The Alpha's Choice (38 page)

"He's lost a lot of blood," Charles said, "I
repaired the damage, but…" His knee folded under him.

"Give him to me." Ryker held out his
arms.

"I've got him." Charles pushed himself up and
trudged a few more steps.

"Don't be a damned fool," Ryker snapped. He
all but shoved Charles back and took Tanner's body by force.
"Godammit, you've done what you could. There's others who need
you."

Charles nodded reluctantly and followed
Ryker, the other guards, all in human form following closely
behind.

Kat walked quietly by Charles' side, tense
and chastened, with her tail now hanging between her legs. She
understood. First law; pack comes first. Second law; she'd let her
wolf rule her human, something that must not be done.

Charles' hand reached down and scratched her
head. It was like a blessing, her Alpha's forgiveness. She stayed
where she was, content at his side, lesson learned.

Chapter 37

"We were too damn close to the road," Charles
said, "I should have known better."

"How you figure?" Ryker asked angrily. "You
had guards against wolvers. Who the hell would expect some fucking
asshole with a rifle at four in the morning? It's not a fucking
highway. It's an unpaved back road. We own the land on either side.
No one lives there. He was probably banging his girlfriend, saw you
guys and decided to take a potshot at a couple of dogs to show
off."

Kat remove yet another plate from the table
beside Charles. He'd been eating almost constantly since he
awakened from his nap, a nap where he had slept like the dead for
almost four hours. Healing Tanner and bringing River and her home
had sapped a great deal of his strength and his magic.

"Bullshit. I saw that truck, Ryker. The guy
was alone and the plate was covered in mud. He fucking knew what he
was firing at. Someone firing at dogs doesn't run back to his truck
and take off. They don't expect to be chased. That shot was meant
for me or Kat. Tanner was in the trees out of sight."

The plate wobbled in Kat's hand. She used her
other hand to grasp it tight.

"Can I get you another hamburger?" she asked
weakly when Charles glanced up.

Charles nodded. "Please. Bring two. You need
some, too."

She would have laughed if they weren't
talking about murder. He always fed her something from his plate.
It was a bit silly to Kat, but Charles seemed to enjoy it so she
never protested until today. He'd been feeding her nonstop since
he'd awakened and come downstairs and he'd insisted she stay nearby
while he talked with his men. Now she understood why.

The conversation went on. "Who knew you were
there?"

"Who was there when the boys reported
back?"

Kat took the plate over to the grill where
Buddy was serving as chef in a white cook's hat and apron.
Hamburgers and hot dogs were his specialty and also the only thing
Tilda let him cook.

"Two more burgers, please."

"Two more coming up." Buddy plopped two more
burgers on the grill and moved a half dozen hotdogs to the side
away from the flame. He regarded Kat for a moment and then asked,
"You all right, Miz Kat? You're not still crying, are you? Cuz Mama
says what's done is done. No sense crying over it. You learned your
lesson. Now that's enough."

Everyone, it seemed, knew she'd been
reprimanded. Buddy, having seen her ears down and her tail between
her legs, thought she'd cried, but it wasn't until she was human
again that the humiliation set in.

"I'm fine, Buddy." She smiled to show him she
meant it. "Jo says it happens to everybody."

Actually, Jo had laughed first. "Looks like
the new pup got her nose whacked." It was only after she saw how
miserable Kat was that she'd added. "It happens to all of us, you
know. It's easy to let the wolf take charge, especially for the
women. We don't get as much practice."

It helped a little, but not enough. It was no
way for a Mate to act and it had to have embarrassed Charles. Kat
had wanted to apologize, but when he brought her up to their room
and brought her home, he was so exhausted, he fell back on their
bed immediately asleep.

More humiliating yet, it was she who had to
make the rounds of the departing guests and thank them for coming.
Alex, as Second, came with her which made it that much worse. He
politely refused all offers of help, saying the pack could stand on
its own, but she could tell he was unhappy, angry even.

It was he who was speaking now to the group
gathered around Charles.

"Alpha, I think we need to rethink this move.
There's been damage done to the worksites, costs are escalating. We
have leases to honor back in the city. If we're going to shift our
client base to strictly wolvers, we've got to start making face to
face contacts…"

"We're staying."

"I'm saying delay it, not abandon it. Recruit
more wolvers, ones who can fill the needs here better than we
can…"

"Godammit, Alex, are you deaf! We're staying.
You want more members? Talk to John Morgan, Blue Ridge Pack.
Marshall says he's got a couple of young men who mated Rabbit Creek
girls who are missing their Mamas. Marshall can't take them. He's
got a hard enough time finding work for the ones he's got. Call
Burt Hennessey, Lowland Pack. He says he's outgrowing his
territory. Same with Zeb Trehune. He's talking about a possible
split and that's a nightmare."

"Sending us his malcontents will be a
nightmare for us, too," Alex argued.

"Give men jobs, homes for their families,
maybe they'll be contented instead," Rawley added. "My
brother…"

"Who gives a shit about your damned brother?
You have no idea…"

"Know more than you do…"

"If you had to…"

Buddy froze, hamburger half way to the bun as
Charles straighten and seemed to expand. The magic rippled the
air.

"Oh, oh," he whispered.

"Alex, shut the fuck up. I've spoken. You
don't like it, resign as Second. I'll find someone else to do the
job."

"No," Alex said sharply and Kat could see how
much effort his refusal took. "This is my pack. I serve it
well."

When he said no more, Charles nodded at
Rawley. "I give a shit," he said. It was another slap at Alex and
everybody knew it. "What about your brother."

Kat gave Buddy a relieved smile. "Let's get
those hamburgers served."

This time, she held her ground and refused
Charles' offer of food and his insistence that she stay.

"I have children to care for, work to do.
Everyone's working but me. It's not right."

"It's your mating day," he said and held her
hand tightly. "You shouldn't have to work."

"It's yours, too," she said, pulling against
him, "And I don't see you sitting back to relax. Come on, Big Bad,
let me go."

"Yeah, Big Bad, let her go," Ryker said, and
the others laughed.

Charles tugged her hard enough to pull her
over the arm of his chair. "You'll pay for that," he said before he
kissed her.

"I hope so," she laughed. "Now let me
go."

* * *

After helping Tilda finish straightening the
downstairs rooms and fending off Jo's questions about her mating
night with Charles, Kat headed for Tanner's room.

The injured wolver had been asleep since they
brought him home. Everyone agreed that this was best, but Kat was
worried about Rhonda. She'd been sitting by her lover's side since
they'd brought him in.

Becky reported that the young woman had
refused to eat or drink, so Kat fixed a tray with tempting tidbits
leftover from the mating feast and a glass of the sweet ice tea
Ronda was so fond of. Rhonda wasn't a favorite of Kat's. She seemed
too artificial and Jo was wary of the woman because she was a
friend of Stephanie's.

"I automatically deduct twenty points off my
friendship scale if they like Stephanie and another fifteen if they
kiss her ass. Rhonda's not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, so
I gave her ten points back," was how Jo explained it. "How anyone
that stupid can be that good at her job defies explanation."

Kat wasn't sure exactly what Rhonda did, but
she knew the woman was devoted to Tanner and Tanner seemed pretty
fond of her, too. She knocked on the door and entered quietly to
find Rhonda lifting her head from the bed where it had been resting
on Tanner's pale hand. Her eyes were red and swollen.

"I brought you a tray. Tanner probably knows
you haven't eaten and knowing won't make him feel better."

"Do you think so?"

"I do. He likes to see you eat. He's just
like Charles that way, always feeding you."

Rhonda giggled a little. "That's a sign of
love, silly. Everybody knows that."

"I didn't," Kat laughed softly. "I think you
guys should get together and write a book, the Mate's Handbook,
Everything an Alpha's Mate Needs to Know. There are so many little
things going on that I don't understand."

"It goes back to the early days when wolvers
hunted for their mates. It's like saying I want to take care of
you. I guess it's kind of stupid, but it's tradition." She smiled
and stroked Tanners hand and then took one of the little salami
cornucopias filled with cream cheese and took a bite, chewed and
swallowed. "I love these things."

"Good. I brought you sweet tea, too." Kat
handed her the glass.

"You remembered?"

How could she not? Every time someone asked
if Rhonda wanted something to drink she'd ask, "Got any sweet tea?"
Never iced tea or tea, always sweet tea. Kat just smiled.

"I know what you mean about not
understanding," Rhonda told her after taking another tidbit from
the plate. "Our pack was big and we had our own schools. I didn't
have much to do with humans until I went to college. It was like
living in a foreign country, England or someplace. We spoke the
same language, but I didn't understand half of what they said."

"Like they were speaking in code and you
didn't have the key."

"Exactly!" Rhonda was delighted that Kat
understood. "And they knew it. I didn't dress right, either. I
started copying what the popular girls said and did and then I felt
better."

And you're still doing it, but Kat didn't say
it aloud. Instead she asked, "Why did you join Wolf's Head?"

Rhonda sounded like she'd be more comfortable
in the familiar surroundings of her own pack.

"Because of Tanner," Rhonda said simply.
"We're from the same pack. He's four years older than me, but I've
loved him since the first time he came to supper with my brother. I
was six."

"Six?" Rhonda was using the only chair in the
room, so Kat sat on the corner of the bed. "How about Tanner?"

"Oh no," Rhonda giggled. "It took him way
longer. We just got together last year." She sighed and then
frowned as she looked down at Tanner. "You don't think he can hear
us, do you? You won't tell anyone, will you? I know it sounds
stupid…"

"I won't tell and I don't think it's stupid.
I think it's the sweetest thing I ever heard and someday you should
tell him. I bet he'd think it was sweet, too."

Tanner groaned and both women stopped talking
and watched until he groaned again. He half opened his eyes.

"Tanner?" Rhonda brought her face close to
his and when he smiled, she kissed him. "Oh, honey, I've been so
worried."

"You always taste like sweet tea, baby,"
Tanner mumbled, not fully awake, "Got any left? I'm thirsty.
Hungry, too."

"Soup," Kat said, smiling. "You feed him
kisses and sweet tea. I'll get the soup."

* * *

In spite of her promise, Kat told Charles
about it that night when they were snuggled together in bed. This
was swiftly becoming her favorite part of her day. Charles would
lie back on his pillows with his arm around her and she would curl
up beside him with her head on his shoulder and her hand on his
chest and they would talk of the simple things that made up their
lives. It was their version of 'How was your day, dear?' and it
worked both ways.

Charles would tell her about the progress of
the renovations and construction, how the business was doing, who
irked him and who made him laugh.

Kat would tell him about the children, what
they learned in the schoolroom and out, what they said that made
her think and what they said that made her laugh. When she told him
about Forest, he held her while she cried.

It was mostly because of that that she told
him about Rhonda and Tanner. She wanted to end her day with a
smile.

"I'm a little ashamed. Rhonda's not what I
thought she was," Kat confessed. "Jo says she's good at her job, so
she's smart, but I don't think she really knows it. She's really
very sweet, but I don't believe she thinks that's enough for other
people to like her. In some ways, she's a lot like me, feeling like
the people around me are talking in code. I feel that way when you
talk about business with the others. The terms are foreign to me.
And wolver terms and culture?" she laughed. "The only time I ever
heard about being over the moon, someone was talking about falling
in love."

She was ready for Charles to laugh and tease
her and was therefore surprised when he didn't.

"That's one of the things I love most about
you, my Katarina. You're open to seeing the best in people and you
don't mind sharing your weaknesses with them. They see that and
they feel it and they trust you. It's a wonderful quality to have
for an Alpha's Mate."

"Except when I'm a wolf who acts like an
ass," she whispered. His having to reprimand her still stung.

"All it showed them was that you were just
like them. They appreciate that, too."

Kat snuggled closer and closed her eyes. It
was good to have someone to share your secrets with.