Wolf’s Glory (26 page)

The hallway was filling with women and wolves. Jill went quickly to Rose and put an arm around her shoulders. Carla pushed her way to the front of the crowd to stare with horrified eyes at Sky. Sky was half-crouched against the wall, staring defiantly at Taye. And Taye—easy-going Taye—was standing tall and unmoving, putting out infuriated Alpha vibes that made even Glory want to cringe and thank God it was directed at Sky instead of her.

“Sky, explain yourself,” Taye demanded.

For another second Sky held Taye"s eyes. Then his challenge wavered, and his eyes dropped and he tilted back his head to show his throat.

“Explain yourself,” Taye said again, more mildly. “We do not ever hurt our mates.”

Sky slid a yearning look at Rose before answering. “I only did what the man in the book you gave me did to his woman when she defied him. I held Rose so she couldn"t get away, and I kissed her. I was going to tear her shirt off like the man in the book did, but I didn"t want to ruin it by ripping it, so I tried to take it off her gently—but she started to cry. That"s not what happened in the book!” He glared accusingly at Taye.

“Taye!” Carla"s voice was exasperated. “You gave him one of your romance novels to use as a game plan for seducing Rose?”

Sky said defensively, “It worked for the Chief. You fell in love with him right away.”

“He never held me down and tried to force me to … Oh, never mind! Those books are a lot of fun to read, but they"re not real. Women don"t really want to be treated like that.”

Now Taye was frowning. “But last night—”

“Shh!” hissed Carla, blushing. She cleared her throat and darted a self-conscious look around at all the interested faces in the hallway. “After a woman gets to know a man she might—
might
!—enjoy pretending sometimes. I keep telling you Rose is too young for that.

Sky needs to leave her alone for a few more years.”

Sky stood straight. “She"s my mate. I don"t want to wait. Why should I wait?”

Jill stepped forward, dropping the arm she"d had around Rose. “Because if you don"t you"ll lose her forever. Go back to the Clan, Sky. Come visit Rose from time to time. Give her a chance to recover from the crash and everything it means.”

Sky visibly had to restrain himself. He looked at Rose, his face looking pitifully young.

“If I go away will you like me better?”

“Tons,” Rose snapped.

“Then I"ll go.” Sky"s face was hurt but proud. “Reed Dewey is hiring men to help him rebuild the railroad. I"ll go there.”

Taye reached an arm around Sky"s neck. “Let"s talk, cousin.”

The wolves and women parted to make way for Taye half-dragging the teenage wolf

with him down the hall. Carla hurried after them. Glory watched them go and wished again for Shadow. He would be able to talk sense into his little brother. Taye might too, but not as well as Shadow could.

Rose was sniffling. The sound was angry, not sad. Glory approved. She was glad, too, that Jill had the girl in hand because Glory didn"t do tears. Renee gave Rose one last steady look and went back into her own room. Marissa gave Rose an encouraging pat on the shoulder before leaving too. Jill took Rose into their room. Glory shrugged and went back to her sketchbook.

A half-hour later Glory had almost succeeded in getting the line of Shadow"s jaw just right, and a knock on the door distracted her. It was her guard, Quill.

“I"m leaving now,” he told her. “I wanted to say good-bye.”

“Now?” Glory didn"t say so out loud, but she would miss the kid. “What about supper?

Have you packed yet?”

“Me and Sky already ate. We don"t have much to pack since we"ll be traveling most of the time as wolves.”

Glory didn"t know what to say. “Where are you going?”

“Omaha. Red Wing is there, and I"ll go to work for Reed Dewey"s railroad.”

“Well…” Glory began to stick out a hand for him to shake, but changed her mind. She gave him a quick hug instead. “Be careful. Good luck.”

He gave her one of his quiet sweet smiles. “Thanks. You need to eat now.”

“Yeah.” She was getting hungry. “In a minute.”

“Now, Glory. I"ll walk you down to the dining hall.”

He might be a quiet, shy wolf, but he could be as stubborn and bossy as any Alpha. “All right, all right.”

He took her down the hall to the dining room, gave her another of his sweet smiles, and went out. Glory sighed, looking after him. Dammit, she would miss him.

Chapter Nineteen

Shadow lifted his head, searching the leaden sky for snow. It was coming soon. He lifted a hand to his nose and brushed the small sparkling stud there. When he had arrived back at the camp after leaving Glory with Taye"s Pack, he had found it in the grass by his new bed. It had still had traces of her blood on it. He had cleaned it, and his mother had pierced his nostril for him. He had worn it ever since, as a token of his love for Glory.

His father assured him that the house for his mate was coming along well. The mild weather allowed the outer shell to be completed before snow flew. Shadow hated the idea of living inside four walls, but if Glory was there it would be bearable. And he wouldn"t be the only man living indoors. All the mates had demanded houses of their own. Some men, hoping their wolves would choose mates for them, had also begun to build houses. There were nearly a dozen houses scattered over this valley. Most of the men from the Clan were dividing their time between hunting and building the mates" houses, but they were untrained in house building, so Muddy Wolf had hired some skilled craftsmen from nearby Spearfish to do most of the work. But Shadow had a thousand questions for Glory, like which of the smaller rooms did she want for their bedroom, and which side of the house did she want the porch on, and was she pregnant?

That last question was answered by one of Taye"s Pack, who came with messages. Glory was not pregnant, and she was weeping over it. Shadow almost wept himself for her pain.

The messenger also had news of Renee, Marissa, and Sky and Rose, but Shadow didn"t care about that. His sunshine was weeping? She hated to cry. He remembered Rose once asking him what Glory"s favorite color was. He still didn"t know the answer to that, but he knew other things about his mate: she held her feelings tightly shielded, and hid them even from herself. She allowed few people into her heart, but when she did, her loyalty was unswerving.

Look how she was with the Grandmother. He wanted a place in her heart. He wanted so much to hold her and comfort her that when Hawk In Flight announced his intention of going to Kearney to visit Renee, Shadow immediately decided to go too. He told his mother to have the house builders do whatever she thought was best, kissed her good-bye, and left on the journey to see his mate.

This life without Shadow had gotten stale. Glory loved her flush toilet and the twice weekly hot showers, but she missed Shadow. She never did get to find out why Laura had a girl"s name. She could ask Jill, but she wanted to hear Shadow tell her about it. Something funny or sad or confusing would happen and she"d turn to find Shadow to get his take on it.

She wanted to wake up and feel that heavy muscular arm curved around her, the warmth of his breath gentle on the nape of her neck, and the silk of his long hair sliding over her. She wanted sex, too, but she wanted to wake up with him. She just wanted to be with him. But he wasn"t there. The wood stove was warm, but it didn"t take Shadow"s place.

She went into Kearney almost every day now. With Quill gone, she had been given

another wolf as her guard. This one was older, about thirty, named Mikey. She sometimes wondered why some of the wolves had descriptive names and others had boring mundane names, and others had both. She vaguely remembered Stands Tall Woman explaining it to her that first morning she woke up in the Clan"s camp. If Shadow was here she could ask him.

Glory had run out of fresh subjects, so she began sketching the plane women and the men who visited them. She did one of Marissa and Faron together that was a big hit with mother and son, and soon Glory found herself taking commissions. Money was scarce, but her subjects paid her with cloth and other goods. Hannah Martin was making her a new bustier to replace the one from home that was badly stained and worn. But even with visits to town and her art Glory spent too much time brooding about Shadow. Was he warm enough?

Did he miss her?

A few weeks earlier another of Shadow"s cousins, Dan, had stopped by the den while Glory was in town. Glory wished she had a family tree to help her keep track of all of Shadow"s relatives. Everyone in the Clan and Pack were related somehow, but damn if she could figure out how. Dan had been hired by a man to find his stolen wife. Just about everybody for miles around called Dan “the Tracker,” and he was famous for his tracking ability. If a person or valuable animal got lost or stolen Tracker was called on to find them.

Now he and the wife were back, and it turned out that she was another of the plane crash survivors. Glory, Marissa, Rose, and their escorts returned from Kearney to find the den in a quiet uproar. Mikey was informed by Carla that he would be bunking with Snake. The new lady, Tami, had been given his room. She was seated beside the fire in the rec room, drinking a cup of something hot. Her short brown hair was matted flat against her skull, and her face was chapped by the wind. The tall man who stood beside her looked down at the top of her matted hair with an impassive face. He was clearly one of the Clan because he dressed like any of them, but his hip-length braids were white blond, his eyes a lighter blue than Sky"s were, piercing in his narrow suntanned face. He was introduced to Glory as Dan Stensrud, and Glory recognized the name. He was Emma Two Bird"s son and Stands Tall Woman"s brother. He responded politely but briefly to her greeting. Glory figured he was the kind of guy who strung as many as ten words together at a time about twice a year. He moved his body subtly whenever one of the Pack came near, as if to block their way to Tami.

Carla brought Tami a small bowl of stew and a chunk of bread that Jelly got ready, and settled into her big chair by the fire. “Eat,” she urged. “Usually we"d eat in the dining hall, but you look like you need the fire.”

“Thanks,” said Tami and dug in.

Rose and Glory took seats across from her, looking at her dirty clothes and greasy hair with pity. Glory wondered if she had looked that bad when she first got to the den and decided that she probably had looked worse.

Rose asked the question that was in everybody"s mind. “What happened to you? Where"s your partner?”

Tami swallowed, keeping her eyes on her bowl. “My partner was Jessi Burton. We were taken prisoner by men we thought would help us. They sold us to men in a tiny place called Greasy Butte.” She paused to take another bite of stew. “They weren"t very nice. They shared us. Jessi had five husbands. I had four. Jessi"s dead. She hanged herself. I was able to escape.”

At this terse recital, the anger of the Pack was almost as tangible as their growling was loud, but Dan"s face never twitched out of its stony mask.

Tami swiped the bottom of her bowl with the last shred of bread and popped it in her mouth. “They hired Tracker to find me and bring me back. He said I could stay here.”

Taye moved like he would step close, but at her subtle flinch, stepped away. “Yes, ma"am. You are welcome to stay with us for as long as you like,” he confirmed.

Jill pointed at all the women and told them to meet in her room in an hour. Jelly was sent off to start heating water. As the women were getting up Glory heard Dan tell Taye that he was going back to the trading post where he had unfinished business.

Taye sounded casual when he said, “How many of them will you let live?”

“None.”

“Want company?” Taye was smiling like the wolf he was. “There are plenty of us who"d like to help.”

“No. It"s my job.”

Taye looked considering. “She"s your mate, isn"t she?”

“I"m not wolf-born.”

Taye was quiet. “I don"t think it matters. She"s your mate whether you have a wolf to choose her for you or not.”

After a moment the ice-cold voice murmured, “Maybe.”

“Happy hunting, cousin. We"ll keep her safe for you here.”

A single curt nod, a glance that melted from ice to warmth when it rested on Tami, and then he was gone.

As the women were gathering in Jill"s room, some of the younger wolves came to beg

Carla to sing for them. Jill told them firmly that the women were having “girls" night.” The men looked disappointed but didn"t argue. When Jill brought out three bottles of Muddy Wolf"s hooch, the women gathered cheered.

“If there was ever a time when we needed a drink, it"s now,” Jill said grimly.

Everyone got a glass, even Rose, whose cup was filled only about a quarter of its capacity. The teenager looked pretty happy to be included in grown-up girls" night.

Tami, showered and dressed in Carla"s spare clothes, accepted a glass, and began

drinking immediately.

“Are you okay?” Carla asked her. “You know those men will never be able to touch you here. The Pack won"t let them anywhere near you.”

“Yeah, I know that. Tracker said I could stay here this winter, and in the spring he"d take me to my ranch. Crazy, isn"t it?” Her voice was bitter. “A woman can"t travel anywhere alone, or she"ll be kidnapped and raped. Tom Leach.” She spat the name with angry disgust.

“He was husband number one. He tried to be nice to me at first. I"ll give him that. But after a week he got tired of trying to convince me to go to bed with him. Then he raped me.”

There was pitying, uncomfortable silence for a minute while they sipped their drinks.

Then Tami went on.

“After that first time I decided to not fight. I hoped that it wouldn"t hurt as much at least.

But Steve—that"s husband number two—didn"t care. He slapped me even though I was

trying to be still. Dwight, number three, was just like a bull, big and stupid. The only one who treated me decent was the youngest one, Tim. He"s the one who helped me get away.”

Glory felt a burning desire to hurt those men. But if she"d understood the conversation between Dan and Taye, those men would get what was coming to them.