Wolver's Reward (14 page)

The smell of flowers tickled his nose and
River followed it to a waste basket in the corner. What were these
guys doing with flowers? And then he put it together with the suit.
The Chase. Did they really think a suit and flowers would make it
right?

"Who's Dennis?" he asked, though he thought
he knew.

"Our Alpha," Quentin said proudly. And then
the brightness left his eyes as his head sank along with his
shoulders, exposing his pain to everyone in the room.

River felt sorry for the cub, but didn't let
it show.

"Former Alpha," Ben corrected. His blue eyes
showed no emotion at all for the loss. "He's dead."

Quentin sank back on the bed, hand holding
his ribs. "I know. I just forgot for a minute, Ben."

"You have a right to be proud," River told
the cub, mainly because Ben's reaction pissed him off. "He fought
well. I saw it. From a distance," he added, "But I had a clear
view."

"He lost." Ben wasn't giving an inch.

River couldn't argue that, so he chose
something else that would rub the wolver's fur the wrong way. "He
did, but there'll be another to take his place."

He deliberately let his eyes roam over the
big blonde and dismissed him. He turned to the older wolver and
offered him a bow of his head. The bow was too slight to be a
gesture of submission, but it was enough to say he recognized the
man as the dominant power in the group.

Scarface didn't return the gesture, but he
did lock eyes with River for a moment before sucking in his cheeks
and turning away to take a seat.

Ben got the message, too.

"You going rogue again?" River asked.

"No beating around the bush with you, is
there?" Scarface asked.

River shrugged. "No point."

"We're not rogues." This time it was Toby.
"We have, um, had an Alpha. We're pack."

"I hate to break it to you, cub, but an Alpha
doesn't make you pack."

Ben, who'd taken a seat on the edge of the
bed, now stood, fists clenched. "You ought to know. Where's your
pack, princess?"

"Right where I left it, asshole, and I'm
still a member." At least he hoped so.

"Fuck you."

River looked him up and down. "Not likely."
He turned to Scarface. "You said talk, but you're not doing
any."

"I was just waiting for you two to finish
measuring dicks."

"We're done."

"I know." Scarface opened his mouth and shut
it again, leaving whatever he'd been about to say unsaid.

The older wolver was no fool. He knew what
River was doing, but refused to play along. That alone told River
something about the guy. He was checking out River while River
checked out the others.

River held out his hand and the scarred man
shook it. "Name's River."

"Scar."

"No shit?"

"No shit."

"Your mama a
Lion King
fan or what?"
River asked just to be a pain in the ass and see how the guy would
react. Meadow had watched that fucking movie so many times,
everyone in the house knew all the words.

It wasn't the reaction he
expected. The guy grinned. "Nope, I am, but if you're expecting a
rousing chorus of
Hakuna
Matata
, you'll have to wait for the Booby
Brothers' next gig." He pointed a warning finger at the two
youngsters. "After Quentin heals and I'm out of hearing. Damn
cubs'll drive you bat shit with it," he muttered and then he
shrugged. "I earned the name."

"As a rogue." Behind him, River felt Ben puff
up, but he didn't take his eyes off Scar.

The man didn't deny it. "Fifteen years. I was
made. So were the cubs' fathers."

"We're cousins," Toby added, which explained
the resemblance.

River didn't ask what Scar or the cubs'
fathers had done to be made Outcast and Rogue. It had to be bad.
The cubs, on the other hand, were different. They were rogue only
by accident of birth. They'd grown up in the life and River knew,
first hand, what that would make them. Still, there was something
about the two that didn't strike him as rogue bred. They were too
much like Ranger and Dakota, who'd left the life early.

"What about you?" he asked the big blond.

"None of your fucking business."

"Then our talk is over." River turned toward
the door.

"He wasn't made. He left," Scar said, and the
difference was clear. Ben had chosen to go rogue. "He's been with
us for two years." Fact, not endorsement.

River nodded. "Now we can talk. You don't
want your money. You don't want the girl. What do you want?"

"A pack," the two cubs answered in
unison.

Damn, the girl was right.

Ben clenched the fists at his side. "Will you
two shut the fuck up? You're not even supposed to be here."

"We just wanted to see Dennis get..."

"Shut up!"

River was done with this guy and he wondered
why Scar wasn't done with him, too. "I asked. They answered. It's
called talk."

"Fuck you. You don't make the decisions."

Every time the guy spoke, his chest puffed
out and he stood a little taller, just like he did at the bar.
Intimidation was his strength and River had the urge to show him
how little that meant.

"You're right, I don't, and that makes you
the lucky one. Just call me..." He paused, trying to think of the
term he'd heard Charles use. "A disinterested third party, or," he
added, because he really didn't like this guy, "The hired gun. You
have to go through me to get to them." He deliberately turned his
back and spoke to Scar.

"You've got a pack. Why not take your money
and go home? Lick your wounds and start over."

Alphas could be replaced, though it could get
messy with Challenge after Challenge, but sooner or later one with
enough power to hold the pack together came out on top.

"We don't have a home. Not one where these
cubs can live right, mate, and breed," he corrected when Toby
opened his mouth to protest. "We're a small pack. So is Sweet
Valley. We don't have land. They do. We don't have enough females.
They don't have enough males. Dennis wanted to combine the packs,
make a fresh start for everyone."

"He wanted to take it over." River had seen
the Lawn Chair King and he'd seen Dennis fight. Taking over would
have been a cake walk, the Challenge short and an easy victory.

Scar bobbed his head once. "Eventually, but
not right away, and not by Challenge. Dennis wasn't built like
that. He would have given up the mantle on the condition that it
would be his again someday. He was willing to serve loyally as
Second until the time came for the mantle to pass."

River didn't try to hide his skepticism. He
knew an Alpha could give up the mantle, but few did except through
old age or death. Most hung on until someone took it by force. Why
would a young and virile male give up that kind of power?

The scarred wolver watched and waited while
River digested the idea. He finally sighed. "Pack comes first.
Dennis believed that," he said, and his eyes travelled to the young
cousins who were watching and listening intently. "No," he said,
more to the cubs than to River. "He didn't just believe it. He
lived it. He wasn't seeking a Mate for himself. He was looking to
the future of the pack. He was willing to sacrifice anything for
it, including the mantle. He did sacrifice everything for it."

Message sent, he turned his eyes back to
River. "Alpha's Mates are hard enough to find. How many do you
think would be interested in the likes of us, a pack that stinks of
rogue? Dennis saw this as a way to clean our slate. He met the girl
and liked her. He said she had a good heart. She seemed to like
him, and she believed in the plan."

"Then why the hell didn't they just take you
in and give him the girl?" All that death for nothing.

River's wolf snarled at the idea, so
incensed, it thrashed inside him begging to get out. Not wanting
the others to see how close it was to the surface, he shuttered his
eyes until it calmed. It was a habit he'd learned early. Never let
them see what's in your eyes unless you wanted them to.

"The deal was sealed with the other Alphas,"
Scar continued. "Her father wouldn't go back on his word. He said
it was a matter of honor. It wasn't supposed to be a Challenge to
the death. The Alphas all agreed on that. It was supposed to be a
race, and Dennis was as fast as the wind. It was a sure thing." He
tried to hide it, but River saw the pain in the older wolver's eyes
before they shuttered closed. "And then it wasn't."

The suit, the flowers, and a girl who wanted
him to win. It all made sense. He remembered her cry and the
sharpness of her breath when he told her the young Alpha lost the
fight. She'd wanted him to win. He would have made it right.

"How many are you?" River asked.

"Twenty-two, with three females and two pups.
We only lost our Alpha at the Chase."

Seventeen adult males all vying for their
place in the pecking order of an established pack. Those kinds of
challenges weren't to the death, but that many that fast could get
out of hand quicker'n shit. They could end up with a brawl if there
wasn't enough established strength to keep it organized and under
control.

Scar said Sweet Valley pack was small, too,
but how small? Could they absorb twenty-two wolvers, feed them,
house them, and clothe them until they were on their feet? River
didn't know much about it, but he'd watched Wolf's Head expand and
he'd heard the arguments about expanding too quickly or not quickly
enough.

Okay, so he didn't know anything about Sweet
Valley, but he'd seen the Alpha and Mate, and he'd talked to the
girl, and you had to figure their pack would be the same. How would
they handle what amounted to an invasion of rough cut wolvers into
their pack? That they were mostly female worried him even more.
Male competition was part of the life. It was a good thing, but too
much could get out of hand, too.

Still, pack was everything and to deny cubs
like Quentin and Toby a chance at a normal pack life would be like
telling Ranger and Dakota they had no place in Wolf's Head. To deny
them might destroy their pack which had already suffered a
crippling blow. But what if combining the two packs destroyed both
instead of just one?

It wasn't his business and it wouldn't be his
fight. He delivered the girl's message, but because he wasn't sure
what name to use, it sounded more like it came from him.

"You can go with them. You'll be welcome," he
told Scar, but his warning was for Ben. "Remember, you're doing the
asking. Make sure you show the proper respect."

The cubs were beaming at him like they'd just
won the lottery. They reminded him so much of Dakota and Ranger
that it hurt.

"If you're still interested, you can come
down to the room and see the hula zombies. When she's awake and
moving again," he qualified when they looked like they were ready
to follow him that instant. He looked from one to the other. "You
wouldn't have anything she could wear, would you? An extra tee
shirt or something?"

"No, but she can have this one," Quentin
offered.

"It's bloody," his cousin argued.

"So's yours," Quentin argued back.

Then both cubs turned to the suit hanging on
the bathroom door. They turned as one to Scar who nodded his
permission.

"He'd like that," he said.

The two rolled off the bed and dove for the
suit. Toby won because Quentin was on his hands and knees groaning
in pain. Broken ribs really were a bitch.

Watching from a distance as the two Alphas
fought, it was hard to judge their size. Seeing the breadth of the
shoulders of the jacket, River now realized their Alpha had been
huge, as big if not bigger than Ben. Huge, brave, and a fucking
saint. No wonder they admired and followed him. He was probably
good looking, too.

"Not the jacket. She'll swim in it, but maybe
she can do something with the khakis and the shirt. Thanks."

Slacks, shirt and belt hanging from their
wire hanger, River returned to their room.

Chapter 11

Curled on her side with her hand under her
cheek, the girl was still sleeping when River opened the door. She
slept as sound as a pup and without a thought to whether it was
friend or foe that was coming through the door. River tried to
picture her as an Alpha's Mate. He couldn't.

He thought of Kat, of how she pushed and
cajoled and argued with Charles. She loved her Alpha, and when
Charles held her in his arms, her eyes would go all soft and misty
like she'd been given a gift from heaven. That didn't mean she
wouldn't give him hell when the mood was on her. She didn't take
his shit either, and Charles could dish it out when the mood was on
him.

He couldn't picture this delicate female
standing up to anyone. She looked so young and helpless.

His wolf snickered at that and River touched
the tender spot on top of his head.

"Okay, maybe not helpless, but she's way too
trusting. She's an innocent."

The snicker turned into a snort.

"Okay, not so innocent. She stole my
truck."

He should be angry about that, angry enough
to drag her from the bed and shake her until her teeth rattled. Not
that he would do it, but angry enough to think about it. So, why
wasn't he thinking about it now?

Maybe that bat to the head had rattled
something inside. He didn't think so, though. All the blond asshole
had to do was look at him to piss him off. So, why not her?

His wolf snorted again.

"Okay," he conceded. "She's hot." His dick
got stiff just looking at her and it was fucking hard to snarl and
think about sex at the same time.

If he couldn't be angry with her, he'd save
it for the ones who were with her. They deserved it more anyway.
After all, they'd stolen his truck twice.