Wolf’s Glory (19 page)

Does she seem decrepit to you? You"ll see her next spring.”

Probably. Jill was a tough old broad. Glory hoped she was that strong when she was seventy-eight. And she would miss Shadow. She wasn"t sure she liked that thought. She liked him, sure. When his mother had called for punishment Glory had felt a surge of

protectiveness. Which was pretty stupid, since Shadow was bigger and stronger than most men and a hell of a lot stronger than she was. But … He had been seriously screwed up, thinking he had raped her. It made her feel like she had to take care of him.

“I"ll think about it, Shadow.”

He picked up her hands and kissed the scraped palms. “While you"re thinking, remember that I will never,
never
cause you harm again. The Clan has witnessed my vow, and my brothers and cousins will kill me to protect you.”

He pressed a featherlight kiss to her hair. “You sleep now. I have to take my turn watching the camp. Shall I leave the lamp on?”

She took the rag off her eyes. “You"re leaving?”

“Only for a few hours. I"ll be back.”

“Oh. Okay. No, you can turn the lamp off.”

But she missed him as soon as he left. The night was cold, and she wanted to press up against his warmth. Would she still miss Shadow while he was building a house for her in the Black Hills? She was afraid she might. And it kept her from doing more than uneasy dozing until he slipped into bed with her some hours later. His scent and solid warmth were comforting. Then, finally able to relax, she fell asleep against him.

Oatmeal wasn"t her favorite breakfast food, but it was easy to chew, and that was good.

Even gentle chewing hurt Glory"s face. She joined in the breakfast clean-up. Funny. At home she"d let the dishes go for days at a time. Here she did chores right away. She lent a hand to the still-injured needing bandages changed. There was Kathy, Katie, Diane, Diana, Dixie, Cheryl, Sherry, JaNae, Jane, Jasminka, Jodi, Renee, and Randee—and a dozen more women from the plane whose names Glory couldn"t keep straight. Hell, she called Kathy Katie half the time, and the only reason she knew which one was Renee was by the bandage on her face.

Connie, the tow-headed co-pilot was one name and face she always remembered. The co-pilot had held things together after the crash, but Jane had mentioned that when she and the Clan men had reached the plane the co-pilot was out of steam and in tremendous pain from her ankle, which had multiple breaks. After she"d recovered some of her energy, she had begun taking charge of the survivors again. She was an Alpha too, Jill said.

It was sad that of all the people who had boarded the plane, there were fewer than thirty left alive. Some were able to fend for themselves, but others were still pretty feeble. Working with the women only took so much time. Glory had done everything she could to put off making a decision about where to spend the winter. Her nose, mouth, and eyes hurt like a bitch when she woke up this morning, and Shadow had been the perfect nurse, getting her the aspirin and a cup of water before she asked for it. He had kissed the top of her head and told her he loved her. Then he had cleared out. If he had put any pressure on her she would have automatically dug in her heels and decided to go to the Pack. The big jerk must be learning.

Every time she turned around someone was at her elbow with a question or a comment about her black eyes. It was driving her crazy. How could she make such an important decision when she was interrupted all the time? She needed to be alone. She did her best thinking alone with her iPod blaring. Well, she couldn"t have her iPod, but couldn"t she get somewhere without people bothering her? Jill seemed doubtful about letting her go anywhere away from people. Glory tracked down Shadow and told him she needed to get away to think privately. He seemed troubled, but didn"t ask what she wanted to think about. He nodded to the river and told her to keep in sight and not stay away long.

This was the epitome of a perfect day in late autumn, Glory thought as she walked briskly by the river. The camp was a quarter mile away, probably as far as Shadow would let her go on her own without an escort. The big overprotective moron. She glanced back at him standing guard over her at the edge of camp. He was probably worried about Laura"s report of men who wanted women. She wished someone would try to take her. There was nothing like giving a good punch to the face or knee to the balls to work off stress. And she was feeling pretty stressed.

The leaves were scattered over the ground in a fragrant carpet of brown and dull gold. It was sunny and warm enough that only a sweatshirt was needed. Not that she had a sweatshirt, but a blanket wrapped around her shoulders worked. Back home this weather would have been perfect for eating chili and watching football. Geez, she missed that world. Candy bars and soda pop and chips were all unheard of in this world. Jill said they had versions of beer and pretzels in Kearney that weren"t half bad. But did that mean they were good?

There was a fallen tree, and she plopped herself down on it to ponder what she should do. Stay here and marry Shadow? Go and live in town with hot running water and a roof that didn"t flap in the wind? It should have been an easy choice. Two days ago it
would
have been an easy choice. But now … Shadow had gotten to her. She wasn"t sure she would be happy without him. But that didn"t mean she would be happy living with him in a tent on the plains in January while he was building her house.

She scuffed her tennis shoe through the dried leaves, enjoying the crunching sound and the scent of them. Maybe that was why she didn"t hear the man behind her. The first sign she had that anything was wrong was the
wooooo-woooo
of a distant beagle. Good lord, couldn"t that damn dog give her a single minute alone? But when she turned her head to shout at The Beagle to go back and find Lobo, a hard hand clamped over her mouth. Dammit! That hurt!

Who would—?

The Beagle, bless her hyperactive little heart, galloped through the dead leaves and flung herself on the man in a streak of brown and black, screaming bloody canine murder the whole time. Glory was able to wrestle herself free and fell sprawling right in the path of Laura the Lobo, who had stripped his leather pants off and was blurring into the massive form of his wolf. The wolf leaped over her onto her attacker, and Glory saw the perfect teamwork between a suddenly vicious beagle and a big gray wolf as they tore the man to shreds. Then Shadow was there, dragging her up against his chest and holding her so tight her spine popped and the blood from her nose smeared over his chest.

“Glory,” he said urgently. “Are you hurt? Did he hurt you?”

She wrestled her face away to see the man and wished she hadn"t. The Beagle and Lobo had literally torn the guy apart. There was a body, with the clothes shredded and bloody, and

… Was that an arm? Glory swallowed desperately but lost the fight against nausea. She twisted away from Shadow and heaved onto the dried leaves that had been so pretty just a few minutes ago. She finished and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand just as The Beagle pranced over to her, tongue hanging out of her mouth, lips still stained with blood.

Glory gagged again.

Shadow"s reaction was different. “Good dog,” he told her solemnly. He looked across at his cousin still in wolf form and nodded. “Thank you.”

Glory was a mess. Blood, snot, and vomit stained her once clean T-shirt. She didn"t protest when Shadow picked her up and began walking back to camp. He walked so smoothly that she hardly noticed he was moving. He did that to spare her from any jostling, Glory knew. How the hell was she supposed to be able to decide what to do when he kept being so nice to her? The way he"d brought her aspirin this morning, and the way he"d acted yesterday when he thought he"d raped her, the careful way he carried her now was … She tried to find the words to describe him. The only one that came to her was … sweet. Damn, the werewolf was sweet.

As they walked, more men and wolves streamed past them, heading for the river. Glory was pretty sure they were going for blood. Muddy Wolf stopped Shadow with a quick demand for an explanation.

“Glory told me she wanted to be alone to think. I told her the river was safe. I didn"t keep a close enough watch on her.” Anguish fought with rage in his voice. “While she was there a townie tried to steal her. Laura"s Beagle raised the alarm. Laura"s still down there. He can tell you more.”

After he picks the meat out of his teeth
, Glory thought with dark humor. Muddy Wolf sent her a quick glance, assuring himself she wasn"t hurt. Or hurt more. “The Grandmother will be waiting for her.”

Shadow began walking again. “Shadow, I need more aspirin.” Glory tried to keep her moan out of her voice, but she must have failed. She could feel the growl in his chest. Her big surprise was that he hadn"t gone ballistic back there at the river. Of course, after his cousin and The Beagle had gotten done with that guy there wasn"t anything left for Shadow to kill.

He veered toward his tent. He carried her through the flap and set her down on the bed.

She took three aspirin and snatched the rag from Shadow to clean her face herself. But he looked so helpless kneeling in front of her she gave it back to him and made a real effort to not wince as he wiped her face. She sat and let him scrub her face raw. It must be lov—No, not love. Even as a joke she wouldn"t say that. She hardly knew him. Maybe it was lust. If it wasn"t for her face hurting like a bitch she"d be all over him right now. But … Last night she had been perfectly content to just curl up beside his warmth and enjoy his scent.

Shadow put the rag down. “Glory.” He sounded almost like he might cry. “I can"t keep you safe.”

“Don"t worry about it, big guy. That moron was a … moron to try something so stupid.

You"d think people would have learned after what happened fifteen years ago.”

He looked into her eyes solemnly. “After you are settled in Kearney you"ll be safe again.

Taye and his Pack will keep those morons away.” He smiled a little when he used her word.

“You go and stay with Taye"s Pack for the winter. You"ll be safe there, and by spring everyone will know we don"t have large numbers of unmarried women here and it will be safe for you to come back to me.”

“Wait.” Glory sat up straighter. “You want me to go?”

“No!” he said fiercely. “But I love you. Your safety is more important than anything.

The townies need to be reminded what happened the last time they stole our women.” There was a dark tone in his voice, almost frightening. “I"ll miss you, but I"ll be glad to know that you are protected.”

“But…” Now that Glory didn"t have to make a choice she felt like a tug-of-war player whose opponent had suddenly let go of the rope. “But…”

Shadow leaned in to kiss her forehead. “I want you to go where you"ll be safe,” he said firmly. “It"s only a week"s run from the winter camps to Taye"s Pack, so I"ll be able to visit you.”

“Well … Okay.”

“Come on.” Shadow lifted her to her feet. “Let"s go talk to the Grandmother.”

Outside his tent a few men were moving quickly and quietly, and their faces were set.

Fierce. Scary. Wolves prowled through the camp too, their teeth gleaming. Glory stared at them until The Beagle came up and looked up at Shadow adoringly. Shadow bent and gave her side a solid pat.

“I thought you didn"t like that dog,” Glory said.

“She helped save you.” He ran his hand down her arm in a quick caress, as if he needed to touch her to believe she was still there. “I thought you"d be okay so close to camp.”

Anguish clenched his teeth. “I glanced over at you every few minutes. But that … man could have stolen you.”

Glory hurt her nose by snorting. “He could have tried.”

She thought Shadow was going to lift his lip and snarl, but he controlled himself. “He would never have succeeded. Even if he had managed to get away with you I would have tracked him down and killed him.”

“If I hadn"t already done it myself,” Glory sniffed. Damn, that hurt her nose too. “You keep saying „woman thieves," like it was a job description.”

She could almost feel the heat of rage roll through Shadow. “Woman stealers. They take women away from their homes and sell them to the brokers.”

Yikes! She thought men would steal women to keep them for themselves. She

shuddered. They arrived at Jill"s tent before Glory could ask what a broker was. It didn"t sound good. Shadow pressed his lips against the corner of her mouth, careful to avoid her swollen lips. “Stay with the Grandmother,” he commanded her, then paused. “Glory, please stay with the Grandmother and help her pack for the trip to the Pack.”

Yep, the big jerk was learning. “Okay.”

He put his nose just under her ear and breathed in deeply. Weird. Kinda kinky. She liked it. “I"ll see you soon.”

Jill and Marissa were outside the tent flapping blankets out to fold them up and stuff them in boxes made of woven grass. Glory went to help them. Marissa was doing a good job but her broken arm made it awkward for her. Apparently Jill was taking everything she owned with her to stay with Taye"s Pack. But it didn"t take all that long to pack up Jill"s stuff.

She had very little, and what she did have was easy to pack. Getting ready to move back in 2014 would have taken days and dozens of boxes. Here, even without Marissa and Glory, Jill could have done it all in an hour or so. Then they all went to help the plane women get ready.

But since the women had hardly anything besides the clothes on their backs and what little they"d salvaged from their purses and carry-on luggage, it took them almost no time either.

Each of them was given a blanket, a cup, and a spoon to take with them to Kearney. Who knew if they could find those items there? It wasn"t like they could run to Wally World to buy them, Glory thought.

They ate lunch, rinsed their cups and spoons, and then the men began leading horses up for each woman. Sherry and a few other women were settled in two-wheeled carts hitched to a pair of horses. Glory overheard Marissa talking to a Clan man with curly brown hair rather than shiny black. He was promising to go to Omaha and look for her son or find word of him, and Glory wondered if his wolf had chosen Marissa as his mate or if he was just a nice guy.