The Alpha's Choice (28 page)

"Sorry kid, but I've got my eyes on someone
else and I don't think Charles is into threesomes."

Kat sputtered a laugh. "He better not be. I
wasn't listening because I was thinking about how nice it is to
have a friend. You. I've never had one before."

Jo looked at Kat curiously. "Damn, Kat, no
family, no friends. How in the hell did you survive? I couldn't
stand being alone, though I have to warn you, being in a pack means
everybody's business is everybody's business. It can be annoying
sometimes."

"I can live with that."

Kat could live with a lot of things, but not
with losing these children or Charles.

She froze at the muted sound of gunfire in
the distance and looked for reassurance from Jo. She found
none.

Chapter 27

They waited for what seemed like hours.
Rawley and Tanner altered the course of their patrols, Rawley as
wolf, Tanner as human. Buddy continued on as scheduled, a blatant
guard that could be timed and watched by prying eyes.

An explosion ripped the dark fabric of the
sky overheard, a fire ball soaring upward and ballooning out in red
and yellow. It was several miles away and yet the windows of Hell
Hall rattled with the waves of air and sound that rolled over the
trees and across the fields.

Tilda came running, her hair dotted once more
with the pink spongy bumps of her rollers. Becky, who'd gone to bed
earlier and Rhonda, who'd apparently chosen Tanner over her friend
Stephanie and stayed behind, came running downstairs.

"What's happening?"

"Don't know," Jo didn't take her eyes from
the sky above the trees. "But I hope it's their problem and not
ours."

"Rawley only said they were going out for a
run."

"I guess they got sidetracked."

"Maybe it has nothing to do with them," Kat
added, but no one thought that for a minute.

"Jeez, and to think I told Stephanie this
place was dull as dust," Rhonda giggled and then frowned. "Do you
think they're all right?"

"Yes, I think they are," Kat told her. There
was a lightness in her head, a smile in her mind that wasn't hers.
"Yes, they're definitely all right."

They all stood transfixed by the glow that
slowly faded to a soft orange light in the sky and then the world
came alive again when Kat shouted, "The kids!"

She raced through the house and up the
stairs, first to the girl's room and opened the door. The beds were
empty, the covers gone.

"Shit, shit, shit." Kat stamped her foot.
Charles wanted the hallway watched and she had refused. She ran to
the next door and threw it open.

River sat in the chair by the window with his
hands lightly gripping the wooden claws at the end of the arms and
his feet flat on the floor. He hadn't moved an inch from the time
she'd put the boys to bed. He was watching the glow in the sky just
as they had been. He turned slowly at her entrance as if he'd
expected it.

The boys' beds were empty, too, and Kat
opened her mouth to ask what the hell was going on when movement on
the floor caught her eye. The four younger children were curled in
a tangle of blankets sound asleep on the floor.

"They'll have to learn, you know, sometime,
but not tonight," she whispered. She smiled to show she wasn't
angry and shrugged. "I was afraid they'd be frightened by the
explosion. I shouldn't have been. They're with you."

River's facial expression never changed, but
his eyes changed slightly, giving away his surprise.

"You should get some sleep, too, honey.
You've had a long day." Kat didn't wait for the response she knew
wouldn't come. Softly, she closed the door on River and his
sleeping charges.

Tanner was on the phone when she walked back
into the kitchen.

"Ah, yes, this is Charles Goodman, over at…"
He gave the address and a thumbs-up to Kat. "My guests and I were
enjoying the night air and heard the explosion. I wouldn't be
bothering you, but with the sirens and all, the ladies were a
little frightened. Seems like there's a fire and well, you know how
women are. They insisted I call to make sure we weren't in any
danger. Yes, yes. Thank you very much, sir, and I surely do
appreciate your taking the time. Yes, sir, I will. Bye, now."

He hung up the phone and grinned. "That's
called establishing an alibi. The Alpha is on his way home."

Kat smiled and nodded her thanks, but she
already knew. She could feel Charles coming closer and closer. The
pressure in her chest eased at the same slow pace it had grown as
he moved away. Charles' magic had planted the seeds of a connection
between them and the vine was growing longer and stronger every
day.

* * *

This homecoming was better than the last.
They came across the fields, men alternating with wolves, walking
abreast with their heads high and shoulders back. They stopped at
the edge of the nearest field and because there were so few of
them, the Alpha's bright light flashing each of them home was clear
and distinct.

Beginning with their Alpha at the center, the
golden glow surrounded each in turn, starting as a shimmering ball
covering the wolf. It elongated as the man within straightened in a
swirl of strange shapes and reached his full height. There was a
final burst of brightness and man stood where once was wolf.

It was a marvelous display and Charles bowed
to the round of applause.

Kat ran to him and threw her arms around his
neck and kissed him while he whirled her in a broad circle and
kissed her back.

"Show off," she laughed when the twirling
stopped and the kiss broke. "I gather it went well."

Charles put her down and started walking
toward the house with his arm around her shoulders. "Better than
well. They had some kind of drug lab running in an old trailer on
the property. The place stank to high heaven. Now it smells like
ash. That was Hyatt's doing."

"Gas and a match. It was nothing." Hyatt, who
was walking with his sister and Ryker, didn't look like it was
nothing. He looked proud as a peacock.

A squeal of fright behind them had Kat's head
snapping around, but the squeal had already turned into giggles as
Rhonda took off for the woods with Tanner hot on her trail.

Ryker raised his fingers to his lips to
whistle, but Charles stopped him.

"Let them have their fun." He bent down and
gave Kat another quick kiss. "I'll save ours for the bedroom," he
whispered and then a little more loudly, "How are the cubs. I see
the house is still standing."

"They're fine," she answered and glanced up
to the boy's window, sure they were being watched. "They're
sleeping all curled together on the floor. I don't think they like
beds."

Charles frown wasn't what she expected. Kat
thought the children's sleeping arrangement was rather endearing
all tangled together like that. They reminded her of a litter… Oh.
She frowned.

"They'll learn, Charles. You'll see. River
wasn't with them. He was in a chair by the window. He's keeping
watch over them, Charles, protecting them. They didn't try to run
away," she said, thinking that, in itself, was an improvement.
"They know they're safe here."

"Or they're waiting until our guard is down
and their strength is up."

Kat stopped abruptly, forcing Charles to stop
with her. She put her hands on her hips. "Look, I know it's your
job to look at the dark side of this. I understand that now where I
didn't before. The safety and well-being of the pack comes first. I
get that. I really do." She looked over her shoulder to make sure
the others were well ahead and out of hearing range.

"You can't let yourself get too close to
them," she continued, holding his cheek in her hand and stroking
him lightly with her thumb. "I understand that, too. It would be
too painful when… if…" She forced herself to say the words. "If you
have to send them into the wild. But Charles, you have to give them
a chance. They've had years of living like animals. That won't come
undone overnight. You have to show them you have faith in them.
You're the Alpha and they'll believe it if it comes from you."

Charles gripped her shoulders and looked
deeply into her eyes. "You understand it's not a decision I want to
make."

"I know it's not," she told him, "And if it
comes to that, I won't pretend to like it, but I won't stop loving
you because of it. I trust you. You're my Alpha."

Charles' somber face split into a grin. "So
you love me, huh?"

"Yeah, I think I do," she said as she took
his hand and they started back to the house.

"I knew you would. Who could resist this
handsome face, this muscular physique, this…"

"…swollen ego, that furry tail, those muddy
paws." Kat shook her head, laughing. "Come on, Beasty Boy, let's
get you something to eat and go to bed."

"Not in the mood for another run?" he asked
with a leering arch to his eyebrows.

"No," she said firmly, thinking of the boy
upstairs watching from the window, "You said bed and I'm holding
you to it."

"All righty then. Bed it is." He stopped her
before they entered the house. "I love you, too, you know."

"I knew you would. Who could resist…" But she
couldn't think of anything to say.

"The most beautiful woman and understanding
soul I've ever met." He said and she knew it wasn't one of his
silly pickup lines.

"Oh, you're good, Wolfman. Very good," she
smiled.

* * *

Several days later, the television news was
still reporting on the meth lab explosion and the subsequent
discovery of a dog fighting ring. Talking heads described the
perils of meth addiction and animal rights activists protested the
cruelty and immorality of gambling on dogs killing each other for
sport. Everyone wanted in on the act.

The violence was attributed to two rival
gangs. Two men were killed along with several large dogs that lost
their lives in the fire. The county Sheriff made a statement about
the drug trade infiltrating the countryside and assuring the
populace that they were doing everything in their power to combat
the problem and urging the citizenry to report any suspicious
behavior.

"Yeah right," one of the younger men sneered.
"Like there wasn't a deputy's cruiser parked out front the first
time we stopped by. The only ones running these bastards to ground
is us.

"We didn't get them all," Ryker reminded
them, "And I still want to know why in hell they're working with
humans."

Kat watched River out of the corner of her
eye. He was watching and listening from just beyond the doorway to
the TV room. He shook his head in disgust and turned back to the
schoolroom, reminding Kat of where she should be.

Dakota, the bloodthirsty nine year old, was
straddling a sofa cushion on the floor of the schoolroom. "Kill 'em
dead," he shouted in his odd froglike voice and stabbed the pillow
with a ruler. "Take that and that and that!"

"Dakota, stop that," Kat admonished.
"There'll be no pillow killing in the classroom. Put it away and
let's get started." She pulled the pocket doors closed behind
her.

"But that's how you do it if you don't have
claws and teeth," he argued. "You slash and stab until they're
dead, dead, dead…"

"Dakota!"

"…and their blood and guts are all over the
floor and then you have a party. We killed them dead!" he shouted
one last time.

"Dakota! No!" Kat took a deep breath and
after a short tug of war, removed the ruler from his hand. "We must
never rejoice in another man's death be he human or wolver."

Dakota looked at her as if she had two heads.
"Huh?"

The words were too big for him. "I'm saying
it's not good to be happy about someone getting killed. Killing
isn't good."

"They're happy." Dakota pointed at the
door.

"They're happy the bad people are gone.
That's not the same. They would be just as happy if no one
died."

"They deserved to die." River spoke so
quietly it almost passed unnoticed.

"Maybe they did," she said quietly, "But that
doesn't mean we should enjoy it. Now let's get out our reading
books and get some work done."

It was difficult to explain it properly to
the children when she wasn't sure how she felt about it either. The
more she saw of these wolvers, the more she recognized their primal
instincts running close to the surface. Some of them took pleasure
in the kill and even those who didn't saw nothing wrong with those
who did.

In business, they were ruthless, though
Charles swore they were above board in everything they did. They
had to avoid scrutiny by the various government agencies that kept
track of businesses like theirs. In play, they were aggressive and
as Jo so crudely put it, constantly measuring their dicks against
the next guy.

A psychologist would label them Type A
personalities, but it was more than that. They were territorial and
their first thought when threatened was to eliminate the threat.
The preservation of the pack was their sole moral compass and the
wiser heads of the pack hierarchy kept many of them from following
their baser instincts.

That too, she was beginning to believe had
more to do with pack preservation than a sense of right and wrong.
They couldn't afford to attract the outside scrutiny of the human
world. She wondered what would happen if the Wolvers did someday
come out of the woods. Under the wrong leadership, they could make
organized crime bosses look like pansies.

* * *

After what felt like a six minute reading
lesson and two hundred and twenty-six minutes of "Please sit down.
Let's put that away. No, no, we don't eat crayons. Be careful, that
sharp!" Kat was ready for a break.

"How about we go outside for a walk? We could
all use some fresh air and you can run some of that energy off.
What do you think?" she asked River who had ignored the lessons and
the children, and spent all his time staring out the window to the
trees beyond.