Wolf’s Glory (10 page)

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.

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.”