Wolver's Rescue (30 page)

Her human mind was repulsed and rejected all
she’d done, seeing it as proof that her change in status meant
nothing. Wolver or human, she was still insane, maybe more so now
than before. Her she-wolf joined the cacophony of noise surrounding
them and howled with joy.

“
Mate, mate, mate! Mine,
mine, mine!
”

Movement stopped. The snarls and growls
faded. The cubs were silent. The toddlers’ cries subsided to
whimpers. Macey ceased screaming. Tommie uncurled from her fetal
ball and looked around. A few feet away, a majestic brown wolf
stood with bloodied muzzle over the ravaged body of the Alpha wolf.
The Alpha was dying. She could feel the anticipation of the others
as they watched and her she-wolf repeated their thoughts.

“
Kill. Kill. Take the
mantle. Kill
.”

She felt nothing for the Alpha’s death,
except satisfaction. Her concern was solely for the brown. When
another wolf stepped forward, he curled his lip in warning. The
other stepped back. When the staccato bursts of breath from the
dying wolf subsided slowly into nothing, the brown raised his snout
to the sky and howled, not in pleasure or in victory as she
expected. The loneliness of that howl tore through her heart and
she reached out to bury her hand in his ruff.

He turned sharply, teeth bared, but
immediately relaxed when he saw that it was her hand that touched
him. His eyes softened. He lowered his head and leaned into her
comfort and she was comforted in return.

Long moments passed before the wolf stepped
away from her touch. He nodded to the others and shifted to human,
then with a courtly bow, offered Tommie his hand and lifted her to
her feet. His kiss was quick, more greeting than passion, and then
he laughed and looked around at the items scattered on the
ground.

“
Any water in this mess?” He
started to pat his pockets.

Someone passed him a bottle. The cub who’d
remained in the tree ripped his shirt off and passed it to
Bull.

“
The inside’s clean,” he
said, and shrugged.

“
Thanks, Dean. You’re a good
man,” Bull told him as he took the shirt, wet it with the water and
started to wipe Tommie’s face, concentrating on the area around her
mouth.

“
What are you doing?” She
tried to push his hand away, her mind finally registering the fact
that they weren’t alone, others were watching, and there were
things that needed to be done.

“
You don’t want to scare the
pups,” he said and showed her the red stained cloth. He started to
laugh and shake his head back and forth, back and forth. “His
nose?” He laughed harder and the others began to laugh with him.
“Spitfire, you really are crazy.”

Tommie felt the blood rush downward from her
face and she swayed, light headed at the loss.

“
I know,” she whispered.
Tonight had proven it.

“
It was so cool,” Cory
chimed in excitedly.

“
You should have seen the
look on his face,” Dean hollered. “On all their faces. They were
like, what?” He demonstrated with a ridiculous look. “I thought she
was going to bite it clean off.”

“
She sure tried!”

“
Attacked an Alpha,” Bogie
said in wonder. It was the first time Tommie’d heard the wolver
speak or smile. “A female ripping into an Alpha.” He didn’t sound
disgusted. His tone was admiring. “Can’t believe it.”

“
I’ll bet it’s a first,”
Stretch added, “And if I was you, Bull, I’d mind my Ps and Qs. This
one don’t mess around. Let’s get this stuff cleaned up, so we can
get back and tell the others. What do you want us to do with the
bodies?”

“
In the shed for now. We’ll
take care of it in the morning,” Bull said, but he was looking at
her. “Tommie, are you all right?” He started wiping her face again
when she nodded. “First blood can be tough. Most females never
taste it.”

“
First blood? Is this
normal?” she asked confused by the reactions around her. “I’m not
going crazy?”

The look he gave her was one she couldn’t
decipher. “God, I hope not, spitfire. I hope not.” He stopped his
wiping and pulled her to him, and kissed her nose before he pulled
her head against his chest. “Because if you go crazy, I’ll have to
go with you.”

“
It’s nice to know I’ll have
company,” she sighed and then because her head was turned, she saw
Macey sitting alone in the dirt.

The men were taking care of the cleanup. The
boys were taking care of the pups. Bull was taking care of her. No
one was taking care of Macey. Tommie pulled away from Bull’s
embrace, but he refused to release her.

“
Let me go, Bull. Macey’s
all alone.”

“
It’s what she deserves.”
His voice was cold, but he released her.

“
No, Bull. She warned us
they were coming. She gave Daniel a chance to bring help. She gave
us time to prepare. She didn’t want to go back, but she ran to him
anyway. She tried to stop them. She tried to save us.”

“
She could have gotten you
killed,” he said tightly.

“
She could have, but she
didn’t. She did the right thing, Bull. She was almost too late, but
she did the right thing and someone has to tell her that.” She
patted his chest. “You get everyone back to camp. Macey and I will
be along in a minute.”

It wasn’t until the others left, none except
Sammy saying goodbye to the girl, that Macey finally spoke.

“
My dad saved my life,” she
said quietly. “Bull is looking for him and he did it
anyway.”

“
He did,” Tommie agreed. “It
was pretty amazing. He swooped in like a ghost and then he was
gone. It just goes to prove that your mother was right. No matter
what else he’s done, he still loves you. He’s still looking out for
you.”

“
He should have let me
die.”

“
Oh no, honey. Dying’s the
one setback you can’t overcome.”

“
Setback?” Macey’s look said
she’d cast her vote under the Crazy column. “You call this a
setback?”

Tommie lifted her shoulders. “I don’t believe
in failure, only setbacks. You learn from them and move on.”

The girl shook her head. “They’re going to
kill me anyway,” she whispered.

Tommie had a horrible feeling this wasn’t the
usual teenaged lament. Macey meant it literally.

“
No, they won’t.” She had no
way of knowing that, but she had to believe it wasn’t so. “They
love you.” She thought she’d scored a point when Macey
nodded.

“
Maybe, but after what I
did, I doubt it. If I’m lucky, then I’ll be Outcast. Death or
outcast. That’s what happens when you betray the pack.”

“
Your mother won’t allow
it.”

“
My mother will have no
choice,” the girl said resignedly. “She can’t go with me. She needs
them. They aren’t a pack right now, but everyone is hoping that
will change. She has Sammy to think about. She wants a future for
him, the same as she wanted one for me. There’s no future for an
outcast.”

Tommie threw her arm around the girl’s
shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “You can’t look at it that way,
honey. You can’t give up hope. You’ve made mistakes, big ones, but
it’s not the end of the world. You’re still a girl. You’re supposed
to make mistakes.”

“
In your world, not mine.
And this was more than a mistake. I betrayed them, Tommie.” The
tears slipped from her eyes, not for what would happen, but for
what she’d done.

“
In any world. Come on.
Let’s go back.”

“
I can’t.” Macey started to
cry again. “I know what they’ll say and I know I deserve it, but I
can’t face it.” She turned into Tommie’s shoulder and sobbed. “Why?
Why was I so weak? Why did I listen to him? Why did I turn my back
on the people who loved me?”

“
I don’t know,” Tommie
answered honestly. “Only you can answer that, but the fact that
you’re asking the questions shows me you’re not hopeless. You’re
not trying to blame anyone else. That’s not weakness. That’s
strength. Now come on. We’ll go back together and face the music.
I’ll stand with you and hold your hand.”

“
But what if
they...?”

“
We’ll deal with it when it
comes.”

They dealt with it immediately upon entering
the camp. It was as if they’d been waiting for her. Every one of
them who were on their feet turned their backs on the girl, though
the cubs hesitated. Even Louise, lying on a pallet of blankets near
the fire, turned her face away. Only Bull and Samuel faced them,
and it was clear Bull wasn’t part of the group. He was off to the
side by the bus, an obvious observer. It was Samuel who spoke.

“
We took a vote. We know
you’re young, but what you did caused no end of trouble here,
Macey. You’ve got to go.”

Macey hung her head. “I know,” she whispered
and then, “I’m sorry.”

“
No. Please,” Tommie begged.
“Didn’t you tell them?” she asked the boys’ backs. “Didn’t you?”
she asked Bull who dropped his chin in a solemn nod. “Didn’t you
hear her? She’s sorry, truly sorry. She knows what she’s done and
she wants to make amends.” When no one spoke, she squeezed Macey’s
hand. “I guess that’s it, then. Go get your things. I’ll go get
mine.”

“
Tommie,” Bulls voice was
deep with warning. “Don’t threaten.”

“
You can’t,” Macey cried
beside her.

“
Of course I can. I’m a free
agent, remember?” she said to Macey and gave her hand a squeeze.
Tommie’s heart was breaking, but she’d survived heartbreak before.
She raised her chin to Bull. “It’s not a threat. This group will do
fine without me. Macey won’t. I made a promise up in that shack,
the same promise I made to all of you, and I intend to keep it. I
promised to stand by them, protect them, and love them. Macey’s not
going out there alone.”

“
She’s not going out there
alone. She won’t be Outcast. Bull said he’d find her another
pack.”

“
Then I hope they’ll take
two.”

“
Make that
three.”

“
Four.”

“
Five. They take us all or
we don’t go.”

The boys came and stood beside her and as
hard as she tried to stop them, Tommie felt the tears welling in
her eyes.

“
You three got no say in
this,” Samuel told them. “I know it’s hard, but it’s the way it’s
always been and it needs to be done.”

Cora, who was standing beside her mate,
smacked his arm so hard he flinched. “Who voted?” she asked, but
didn’t wait for an answer. “Tommie didn’t vote. Boris didn’t vote.
That new fella didn’t either. Those three votes could change
things.”

“
That new fella’s not a
member of the pack.”

“
What pack, you old fool? We
aren’t a pack, and at the rate we’re going, we’re never going to be
one, either. If the way it’s always been is what you want, why in
hell did you talk me into leaving?” Others turned to watch and she
addressed them with her pointed finger. “And why in hell don’t you
go back. You can take your chance with the new Alpha, since this
one turned down the job.” The finger moved to Bull and then moved
on to Tommie. “You still got them sweet dreams?”

“
Um.” Tommie looked at the
teenagers who stood with her and her face broke into a smile.
“They’re a little smaller now, but yeah, I’ve still got
them.”

“
Then don’t leave until I
get back. I’m going with you.”

“
Cora, you can’t go without
me,” Samuel protested.

“
Then you better pack your
bag, old man.” She braced her hand at the small of her back and
stretched. “My back aches and my feet are so swollen I can hardly
stand. I’m tired of living in the back of a forty year old school
bus and I don’t want those cubs to ever have to live in one. I want
a place where I can put my feet up at the end of the day, maybe
watch a little TV. I want to earn my money honest-like, and have a
say in how it’s spent. I want these cubs to go to a real school and
not the hard-knock kind we were raised in.” She started for the
bus.

Others were stepping forward, saying they
wanted those things, too, and asking about the dreams. Tommie
thought of the house she left behind.

“
I can do that,” she called
to Cora. “I can do all those things. I have two TVs and two
bathrooms with toilets that flush and showers that have hot water
all year long,” she added, remembering the notice that was posted
in the shower room. It’s not much, but it’s a start.”

“
It’s a helluva lot more
than we got now,” someone said behind her.

“
What are the rest of us
going to do?”

Tommie turned back to the others. “You can
come with us if you want.”

She grabbed Macey’s hand and held it tight,
making it clear the girl was coming, too.

“
Why don’t you talk about
this tomorrow after we’ve all had some sleep? We’ve got things we
need to take care first,” Bull said to earnest nods all around.
“Showers wouldn’t be a bad idea, either. Some of us could use one.”
He looked pointedly at Tommie. “Biting the nose of an Alpha is
messy business. Might as well take advantage of that hot water
while we can.”