Wolver's Rescue (40 page)

He tried to remember what she looked like
when he found her, but he couldn’t. Oh, he could probably write the
description, but he couldn’t see it in his mind’s eye. She’d
changed so much and so had he.

Eugene Begley cleared his throat. “I have to
agree with you that she’s a pretty little thing and well worth
looking at, but I think these folks are waiting for you to
speak.”

“
Do you have that cell phone
on you? You know, the one you never answer. Why don’t you put it to
good use and take a picture. Then I’ll get on with it.” Bull pulled
Tommie to him and kissed her.

She was laughing when he let her go and that
was when Eugene Begley snapped the picture.

“
Aren’t you supposed to kiss
me after the ceremony?”

“
No, baby, after the
ceremony we get right to the good stuff.” He held her hand while he
faced his wolvers.

“
Eugene tells me that as a
brand new pack, it’s my job to name it. I thought about naming it
after the pack that once roamed this land, the pack I was born to
and is no more. But that’s the past and I want to look to the
future, so I looked at all of us, the founders of this pack. You,
me, and Tommie all came from different starts in life, but we all
have one thing in common. We’ve all been given a second chance to
start over.”

Bull straightened his shoulders and looked
from wolver to wolver, meeting each one’s eyes. "Is it your wish to
join the Second Chance Pack?" he asked and his voice echoed over
the land that would be theirs.

"It is," they answered in unison.

"Will you swear to uphold Pack Law no matter
the cost?"

"I will." Each wolver’s voice echoed the one
before.

"Will you swear to place the needs of the
pack above your own and follow your Alpha in whatever he may ask of
you even unto death?"

"I will." And hadn’t they already proven
it?

"Who do you stand for?"

"I stand for my Alpha and the Second Chance
Pack."

"I, the Alpha, William Bulworth, stand for
those who stand for me," Bull called out and his power rolled over
the crowd. "We stand for those who stand with us. Welcome, and may
the blessings of God and nature be on you and the Second Chance
Pack."

There were hoots and hollers and howls that
were probably heard ten miles away and Bull closed his eyes and
thanked God and Tommie for it. He was the Alpha and this was his
pack.

~*~

Tommie beamed and hoped Eugene Begley had put
his phone away. Her mascara was probably running in rivulets down
her cheeks. So much for all Macey’s hard work.

She’d said the words with all the others, but
she was blubbering by the time she came to the last.

"I stand for my Alpha and the Second Chance
Pack."

She’d heard a variation of the word ‘stand’
before, but she’d thought it was a local turn of phrase. Now she
understood.

She would never be alone as she had been in
that cage, with no one to wonder where she was, with no one to come
and find her. Bull rescued her from that cage, but it was these
wolvers standing around them, laughing and smiling and cheering,
who’d rescued her from a life of solitude and isolation. With the
repetition of those words, she was wolver. She was pack.

Bull stood behind her, exposing her to the
crowd. “Will you look at her,” he laughed, “She’s already crying
over the mistake she made choosing you lot for her pack.”

“
Oh, I’m not having second
thoughts about them,” she retorted, wiping her eyes and probably
making them look like a raccoons’. “You? I’m not so
sure.”

“
She’s sure,” Bull told
their pack. “I can feel her wolf purr like a kitten when
we...”

“
Bull!”

“
Hold hands,” he finished to
more hoots and hollers from his pack. He laughed with them, but
then he stepped around her to stand beside her and the look that he
gave her melted her heart.

“
I thought Thomas Mortimer
Bane lacked cunning. She’s too open. She’s too honest. She’s too
vocal with her opinions.”

Tommie felt herself blushing when the pack
laughed.

“
Wolvers beware. While
you’re distracted by those things, she sneaks her way into your
heart. I thought she was weak and what I found was a woman who was
not only strong enough to fight her own demons, she took on other
folks’ demons, too. She not only gives you dreams, she makes them
come true. I thought my dreams died along with my pack when I was
fifteen years old. She brought those dreams back to life. She
brought me back to life. She has become my life, my heart and my
soul. Without her, there is no me. I give you your Mate and mine,
Thomas Mortimer Bane.”

After the cheers had died, Tommie stepped
forward and held her arms wide.

“
Bull not only rescued me
from a cage, he plucked me out of a dumpster, too. I had lettuce in
my hair and heaven only knows what all over the rest of me and, oh
yeah, I hadn’t had a real bath in three months. Bull picked me up
and carried me close to his heart and he’s been in my heart ever
since. My wolf felt it, too. She called him mate before I knew what
the word meant.” She curled into his side and looked up at him so
he could see what was in her eyes. “I’m happy to hear that I’m your
life, your heart and your soul, because that’s what you are to me.
I love you William Bulworth. You’re the dream that came
true.”

Bull gave her a quick kiss and a gentle shove
toward the open field.

“
Run!” the crowd
yelled.

Cora had told her about this traditional
chase and capture at a mating. Tommie wasn’t thrilled about making
love in the great outdoors particularly since the house was
surrounded by pasture. She’d never make it to the privacy of the
trees.

When she tried to talk to Bull, he only
laughed and said, “Trust me.”

She did, so she ran.

She didn’t get ten yards before Bull caught
her around the waist, and then she was in his arms. Just as on that
first night, his size and strength were comforting, his chest was
warm and she could feel his heartbeat against her cheek. She slid
her arms around his neck and allowed her body to melt into his.

“
Always in my heart,” he
whispered and then, as he strode back to the house and their
comfortable bed, he called out his first order to his pack. “Go.
Run and be free. I’ll call you when your new Mate is ready to join
you.”

“
Bull, I’m afraid,” she
confessed once they reached their room.

He removed her shoes and slowly ran his hands
up her legs, taking the dress with him, following its rise with
tiny kisses along her body. Raising it over her head, and casting
it aside, he kissed her nose and bent his forehead to hers.

“
Not of me. You’ve never
been afraid of me.”

“
Not of you. Never of you,”
she whispered as she began to unbutton his shirt. “It was different
when you were just Bull and I was just Tommie. Now you’re their
Alpha and I’m to be their Mate.” She pushed the shirt from his
shoulders and rested her head on his chest. She needed the
comforting sound of his heartbeat. “Oh, Bull, what if I fail them?
What if I’m not what they need me to be? I’ve only been a wolver
for a few months.”

With his hand at her back, Bull moved his
body over hers until she was lying on the bed. “It’s still just you
and me, baby. Always you and me.”

He kissed her and it was warm and wet and
lovely and her body responded as it always did when he kissed her.
When he rose to remove his shirt and jeans, he continued in the
same gentle tone.

“
You didn’t know you were a
wolver or an Alpha’s daughter, but if you look at your life, it was
always there. The pack sensed it. That’s why they took to you so
quickly. That’s why they listened. That’s why they believed in your
dreams. Fate makes us who we are. I was destined to be their Alpha.
You were destined to be their Mate. We were destined to be
together; one life, one heart, one soul.”

When he returned to her, his touch brought
with it such love and desire, she was almost overwhelmed. “Is
this...? she started to ask, but her breath caught as he ran his
tongue along the edge of her panties, leaving a trail of fire
behind.

“
More huffy-puffy,” he
chuckled against her belly, but his soft laugh sounded a little
breathless, too. His voice was husky. “More proof that this was
meant to be.”

Every movement of his hands, every touch of
his tongue, every kiss from his lips, enflamed her desire. He
kissed her through her panties and growled deep in satisfaction
when he found her wet and wanting.

Her body was already flaming when her panties
disappeared and he pulled her up onto the bed. He turned and
straddled her and brought his mouth back down between her legs,
tongue delving inside her, hinting at pleasures to come. He
nibbled, he sucked, and his tongue danced over her clit.

Their position allowed her, too, to give
pleasure with her mouth. She took him in, drawing him deeper with
each spasm of fire coursing through her. The heightened awareness
of her body brought with it an awareness of his that she’d never
experienced before. The velvety feel of him excited her. With each
nibble and lick, she felt his desire grow. She rode him with her
mouth as he rode her with finger and tongue. He groaned with the
pleasure of it and the sound sent her spiraling out and out until
her senses exploded. She wanted to take him with her, but he pulled
away with another groan.

“
Not yet, baby, not
yet.”

She was still riding the fiery waves of her
orgasm, when he turned her onto her stomach, raised her hips and
plunged his erection into her.

“
Damn, spitfire,” he growled
in time to his thrusts, “Never knew, never knew...”

His hands left her hips and he covered her
with his body. Even in the throes of passion, he was mindful of his
weight and size. He braced himself on his forearm by her head while
the other hand sought her clit again. She moaned and drove her hips
into his, knowing her climax was near and determined to bring him
with her.

She felt the rising tension in her body, felt
it in his and then his mouth was at the base of her neck, at the
soft place where it joined her shoulder and she knew what he was
going to do and she wanted, wanted, wanted it.

He bit her. She felt him swell within her as
he ground his body into hers with one last thrust and the fire
engulfed them. Her wolf howled with the joy of it and she heard,
very clearly, his wolf howl with it.

“
Never knew I could love a
woman this much
.” Bull’s voice was in her
head as she collapsed into the pillows.

“
I can feel them, Bull. I
can feel them in my head, too. I can feel them all. They’re happy.
They’re happy for us and they’re happy for themselves.”

She’d always felt the women, but she hadn’t
understood it then. Now she did, and with the knowledge came the
belief that Bull was right. This was all meant to be. The years
spent in ignorance, meeting Cora, Bull’s rescue, finding a pack; it
was all leading up to this. Bull was their Alpha and she was their
Mate and the love she felt flowed out of her in tears.

Bull let her rest in his arms, arms that
would forever offer her comfort and strength, but he didn’t let her
rest for long.

“
Come on, spitfire.” He
whispered and by the sound of his voice, Tommie knew that Bull felt
the wonder of it, too. “The moon is still high. Let’s run with our
pack.”

Bull took her over the moon that night, but
it was Tommie’s wolf who showed her the joy of running with the
wind. She took to it like she’d been running all her life and her
excitement at discovering this world of new sights and smells and
wonders transferred itself to the pack. With the big brown wolf
that was Bull at her side, they joined her as she raised her snout
to the sky and howled with the glory of it to the full moon above
them.

They were wolvers. They were pack.

Their little Second Chance pack was slowly
growing. A few young families came to visit, usually bringing with
them a troubled past. A few of them, not all of them, but a few of
them, decided to stay. Pups were born, including two boys for Bull
and Tommie, and cubs went to school. Life was peaceful and no one
complained.

There were two more buildings on the property
now, and plans were in the works to build two more as large as the
local law would allow. Bull hoped to buy more land, but building
homes and buying land took money and money was in short supply.

They ate well. In addition to the beef, they
now raised pigs and chickens and many of the few vegetables they
needed. As their Alpha, Bull had forbidden human theft, but he had
no problem with hunting on the full moon whether the game was in
season or not. It was a wolf’s nature to hunt wild game and the
deer and elk they brought home from the hunt were a welcome
addition to the pack table.

A few of the wolvers found full time work in
nearby towns. A few more found temporary work during peak tourist
months. There was always work to be done on the land. Through the
pack earnings, the bills were paid and necessities purchased, but
there was never much left over.

Even though he was no longer a member of
Eugene Begley’s elite pack of lone wolves, Bull still did the
occasional job for the little Alpha. Two or three times a year, he
would get a call to go out to hunt. Sometimes, not always, but
sometimes, he would bring his prey home. They were usually wild
eyed and a little scary, but with fresh air, good food, and wolvers
around them who understood, some of them, not all of them, but some
of them, came home for good.