Wolf’s Glory (21 page)

“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
Z
s 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.”

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?”