Ellie's Wolf (8 page)

“Breakfast,” Stone announced, with a hopeful smile at Sara.

Sara thanked him enthusiastically. Stone’s mouth spread in a big, happy smile as he left the room. He was older, stronger, and more confident now, but underneath the muscles was the sweet, eager-to-please boy he had been. It made Ellie want to hug him.

Stone was still wearing that smile when the women opened the door, dressed and packed and ready to leave. Quill stepped close to Ellie and brushed his fingertips over her cheek, as if he couldn’t resist touching her. An odd feeling crept over Ellie, a milder version of how she felt on Christmas Eve. Anticipation? He was staring at her mouth. Was he going to kiss her? Ellie’s face was already tilted toward him, but he stepped back.

“Ready to go, ladies?” he asked.

Vague disappointment dispersed the anticipation. Ellie told herself not to be silly. Why would he kiss her in front of a dozen other people? Why would she want him to kiss her? She walked down the stairs surrounded by the men, trying not to dwell on that almost-kiss. Outside, in front of the stable next to the hotel, some horses were saddled, and others were loaded with packs.

It was early, but not too early for a few men to come out to watch the winners of the Bride Fights prepare to leave with their brides. Ellie wondered if gossip had already turned Snake into a monster from legend. A man turning into a wolf and killing three other men must have caused talk, especially if the men of this region weren’t familiar with the Wolf Clan. But Ellie was sure they must know about the Wolf Clan. Ellsworth was less than four hundred miles from Kearney, and even without the technology of the Times Before, news spread quickly. Gossip was the primary form of entertainment in small prairie towns. Having grown up on the prairie, she knew that for a fact.

Some of Taye’s friends took the women’s bags and added them to the packhorses’ loads. As Ellie prepared to mount the mare Quill led to her, she saw Snake leading a horse to Mel. A cool morning breeze lifted his loose, damp hair, blowing it across his face. For a brief moment it hid Snake’s almost painfully blank expression. When he held out the reins to Mel, he looked right at her, but said nothing.

Mel looked at the horse with approval. Ellie knew nothing about horses. She had ridden one only a few times in her life. Mel, Ellie was sure, knew horses. If she approved of this horse, it must be a fine animal. Mel took the reins, and Snake turned away.

“Wait,” said Mel. She swallowed when Snake turned back. “Thank you. For the horse. And for yesterday. You saved me.”

Snake nodded. “I’m sorry I lost control of my wolf.” Ellie watched his Adam’s apple bob when he swallowed. “I haven’t lost control like that since I was fourteen. I’m sorry I scared you.” Some of his blankness faded, overtaken by desperation. “I would never hurt you. Ever. Neither would my wolf. Please, give me a chance to court you. I’ll do anything for you.”

“I need money,” Mel said flatly. “Do you have money?”

“Not a lot of cash,” Snake confessed. “But I can get it. I’ll talk to Taye when we get back.”

She nodded slowly. “I’ll think about it.”

Snake shifted a half-foot closer. “I’ll be scouting today,” he told her, “so I won’t be around much. Will you talk with me tonight when we make camp?”

Mel gathered the reins and grabbed the saddle horn to mount. “Sure.”

Six of the men mounted, including Paint and Snow. The others stripped, stashed their clothing in the packs, and let their wolves out. Stone strolled past, stripping casually as he went. Sara’s brown eyes popped, fixing on Stone’s bare brown body in the seconds before he changed.

“Holy cow!” she said with a breathy sigh, watching the young wolf lope off to take his position as scout. “Those are some damn fine-looking men.”

Paint coughed. Even the scars on his cheeks couldn’t hide his blush.

“So where are we going?” the teenager called.

“First Moore’s Mill,” Paint said. “We need to pick up Miss Ellie’s little boy. Then we head north to the den. We want to make good time, but anytime you ladies are tired, let me know and we’ll take a break.”

Ellie wasn’t used to riding, and she could already tell her legs were going to be sore, but she wouldn’t call for a break. She pointed her horse west, anxious to reach Connor as soon as possible.

The setting sun shot a golden glare over the prairie, almost obscuring Quill’s view of Stone’s big gray body as he ran over. Quill dismounted from his horse and waited until the younger man made the change back to human.

“There’s a good spot for a camp about three miles north and west of here,” Stone reported, pointing back the way he had come.

“Good,” Quill grunted. “Your mate and Snake’s mate do fine on horseback, but mine is looking ready to fall off.”

Stone wagged his head with concern. “Miss Ellie does look pretty tired. Are we going too fast for her?”

“I don’t know.” Quill worried about it, rubbing a fingertip back and forth through the shallow cleft in his chin. “She hasn’t asked for too many stops.”

Stone nodded. “She wants to get to her boy.”

“Yeah, that’s probably why.”

“If we keep pushing on like this, we should be there by tomorrow night, you think?”

“Yeah.”

Stone nodded again. “I’ll head back to the campsite and start a fire.” He stretched his nude body before letting his wolf out and streaking back across the prairie.

Quill watched him go and adjusted the irritating collar of his shirt. The freedom Stone’s bare body gave him pricked Quill with envy. He hated wearing so many clothes for so long. It was one of the many reasons he had left Omaha this past March. Tonight, when he took his turn guarding the camp, he would be able to rid himself of the hot, restrictive clothing required by society. His wolf’s hearing was far keener than his own, and the wolf was lethally anxious to ensure his mate’s safety, so it made sense to let the wolf out to guard. He would sense anyone approaching far more easily than Quill’s human sight or hearing would.

When he returned to the caravan and informed Paint of the campsite, he could see Ellie was drooping in the saddle. She was probably staying seated out of stubbornness alone. Quill couldn’t help but ride to her side to touch her cheek. Her scent, so sweet and delicate, made him want to press her close so he could inhale it directly from the soft skin at her throat.
Mine!
He wanted to howl. He wanted her from the moment he had first laid eyes on her six years ago. On that day he’d rejoiced for one heady moment in finding his mate. The next moment reality had crushed his elation. The girl his wolf had chosen to be their mate was already promised to another man. Now, these long years later, the elation was back, tempered by wonder and sharpened by determination to claim her fully and never let her go again.

At the brush of his fingers over her cheek, her brown velvet eyes widened, looking up at him with dazed shock. She looked so tired his wolf whined inside him. The wolf didn’t like to see their mate so weary. Quill agreed.

“Almost there,” he said to encourage her.

She blinked, looking around with a spark of new life. “Moore’s Mill?”

“No, the campsite.”

He saw her shoulders droop again. “Oh,” she said dully.

Quill was seized by an urgent desire to give her something, anything, to bring back that spark. “Tomorrow night,” he promised her. “We made good time today. You’ll see your son tomorrow night.”

He watched with horror as tears welled up in her eyes. She wiped them away with the heel of a grimy hand and tried to laugh. “Don’t mind me,” she said with a forced smile. “I’m just a little tired.”

“We rode too hard today.” Remorse stung him. He’d seen how tired she was, but didn’t make their group stop for rest. “We’ll take it easier tomorrow.”

The spark flared back to life. “No!” she said, delicate jaw set at a fierce angle, both hands squeezing the saddle horn. “We can rest after we have Connor safe. Mr. Moore said he would keep him for three months, so we should have plenty of time. But what if he lied? If he’s hurt Connor, I’ll hurt
him
. I want him—No, I
need
him to pay for what he’s done!”

Quill’s wolf wanted to howl with approval for their mate’s ferocity. “Whatever you need from him, I’ll be sure you get it,” he promised.

Setting up camp was something that wolves didn’t do for themselves. When they traveled, they didn’t need a fire to cook their food or tents to sleep in. The women, however, did require those things, and Quill, Snake, and Stone were anxious to see to their mates’ comfort. Quill’s wolf demanded that he pick their mate up and tuck her someplace safe where she could rest while the others set up camp. Quill had spent five years living in a house full of women, though, and he learned that not all women liked to be babied. When he suggested, with all the gentle respect he could muster, that Ellie was too tired from the ride to be able to cook, he learned that his mate was one of those who didn’t shirk work.

It was a struggle to watch her hobble around the fire, so Quill busied himself setting up the one canvas wedge tent the three women would sleep in. Paint helped him but shot continual, disapproving glances at the people working busily around the fire.

“Your mate is exhausted,” he pointed out, as if Quill had somehow not noticed that. “She shouldn’t be making biscuits. Go make her sit down.”

Quill grunted, wrestling with his wolf’s urge to drag Ellie away from the mixing bowl. “Not a good idea. Just ask Taye. He’d tell you that letting a woman wear herself out lets her know you respect her.”

Paint drove a tent peg into the ground with his heel. “That’s crazy. Go make her sit down, or I will.”

Quill scowled. “Leave my mate be!”

“You should be taking better care of her. She’s just a tiny little thing, hardly strong enough to ride for an hour much less an entire day.”

Paint broke off, and his eye swiveled away from him to the side, and he backed up again, at an angle. Quill recognized the wonderful scent of his mate and saw Ellie approaching them. He dug his fingernails into the denim over his thighs to keep from grabbing her and burying his nose between her breasts.

“What’s going on?” She looked between him and Paint, and a faint line creased the soft skin between her eyebrows. “Are you okay?”

Paint must have felt brave. “I think you’re too tired to be cooking. There are two other women to do that, or the men can do it. You should rest. But your mate”—sarcasm dripped from his voice—“thinks that letting you work yourself to death shows his respect for you.”

Ellie’s big brown eyes blinked at Paint then at Quill. He wasn’t sure what she saw on his face, but her surprise melted into a smile. “Thank you, Quill.”

Now Quill blinked. “For what?”

“For trusting me to know my limits. For letting me pull my weight. I’ve mixed up the biscuits, and Sara will fry them. I thought I’d sit while supper is cooking.”

Paint nodded with satisfaction and patted her arm. “Good girl.”

Quill almost snarled, glaring at his friend for his condescension.

Paint raised his hands. “Fine. You mated wolves are all crazy. Geez, you’re as bad as Snake.”

Ellie watched Paint retreat before lifting wide eyes to Quill. “Am I?” she asked quietly.

Quill took deep breaths to control his wolf. “Are you what?”

“Your mate?”

“Yeah.” That came out too roughly. Quill cleared his throat and gentled his voice. “Yes, you are.”

Ellie nibbled her lip, her eyes still gazing up at him. He noticed her thick, long eyelashes made her look like a fawn. “You don’t sound happy about it. Are you?”

He was so lost looking into her eyes that he almost missed the question. Shock kicked the air out of him. “Yes, I’m happy about it. Being this close to you without holding you is making me crazy! I’ve want—” He broke off and cleared his throat again. “I am happy, Ellie.”

She backed up a few inches. “Oh. How long have you known that I am your mate?”

Her scent was making him giddy. He stepped closer to her, closing the gap between their bodies to only a few inches. He’d always known that she was small, but standing so close made it startlingly obvious that she was a foot shorter than he was and as delicately made as a glass figurine. What if he broke her? Fear made him step back.

“I knew you were the one my wolf wanted the first minute I saw you at the library in Kearney. The Lupa had gone there to sing for your grandfather.”

He still remembered that breathless moment when he had glanced at the group of women standing near the refreshment table and saw the petite young woman whose brown hair hung in a thick, shining curtain past her waist.
Her,
his wolf had whispered deep inside him.
That one.
She’s my mate.

Ellie blinked at him now. “That was years ago.”

True. Since that day he had endured a lifetime of dull longing for a girl who was out of his reach. “I know.”

She frowned. “I barely remember you. I thought you were shy. You wore your hair loose, and it hid your face because you tilted your head down most of the time. I only saw you a few times. No one ever said anything to me about being your mate.”

“You were engaged to be married,” he said simply. “I could see you loved your fiancé, and the chief must have thought he was good enough for you. I didn’t think I had a chance to win you, so when Sky decided to go to Omaha, I went with him.”

Her mouth formed a silent O of comprehension. “That’s why I didn’t see you again. You must have returned to Kearney after we moved to Moore’s Mill.”

“I came back early this spring.”

Mel’s voice called, “Supper’s ready!”

“I’m starved,” he said. “How about you?”

She turned and gave him a smile over her shoulder. “Starved,” she agreed.

He followed her to the fire, his wolf seeming to be soothed by the proximity of their mate.
A conversation
, Quill marveled to himself. He and his mate had had a conversation, and she hadn’t rejected him. It was a beginning.

*

As Ellie accepted a portion of roasted rabbit and biscuits, she could feel Quill behind her. It wasn’t surprising that she was his mate. She had suspected it since yesterday. What surprised her was that he’d known she was his mate for six years and never gave her any indication. Instead of challenging the man she was going to marry, he had left the area. If he had chosen to stay and kill Neal, she would have hated him. He had gone with his friend Sky to Omaha and stayed away for years.