟s hand. “Rose Turner, Wayzata.” Glory flicked her fingers at Jill. “This is Ji—never mind. Everyone calls her the Grandmother because she‟s so old. But I‟m a year older than she is. And you‟re probably only fifteen years younger. Oh, God.” Jill patted the teenager‟s arm briskly. “Don‟t pay any attention to her, Rose. She always gets like this when she drinks too much.” Glory swallowed hard. “Is it true? Did somebody kill all the women?” Jill sighed deeply. “It‟s true. Stands Tall was the only one of the women who was captured who lived. She was only seventeen then.” Glory remembered the blond woman from this morning. “They—the bad guys, I mean— killed them? Why? Did they think that if they couldn‟t have them no one could? So where are those guys now? Jail?” “Dead.” Jill‟s old voice was flat. “The Clan wasn‟t too careful to keep them alive before the women were killed and afterwards … They got less than they deserved. Glory, there aren‟t any jails. In the towns criminals are fined, put to work, or executed. And no one would let woman-killers live. The Clan tore those murderers apart, some in wolf form with their teeth and claws, some in human form with knives, and nobody complained. No one has bothered the Wolf Clan since. This isn‟t the world you knew. It‟s rough here now.” Glory tried not to cry. She hated crying, especially in front of strangers. But everything hit her at once. Her parents were dead. She was stuck here, in this crazy world with werewolves. For God‟s sake, werewolves? She wanted her own bed. Her own bathroom. She wanted her own life. Glory managed to control herself when using the hole that passed for a toilet, but on the way back to Jill‟s tent, she broke down. She was practically choking on her sobs. Damn, why had she drunk so much? It always made her act stupid. She didn‟t hear Jill yell, but she must have, because muscular arms wrapped around her and pressed her face to a warm chest that rumbled when its owner spoke. “Thank you, Grandmother,” Shadow said. “I‟ll take Glory.” Glory was clenching her teeth against sobs when he picked her up with an arm behind her shoulders and the other under her knees. Shadow was warmth and sexy spice in her nostrils. She pressed her cheek into his pec and let him carry her. She looked up only once, to see Heather staring daggers at her, her heavily made-up eyes swollen with tears. That cheered her up enough control some of the sobs. He let her down just outside his lodge. “Wait a minute,” she said. “I don‟t want to … you know.” “Okay,” he agreed.
The hiccup that burst from her broke her tension. “Would you, um, do something for me?” “Probably.” “I want to ask you a favor. Will you…” He waited, his handsome face in shadow. “There‟s not much I wouldn‟t do if you asked me to, Glory. What is it?” She swallowed. “Will you—” She waved her hand. “—turn into a wolf? So I can see it?” He untied the cord around his waist holding his breechcloth up and took a half step back. Before the breechcloth could drop entirely a wave of heat pushed her back a step, and when she focused again, a wolf was nuzzling her hand. “Wow.” She swallowed. “Wow.” She looked into those gleaming eyes and didn‟t mind the tears that flooded again. “Shadow, I‟m so scared.” Sanity came back. “And if you ever tell anyone I said that I‟ll hit you.” The wolf mouth opened in a wolfy grin. He pushed her into the tent with his head and herded her to the pile of blankets and furs on the ground. A push against the back of her knees sent her into the furs and blankets. He curled around her, a safe warmth in the dark. She let her hands grab the fur around his neck. He really was a werewolf. So how come he still smelled so good? Was it wrong to feel like the scary wolf was a friend? She fell asleep holding the wolf as if he were a security blanket, and the wolf was satisfied with that. * Long after Glory had fallen asleep holding his fur Shadow changed back to his man shape. He studied the half of her face that wasn‟t tucked into his shoulder. Her skin was so white and tender compared to his dark skin. She was a truly beautiful woman. Why did she have to be so stubborn? She said he was bossy. Of course he was bossy; he was an alpha wolf. Other than his father, he submitted to no one. Well, except the Grandmother. But even his father submitted to the Grandmother. His mother always submitted to his father‟s wishes. Glory should do that too, not argue with everything he said or wanted. She was an alpha female, a fit mate for him. But if she thought she would be able to dominate him, she was wrong. He wanted to be doing something besides holding her chastely against him. The swell of her hip was pressed against his groin. Her faint little snores made him smile. But she was totally oblivious to him. To control his erection, he shifted back to his wolf shape and set himself to inhaling her enchanting scent and enjoying the feel of her lying beside him. His wolf didn‟t want her for sex. He just wanted her to belong to him. A special friend whom he could trust entirely. He groomed his mate with his nose and his tongue before settling his muzzle on her shoulder and letting contentment lull him into a doze.
Chapter Six Glory became aware of a headache hovering just beyond her eyebrows, waiting to pounce. At almost the same time she realized she was lying face down on something warm. It smelled good, and it was so comfortable she didn‟t want to move even though her mouth tasted like a dead bird rotting in the Sahara Desert. What had she been drinking last night? Oh yeah. Memory hit her the same moment she became aware of long fingers stroking the side of her neck. “You!” she said in tones of loathing. Only, her voice didn‟t sound right. It came out more like a pained croak. She tried to push herself off his chest. She left drool behind, just over his nipple. Somebody should have slapped her when she had let him carry her to his tent last night. Jill was in big trouble. “Good morning, darling,” he said tenderly, trying to smooth her wild hair back. She slapped at his hand. “Don‟t call me that.” Why was his hair perfect? Why was all of him so damn perfect? “Sweetheart?” he tried. “No.” “Love? Baby?” “NO!” Oh, God, had her head just exploded? Glory forced herself to her feet and stumbled to the door flap, leaving him smiling at her from the blanket. She opened it and the late morning sun hit her like a brick in her aching eyes. She stifled a groan. “Sweetness?” She whirled and swayed dangerously before recovering enough to give him the finger. “Sweet? Do I look sweet?” His grin infuriated her. “You were sweet while you were sleeping over my heart with your lips open against my skin. That‟s what I‟ll call you. My heart.” She risked nausea erupting when she glared. “Screw that.” She had already ducked out the door and was almost far enough away to not hear his whisper. “Sunshine,” he said as if to himself. “You are my sunshine.” “Sunshine, hell!” Glory snarled. She stamped her foot only once because it hurt her head too much. A fuller memory hit her, and she swung back into the tent so fast she had to clutch the canvas to keep her feet. Shadow was lying in the blankets and furs as naked as the day he was born. Damn. What a gorgeous man he was. No, not a man. “You’re a werewolf?” “I‟m a wolf. An alpha wolf warrior of the Clan.” “Oh, God.” Glory didn‟t know what direction Jill‟s tent was in, but she was going away from here as fast as her hangover would allow. Naturally the first person she saw was Heather. The fake redhead with the boob job was staring with avid interest over Glory‟s shoulder. “Well, he doesn‟t look too happy, does he?” Heather smirked. “When I leave a man in the morning you can bet he‟s smiling.” “Probably glad to see you go,” Glory muttered. “Glory.” A massive arm hooked around her waist and hoisted her off her feet to plaster her back to Shadow‟s front. “We weren‟t done.” It had been a couple hundred pounds ago that anyone had lifted her so easily. But being made to feel dainty was no reason to lose her outrage. She scowled over her shoulder. “I’m done. Let me go, Neanderthal Man.” “I didn‟t get a good-morning kiss, sunshine.”
He flipped her in his arms, and just as she was opening her mouth to warn him about the nasty taste of her hangover, he kissed her. It was a quick hard kiss, and then he set her on her feet and smiled at her. Holy shit, he was still naked. And his interest was obvious. “Clothes!” Glory waved both hands at him. “Go put some clothes on, Shadow!” “Why?” Heather must have practiced that throaty laugh for her porn movies. It made Glory want to retch. “The view is just fine. Glory is evidently … not enough for you this morning. I know how to treat a man right. Let‟s see what I can do for you.” The look of outrage on Shadow‟s face was almost comical. He moved back from Heather‟s reaching hand with uncanny speed. Glory could have kissed him when he said, “You can do nothing for me. Why would I want a bag of bones when I have a woman right here?” Maybe Glory would have hugged him right then and there if she hadn‟t seen the blonde teenager from last night peeking around the side of a tent. Her blue eyes were round and wide, and taking in every bit of Shadow‟s naked muscular body. Glory flapped her hands at Shadow again. “Go get dressed,” she ordered him and went to Rose. “Don‟t look,” she scolded. “It‟s not polite.” Rose grinned. “You sound like my mom.” “Good grief.” She did sound like someone‟s mom. With a hangover. Wait, she sounded like her mom! What a nightmare. “Let‟s go find Jill.” “The Grandmother? Why do you call her Jill?” “Because that‟s her name. We were best friends in high school. Move along, Blondie.” The teenager sniffed. “My name is Rose. And did you really know that old woman back home? I mean … before?” Glory sighed, her hangover returning with a vengeance. “Yeah. I just saw her last month, and she was only twenty-eight then. Hell, we texted each other just after the plane took off. This is so crazy.” “Yeah.” The teen moved closer to Glory, looking nervously over her shoulder. Glory followed her gaze and saw a good-looking man in his early thirties smiling at them. No, smiling at Rose. And there was Jill, on the other side of that tent. Glory made a U-turn and headed for her. Rose followed. “Glory,” said Jill, “Some of the men from Taye‟s Pack are heading in, and they‟ll be here in a couple hours. They‟re bringing some of the injured plane people too.” Glory groaned. “That‟s good, right? But, look, I really need to shower and change clothes. And brush my teeth.” Jill nodded. “We can do the tooth brushing and a shower at least. But we‟ll need to hurry.” A shower. Glory went with Jill and Rose to get her purse and soap and towels together, planning a luxurious shower of hot water and scented shower gel. The same area that was used as a bathroom had a smaller canvas cubicle close to it. Instead of a shower stall with warm water pouring from a massage shower-head she got a canvas bag hanging from a tree that dripped a thin trickle of ice water from a spout. The best thing that could be said of it was it woke her up completely. She was shivering when she bundled herself into a blanket that Jill helped her drape like a toga. Rose looked at her goose bumps and seemed to have second thoughts before steeling herself and stepping into the cube. Glory and Jill washed the clothes Glory and Rose had been wearing for several days straight. “That outfit is ruined,” Glory groused. “I just spent over a hundred and fifty bucks on it, too. And now that‟s all I have to wear. Except for this lovely ensemble. And only one pair of undies! Where am I gonna get more clothes?”
“When we get to Kearney we‟ll get you more.” Glory felt relief. “Great. When are we going?” Jill shook her head as she wrung out Rose‟s T-shirt. “It‟s going to be a couple more days. We can‟t leave with the injured coming to camp any time. But it shouldn‟t be too long. The clan can‟t support so many outsiders. We don‟t have enough food or clothes or blankets, even with what Taye will be sending us. The council will meet tonight or tomorrow and discuss what to do with the women. I think we‟ll have to send them to Kearney.” Glory squeezed water out of her jacket with more force than necessary. “Heather, too?” “Everyone who isn‟t chosen as a mate. And maybe them too.” Jill slid a look at Glory‟s scowl and added casually, “I‟m sure there‟s some abandoned building in Kearney the women could fix up for themselves. If you wanted to visit them there Taye could arrange an escort for you.” Glory was relieved to know that Heather wouldn‟t be staying with the Pack. “Why do I need an escort?” grumbled Glory. “Do I look like I‟m five years old?” Jill put Rose‟s jeans aside with care, and looked right at Glory. “No,” she said quietly. “But sometimes you act like it.” “What?” Glory crossed her arms over her chest and stared at her old friend. Jill opened her mouth to speak, but as Rose came back, teeth chattering loudly, she shrugged. “I shouldn‟t have said that. I forget how young you are. Here, Rose, take a blanket. Pin it at the shoulder like this, then tie this rope around your waist.” A five-year-old? Glory fumed. She would have liked to make Jill talk, but not with Rose there. Was it because she‟d cried? Well, who wouldn‟t cry when she found herself in a nightmare with her parents dead and her whole life gone? Her eye caught on Jill‟s thin white hair. She was old. Sometimes, if Glory didn‟t look at her, she could imagine that Jill was still her BFF from before. But actually, Jill was in her late seventies. No wonder Jill thought she was young. “You‟ll need to go back and hang your clothes by the fire until they dry,” Jill ordered. Rose picked up the sodden wad of her clothes. “Thanks for washing them,” she said politely. That kid was so polite it restored Glory‟s faith in the young. She glanced again at Jill and shook her head at her own flippant thoughts. Young didn‟t mean exactly the same thing it had back in 2064. Glory picked up her own bundle of blue and pink without enthusiasm. Navy blue had never been one of her favorite colors. Why had she bought something that was so not-her? Black and red was more her style, but that would have clashed with her pink hair. Well, it didn‟t matter now anyway. The job was gone just like everything else. She walked beside the teenager, who seemed way too perky considering her blue-tinged lips. They looked ridiculous in their wool-blanket togas. But nobody seemed to want to stare at them except one guy who seemed to appraise Rose with hot eyes. Glory thought it might be the same guy as this morning. Perv. Tara was at the fire in the main cooking area with Emma and Stands Tall. She helped them drape their clothes over a rack by the fire, then gave them cups of hot tea to drink. Tea was not Glory‟s thing, but she was cold enough to at least like holding the warm cup. “Where‟s Sandra?” Glory asked. Emma‟s lips tightened, and Tara‟s feathery brows twitched in a brief frown. “My son Jimmy came home last night. They have not come out of their lodge yet.” Emma muttered something that sounded like, “Good-for-nothing.” Rose, always polite, said, “I bet Sandra‟s glad to see her husband again. She said he‟s been gone since early summer.” “Consorting with those women at Gabriel‟s Place,” muttered Tara. “When he has a loving wife right here.”
Rose‟s ears seemed to prick with interest, and Emma quickly offered them some of the soup Tara was stirring. It looked like Tara had a big pot of beef soup going as well as water simmering over the fire. Supper was a long time ago, and Glory‟s hangover had eased enough for food to smell good. “Eat,” Tara urged them. While they were eating, the wounded survivors began trickling into camp, some on horseback, others on triangular beds dragged behind horses. They were a pitiful sight, arms and legs splinted and bandages spotted with blood covering wounds. Glory and Rose both found themselves helping the wounded to the tents that had been vacated for them. Glory kept trying to rearrange her blanket to maintain modesty while she fed the survivors soup and tea, and tried to make them comfortable. It was hours before her clothes were dry enough to put back on, and by then she was exhausted enough to not care that the once pristine business suit was a wreck. **** Two days after the survivors had arrived Glory was truly exhausted. Her feet hurt from standing and walking so much, and her back ached from bending over the wounded. She still hated using that crude outdoor bathroom, but she was too busy to care very much. Like Glory, Rose had been working hard to help the survivors. Nearly everybody was, except for Heather. Glory was busy, but not too busy to notice how Heather avoided anything resembling work. Heather managed to keep herself busy in other ways. She had met Jimmy White Elk, who according to Jill, was risking punishment by the Clan council for flirting with the fake redhead. In 2014, a married man having affairs might be a matter for gossip and maybe some disapproval. Here in the Clan it was a crime. Jimmy was suspected of paying the prostitutes over in Omaha for sex. “But he denies it,” said Jill. “Nothing has been proven, and Sandra hasn‟t asked the Council to step in.” Glory watched Heather fluttering over the handsome men from the Clan and the visitors from Taye‟s Pack, and wondered what would happen to the woman involved in the adultery. Jimmy was good looking in a flashy way. He took after his mother more than Muddy Wolf, with his short reddish brown hair and green eyes, and he wore jeans and a flannel shirt. In fact, he didn‟t look half Lakota at all. Glory could see Shadow in him, though, and she thought she knew why Sandra had fallen in love with him. Heather probably flirted with him just to hurt Sandra, though she flirted with every man who crossed her path, married, mated or single, young or old. One of those men was a kid named Blue Sky At Midday, but everyone called him Sky. The name suited him since he had vivid blue eyes in a pretty face. Heather seemed taken with him, but he was at least ten years younger than she was, or maybe more. He was another of Shadow‟s brothers, and the shape of their faces and eyes were almost exact, but Sky was young and soft enough to be called pretty, while Shadow‟s face had matured into rugged handsomeness. Glory hadn‟t seen much of Shadow in the past couple days, but Sky had become a pretty permanent helper in Glory‟s assigned tent. The kid was young, but he acted like a grown-up. She liked the way he treated her. Teenagers from her world weren‟t very respectful. Except for Rose, she admitted. Hell, she hadn‟t been too respectful herself. But she loved that he was a hard worker. Glory imagined Shadow must have been like that ten or twelve years ago. Rose had been mostly in one of the other tents of injured survivors, but on the afternoon of the second day she came rushing into the tent where Glory and Sky were changing a
dressing on a woman named Renee, whose cheekbone had been fractured and the scalp above her temple torn in the crash. The blonde teen ducked into the tent so quickly she almost sprawled flat. But she gathered herself up and hurried towards Glory. “Hi.” She nodded quickly at Sky and turned to Glory. “That guy keeps following me. Can‟t you tell him to stop?” Glory waited for Sky to hand over the rolled-up bandage, but he was staring openmouthed at Rose, inhaling deeply, bandage forgotten in one hand. Glory smirked a little. “Rose, have you met Sky yet? Rose, this is Sky, Shadow‟s brother. Sky, meet Rose Turner from the plane.” Rose barely bothered to nod again before saying urgently, “Glory, that guy creeps me out. He said he wants to marry me!” “Eww.” If it was the guy Glory thought it was, that was just plain gross. The man was handsome, but way too old for Rose. “Sky—” But Sky had put the roll of bandages down carefully. “Who is bothering you? Tell me! Now!” he ordered. Sky was a lot more like his big brother than Glory had realized. And Rose seemed to think so too, because she backed up one step, staring at him like he was a wild animal about to attack. Maybe it was the way his nostrils flared as he sniffed the air. But the tent flap opened again, and that guy who had been staring at Rose came in. “There you are, Rose. I‟d like to talk to you for a minute.” Sky growled. Literally. His lips drew back from his clenched teeth, and the noise that came out of him could only be called a growl. Rose looked from the guy to Sky, as if trying to decide which of them was the lesser evil. Apparently Rose thought Sky was safer. She sidled closer to the kid. Maybe Sky was safer. He was at least closer to her own age than the other guy. But Glory wasn‟t sure how safe Sky really was, not with that feral look on his face. And Rose changed her mind in mid sidle. She threw a panicked look at Glory. With her hands occupied with bloody bandages and a moaning patient, Glory was left with only her voice. “Hey, you,” she said sharply to the older guy. “Can‟t you see we‟re busy in here? Get lost.” Renee, whose head was beginning to bleed again, moaned louder. Glory put a hand on her shoulder. “Sky, help me with these bandages.” But the kid got up from his crouched position beside the hurt woman and stalked toward the man. “Two Bears, you will leave Rose alone,” he growled. “She‟s mine.” Rose gave a gasp, and Glory growled like a wolf herself. “These guys are so romantic,” she said sarcastically to Rose. “Will ya hand me that bandage, please?” With wide blue eyes Rose watched Sky drive Two Bears of out of the tent. She tore her eyes away when the tent flap dropped closed behind the two men and helped Glory change the bandage. Glory had had no experience in nursing until now, unless her classes on treatment for oceanic wildlife counted. But she had figured out how to put a bandage on someone without causing too much more pain. Rose‟s long-fingered hands were even more gentle. When they had finished they got up from the bed on the ground and stood in weary silence. Rose sighed. “I hate to complain,” she said. “But I wish this was just a dream.” “I hear you,” Glory muttered morosely. “I wish I at least had my suitcase.” Rose tried to put her lank, greasy hair behind her ear. It slipped free and fell over her cheek again. “I think I know where it is, too. But I guess we can‟t just go off and get it.”
Glory thought longingly of her small carry-on bag with its change of panties, a pair of jeans and T-shirt, her black satin bustier and toiletries. God knew where it was. Glory was pretty sure it had flown out of the plane before the crash. “Yeah. I want mine too.” “It was a small blue bag, right? Kind of like a big purse with a flap?” said Rose. “It‟s about a half mile away from my suitcase. If we walked straight west of here for a day and then turned north we‟d find them, and some other suitcases too. Maybe we can get them sometime soon.” Glory forgot she was tired and stared at the kid. “How the he—heck do you know that?” Rose‟s pale cheeks got red. “Well … I just know things like that sometimes.” “Damn. I really want my bag. Why don‟t you ask Sky to go get it for us? I bet he‟d do it if you asked.” Rose shuddered. “No way. Why don‟t you ask Shadow?” “Grr. I hate it when you kids are sassy.” Rose peeked at her to see if she was teasing, and smiled when she saw Glory‟s grin. But it died when she looked at the door flap. “I don‟t want to go out there. I don‟t want to get married to anybody. This is just so scary, you know? My mom wouldn‟t even let me date until I was sixteen, so I‟ve only had one date in my whole life.” Glory gave her a bracing slap on the shoulder. “Don‟t worry about it. No one is going to force you to do anything. Muddy Wolf won‟t let them and neither will Jill. And Muddy Wolf is definitely king around here. Even Shadow does what he says. And I‟ll slap up any guy who bothers you. Let‟s go back to Jill‟s tent.” But Glory never got the chance to slap up Two Bears or Sky. When she woke up the next morning Rose‟s blankets were empty but not neatly folded like usual. When she stumbled to the eating fire she found out that Rose was gone. So were Two Bears and Sky.
Chapter Seven “Whaddaya mean, gone? “ Glory said. She slammed the bowl of disgustingly wholesome oatmeal down with a thump and stared around the cooking area at the dozen clan men and women there. “What happened?” Jill‟s lined face looked even more ancient today. “I don‟t know. But we can‟t worry about that now. Sky will look after her. Three of our wounded died last night. We have work to do today.” So Glory made herself eat the oatmeal and go off to the tent she was working in. One of the beds was empty, and she cried a little to remember the woman who had been there yesterday. Renee, the woman with stitches in her scalp and a fractured cheekbone, had regained consciousness and seemed to be determined to get well. A man from the Clan sat with her for most of the morning, speaking to her in gentle, low tones. He did everything for her, except help her take care of personal business. Glory saw her look at him with a frown several times. But it could have been pain that made the grotesquely swollen face frown. All the survivors had pooled their purse medications, but aspirin, ibuprofen, and acetaminophen did only so much for broken bones and crushed organs. It was around lunch time when she was stirring blankets in a huge cauldron of boiling water to sanitize them that Shadow found her. She was so tired that she didn‟t even argue when he put his arms around her and kissed her forehead. Besides, he smelled so good, especially compared to the smoke of the fire and the wet dog stench of boiling blankets. Boiled wool might be warm and tough, but it stank to high heaven. “How‟s my sunshine?” he whispered. Even that didn‟t make her do more than growl halfheartedly. “Has anyone found Sky and Rose and that other guy?” “Did you want them found?” “Well, yeah! What if Rose is hurt? Or Sky could be hurt. Did that guy Two Bears try to do something to her? She‟s barely sixteen, for God‟s sake! What happen—Hey!” He ignored her protest and kissed her again. But it was a gentle kiss of comfort, so she gave up and let herself lean against his strength. He murmured in her ear, “I think Sky‟s wolf chose Rose to be his mate. Sky won‟t let Two Bears do anything to her.” “But we don‟t know that.” She found herself petting his long black hair and snatched her hand away. “They could all be dead.” He had no problem combing her sticky hair with his fingers. It must feel gross since she hadn‟t really washed it in days. But he didn‟t seem to care. “Sunshine, if it will make you feel happier I‟ll go look for them, okay?” Glory lifted her head from his shoulder. “Really?” “We have enough meat for a few days. Others can hunt.” This time his kiss was a lot less comforting and a lot more sexy. Damn, he could kiss. His kiss could bring a dead woman back to life just so her toes could curl. It was the type of kiss to make a woman forget the hurt people around her, the blankets boiling in the pot behind her, and even the fact that she was wearing torn, filthy clothes. She felt beautiful and desirable and reveled in it. A snide voice ruined it for her. “Aren‟t those blankets ready to be hung up yet?” demanded Heather disagreeably. Shadow ignored her, sliding his lips from Glory‟s mouth to her earlobe, making her breath shudder against his throat. “Blankets, Shadow. Shadow, I gotta get back to work. Shadow!” “Later, sunshine. I haven‟t tasted this spot yet.” “Shadow! Go find Rose!”
He lifted his lips away and stared at her with eyes that shimmered wolf-gold in their black depths. “Are you giving me orders?” he asked with mild disbelief. “All right. But when I come back we‟re going to finish this.” He gave her one more kiss and walked away, fading to his wolf form even as he untied the string of his breechcloth and let it drop. Glory had about a second to admire that muscled physique before it blurred into fur. He picked up the breechcloth with his sharp teeth and trotted off. “Oh, my God,” said Heather. “You let that animal kiss you?” She shuddered dramatically. “That‟s so disgusting!” Glory yawned as insultingly as she could. “Really? You‟d jump his bones in a heartbeat if he‟d let you. Not that he ever would.” “No, he‟d rather have to search through all that fat to find your—” Glory raised the paddle she‟d been stirring the pot with threateningly. “Are you actually going to work today or just stand there flapping your mouth?” When Heather glared and turned to go, Glory restrained herself from blowing a raspberry after her. And Jill said she acted like a five-year-old. Ha! **** Shadow had no trouble picking up his brother‟s scent. Sky was in wolf form, running fast to the east. Shadow suspected Sky was following the trail of a horse‟s scent, and he had a horse trailing him. He was sure the first horse belonged to Two Bears, and it was carrying double, from the depth of the hoof prints. Had Two Bears stolen the woman his brother‟s wolf had chosen? Only a fool would take a wolf‟s mate away. He hadn‟t thought Two Bears was a fool. But maybe he was. Only a few hours from the camp Shadow came upon the signs of a struggle. The ground was churned up by horse hooves and foot prints. The smaller footprints must be from the woman. Wolf pawprints turned to man footprints. Shadow could scent blood, but not large amounts. If the woman was hurt, Sky would go crazy. He was too young to control his wolf in a killing rage. Shadow nosed around until he found the scent of the woman mingled with the second horse, and Sky‟s man scent was there too, and the horse‟s tracks turned south. The first horse and Two Bears‟ scent followed. Shadow was hours behind, so he set himself to a steady lope and pursued his brother. As he had expected, the tracks led to Taye‟s den. It was dark when he got there, an hour after sundown. He howled to signal to the Pack that he had arrived and shifted into his man form outside the gate. He put his breechcloth on as a couple of Pack members came to greet him and open the gate. “I‟m looking for my brother,” he told them. One of the guards was struggling with a grin and the other was shaking his head. “Sky‟s here, and he‟s crazy. Go talk to him. Smack his head a few times. Maybe you can knock some sense into him.” He went inside and immediately caught the feminine scents of several women, including Rose. He followed the scents to a room down a hallway. He knocked on the door, and his brother opened it with a scowl. “Are you on their side?” he demanded sullenly. Shadow entered the room and saw Two Bears crouched in a corner with the Beta Des standing close by and Rose on a couch at the far side of the room flanked on either side by women. The taller of these had pale blonde hair arranged around a stunningly beautiful face but a painfully slender body. Another had brown hair to her waist and a tired frown. She looked at him with a direct gaze. Des came forward to greet him in Clan fashion by slapping his shoulder, then hugging him. “Lupa, this is Wolf‟s Shadow. He‟s Beta for the Clan. Sky‟s brother. Shadow, this is our Lupa. Taye mated her a week ago.”
The Pack‟s Lupa was the woman with long brown hair. She got up from the couch the women were sitting on and came toward him with her hand outstretched like the townsmen did. Shadow wasn‟t used to shaking hands, but he did it. They said the usual nice-to-meetyous, and Sky could hardly wait to interrupt. “Shadow, Two Bears stole my mate. I want to kill him. It‟s my right.” His little brother looked coldly furious. Shadow was impressed by his calm. Aside from a swollen nose, Two Bears was unhurt. If someone had stolen Glory he would have gutted him. He nodded gravely. “In proper time, Sky. Where is Taye?” The Lupa answered. “He‟s out hunting. He should be back any time now.” Shadow looked at Rose sitting huddled in the blonde woman‟s arm. There was a bruise shadowing her left cheek. “Rose, are you hurt?” “No,” Rose said with a hiccup. “But I‟m not marrying either of those guys!” Sky swept toward her impetuously. “You‟re my mate!” The Lupa stood squarely in his path. “Sky, I warned you. Back up.” Sky did, reluctant but obedient to the Lupa‟s steely voice. “Lupa, she‟s my mate.” “Yeah, I believe you. But Rose is too young. She can stay here with us—Taye! Thank God you‟re back.” Shadow watched as Taye embraced his mate with tender arms. “Sweetheart,” Taye murmured against her hair. He nodded to the blonde woman. “Mrs. Madison.” His eyes took in Rose on the couch with Mrs. Madison, Two Bears in the corner, Sky‟s angry face, and Des and Shadow. “What‟s going on?” The Lupa had a powerful voice. She cut through Sky‟s furious words. “Here‟s the short version: Eddie dropped Lisa here just for tonight while he visits Dane Overdahl. Right after Eddie left, Sky rode in with Rose. He says his wolf has chosen her as his mate. That man— Two Bears—had stolen her from the Clan camp and tried to take her east to marry her. Without her permission. You can see that her wrists were bleeding from where he tied her up.” Shadow looked sharply at Rose, and saw that her pale frail wrists were raw. Rage twisted in him, and he looked at his brother with new respect. How had he kept his temper with the scent of his mate‟s blood in his nostrils? “Sky took her away from Two Bears and brought her here. Two Bears followed. Sky wanted to kill him. I stopped him.” Taye let go of his mate to walk over to Rose, who cowered slightly from him. “Don‟t be afraid of me; I‟m your cousin. Are you from the plane from the Times Before? Then you must be frightened and homesick. I‟m sorry you‟ve been hurt. You‟re safe here.” He went to Two Bears and stared at him coolly. “Two Bears, have the men of the Clan become woman stealers?” “I wanted a wife!” Two Bears held his head high and steady. “I thought Rose would love me.” Taye shook his head. “You‟re lucky Sky only broke your nose. If you had stolen Carla I would have slit your belly open and left you for the birds.” “Ew,” said the Lupa. Mrs. Madison looked sick. Sky said, “That wasn‟t me. Rose did that.” Taye‟s grin was white and amused. “Good for you, little cousin!” “Ask her why she did it.” Sky‟s voice was a tenor rumble of rage. With most of the men in the room looking at her inquiringly, Rose said defensively, “He tried to kiss me, and he put his hand on my—” She broke off at the multiple growls that drowned out her voice and leaned a little closer to Mrs. Madison. Shadow stalked to Two Bears, feeling his wolf tearing to get free and kill the man who had tried to hurt a mate of the Clan. How was Sky controlling himself? “You…” Shadow
heard his own voice growl out of a throat gone raw with fury. “You will answer to the Council and thank your god that I don‟t hamstring you and leave you for the crows.” Taye‟s white grin was gone, his mouth a hard line. “He‟s in my territory. I will execute him.” “No!” Sky howled. “He stole my mate! His blood is mine!” It took all his control, but Shadow stepped back, acknowledging his younger brother‟s precedence this one time. “Fine, kill him, then. It is your right.” Rose‟s high voice cut through the growls sharply. “No! That‟s murder. He deserves a trial.” Sky turned away from Two Bears to glare at his mate. “Why?” “Everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty.” Rose managed to sound like a schoolteacher lecturing a dim-witted student. “That‟s the law.” The wolf was close to breaking Sky‟s control, Shadow could tell. The edge of rage in his tenor voice was a thin blade. “The laws from the Times Before don‟t count. He‟s not innocent. He stole you. He would have hurt you. There‟s nothing to prove. He dies.” Rose looked at Shadow. “You could take him to the council, though, right?” she argued. “Isn‟t that what you said? That‟s like a trial, right?” Shadow watched his brother‟s face soften and wondered if his face did that for Glory. “We can take him to the council,” he confirmed, catching Sky‟s elbow when he opened his mouth to complain. “Excuse me,” said Two Bears coldly. “I‟d rather you killed me here.” “You‟d like that,” Sky snarled at him. “Not to have to face the shame.” Shadow was watching his brother‟s mate. She was so pale, almost as pale as Glory, and bony with new growth. Would she love Sky? Right now he sensed fear and anger in her, and not all of it was directed at Two Bears. Taye broke the tension with a sharp hand clap. “I haven‟t eaten yet, sweetheart, have you?” “Not yet,” the Lupa said drily. “It‟s been a little busy here.” “Then you need a good meal so you don‟t get any skinnier. And Eddie Madison won‟t thank us for starving his wife.” He paused to smile at the blonde woman before glancing again at Shadow. “Will you stay for supper, kinsmen?” Taye nodded at his Beta. “Des, tie Two Bears in the stable.” Shadow was hungry. Supper was not an entirely comfortable meal, at least not for Mrs. Madison who sat straight in her seat and stared hard at her plate. Madison was the name of the mayor of Kearney. Was this his wife? No. She must be his son‟s wife. If she put on some weight to soften her narrow frame she would be truly beautiful. Her face was angelic. Certainly prettier than Glory‟s face, but she lacked Glory‟s fire and abundant curves. It wasn‟t comfortable for Rose, either, who wouldn‟t look at Sky for more than a second, however often he tried to touch her hand. She sat just as stiffly and silently as Mrs. Madison. Few other wolves of the Pack were present, but Shadow could scent their curiosity just out of sight beyond the dining room. The Lupa tried to make conversation. “So, Shadow, you are marr—I mean, you found your mate?” Warmth unfurled in his chest when he thought of Glory and the way she had kissed him today. “Yes. She is beautiful. Glory comes from the Times Before.” “We‟re all from the Times Before.” The Lupa indicated Mrs. Madison and Rose. “It can be a little difficult to fit in here. It‟s so different from our old lives. I don‟t know Glory well, but I know she‟s strong. When the plane crashed she helped a lot of people. How is she?”
Shadow took his time cutting his meat. How was his mate? She was beautiful. She was brave. She was strong-willed. But he didn‟t think that was what the Lupa was asking. How was Glory? When the silence stretched while he was trying to think of an answer, his brother‟s young mate spoke up. “She‟s tired. And really, really dirty. She wants clean clothes and hot water. And she misses her family. A lot.” Shadow raised his eyebrows at Rose. Did this woman-child know his mate so well? “What makes you think that?” The thin shoulders shrugged. “She cries at night. We talk.” This must be what the meat on his plate felt when his knife sliced through it. “She cries?” He felt like crying himself. Glory should tell him these things. His face must have showed that because the Lupa reached across the table to pat his forearm like it was a puppy‟s head. “We all cry sometimes. Suddenly finding ourselves here is like having the entire Clan and all your friends killed, and you a prisoner in place you‟ve never seen before.” “A prisoner?” said Taye, hurt. “Only at first,” the Lupa reassured him. “Once I began to love you I didn‟t feel like a prisoner.” Shadow pushed the vegetables around his plate, looking between his cousin Taye and Taye‟s mate. Love. He could see they had warm feelings for each other. More, the Lupa easily accepted her mate‟s brief affectionate touch in a way Glory never accepted his. The dining room was mostly empty, and except for the silent blonde woman, they were all kin. So he asked the question. “You love Taye. Why?” “Because he loves me.” Taye kissed his mate‟s forehead, making Shadow seethe with envy. “I love Glory. Why doesn‟t she love me?” Rose looked at him with exaggerated surprise. “You do? But you hardly know her.” “She‟s my mate.” Rose‟s face said she wasn‟t convinced. “This predestined mating thing sounds pretty stupid to me,” she muttered, shooting Sky a dark look before turning back to Shadow. “What‟s her favorite color? What does she like to do?” Shadow floundered. “What?” “See? You don‟t even know her.” Sky leaned across the table. “What color do you like?” he asked eagerly. Rose glowered at him, folding her arms over her chest. Shadow stroked the dimple beside his mouth thoughtfully. “That doesn‟t mean I don‟t love her. We haven‟t had a chance to talk much yet. She is busy caring for the injured, and I am hunting to bring back meat to feed the Clan and replace our winter stores.” The Lupa volunteered, “Taye bought me a special gift. That‟s when I started to believe I meant something important to him. Is there something she particularly wants that you could give to her?” Shadow tried to think of something Glory would want. “Uh … Well…” Rose shook her head at him. “Clean clothes, Shadow. We‟ve been wearing the same clothes for the last ten days.” “There you go,” said the Lupa. She waved a hand at the silent blonde bent over her plate. “Lisa knows exactly where to get the best clothes. She can take you to pick out some things for Glory.” Mrs. Madison lifted her eyes from her plate and stared at Shadow with alarm. “I-I can‟t. Eddie … My husband wouldn‟t like—I mean—I don‟t think it‟s…”
Sky said quickly, “I will go buy clothes for Glory, and for my mate too.” “I can pick out my own clothes,” Rose said angrily. “But how will you pay for them?” Sky shot back just as angrily. Rose shut her mouth tight and glared. Shadow was giving his brother a sympathetic look when Rose tapped his wrist. “I know where you can get clothes for Glory.” Her voice was suspiciously sweet. “I know where our suitcases are. We were talking about it just yesterday, and she said she would do anything for the man who brought her suitcase back to her.” A knot of tension loosened in Shadow‟s chest. “She did?” “Well … Not exactly. But she would be really grateful to have her own clothes. And while you‟re out there you could grab my suitcase, too.” Sky leaned across the table. “I‟ll get your things.” Rose glared at him. “I wasn‟t asking you, birdbrain.” A small sound came from Mrs. Madison, and for a minute Shadow thought she was crying. But even though she kept her face turned down he could see the curve of her smile. So could Rose, because she bristled and said defensively, “What?” “Nothing.” Mrs. Madison‟s pale hair slid down to screen her face. The Lupa laughed out loud. “You‟re acting like kids in junior high.” That must have been the worst insult Rose could imagine, because her glare turned darker and her arms clamped tighter across her chest. “I‟m a sophomore!” “Well, that explains it.” Since Rose looked like she was going to explode, and his brother was growling softly under his breath, Shadow stood up. “Rose, if you can lead me to your things we will ride out together to fetch them. Sky will take Two Bears back to the Clan and meet us there.” “I‟m not going back,” Rose said flatly. “You are!” Sky growled. “No, I‟m not! Right, Carla?” The Lupa nodded. “Rose is staying here with us.” Taye had been quietly eating his supper. Now he put a hand on his mate‟s shoulder. “Sweetheart?” The Lupa turned quickly to Taye. “You said that when you were gone I was in charge of the Pack. Well, you were gone when they came, and I told Rose she could stay here.” Taye‟s face was calm. “Okay, but Sky is her mate. Is he staying too?” “If he wants, but not in the same room. He has to give Rose her space. She‟s way too young for anything except friendship right now.” Taye ran a quick eye over Rose‟s young curves. “She looks old enough to me.” The Lupa smacked her fist into his shoulder. “She‟s not. In the Times Before she wouldn‟t even be dating yet.” Shadow put his hand on his brother‟s shoulder and used his standing height to keep him in his chair. “Sky‟s wolf has chosen her.” “Yeah, I get that.” The Lupa smiled at Sky. “And he can visit, and they can eat supper together and all that. You know, simple friendly stuff so they can get to know each other. Then, in five or six years, they can see if they want to be mates.” Sky howled. Shadow cuffed the top of his head. “Show respect.” Taye rubbed his mate‟s shoulder. “Sweetheart, your ruling stands. But I‟m going to change one thing. Sky doesn‟t have to wait five or six years. When Rose turns eighteen he can court her properly.” The Lupa nodded. “Okay. But if Rose says no—” “Then Sky will have to step aside.” Taye looked across the table at his younger cousin. “Do you understand the Pack‟s ruling?” Sky looked at Rose and then Taye. “Yes, I understand,” he said stiffly.
“Good.” Shadow let go his brother‟s shoulder. Sky wasn‟t happy, but he seemed resigned. Shadow was eager to fetch his mate‟s clothes and surprise her. “You go get Two Bears and head back to the Clan. Rose and I will find the suitcases and—” A storm of protest about the late hour broke out, and Shadow decided that it was easier to go find the bags himself than to try to convince everyone that Rose should come with him to find them tonight. Rose gave him detailed descriptions of where the bags could be found, and another round of protests from the Lupa rose, questioning Rose about her knowledge of the location of the bags. Though she didn‟t seem convinced of Rose‟s talent as a Finder, the Lupa wanted to know about the location of a certain dark green leather suitcase. Anyone could see that Rose had talent. Shadow had never met a Finder before, but he had heard of them. The young blonde laid her hand on the Lupa‟s sleeve and closed her eyes. After a few moments of silence the girl confessed she couldn‟t see it. Mrs. Madison asked about some other bags. Shadow struggled to hide his impatience. All he wanted to do was go find his mate‟s things so he could give them to her. It was three hours after sunset before he was finally able to set off on his search.
Chapter Eight In the three days since Shadow had left, Glory had been almost too busy to miss him. But she did miss him. God knew why. He was such a bossy he-man. But it had felt so good, letting him hold her. He was so big and strong that he made her feel protected and safe in this crazy screwed-up world. More of the plane-crash survivors had died, and it looked like they might lose another one soon. Tara cried as she, Sandra and Glory wrapped a body in a sheet of fabric. Sandra put her arms around her mother-in-law to comfort her. “It‟s all right, Mother,” she said. “At least that poor woman isn‟t in pain any longer.” Tara held Sandra tight and slowly gained control of herself. “You‟re right, Sandra. There are others who still need our help.” Glory had thought the two didn‟t get along, but apparently that wasn‟t true. Sandra was often bitter, but, heck, who could blame her, considering her husband‟s habits? Get the little woman pregnant over the winter and take off every spring for three or four months. Jerk. “I‟ll take this end,” Glory offered, moving to the head of the body. “You two grab the feet, and we‟ll take it … Where?” Tara mopped her eyes and let Sandra go at last. “No, Glory, leave her here. Some of the men will take care of her.” Glory just wanted an hour of peace and quiet. She followed Tara back into a tent full of hurting people. Jill had had Jane the librarian assign shifts to each of the Clan women and those from the plane who were able to help with nursing, cooking or cleaning. They both said they couldn‟t afford to get so tired that they made mistakes. Glory gritted her teeth. She had another hour left until lunch, which marked the end of her shift. Right after lunch Jill told her that if she wanted a nap she could go lie down in Shadow‟s lodge, so she did. It was quiet there. She felt kind of bad for leaving the other women to work, but Jill and her old partner Jane were right. Everyone worked better with a rest, and it was her turn. She went into Shadow‟s teepee and settled herself on the furs and blankets on the ground. The blankets smelled like him, and they were warm. She fell asleep holding a corner of his blanket to her nose like a child. She woke up in the dark with a hot presence pressed against her back and a heavy weight lying over her waist. It took her a minute to realize the weight was a man‟s arm. A thick arm, heavy with muscle. Shadow‟s arm. He was lying behind her, face buried in the back of her neck, his steady breath warm on her ear. She knew it was Shadow by the rich scent of him. Damn, she had thought his scent on the pillow was comforting. But right now his scent wasn‟t exactly comforting. More like hot and sexy. Did werewolves give off extra-strong pheromones? Glory had read that modern Americans had showered and deodorized natural pheromones away. That couldn‟t be the case with the Clan. They all smelled pretty natural, sometimes to the point of stinking. But Shadow didn‟t smell bad to her. She inhaled his scent and felt a whisper of desire curl deep inside. His big hand was splayed over her lower belly, fingers stroking just a teeny bit. For a second, her impulse was to hit him for not waking her up when he‟d come in. Then she relaxed under his hand, thinking that she had slept a lot longer than just an hour, but not wanting to go back to the tents where the injured were. Shadow wasn‟t asleep. She figured that out when his breathing changed and his hand began moving with purpose, fingertips skimming under the elastic of her panties. She slapped at his wrist. His hand stopped moving, but he raised up over her on his other arm, his lips smoothing over her neck and cheek to settle over her mouth. His warmth, his scent, his fingers just barely skimming places where she hadn‟t been touched in months made his kiss a fire in her blood. She should tell him to get off. The injured needed her. She would tell him to get off. In a minute. Just another minute.
“Sunshine,” he murmured against her throat. “I missed you.” “I missed you too.” Dammit, why did she say that? “Never mind. Kiss me just a little bit more, Shadow.” In the dark she couldn‟t see his face, but his eyes shimmered like a cat‟s. “Let me touch you, Glory. I want to feel you. Please.” She didn‟t stop his hand from traveling up under her shirt. She found herself shifting against the fur beneath her so she could arch her back, and he seemed to take that as a signal that he should pull her shirt over her head. Her bra went with it. “Hey—” she began, but it changed to a moan when his mouth covered her nipple and sucked. “Holy Cats!” Could a girl orgasm from just a man‟s mouth over her breast? Glory thought she just might find out. She had gone from exhausted sleep to sweet arousal in sixty seconds. “Wait,” she panted. “Shadow, wait. Slow down.” “Can‟t. You‟re so soft, Glory. So beautiful.” She braced her hands against his shoulders. “Slow down or I‟m screaming.” Wordlessly growling, he rested his cheek over her heart. The vibration of his growl kicked her arousal up a notch. She ran her hands over his shoulders and chest, delighting in the smooth warm skin. Damn, he was ripped. She shied from stroking past his belly button, instead gliding her hands around to his buttocks. “You‟re naked!” she squeaked. His growl was almost a word, but not quite. He kissed her again, his lips unexpectedly gentle and tender until she became the aggressor. Then he devoured her mouth greedily. She remembered the first day he‟d found her, when he‟d held her hand to the front of his breechcloth. She had named him Anaconda then. Was he really as big as she remembered? His growl turned to a howl when she boldly grasped him in her hand. She was a big woman, and her hands were big too, but his size was impressive. Maybe even scary. But oh, so tempting. Glory squirmed, trying to slide her pants down without letting go of Shadow. “Shadow, help me get my pants off. Hey, don‟t rip them!” “Then stop twisting around like that. Ah, Glory, you are so soft.” She squeezed his cock. “And you are so hard. And big.” He shuddered. “I want to be in you.” In the dark she smoothed her hands up and down his cock, learning the shape of him, curling her fingers over the flaring head and under the heavy balls. “Not yet. Lie down. Lie down, Shadow.” “Why?” He sounded wary. “Haven‟t you ever heard of foreplay? I can‟t reach you when you‟re leaning over me like that.” He was still and silent for a minute. Then he moved so he was on his back beside her. “Like this?” “Exactly like that.” Glory felt daring when she got to her knees and leaned over him. She used her hands to guide his cock to her mouth. She touched her tongue delicately to the head of his penis and licked over the top and down the underside. Shadow jolted under her, almost knocking her over. “Shadow! Stop that!” “I can‟t. Woman, what are you doing?” “Tasting you. That‟s only fair, right? I mean, you sucked on my boob, so I can suck on your cock. Just shut up a minute, okay?” She‟d always been told she had a big mouth, but the head of his cock filled it. When she rubbed him with her tongue and applied suction he roared so loud she had to stop. Besides, he lunged off the furs so fast she was knocked flat on her back. He snatched her under her arms
and dragged her under him. He had her legs spread wide in a blink, his cock pressing against her opening. “Hey, Shadow, calm down. No need to rush, right? Slow down.” His teeth ground together audibly. He rested his forehead against her shoulder. “Can‟t. You smell good. Mine.” He pushed against her, but he was so big her body rejected him. “Shadow, if you don‟t slow down you‟re gonna hurt me!” That broke through. The pressure eased. “I would never hurt you. But I don‟t know what to do to make it better.” He sounded lost and desperate. She took pity on him. After all, she wanted that thick cock moving inside her too. “Kiss me. Finger me. You know, a little more foreplay?” His breath was hot in her ear. “Finger you?” “You sound like you‟ve never done this before.” “I haven‟t. Who would I do this with? You are my mate.” “Never? Get out! I thought you had a girlfriend in Kearney. Well, never mind.” She groped for his hand in the dark and pulled it between her legs. “I need to be wet down here before you put that big thing inside me, okay? Well, more wet. So let‟s play a little bit first. Put your finger inside me. Gently! Just a little bit at a time. Push it in and pull it out. Again. Ooh, that‟s nice.” * Shadow savored the slick warmth of his mate‟s body. His wolf sight gave him a clear view of her soft white thighs shifting restlessly and her breasts moving with the rhythm of his hand. He leaned over and took the pink tip of one in his mouth and sucked on it like she had sucked on him. Her panting breath told him she liked that. “God, you learn fast,” she groaned. “A little harder. Please, Shadow, a little harder and faster.” Her hand rubbed frantic little circles just above where his finger was moving inside her. He brushed her hand aside and did it for her. He loved the little noises she was making. The way her body clenched around his finger when she gasped out his name gave him the same thrill he felt when he brought down game on a long and hard hunt. And the way her whole body relaxed told him she was happy. “That was awesome!” she said after a minute, when her breathing had gotten back to normal. “Your turn?” Shadow was barely able to contain his need to bury his cock where his fingers had been. “Will it hurt you, sunshine?” “Not anymore.” She spread her thighs wider and reached for his cock. “C‟mon, big guy. Slide that hot piece of meat inside me.” Before, when he had tried to put himself inside her, it had felt like he had been pushing against something without an opening. Now he found her opening with the tip of his penis and was able to push inside. It took a series of thrusts, but at last he managed to squeeze every inch of himself inside her. And if her body had been warm and slick around his finger, it was hot and tight around his cock. It was pure, molten joy to be inside her. He paused to kiss her. “All right?” he whispered. “Am I hurting you? You‟re shaking.” “I‟m great. Oh, man. Remember how you moved your finger in and out?” He felt an unexpected rumble of laughter escape. “I know that much. Tell me if I move too fast or too hard.”
She didn‟t say much at all, at least not words. Her voice came out of her in gasping moans, in a rhythm that matched his thrusts. Each time he pulled his length nearly out of her and then pushed himself back her hot flesh squeezed him in a loving grip. Her moans became continuous until they were swallowed by a high, thin shriek. The feel of her flesh clenching around him in ripples as he moved within her drove him higher and higher until he felt an explosion erupt inside him, and the release of pressure made him collapse on the soft cushion of her body. He lay still until her hands pushed at his shoulders. “Hey, big guy. Move. I can‟t breathe.” He didn‟t want to let his cock slip free of her body. Small shudders were still caressing him. Instead he forced his arms to hold his weight off her. “Sunshine,” he whispered tenderly. “That was amazing.” “I‟ve got your hair in my mouth,” she complained, trying to pull the black lock away. “Sorry. I‟ll braid it next time.” “That‟s okay. I kinda like your hair. It‟s softer than I thought it would be. And it‟s so long that when you were doing your thing, it was everywhere. It tickles. But in a good way.” “Really? So you like this?” He drew a lock of his hair over her breast. “Enough! You wore me out. And, could you move?” He didn‟t want to. The way she twitched her hips made him start to get hard again. But he made himself shift to his side and mourned the loss of physical connection when he slid out of her. The scent of their love soothed him. They were well and truly mated now. That soothed him too, and his wolf danced in delight inside him. He lay beside her, still trailing his hair in lazy patterns over her belly and breasts while she drifted back to sleep. Was that normal? He himself felt energized by their lovemaking. He wanted to do it again right now. But he didn‟t need as much sleep as a human woman would, particularly one who had spent days taking care of the sick and wounded. His mate needed sleep, and he would always provide her with what she needed, so he lay beside her, caressing the softness of her thighs and belly with gentle fingertips. The hair between her legs wasn‟t pink. It was blonde and as soft as baby hair. When he petted it she made a disgruntled noise and shifted onto her side, showing him the long curve of her spine. He realized that he hadn‟t given her the bag he had found. Its seams had split, maybe from impact with the ground, but the clothing inside was intact. If Rose was right his mate would be pleased to see them and grateful to have them. He smiled contentedly against her shoulder, looking forward to more lovemaking tomorrow.
Chapter Nine Glory wondered in sleepy confusion why she felt sore. She wondered especially why she was sore there, between her legs. She rolled onto her back and stretched out her legs. When she encountered a foreign warm body she remembered everything in a rush. Her head whipped around, and she found Shadow leaning on an elbow, the corner of his jaw supported on a fist, watching her with tenderness and alarming possessiveness. Damn, he was gorgeous. She let her eyes slide down the broad, muscled chest and rippled abs to the … Holy crow, he was as big as she remembered! The tent was a little dim, but there was enough light to see his cock was standing straight and hard, obviously ready for round two. That had been inside her last night? No way! She considered the soreness and shrugged. Yes, way. But it wasn‟t a bad soreness. More like a lingering memory of him moving inside her. If it wasn‟t for the fact that her bladder was shouting for attention she would have liked to start all over again. From the looks of him, he would have liked that idea. Curse her tiny little bladder. “Good morning, sunshine.” He ran the backs of his fingers over her bare breast in gentle caress. She jerked the blankets up to hide her nakedness from him. “Good morning.” Geez, this morning-after stuff was awkward. What was she supposed to say to a lover she woke up next to after the best sex of her life? “I gotta pee,” she blurted. “Let‟s do it again,” he commanded, dragging her, blankets and all, under him. “No freaking way!” she shouted, painfully aware of her full bladder and the taste of her mouth, and the daylight that would show off her overly abundant belly and hips. “Let me go. I told you I gotta pee.” His face was still as he stared down at her, his dimple hidden. “Do you hate me after what I did to you last night?” “God, no! That was great! You were great! But not right now, Shadow. I need some girl time. I would kill for a shower and clean clothes.” The solemnity of his face was broken by a grin that he couldn‟t seem to control. “Then go have a shower. I will meet you there with some clean clothes.” She felt her spirits lift. Clean clothes? “Really?” “Really.” “Where did you get…?” Her attention veered away from her increasingly demanding bladder to remember why he had left in the first place. “Did you find Rose and Sky? Are they okay?” “They are both well. Sky is here, and Rose is safe with my cousin‟s pack near Kearney.” “Well, that‟s a relief. And speaking of relief, I need some. Get off me, big guy, so I can go hit the bathroom and shower.” Shadow lifted her to her feet with no effort. It still thrilled her that there was a guy in the world strong enough to pick her up like that. And he seemed to have a thing for her. Her ratty navy blue and fuchsia outfit was lying in careless muddles on the grass floor of the tent. She wondered what kind of clothes he had found for her, but when she asked he said it was a surprise. So she wrapped the blanket securely around her naked body and scuttled over to Jill‟s tent where her toiletry bag was. She expected people to point at her and giggle but the few Clan people she saw just smiled and wished her a cheerful good morning. Jill‟s smile was a little more knowing, but all she said was that one more of the injured had died that night,but the others all seemed to be on the road to recovery now. She ran into Heather on her way to the bathroom, but ignored her with dogged determination. She must be getting used to the facilities, because she was exceedingly grateful to use them.
One of the other survivors was already at the shower. Unlike Heather, who hadn‟t even been hurt, Marissa had helped as much as she could with the other wounded even though her shoulder had been dislocated and her arm broken in the crash. “Morning, Glory!” she said cheerfully and chortled at her words. “I wouldn‟t have pegged you as a flower. Um … I guess you get that a lot, huh?” “My dad always said that when I was a little kid,” Glory grumbled. She flinched a little from the memory that he was dead. It hurt even more because that‟s how she wanted to remember him: an affectionate and teasing dad, not the distant, too-busy-for-his-only-child executive he became about the time she started junior high. “Every morning he‟d come barging into my room, flip on the light, and yell, „Morning, Glory, rise and shine!‟” Marissa was struggling to get dressed with one arm. Glory moved to help her. “That‟s hard,” Marissa said. She combed her thick dark hair with her fingers. “Remembering people, I mean. Like, I had a little boy. I suppose he‟s dead too.” Wow. That was way harder than losing parents. “Maybe not. He might have survived.” “Faron would be fifty-four. That‟s thirty-two years older than me. I could be a grandmother. Hell, I could be a great-grandmother!” There was nothing to say to that. “You named your little boy Faron?” “Faron Paulson. When he was a baby I called him Fary, but it sounds like fairy, so I stopped that when he started to walk.” “Yeah, good call.” Glory grimaced. “You married? Divorced?” “No.” Marissa managed a half wicked, half shamed grin. “I was a wild child when I was younger. Never got married. I was pretty much always in trouble until I started college a couple years ago. I‟m starting to grow up now. At least that‟s what my mom says. Said. Faron was staying with my parents in Omaha while I was going to be doing an internship in Denver for six months. It was really hard to be separated from him … At least, I thought it was hard then…” Glory was intensely relieved to see the other woman pull herself together. She couldn‟t handle tears. She waved good-bye when Marissa left the shower area. As she steeled herself for an ice-cold stream of water, she wondered what it would be like to have a son who was thirty years older than she was. Maybe not much different than having your best friend age fifty years overnight. What a crazy world this was. It was too cold to be taking outdoor showers. Glory dried off with the same scrap of towel she‟d been using for days, and quickly wrapped up in her blanket. Her teeth were near chattering when she stepped out into camp and looked around for Shadow. He had said he had clean clothes for her. She hoped they were warm clothes. They weren‟t particularly warm, but she was overjoyed to see them. Shadow stood near a tree, cradling a tatty-looking blue bag in his arms. He was smiling with a boyish mix of arrogance and hope. “Oh my God!” she shrieked. “That‟s my bag! You found my bag!” With anybody else she wouldn‟t have launched herself at him and jumped to hug him, but Shadow was strong. She trusted him to catch her. The big lug laughed and caught her with one arm, tossing her higher so he could hold her with his arm under her hips, the way a mother would hold a toddler. She was so excited over having her own clothes that she kissed him exuberantly. Then she squeaked when he let them topple over onto the grass. She remembered she was dressed in nothing but a blanket, and her bare ass was hanging out for him to squeeze in his big hand. “Shadow, move your hand or lose your hand,” she threatened. His satisfied smile didn‟t take her threat seriously. “Rose said you‟d be happy to have your clothes,” he said smugly. “Well, yeah, I am. But anyone can see us here. We need privacy for this.”
His answer to that was to stand up, scooping her and her now jumbled clothes up in his arms and begin to lope away from the camp. His long muscular legs ate up the ground. Glory clung for dear life, demanding to know where they were going. And, she said to herself, how far could he carry her? How fast was he going? He wasn‟t even breathing hard! And he had picked her up in a way that kept the blanket tucked neatly around her. “A private place, so you can thank me,” he answered briskly. Glory opened her mouth to slap him down, but she saw his perfect mouth twitch with a suppressed smile. “Uh-huh. What sort of thank-you did you have in mind, big guy?” He was still moving smoothly, without visible effort. “Something … enthusiastic.” “Really?” He slowed and stepped carefully through some trees and thick bushes into a small grassy area. “It‟s private here, sunshine. Nobody can see us.” He let her slide to her feet but kept her firmly against his chest. “Do you want to thank me now?” Glory arched an eyebrow. “If you ask me, you should be thanking me.” His smile was almost sweet. “I do. Thank you for letting me kiss you, like this.” His lips were gentle on hers. “And letting me taste you here.” He tugged the blanket loose to touch his tongue to her breast. “And letting me touch you here.” His hand slipped under the bottom edge of the blanket to pet her between her legs. She jumped and grabbed for the falling blanket. He intercepted her hand and wrapped it around his erection. “And thank you for touching me here.” Holy crow! He was ready again. Or still. She momentarily forgot the blanket at the feel of his velvet-soft, iron-hard cock. She squeezed gently, just to see what he would do. His choked breath made her feel powerful. She was still feeling tenderness from last night, but she could be persuaded to have a little more fun with him. “You know, I‟m a little sore,” she whispered, but his hoarse voice cut her off. “I‟ll be gentle, I promise.” Well, that wasn‟t anywhere near enough persuasion, Glory decided. She wanted him to work for it. “Well, I don‟t know, Shadow…” How did she get on her back so fast? When had he spread the blanket out over the grass? She realized with sudden horror that he was kneeling above her, looking her naked body over with slow, thorough eyes. In broad daylight! She wanted to cringe and hide herself, but he caught her hands in his and held them still. Some of her embarrassment faded at the look of intense pleasure on his face while his eyes caressed her. He might be able to fake an expression, but his cock was hard. If he didn‟t like her body would his cock be hard? She felt herself relax under his hot eyes. “Like what you see?” She had meant that to be sexy and confident but it came out a little uncertain. His answer was to capture her mouth in hot kiss while his hands let go of her wrists to smooth over her body. He paused at her breasts to flick the nipples with his thumbs while he growled into her mouth. Just that quickly, he made her feel like a sex goddess, desired by multitudes. But right now the only man she wanted was him, because she knew that he was the only man who saw her like this. Something cold and wet touched the tender skin of her underarm, exposed by her arm‟s outstretched position. Her eyes shot open, and she had to move Shadow‟s hair to see a brown and white dog dancing around them. “What the hell?” she began. Shadow applied his mouth to her breast. “Ignore The Beagle. She‟ll go away eventually.” She hadn‟t seen any little dogs in camp. “The Beagle?” she said dubiously. “Where did she come from? I haven‟t seen her before.” “She belongs to my cousin Laura.”
Even the feel of his teeth scraping lightly over her nipple didn‟t distract her from the news that he had a female cousin. “You have a cousin named Laura? I haven‟t met her.” “Him. He drifts around during the warm months and only stays with the Clan for the winter. He‟s back early this year.” Shadow raised his voice without lifting his head away from her. “Go away, Laura. You can meet my mate later.” Glory turned her head and peered through Shadow‟s hair. A burly, heavily muscled man with a shaved head stood a few yards away from them with his back half-turned. She could see how muscular he was because he was wearing leather leggings with a breechcloth but no shirt. She screamed and tried to hide under Shadow‟s hair. Shadow jumped. “Get out!” she shrieked. “Get out, you asshole Peeping Tom!” The back of Cousin Laura‟s neck turned dull red. “I was just trying to catch my damn Beagle,” he told a bush with choked sincerity. “I didn‟t see anything. Honest.” Shadow leapt off her, ignoring his state of aroused nudity and grabbed the joyous dog. “Here, Laura. Take her. We‟ll see you later.” The other man reached blindly for the squirming dog. He and Shadow had the same broad shoulders and muscular backs, but Laura was at least six inches shorter. Since Shadow was at least six five, that didn‟t make Laura short, just shorter. “I‟ve changed my name to Lobo,” he growled. “I‟ve told you that a hundred times.” Glory clutched the blanket around her. “Get out!” The bushes snapped and cracked as Laura/Lobo made a hasty retreat, holding his dog protectively to his chest. Shadow came back to her with his long hair swaying over his naked body. It was almost enough to entice her into dropping the blanket, but not quite. When Shadow reached to pull the blanket away she tightened her grip on it. “No,” she said clearly. “Did you know he was there?” “I heard the Beagle come through the bushes,” he shrugged. “And I could smell Laura.” “So you knew he was there, and didn‟t say anything? You didn‟t stop, or warn me or … What‟s the matter with you?” Shadow looked confused. “You‟re upset.” “No shit!” He studied her face carefully. “Tell me why you‟re so upset, sunshine.” He had to be kidding. “I‟m not a performing animal in a freaking circus!” she shouted. “I don‟t know about you, but I don‟t want an audience while we‟re making out!” “Laura was just getting his dog. He wasn‟t watching us. He would have been gone in a minute if that stupid dog of his hadn‟t startled you. I hate that Beagle.” He tried to draw the blanket away from her breasts again, but she gripped tight. “Sunshine, I promise, if it ever happens again I will stop and wait until we‟re alone.” “Damn straight. Now get lost while I find my clothes.” The thought of her own, clean clothes and the idea of Shadow patiently searching the dried-out tall grass for them softened her. She looked up at him. “Thank you for bringing me my clothes.” He looked adorably crestfallen. “But don‟t you want to…” “Not right now. Your cousin and his dog killed the mood, ya know?” “I‟ll break his neck,” Shadow growled. “Whatever. Shoo. Scram. Get lost.” For a minute it looked like he was going to argue, but he sighed and walked a few yards away before turning his back. “I can‟t leave you alone this far from camp, but I‟ll give you privacy.” Her own clothes! They had survived a horrible adventure in the sky but didn‟t look the worse for wear. Except … They had grown in the last nine days. Her T-shirt seemed a little big. The black satin bustier didn‟t sit quite right. And her jeans zipped and buttoned closed way too easily. In fact, there was a gap between her body and the waistband of the jeans.
“Ha!” she shouted jubilantly. “I‟ve lost weight! I‟m getting skinny!” Shadow wheeled around with alarm on his face. “No!” His eyes roamed over her body anxiously. “You can‟t lose weight.” Glory shoved her feet into her black leather combat boots and glared at him. “Says who?” she demanded, lacing the boots up with quick jerks. “What if I want to be skinny?” Geez. By the look on his face you‟d think she‟d just confessed to wanting to be best friends with a mass murderer. “No.” The horror on his face was swallowed up by arrogant command. “I forbid it. My mate will stay soft and round.” “Forbid?” Glory stopped lacing her boots to straighten with a snap and glare at him. Damn. Naked, with his hip-length black hair drifting over his magnificent body, he was hard to glare at. She managed it. “Excuse me? Who died and made you king?” “I am Alpha, and your mate. I will see that you have enough food to eat and clothes to wear. That‟s what a mate does.” “Whatever. Put your diaper thing back on, would‟ja?” He stared at her for a minute then turned and bent over to grab his breechcloth from the ground. The view of his tight butt was inspiring. It almost inspired her to tear her shirt off again. But there would be time for that later. Now she should be getting back to see what Jill needed done for the survivors. Her shift had probably already started and she was in trouble, so she let Shadow pick her up and run back to camp. She even let him kiss her outside Jill‟s tent in full view of Heather and some other women. She whispered that she was looking forward to tonight. It was true after all, and the sour look on Heather‟s face was almost as precious as Shadow‟s smile. But not quite. Shadow was damn bossy, but he had a killer smile. He handed the tattered blue bag to her and gave her one more kiss. The memory of the kiss stayed with her while she helped the survivors to eat and get cleaned up. Even the cold drizzle that began to fall couldn‟t banish the heat of that kiss.
Chapter Ten The drizzle kept on all morning and afternoon, making the day cold and dreary. After a morning of getting soaked helping Marissa and Emma cut up strange vegetables for stew, Glory spent most of the afternoon in the tent Rose had helped in. She hadn‟t been in here before, and she was pretty sure she knew why. Jill had probably set things up so Glory wouldn‟t have to spend hours a day clenching her teeth. There were three women there, all injured in ways that made them unable to walk, but there was nothing wrong with their mouths, except the garbage that came out of them. Two had been friends before the crash, Alyssa and Krissy, and they were skinheads. Neo-Nazis. Whatever. They began preaching at her that the Jews had made the plane crash and had been the real evil geniuses behind the nuclear attacks. Then they began trying to convince her that the Clan was lying about all of it so they could brainwash the women and sell them as sex slaves. Glory was a firm believer in live and let live, but these two made Glory wish she could smother them with their pillows. The third woman, whose name was Sherry, wasn‟t a neo-Nazi, and she didn‟t agree about the Jews, but she seemed to think the idea about the Clan lying and wanting them all for sex was true. It took only a half hour of this to make Glory lose her previous happy glow. “Don‟t knock it until you try it,” she snapped at the three women. They gaped at her. “Huh? Try what?” “Sex with one of the Clan. It‟s fantastic.” She drawled the last word out tauntingly. Sherry shuddered. “That‟s disgusting.” Hitting a woman with broken legs would be mean. Satisfying, but mean. Glory smirked at her instead. “You don‟t know what you‟re missing.” “They‟re animals!” Sherry seemed pretty set on that idea, and Glory didn‟t want to argue. She went to the fire in the center of the tent and scooped three bowls of stew from the heavy pot sitting half buried in coals. Funny, just a week ago that would have felt strange. Now it was normal to be cooking over an open fire. “Stew again?” whined one of the neo-Nazis. Alyssa? Or was she Krissy? Glory was kind of tired of stew too, but she hated to agree with them over anything so she said nastily, “You don‟t have to eat it.” “I‟ll eat it,” said Sherry. “It does get a little boring, but I‟m cold and the stew is hot.” Glory looked around for another blanket to give her but couldn‟t find one. The rain made everything damp, and that made everything cold. A wind shivered the canvas walls, and they could hear water splatter off it. She gave the woman the bowl and a spoon, and the other two accepted some with grumbling and more rhetoric about filthy Indians. Glory was pretty sure her tongue was bleeding from biting it. Too bad the bowls were so valuable. She‟d like to break a couple over these morons‟ heads. The Clan had only enough bowls for themselves and a few visitors. This many extra people in camp had required some hasty bowl carving from wood that was hard to come by, here on the mostly treeless plains. Glory wouldn‟t ruin their work, but these whiney chicks should be nicer to the woman who had to help them go to the bathroom. They might find their next bowl of boring stew served in the same bowl they peed in. A voice called from outside, asking permission to enter. Sherry had a deer-in-theheadlights look. Glory yelled for whoever it was to come in, and the flap was lifted to admit a man who was wearing fringed leggings with his breechcloth. He bobbed his head at Glory, but went to Sherry‟s bed to unfold a blanket and spread it over her. Sherry kept her face turned rigidly away from him. Glory could see she was shaking. The man‟s face showed hurt. “Can‟t you even look at me?” he pleaded, crouching beside the low bed. “You were cold, so I brought you a blanket.”
Sherry didn‟t look at him, didn‟t speak. The guy sighed and stood up. He made his way back to the door before looking back. “I am your mate,” he said clearly. “I will wait for you to accept me. But I would like it if you would at least look at me when I come to see you.” When Sherry kept her face turned away, he left. The desperate, pained look on his face bothered Glory. It was kind of like the look she‟d seen on Shadow‟s face sometimes. “Why wouldn‟t you look at him? He‟s hot.” Sherry‟s head whipped around to glare. “He‟s an animal!” Glory remembered what Shadow had done to her in bed last night and felt a warm tingle go through her. “And that‟s bad?” Venom was thick in the air. Sherry turned her head away again, but the other two began spouting self-righteous garbage. “You‟re one of them. Filthy, unnatural mongrels should be sterilized so they can‟t contaminate pure bloodlines.” Glory seldom found herself at a loss for words. She gaped at those two now. That poor guy wanted Sherry for his mate, and she was stuck in a tent with two Nazi SS bitches filling her head with trash. “They saved your lives. They‟re doing extra hunting and using up their winter supplies so you can eat and be warm. And all you can do is lie there and badmouth them?” Glory was never so glad to see Shadow as she was when he came to get her later that afternoon. He was flanked by his cousin Laura on one side and The Beagle on the other. Glory knew she was red as fire when she mumbled a hello to Laura. He looked supremely nonchalant, as if he hadn‟t ever met her before, much less while she was naked on her back with a man on top of her. The Beagle danced ecstatically around her. This morning, the dog had looked brown and white, but that was because she‟d been looking up at her from the ground. Now Glory could see she had a black patch on her back like a saddle. The Beagle trotted into the tent and wiggled her way happily around Sherry‟s bed, but when she went over to Alyssa and Krissy her hackles raised, and she growled at them. Which, Glory thought approvingly, showed damn good instincts. When they had all left the tent, she bent to pat The Beagle‟s head. “Yes,” she crooned at the dog. “Those two girls are Bad. Calling them bitches would be an insult to you, wouldn‟t it? You‟re a very smart little dog.” She made little kissing noises before she straightened back up. “Seriously,” she told Shadow. “Those two are a waste of time. The other one … Some guy says she‟s his mate, but she doesn‟t like him. And I know why.” She had both men‟s attention. Shadow said to Laura, “Jumping Stag‟s wolf chose Sherry for his mate. She rejects him because she thinks he‟s unnatural. Why, sunshine?” “Because those two witches keep telling her how unnatural you all are. You should get her moved to a different tent.” Laura nodded solemnly. Shadow had a faint frown on his face. “Unnatural? Why would they think that?” “Well, duh, there aren‟t werewolves where we‟re from. And those two belong to some crazy White Power group who think people who aren‟t blond, blue-eyed Protestants aren‟t really people. Werewolves are probably new to their list of non-humans, but you rank right up there with Jews and Latino Catholics.” Laura blinked once. “What‟s a Latino Catholic?” Shadow‟s frown was less faint. “We‟re not werewolves.” “Whatever. Where are we going?” She shivered a little in the cold, damp air. Shadow put his arm around her. “The council is going to judge Two Bears tonight.” Glory wasn‟t sure she wanted to watch the council trial, but Shadow was firm about her going. While they ate half-raw steaks she was thinking about what she wanted to do to him tonight in bed, but for once his mind wasn‟t on sex. So this council thing must be pretty
serious. It was held in the biggest tent, but even so the tent was so packed with every member of the Clan that people were sitting practically in each other‟s laps. They sat in circular rows in the round tent. The five women had front row seats, and they all had serious looks on their faces. Shadow pushed her to the front row on one side of the fire, to a seat between Jill and Tara, then he went to sit next to his father in the first row on the other side of the fire. It was dead silent while they waited. Glory could hear the rain drum against the canvas and hiss in the fire when it dripped through the smoke hole. She missed Shadow‟s warm bulk. Jill just didn‟t put out the same level of warmth, and it was cold in here. Finally Muddy Wolf stood up. “We are all here as witnesses and speakers for the Clan. We have two issues to decide. First is our brother Two Bears.” Glory followed his nod, and saw Two Bears, the guy who had kept staring at Rose, seated halfway around the circle in the first row. He held his head high, looking at no one, although pretty much everyone was looking at him. “It is said that Two Bears took the woman chosen by Blue Sky At Midday‟s wolf for his mate away against her will. Blue Sky At Midday wanted to kill him, but the woman demanded that Two Bears be judged by the Council. Blue Sky at Midday will speak.” Sky sprang up as his father sat down. “I was in the healing tent when I first saw Rose Turner. My wolf immediately chose her as my mate. At almost the same moment, Two Bears entered the tent and demanded that my mate speak to him. She was frightened of him. I could smell her fear, and it enraged my wolf. I spoke to him. I warned him to leave my mate alone. But he didn‟t listen. That same night, when Rose left her blankets to relieve herself, Two Bears followed her to the women‟s place and tied her hands, and forced her to go with him. I knew that Rose was terrified. My wolf woke me, and I gave chase. I found them.” Glory could almost hear his teeth grinding. His face looked far less pretty and youthful now. “My mate‟s wrists were bruised and bleeding from the ropes. And her face was bruised.” An almost unheard murmur went through the tent. “I took her away from Two Bears and brought her to Taye‟s den because it was closer than the camp. I thought she‟d need medical attention, and Taye‟s mate would welcome her. Two Bears came too, because I wanted him close by. As soon as I knew my mate was well, I intended to kill him. The Lupa told Rose she was welcome in the den. Then my brother Wolf‟s Shadow came.” Sky sat down with a face that looked like it was carved from stone. Glory looked around and thought that no Hollywood movie could really capture this scene. The air had started chilly and damp, but the heat of so many bodies packed so closely together was making her start to sweat. From the smell of it, she wasn‟t the only one sweating. But it wasn‟t a terrible smell, just earthy. The firelight didn‟t go all the way back to the outer rows of faces, so all she could see was the dark blur of faces punctuated by the glimmer of werewolf eyes. Muddy Wolf had risen to his feet while she‟d been staring around. “Wolf‟s Shadow will tell us what he knows.” Muddy Wolf sat down, and Shadow stood up. Glory admired the way the firelight lit his muscled body. He had the best chest and abs she‟d ever seen. “When Rose Turner and Two Bears and Sky disappeared, my mate was concerned. At her word, I went searching for them. I followed their trail to Taye‟s den near Kearney. All three of them were there. Sky wished to kill Two Bears, and so did Taye. I saw myself the blood on Rose‟s wrists and the bruise on her face. Two Bears used her badly. But Rose asked that Two Bears be judged by the Council. She asked this in my hearing. I told my brother to bring Two Bears to the Council.” After Shadow finished, Muddy Wolf asked Two Bears to speak. Two Bears stood up and spoke in cool, emotionless tones. He admitted that he had taken the woman. He thought she was beautiful and since he had no wolf to choose a mate for him he wanted a wife. He had decided on Rose before he‟d known that Sky‟s wolf had chosen her. Sky was young. He‟d
have other chances to find a woman, but he, Two Bears, had waited decades to find a wife. Everything Shadow and Sky had said was true. “Geez,” Glory whispered to Jill. “He‟s admitting it?” “People don‟t plead „Not Guilty‟ when they‟re guilty here. Now hush.” Muddy Wolf opened the floor to discussion. Several people stood to speak. Some thought death was the appropriate penalty for stealing a woman. Some thought he should have his johnson cut off. Ouch. That sounded a little extreme to Glory. Some thought he should be banished. Everyone, whether they looked Native American or not, sounded Native American. Not because they spoke like Tonto from the Lone Ranger, but because their voices took on a different rhythm. It gave their voices a formal quality they didn‟t have in their everyday speech. Anyone who wanted to speak, could. No one yelled, interrupted, or argued. They just took turns standing up and talking while everyone else was dead silent while they listened. It was all pretty cool until each of the younger women got up and every one of them voted for death. Glory hadn‟t known they were so bloodthirsty. Only Jill voted for banishment. But her vote was the important one, it seemed, because after all the discussion dwindled, Muddy Wolf stood up and decreed that from this hour forth there was no one in the Clan named Two Bears. Two Bears was an outsider with no kin, never to be welcome among the Clan again. Glory had thought he‟d be relieved, but he stood like a defeated old man and shuffled out. Not a single person watched him except her, and his eyes were glued to his feet. As soon as he was gone, Muddy Wolf moved into the other topic. “My nephew Laura, who prefers to be called Lobo, has brought disturbing news from the north and east. The men from the ranches and towns have learned that we have a large number of women here, and they are making plans to take them from us. We need to decide what to do to ensure the women‟s safety.” Again, orderly discussion took place, each person standing and giving his opinion on how to handle the situation. There were some votes for fighting to defend the women. Others felt that since the women weren‟t part of the Clan it was senseless to risk their lives fighting. But, pointed out others, some of the women like Glory, Marissa, Renee, and Sherry were mates, and perhaps some of the other women were mates for Taye‟s Pack. The Clan needed to begin their move to the winter camp in the Black Hills, and they needed to build up their supply of winter stores. Some suggested asking the women what they wanted to do. After a lengthy discussion, all conducted with quiet courtesy and respect, Jill stood up. “The Clan is strong. But are we strong enough to defeat hundreds of townsmen? And if we do defeat these, there will be more. And more. We cannot win. We cannot move the women to the winter camps with us. We cannot feed so many. We should send the women to Taye‟s Pack so their wolves can see if any will choose one of these women as mates. Those who are not chosen by Clan or Pack should go to Kearney. Let the mayor of Kearney, Ray Madison, decide what to do with them. Glory and I will go with them and stay the winter to see them settled. In the spring we—” For the first time there was an interruption. Shadow leapt to his feet with a howl. “No! Grandmother, no!” There was a massive gasp at Shadow‟s rudeness. He jumped across the fire to grab Glory‟s arms and pull her up. “You can‟t leave me!” “I-I—” Glory stuttered. “Sit down, Shadow,” Jill commanded in a hard voice. “You and Glory can discuss that later. I am going to stay with Taye‟s Pack for the winter. I‟m getting too old to winter in a lodge.” Her arms would be bruised, Glory was sure. “Let me go, Shadow,” she hissed. “No. You‟re mine. You can‟t leave me.”
“Moron. I mean my arms, now. That hurts, so let me go.” She was acutely aware of everyone staring at them. “Go sit down. We‟ll talk later.” Carefully, slowly, he released her. His eyes were almost frightening in their intensity. He turned with deliberate calm and walked with dignity around the fire back to his place. His face was smooth and cold, but his eyes shimmered across the fire at her. While Jill made her plans for moving the women starting tomorrow afternoon, he glared at her. She could swear she saw his wolf in those eyes.
Chapter Eleven Glory knew that Shadow would want to talk to her as soon as the Council was over. She‟d been almost as surprised as Shadow when Jill had said that the two of them would be going to stay with Taye‟s Pack. Sure, they had talked about it, back before the survivors had come in needing help. But in the last several days Glory had been too busy to think of it. She had meant to mention it to Shadow, but last night … Had last night changed things? She liked him. She really liked what he did to her in bed. But she didn‟t love him, and living through winter on the plains in a tent was not high on her to-do list. She and Jill weren‟t even out of the tent when Shadow‟s big hand closed on her arm. “Glory,” he said peremptorily. “I want to talk to you.” Okay, he was, as she had suspected he would be, really mad. Did that give him the right to talk to her like she was a puppy who had just piddled on the rug? “Fine,” she snapped. “Talk.” Jill stopped and looked at Shadow for a long moment. “Remember what I said about giving orders,” she murmured before walking away. About a dozen other people were lingering, not even trying to hide their interest in what should be a private conversation. Sky came up to them and smirked at his big brother. The smirk turned to a suspiciously sweet smile when he turned to Glory. “Give him hell, Sister.” He walked on, escorted by The Beagle, who did her best to trip him in her excited do-si-do around his ankles. Laura/Lobo trailed behind. The sight of him reminded her of something she had wanted to ask earlier. “Why is your cousin named Laura? That‟s a girl name.” Shadow‟s nostrils flared. “Don‟t turn the subject.” Boy, going by the sound of that snarl, he was royally pissed off. “I was just wondering. Chill out.” The grip on her wrist tightened to near pain. He dragged her three steps before she recovered enough to dig in her heels. “Shadow, if you don‟t let me go right now I‟m gonna kick you where the sun don‟t shine. Let. Me. Go!” He turned on her in a whirl of hair and clenched teeth. “Are you defying me, mate?” “Why?” she snarled back. “Is that a crime?” His answer to that was to pick her up and throw her over his shoulder. Rage stole her voice for more than a minute, enough time for them to get to Shadow‟s tent. Her head scraped against the flap when he carried her through. The sun was just setting, and the rainy day made it dim inside the tent, but it was just bright enough for her to see that the blankets had been folded neatly on a narrow Lincoln log bed. Where had the bed come from? But she was too angry to care about that right now. As soon as he set her down she opened her mouth to shriek at him. As she took a deep breath to blast him she saw a shine in his eyes. Tears? “Glory,” he rumbled thickly. “Don‟t leave me. I can‟t live without you.” Her rage seeped away like air from a deflating balloon. “Shadow…” “I forbid you to leave! You will stay with me, mate.” Just like that that her balloon was inflated again. “Listen, jackass, I don‟t take orders from you. You don‟t own me, so back off.” Few people were able to tower over her. She was taller than a lot of men. But Shadow towered now, using his height to try to back her off. She stubbornly planted her feet, tilted her chin back, and glared into his eyes. There was no sign of tears, only the eerie yellow glow of a wolf enraged. If she hadn‟t been so angry she might have been uneasy. But under her anger seethed sexual arousal. It seemed that the angrier he was, the yummier he smelled. He was so big and handsome. Not many people could stand up to her when she was angry. She was angry now, but secretly enjoying it too. There was nothing like a good argument to clear the
air. Now if only Shadow would behave, they could yell at each other for a while and then have some wild sex and both let off some steam before moving into a calm discussion. “You are mine.” His voice had crawled down into a wolf‟s growl. “My mate. You will obey me.” Did the big Neanderthal have to be so sexy when he growled? She hated bossy guys, and she sure as hell wasn‟t going to turn into a doormat just because he was built like one of her favorite wrestling stars, but damn, he was fine. Her eyes told her so, and the heat between her thighs agreed. She folded her arms under her bust, plumping her breasts. Her nipples were hard, pushing against the soft cotton of her T-shirt. She hoped he noticed. She inhaled deeply and arched her back to be sure he did. “Fat chance, big guy.” His nostrils flared, and she wondered if he could smell her arousal. Yum. It looked like he was aroused too. She could tell for sure when he pulled her against him so tightly she could feel his erection pressing just a little too high on her body to make contact where she wanted him. “Mine.” His voice was so deep and rough that it didn‟t even sound like him anymore. “Say it,” he demanded. Glory raised on her toes to force that pressure against her clit. “Uh-uh. No way.” “Mine!” he roared. “Yeah, I heard you the first ten times you said that.” Glory couldn‟t quite manage to sound bored. Her clit was pulsing in time with her heartbeat, and it was pretty fast. Fear? Excitement? The lyrics of her favorite Nine Inch Nails song floated in the back of her mind. It seemed like whenever they were together and her blood was pounding through her veins like this she thought about that song. She rubbed against him, wanting the friction of her jeans between his hard flesh and her need. “C‟mon, big guy, what are you going to do about it?” “Say it,” he demanded again. “No. And you can‟t make me.” She smirked and rubbed her clit harder against him. Taunting him like this was fun. “I‟m a grown-up woman and I belong to me.” “You belong to me.” His hand went to the top button on her jeans. “Say it.” The twist of desire clenched harder between her thighs, wetting her panties. She licked her lips and unhooked the first few fasteners on her bustier teasingly. “Make me.” Less than a second later her jeans were dragged down her legs and her panties were torn off. Her libido was dancing with hot elation, looking forward to his cock going deep. She found herself on the ground, her knees digging into the flattened grass, her weight braced on her hands, and Shadow was behind her, one arm clamped around her waist. His muscled thigh shoved her knees farther part, straining the denim still clinging to her legs. She felt the head of his penis plow through the crease between her legs, but she was so wet he slid past her opening and had to try again. She screamed, her voice so thick with lust the words weren‟t quite comprehensible, “Come on, fuck me like an animal!” She arched her back to help, and he found what he was looking for. With one powerful thrust he seated himself deep inside her. His invasion stretched her wide, creating a burning pleasure that bordered on pain inside her. She shrieked. He pulled out and slammed back in. The only thing keeping her from being pushed away was the strength of the arm he had wrapped around her. He pulled out and hammered back in, growling, “Mine.” He said it again with every thrust, until it was a steady chant in her ear. She was vaguely aware of his free hand groping over the neck of her T-shirt, looking for a way under so he could touch her bare skin, but what had most of her interest was the feel of him pounding inside her, driving her to new heights of pleasure. The beat and lyrics of “Closer” swam through her mind. I wanna fuck you like an animal. And he was doing exactly that, holding her in a vulnerable position and driving into her so hard that the slap of their flesh coming together was loud
enough to be heard over her panting groans. Who would have thought that his he-man tactics would get her so hot so fast? She had been expecting a rousing argument and then some hot makeup sex. But apparently Shadow wanted to have the sex first. She approved. Oh, yeah, she was on board with this. She was totally under his control. Why did that turn her on? She wanted to examine that foreign idea, but she exploded into orgasm, and she lost interest in everything else for a while. His continued thrusts kept the shimmering aftermath of her orgasm going until she was shaking from it, making small panting noises almost like sobs and hanging limp from his arm. That arm, holding her in position for his wild thrusts, was the anchor that kept her from going face-first into the grass. A savage howl drowned out her moans, and her anchor loosened. Her arms and legs gave way, and she flopped down to the ground like an overused dishrag. Her mouth was planted in the trampled grass, desperately trying to drag air into her lungs. She barely had strength enough to turn her head to get her mouth clear of the suffocating grass. Damn. Her throat was a little sore. Had she been screaming? If she had, who could blame her? She thought last night‟s orgasm had been mind-blowing. But compared to this? Not so much. This savage lovemaking was fantastic. But once in a while was enough. Her knees felt bruised, and her palms were sore from friction with the dried grass. But it was so worth it. Damn, he was good! Strong arms picked her up and carried her to the bed. She realized that during their festivities the sun must have set completely. It was totally dark in the tent. Shadow put her on the new feather mattress carefully and pulled the blankets up over her. Her jeans were still half on, twisted around her ankles. He touched her hair briefly. “I‟m sorry.” His voice sounded tired and thin. “I‟ll bring the Grandmother to you.” Without the lamp it was pitch-black in the tent until he lifted the door flap. His head was turned away from her as he dipped through the door. Then he was gone, the flap closing off the thin glow of the cloud-shielded moon. She wanted her after-sex cuddle. What the hell did he think he was doing, rushing off after giving her the best sex she‟d ever had? “Hey!” she yelled, struggling with her jeans and the blankets to get out of the bed. She flopped awkwardly off the mattress without meaning to. Instead of catching herself with her hands or even her knees, the first part of her body to find the ground was her face. In the dark she hit her nose and mouth on the ground. “Ow! Shit, that hurts! Shadow, you asshole! Shit, shit, shit!” Dammit, her lip stung. Her nose throbbed. Tears rose to her eyes as something wet and warm ran over her lips. Her nose was bleeding! What else could go wrong? Why didn‟t Shadow come back and help her? Glory hunched over, dragging her T-shirt free of her half unfastened bustier and holding it to her nose with one hand while trying to pull up her jeans with the other. Her panties were somewhere here, but she couldn‟t find them in the dark. Where the hell was a flashlight? The flap opened, and she let the T-shirt drop long enough to look over her shoulder. “Shadow, you asshole, why did you…” Muddy Wolf stood there with a face like an avenging angel, staring at her bare white ass before wheeling around and leaving. With a humiliated squawk, Glory fumbled for her jeans. Jill came in, carrying a lantern. She looked horrified when she set the lantern down without ever looking away from Glory‟s face. “I didn‟t believe Shadow when he said he raped you,” she said sadly. “I‟ve brought bandages. Tara‟s heating the water, and Sandra‟s bringing some rags. They‟ll be here in a few minutes.” “Rape?” Glory gave up trying to pull her jeans up. “He didn‟t rape me.” Jill handed her a rag. “He said he did. He surrendered himself to the Council and told us he had forced himself on you.”
“What a moron. Do I look like I‟ve been raped?” Jill made a face. “You look like the poster child for the Society For the Prevention of Battered Woman Syndrome. Tilt your head back. Is your nose broken?” “No!” At least she hoped not. She wasn‟t pretty, but she liked her nose just the way it was. “And Shadow didn‟t rape me. We just got a little … enthusiastic.” “So enthusiastic that he broke your nose?” Jill asked sarcastically. “What? No! That happened after he left. I fell out of bed.” Jill didn‟t seem to believe her. It did sound lame, like a victim of domestic abuse claiming she ran into a door, but it was the truth. “Honest. Jill, do you think I‟d cover for him if he hurt me? Me?” Jill relaxed slightly. “That‟s true. You‟d be more likely to hunt him down and shoot him. Or at least punch him.” “Right. I don‟t want to punch him. Well, only for leaving me. Not for the doggie sex. He went out there and told you he raped me?” Jill‟s lips quivered into a reluctant smile. “Doggie sex, huh? He was probably feeling like he had to dominate you, and we both know how well you take to being dominated.” Actually, it was great. It had led to fantastic sex and an orgasm that went on forever. She would have to tick Shadow off again sometime. Maybe not for a while though. She was a little sore. There was a polite cough outside the tent and then the flap opened and Emma and Tara came in, each carrying a pail, followed by Sandra carrying a stack of cloth. Emma‟s face hardened when she saw Glory, and Sandra was clearly shocked, but mild little Tara surprised Glory. She set her pail down and put a gentle hand on Glory‟s head. “My son will pay for this,” she said fiercely. Glory waved a hand. “No, it‟s okay.” Her voice was thick and nasal from the swelling in her nose. “He didn‟t do anything wrong. I fell and hit my nose.” “Don‟t you worry about it, Glory.” Sandra dunked some cloth into one of the pails. “We‟ll take care of you. Let‟s get you cleaned up.” Glory let Tara and Emma put cool wet rags on her nose and gently wipe her bloody lips. They tried to wash her chest and private parts too. She snatched the rag away with a glare. Or her best, painful attempt at a glare. Dammit, her face hurt. Her knees were bloody and her palms were scraped. Tara and Emma washed those, faces tight. Glory cautiously removed her blood-encrusted fake diamond stud from her nose and put it on the ground next to the leg of the bed. Sandra‟s usually sour face was weepy. “I … I‟m sorry, Glory. All this time I‟ve been jealous of you. Jimmy White Elk courted me, and I married him, but the brother I really wanted was Shadow. I never knew he could treat a woman this way. I‟m glad his wolf didn‟t pick me!” Glory felt a flicker of possessiveness, but beat it down. Shadow didn‟t want Sandra. His wolf hadn‟t chosen Sandra. “Shadow didn‟t rape me,” she told all the women earnestly, pulling her jeans up sans panties and snapping them closed. Those panties were toast after Shadow had ripped them off her. “He didn‟t. I liked it. And I kinda goaded him into it. I thought he was going along with me. You know, just blowing off steam and having a little fun.” Sandra shuddered and Emma shook her head. Tara was serious. “Glory, whether you liked it or not, what Shadow did to you is wrong. He didn‟t care whether you liked it or not. Your pleasure was not his goal. He has to be punished.” Well, Tara had a point. Shadow had been savage. If she hadn‟t been so turned on by his stupid but sexy dominating thing it could have been a horrible, painful rape. She had told him to fuck her like an animal and he had. Holy crow, he had! But what she had seen as playtime
he had intended for punishment. Outrage swelled in her. That jerk! If he ever laid a hand on her against her will she‟d kill him. “Shadow wanted to force me to stay here with him,” she said slowly. Jill nodded. “That‟s right. There are not many things that a Beta can be punished for, but hurting a mate, or trying to force her to accept him are the two that are punishable by death or banishment.” Glory‟s eyes snapped so wide it hurt. “But he didn‟t do anything to deserve that.” “He doesn‟t know that. Glory, for this relationship to work, you have to take a stand. He has his tail between his legs now, so this is the perfect time for you to establish yourself with him. Show him you‟re an Alpha.” Glory made the football time-out sign. “Whoa. What exactly is an Alpha?” “Really?” Jill shrugged. “Basically, a control freak. And Shadow, bless his bossy heart, is the most Alpha son of a bitch I know. An Alpha has a need to always be in charge. As long as everybody else does what he says, he‟s okay. If someone bucks his system he has to either make them toe the line or he has to admit that they‟re dominant to him.” Tara continued. “The only person Shadow is submissive to is his father. Muddy Wolf submits to no one. If I ask him for something he‟ll try to get it for me, but not because he submits to me. He loves me and wants to make me happy. I‟m not Alpha. But you are.” “Me?” Glory put a hand on her chest. “I‟m not a control freak.” “Ha-ha,” said Jill politely. “I don‟t expect people to do what I say.” “Until it‟s something you think is important,” Jill corrected. “What did you do to make Shadow try to prove his dominance?” “Nothing!” Emma chuckled. “The question should be „What didn‟t you do?‟” Glory remembered Shadow‟s gravelly voice demanding that she admit that she belonged to him. “Nothing,” she mumbled. “Well.” Jill got up from the bed. “Nice bed. He and some of the other young men made it in a hurry, but it is sturdy enough for the two of you. He‟s trying, Glory. If you want to stay with him over the winter, I‟ll understand.” “No…” Glory broke off. She was confused. The thought of having access to a hot shower in a real bathroom would be like going to heaven. But months without Shadow? Jill seemed to read her mind. “If you can dominate him he‟ll do what you say.” “I don‟t want to dominate him!” Glory recoiled from the idea. “I just want us to be a regular couple. You know, friends.” Emma shook her head. “It doesn‟t work like that with wolves. There‟s always a hierarchy in a pack, even between mates. But you can use this opportunity to make him acknowledge you as an Alpha. Shadow gives way to his father out of love and respect. He needs to respect you as an equal.” “We‟re going to take you out there, Glory, so he can see how badly you‟re hurt.” Jill walked over to the door. “He‟s drowning in guilt. Once he gets a look at your black eyes and your poor swollen mouth he‟ll give you anything you want.” Glory didn‟t want a henpecked husband. Whoa, where had that thought come from? She didn‟t want a husband at all. Did she? This was no time to be thinking of that. Poor Shadow was out there convinced he had hurt her. She had to let him know that she had enjoyed their rough sex. Next time a softer surface for her hands and knees would be good. But she wasn‟t complaining. She had gone off like a rocket. Her other orgasms had been sparklers compared to the pyrotechnics of tonight. But she also had to let him know sex should be joyous and fun, not a punishment,
and if he ever tried to use sex to force her to agree with him she would cut off his balls. She flipped up the door flap and walked out. As always, she stumbled over the door opening, and Emma caught her elbow. She let Emma support her for a second until she found her bearings. She looked around for Shadow. There. He stood with his father and some other older men in the area in front of the Council tent. Instead of his usual arrogant stance of shoulders back and chin lifted, his head drooped between slumped shoulders. He lifted his head and something flared in his eyes when he saw her standing there. She shook Emma‟s support off and walked toward him.
Chapter Twelve How could he have done it? How could he have raped his mate? Shadow had never regretted being an Alpha with an Alpha‟s need to dominate until now. His father‟s condemnation couldn‟t match the condemnation coming from his own heart. Glory would leave him now and he couldn‟t blame her. He could still hear her sobs, the small helpless sounds she had made while he used his body to punish her for thinking she could leave him. She had shown him last night what he should do to prepare her body to accept him, but tonight he hadn‟t cared for her comfort. He had been too intent on forcing her to submit. And the worst thing of all was that he had liked it. He could never forgive himself. His father grunted. “There she is.” Shadow looked up and the sight of Glory‟s blood-stained T-shirt and blackening eyes made his heart shrivel like a piece of paper in the fire. She was moving carefully, too. What had he done to her? Shadow wanted to drop to his knees and beg her to forgive him. He wanted to run his hands over her to see how badly she was hurt. But he couldn‟t do that; she wouldn‟t want him touching her ever again. Glory was flanked by his mother on one side and the Grandmother on the other. Aunt Emma and his brother‟s wife were behind them. His mother had always been the Clan‟s comforter, the one who could always make things better with her gentle compassion. Now her face was as grim as the Grandmother‟s. Aunt Emma radiated disapproval and accusation. Sandra looked angry and disgusted. Shadow braced himself for Glory‟s repudiation. The scent of her blood was sickening in his nostrils. Other clan men were standing nearby. Justice in the clan was seldom private. Even if they had been in a lodge the sharp ears of the wolves would hear everything. Their faces were neutral, but Shadow could feel their disapproval too. Glory stopped in front of him. She nodded at his father. “Hi. Can I talk to Shadow alone for a sec?” His father regarded her impassively for a moment, but Shadow knew him well enough to know his father was examining her swelling lip and blackening eyes with mounting rage. He was more Clan Alpha than father when he took two steps back, enough to give the illusion of privacy while still being close enough to protect Glory if needed. Glory lowered her voice, as if that would keep the others from hearing her words. “This is all your fault,” she hissed indistinctly. “You will never use sex like a punishment against me ever again!” Shame sent him to his knees. “Glory.” He risked one agonized look up at her, then dropped his eyes back to the fists he had clenched on his thighs. “I‟m sorry. I didn‟t mean to rape you. I swear I never wanted to hurt you.” “Humph,” she grunted, exchanging a look with the Grandmother. “Shadow, you didn‟t rape me. But if you ever touch me—even just once—because you wanna hurt me, I‟ll kill you. I‟ll cut your balls off and hang „em on my door. Got it?” His heart swelled with pride for her fierceness, then broke again with shame. “Yes.” “But this time I liked it. You were sexy. Really.” She lowered her voice further. “Really,” she repeated. “I liked it.” His heart was an anvil struck by a blacksmith‟s hammer. “But … Your face…” “That’s the part that‟s your fault. You left me alone in the dark. Moron. My jeans were all twisted up, and I fell when I tried to get out of bed. It was pitch-black in there after you dropped that damned door flap closed, and I hit my nose on the ground. If you would have lit a lamp, asshole, I would have seen the ground in time to use my hands instead of my face to break my fall. In fact, if you would have stuck around it wouldn‟t have happened at all.” She waved her hands. “But it wasn‟t because of the sex, though, so relax.”
His breath shook with relief, but he could see her palms when she waved her hands. They were raw. He had left because he couldn‟t bear to have her see his tears. Guilt seared him for his pride. “Sunsh—Glory, I hurt you. I‟m sorry.” “Oh, for God‟s sake, get up. You look ridiculous down there.” “Glory.” He rose and stretched a trembling hand to touch her cheek. “I‟m sorry.” She flinched ever so slightly from his hand. He let it drop, not touching her. “You say I didn‟t rape you, but you won‟t let me touch you?” “Well, duh. My whole face hurts. If you want to touch me, pick a place that isn‟t bruised. My arm. My shoulder.” He carefully laid his hand on her shoulder. A few minutes ago he had been resigned to never touching her again. In the Clan histories there were stories of a wolf‟s mate repudiating him after they had had sex, but it had never happened since the Clan had regained their wolves. Had Glory demanded his death, his father would have granted it, he was sure. Instead, she allowed him to touch her. He swallowed tears. “Glory, my life is yours.” He spoke loudly enough that everyone would know he was speaking publicly. “Do you forgive me for what I did to you tonight?” She looked around uneasily at the people watching. “Yeah, yeah.” She rolled her eyes, then froze with a hiss. “Can we just go? I need to lie down.” “Should I help you to the Grandmother‟s tent?” He wanted her with him, but after what he had done he couldn‟t tell her what to do or where to sleep. She rolled her eyes again. Or tried to. He wanted to order her to stop hurting herself, but he stifled the urge. “You built a brand new bed for us, right? Let‟s use it.” Her cheeks turned red, an odd combination with her pink hair and blackening eyes. “For sleeping.” A surge of triumph was beaten down by intense gratitude. But his mother wiped both feelings away. “You are going to forgive him that easily?” she demanded. “Even if he didn‟t mean to hurt you, it is his fault your knees are bleeding. He didn‟t use sex to give you pleasure. He used it to force you to submit. He must be punished.” Shadow cringed inside again. Everything his mother said was true. Clan law was strict. His father, the Clan Alpha, stepped forward again. He raised his hand above his head to signify that the Council was summoned. This would be an informal gathering, one which would determine if the Council needed to meet for formal judgment. Shadow stiffened his back and waited for the Council to gather. It didn‟t take long. Some of the women from the plane gathered around too, smelling curious and looking horrified. His cousin Laura and his dog appeared with Sky beside them. Laura was grave, The Beagle slightly subdued, and Sky looked vaguely worried. The Clan Alpha spoke. “We are here to decide if the Beta Wolf‟s Shadow is at fault in causing his mate harm. Wolf‟s Shadow, tell us what happened.” Shadow kept his face emotionless. “When I learned that my mate planned to leave me, I was angry. I tried to compel her to agree to stay with me. When she refused I forced her onto her hands and knees and raped her. After I was finished I put her in the bed and left her to come to the Alpha and confess what I had done.” None of the Clan spoke, but Shadow could hear almost soundless gasps from his kin, the shocked babble of the women from the plane, and Glory‟s protest halted by the Grandmother‟s stern voice telling her to hush. The Alpha turned to Glory. “Glory Peterson, tell us what happened.” “It wasn‟t like he said!” she burst out. “We were arguing, yeah, but he didn‟t rape me.” “Glory, it is important that we know the whole truth. Consider your words carefully. Did Shadow force you?” “No.”
Shadow allowed himself a quick look at his mate. Her face was red. He thought her scent was embarrassed, but it could have been anger. Or the anger scent could have come from his mother and the other women. Glory was embarrassed. But she spoke defiantly. “I liked what he did. It wasn‟t rape.” The Clan Alpha looked to the Clan Lupa. The Grandmother pulled Glory back a step and took her place. “Glory is sure that she wasn‟t raped. Wolf‟s Shadow will not be executed or banished. But the women demand that he must face a penalty. He could have raped his mate. He believed he had raped his mate. His penalty is to build his mate a house near our winter camp. She will come with me to Taye‟s Pack for the winter so she can consider her future. Whether she will accept him as her mate is her choice, and whether she will ever live in the house is her choice.” Joy roiled with horror in his heart. He would not be formally punished by the Council. And though he hated living within four walls and a ceiling that cut him off from the sky, he would build his mate a house, if that was what she required to stay with him. But he had just found her. How could he bear to be apart from her for months? His father spoke formally. “That is the Council‟s will. Glory Peterson will go with the Grandmother to Taye‟s Pack for the winter. Wolf‟s Shadow will build his mate a house in the winter camping ground. She will live there if she chooses.” The Council broke up, each drifting to their own lodges. Laura gave him a quick glance of commiseration before following his stupid dog off toward the river. Sky stopped at his side and gripped his shoulder. “Living inside isn‟t so bad,” he said encouragingly. “When I stayed with the Pack I was able to go outside and run if I wanted to. And Taye doesn‟t make us wear clothes all the time like the Grandmother does.” “What?” said Glory. “They don‟t wear clothes at Taye‟s place?” Shadow perked up at the hint of dismay in her voice. Maybe she wouldn‟t want to stay in a place where wolves went naked. Then Sky had to spoil it. “Well, the Lupa doesn‟t like it. And when the Grandmother goes to live there…” Glory made a little pained snorting sound. “Look, my head is really starting to hurt. I need to lie down. Shadow? You coming?” Just try to keep him away, he thought fiercely. Then he curbed himself. His dominant urges had to be controlled. He could never let himself lose control again. He tentatively put his arm around her waist. A lead blanket fell from his shoulders when she accepted his support. A rush of determination swept over him as he walked back to his lodge with his mate leaning against him. He would give her whatever she wanted if only she would stay with him. * Glory had watched lots of movies where the characters had broken noses and black eyes, but she had never known how much it could hurt. Not that her nose was broken, and Jill had assured her that her eyes weren‟t too bad, but her face hurt like a bitch. She needed her aspirin. The medicines that the survivors had pooled together to help the injured were nearly gone, but she had held back a few aspirin in her purse. Where was her purse? She tried to remember where she‟d had it last. Oh, yeah. She turned around. “Glory?” Shadow asked, quickly following her and putting his arm around her again. It felt nice. Warm. With the sun down the air was definitely nippy. “I need to go back to Jill‟s tent.” Shadow‟s face closed. “I‟ll walk you over.”
Glory looked up at his face to see what he was feeling. Strange. He usually had almost a naïveté about him that showed his thoughts. Now he was shutting her out. She frowned and hissed a breath at the pain. “Moron,” she muttered. Jill looked surprised to see them. She was sitting with Marissa and Jane, a lamp between them illuminating a deck of cards laid out for solitaire. “I need my purse,” Glory told her. With her swollen lip throbbing it was hard to speak clearly. “Aspirin. In my purse.” Marissa quickly got up and handed her purse to her. She looked nervously at Shadow. “I have some acetaminophen for my arm, but it‟s better. I don‟t need them anymore. Doesn‟t aspirin thin the blood and prevents clots? You don‟t want that if you‟re bleeding.” That chick was all right. Glory couldn‟t really smile at her, but she tried. “Thanks. That might be better.” She accepted two pills that Marissa shook into her hand and the cup of water that Jill handed her. She gulped them down fast. “Thanks a lot. Goodnight.” She shuffled backwards out of the tent and jumped when something cold and wet brushed over her ankle. Her purse began to slide down her arm, and Shadow caught it. “Dammit, that dog scared me to death!” Shadow looked down at The Beagle with disfavor. A loud gurgling noise came from the dog and a strong blast of canine gas perfumed the air. Glory gagged and retreated so quickly she almost stumbled over Shadow‟s big foot. She could swear that damn dog was laughing at her. “Let‟s get out of here,” she told Shadow. “I don‟t know what Laura‟s been feeding that dog, but it‟s something not good for her.” As they left Glory could hear Marissa say, “God, what is that smell?” and Jane‟s reproving, “Language, young lady.” Glory thought Shadow‟s tent was this way. She began walking, and Shadow hurried after her to put his arm around her again. “Where do you want to go?” “Back to your place.” Something in his face loosened. “Are you going to … sleep in my lodge?” “Well, yeah. You built that bed for us, right? We should try it out, don‟t ‟cha think?” His face warmed, once again showing her his emotions. Right now he was … happy. Relieved. His hands coasted down her back to her butt, squeezing lightly. “Uh, Shadow. Tonight, let‟s only sleep, okay? I‟m not feeling up to any extracurricular activities, you know?” “Okay.” That was a relief. She loved what he did to her in bed, and what he had done to her on her hands and knees had been even more spectacular, but her face hurt right now too much for anything but sleeping. When they got to his teepee he lit the lamp Jill had left by the cloth and buckets, and turned up the wick to give the most light. He helped her take her shoes and socks and jeans off and folded them at the foot of the bed. He put her under the blankets with all the gentleness of a mother with her baby. He wet the rag the women left when they had cleaned her up and put the cold rag over her eyes. The bed was pretty comfortable, and with him in it beside her it was warm. “Glory.” His voice was a deep rumble in her ear. “I love you. I don‟t want you to stay with the Pack. Please, stay with me.” Love. The word made her want to squirm. “Shadow, it‟s only for the winter.” “We‟ll be apart for months.” “Then, you come too. Stay with me. Your cousin Taye has room, doesn‟t he?” There was a moment‟s silence, so maybe he was considering it. “I can‟t leave the Clan. Besides, I have to build you a house, remember?” Oh, yeah. His punishment for giving her the best sex she‟d ever had.
“Glory, come with me. I‟ll work twice as hard to finish it if you‟re there. And you can tell me how you want your house to be. Even in a lodge you won‟t be cold. The weather is more moderate in the sacred lands, and I will be there to warm you at night. Please. I don‟t know how I can live without you for a winter.” She almost pretended she didn‟t care how he felt. Flippant indifference—lies—were ready to roll off her tongue. But this was too important. She forced honesty instead. “Shadow.” She paused. This was really hard. “Shadow, I care about you. You‟re a great guy. But Jill … She‟s old. She could die before spring. She‟s my best friend.” Tears were stinging her battered eyes and nose, and it hurt. She hated crying. She had cried more in the last two weeks than she had in her entire life put together. “I want to spend as much time with her as I can.” She flipped the rag over, trying to find a cooler spot and hide the tears. But Shadow knew. His big hand smoothed her hair gently. “I understand. But the Grandmother is tough. Does she seem decrepit to you? You‟ll see her next spring.” Probably. Jill was a tough old broad. Glory hoped she was that strong when she was seventy-eight. And she would miss Shadow. She wasn‟t sure she liked that thought. She liked him, sure. When his mother had called for punishment Glory had felt a surge of protectiveness. Which was pretty stupid, since Shadow was bigger and stronger than most men and a hell of a lot stronger than she was. But … He had been seriously screwed up, thinking he had raped her. It made her feel like she had to take care of him. “I‟ll think about it, Shadow.” He picked up her hands and kissed the scraped palms. “While you‟re thinking, remember that I will never, never cause you harm again. The Clan has witnessed my vow, and my brothers and cousins will kill me to protect you.” He pressed a featherlight kiss to her hair. “You sleep now. I have to take my turn watching the camp. Shall I leave the lamp on?” She took the rag off her eyes. “You‟re leaving?” “Only for a few hours. I‟ll be back.” “Oh. Okay. No, you can turn the lamp off.” But she missed him as soon as he left. The night was cold, and she wanted to press up against his warmth. Would she still miss Shadow while he was building a house for her in the Black Hills? She was afraid she might. And it kept her from doing more than uneasy dozing until he slipped into bed with her some hours later. His scent and solid warmth were comforting. Then, finally able to relax, she fell asleep against him.
Chapter Thirteen Oatmeal wasn‟t her favorite breakfast food, but it was easy to chew, and that was good. Even gentle chewing hurt Glory‟s face. She joined in the breakfast clean-up. Funny. At home she‟d let the dishes go for days at a time. Here she did chores right away. She lent a hand to the still-injured needing bandages changed. There was Kathy, Katie, Diane, Diana, Dixie, Cheryl, Sherry, JaNae, Jane, Jasminka, Jodi, Renee, and Randee—and a dozen more women from the plane whose names Glory couldn‟t keep straight. Hell, she called Kathy Katie half the time, and the only reason she knew which one was Renee was by the bandage on her face. Connie, the tow-headed co-pilot was one name and face she always remembered. The copilot had held things together after the crash, but Jane had mentioned that when she and the Clan men had reached the plane the co-pilot was out of steam and in tremendous pain from her ankle, which had multiple breaks. After she‟d recovered some of her energy, she had begun taking charge of the survivors again. She was an Alpha too, Jill said. It was sad that of all the people who had boarded the plane, there were fewer than thirty left alive. Some were able to fend for themselves, but others were still pretty feeble. Working with the women only took so much time. Glory had done everything she could to put off making a decision about where to spend the winter. Her nose, mouth, and eyes hurt like a bitch when she woke up this morning, and Shadow had been the perfect nurse, getting her the aspirin and a cup of water before she asked for it. He had kissed the top of her head and told her he loved her. Then he had cleared out. If he had put any pressure on her she would have automatically dug in her heels and decided to go to the Pack. The big jerk must be learning. Every time she turned around someone was at her elbow with a question or a comment about her black eyes. It was driving her crazy. How could she make such an important decision when she was interrupted all the time? She needed to be alone. She did her best thinking alone with her iPod blaring. Well, she couldn‟t have her iPod, but couldn‟t she get somewhere without people bothering her? Jill seemed doubtful about letting her go anywhere away from people. Glory tracked down Shadow and told him she needed to get away to think privately. He seemed troubled, but didn‟t ask what she wanted to think about. He nodded to the river and told her to keep in sight and not stay away long. This was the epitome of a perfect day in late autumn, Glory thought as she walked briskly by the river. The camp was a quarter mile away, probably as far as Shadow would let her go on her own without an escort. The big overprotective moron. She glanced back at him standing guard over her at the edge of camp. He was probably worried about Laura‟s report of men who wanted women. She wished someone would try to take her. There was nothing like giving a good punch to the face or knee to the balls to work off stress. And she was feeling pretty stressed. The leaves were scattered over the ground in a fragrant carpet of brown and dull gold. It was sunny and warm enough that only a sweatshirt was needed. Not that she had a sweatshirt, but a blanket wrapped around her shoulders worked. Back home this weather would have been perfect for eating chili and watching football. Geez, she missed that world. Candy bars and soda pop and chips were all unheard of in this world. Jill said they had versions of beer and pretzels in Kearney that weren‟t half bad. But did that mean they were good? There was a fallen tree, and she plopped herself down on it to ponder what she should do. Stay here and marry Shadow? Go and live in town with hot running water and a roof that didn‟t flap in the wind? It should have been an easy choice. Two days ago it would have been an easy choice. But now … Shadow had gotten to her. She wasn‟t sure she would be happy without him. But that didn‟t mean she would be happy living with him in a tent on the plains in January while he was building her house.
She scuffed her tennis shoe through the dried leaves, enjoying the crunching sound and the scent of them. Maybe that was why she didn‟t hear the man behind her. The first sign she had that anything was wrong was the wooooo-woooo of a distant beagle. Good lord, couldn‟t that damn dog give her a single minute alone? But when she turned her head to shout at The Beagle to go back and find Lobo, a hard hand clamped over her mouth. Dammit! That hurt! Who would—? The Beagle, bless her hyperactive little heart, galloped through the dead leaves and flung herself on the man in a streak of brown and black, screaming bloody canine murder the whole time. Glory was able to wrestle herself free and fell sprawling right in the path of Laura the Lobo, who had stripped his leather pants off and was blurring into the massive form of his wolf. The wolf leaped over her onto her attacker, and Glory saw the perfect teamwork between a suddenly vicious beagle and a big gray wolf as they tore the man to shreds. Then Shadow was there, dragging her up against his chest and holding her so tight her spine popped and the blood from her nose smeared over his chest. “Glory,” he said urgently. “Are you hurt? Did he hurt you?” She wrestled her face away to see the man and wished she hadn‟t. The Beagle and Lobo had literally torn the guy apart. There was a body, with the clothes shredded and bloody, and … Was that an arm? Glory swallowed desperately but lost the fight against nausea. She twisted away from Shadow and heaved onto the dried leaves that had been so pretty just a few minutes ago. She finished and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand just as The Beagle pranced over to her, tongue hanging out of her mouth, lips still stained with blood. Glory gagged again. Shadow‟s reaction was different. “Good dog,” he told her solemnly. He looked across at his cousin still in wolf form and nodded. “Thank you.” Glory was a mess. Blood, snot, and vomit stained her once clean T-shirt. She didn‟t protest when Shadow picked her up and began walking back to camp. He walked so smoothly that she hardly noticed he was moving. He did that to spare her from any jostling, Glory knew. How the hell was she supposed to be able to decide what to do when he kept being so nice to her? The way he‟d brought her aspirin this morning, and the way he‟d acted yesterday when he thought he‟d raped her, the careful way he carried her now was … She tried to find the words to describe him. The only one that came to her was … sweet. Damn, the werewolf was sweet. As they walked, more men and wolves streamed past them, heading for the river. Glory was pretty sure they were going for blood. Muddy Wolf stopped Shadow with a quick demand for an explanation. “Glory told me she wanted to be alone to think. I told her the river was safe. I didn‟t keep a close enough watch on her.” Anguish fought with rage in his voice. “While she was there a townie tried to steal her. Laura‟s Beagle raised the alarm. Laura‟s still down there. He can tell you more.” After he picks the meat out of his teeth, Glory thought with dark humor. Muddy Wolf sent her a quick glance, assuring himself she wasn‟t hurt. Or hurt more. “The Grandmother will be waiting for her.” Shadow began walking again. “Shadow, I need more aspirin.” Glory tried to keep her moan out of her voice, but she must have failed. She could feel the growl in his chest. Her big surprise was that he hadn‟t gone ballistic back there at the river. Of course, after his cousin and The Beagle had gotten done with that guy there wasn‟t anything left for Shadow to kill. He veered toward his tent. He carried her through the flap and set her down on the bed. She took three aspirin and snatched the rag from Shadow to clean her face herself. But he looked so helpless kneeling in front of her she gave it back to him and made a real effort to not wince as he wiped her face. She sat and let him scrub her face raw. It must be lov—No,
not love. Even as a joke she wouldn‟t say that. She hardly knew him. Maybe it was lust. If it wasn‟t for her face hurting like a bitch she‟d be all over him right now. But … Last night she had been perfectly content to just curl up beside his warmth and enjoy his scent. Shadow put the rag down. “Glory.” He sounded almost like he might cry. “I can‟t keep you safe.” “Don‟t worry about it, big guy. That moron was a … moron to try something so stupid. You‟d think people would have learned after what happened fifteen years ago.” He looked into her eyes solemnly. “After you are settled in Kearney you‟ll be safe again. Taye and his Pack will keep those morons away.” He smiled a little when he used her word. “You go and stay with Taye‟s Pack for the winter. You‟ll be safe there, and by spring everyone will know we don‟t have large numbers of unmarried women here and it will be safe for you to come back to me.” “Wait.” Glory sat up straighter. “You want me to go?” “No!” he said fiercely. “But I love you. Your safety is more important than anything. The townies need to be reminded what happened the last time they stole our women.” There was a dark tone in his voice, almost frightening. “I‟ll miss you, but I‟ll be glad to know that you are protected.” “But…” Now that Glory didn‟t have to make a choice she felt like a tug-of-war player whose opponent had suddenly let go of the rope. “But…” Shadow leaned in to kiss her forehead. “I want you to go where you‟ll be safe,” he said firmly. “It‟s only a week‟s run from the winter camps to Taye‟s Pack, so I‟ll be able to visit you.” “Well … Okay.” “Come on.” Shadow lifted her to her feet. “Let‟s go talk to the Grandmother.” Outside his tent a few men were moving quickly and quietly, and their faces were set. Fierce. Scary. Wolves prowled through the camp too, their teeth gleaming. Glory stared at them until The Beagle came up and looked up at Shadow adoringly. Shadow bent and gave her side a solid pat. “I thought you didn‟t like that dog,” Glory said. “She helped save you.” He ran his hand down her arm in a quick caress, as if he needed to touch her to believe she was still there. “I thought you‟d be okay so close to camp.” Anguish clenched his teeth. “I glanced over at you every few minutes. But that … man could have stolen you.” Glory hurt her nose by snorting. “He could have tried.” She thought Shadow was going to lift his lip and snarl, but he controlled himself. “He would never have succeeded. Even if he had managed to get away with you I would have tracked him down and killed him.” “If I hadn‟t already done it myself,” Glory sniffed. Damn, that hurt her nose too. “You keep saying „woman thieves,‟ like it was a job description.” She could almost feel the heat of rage roll through Shadow. “Woman stealers. They take women away from their homes and sell them to the brokers.” Yikes! She thought men would steal women to keep them for themselves. She shuddered. They arrived at Jill‟s tent before Glory could ask what a broker was. It didn‟t sound good. Shadow pressed his lips against the corner of her mouth, careful to avoid her swollen lips. “Stay with the Grandmother,” he commanded her, then paused. “Glory, please stay with the Grandmother and help her pack for the trip to the Pack.” Yep, the big jerk was learning. “Okay.” He put his nose just under her ear and breathed in deeply. Weird. Kinda kinky. She liked it. “I‟ll see you soon.”
Jill and Marissa were outside the tent flapping blankets out to fold them up and stuff them in boxes made of woven grass. Glory went to help them. Marissa was doing a good job but her broken arm made it awkward for her. Apparently Jill was taking everything she owned with her to stay with Taye‟s Pack. But it didn‟t take all that long to pack up Jill‟s stuff. She had very little, and what she did have was easy to pack. Getting ready to move back in 2014 would have taken days and dozens of boxes. Here, even without Marissa and Glory, Jill could have done it all in an hour or so. Then they all went to help the plane women get ready. But since the women had hardly anything besides the clothes on their backs and what little they‟d salvaged from their purses and carry-on luggage, it took them almost no time either. Each of them was given a blanket, a cup, and a spoon to take with them to Kearney. Who knew if they could find those items there? It wasn‟t like they could run to Wally World to buy them, Glory thought. They ate lunch, rinsed their cups and spoons, and then the men began leading horses up for each woman. Sherry and a few other women were settled in two-wheeled carts hitched to a pair of horses. Glory overheard Marissa talking to a Clan man with curly brown hair rather than shiny black. He was promising to go to Omaha and look for her son or find word of him, and Glory wondered if his wolf had chosen Marissa as his mate or if he was just a nice guy. She saw him sniffing at Marissa‟s neck. Oh yeah, Glory smirked to herself, his wolf had chosen Marissa as his mate. How crazy did that sound? Even more crazy, Glory was starting to think it was normal. “Sunshine.” Glory turned, already knowing it was Shadow because, one, she could smell his scent, and two, no one else called her sunshine. No one else would ever get away with calling her sunshine. But she would put up with it from Shadow because … It felt okay coming from him. “Sunshine, put your bag in here. We can‟t totally hide ourselves from anyone watching the camp, but we don‟t need to announce ourselves, either.” Glory looked at the burlap backpack thingy he held, wondering what her purse, stuffed with her few articles of clothing, the cup she had been given, and what remained of what had been in it when she had boarded the plane, had to do with an announcement. Shadow must have read the confusion on her face. “Your bag. It‟s shiny. The sun flashes on it. Put it in here so it doesn‟t give our position away.” “Oh.” He was hot when he went all military like that. She took her purple fake patent leather purse off her shoulder and put it in the burlap backpack. She was going to ask who cared if they were seen, but she remembered the guy who grabbed her this morning and the way Laura and Beaglezilla had torn him apart. “Do you think those guys will try again?” “We‟ve killed twelve so far. Their friends may want revenge, but they would be fools to try.” Shadow looked around with approval at the dozens of men and wolves around them. “We sent Sky to Taye yesterday to let him know we are coming, and Taye sent some of his Pack to help provide protection on the journey.” They had killed twelve men today? Was that including the one The Beagle had shredded? Glory decided not to ask. She looked around too, and she didn‟t recognize all the men. Not that she knew all the one hundred fifty members of the Clan, but a few of these men were wearing jeans, and she didn‟t remember the Clan wearing anything except leather leggings or breechcloths. “Shadow, how many did your cousin send?” “Twenty. Most of them are in wolf form.” He helped her put the backpack on. “Here‟s your horse, sunshine, and my father wants a word.”
The horse was huge and brown, wearing a teeny excuse for a saddle. Muddy Wolf was holding its bridle and looking at her almost sadly. When Shadow moved away Muddy Wolf gave her a quick hug. “Glory, take good care of the Grandmother. And yourself. I hope you choose to come back to us in the spring. But that is your choice, even if you are already carrying a baby. Don‟t let Shadow force you. But I ask that you will let us know the child.” It would be rude to laugh in his face, but the idea that she was pregnant was ridiculous. She was on the Pi—Something cold shivered through her. She hadn‟t taken a birth control pill in over a week. She and Shadow hadn‟t had sex a whole bunch of times, but it only took once. She looked around for Shadow and saw him standing by one of the men in jeans, talking. “I‟m not pregnant,” she told Muddy Wolf tightly, and took the reins from him. The Alpha obligingly gave her a shove up into the saddle. “Your blanket is rolled up here, behind your saddle. Be sure to use it if you become chilled. Remember, Glory, you always have a place here.” “Thanks.” She hated horses. She really did. She was more sore than she had realized from the athletic sex yesterday. She tried shifting in the saddle to find a more comfortable position for her crotch. There wasn‟t one. The column of women surrounded by men and wolves moved out of camp. Glory waved good-bye to Emma and the other Clan women. She would miss them. Even Sandra, with her sour disposition, had become a friend. She faced forward and looked around her. Except for the trees along the stream the landscape was dull. The nearly flat land was covered by dry dead grass, and the sky was turning overcast. It would probably rain, and the air was chilly. Glory was in the middle of the column, some women in front of her and some behind. Each and every one had a backpack just like the one Shadow had given her. It was a pitiful testament of just how few possessions they each had. Jill pulled her horse up beside her. For an old woman she was pretty spry in the saddle. Then again, she hadn‟t indulged in a sexual wrestling match less than twenty-four hours ago, Glory thought. The thought she was trying to not think popped up in her mind. Oh, God, she could be pregnant. “Well, Glory, we‟re off,” said Jill cheerfully. “In a few days we‟ll be taking hot showers and sleeping indoors.” Glory caught hold of that comforting thought. “How long will it take to get to Taye‟s place?” “At this pace? Three days.” Glory tried to find Shadow among the men. He was near the front, his black hair blowing away from his muscled back. It was an inspiring view. Drool-worthy, as she and Jill used to say about a hot guy back in junior high. Only three more days with him. Would she miss him? Yeah, maybe she would. She wanted to have sex with him again, if nothing else. Lots of sex. Maybe she‟d meet someone from Taye‟s Pack … No. She could see that they were all good-looking. There wasn‟t an ugly or flabby guy in sight. But when she looked at them her girl parts didn‟t perk up the way they did when she looked at Shadow‟s back. “All right, Glory, spit it out,” said Jill. “What?” “Whatever‟s got your panties in a bunch. Ever since you talked with Muddy Wolf you‟ve been distracted. So spill it.” Glory‟s belly fluttered. She put a hand on it. It was way too early to tell if she was pregnant—and she wasn‟t, of course!—so that little flutter was just nerves. “Oh, it‟s just, you know … He said … It‟s nothing.” Jill arched one grizzled brow.
Glory waved agitated hands. “It‟s just … Shadow‟s dad said…” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “He thinks I‟m pregnant!” All the male heads up and down the line, man and wolf, snapped around to stare at her, including Shadow who whipped his horse around to run back to her. He caught her hands and pressed them to his mouth. His black eyes shone at her with … Happiness? Hope? Pride? “Chill out, Shadow,” she muttered. She swallowed her first instinct to call his father a nut. “I‟m not, and even if I was, it‟s too early to tell.” His lips were gentle against her raw palms as he kissed each one. Without a word he rode back to his place at the front of the column. Glory felt tears threaten. Pregnant women were known for their wacky hormones and emotional outbursts, weren‟t they? Damn. She was not pregnant! “I‟m not,” she hissed at Jill, trying to be quiet. Those damn wolves could hear a pin drop in the next county. Just look how they‟d all turned when she said Shadow‟s dad thought she was pregnant. Jill gave her a significant look, silently demanding the truth. “I‟ve been on the Pill for years,” Glory told her. “Women on the Pill can still get pregnant, Glory. You know that. How long has it been since you ran out? How many times have you and Shadow—” “Ewww!” Glory cut her off. “Oh, my God, I can‟t believe you would ask that!” “Babies are important to everyone in the Clan, Glory. We rejoice in every birth. You don‟t have to worry about anything. We will all take care of you and your child.” Several nearby male heads nodded vehemently. Glory glared at them. “I‟m not pregnant!” Jill‟s old voice turned impatient. “Grow up, Glory. If you‟re pregnant, you‟re pregnant. Just know that you will be taken care of.” Was she pregnant? The only painkillers they had were some disgusting tea and whatever the plane crash survivors had left in their purses. She did not want to give birth in this place. Were there any doctors? Was there even a hospital? Oh, God, she could be pregnant. She really could. And the most frightening thing of all was how happy the thought made her. She sought out Shadow‟s broad back with her eyes again and wondered if their baby would be a wolf like him.
*Chapter Fourteen It was mid morning of the third day that the women and their guards saw Taye‟s Pack‟s den. Glory stared at the rundown motel surrounded by a tall chain-link fence. The one-level L-shaped building was plain, not what she had been expecting. Then again, what was she expecting? It had a ceiling, at least. Men and wolves patrolling the fence waited until they were only a few feet away before opening the gate and letting them ride into the grassy yard. A man who looked quite a bit like Shadow was there waiting for them. He was maybe a few years younger, but he had the same white smile and dimple beside his mouth. Shadow slid off his horse to give him a quick hard hug. The man had black hair, but it was cut short. He wasn‟t a small guy, but he looked like it compared to Shadow. Glory watched them speak quietly for a few minutes until Jill dismounted with a stifled groan. Then she quickly swung down to go to Jill to support her. On the trip Glory had gotten stronger, and Jill seemed to get weaker. At night Jill had had a hard time breathing. Glory had missed sleeping beside Shadow‟s warmth, but all the women had slept in a single tent, packed together like sardines. Jill could pretend she wasn‟t having any trouble, but Glory hadn‟t been fooled. And she wasn‟t fooled now even though Jill was trying to look like she was standing on her own. “No, Quill,” she was saying forcefully to a young man with long curly brown hair who was trying to pick her up, “I can walk just fine.” Glory gestured at Shadow. “Hey, big guy! Quit yakking. Jill needs to sit down.” Shadow and the other man came over. “Sunshine, this is my cousin Taye, the Alpha of the Pack. Taye, this is my mate, Glory.” Something in his tone made her feel as precious as the Hope Diamond. For a moment she considered being snappish, but she swallowed it. “Hi,” she said instead. “Nice to meet you. Thanks for letting us stay.” Taye displayed a killer smile and dimple. “It‟s our pleasure.” He leaned over to gently embrace Jill and kiss her cheek. “Grandmother, let‟s go inside. We have a fire in the rec room. My mate is anxious to meet you.” The horses were collected by some of Taye‟s Pack. The women were all dismounting and sliding their packs off their backs. The air was cool, but even so Heather‟s low-cut sweater left a lot of skin bare, and Glory saw that her nipples were tight little points. Many of the men were noticing all that surgically enhanced skin, and Heather was smiling back. She really hoped that none of the wolves would choose Heather for a mate. No one deserved to be stuck with a porn queen who gave any man over the age of sixteen and under the age of sixty a come-on. Glory recognized Carla from the plane. She knew she had been a country music star only because someone had told her so, not because she was a fan. She hated country music. But Taye was obviously a fan; his killer smile came out when he went to her and put an arm around her waist. Glory thought they made a good couple. The way Taye held Carla and smiled at her made it plain he worshiped her. And the way Carla leaned into him said she felt the same. It was nice. She looked at Shadow, who was carefully helping Jill to a chair. Could they ever be like that? As introductions were made, Glory looked around. This must be the rec room. It was spacious, with a polished wood floor and a big stone fireplace with a crackling fire. Small tables and chairs were scattered around, and a large deeply padded leather chair was angled beside the fire. Standing beside the chair was Rose, the blonde teen from the plane. She was searching through the increasing crowd of women and wolves with anxious eyes. She smiled when she saw Glory and waved. Glory went over to her. “Who you looking for?”
Rose had naturally pale cheeks that showed a blush painfully clearly. “Sky,” she confessed in a whisper that Glory could barely hear over the babble from the women. Glory couldn‟t tell if Rose wanted to see him or was looking for him so she could hide. “Is he bothering y—I mean, how‟s it going?” “With him? Awful,” Rose said darkly. “He keeps trying to get me alone.” “That‟s bad?” “He keeps trying to kiss me, and I‟m like ew-no-thank-you.” Glory suppressed her urge to laugh. “That might change when you get a little older.” Rose sighed. “It might have to. He says I‟m his mate, and he‟ll never give me up. I don‟t get this mating thing. Do you?” “Not really.” Glory thought about it, remembering what the Clan women had told her. “The wolf chooses, not the man. And after that, the wolf won‟t let the man have anyone else. But the woman can marry someone else if she wants. Unless she sleeps with the wolf. The guy, I mean. If she sleeps with him the wolf will kill any other man she gets close to. Uh … You and Sky haven‟t … uh…” “Eww! No! Gross!” Glory had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. “Okay. Oh, there he is.” The young wolf was plowing through the four dozen or so people in the room with single-minded determination, eyes fixed on Rose. Rose folded her arms and gave him a cold stare that he ignored. Glory was ready to settle in to be entertained when Shadow touched her arm and motioned to Taye. The Pack‟s Alpha was standing on a chair, looking the small crowd over with keen eyes. Carla stood on a chair next to him. “Kinsmen!” he called. “Ladies!” The murmuring crowd quieted and turned to look up at him. Glory felt Shadow‟s arm go around her waist, and she let herself lean against him a little bit. During the trip they had barely spoken. She had been with the other women all the time, helping the ones like Sherry who were still pretty badly hurt, and he had been busy seeing to their protection. It was nice to be able to stand with him now. “I am Taye Wolfe and this is my mate, Carla. Ladies, arrangements have been made for those of you who are not mates to stay in Kearney. The mayor of Kearney has set aside a building for your use. He says it needs some repairs, but there are plenty of men willing to work on it. He also has men assigned to see to your safety. After lunch you will be taken to your new home. For you ladies who are mates, Glory, Marissa, Sherry, and Renee, we have rooms set aside here in the den.” “Wait a minute!” Sherry struggled to stand up straight on her splinted legs. “I‟m not staying here. I mean, thanks for the offer, but I‟m going with the other girls.” Jumping Stag, the one who had once brought her a blanket, folded his arms and leveled a steady gaze at her. “No, you‟ll stay here with the Pack where I‟ll know you‟re safe.” Sherry flashed, “That other guy—the chief—said I didn‟t have to stay with you if I didn‟t want to.” She looked challengingly at Taye. “Do I?” Taye lifted his hands. “That‟s between you and Stag. We won‟t force you to accept Stag, but you are welcome here with us. Carla will show the mates to their rooms now.” As Glory followed Carla and the other named mates she saw Stag pick Sherry up and tell her that she would at least look at her room. The motel looked run down from the outside, but inside it was pretty decent. Glory‟s room, number 135, looked like a cross between a generic chain economy motel and a homey bed-and-breakfast. A plain round table with two plain wooden chairs, two chests of drawers, and two double beds were functional, but the homey part came from the braided rag rugs on the hardwood floor and patchwork quilts on the beds. Glory dropped her backpack on a bed and investigated the bathroom. It was small, but what Glory really was interested in was the shower. The bathtub and shower head looked heavenly.
Her face, in the mirror above the sink, did not. Her eyes were sunk in purplish/yellow bruises. Her nose wasn‟t quite the shape she remembered. Crap. She must have looked even worse a few days ago. Rose had followed her in. “You can‟t have a shower yet,” she whispered. “The other women won‟t have running water at all, much less hot running water. Carla says we don‟t want to make them jealous.” Ah. “Gotcha.” Rose led her out of the room back to the hall. “And we have to take turns. The guys heat the water for us. Carla‟s going to make up a schedule so we all get a turn every few days.” Okay, so it wasn‟t perfect. But if she could take at least a couple hot showers a week, she‟d still be miles ahead compared to what she‟d had in camp. “Where‟s your room?” Rose‟s long legs carried her down the hall. “Right next door. Room 137. The Grandmother will be with me.” “You mean, like a roommate?” Glory glanced back at the two beds in her room. “Who‟s my roommate?” “No one.” Rose gave her a look of exaggerated innocence. “Taye thought Shadow might come to stay sometimes, so you‟d need some, uh, privacy.” Glory never blushed. Why were her cheeks feeling warm? “What about Sky?” she retaliated. “That‟s why the Grandmother is staying in my room.” Rose sounded grimly pleased. “Oh.” Glory looked at the teenager. Wasn‟t she old enough to want to get it on with a good-looking guy? Sky was a baby, way too young for Glory, but he was hot. In a few years he would be a softer, more slender version of his big brother. Speaking of … Glory glanced down the hall, looking for Shadow. “Marissa is in 136 and Renee is in 138,” Rose went on cheerfully. “Sherry is right here, in 140.” Her voice dropped. “Do you think she‟ll stay with us or go into Kearney?” Glory shrugged. She could hear Stag speaking quietly in the room so Sherry must be in there right now. “I don‟t know. If she could just get away from those two skinhead cows she might be okay. That guy has his work cut out for him, though.” Renee came out of her room and joined them. Glory didn‟t know the other woman well, but she had taken care of her for days. It had created a bond. Renee was about four inches shorter than Glory‟s five-eleven, and a lot skinnier. “Looks like pretty decent accommodations,” she said cheerfully. “Yeah, not bad at all,” Rose agreed. “How are you doing? Is your cheekbone healing up?” Renee‟s thick, dark brown hair brushed her shoulders as she nodded. “It‟s better.” In the crash her face must have connected with something, because her eyes were blackened, her nose broken, the left side of her face swollen so grotesquely that her features couldn‟t be distinguished. Glory, with her milder form of similar injuries, had real sympathy for her. Glory waved a hand around. “A month ago I would have been freaked to have to stay in a place like this. No electricity, no TV, no phone … But now it seems pretty nice, ya know?” “It is nice,” Rose said. “Let‟s go outside. The pig should be done by now.” The Pack had butchered a pig and roasted it. There was a big kettle of baked beans, bread, baked potatoes, and some sort of salad. Glory took a big hunk of meat, a big hunk of bread, a small spoon of beans, a potato, and ignored the salad. One of the clan men whom Glory didn‟t recognize cut everything on Renee‟s plate into tiny bites for her. Renee introduced him matter-of-factly as Bobby Hawk in Flight, her mate. Glory really wanted to ask if Renee liked him, but decided to wait until he wasn‟t there. He was a little older, probably late thirties, and his face was harsh and fierce. At least he looked fierce until he
leaned close to speak to Renee. Then his black eyes melted as he gently urged her to eat. Glory knew eating was hard for her, with the fractures she had suffered in the crash. Still, did he have to baby her like that? Rose saw Sky coming and hurriedly found a seat on a blanket next to Jill‟s chair. Taye and Carla were already there, but they made room for the teenager. Glory looked around for Shadow but didn‟t see him so she said good-bye to Renee and Bobby Hawk in Flight and went to sit with Rose and Jill too. The pork was good. It could have used a little barbecue sauce, but it was good. Glory was happily eating, listening to Taye list the things the Pack was going to get for them, like lanterns, wood stoves, and more clothes, when she smelled Shadow‟s wonderful scent. She felt his lips against her hair, and then his warmth settled against her on the blanket. “No greens?” he chided her, looking at her plate. “Do I look like a rabbit?” she demanded. He did that sexy inhaling thing beneath her ear. “You look like my sunshine,” he answered. “And you smell like it too.” Glory remembered that she had an empty room waiting for her. For them. As he folded his legs and sat beside her she considered her choices. Roast pork or Shadow? Both hot, both tasty. Jill caught her eye. “I‟ll be taking a nap after dinner,” she announced. “I want peace and quiet this afternoon.” Glory blinked. “Sounds like a plan,” she agreed, wondering why Jill was telling her that. “I‟ll need my rest,” Jill said cheerfully. “I‟m not as young as I was, and the ride from the Clan tired me out. Besides, I‟m pretty sure the neighbors next door might get a little loud tonight. I need to catch my Zs now.” It took a second for Jill‟s meaning to sink in. Glory wavered between glaring at Jill for reminding her of her age and laughing at her teasing. “Yeah, you better get your sleep, Grandmother.” Shadow said seriously, “We‟ll try to be quiet tonight, Grandmother.” Glory snorted. “Speak for yourself, big guy.” Taye sounded as serious as Shadow. “Show the Grandmother the respect her age has earned her.” Glory blew a raspberry. “I knew her when she was caught trying to sneak into the boys‟ locker room in seventh grade. We spent a crazy amount of time in detention together. Believe me, I‟ll give her exactly the respect she deserves.” Jill smiled slyly. “You do realize that Glory is older than I am?” Taye‟s fork froze, and he looked from Jill to Glory to Carla. “I like older women,” he said calmly. Carla poked him in the shoulder. “You better. I‟m the only one you get.” He picked up a long lock of her hair and brushed it over his lips. “You‟re the only one I want.” Aw. That was so sweet. Glory noticed Rose making a gagging face. It took a minute, but she saw that Rose wasn‟t directing it at Carla and Taye, but at Sky, sitting a few yards away. The boy was gazing at Rose with miserable longing on his face. But when she made that gagging face at him, his eyes, vividly blue in the sunlight, narrowed. Then he sprang up, turned on his heel, and stalked away. Glory mentally shook her head. Kids. The conversation had changed while she‟d been watching Rose and Sky. Taye and Shadow were talking about their plans for the afternoon and early evening. Taye would head up the caravan taking the women into Kearney. Shadow would run patrols around the perimeter of the den to weed out any possible woman thieves. Glory frowned, poking at her few beans. She‟d sort of thought she and Shadow could spend some more time together. Jill smiled at her, probably reading her mind.
“We‟ll get unpacked and settled in this afternoon,” she said to Glory. “Maybe Carla or Rose could show us around, and then we‟ll take naps.” Glory didn‟t do naps. She kept frowning at Jill who smiled sweetly. “Or were you planning on doing your sleeping tonight?” “No.” Shadow‟s voice was smooth. He took her hand and rubbed his thumb over her palm. “We have plans for tonight.” Taye leaned forward earnestly. “Do you ever get to follow your plans all the way through to the end? I always get sidetracked.” Carla jumped to her feet. “Let‟s get going on these dishes,” she said quickly. Glory nodded and got ready to stand too. Shadow caught her arm in a gentle grasp to give her a steady push up. “I‟ll see you later?” She smiled at him, hoping it looked wicked and inviting. “You bet.” She leaned close to his ear. “You‟ll see all of me. Later.”
Chapter Fifteen It was much later than she‟d thought it would be before she saw Shadow again. She, Rose, Renee, and Marissa had done the dishes. They had to wash the bowls and cups the Clan had sent with the plane women first so they could be taken with them to their new place. When they were half done, Carla came in to report that Jill was settled in for her nap and the plane women were off, and began drying the mountains of dishes. She told them that they wouldn‟t always be doing the dishes. Everyone took turns except Taye and the Betas, so they would take a turn in the kitchen around once every five days or so. And they would take turns cleaning the rec room and other communal areas of the den. In exchange for working, the Pack had bought each of the mates one new set of clothes. That sounded reasonable to Glory. She‟d clean every day in exchange for a hot shower and clean clothes. When the dishes were done they drew numbers to see who would get a shower first. Marissa won, then Glory, then Renee. That brown-haired guy, Quill, came in with a couple other guys to start heating water. Glory walked with Marissa and Renee back to their rooms. Rose trailed along behind them, warning them that their showers would have to be super quick, since the guys weren‟t heating enough water for each of them to linger in the shower. One of the wolves would let Rose know when the water was ready, then she would knock on their doors to give them the okay to turn on their shower. Glory found her new clothes lying on her bed beside her pack. They weren‟t fashionable, but the soft baggy pants and overlarge men‟s button-up shirt looked like they were big enough. The panties were odd. The waistband was a string to tie, and the legs didn‟t have elastic, so they looked like short shorts. Yeah, like she wanted to wear those. Well, she decided, at least they were clean, which couldn‟t be said for any of her own clothes. In fact, this T-shirt, with its vomit and blood stains, needed to be thrown away as soon as possible. She put away her few belongings, and waited, washcloth in hand for Rose to knock on her door to let her know it was her turn. It was quick, probably less than five minutes of low water pressure, but it was heavenly. She quickly scrubbed her body with the shower gel she‟d had in her toiletry bag, and soaped her hair, and then stood under the warm spray with a goofy grin on her face for the last minute before the water turned cold. Then she scrambled out and dried off. It was cold in her room, so after she dressed in her new clothes (the granny panties were surprisingly comfortable) and combed her wet hair, she went out into the hall to find the rec room. The fire there had looked inviting. Marissa was already there, playing cards with Carla by the fire. Glory joined them, reveling in the feeling of being clean. The fire was warm, the chair was comfortable, and the company was good. In only a few minutes Renee and Rose joined them. Cards were abandoned, and they all settled in a semicircle in front of the fire. Carla took the biggest chair, and pulled a wad of something out of a bag under the seat. Glory studied it as Carla pulled some extra-long toothpicks out. A thin string trailed from Carla‟s hand to the bag … She was knitting? “What‟cha making?” she asked politely. Carla held it up. “Socks. It will be cold this winter without heat.” “Yeah,” Glory agreed. “Handy talent, I guess.” “I could teach you,” Carla offered. “Who, me? No, thanks. I don‟t have the patience for that. But it‟s cool that you can do it.” Rose pulled a thicker wad out of a bag by her chair. “I‟m starting to get the hang of it. Carla‟s a good teacher.”
Renee said she‟d like to give it a try, and Marissa said her grandma had taught her to crochet when she was young, and as soon as her arm was completely healed she‟d like to try it again. Conversation stalled for a minute until Glory asked Carla how she had ended up here and what had happened to the woman she had been paired up with. Carla got her yarn twisted up around her hand and began knitting. “Lisa Anton—you remember her, tall, blonde?—and I left the plane and headed south, and then east when we found a road. We got to a farming community. It was the first sign of living people we came to, and they took us north to Kearney. We thought they were some weird fundamentalist group that didn‟t use electricity and they were taking us to get help for the crash survivors. But they sold us to the mayor instead. And he had a contest to see who would marry us. They called it a bride fight. Taye won me, and Lisa was won by the mayor‟s son. How about you, Glory? What‟s your story?” Glory shrugged. “Not much. They paired me up with Jane Harris, and we went north. It took us half of forever to find anyone, but we did. Shadow and his buddies were hunting. He took me back to the Clan camp, and he sent Jane back to the plane with his buddies. What happened when they got to the plane?” she asked the others. Renee shrugged. “I was unconscious. I woke up at the camp.” Marissa said, “It was scary. I didn‟t know who these guys were. I thought they were in a movie or something. And one guy practically leaped on me, sniffing my neck and saying I was his mate. It‟s still pretty scary, but he‟s gone to Omaha to try to find out what happened to my parents and my little boy. I think he‟s okay if he‟s willing to do that.” “Hey, where‟s Sherry? Did she decide to go to Kearney?” Glory wanted to know. Carla sighed and gave her yarn a little jerk. “She did decide to go to Kearney. I don‟t know Stag, but I think his heart is breaking.” Rose scowled at the green mess of yarn in her hands and muttered something about egotistical jerks. Glory smirked behind her hand while she pretended to rub her nose. It was still a bit sore, but the mirror had shown her it was healing. The situation with Rose and Sky tickled her. Renee stood up, saying she would go to her room for a nap. Glory found herself yawning, and decided to go lie down too. It wasn‟t because she wanted to get rested up for tonight, she told herself; she was just tired. As she and Renee walked back through the halls Renee said abruptly, “Do you ever dream about the crash?” “Um, no.” Actually, she tried very hard to not think of it at all. “Do you?” “Yes, nightmares. All the time. Which is stupid, since I don‟t even remember any of it.” “Well, that‟s probably normal.” A counselor, Glory was not. She never knew what to say. But she tried. “I mean, your brain probably remembers more than you think, and then maybe it makes things up to fill in the empty spots. It‟ll stop eventually.” “I hope so.” Renee tried to smile at her. It looked painful. She stopped at her room and opened the door. “See you later.” Glory went to her room. She lay under the heavy blankets, staring at the ceiling and trying to not remember the screams of people and metal. Dammit, she wished Renee hadn‟t said anything about nightmares. But when she fell asleep, she didn‟t dream. Or if she did, she didn‟t remember anything. When she woke up it was already getting dark, and the room was freezing cold. Maybe Carla would knit her a pair of socks. She pulled her pants back on and went to use the bathroom, reveling in the treat of having a private room with a flushing toilet. The water from the sink faucet was icy, but she didn‟t have to use a bucket. It was too dim to really be able to see herself well in the mirror. Probably just as well. Her nose and mouth were much better, but she still looked like a victim of domestic abuse. Which she wasn‟t. That thought was vehement. Shadow hadn‟t hurt her, and her black eyes were the result of falling out of bed, not his fists. If he ever hurt
her she‟d leave him. Not that he would ever hurt her. No, she knew he would never raise a hand to her. Where was he? Hadn‟t he returned yet? She left her room and went down the hall. The rec room was empty, but light and noise led her to the opposite side of the hallway. There were five or six long tables there, big enough to seat ten people at each, although they were mostly empty right now. The smell of pork made Glory‟s stomach rumble. There was a smaller table at one end, and Carla and Jill were sitting there. “I‟m surprised by how quickly I‟ve gotten used to not having electricity,” Carla was saying to Jill. She broke off when Glory sat down. “Hi, Glory. Supper will be ready in a few minutes. Taye and the others just came back from Kearney. They‟re washing up now.” “Shadow?” Glory asked. Taye stepped out of a door at the far end of the room. “He‟ll be back before supper is done. I‟ve sent a couple guys to take over patrolling.” He was at the table by the time he had finished speaking, and he bent to kiss Carla‟s temple. “Everything okay, here, sweetheart?” “Yeah. How did it go in town?” Taye shrugged. “As well as could be expected. That woman Sherry tried to tell Stag he couldn‟t stay, but Ray Madison told her to be quiet, since he was putting Stag in charge of the women‟s security, along with Faron Paulson. Stag will live there, in the building. Sherry wasn‟t happy about it. Why is she so insistent on hating Stag?” Something he said nagged at the back of Glory‟s mind, but after a second she shrugged it off. “Because of those two neo-Nazi witches she was bunking with. Get rid of them, and she might come around.” Taye raised a brow at the term neo-Nazi. Carla explained it to him. “Ah. They should be given to the men at Odessa,” he commented darkly. Carla snorted a laugh. “You‟re right! They‟d fit right in there. You should suggest it to Ray. They gave him two women; now he can return the favor.” “We brought back a half dozen more lamps,” Taye reported, sliding an arm around Carla‟s shoulders. “We didn‟t find any more stoves, but we put out word that we‟re looking for some. Bill Russell the smith is making some, but he is asking too much for them. I imagine he‟s still unhappy that I won the bride fight, sweetheart. But with any luck we‟ll have a few more stoves before the cold hits.” This wasn‟t cold yet? Geez. Were the women who had gone to Kearney any warmer? That something poking at Glory‟s memory solidified. “Who‟s Faron Paulson?” she asked. Taye looked at her curiously. “One of the mayor‟s deputies in Kearney. He runs the town‟s security, mostly.” “What‟s he look like? How old is he?” “Faron Paulson?” Taye‟s brow furrowed under the strands of black hair that hung over it. “He‟s mid-height, graying light brown hair, about mid-fifties.” Marissa came in, her face pinched with some strong emotion. “What are you talking about?” she asked sharply. Glory smiled cockily. “There‟s a man in town named Faron Paulson. He‟s in his midfifties.” Marissa‟s hand clutched at her throat, then relaxed. “Oh. Then he‟s not—” Her face froze. “Faron would be that old now. I keep forgetting.” She started to cry. “Oh, God!” Taye looked alarmed. “Cousin?” “Faron,” Marissa sobbed. “My little boy was named Faron Paulson. I have to see him. I have to see him!” Taye‟s mouth was open as he stared at her. “In the morning, we can go and find Faron Paulson.” “Now!” Marissa cried. “Let‟s go now!”
“Cousin, it is dark already,” Taye said gently. “It is too late to go now. We‟ll leave immediately after breakfast tomorrow.” Marissa agreed, clearly reluctant, and was quiet during the meal. Glory ate the picnic leftovers with gusto. More people came in and collected plates of food to sit down at one of the long tables to eat. Renee, Rose, and Jill came in and squeezed around the table with them. Many of the shirtless men (Glory wondered why they weren‟t blocks of ice) came to greet Jill reverently. As the meal went on, Glory looked up eagerly at every new entrance, but none of them was Shadow. Supper was over and some of the younger Pack members began collecting dishes to wash. One of them was Sky. He paused to speak to their table in general, and it seemed he was being very careful to not look at Rose, who was being just as careful to study her fingernails. “Thank you for doing dishes after lunch,” he told them. Marissa seemed to make an effort to pull her thoughts away from her son. “You‟re welcome. We don‟t mind helping in the kitchen.” The wolves and the women drifted into the rec room. The women took places close to the fire, and the wolves let them. One of the men hurried over to Carla‟s chair to beg her to play for them. When she agreed, Glory braced herself for an onslaught of irritating country music. And where was Shadow? Shouldn‟t he be back by now? One of the men brought a guitar case to Carla, and Glory gritted her teeth in preparation for twangs and whines. Where was Shadow? Actually, although it wasn‟t Linkin Park or Nine Inch Nails, Carla‟s first song was pretty good, if a little sappy. Maybe it wouldn‟t be too bad to live with a country music star after all. Still, she was glad when she caught Shadow‟s scent behind her. She jumped up to find him only a few feet away, moving through the other men standing behind the half circle of chairs by the fire. He had obviously paused to wash up somewhere, because his hairline was damp, and he smelled of strong soap as well as himself. He smiled at her and sat in the chair she‟d just left and pulled her down into his lap. “Shadow!” she hissed, trying to keep her voice down to not disturb the music. “I‟m too heavy!” “Shh. You‟re not. Sit quietly and listen to the music.” She was sure she was squashing him, but she let herself relax against him with her cheek pressed to his shoulder. Every time she was close to him she liked his scent and warmth more and more. What would she do without him in the winter? No wood-burning stove could compete with him. Being so close to him, with all that warm bare skin beneath her made her thoughts turn to what she wanted to do with him tonight. To control her urge to pet him she looked around at the people on either side of her. Jill looked like she was drowsing, white head tipped to the side and eyes closed. Rose was knitting in the light from the fire and a few lamps with fierce concentration, possibly because Sky stood opposite her, drinking her in with intense puppy-dog eyes. Marissa slumped in her chair, eyes on her clenched fists, probably thinking about her son. Renee and Bobby Hawk In Flight sat primly side by side, but Hawk had her hand in his, resting on his bare thigh. The music came to an end after only a few songs, and everyone got up and started saying goodnight. Marissa took the lamp that Taye urged on her and shuffled out. Rose quickly went to Jill and helped her up. Jill spoiled it by calling Sky to help her down the hall to her room. Glory suppressed a smirk at Rose‟s frown and Sky‟s eagerness. Speaking of eagerness, from the look of the front of Shadow‟s breechcloth, she wasn‟t the only eager one. “Show me where your room is, sunshine,” he whispered.
Chapter Sixteen Oh, yeah. Glory hurried her man down the dark hall, carefully counting barely visible doors to find room 135. Maybe she should have grabbed one of the extra lamps that Taye had gotten. Tomorrow. For now she‟d make do. As soon as the door closed behind him she threw herself at him in a ravenous kiss. He participated enthusiastically while trying to get her shirt off. She laughed and broke away. “You have a bad habit, big guy: tearing my clothes trying to get them off me. You gotta be more careful. I don‟t have any spares.” “If you want that shirt in one piece you‟d better take it off, sunshine.” “Sir. Yes, sir,” she mocked, but she unbuttoned the shirt quickly, her fingers finding the buttons even in the dark. “Are you getting undressed?” She wished for the lamp now so she could see all of him. “I was undressed before the door was closed,” he growled in her ear. His big hands were gentle when he pushed the opened shirt off her shoulders and fingered the straps of her bra. “Why do you wear this?” “Well, duh. If I didn‟t I would bounce around and that would hurt. Same reason you wear your breechcloth.” He corrected, “I wear my breechcloth because the Grandmother made rules about everyone being dressed in camp. Wolves don‟t like clothes. Turn around so I can take this pretty thing off you.” She put her hands flat over his pecs and smoothed down his chest to his belly and down to his cock. He was thick and hard and big between her palms. “Here‟s a better idea: I‟ll bend over so you can reach.” She bent at the waist and pulled his cock forward until its tip touched her lips. His fingers fumbled on her bra hooks as he jerked in a breath. She smothered a giggle by stuffing the head of his cock into her mouth. “Not yet,” he told her, pulling her back up. Her bra slid down her arms, freeing her breasts. She flung it away and reached blindly in the dark for his cock. He blocked her by pulling her close. “Let‟s not hurry, sunshine,” he whispered. “Let‟s make this last.” Geez, she loved the way he kissed her. He started out slow and gentle and gradually grew greedy. Good thing her face was healing up from her accident getting out of bed. Blood was pounding through her, throbbing faintly in her bruised eyes. He was the best kisser she‟d been with. His lips went all over her face before coming back to her mouth. His tongue lit a fire between her thighs that made her want to move. His growl was almost gentle when he told her to keep still. But how was she supposed to stop rocking against him? It was his fault that she needed to feel the friction of his hardness rubbing against her heat. He was naked, but she was still wearing her pants and shoes. Her fingers groped frantically at the ties at her waist, desperate to be naked too. His hand slid down her back to push beneath her pants and panties to curve over her big butt. “So soft,” he breathed in her ear. “You are so soft.” She managed to wedge her hand between their bodies and grip his cock. “So hard, Shadow. You‟re so hard, and I want this moving inside me.” His breath caught. “Soon, sunshine. When you‟re ready.” “I‟m ready,” she assured him. His hand slid around to the front of her pants, and he searched through her pubic hair for her slit. “Not enough. You need to be wetter for me to be able to go inside you. Yes, much wetter. Let me take your pants off.” “Yeah, pants off,” she agreed, wiggling to get rid of them. And maybe yeah about the wetter thing, too. He was huge, and she needed to be primed before he pushed himself inside
her. That first stroke during the doggy sex had been a little uncomfortable. “So what are you going to do to make me wetter, huh? Huh?” She felt his silent laugh against her breast as he moved to lick one tight nipple. “I have some ideas.” He swung her up in his arms and carried her to the bed and set her down gently. Glory was amused by the idea that she was stark naked except for her socks, but she forgot about that when he knelt on the bed and held her knees up and far apart with gentle hands. The air was cold on her private flesh, but only for a moment. She gave a muted shriek when his— God, was that his tongue?—dipped inside her and swiped up to the top and finished with his teeth clamped gently over her clit. “Shh!” he chided her. “Don‟t wake the Grandmother.” He went back to licking and nipping between her legs, but he let go of her knees to slide his hands under her hips to hold her at just the right angle. Glory put one hand over her mouth and clenched the other into the quilt she lay on. She was perfectly willing to let him do whatever he wanted with that tongue. Sure, she would try to keep her screams to herself, but it was hard, especially when he took his hands away from her butt and used them to hold her open for his tongue. How deep could his tongue go? Not as deep as the finger he slid inside her. With one finger moving in her and his teeth working her clit, he drove her towards orgasm like a fallen leaf pushed along by the wind. When she came she gave a choked cry that even stuffing the edge of her hand into her mouth couldn‟t stifle. He kept going until she panted, “Enough, Shadow, stop. Give me a minute to … come down, okay? Oh, God, that rocked!” While she panted and tried to recover her breath he kissed his way lazily up her body, pausing to lick and nibble her breasts. That sent another tremor through her. His lips were hot against the coolness of her skin. His hair trailed over sensitive skin, making her shiver with pleasure. “Sunshine,” he said, concerned. “You‟re cold. Your skin is cold.” She gave a crack of laughter. “Only some parts of me.” He raised her with one arm and whipped the covers back and over her. “I‟ll warm you up.” “Big guy, you already did that. Come under the blanket with me. I‟ll be warmer that way.” He did, lying face-to-face with her, on his side with one arm over her waist. His heat seeped into her. She played with a long lock of his hair, dragging it over her breast and belly, enjoying the sensation. “Hey, big guy. You know what? It‟s your turn now. Lie down.” She could swear he purred as he obeyed. The quickest way to find his cock in the dark was to run her hand down his belly. He made an almost feminine squeaking sound. “Your hands are cold!” “Sorry.” Giving a blow job without the use of her hands was tricky, but she tried. On her knees beside him, she tucked her hands between her thighs to warm them while she attempted to catch his cock in the dark with her mouth alone. Her lack of success made her laugh and him grind his teeth. “Sunshine, give me your hands. I‟ll warm them.” “Wait! I have an idea.” Opening her thighs a bit she slipped her hands between them. She was wet. Very wet. But it was a hot wetness. “Okay, prepare yourself.” Her hands found him in the dark, and she coated his shaft with the wetness her fingers had found between her own thighs. Then she climbed between his legs and settled herself over him so his cock was between her breasts. She dragged the blankets back up over them to create a warm cocoon. Then she pressed her breasts together so they became a hot vise around his cock. The slickness she had spread over his hard flesh made it wonderfully
possible to slide his cock between her breasts. Her first tentative movements became more sure, and each time her lips were close to the head of his cock, she lingered to take him in her mouth and suck on him. “Sunshine!” he shouted in delight. “Shh!” she teased. “Don‟t wake up the Grandmother.” “Don‟t stop,” he begged. She didn‟t. Teasing him like this was fun. But after a few minutes of enjoying his jerky moans she wanted more. She needed this thick rod inside her. She stopped and removed her hands from the sides of her breasts. Slowly she moved up so that her knees were on either side of his hips. “Shadow, I‟m wet. I‟m really wet.” “Let me see.” His hand went between her legs, testing her. By his tone he was perfectly serious. She moved her hips invitingly, taking his penis in her hand to position him right at her entrance. “See?” she whispered. “I‟m wet. All ready for you. Are you ready for me?” He half sat up, “Sunshine, what are you—” She pushed him inside her and forced him deeper by angling her hips and widening her knees. “Damn, you feel good. Help me, Shadow. I want all of you inside me.” He jerked his hips up and her hips down. Not enough. He lunged up in bed, twisted, and put her under him. The covers were lost and his hair was spread over her body, and every time he plunged into her all that long hair brushed over her breasts and belly like another caress. She was getting to really love his hair. His first stroke was luscious. His second stroke reignited the coals of her earlier orgasm. His third stroke pushed her so close to the edge that she sobbed, and the fourth stroke tipped her over the edge into an orgasm that was like the Fourth of July and Christmas all in one. The fireworks shuddering through her body made her scream. It was the best gift she could imagine. Except maybe his lips murmuring her name like a prayer as he jolted into an orgasm within her. Or maybe the way he gathered her close and tucked the blankets around them with such tenderness that even her sarcastic heart was touched. They lay in the dark with her back pressed to his front, his arm over her waist, and his shoulder making a pillow for her head. It was warm and comfortable, and she didn‟t know what she‟d do without him this winter. “Sunshine?” he whispered in the dark. “Yeah?” “Thank you for accepting me. I can‟t imagine having any mate besides you. My wolf chose well.” She couldn‟t think of a single snappy answer. No sarcasm seemed to fit. “I think so too,” she said with painful honesty. At least it pained her. “I mean … I‟m lucky your wolf chose me. Now, don‟t get sappy, for God‟s sake.” His chuckle stirred the hair at the top of her head. It was amused and relieved. “Okay, no sappiness.” His hand stroked over her belly. “Sunshine?” “What?” “If you find that you are pregnant, promise you‟ll send one of Taye‟s Pack to tell me right away.” There was no suppressing the shiver that went through her. She just wasn‟t sure if it was fear or joy at the thought of a baby. Maybe both. “You better believe I‟ll send someone,” she growled. “I‟m sure as hell not going through that alone. You had the fun of making it; you‟ll pull your load at the other end.” “I promise I will pull all the load. As much of it as I can, mine and yours. I‟ll build you the best house I can. I‟ll find men who can make it so you can have a hot bath. I think three bedrooms. One for us, one for the Grandmother, and one for our children.”
Glory listened to his plans with a drowsy ear. She was warm and comfortable for the first time in days, and she was ready for sleep. “Glory.” She woke from her half doze with a jerk. “What?” she demanded. “I‟m leaving in the morning.” Her stomach tightened. “So soon?” “The Clan needs me and the others back to protect the women. Sunshine, I love you. I need to hear you say it too. Do you love me? Will you miss me?” Was this what a mouse felt like when the trap snapped shut? “Sure,” she said casually. Glory wiggled her bottom into his groin. “And I‟ll really miss this,” she teased. They made love again, sweetly and without teasing, and she slept surrounded by his warmth, with a smile on her face. **** Before the sun was up Shadow forced himself out of bed. He was careful to smooth the blankets back into place around his mate so that she would be warm. For a few minutes he watched her sleep, then found paper and a pencil in the dresser drawer and wrote her a note. Did she love him? Once he had thought that just her acceptance of their mating would be enough. Now he knew acceptance alone would never satisfy him. He wanted her heart. Her love. For fear of waking her, he kissed her good-bye with only his eyes. Then, with tears drying on his cheeks, he left her.
Chapter Seventeen Glory woke grumpy. She was cold and alone. There was a note on the pillow beside her with a short message. “I‟ll see you in a few months. I love you.” Couldn‟t he have waited to at least say good-bye before taking off? She had planned to talk to him this morning. She had woken up sometime in the night to feel him holding her against him in his sleep. It was crazy, but remembering his tenderness and the protective way he took care of her made her feel … warm. No, more than that. Safe. Important. Loved. She wasn‟t sure she had ever felt that way before. Her parents loved her. Had loved her. She knew they had. But her mom had always picked at her size, her hair, her clothes, and a ton of other things. She‟d never looked how her mom thought her daughter should look. It had made her mom insane when she dyed her hair and pierced her nose. Her dad had married her mom, but the real love of his life was his job. But before he had started climbing the corporate ladder they had been a happy little family. They had gone on picnics together on Sunday afternoons. They‟d played board games, for crying out loud. She‟d thought it would always be like that. But by the time she was in high school Glory had gone days without ever seeing her dad. When she did see him he‟d ragged on her for her piercings and black fingernail polish. Her mother had been so busy doing charity work for children that she‟d had no time for her own child. Yeah, her parents had loved her, as much as their busy lives allowed, but not enough to accept her the way she was. Shadow loved her. That she was six feet tall didn‟t bother him a bit. And her weight was cool with him. He really did like her body. He had proved that twice last night. No, three times. Then he had said he loved her and asked if she loved him. And instead of telling him the truth, she had brushed it off and teased him into giving her more sex. She should have told him she loved him. But how could she have? She hadn‟t figured it out until just now. And now he was gone, and she couldn‟t call him or text him or even send him a letter to tell him how she felt. She knew the water would be cold, but after their lovemaking she felt like she had to have a shower. She swore at the cold as she scrubbed herself as fast as she could and rushed to dry herself and pull her clothes on. What she needed now was a fireplace. The rec room windows were letting in daylight. Glory ignored that and went to the fire to spread her hands. Jill was there already, sitting in a chair beside the fireplace. “Good morning,” said Jill blandly. “Have a nice night?” Several men were also there, watching her with bright interest. “Sure. It was nice.” She lowered her voice to a sugary whisper. “Hope we weren‟t too loud?” “Nope. It brought back fond memories.” Jill smiled when Glory folded her arms and glared. “Of course, my roommate didn‟t appreciate it much.” When Glory blushed, Jill cackled. “Just kidding. She was wiped out. Slept right through it.” “Geez, Jill, don‟t joke about that!” She centered her glare on the men. “What‟re you looking at?” The one who looked like a younger twin of Sky but with light brown eyes blinked sweetly at her. “You, cousin. Is that your real hair?” “You bet.” “But it‟s pink!” “So?” The kid was quiet for a minute. “Have you eaten breakfast yet? Better hurry before it‟s put away.”
Jill nodded. “Good idea, Glory. Hurry if you want to come to town with me. I‟m going with Marissa and her escort. We need to see about some more clothes for you and the other women.” Glory hated shopping. But she did want to see the town, so she followed that boy into the kitchen. “What‟s your name, kid?” “Jelly.” “Really? You got a brother named Peanut Butter?” He looked at her with reproach as he plopped a wad of oatmeal into a bowl. “Coffee?” she asked hopefully. His brow wrinkled. “What‟s coffee?” Her stomach felt like the congealed oatmeal had been plopped into it instead of the bowl. No coffee? “Never mind.” When Taye was told that Glory was joining them he nodded. When Carla announced her intention of going he turned on a dime and became a growling dog intent on protecting his mate. “No,” he said fiercely. If it would have been her, Glory would have yelled. Carla just sighed and asked why not. “We will already have four women to guard.” Taye was calmer, quieter now, but still insistent. “We‟ll be spread thin as it is. It‟s not overkill, sweetheart, just extra care for the mates of our cousins.” Glory felt guilty. “I don‟t have to go.” “No, cousin, your mate left goods for us to trade for clothes for you and the Grandmother. We‟ll get them for you now.” Glory‟s guilt faded away at the excitement of going to a town. She was not a fan of walking, but she sucked it up. After all, Jill couldn‟t walk fast, so Glory was able to keep up even if she was out of shape. It was only three miles, but it took them almost two hours to walk, since they went at Jill‟s pace. Taye and about twenty of his Pack came with them, half of them in wolf form, all of them alert and ready for trouble. Each woman had been assigned two men and a wolf to guard her specifically. Glory was surprised that the wolves in human shape were wearing shirts and shoes as well as pants. The men and wolves moved like an army patrol, carefully spaced to be able to protect the women. All of them moving together looked like a cross between a flock of geese and a military unit. Glory privately dubbed their group The Flock. The town was a severe disappointment to Glory. It looked like the offspring of an Old West ghost town and something from a post-apocalyptic movie. It made her stomach lurch to see the fast food signs bleached almost colorless from weather and age, and she had a sudden acute craving for a burger. She could almost taste the special sauce oozing over the greasy burger. There were no businesses that she could tell, no stores or offices. The further they went the cleaner and better kept the street was, but still no businesses. She didn‟t see another woman anywhere on the streets, but several men stared at her, Marissa, and Renee like the women were water in the desert and the men were dying of thirst. Creepy. But the way they stared at Jill was even weirder. She clearly heard them say that Jill was the grandmother of the Lakota, in awed, reverent tones. “I guess you‟re a celebrity,” she remarked to Jill. Jill took her arm to lean on it, puffing just slightly. “I‟m the oldest person for hundreds of miles, and the oldest woman in five hundred miles. Everybody has heard of me.” Glory was pretty sure the men would have liked to come closer but the wolves growling and showing their teeth dissuaded them. Marissa was looking particularly pretty this morning, her face glowing with anticipation, and the men were appreciative. Glory knew she got some attention too, and even Renee, with her face beginning to heal from the crash, got her share of
looks. The attention triggered the wolves‟ aggression. No man would dare to try to come close enough to speak to them. They went first to the place the other women were living. It looked like it must have been an old, old apartment building once. Glory guessed it was a twelve-plex, made of dark brick, and it had a new chain-link fence around it, with a gate with two men on guard there, and two others walking around the inside of the yard. The Flock stopped by the gate, and Taye went forward to talk to the guards in a quiet voice. In a minute he came back and smiled at Marissa encouragingly. “Faron Paulson is out, but he‟ll be back soon. We can go inside to wait.” Marissa‟s anxious face fell. “Okay.” All those in wolf form and half the men waited outside. Only five men, Taye and one to guard each woman, went into the building. Glory‟s guard was the brown-haired guy, Quill. He had seemed kinda sweet, but now his mouth was firm and hard, and his green eyes were watchful behind the fall of brown curls. The apartment building looked dismally dreary. The scanty furniture was obviously very old and clearly secondhand. The walls were badly in need of paint, the floors sagged slightly in some places, and some of the doors were missing. But the woodwork was really cool, in the arts and crafts style. Like many old apartment buildings—and this one would have been maybe a century old in 2014—it had a foyer with a once-cool tile mosaic floor where the mailboxes would have been. It needed some work, but it could be a really great place. Stag greeted them in the building foyer. Connie Mondale, the co-pilot who had taken charge of the women, invited them to wait in her apartment. There were six three-bedroom apartments in the place, and six two-bedroom apartments, plus two small one-bedroom apartments in the basement where Faron and Stag were staying. That meant that each apartment held two or three women. Glory wondered where Stag was actually sleeping. She wouldn‟t be surprised if he stretched out in front of Sherry‟s door at night. The bathroom consisted of an outhouse in the backyard and buckets for water to be fetched in. Glory felt a surge of gratitude for the Pack‟s facilities, even if most of her showers would be cold. A flushing toilet was a wonderful thing. With this many women living in one place together, with limited facilities, Glory wondered how long before the screaming matches began. With the two skinhead women and Heather, it shouldn‟t be too long. Stupid Heather made the mistake of smoothing a hand over Taye‟s bare shoulder. Glory didn‟t bother to hide her enjoyment when he bared his teeth in a snarl that made HHHeather back off with more haste than grace. Connie and one of her roommates, Katie McCain, were talking enthusiastically about their renovation plans. Not only were they going to spruce the place up, they were also going to open a restaurant. Kathy Graves had been a restaurant manager in St. Paul in the Times Before, and she thought they could support themselves by serving home-cooked meals to the men here. Good luck with that, Glory thought cynically. Katie went on to say that with all the men here, and so few women, their restaurant should be a success even if they sucked as cooks. Jane came in to say hi to Glory. It probably wasn‟t surprising they hadn‟t spent much time together since their walk for help. They didn‟t really have much in common, and they had both been working hard to help the injured. But they chatted a little bit now, mostly about Jane‟s concerns for some of the women. Some of them had been traveling with their husbands, who hadn‟t survived the crash, and a lot of them had left husbands and families at home when they‟d boarded the plane. Although Connie, Kathy, JaNae, and Katie seemed to be dealing well with their new circumstances, others were sunk in despair and sleeping twenty hours a day. Jane didn‟t know anything about restaurant cooking, but Dixie and Jodi, who had been counselors in the Twin Cities, thought it would be something that could be
used to drag the women out of their depression. Glory didn‟t know Dixie or Jodi or anything about depression therapy, but it sounded right. As they talked, Faron Paulson knocked on the door. He wasn‟t very tall, but he was built solidly. Glory looked from him to Marissa and saw no family resemblance. His face was weathered, his neck red, his sandy brown hair dead straight and graying, obviously cut by the barber inverting a bowl on his client‟s head and cutting evenly around it. He was polite when Marissa asked him in a choked voice who his parents were and where he was from. His politeness changed to something more confused as he watched her speak. When he had answered her questions, she shocked him by bursting into tears. “Fary? It‟s you!” He stepped back, eyes wide with alarm. “It‟s me! Your mother! When she threw herself at him he tried to take another step back. Glory felt hysterical laughter build in her chest at the look on the guy‟s face. The man, old enough to be Marissa‟s father, was flabbergasted. Nice word, Glory decided. Flabbergasted fit this situation perfectly. Faron started to cry. He rushed off down the stairs and came back in a few minutes with a faded photo in a frame of a seated Marissa smiling with a blond toddler standing at her side, one arm slung around her neck, beaming a big baby grin at the camera. The wolves all looked at the picture, then at Faron and Marissa. Their hard faces melted into wonder for a few moments before becoming stoic once more. Taye said they would leave Marissa here for a few hours so she could visit while the rest of them went shopping. “Wow,” said Glory, when The Flock was back on the street minus Marissa and her werewolf guard. “Mommy and son, age reversed. Was that weird or what?” Jill looked sideways at her. “Weirder than me and you?” “Yeah, I didn‟t give birth to you.” Glory‟s guard looked at her quickly, green eyes wide in the midst of his golden brown hair, and then away. They were coming to an area that looked like it could be downtown. Maybe. The street was tidy, with no cracks in it or grass growing over it, and there were a few people on the street. Every one of them moved to get out of their way. Of course, what sane person wouldn‟t get out of the way of two dozen people moving as a unit, especially when most of them were bloodthirsty wolves? Shopping was not what Glory expected. Instead of a department store with a women‟s department in a mall, they went to a one-room shop called Nathan Martin‟s Trading Place that sold everything from farming stuff to sacks of flour and sugar to hand-sewn jeans and shirts. Taye met the owner and listed the things they needed, namely women‟s clothing, fabric, and wood-burning stoves. Nathan Martin was probably not much older than thirty, and pretty hot for a guy wearing suspenders, Glory thought. When he heard that they were looking for women‟s clothes he turned toward the back and hollered, “Hannah, we got some ladies needing gear!” A young pretty woman with a blond toddler clinging to her pants came out with a shy smile. Her eyes widened when she first saw Taye, and then opened wider when she saw Jill. ”How can I help you, ladies?” There was not a lot of selection for a woman Glory‟s size. But once they had gone behind a curtain at the back of the store without the men (the wolf guards prowled around the outside of the building and hovered near the curtain to the women‟s section of the store) where they could try things on, Hannah showed some loose skirts to her. Glory wasn‟t a skirt girl, but Hannah took her measurements and said she could make some pants within a few days, so Glory took one skirt, two pairs of heavy socks, a few pairs of the granny panties, and two large men‟s shirts. She wondered what Shadow would think of her new clothes. The other women picked out similar things for themselves and chose some for Marissa. Taye
called from the front of the store, asking them to choose a skirt and blouse for his mate also. These items were not fashionable, but they were new, which meant clean and not torn, a step up from what they had been wearing. Besides, Glory had always made her own fashion. What she needed now was a warm winter coat. Jill told her that the Pack had leather workers who would make them winter coats. An ankle-length black coat would be cool. Or warm. Maybe she could ask for one? As they were getting ready to go Glory saw something that she wanted. Along one wall in the front of the store were a stack of stretched blank art canvases, and a large sketchbook. She went over to them and stared with longing. She wasn‟t any kind of professional artist, but in high school and even after college she had sketched and painted for fun. Her hands twitched with the need to hold the colored pencils and the oil paints. Jill ordered Taye to buy the art supplies for her. On the way home Glory figured out why Taye had brought so many men along. He loaded four of them up with bolts of fabric and assorted other bags and parcels, including the art canvases, although each woman carried her own purchases. Glory couldn‟t see what he had used to pay for the art supplies, but when she tried to offer to reimburse him Jill hushed her up. Just as well. What did she have to pay him with? Her debit card? Credit card? They left as a unit, and as they passed a nearby building whose fancy carving identified it as the public library, a bouncing teen girl came out with a young man in tow. She stopped when she saw them and smiled hugely. “Cousin Taye!” she shouted happily, cutting through The Flock to throw herself at the Alpha wolf. The hard-eyed look melted from Taye‟s face. “Ellie!” he said with warm affection, giving her a careful hug. He‟d better be careful. The girl was as thin as a toothpick, and about as tall. Glory doubted she was more than five feet tall even in shoes. She was slender, but nicely rounded, exactly the kind of girl who made Glory feel like an elephant, only less dainty. The young man with her had the same brown hair, but hers was all the way down her back, and the man‟s was cut just above his shoulders. Another man came behind them, a handsome blond kid who looked like a high-school quarterback. He put an arm around Ellie‟s waist. A low growl came from the wolf who was Glory‟s guard. The quarterback hesitated and shot a quick, nervous glance at the wolf. Who could blame him? Glory stared at the way her guard‟s eyes glowed green behind his brown curls. He appeared to be glaring at the blond. “Quill,” said Taye quietly, but with a whiplash of authority. The growl stopped, and Quill tipped his head forward to let his hair cover his eyes again. But Glory was watching him, and she could tell he was still staring at the young man. After a few minutes of talking to the girl, Taye kissed her cheek, gave the men a curt nod, and the flock started off again. Glory thought her guard had transferred his gaze from the blond man to the teen girl, and the heat in his eyes changed. Hm. Did he have a crush on the girl? She was pretty in an angelically fragile sort of way. As they got close to the plane women‟s house a couple more men came up to them, pulling a large wagon by hand. In the wagon bed were four Ben Franklin-style stoves. Glory was delighted by the hope of warmth. The stoves must weigh a ton and those guys must be wolves to be able to pull that much weight. At the women‟s apartment they found another survivor who had walked for help. Lisa Anton had been one of those stunningly beautiful models seen on the covers of popular magazines featuring swimsuit editions. Glory wanted to dislike her just because she was slender and drop-dead gorgeous. Even now, with no makeup on, her hair in a casual ponytail, and wearing a plain shirt dress she was flawless. Exactly the type of woman Glory despised. But, dammit, she was nice. She gave Glory a sincere hug and said she was so glad Glory had
been able to find help for everyone. Since they were exactly the same height, Glory didn‟t feel like a giant. A cow, maybe, but not a giant. Lisa was warmly friendly to all the women, but aside from a brief word she ignored Taye and the other men. Maybe because standing right beside her was a man who was as handsome as she was beautiful. His face was perfection, cheekbones and jaw straight and carved from pale gold, with soft full lips and hair of darker gold. Glory would never trade Shadow for this guy, but he sure was hot, in a prettyboy way. So maybe it wasn‟t a surprise that Lisa barely noticed the other guys. But Heather sure noticed him. Glory smirked at the way he ignored her blatant come-ons. Heather was striking out all over these days. Pity. Not. There was a brief argument about where Marissa would live. Faron insisted that his mother stay with him. Taye countered that Red Wing expected his mate to stay safe with the Pack until he returned from Omaha. Then Marissa had to explain that Red Wing was a man from the Clan whose wolf had chosen her for his mate, and she had sent him to Omaha to find out what had happened to her son. What Faron thought of a stepfather thirty years younger than he was, Glory couldn‟t tell. But Taye won the argument. After hugs all around and promises that the mated women would visit again, The Flock headed back to the den. Glory was tired by the time they arrived back at the den. She would have laid down for a nap, except that it was suppertime and strange men were in her room, setting her new stove up. A month ago she would have shuddered at the idea of relying on a wood-burning stove to keep her warm. Now she was really looking forward to it. But later that night she lay in bed with the warmth of the stove casting its glow over her, and cried because it wasn‟t Shadow.
Chapter Eighteen Glory and the other women settled into a routine. They cleaned and cooked and practiced some hobby like knitting or reading or sketching. Taye had an extensive collection of antique paperbacks that had been published in the last few years of the Times Before, which he generously lent to the women. Glory couldn‟t quite picture Taye reading the romances, but maybe they were his mother‟s? The westerns seemed more his style. They went into town to visit the plane women a couple times a week. It drove Taye half crazy because he was so concerned about their safety. But his Pack welcomed the opportunity to escort them into Kearney. None of them had spent much time with women, and they were happy to have new cousins to dote on. The majority of Taye‟s Pack was twenty-five years old or younger, and in the den they played around like kids. But they were still fierce, overprotective wolves, and when they left the den they looked it. They agreed with Taye. No woman set foot outside the den without a sizable escort. Glory and the others got used to going places feeling like they were the focus of a Secret Service detail. Each of the women seemed to find a niche for herself. Jill was the matriarch. She was given extreme deference. Glory doubted the Queen of England was treated any better. Each of the few times Jill ventured out of the den was like a royal procession, with people anxious to meet her. A few even dared to seek her out at the motel. They weren‟t allowed in. Taye and the Pack were rabid about security for their women. Rose was like everybody‟s kid sister. Sky‟s love-sickness made him behave like an ass, in Glory‟s opinion. He hovered over Rose and tried to court her with an endearing brand of awkward tenderness that turned darkly possessive every time she went into town. Marissa had been going to school to get an interior decorating degree, and she used that in both the den and the plane women‟s new place. Renee had been a chef at an upscale Denver restaurant, and she did amazing things with their food. The meats, vegetables, and spices they had on hand were plain. But she took that as a challenge and developed meals for the plane women to serve in their restaurant when it opened. She tested each of the dishes several times on the Pack, to their delighted approval. Carla had said quietly how nice it was to eat something besides half-cooked steak, as if she didn‟t want to hurt the wolves‟ feelings. Glory loved rare steak, but she admitted that three meals a day that featured steaks or roasts would get old pretty quick. Glory had no interest in knitting or sewing, so she read, sketched, and painted. The Pack eagerly posed for Glory any time she wanted them to. She spent many hours sketching them in both their forms. One of her favorites was of Taye and his beta Des in wolf form chasing Sky, also in wolf form, across the backyard. Des was one of the older wolves, probably in his mid-thirties, who spoke as little as possible. But he was a good subject, since he had infinite patience and could keep still for hours if she wanted him to. In her art classes she had never quite mastered the knack of drawing the human body. Her interest then was in wildlife and nature. But with these superb bodies as her subjects she found she could capture their contours perfectly. The faces seemed all to resemble Shadow‟s, though. It might be because they were all related, but maybe Jill was right and she made all of them look like Shadow because she missed him. She wished she could open her cell and give him a call. Instead, she made a dozen pencil sketches of him, trying to find the one that was perfect so she could use her precious oils to paint him. Ten days after she came to the Pack, Glory got her period. She should have been relieved. Instead she cried. She found herself crying a lot. She had begun to think that she might be pregnant, and the disappointment hurt. Jill thought her period had been delayed by stress, and said sympathetically that it was no wonder. Rose made the mistake of saying that since Glory hadn‟t wanted to have a baby she should be happy. Marissa cried with her. Renee wasn‟t the warm fuzzy type, but she tried to comfort Glory by baking a cake. Carla tried
several different things to take Glory‟s mind off it like letting her groom her horse and writing a song in her honor. JaNae and Katie from the plane women‟s house generously sent some coffee beans to Glory. The rare and expensive beans had been gifts from their many suitors, but they said Glory needed coffee more than they did. Taye grew so alarmed by Glory‟s depression that he bought her more oil paints and canvas. Complete strangers, like Taye‟s cousin Ellie, her cousin Doug, and her fiancé Neal, were sympathetic when they came to dinner on a Sunday. Even her personal Pack guard, Quill, tried to comfort her, and he barely ever spoke to anyone. “Don‟t cry, Glory,” he said in his shy, quiet voice one day when Glory was outside enjoying the unseasonably warm weather to draw the wolves practicing their fighting. “Shadow will be back for you in the spring. You will have babies someday.” Glory was sitting in the grass with her knees pulled up to her face, feeling homesick for Shadow‟s scent and strong arms. She tried to find her usual sarcastic self but failed. “I wish Shadow was here,” she hiccupped. Quill put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. His voice was hardly a whisper when he said, “It‟s hard to not be able to have your mate at your side.” Ha! She knew it! “So, what‟s up with you and Ellie?” He flinched, tipping his head forward to hide behind his hair. “Nothing.” “Seriously?” It felt good to think of someone else‟s problems for a minute. “I‟ve seen the way you look at her. You think she‟s your mate.” “I know she‟s my mate.” “So, what are you doing here? Go after her.” “She‟s already promised to the Overdahl boy.” Boy? Quill was probably the same age. “So? They‟re not married yet. You have a shot.” Quill was quiet for a second. “She loves him. I‟ve seen the way she looks at him.” So had Glory. Those wide velvet brown eyes looked at the blond kid like he was the sun. “Yeah.” She reached up and squeezed his hand. “But she‟s really young. She could change her mind and fall for you.” “She doesn‟t know I exist.” “That‟s because you keep quiet and hide.” She got to her knees and pushed his thick brown hair back from his face and examined the green eyes, straight nose, and long thin mouth. “You are a really good-looking guy. And you‟re sweet. Any girl would be lucky to have you.” He pulled gently out of her hold. “Girls want Alphas, not shy wolves like me.” Glory shook her head. Glory wanted a strong man who could stand up to her. But Ellie? No. She was … obedient. Bouncy and cheerful and giggly, but when her grandfather said something, she submitted sweetly. Ellie wasn‟t the type to rebel against authority like Glory was. An Alpha like Shadow would crush her. A shy wolf who would cherish her, though, would be a good match. “You‟re perfect for her. I think you should at least try.” Quill shook his head decisively. “Overdahl is a good man. The Chief checked him out to be sure he‟s good enough for his cousin. Ellie will be happy with him.” “So you‟re just going to step aside and watch your mate get married to another man?” “No. I won‟t be with the Pack much longer.” “Really? Are you going back to the Clan?” “No. I think I‟ll head east to Omaha. Find my brother Red Wing and tell him his mate‟s son has been found. Maybe stay there a few years before going back to the Clan.” Glory got to her feet and closed her sketchbook. She‟d thought Quill looked familiar. That guy with the curly brown hair she‟d seen saying good-bye to Marissa was his brother. The sun had gone behind a cloud, and it was getting a little chilly. “That‟s unusual, isn‟t it? I mean, don‟t you Clan people stay with the Clan? Or Pack?”
“Mostly. But Laura spends summers away, and Dan is hardly ever there. And… Well, there‟s Jimmy White Elk.” There was a note in his voice that disapproved of the black sheep brother. He hesitated, looking at her cautiously. “Don‟t tell anyone. Promise.” Glory promised. “If Rose doesn‟t accept Sky soon, he‟s going away too. Don‟t tell anyone. You promised.” Quill might not be an Alpha wolf, but he could get pretty bossy. “Fine. I promised.” But it bothered her. She liked Sky, the way she‟d like a little brother. Well, that made sense, since he was her brother-in-law. She sure liked him a lot better than Jimmy White Elk. Weird. She began paying attention to Sky and Rose, and not just for the entertainment of watching them bicker. Sky took every opportunity to be close to Rose, who began spending as much time as possible in her room or glued to Jill to avoid him. Carla told him to back off, but he retorted that the Chief had told him he could court Rose as long as she wasn‟t in her room. Glory was impressed with the way Carla had grabbed Sky‟s ear and told him to clean up his act. “Nice,” Jill complimented her. “Always a good idea to nip that sort of insolence in the bud. Let a young wolf get away with it and you‟ll lose respect you should have as Lupa.” Things were coming to a head with Rose and Sky, and everyone knew it. Glory didn‟t think Rose would give in. The blonde teenager was mulish in her determination to have nothing to do with Sky. Glory thought that Rose would want to fool around a little bit with a hot little stud muffin like Sky, but she was driving him crazy by avoiding him. Sky wanted his mate, and his simmering temper was almost tangible. Glory continued her usual routine of visiting the plane women, joining in the cooking and cleaning, and drawing and painting. Apparently a lot of young men from Kearney were anxious for the women to open their restaurant, and had been hard at work getting the place cleaned up and renovated. Connie had asked Glory to paint a sign for the “Plane Women‟s Eatery.” Their nickname had stuck, and they‟d decided to use it. Renee spent a lot of time in town, coaching Diana and Randee and the rest of Connie‟s women how to cook for their restaurant. Marissa was there several times a week, visiting with her son. Their reunion, although sometimes awkward and stiff, was a cause for wonder throughout the region. Occasionally Taye would allow Carla to go into town, and she would do quick impromptu concerts at the plane women‟s house. When she did that, the women and all the men working would put down their tools and sit or stand around listening. It was on such an occasion that the long-awaited blow-up between Rose and Sky took place. Carla was sitting on a top step of the staircase inside the apartment building with her guitar, while everybody else was on the ground floor listening. Rose was sitting cross-legged on the floor when one of the men from Kearney came to squat beside her. Rose smiled at him in a friendly way and turned her attention back to Carla. Glory later decided that the man must be a moron with a death wish. Even though there were a dozen members of the Pack scattered around, and everyone within fifty miles knew that the blonde teenager was claimed by a wolf, the man leaned until he was touching his shoulder against Rose‟s. Rose gave him a startled look and scooted a few inches away. Mr. Moron followed her and put his hand over her knee. “Big mistake,” Glory started to say, but her voice was drowned out by several growls, and then a howl rose above that. Sky launched himself, lips pulled back in a snarl, at the man. The plane women flung themselves out of the way, even Sherry, whose broken legs had healed enough for her to hobble a little bit. Jumping Stag lived up to his name when he leaped in front of his unwilling mate to defend her. The only reason Mr. Moron lived through it was Carla‟s order for Sky to get back. He didn‟t want to obey, but the other wolves forced him to let go of the man. With all the Pack glaring at him and Sky trying frantically to get at
him, the man looked like he couldn‟t decide to be cowed or defiant. Then Marissa‟s son took charge. He snapped handcuffs on the man and apologized to Rose, Carla, and Connie for the offender‟s behavior. He made a curt little speech about how the Kearney authorities would not allow any unwanted familiarity with any of the women, and this man would be an example to the entire area. A couple of the other town men helped to march the prisoner out. The Pack was led by Des this trip. Des had them all pack up their things and hurried them back to the den. Two of the older wolves walked on either side of Sky to keep him from doing something stupid. Rose walked close to Glory, face set and eyes glaring straight ahead. Marissa was smiling while she dabbed at her tears. “My little boy,” she said. “He‟s all grown-up and official and stuff. He‟s a good man.” Glory kept her shudder to herself. Her son was twice her age. It reminded her that her best friend, who was eight months younger than her, was now fifty years older. The walk into Kearney was only a few miles, but Jill was too tired to make it very often. Ever since they came to the Pack, Jill had seemed to age. She had kept up her energy during the three-day ride to the Pack, but almost as soon as they arrived she seemed to flag. As soon as they passed through the gate to the den, Rose bolted for her room where even Taye wouldn‟t let Sky go. Sky would have stopped her, but Carla grabbed his arm to talk to him in a fast, low voice. “Sky, wait,” she said. “Rose is upset and so are you. Calm down before you talk to her.” Sky‟s voice was flat and furious. “He touched her! He touched my mate!” “But that‟s not Rose‟s fault.” “She should have stayed here.” “Don‟t be ridiculous, Sky. Go out for a run and cool off.” This was all very entertaining. Glory wished Shadow was there to enjoy his little brother‟s torment. But he wasn‟t. Glory sighed and went to her room to get her art supplies and try to sketch Shadow again. An hour later, when it was just about time for supper, Glory heard voices from the hall. Rose was saying heatedly, “I didn‟t sit next to him. He sat next to me! Not that it‟s any of your business who I sit by.” A lower rumble, hard and furious, replied but Glory couldn‟t make out the words. “No!” Rose shouted. “I‟m not your mate! Even if I wasn‟t too young, you couldn‟t pay me enough to be your mate!” Sky‟s voice rose to thunder. “You are my mate, and I‟ll kill the next man who touches you.” “Could you please be a little more dramatic?” Glory grinned at her closed door. Nice touch of sarcasm there. Point to Rose. Another low rumble from Sky, and Rose‟s screech, “Not in this lifetime!” There was a loud thump against the wall and a frightened cry from Rose. Glory abandoned her sketch book and went to her door just as Rose yelled, “Let me go! Stop! Help!” This wasn‟t entertaining anymore. Glory opened the door and stuck her head out. Sky had Rose sandwiched between his near-naked body and the wall, holding her hands above her head and kissing her savagely while she tried to jerk her head away. “Sky!” Glory bellowed. “Let her go right now.” And then Taye was coming up the hallway like a thunderstorm rolling across the sky. He tore Sky away from Rose and threw him into the opposite wall. Rose was crying, her normally pale cheeks scarlet and her lips cherry red and swollen. Her tears, Glory could tell, were more from rage than fear.
The hallway was filling with women and wolves. Jill went quickly to Rose and put an arm around her shoulders. Carla pushed her way to the front of the crowd to stare with horrified eyes at Sky. Sky was half-crouched against the wall, staring defiantly at Taye. And Taye—easy-going Taye—was standing tall and unmoving, putting out infuriated Alpha vibes that made even Glory want to cringe and thank God it was directed at Sky instead of her. “Sky, explain yourself,” Taye demanded. For another second Sky held Taye‟s eyes. Then his challenge wavered, and his eyes dropped and he tilted back his head to show his throat. “Explain yourself,” Taye said again, more mildly. “We do not ever hurt our mates.” Sky slid a yearning look at Rose before answering. “I only did what the man in the book you gave me did to his woman when she defied him. I held Rose so she couldn‟t get away, and I kissed her. I was going to tear her shirt off like the man in the book did, but I didn‟t want to ruin it by ripping it, so I tried to take it off her gently—but she started to cry. That‟s not what happened in the book!” He glared accusingly at Taye. “Taye!” Carla‟s voice was exasperated. “You gave him one of your romance novels to use as a game plan for seducing Rose?” Sky said defensively, “It worked for the Chief. You fell in love with him right away.” “He never held me down and tried to force me to … Oh, never mind! Those books are a lot of fun to read, but they‟re not real. Women don‟t really want to be treated like that.” Now Taye was frowning. “But last night—” “Shh!” hissed Carla, blushing. She cleared her throat and darted a self-conscious look around at all the interested faces in the hallway. “After a woman gets to know a man she might—might!—enjoy pretending sometimes. I keep telling you Rose is too young for that. Sky needs to leave her alone for a few more years.” Sky stood straight. “She‟s my mate. I don‟t want to wait. Why should I wait?” Jill stepped forward, dropping the arm she‟d had around Rose. “Because if you don‟t you‟ll lose her forever. Go back to the Clan, Sky. Come visit Rose from time to time. Give her a chance to recover from the crash and everything it means.” Sky visibly had to restrain himself. He looked at Rose, his face looking pitifully young. “If I go away will you like me better?” “Tons,” Rose snapped. “Then I‟ll go.” Sky‟s face was hurt but proud. “Reed Dewey is hiring men to help him rebuild the railroad. I‟ll go there.” Taye reached an arm around Sky‟s neck. “Let‟s talk, cousin.” The wolves and women parted to make way for Taye half-dragging the teenage wolf with him down the hall. Carla hurried after them. Glory watched them go and wished again for Shadow. He would be able to talk sense into his little brother. Taye might too, but not as well as Shadow could. Rose was sniffling. The sound was angry, not sad. Glory approved. She was glad, too, that Jill had the girl in hand because Glory didn‟t do tears. Renee gave Rose one last steady look and went back into her own room. Marissa gave Rose an encouraging pat on the shoulder before leaving too. Jill took Rose into their room. Glory shrugged and went back to her sketchbook. A half-hour later Glory had almost succeeded in getting the line of Shadow‟s jaw just right, and a knock on the door distracted her. It was her guard, Quill. “I‟m leaving now,” he told her. “I wanted to say good-bye.” “Now?” Glory didn‟t say so out loud, but she would miss the kid. “What about supper? Have you packed yet?” “Me and Sky already ate. We don‟t have much to pack since we‟ll be traveling most of the time as wolves.”
Glory didn‟t know what to say. “Where are you going?” “Omaha. Red Wing is there, and I‟ll go to work for Reed Dewey‟s railroad.” “Well…” Glory began to stick out a hand for him to shake, but changed her mind. She gave him a quick hug instead. “Be careful. Good luck.” He gave her one of his quiet sweet smiles. “Thanks. You need to eat now.” “Yeah.” She was getting hungry. “In a minute.” “Now, Glory. I‟ll walk you down to the dining hall.” He might be a quiet, shy wolf, but he could be as stubborn and bossy as any Alpha. “All right, all right.” He took her down the hall to the dining room, gave her another of his sweet smiles, and went out. Glory sighed, looking after him. Dammit, she would miss him.
Chapter Nineteen Shadow lifted his head, searching the leaden sky for snow. It was coming soon. He lifted a hand to his nose and brushed the small sparkling stud there. When he had arrived back at the camp after leaving Glory with Taye‟s Pack, he had found it in the grass by his new bed. It had still had traces of her blood on it. He had cleaned it, and his mother had pierced his nostril for him. He had worn it ever since, as a token of his love for Glory. His father assured him that the house for his mate was coming along well. The mild weather allowed the outer shell to be completed before snow flew. Shadow hated the idea of living inside four walls, but if Glory was there it would be bearable. And he wouldn‟t be the only man living indoors. All the mates had demanded houses of their own. Some men, hoping their wolves would choose mates for them, had also begun to build houses. There were nearly a dozen houses scattered over this valley. Most of the men from the Clan were dividing their time between hunting and building the mates‟ houses, but they were untrained in house building, so Muddy Wolf had hired some skilled craftsmen from nearby Spearfish to do most of the work. But Shadow had a thousand questions for Glory, like which of the smaller rooms did she want for their bedroom, and which side of the house did she want the porch on, and was she pregnant? That last question was answered by one of Taye‟s Pack, who came with messages. Glory was not pregnant, and she was weeping over it. Shadow almost wept himself for her pain. The messenger also had news of Renee, Marissa, and Sky and Rose, but Shadow didn‟t care about that. His sunshine was weeping? She hated to cry. He remembered Rose once asking him what Glory‟s favorite color was. He still didn‟t know the answer to that, but he knew other things about his mate: she held her feelings tightly shielded, and hid them even from herself. She allowed few people into her heart, but when she did, her loyalty was unswerving. Look how she was with the Grandmother. He wanted a place in her heart. He wanted so much to hold her and comfort her that when Hawk In Flight announced his intention of going to Kearney to visit Renee, Shadow immediately decided to go too. He told his mother to have the house builders do whatever she thought was best, kissed her good-bye, and left on the journey to see his mate. **** This life without Shadow had gotten stale. Glory loved her flush toilet and the twice weekly hot showers, but she missed Shadow. She never did get to find out why Laura had a girl‟s name. She could ask Jill, but she wanted to hear Shadow tell her about it. Something funny or sad or confusing would happen and she‟d turn to find Shadow to get his take on it. She wanted to wake up and feel that heavy muscular arm curved around her, the warmth of his breath gentle on the nape of her neck, and the silk of his long hair sliding over her. She wanted sex, too, but she wanted to wake up with him. She just wanted to be with him. But he wasn‟t there. The wood stove was warm, but it didn‟t take Shadow‟s place. She went into Kearney almost every day now. With Quill gone, she had been given another wolf as her guard. This one was older, about thirty, named Mikey. She sometimes wondered why some of the wolves had descriptive names and others had boring mundane names, and others had both. She vaguely remembered Stands Tall Woman explaining it to her that first morning she woke up in the Clan‟s camp. If Shadow was here she could ask him. Glory had run out of fresh subjects, so she began sketching the plane women and the men who visited them. She did one of Marissa and Faron together that was a big hit with mother and son, and soon Glory found herself taking commissions. Money was scarce, but her subjects paid her with cloth and other goods. Hannah Martin was making her a new
bustier to replace the one from home that was badly stained and worn. But even with visits to town and her art Glory spent too much time brooding about Shadow. Was he warm enough? Did he miss her? A few weeks earlier another of Shadow‟s cousins, Dan, had stopped by the den while Glory was in town. Glory wished she had a family tree to help her keep track of all of Shadow‟s relatives. Everyone in the Clan and Pack were related somehow, but damn if she could figure out how. Dan had been hired by a man to find his stolen wife. Just about everybody for miles around called Dan “the Tracker,” and he was famous for his tracking ability. If a person or valuable animal got lost or stolen Tracker was called on to find them. Now he and the wife were back, and it turned out that she was another of the plane crash survivors. Glory, Marissa, Rose, and their escorts returned from Kearney to find the den in a quiet uproar. Mikey was informed by Carla that he would be bunking with Snake. The new lady, Tami, had been given his room. She was seated beside the fire in the rec room, drinking a cup of something hot. Her short brown hair was matted flat against her skull, and her face was chapped by the wind. The tall man who stood beside her looked down at the top of her matted hair with an impassive face. He was clearly one of the Clan because he dressed like any of them, but his hip-length braids were white blond, his eyes a lighter blue than Sky‟s were, piercing in his narrow suntanned face. He was introduced to Glory as Dan Stensrud, and Glory recognized the name. He was Emma Two Bird‟s son and Stands Tall Woman‟s brother. He responded politely but briefly to her greeting. Glory figured he was the kind of guy who strung as many as ten words together at a time about twice a year. He moved his body subtly whenever one of the Pack came near, as if to block their way to Tami. Carla brought Tami a small bowl of stew and a chunk of bread that Jelly got ready, and settled into her big chair by the fire. “Eat,” she urged. “Usually we‟d eat in the dining hall, but you look like you need the fire.” “Thanks,” said Tami and dug in. Rose and Glory took seats across from her, looking at her dirty clothes and greasy hair with pity. Glory wondered if she had looked that bad when she first got to the den and decided that she probably had looked worse. Rose asked the question that was in everybody‟s mind. “What happened to you? Where‟s your partner?” Tami swallowed, keeping her eyes on her bowl. “My partner was Jessi Burton. We were taken prisoner by men we thought would help us. They sold us to men in a tiny place called Greasy Butte.” She paused to take another bite of stew. “They weren‟t very nice. They shared us. Jessi had five husbands. I had four. Jessi‟s dead. She hanged herself. I was able to escape.” At this terse recital, the anger of the Pack was almost as tangible as their growling was loud, but Dan‟s face never twitched out of its stony mask. Tami swiped the bottom of her bowl with the last shred of bread and popped it in her mouth. “They hired Tracker to find me and bring me back. He said I could stay here.” Taye moved like he would step close, but at her subtle flinch, stepped away. “Yes, ma‟am. You are welcome to stay with us for as long as you like,” he confirmed. Jill pointed at all the women and told them to meet in her room in an hour. Jelly was sent off to start heating water. As the women were getting up Glory heard Dan tell Taye that he was going back to the trading post where he had unfinished business. Taye sounded casual when he said, “How many of them will you let live?” “None.” “Want company?” Taye was smiling like the wolf he was. “There are plenty of us who‟d like to help.” “No. It‟s my job.”
Taye looked considering. “She‟s your mate, isn‟t she?” “I‟m not wolf-born.” Taye was quiet. “I don‟t think it matters. She‟s your mate whether you have a wolf to choose her for you or not.” After a moment the ice-cold voice murmured, “Maybe.” “Happy hunting, cousin. We‟ll keep her safe for you here.” A single curt nod, a glance that melted from ice to warmth when it rested on Tami, and then he was gone. **** As the women were gathering in Jill‟s room, some of the younger wolves came to beg Carla to sing for them. Jill told them firmly that the women were having “girls‟ night.” The men looked disappointed but didn‟t argue. When Jill brought out three bottles of Muddy Wolf‟s hooch, the women gathered cheered. “If there was ever a time when we needed a drink, it‟s now,” Jill said grimly. Everyone got a glass, even Rose, whose cup was filled only about a quarter of its capacity. The teenager looked pretty happy to be included in grown-up girls‟ night. Tami, showered and dressed in Carla‟s spare clothes, accepted a glass, and began drinking immediately. “Are you okay?” Carla asked her. “You know those men will never be able to touch you here. The Pack won‟t let them anywhere near you.” “Yeah, I know that. Tracker said I could stay here this winter, and in the spring he‟d take me to my ranch. Crazy, isn‟t it?” Her voice was bitter. “A woman can‟t travel anywhere alone, or she‟ll be kidnapped and raped. Tom Leach.” She spat the name with angry disgust. “He was husband number one. He tried to be nice to me at first. I‟ll give him that. But after a week he got tired of trying to convince me to go to bed with him. Then he raped me.” There was pitying, uncomfortable silence for a minute while they sipped their drinks. Then Tami went on. “After that first time I decided to not fight. I hoped that it wouldn‟t hurt as much at least. But Steve—that‟s husband number two—didn‟t care. He slapped me even though I was trying to be still. Dwight, number three, was just like a bull, big and stupid. The only one who treated me decent was the youngest one, Tim. He‟s the one who helped me get away.” Glory felt a burning desire to hurt those men. But if she‟d understood the conversation between Dan and Taye, those men would get what was coming to them. Glory noticed that Rose‟s eyes were watering lavishly while she tried to swallow the home brew. Glory would have grinned except that her eyes were a bit wet too. Maybe it wasn‟t just the strength of her drink. She had been really lucky to have found Shadow and the others when she did. She could have ended up like Tami, a sex slave somewhere. “Your ranch might not be there anymore. It‟s been fifty years,” Carla said matter-offactly. “Maybe not. I didn‟t want to believe that I‟m in the future,” Tami said. Her reddened hands tightened over her glass. “But it‟s hard to deny. I guess I just have to see the place to really believe it.” She swallowed the rest of her booze. “So how did we all end up here? I mean, here in this town.” Glory told the story of how she had stumbled on Shadow and his cousins hunting, and Marissa, Renee, and Rose added their bit about how the Clan had come and taken the survivors staying with the plane to their camp. “You all were pretty lucky,” was Tami‟s comment.
Carla agreed. “Yeah, but I didn‟t think so at first. I mean, sold to Ray to be married to whatever guy fought best in the bride fight? But from the beginning, Taye treated me great. His wolf chose me, which is pretty weird to us, but normal for them. And in bed,” her voice lowered. “He‟s wonderful. Gentle. Caring. He‟s always doing new things to me, but no matter what, he always makes me come first. You know one of the best things about it? He doesn‟t care if I‟m flat-chested. He likes this little spare tire around my waist.” Rose giggled, then put her hand over her mouth, looking owlishly embarrassed. Jill smiled like a toothless shark. “Think about it. Women are scarce. Who does he have to compare you to? You‟re the only woman he‟s ever been with. Any man of the Clan who hasn‟t been married is in the same boat.” “Do you mean,” Renee said slowly, “Hawk is a virgin? A man that good-looking? At that age?” “Who would he fool around with?” Jill shrugged and drank. “It‟s not because of morals as much as lack of opportunity. How many women have you seen here? How many of them are alone? There‟s not too many ministers either, so church weddings are rare. These days, in this region, if you sleep with a man, you‟re married to him.” “So, does that mean women have harems?” asked Marissa, giggling. Jill cackled. “Actually, yes. But not around here.” She passed the second bottle round. “What happened to Tami is frowned on here in this area. But you go further west there are lots of communities where one woman will marry two or three men. Seems to work out. And if you go east, Omaha is the new Sin City.” Marissa choked and lowered her glass. “Seriously? I grew up there. It‟s the most boring place on earth.” “Not anymore.” Jill topped their glasses off again, except for Rose‟s. She paused, then tipped a teeny bit more in the teen‟s glass. “Omaha is one of the biggest cities left, and it‟s growing. Men like that guy who is building the railroads are making money. Any place with a lot of newcomers is a little wild. Remember the gold mining towns in the Old West? What did they have except saloons and brothels? That‟s what Omaha is like now.” “But,” Rose‟s voice was small and blurry. “That‟s where Sky went.” “I know,” said Jill grimly. “That boy had better not be following in the footsteps of his brother Jimmy.” “If he does, I‟ll kick his ass,” said Rose darkly. Glory felt a snarky grin twitch her lips at the bad language. If Jane were here she would have washed Rose‟s mouth out with soap. Carla said quickly, “Harems?” Jill nodded. “There‟s a religious community northeast of here that worships a goddess. There‟s over a hundred men and one woman. The High Priestess is called “the Ia,” and she chooses a different guy to sleep with each night. It‟s supposed to be a sacrifice they make to the goddess. Oh, the things men will do for their religion.” Glory choked on her drink. “Really? I‟m not sure if that would be fun or disgusting.” “Disgusting,” Tami muttered. “When women are rare, men will do just about anything for a little sex.” Rose‟s cheeks were pink, from either the drink or lingering embarrassment. Or both? “But my mom told me that wherever there are men there will be prostitutes. Aren‟t there any here? I mean, besides in Omaha?” “Well, as a matter of fact, there are a few ladies of that sort north of here, just over the Missouri River. It‟s Omaha that has plenty of those kinds of ladies. But they cost cash money—a lot of it—and who has that?” “Maybe we should send Heather up that way?” Glory mumbled.
Carla snickered. “She already left. I don‟t know where she‟s going, but she‟s with some man. Did anyone else think it was funny how most of the men around here ignored her? I bet she‟s not used to that.” Jill smirked. “Back in 2014, her figure was the ideal for a porn star. Tiny waist, long legs, big boobs … Here, a figure like Marissa‟s or Glory‟s is the ideal. I don‟t think Heather could take the way the men drooled over Glory and Marissa.” Rose giggled. It was the kind of giggle that suggested she‟d probably had enough to drink. “Yeah. I don‟t think she liked the way Shadow fell for Glory. He really likes Glory! He really likes her—hic!—you-know-whats.” Yeah. Glory drank more while she thought about that. Shadow liked her figure. He truly thought she was sexy just the way she was, big belly, wide hips, thunder thighs, and all. Back home a guy who looked like Shadow would never have noticed her. He would have had to peel a few of the Heather-like bimbos off his buff bod to even be able to see her. But here it was different. Shadow was a gorgeous hunk who was hot for her, not Heather. He had once called Heather a bag of bones. If Glory could have invented her perfect man it would have been Shadow. Not only was he gorgeous, he had a sweet side. He had looked so horribly sorry when he thought he had hurt her, and he was so tender, and so protective and … He sometimes made love like a wild man, and sometimes he was so gentle in bed. And he was hers. Just hers. When did she become a maudlin drunk? Glory sat with her butt getting numb in the hard chair, listening to the women laugh and talk, imagining that Shadow was in her room waiting for her. God, she missed him. She imagined that she would walk down the hall and open her door, and she‟d see him lying in her bed. He‟d lift the covers for her to join him, and then she‟d feel those big hands stroking over her… Glory sighed and took another drink. Spring was a long time away. **** The beautiful Indian summer weather was over. The next day was clear and cold, but Glory went out to the backyard to draw. Mikey sighed over her stubbornness but followed her with an extra blanket folded over his bare arm. Carla was with Renee and Rose and her horse, giving them riding lessons. Rose didn‟t look particularly enthusiastic about being bounced around on a horse. Her face had a distinctly greenish cast to it. Glory sympathized. She had been a bit hung over herself this morning. Several wolves in both their forms were there too, racing each other and practicing their fighting skills while watching over the women. Glory settled herself on a thick sheepskin on the ground and opened her sketch book. She was determined to get the sketch of Shadow just right today. Last night she‟d had a hot dream of him, and although his face wasn‟t the only part of him she remembered being in the dream, it was clear in her mind. If Shadow had a flaw, it might possibly be his nose. It was a proud nose, with a slight Roman arch to it. Glory felt pretty sure she had it just right when she noticed a familiar scent in the crisp air. She inhaled deeply, her heart flinging itself into her throat. “Shadow?” She thought she yelled, but it came out in a choked whisper audible only to wolf ears. She didn‟t notice the way all the wolves stopped their play to watch her scramble to her knees and swing around. He was there, long hair drifting in the breeze over his naked body, gaze fixed on her. She devoured him with her eyes, seeing that she had gotten the nose right, but she had missed the stud he wore in … Hey! That was her stud! She had left it in his tent, and she had thought it was lost forever. He looked magnificent, all bare brown skin and taut
muscle under what seemed like miles of black hair. She noticed a certain part of his flesh swelling and snatched the blanket from Mike. “Shadow! For God‟s sake, cover up!” She flung a glance over her shoulder, to where Renee and Carla were politely looking away while Rose gaped. Teenagers. She shook out the blanket and held it out to him. He ignored it to fold her in his arms. “Sunshine,” he murmured into her hair. “You‟re cold! And so thin! Have you been sick?” Thin? She opened her mouth to retort, but he smelled heavenly, and though he was completely bare, his skin was warm. She could feel his erection, and her lonely girl parts remembered the dream from last night. “Where are your clothes?” she demanded, and then, without pausing, “Do you want to go to my room?” His mouth blew warm air over her throat when he nuzzled against her. “Yes. You‟re cold. I need to get you warm.” She choked on a laugh. “Pressing against me like that again will get me real hot, real quick. Oh, Shadow, I missed you. Why are you here? How long are you staying? Are you staying for the winter?” “Only a few days. I was lonely for you, sunshine.” The thought that he was leaving hurt, so she diverted herself by kissing him. “My room is inside,” she reminded him. “I want … Let‟s…” * Shadow knew what she wanted, and it was the same thing he wanted. He picked his mate up and ran across the yard with her, smiling at her squeals of mock alarm. He ignored her orders to put her down and wrap the blanket around his waist. Why should he do that? He was going to take it off the second they got to her room anyway. His kin smiled at him as he went past, but didn‟t try to talk to him. He got them into the room and the door closed, then set her down and began carefully stripping her clothing off her. He didn‟t want to tear anything, but he wanted to see her bare. Even though she had lost some weight since he‟d been with her last she was still the most beautiful woman he‟d ever seen. Her embarrassment over her body was something he couldn‟t understand. A more beautifully made woman he‟d never seen. He followed the curve of her belly with a loving hand, enjoying how the tips of her soft white breasts crinkled into pink buds. “You have the wickedest smile,” she told him. “I love seeing you smile. You should do it more often.” “What do I have to smile about except you?” he said into her hair. Her bed was rumpled and unmade, which made tucking her with him between the sheets easy. The bedclothes smelled like her. It made his erection even fiercer. He said, “Sunshine, I‟ll get you warmed up.” He meant physically warm, since her bare flesh still held lingering chill from the cold air outside, but she laughed and undulated her body against him. “I‟m warmer by the minute, big guy.” The feel of her belly pressing against his cock made him suck in a breath. He wanted to be inside her so badly he shook with it, but her body wouldn‟t be ready for him yet. He kissed her with almost savage passion, but he forced himself to ease back. “Put your hands here, on my chest,” he ordered, then paused. “Please put your hands on my chest. Touch me. My body heat will warm your hands.” She did, letting her fingers play with his nipples before drifting downward. He caught them and brought them back up. “Not yet, sunshine. I want to taste you. Let me taste you.”
He loved the feel of her nipples inside his mouth, the soft smoothness of her breast giving way to puckered nipple against his tongue and teeth. But he loved the sound of her gasp even more. He wanted to play with her for a long time, but the heavy throbbing between his legs told him he wouldn‟t last very long, even without her touching him. “Are you ready for me?” he asked hoarsely. “Well,” she said teasingly. “I‟m not sure.” She stretched one of her legs straight and bent the other, propping her heel against the bed close to her buttock. “Why don‟t you take your fingers for a test drive and find out?” The blond hair between her legs was soft and wet. Gently he slipped a finger along her folds and found them delightfully slick. He slid a finger inside her and rejoiced at the welcoming warmth. She pushed against his finger, forcing him deeper. “I had a dream last night,” she said. Her hand coasted down his chest to his penis. “About you. And this—” She gave him a tiny squeeze. “—was inside me, deep and hard. I liked that dream a lot, but not as much as I like the real thing.” “I have dreams like that too.” He shifted over her, brushed her hand away from him and put the very tip of himself inside her. “This deep?” he asked innocently. “Oh, I think a little deeper,” she groaned. He pushed in an inch further. “This deep?” “Shadow, if you don‟t quit kidding me I‟m going to screeeee—” Her screech when he pushed himself completely inside her with one forceful thrust made him smile. “In your dream, was I this deep?” Glory‟s head was flung back, her chest rising with jerky breaths. “Oh, yeah,” she finally managed. “But you were moving. So, move, Shadow.” “Oh? Are you never satisfied, woman?” She groaned. “Should I be? You need something to strive for. Everyone needs a hobby.” “Hobby? You think you are a hobby?” He propped himself on his elbows, feeling her soft belly against his, her legs parted on either side of his hips. The teasing died out of him. “Glory, I missed you so much. I missed this.” He gave her depths a tiny nudge. “But I missed you. I wanted to see you. I wanted to know that you were all right. Everything I did when I worked on the house was for you, so you would have a warm place next winter. I wanted to wake up with you in the morning and lie down with you at night. I want us to be together, a family within the Clan, with our children gathered around us.” Her eyes, looking up at him, were pale blue, shiny with tears. “I‟m not pregnant.” The sorrow in her voice stabbed him. He kissed her forehead gently. “I know, sunshine.” “But I think I want to be.” She rolled her hips up against him. “So why don‟t you get going on that?” He pulled out and slid back in. Then he paused. “Sunshine, are you sure?” “Positive,” she answered immediately. “Now would you please do something? I‟m dying here!” * It was such a relief when Shadow began moving. It was ten times better than her dream last night. The dream had been nice, but it had left her aching and alone. She pushed aside the knowledge that he wouldn‟t be staying with Taye‟s Pack and focused on enjoying herself. Hard to believe he had been a virgin before her. His fingers knew exactly how to touch her to bring her to screaming orgasm. She shuddered around him just a moment before he roared and squashed her into the bed, forcing all air out of her lungs. After a moment he rolled off her and buried his face in her neck.
It was nice to have Shadow there. And not just for the sex, although that was a huge plus. Just seeing him made her happy. “Do you really have to leave? Couldn‟t you stay here for the winter?” His lips moved against her throat in tiny kisses. “The Clan needs me. And I‟m still working on your house.” “But how much house building can you do in the winter?” she argued. His tongue swiped over the sweat between her breasts. “Hey, that tickles!” “Sorry.” “Do it some more.” They played with each other, basking in the afterglow of their lovemaking. In between kisses he told her about the house. The outer shell was complete, and when he‟d left, the men were working on finishing the inside. It wasn‟t big or grand, but there were three fireplaces, one in the bedroom, one in the kitchen and one in the common room. He would make sure she would be comfortable. The plumbing was crude compared to Taye‟s den, but the toilet would flush and water could be heated and pumped into the shower. A couple months ago, those kinds of facilities would have horrified Glory. Now, knowing what most people had to make do with, she was pleased. She wanted to say she loved him, but she wasn‟t sure she could get the words out. She had a few days to work up to it, so maybe she should just show him for now. She kissed him and felt his cock grow stiff as she played with it. She rolled to her knees and put her hands on the mattress. She glanced over her shoulder at him with a teasing smile. “Come here, big guy. Time for round two. Don‟t you want to go all Alpha on me?” She arched her back and wiggled her ass at him. He was staring at that place between her legs. “Glory, I don‟t want to hurt you.” “I‟m on a bed. Nothing to hurt me here. No hard ground or grass, just a soft mattress, sheets, and blankets. Come on, Alpha. I‟ve wanted to do this again ever since last time.” She peeked at him again. He hadn‟t moved. She sank down on her haunches. “Don‟t you want to?” she said in a small voice. “Sunshine, last time I hurt you.” “Moron. You did not hurt me. I liked it. I know that you were really mad, and you weren‟t trying to make me happy. But this time will be different. You won‟t try to dominate me like that again, right? It‟ll be good for both of us.” She growled in exasperation at his unconvinced face. “I liked it. I‟ll like it again if you‟d just get over here and do your part.” He still hadn‟t moved, but his cock was hard and straight, almost quivering with eagerness. She got up on her knees and bent forward, presenting him with her wet pussy. “Shadow, if you want me, you better get over here and prove it. I‟m getting pretty lonely. If you don‟t want me, I‟ll—” He lunged at her, covering her wet pussy with his palm and rubbing until one of his fingers slipped inside. “You‟ll what?” “Find some—” He replaced his fingers with his cock and slammed deep. “Find someone else?” he growled. She let out a satisfied hum. “Something else, I was going to say. Ah! But nothing else could be as good as this. Harder, Shadow, harder!” “You are mine, sunshine.” “You are mine, Shadow.” “And don‟t you forget it.” She panted. “Move, damn you.” He moved, giving her powerful thrusts that almost pushed her off the bed. He clamped one arm around her waist to hold her still for him, and tickled her clit with the other hand,
and all the while he was growling “Mine!” under his breath. Just like last time. So she mimicked him. Each time he went deep inside her she yelled, “Mine!” She kept yelling it until she screamed his name when she orgasmed. “Oh, sunshine,” he groaned into the back of her neck, pulling his hips back for one more thrust. “I‟m yours.” They fell together into the sheets, sated, exhausted, and happy. Glory lay with his weight pushing her into the mattress, marveling at his sexual prowess. Every time he had made love to her had been amazing, but today? Tops. Absolutely. After a few minutes, he arranged them more comfortably, so he was on his back, and she was sprawled over his chest, and pulled the covers up over them. Glory propped her chin on her hands against his breastbone and blinked at the sunlight sneaking past the curtains. It was still daytime? Right now she was too sated to want more sex, but come nightfall … She could do this every night for the rest of her life. “Glory, I love you. I will miss you when I‟ve gone back to the winter camp.” Something stabbed her heart. The last few weeks had been so lonely without Shadow. All the times she had wanted to ask him a question or tell him about something that had happened had just reminded her of how much she missed him. Could she bear to go through that again? “Shadow, don‟t leave me here alone all winter.” He pulled her face down for a gentle kiss. “I can‟t stay. I told my father I‟d be back soon.” Words were building up in her chest, scary words that she couldn‟t keep back. “No, I mean, take me with you.” “What?” The blank look of surprise on his face made her want to laugh. For some reason, that broke the dam holding the words back. “Shadow, I‟ve missed you. A lot. Tons. I…” She had to clear her throat. “I love you.” She blinked. “Geez, that was a lot easier to say than I thought it would be.” He continued to stare at her blankly for a few seconds. Then he lunged up and switched their positions so she was under his body, his hair flaring and settling around them like a curtain. His face was only inches away from her when he whispered, “Truly? You love me?” “I damn sure wouldn‟t say it if I didn‟t mean it.” She could feel herself blushing, the curse of the fair-skinned. She scowled up at him. “So deal with it and move on.” He kissed her enthusiastically. “I love you, too. I loved you from the first moment I saw you on the plains. My Glory. My sunshine.” “Your Glory? Yeah, and you‟re my wolf.” She pushed his hair away from her face. The long stuff got everywhere, but she didn‟t mind. It felt right to have his hair falling all over her body. “I‟m only yours, sunshine.” His killer smile bloomed. “You‟re Shadow‟s sunshine.” “Yeah, yeah.” She cut her normal sarcasm short and gave him a kiss. “When do you want to leave?” His lips stilled and lifted away from hers. “Are you sure, sunshine? I thought you wanted to spend time with the Grandmother.” That was the hard part. If she went with Shadow she wouldn‟t get as much time with Jill. And who knew how long Jill had left? She was looking so frail now. “If you‟re not staying here, I‟m not either. I-I‟ll miss Jill. But I would miss you more.” Shadow kissed her so tenderly she almost cried. Then he told her he loved her so tenderly she did cry. She still hated to cry, especially in front of other people. But with Shadow it didn‟t matter. Maybe because he had tears in his eyes, too, or maybe just because it was Shadow. He was her wolf, and she was his Glory.
“I love you too, you bossy Alpha wolf.” It was even easier so say now, so she did it again. “I love you, Shadow, and I always will.” The End About the Author: Hello, I‟m Maddy Barone. I have a B.A. in History, which is probably why I work in the financial department at Medicare. I am a baroness in the Society For Creative Anachronism, an international educational organization which studies the Middle Ages and Renaissance, where I get to dress up in clothes from the Italian Renaissance that I sew myself. My evenings are devoted to writing and spending time with friends. In my free time I also spin and knit and play with my three rescue cats.
Meet Lsb Authors At The House Of Sin Lsbooks.Net We invite you to visit Liquid Silver Books LSbooks.com for other exciting erotic romances. 2007: Terran Realm Urban fantasy world: TerranRealm.com Featured Series: The Zodiac Series: 12 books, 24 stories and authors Two hot stories for each sign, 12 signs The Coven of the Wolf by Rae Morgan Benevolent lusty witches keep evil forces at bay Fallen: by Tiffany Aaron Fallen angels in hot flight to redeem their wings The Max Series by JB Skully Meet Max, her not-absent dead husband, sexy detective Witt, his mother… And many, many more!
