The Alpha's Choice (26 page)

Two things happened simultaneously as Jo was
speaking. Charles and the architect pulled up just as a tall,
bone-thin teenaged boy with his hands tied behind his back broke
from the van. The boy ran around to the back of the van and into
the front of the blue Tahoe. Fortunately, Charles was rolling to a
stop and most of the force came from the boy himself. He hit the
grill, bounced off and stumbled into the rear doors of the van
before he hit the ground.

Charles and Ryker reached the boy at the same
time.

"What the hell's going on here?" Charles
roared. "Why's this kid tied? Ryker?" and before Ryker could
answer, "Marcus!"

Marcus came running, holding the ice pack
Mrs. Martin had given him moments before.

Ryker patted the kid down to make sure
everything was working.

"Get him out of those things," Charles
ordered. "We don't tie up kids. Why Marcus?"

"This is why." Marcus pulled the ice pack
away from his face. "And this." He pulled his shirt collar away
from his neck. "You want to see the rest? Or would you like to hear
about chasing them all over the fucking mountain for four
days."

He snarled at the boy and stamped his foot as
if about to attack. Hands now free, the boy reacted with an attack
of his own. He swung with a full roundhouse punch aimed at Marcus'
head. Ryker captured him much as the younger boy had been held,
wrapping his arms around the boy's chest in a bear hug although
River was much too tall to lift off the ground. He did, however,
try to stomp on Ryker's booted foot.

Ryker tightened his grip. "Seems like you're
aching to know what it feels like to be crushed by a car. I can
help with that."

"Ryker!" Kat screamed the name. What was
wrong with these wolvers? She looked to Charles for support and
found none.

"River, right? The Chief can make it happen,
River," Charles said to the teen.

The place suddenly erupted as the two younger
boys exploded into kicks and punches and screams that triggered a
new outburst from River.

"Get your goddamned hands off them," he
shouted. "Fuckin' bastards! It was my fault. Leave 'em alone."

"Charles!" Kat wrapped her arms around Forest
and pulled her into her chest, hiding her from all that was
happening around them.

Little Meadow watched it all with the same
wide eyes, her thumb plug in place.

"Enough!" Charles roared. "Enough, Damnit!"
His power expanded and rolled over them all in a compression of air
and all noise and movement stopped. Everything stopped.

"You two." He pointed to the younger boys who
were now cowering with their heads lowered. The sandy haired one
had fallen to his knees. "You use those feet for anything but
walking or those fists for anything but stuffing your faces and
you're going to feel mine. Are we clear?"

The dark haired one gave him a look that
could kill, but gave him a sharp nod of his head. The sandy haired
was shaking so badly, it was hard to tell if he nodded or not.

Charles turned back to River, still locked in
Ryker's embrace. "You're right. I hold you responsible." He raised
his voice. "So if the rest of you want him to suffer for your
screw-ups, go right ahead. No fur off my tail."

Kat couldn't believe what she was hearing.
These were children. Wild, yes, but children nonetheless. He was
threatening them with bodily harm. She and Charles were going to
have to talk about this when they had some time alone.

"All of you go into the kitchen and get
yourself something to eat. Now!" he shouted when no one moved. He
turned his back on them all and went back to the Tahoe in which the
architect had wisely remained.

Jo looked down at her tiny charge and saw the
dark shadow on the ground at her feet. "Well, shit," she
muttered.

"Nope. I'm pretty sure that's pee," Ryker
snickered as he marched by with River in tow.

Poor Meadow had wet herself. It was the only
sign of the little girl's fear.

Chapter 25

"Get out of my kitchen. Git now, git!" Mrs.
Martin shooed them with her apron like a flock of unruly chickens
that had pecked their way through her kitchen door. "The day I
can't handle a litter of pups is the day I hang up my apron."

Most of the adults backed away, but Marcus
stood his ground. "They'll run," he warned. He folded his arms,
prepared to stay. "I've already chased them all over the fucking
mountain. I'm not chasing them again.

"You watch your tongue or the only one
running is going to be you," she threatened. "Grown man making a
little girl wet herself. You ought to be ashamed, you…"

"The Alpha did it! Not me," Marcus
complained, sounding very much like a kid himself.

"He wouldn't have had to if you'd done your
job proper. Miz Jo, why don't you take your friend into my sitting
room and get those wet bottoms off. You can wrap her in that
coverlet until this feller here brings her something dry to
wear."

As she led Forest to one of the stools that
lined one side of the island, Kat wondered if Charles could do
anything wrong in the housekeepers eyes.

"Don't be afraid," she whispered to the young
teen who hadn't raised her head since the outdoor altercation and
moved like an automaton. "No one here will hurt you."

The two younger boys didn't need to be told.
On seeing the plate piled high with cookies, they scrambled up onto
stools. The sandy haired one reached for the plate.

"Don't you dare," Mrs. Martin warned. "In
this house you'll eat off your own plate and none other and not
until your face and hands are washed."

The boy looked at River and withdrew his hand
only after the teenaged leader gave a slight shake of his head.

Mrs. Martin already had a wet towel in her
hand. The dark haired boy drew back as she approached, but she was
not to be put off. She raised her index finger. "You don't wash,
you don't eat. That's the rule. You may have to eat a peck a dirt
before you die, but you don't have to eat it all in one sitting."
She looked the boy in the eye. "So what's it going to be?"

After a moment's deliberation and another
glance at the plate of cookies, the boy held out his hands. Mrs.
Martin attacked them with a vengeance and moved on to his face,
giving it the same treatment.

"What's your name, boy?" she asked when she
finished.

"Ranger."

"Well, Ranger, you're a pretty handsome fella
when you're cleaned up. Miz Kat, will you put a couple of cookies
on one of them little plates and pass it over to Ranger here?" She
turned the towel around to the clean half and went to work on
Dakota. "Let's see what's under all that dirt and muck" she said as
she scrubbed away. "Well lookie here, Miz Kat, we got us another
fine one."

Kat had the plate ready for Dakota. "He is a
handsome one, isn't he?" she said. Dakota had the cookies stuffed
in his face before the plate touched the counter.

The housekeeper ignored the boys' manners and
rinsed the towel. She handed it to Forest who used it and returned
it without raising her head. Mrs. Martin said nothing, but stroked
the girl's head and continued to do so even when the girl
stiffened.

"You and me got some baking to do," she said
to the girl. "These boys are going to need cookies and cakes and
good homemade bread. Miz Kat's got enough to do in the schoolroom
and that one," she motioned to Jo who was washing Meadow's face at
the sink, "Ain't worth squat in the kitchen. You think you can help
me out?"

"I don't know how," Forest whispered.

"Nobody knows how 'till somebody shows 'em.
We'll do just fine, you and me. You'll see," she told the girl and
turned her attention to River. "You look like you could do with a
might more than cookies. Never saw a feller so skinny and still be
standing. You wash up and I'll fill you a plate," she told him.

River didn't move and Marcus took a step
forward.

"It's all right, River," Kat intervened. She
didn't want another contest of wills, not now when the others were
just settling down. "We'll worry about cleaning up later. Let's get
you fed."

"Everything all right in here?" Charles stood
in the doorway.

"Everything's fine, Charles," Kat said
quickly. She busied herself passing out more cookies and pouring
milk. "Just fine. Mrs. Martin was just going to make River a
sandwich. She thinks he needs fattening up. I'm sure you have other
things to do. You can take Marcus with you." She smiled.

"That's who I'm here for. Tanner can keep
watch." He smiled back.

"But…"

"Tanner can keep watch."

She was distracted by the sound of water
running behind her. River was washing his hands. She looked back at
Charles and gave him what she thought was a significant look. "Can
we talk?"

"Later, Katarina. I have other, more
important, things to take care of now. I'll talk to you later
tonight. Late tonight," he said firmly. "If I have the time."

She could tell by the way he said it that she
wasn't to question it. She also knew how it sounded to the others.
She was being put in her place.

* * *

Lunch was a near disaster, a feeding frenzy
of monumental proportions. The children acted as if they'd never
had a decent meal before. While they abided by Mrs. Martin's rule
of eating from their own plates, once those plates were full, they
dove in, cramming their mouths with chunks of meat and cheese and
deviled eggs. They ignored the forks and spoons and shoveled it
into their mouths with their hands, Dakota going so far as to lick
the mashed potato directly from the plate and, like Oliver Twist,
they held out their plates for more.

Kat was repulsed by the display, but held her
tongue only because it was their first day and they had been
through enough. Tilda was having a hard time holding hers, too, and
Kat was sure she restrained herself solely because Kat had touched
her hand and shaken her head in a gentle 'no' before the woman
could interfere. They had time to teach them table manners. There
were other things they needed to learn first.

Like using the bathroom.

After their cookies and milk, the first order
of business had been baths. Since the younger boys smelled the
worst, Kat decided they should go first. She chose Ranger because
he seemed the most tractable and Rawley volunteered for the
job.

The kitchen exploded when Rawley tried to
take him out. This time, even Forest attacked without hesitation.
Rawley was not going to separate one from the others. With Becky's
help, Kat and Mrs. Martin managed to pull everyone apart and Rawley
volunteered to take the two boys together.

"Are you sure?" Kat asked. She didn't think
he was a willing volunteer to begin with. Becky certainly
wasn't.

Rawley grinned. "Two half pints? I think I
can handle it."

River, who'd watched the whole thing from his
place leaning against the sink because he'd refused to sit with the
others, whistled and gave a sharp nod.

"Go," was all he said and the boys went.

"You could have prevented that," Kat said to
him, "You could have told them to go as soon as it was suggested.
Why didn't you?"

River's answer was a curled lip.

"We're your family now, River," Kat told him
gently. She could feel Forest watching from beneath the bangs that
were much too long. "You have people you can rely on, people you
can trust. The Alpha…"

"Fuck off."

Tilda glared at the boy. "You mind your
tongue when you talk to Miz Kat. She's here to help you."

"Shut up, old woman. Save it for the young
ones who don't know any better."

"River!"

"What?" he asked with the same curl of the
lip.

Charles walked in with a tray of dirty dishes
followed by Jo with an armload of empty platters.

Charles took in the food strewn floor and
counter, Forest with her head bent and her hand frozen on the last
bit of cheese on her plate, Meadow staring with her thumb stuck in
her mouth and River, sullen and confrontational.

"What happened?"

"Lunch," Kat told him, a little too brightly.
"I'm adding table manners to my lesson plans. Rawley took Dakota
and Ranger upstairs for a bath."

"Tanner! Get in here! You're back on
duty."

"Charles. We're fine."

"No, we're not," River mumbled under his
breath.

"No, we're not," Charles said aloud. "I don't
have time to chase all over creation after these kids. My brother
made that mistake and his Mate went into early labor for her
trouble."

"I didn't touch her," River snarled.

"You didn't have to. She was so worried when
you took off, she insisted on joining the search. She was afraid
for the little ones. I'm not as kindhearted as my brother. I won't
give you the chance to harm what's mine."

"Elizabeth? Is she all right? Is the baby all
right?"

"Babies. Twins and they and their mother are
doing fine, no thanks to him."

"Thank you God," Kat said for the sake of
Elizabeth, the babies and for River. That was a burden no child
should have to carry and there was no use explaining it wasn't his
fault since Charles had already declared it to be. "He wasn't the
only one that ran, Charles. The other children did, too." Kat knew
River was the leader, but they were forgetting that he was a child,
too.

"He was the one in charge. He takes the
responsibility."

There was no point in arguing here in front
of the other children. It would only make things worse. River's
fists were clenched and he was ready to fight. Forest's body was
quivering in fear and little Meadow had her thumb in her mouth.

Becky's burst of giggles interrupted the
moment when Rawley brought Dakota and Ranger back, leading them not
so gently by the scruffs of their necks. The boys were clean and
shiny, their hair towel dried and sticking out every which way. In
spite of the big man's grip on their necks, they were grinning.
Rawley was soaked to the skin from head to foot.