Wolver's Gold (The Wolvers) (15 page)

She would have gladly ignored the footfalls from the dining room, but McCall broke the kiss and held her away.

He looked at her strangely, before whispering, “Damn.”

“I ain’t doin’ these dishes all by myself,” Eustace complained from the door way. “I got… oops… I’ll be in the kitchen finishing up those dishes,” he called over his shoulder as he beat a hasty retreat.

“We’d better get back to the kitchen,” McCall said, but he continued to hold her by her shoulders. His breathing sounded a little ragged and he looked upset. “Listen, Red,” he said as he tucked the unruly curl at her forehead back into place. “Don’t make too much of this. I only wanted to show you what a real kiss should be like. You shouldn’t have to accept anything less. I wanted you to know what to look for when the right wolver came along. That’s all it was.”

His words were like a slap. What meant everything to her meant nothing to him. She swallowed and nodded and then pulled away.

“Then I’m afraid you’re too late, Mr. McCall,” she said with all the dignity she could muster. “There are some lessons that should never be learned.”

“Still friends?” he asked and the wa
y he asked it made Rachel think he was afraid she’d say no.

She wanted to, but couldn’t. Once again, she thought of the flowers in Daisy’s Bouquet. They probably kissed men all the time and it meant nothing at all.
It wasn’t the sheriff’s fault she was inexperienced. She should be grateful to him for teaching her what to expect. But as with whiskey, there would be repercussions. Once she was mated to a man she despised, she would be all too aware of what she was missing.

“Of course we’re still friends, Mr. McCall. Who else could I cal
l on to help me with the dishes?”

Chapter 14

Eustace kept watching them as they washed, dried and put away the dishes and utensils. The silence felt awkward and his few attempts to fill it fell flat.
Rachel felt his curiosity at the noticeable unease, but explanations would have to wait until the sheriff was gone. And there would have to be an explanation before Eustace carried the tale hither and yon, making much of nothing.

If she and McCall were to remain friends, she needed to do something to alleviate the tension that so obviously hung between them. Though so recently found, she already missed the easy going banter that had become so much a part of their relationship.

“Eustace, have you heard any talk about the Mate reaching out to touch anyone lately?” she asked because she could think of nothing else.

He stopped wiping and thought about it. “Nope, unless you’re meaning Maudie and you were there for that.”

“But you weren’t,” Rachel said, surprised and curious. “How did you hear about it?” She looked at McCall, asking with her eyes if the information had come from him.

“Don’t look at me. I didn’t say anything,” he said, “I’m still trying to figure out why you got so worked up when she touched you.”

“She touched you, too?” Eustace seemed eager to switch the attention to someone else.

“On the street, when she introduced herself to Mr. McCall. And tonight after the Lantern Show, she was acting strange, almost giddy. She was happy, but I don’t think she touched anyone.
She practically insisted the schoolmaster, Mr. Washington, move in here.”

“
You and she are about the same age,” McCall said, “So I gather she isn’t Jeremy’s mother.”

“That’s right. Our Alpha was mated once before.”

“What happened to her?” McCall asked, almost too curiously.

“She died birthing a pup. The pup died, too,” Eustace told him.

“We were devastated,” Rachel added. Relieved to have something to talk about, she went on. “She was a wonderful Mate. No one thought she could be replaced.”

“Mayor Hoffman took it hard, too. Durn near fell apart,” Eustace added, “Started relying on Holt to run things
. Never did take back the reins. Looking back, I don’t think he ever held ‘em in the first place. He always was one to beat the devil around the stump
.
I think the Mate did the running and he took the credit.”

“Eustace,” Rachel warned
.

“
Don’t you Eustace me. Used to be a man was judged on more than his legs,” he said bitterly. “The old Alpha never looked down on me. Neither did this one until Barnabas Holt became Second. I got a right to say what I think and he…” He bobbed his head at McCall, “ain’t one to spread tales. This place had been sliding downhill for a while, but the Mate kept us going. When she died, the place went to hell in a hand-basket and I ain’t apologizing for the word, neither.”

“I think
he used it in the biblical sense,” McCall chuckled to Rachel and when she smiled back, he, too, looked relieved.

“It was probably about a year and a half later w
hen this young human woman showed up,” Rachel continued, “She said she heard we had need of a nurse and wanted to apply for the position.”

“Wait a minute,” McCall interrupted, “Your Alpha didn’t bring her here?”

“Oh, no, she just showed up. It happens every now and then. An outsider wants to join our community. They think they’ll like the lifestyle,” she laughed at the term. “The Alpha always turns them away, of course, but this time he didn’t and after a few days, we knew why. We were worried, at first, but she took to our way of life like she’d been born to it and we grew to love her. She was pretty wonderful, too.” Rachel shrugged. “Until about eighteen months ago.

“She just withdrew? Did it finally get to her?
”

Rachel knew what
McCall was asking. The Mate’s connection with the pack formed almost instantly the moment the Alpha mated her. The emotional bombardment could be so overwhelming, in fact, some Mates collapsed under the initial onslaught. Strong Mates learned to control it and filter out the emotional chaff of daily living that would be blown away on tomorrow's wind. They concentrated instead on the wheat; those feelings which could affect the individual for better or worse and would therefore affect the pack. Those who couldn’t control it, didn’t last long.

“No, that wasn’t it. It was their son’s death that did it. Our Alpha had two sons by his first mate. Jeremy
had already made his first shift before his mother passed. He was almost eighteen, going over the moon and running with the men when Lenora became the Mate. He wasn’t much younger than her, but Edmund was only nine and his mother had passed two years before. Lenora loved those boys, but Edmund was like her own. When he committed suicide, she was devastated.”

McCall fumbled the dish he was drying and almost dropped it.
“Holy shit” He muttered, “I didn’t make the connection.”

“
What connection?” Rachel asked, ignoring the profanity.

“Someone mentioned something about it the other day.
I didn’t realize it was the Alpha’s son.”

“Who
mentioned it?” Eustace asked and it didn’t sound like a friendly question.

“Eustace!
What’s the matter with you tonight?”

Rachel knew the man hel
d a grudge against Holt because of his lowered position in the pack. She didn’t blame him for it, but she also had no idea how or why the Alpha made the decision. That didn’t, however, account for his seeming belligerence toward McCall.

“Nobody talks about that cub, not since the funeral.
Nobody talks and nobody asks questions. Nobody,” he said with finality.

Rachel reached out to touch his arm. “If there were any questions at all, don’t you think his father would have asked them?”

“Not if he didn’t want to hear the answers.” Eustace looked over at McCall. “Now you want to tell me how you know about what happened to Edmund Hoffman?”

“
Answer me one more question and then I’ll answer yours,” McCall said, wiping his wet hands on a towel. “Why didn’t anyone else ask questions?”

Eustace fr
oze for a moment and then nodded at the bottle on the table. “You mind?” he asked Rachel.

In answer, she went to the cupboard and took down three glasses.
There wasn’t much left in the bottle, but when she would have poured less for herself, McCall’s hand reached out to tilt the bottle up.

“Equal,” he said, and Eustace nodded.

The omega took a sip of the amber liquid before he continued. “No one will ask questions because they don’t want to end up like me.”

McCall raised his eyebrows over the rim
as he took a sip from his own glass.

“Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, but you’re wrong. My family was one of the founders of this place and I mean this plac
e before the gold was found up in those hills. Up until all this happened, I owned the livery and while I wasn’t no big bug…”

“Top alpha,” Rachel interjected, not sure if
McCall understood the term.

Eustace kept going.
“I did all right. I don’t walk real well, but I rode just fine. The old Alpha, Sterling’s father, didn’t hold my legs against me. Neither did Sterling. I didn’t look for a mate.” He glanced at his legs. “No sense passing this on, but some of the cubs used to stop by regular. Edmund was one of them. He liked horses and he liked me. We got to be friends. The cub talked to me and his wolf was yearning for that Cassie down to the Emporium, not that girl who left town. She was coming back, by the way. She was following in the Mate’s footsteps, wanted to be a… a…, a fancy titled nurse. I don’t rightly remember, but she was comin’ back. That cub didn’t hang himself. It wasn’t in him. I asked questions.”

“Eustace, that’s not right.
How could it be? The Alpha’s not like that. He wouldn’t let that happen.” Rachel always believed that Eustace betrayed the pack in some way, but was spared being outcast because of his condition. In all honesty, she couldn’t see that, either. She’d always known him to be a good, kind wolver, which was why she helped him where she could.

Eustace
glanced at Rachel, but looked McCall in the eye. “I swear it.”

McCall didn’t blink or look away. “I believe you.”

Eustace nodded, satisfied. “Now tell me. How do you know about what happened to the cub?”

“I read it in some of Paul Porter’s notes. He had questions, too.”

“Then let that be a lesson to you. Don’t ask about Edmund Hoffman, unless you’ve got a hankerin’ to spend eternity with Paul Porter.”

“They didn’t kill you,” McCall reasoned.

“They didn’t have to.” Eustace tapped his legs. “I don’t pose a threat.”

“Neither did that cub.”

“Yes, he did. He was young, but he was strong and getting stronger. He was smart. He had plans for this pack. And he was already wise enough to know he wasn’t ready for the job. Being the Alpha’s son gave him no claim to the position, but it gave him a leg up and folks liked him. You ain’t been here long enough to see there aren’t many who could fill the role when the time comes and those that can, will only make things worse.”

“When the time comes,” Rachel murmured, as she placed the last of the dishes on the shelf. It was said more to herself than to the men, so she was surprised to find them both waiting for her to elaborate.

She suddenly felt very uncomfortable. This was men’s talk, talk of things she knew nothing about. With the exception of his showing her the way the first time she went over the moon, she’d never heard her Alpha speak mind to mind. She’d never been to Court to listen to her Alpha’s judgments. Women weren’t welcome there and those who were called to appear before the Alpha, if only to bear witness, were shamed by it. Her understanding of how the pack was run came from what little her father chose to tell her or from the gossip Bertie and Eustace carried to her kitchen. She felt like a child learning the truth about Santa.

She shrugged. This was what she wanted, wasn’t it?
To be treated as an equal. So why did she wish Mr. McKinley was here to pat her hand and tell her not worry her dear little head about it?

“It was something Mr. Coogan said about the
Second.” She felt her face redden when she realized she’d have to put his comment into the proper context. Her eyes turned to Eustace. “I’d rather this didn’t get repeated.”

Eustace looked both shocked and offended. "What kind of a feller do you think I am? I know when to hobble my lips. Folks here
abouts depend on me for the news, but that don't mean I tell everything I know. And I sure as shootin’ wouldn't pass along any stories about you, Miss Rachel." He grinned. "Particularly not the one about a certain gentleman who was keeping company with her 'till ten minutes before her pa come home and stole a mighty powerful kiss right in the front hall."

"I wasn’t watching the clock and she's a grown woman, Eustace, not a teenager," McCall told him with an exasperated sigh.

"I know that, but she's still an angelica as far as her pa's concerned. An unmated girl," He automatically translated when he saw the question on McCall's face. "Folks'll turn a blind eye to a courtin' couple and some to Daisy's girls, but anything else'll cause talk and Miss Rachel don't need none of that. She's got enough on her plate as is."

“Thank you, Eustace,” Rachel said with relief and picked up her untouched glass from the table. She’d heard her father call it liquid courage when he poured himself a glass before heading to the saloon.
She took a sip.

“Mr. Coogan said that if I chose the Second as my mate, he’d put me aside when the time comes.
I didn’t think about what that meant. Or how reliable it was.”

She added this last because he also talked about her money and she didn’t have any
. Expenses and taxes were going up and her father often borrowed money from the till, money that had to be replaced. She hadn’t realized until tonight that he’d borrowed from others as well. If her two suitors were chasing her money, they were barking up the wrong tree.

“Holt’s planning on being our next Alpha,” Eustace concluded, “
That ain’t hard to figure. Who else is there strong enough to carry the mantle.”

“
I don’t understand any of this,” Rachel complained. “If Holt plans to take over, why doesn’t he challenge and if something underhanded is going on, shouldn’t we tell the Mayor?”

“And how would you do that when you have to have to go through Holt to get to him and Holt is by his side for every appointment.”

“Why is the birthrate so low?” McCall asked.

Rachel straightened in surprise at the question that came, seemingly out of nowhere. “I-I think that’s a private matter, don’t you?” she said as a
hint to the inappropriateness of the question.

“In a well-run pack, there are no secrets.” McCall smiled at her, but then spoke to Eustace. “Come on, partner. You’re not fooling me. You don’t gossip. You trade information. In a town that exists behind closed doors, you’re probably the only one who knows what’s what.”