Gina's Wolf (Daughters of the Wolf Clan Book 3)

by Maddy Barone

  She would have to escape again. It wouldn’t be easy. Last summer no one had expected that she would leave her position as the pampered daughter of the most powerful man in the world, so although it had taken careful planning, it has been possible. Now they would watch for it.

  Where she would go, she didn’t know. Not Omaha. That would be the first place her stepfather would look, and she had put them in enough danger. No. She had to find somewhere else, somewhere that Todd wouldn’t easily conquer. She nibbled on her thumbnail. But where could that be? Was any place safe from her stepfather’s army?

  Her eyes opened wide. She stared at the canvas ceiling, considering the crazy wolfman who’d insisted she was his mate. Colby Wolfe. Handsome, stubborn, domineering, and oddly sweet at times, Colby had been taking her to the shelter of his family in Kearney, Nebraska when her stepfather’s men had stopped the train they were on. The Kansas-Missouri army had murdered all the men on the train and taken the women captive. Colby had been shot in the head. She had been told he was alive and had escaped. She didn’t see how that could be; she had seen his broken body and the hole in his skull. No one could survive that.

  Considering how much she hadn’t liked his bossy attitude, the aching regret she felt at the thought of his death was surprising. But he had died for trying to help her. He told her his family would protect her. She had met some of his cousins and uncles and they all agreed that their family would protect Gina. Would they still do that after she had caused his death?

  She sat up and put her feet firmly on the floor. She wouldn’t know until she met them. All she had to do was escape, travel a few hundred miles in the nasty March weather without being caught, and find a bunch of mean, bloodthirsty werewolves and beg them to take her in.

  Piece of cake.

  Right.

  Gina got up and grimly dressed for supper.

  Chapter Two

  Only her stepfather would throw a dinner party in a tent when the temperature hovered at forty degrees. What’s more, he expected ladies to wear dinner dresses. The only dinner dress that had been brought for her was a blue satin, full-skirted gown with narrow shoulder straps. She wore it but ignored the matching pumps in favor of sturdy walking shoes. Gina wished she could keep her thick shawl draped over her bare shoulders. Not just because it was cold, but because that nasty old Brother Saul was leering at her cleavage. He was discreet about it, but Gina caught him at it. When she did, the old man just bared yellow teeth in a smile that made her want to vomit. Thank goodness he was seated across the table at her father’s right hand.

  Her mother, as the ranking Mrs. Todd present, sat at the foot of the table. Fourth Mrs. Todd and Fifth Mrs. Todd were between the highest-ranking men in the Kansas-Missouri army. Gina sat between Jon and Tanner on her stepfather’s left. Her stepfather’s younger sister, Tamara, was next to Brother Saul. Gina liked Tammy. Too bad she had to sit next to the old man.

  Dinner was served by young privates in dress uniforms. They brought in baskets of bread, with small crocks of butter, cheese, and jellies, followed by steaming tureens of soup. One of the privates served her a bowl of soup. The warmth and the scent of chicken and cream was alluring. Gina stared at the creamy broth with something like awe.

  Tanner leaned close. “Do you like the soup?” he asked eagerly.

  She took a spoonful and almost swooned at the richness of the broth. Since the forces from Omaha had destroyed the camp’s supplies a week ago, meals had been lean. The President and his family had eaten a better than the army, but all of them had been on short rations. Todd’s men had been combing the countryside for wild game and had augmented their hunting by collecting food from the local population. At the end of winter, no one had vast quantities of food stores left, but the army of Kansas-Missouri ruthlessly confiscated what they found. Gina hated to think she was eating food stolen from people who had worked hard for it, but she was cold and hungry, so she ate.

  “Do you?” Tanner said insistently.

  “Yes,” she replied truthfully. In the minefield of politics and her stepfather’s insanity, it might be the only truth she told tonight.

  Tanner’s grin was smug. “It’s all from our commune.”

  Gina lowered her spoon. “The soup?”

  Tanner’s sigh said she was a moron. “The cream, the chickens, the eggs, and the butter.”

  “Oh.” Gina wasn’t sure what else to say, so she went back to eating.

  From her other side, Jon offered her a slice of bread, spread with a thick layer of creamy butter. “What my idiot brother is trying to tell you,” he said smoothly, “is that the wagons we sent to Falls City to bring back provisions arrived today. You don’t need to worry about being hungry.”

  “That’s good to know,” she said politely.

  Tanner leaned close. “The Brotherhood knows how to work the land. We never go hungry. Our women get their fair share of the food, too.”

  Gina plastered an impressed expression on her face. “How very egalitarian of you,” she said gravely.

  Tanner’s prominent forehead furrowed in obvious confusion. Gina hid a smirk. She’d suspected he wouldn’t understand words with more than two syllables.

  Jon shook his head at her with a condescending smile. “Men and women are not equal. Men, who have more responsibility, occupy a higher status than women. But that is not to say women are unimportant or without worth. They are honored as mothers. That is their glory.”

  “We make sure our women are given everything they need,” Tanner put in. “Even rebellious women have food and clothes after they learn how to behave. You’ll find that out in a few weeks when you come to Falls City.”

  A few weeks? Only a few more weeks of freedom before she would have to marry these smug men who thought a women's worth was measured only by her children? Too bad there wasn’t anything hard in the soup. Gina longed to crunch down on something. She only bent her head and stared at her empty bowl. It was a subservient position the President approved of. It also had the advantage of hiding her face.

  “The first of May is the date of the wedding,” said her stepfather heartily. “More than a few weeks. The perfect time for a wedding. You will be taken good care of in Falls City, Gina. I did right to reward our allies. When those thugs from Omaha snuck into my camp and burned my supplies, they thought I would retreat in ignominious haste. But thanks to good Brother Saul and his Brotherhood, we have plenty of food to last some time. Omaha will regret attacking me.”

  Gina almost looked up but remembered in time to keep her head down. Reminding him that those thugs had also taken his women captive and forced him to agree to a nonaggression pact would be stupid. She chewed bread vigorously.

  With another smirk, Tanner pinched her upper arm. His smile was scary. “You don’t want to marry into the Brotherhood, do you?” When she didn’t answer he pinched her harder. “Do you?”

  She swallowed bread. “It was unexpected,” she said carefully.

  “Maybe you want to run away and marry that Native werewolf.”

  Colby. For a moment, she saw him in her mind’s eye, tall and broad shouldered, black hair gleaming in the sun, a stubbornly set expression on his face when he told her she belonged to him. She shrugged indifferently and buttered another slice of bread. “I barely knew him and didn’t like him.”

  Tanner’s fingers reached for her arm again, ready to pinch. Her stepfather’s voice stopped him. Tanner might not have recognized that very pleasant tone, but Gina did. She froze, keeping her head bent.

  “Young Tanner, my daughter has displeased me, but she is my daughter, and I expect you to treat her with the respect she deserves. Do we understand each other?”

  Tanner sat back. “Yes, sir.”

  Gina noted the surly tone. She was sure that as soon as they were away from her stepfather’s reach, she would be a mass of bruises. Her future as the wife of multiple misogynistic men turned her stomach. Eating the rest of the dinner seemed impossible, but she forced her
self to chew and swallow the roasted venison, the creamed corn, and the dried apple pie. She would need her strength to get through whatever would come next.

  After the meal, the ladies were excused so the men could put their heads together and lay their plans. Gina would have loved to linger and listen, but her mother firmly ushered her out. At least she didn’t have to put up with Tanner and Jon anymore. As the cluster of women approached the harem tent, she turned away from them.

  “Georgina?” her mother said sternly.

  “I need to use the facilities,” she said airily.

  One of the guards flanking the door flap halted her. “Beg pardon, Miss Todd,” he said diffidently. “The president has instructed us to escort you wherever you want to go.”

  “I’m just going to the latrine.”

  “Yes, Miss. I will escort you.” Even in the starlight she could see the blush that rose to his cheeks. “You’ll need to leave your wrap here, please.”

  “But it’s cold.”

  The blush darkened. “Yes, Miss. President’s orders.”

  I won’t be likely to run away without something to keep me warm, she thought sarcastically. “Alright. Mom, will you take my shawl?”

  Her mother took the wrap with a frown. “You have a chamber pot in the tent,” she began.

  “I need some fresh air.”

  With no wrap over her mostly bare shoulders, it really was cold. Gina hurried over the icy ground to the row of tents erected over the latrines. She wanted to escape. In fact, after dinner with Jon and Tanner, she was determined to escape. But running off with a guard hanging on her heels and without provisions or even a coat was impossible. And this young private –Carson? Carleton?—would be in big trouble if she ran away when he was guarding her. She would just be married off to a repulsive commune of misogynists; he would be executed.

  She left him waiting a few respectful yards from the latrine tent and did her business as quickly as she could. When she came out of the tent, she didn’t see him standing where she had left him. She glanced around, confused. On her second glance she focused on the ground, looking for tracks to show where he had gone, and that’s when she found him.

  The gallant young private was a crumpled dark shape on the moonlit snow. A black shadow spilled over the snow around his head. She rushed forward. A large, dark animal sprung out of nowhere to block her path. She jerked to a stop with a gasp. It was a dog. No, not a dog. Gina squinted in the dim light, trying to ignore the leap of terror in her throat while identifying the animal. It was a wolf. A wolf? The huge head was level with her waist. Fangs gleamed ivory in a gaping maw. Gina froze, not even breathing. There were dark streaks on the teeth. Blood? Gina finally remembered to breathe.

  Her scream died in her throat. The top of the broad head had no fur, only a raw place where blood had clotted. She had seen only one wolf up close in her life. She swallowed a shuddering breath.

  “Colby?” she whispered.

  The wolf moved to her, his eyes shining yellow in the dim light. She backed away. He kept coming. After a minute of retreating from his advance she realized he was herding her out of camp. She tried to sidestep. He moved with her, now using his heavy shoulder to force her to keep moving. It was too cold out here without a wrap. Her dress was thin, no protection from the wind. Her shoes were sturdier than her evening pumps, but still not warm enough She was sure the camp had guards around the perimeter. One of them would see her and … What? Rescue her? Send her back to Jon and Tanner? Shoot Colby? Ice that had nothing to do with the temperature slid down her spine. Or worse. They would capture Colby and turn him over to Major Ellis and her stepfather to torture.

  Colby must have a camp. Hopefully he had something warm for her to put on there. This was her best chance of escape. She turned and allowed the wolf to push her out of camp.

  Once it became clear she wouldn’t try to go back to camp, the wolf bounded a few steps in front and led her away from camp. Every few steps he turned his head to be sure she was still behind him. She turned her head too, to be sure no one was following them. It wouldn’t be long before she and the private were missed.

  The private. Gina wrapped her arms around herself as she hurried behind the wolf. Was he dead? Cold seeped into her bones, the result of horror mixed with the frigid air around her. The private hadn’t done anything wrong, but the wolf murdered him. Her footsteps slowed. Maybe she was insane to be following this wolf through the dark. If she hadn’t seen him transform from a man to a wolf on the train with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have believed it. There really were werewolves, and Colby was one. Could a werewolf be trusted? Stopping altogether, she cast another glance back toward the camp. She shook her head firmly. No, there was nothing for her back there except a horrible marriage to a whole town of degenerate men who would treat her as badly as Tanner. She turned decisively back and rushed to catch back up to the wolf.

  In her hurry, she tripped over a clod of frozen earth under the snow and hit her knees hard. The wolf dashed to her side and nipped her wrist.

  “Hey!” She batted ineffectually at him. He responded by closing his mouth over her wrist and tugging. She could feel his teeth against her wrist, but he didn’t bite down. “Okay, okay, let go. I’m coming.”

  She would have sworn she walked for hours behind the wolf. She grew colder with every step. When they came to the river, she realized they had walked at least five miles. It really had been hours, then. The wolf growled low when she didn’t immediately slide down the bank. She held her arms close to her sides so he couldn’t nip her wrist again and cautiously went down to the river. The frozen river wouldn’t stop any pursuit, but it might slow them down. Where were the pursuers? She had expected them to catch up long before this. She made her way carefully over the river, the wolf trotting before her.

  Without trees or hills, nothing blocked the wind on the surface of the frozen water. Her teeth chattered as she laboriously pulled herself up the opposite bank. At the top, she fell. The wolf was there, sticking his furry face into her hers and growling.

  “Colby,” she croaked. “I can’t. I just can’t.”

  The wolf didn’t accept that. He put his massive shoulder into her side and pushed. She dragged herself to her feet and stood wavering, staring at the wolf.

  “How much farther?” she asked.

  The wolf growled and stepped past her to lead the way.

  She trudged behind him. How cold was it? Forty degrees? Above freezing, so she couldn’t actually freeze, could she? She couldn’t feel her feet, though, and that couldn’t be good. Her upper arms and face stung with cold. At least the wind was dying down. The skirt of her satin dress wouldn’t be much protection, but she flipped it up to cover her shoulders, not caring if the wolf could see her underwear. Modesty was the least of her problems right now. Besides, it was a wolf. Colby had yet to make an appearance.

  On and on they went through the cold night. Gina stopped looking back to check for pursuit. If her stepfather’s men caught up with them she might be grateful. They would wrap her in blankets and give her something warm to drink. Just the thought of it brought the threat of tears.

  “Colby,” she called.

  The wolf didn’t pause, but one of his ears cocked back as if to hear her better.

  “Colby, how much farther?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “Colby!” she shrieked. “I’m freezing. I’m tired of following a stupid wolf who won’t even talk to me. Are you in there?”

  The wolf trotted on. She ground her teeth to keep them from chattering. You wanted to escape, she reminded herself. Don’t be a baby. Freezing to death was preferable to marrying Jon, Tanner, and the rest of the male population in Falls City. Colby would take care of her as soon as he decided they were safe. She just had to be patient and keep moving. At least he has a thick fur coat to wear. That envious sarcasm was her last thought before she tripped over something and tumbled into the comfort of darkness.

  Chapter Thr
ee

  The wolf heard the woman fall from the lip of the hill he led her along. In a single bound, he leaped to the edge of the slope. She rolled and bounced several body lengths to the narrow stream at the bottom of the hill, and then lay still on the ice, her arms and legs splayed. A whine rose in the wolf, driven by terror. His terror? The man’s? The wolf wasn’t sure. He dashed down the slope. Before he reached her, he caught the scent of her blood. Injured. His mate was injured. Panic flooded the wolf. His mate should never know pain.

  She slept. Like the man within him, she wouldn’t wake. He nosed at her face. No response. He pawed her shoulder. Nothing. Blood oozed from a cut on her forehead. He licked it to stop the bleeding. He licked it and licked it, and the bleeding slowed, but she didn’t wake. What could he do to help her? The man could pick her up and carry her to safety, if he would just wake up. This was their mate who needed help. He blasted all his fear and anger in one internal shriek: Wake up!

  There was a sluggish response, more of a groan than a word.

  Our mate is dying! the wolf screamed at the man inside. If you don’t help her, we’ll lose her forever. Wake up!