by Maddy Barone
Arrogant jerk. “Don’t I get a say?”
“No.” He looked unmoved. “You will stay here and rest.”
She opened her mouth to argue, drew a breath, and closed it to consider the right words to use. If she let him have his way in everything, she would end up just like her mother. Gina refused to be an obedient doormat. She put her fingers lightly on his wrist and waited for his eyes to turn to her. They did with alacrity.
“Cole, I’d rather go with you.” She nodded to their hosts. “The Clarksons have been very generous to us, but I don’t want to cause them any trouble. What if they come while you are gone and take me away?” She didn’t have to fake the shudder. If the Kansas-Missouri army came knocking on the Clarkson’s door and found her hiding here, she would be taken back and the Clarksons would be punished. She tried to convey that to Cole with her eyebrows. “We could go together this afternoon after we get some rest.”
“It is safer for you to wait here while I bring my cousins to escort you to Omaha.”
His tone was so carefully reasonable that Gina almost smiled. He was probably trying to figure out why her eyebrows were wiggling like that and whether this woman he barely knew was insane. “We could compromise,” she suggested. “You and I can go together after dark. We wouldn’t be seen as easily then.”
He seemed to consider that, chewing his ham thoughtfully. “I suppose we could do that. But you need to rest while I run a patrol. I need to know if we were followed.”
John Clarkson’s head came up. “Followed?” He swallowed potatoes. “Are you in trouble?”
Gina looked from John to Nikki to Cole, wondering how much to admit. “It’s possible. Cole, uh, rescued me from the Kansas-Missouri camp last night. They might want to get me back.” There. She’d told the truth. Most of it.
John’s mouth tightened and he muttered something that sounded like, “Those encroaching good for nothings need to clear out.”
Nikki’s hand went to her mouth. “They stole a wolf’s mate?” Horrified disbelief threaded her voice.
Her stepfather’s men had captured Victoria and Renee and tried to murder Cole. In response, the wolf clan invaded the Kansas-Missouri camp, burned the food stores and stolen his wives. Gina didn’t mention any of that. “If they do come this way I don’t want them to find me here with you. I know how they operate. They would punish you, so we need to leave as soon as possible.”
John pushed back from the table. “They haven’t crossed the river yet. So far they’ve stayed on the Iowa side. Do you know what their plans are?”
Gina looked at her plate. “I don’t know everything. The president wants to take his family back to Kansas City. They should be leaving within the week. Maybe.” How long would her stepfather search for her? Guilt swirled in the pool of anxiety lodged in her stomach. “But he’ll be back. He wants Omaha.”
Nikki must have seen her anxiety. She leaned over to give her a quick hug. “Don’t you worry. The Clan and the Packs will protect you. That sleazy president might have an army, but he hasn’t run up against the Clan yet.”
Gina wanted to believe her, but no one had succeeded in standing against her stepfather.
“That’s right,” John said. “Omaha isn’t defenseless, and neither is the rest of Nebraska. Even this farm isn’t defenseless. Eat your breakfast. You are welcome here.”
Gina ate with a sense of wonder. These people were like Lachlan and Ceara. They were good and caring. They looked after other people, even strangers. Gina had known too few good people in Kansas City. It was like her stepfather had sucked all the caring out of them. She couldn’t go back to that. If Cole hadn’t shown up last night, what would she be doing right now? Probably eating breakfast with Tanner and Jon on either side of her, poking and pinching her, showing her a hopeless future as their wife. What her future now held she wasn’t sure, but compared to Jon and Tanner, Cole was a prince.
Beside her, Cole’s hand brushed over her arm, almost like it was an accident, but when she glanced at him she saw he was watching her with a small, warm smile. Was he reading her mind? “Finish your breakfast,” he ordered. “Then come out with me to say goodbye.”
“Bossy,” she muttered, but continued to eat. She noticed Nikki’s lips were pressed together as if suppressing a smile.
They finished breakfast quickly and Nikki collected the plates and stacked them in the sink while water heated to wash them. John went back to the barn to continue his interrupted chores. Cole led Gina out to the mudroom.
It was cooler here than in the kitchen, so she didn’t object when he put his arms around her. He smelled like lavender and cedar, probably from his borrowed shirt, and something else, something that was just him. She laid his cheek on his chest.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he whispered into her hair. “Will you miss me?”
She snorted and leaned back to look into his face. “Maybe.”
“My sweet mate.”
He leaned down as if he would kiss her. Gina swallowed irrational panic. “So, what’s with this Plane Women’s House Mrs. Clarkson is from?” she blurted. “And how does she know you’re a wolf?”
He was even more handsome when he laughed silently. “Ask her to explain it. Now hold still. I need something to keep me warm on my patrol.”
He was going to kiss her. He bent his head slowly, watching her closely. She realized he was giving her time to tell him no. That fact erased her reluctance, giving curiosity room to grow. She lifted her face, waiting to feel his lips touch hers.
They did, so lightly and softly that it was hardly a kiss. His cheek slid against hers, and his nose pressed into her hair behind her ear. His breath on the tender skin behind her ear was unexpectedly erotic. She awkwardly lifted her arms to put her hands on his shoulders. The strength she felt in the thick muscles under her fingers was foreign. She’d never embraced a man. Well, she’d hugged her stepfather. That wasn’t the same as hugging such a handsome man, one who seemed to think she belonged to him. Cole was bossy, but he honestly seemed willing to do anything to protect her. If Jon embraced her she wouldn’t feel this mix of trepidation and wonder. His touch would be loathsome.
Cole’s breath stirred her hair. His arms tightened for a moment, then relaxed. He raised her chin with his fingers. “I’ll be back soon, mate.”
“Be careful,” she whispered.
His smile was a bold slash of white in his dark face. “Always.”
With complete unconcern, he stepped away, unbuttoned the shirt and let it drop, and then unfastened the jeans and stepped out of them. Gina gawked at the male perfection of his naked body. His broad shoulders tapered to a hard, narrow waist and long legs. She got a glimpse of his sculpted chest and belly before he turned to the door, showing her a hard, round behind. Dang it, she thought, he’d turned away too soon.
He opened the door and paused to glance back at her. His wicked smile said he knew she liked what she saw. “All yours, Gina. All of me belongs to only you,” he said.
Then he blurred into gray fur and was gone, the door swinging shut behind him.
Behind her, Nikki cleared her throat. Gina was sure her cheeks were beet red, but she composed her face and turned to the older woman.
“Would you like some help cleaning up from breakfast?” she asked.
“Sure. The wash water will be ready any second.”
For a moment, Gina looked at the crumpled shirt and jeans on the floor. “He could have folded them, instead of just leaving them on the floor,” she muttered, bending to pick them up.
Nikki laughed. “Just like a wolf. You can put the clothes on the stool there. He can find them there when he gets back.”
In a few minutes the two women were at the kitchen sink, washing, rinsing, and putting away the breakfast dishes. Gina, scrubbing a dishrag over a plate, cast a sidelong glance at Nikki.
“What did you mean when you said you were from the Plane Women’s House?”
“Ah.” Nikki paused in dry
ing a plate to smile at Gina. “Have you and Colby been mated long?”
“Um.” Gina looked down at the soap suds floating on top of the water. “Not, er, no. That is, I barely know him.”
Nikki put the dried plate in the cabinet before focusing on Gina. “Have you accepted his mate claim?”
“No. I don’t know. I don’t think so?”
Nikki’s brows drew slightly together as she dried her hands on the dishtowel she held. “Have you made love?”
“No!”
“Then you haven’t.” Nikki sounded very sure. Her tone sent a wave of relief crashing through Gina. “It is always the woman’s choice whether or not to accept the claim. No wolf would force his mate to accept him.” A small smile lit Nikki’s face. “But a wolf bent on winning his mate can be stubborn. Don’t expect Colby to give up. I remember how patient Stag was with Sherry, right up to the moment he decided desperate measures were called for.” She laughed, her eyes softening at some memory. “Poor Sherry. It worked out for them though.”
“Who is Sherry?”
Nikki’s eyes shifted back into focus, though the smile lingered. “Sherry was one of the women on the plane with me. So was Colby’s mother.”
“Plane?” Gina echoed blankly.
“You wash while I talk,” Nikki said. “I’ll start at the beginning. Way back in 2014 I boarded a plane.”
2014? It was March of 2092. Gina shot a glance at her hostess, who looked far too young to have been even born in 2014.
“Only an hour after takeoff, the plane crashed,” Nikki continued. “There weren’t that many survivors and most of us were hurt. We didn’t know it at first, but we had traveled forward in time and found ourselves in 2064, fifty years after terrorists nuked most of the world.”
Gina stared, open-mouthed. Jumping in time was only in stories. But this woman seemed matter of fact about the impossible. Gina swallowed and made herself consider the whole story. She had a vague idea of what a plane was because her stepfather was obsessed with re-creating the technology from the Times Before. Nikki had actually ridden on one. She had lived in the Times Before. “That must have been terrifying.”
“It was. We were rescued by the Lakota Wolf Clan. They took us in and helped us get back on our feet. Some survivors were mated to wolves. The rest of us were given a home in a large apartment building in Kearney. It came to be called The Plane Women’s House, and they turned it into a very successful restaurant.”
Gina nodded, absorbing this. She knew of the Plane Women’s Eatery. It was a famous restaurant that even Kansas City had heard of.
“Connie was the pilot of the plane. She mated Des, and other wolves came to live there, and now that group is called the Plane Women’s House Pack. Des and Connie are in charge there.”
“Is that where Cole is from?” Gina rinsed a glass, but her attention was on Nikki. “He said something about it. Or is he from the Clan? I’m confused.”
“I don’t blame you. The Clan lives on the prairie in tents during the summer and in the Black Hills in the winter. Until about forty years ago the Clan was the only werewolf pack. But they don’t like to be called werewolves. Taye’s mother ―that would be Colby’s grandmother― separated from the Clan and went to live close to her family near Kearney. Several of the men of the Clan went with her. They became the Pack. Now they are sometimes called Taye’s Pack or the Kearney Pack.”
“So there are three groups of wer… I mean, wolves.”
“Right.” Nikki took the glass and dried it. “One important thing to remember about wolves is that they are fanatical about keeping women safe. Any woman, but one they are responsible for? They will do anything for her.” Nikki turned from the cabinet to look at Gina very seriously. “And a mate is ten times more important. Colby won’t hurt you. You are the only woman he can ever be with. His wolf won’t allow him to have anyone else.”
“You mean, he can’t marry someone else?”
“No, never. Even if you refuse his mate claim he can’t have another woman.”
Gina struggled to understand that. “That gives me some power over him. He’ll resent that.”
Mrs. Clarkson lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “It didn’t sound to me like he resents you. He might be a little high handed about how to keep you safe.” She laughed at Gina’s snort. “Well, I bet he is as much of an Alpha as his father. Taye acts all laid back and even-tempered until some guy gets too close to Carla. Then watch out.”
“Ha. Is he as bossy as Cole?”
Nikki seemed to think. “I don’t know. I think Carla learned to manage him pretty early. Like you did at breakfast. Yes, I noticed how you touched Colby and asked him to wait to go to Omaha. That was good. No pleading, no tears, no yelling. You have the knack of controlling yourself and getting your way without drama.”
Gina started on the frying pan. A need for self-preservation had taught her how to gauge a mood and act in the way most likely to keep her from trouble. Yelling and throwing tantrums had achieved nothing but vigorous spankings and days without food. Keeping her rebellion hidden deep inside had been much safer. “I don’t want to control him,” she said in a low voice.
“Controlling and managing are two very different things. Here, give me that skillet. I’ll finish it after I’ve put you to bed. You are practically asleep on your feet.”
She really wasn’t. Nikki had given her a lot to think about. Her mind was going over and over the story of the plane and the wolves and the packs until they were muddled in her brain. Maybe she was tired. She was suddenly aware of how her feet and back ached.
Nikki handed her the dish towel. “Dry your hands. I’ll get you one of my nighties. You can sleep in my daughter’s room. She married a few years ago, but she lives only a mile away and was home last weekend for a couple of nights. I just changed the sheets on her bed. Come on.”
In a few minutes Gina was wearing a long flannel nightgown and the warm socks, curled up in a narrow twin bed under a comforting mound of quilts. “Thank you,” she murmured and was asleep before Mrs. Clarkson had closed the door and tiptoed back to the kitchen.
She was asleep when Cole returned from his patrol and stepped into the dim room. She didn’t see the way his mouth softened with wonder as he looked at her, or the longing on his face when he reached a trembling finger to touch her hair.
Chapter Five
His mate. She lay on her side with her cheek at the edge of a fat pillow, a thick layer of blankets and quilts tucked under her chin. Her face was slack with exhaustion, the bruise at her hairline horrifyingly obvious.
That was his fault. Cole rubbed a hand over his chest to still the ache there. His stupid wolf had dragged her into the cold and she’d been forced to hurry behind him for miles without proper clothes to keep her warm. It wasn’t until she had fallen that he had managed to rouse and push his way past the wolf to take control again. He allowed his finger to glide lightly over his mate’s hair before curling his hands into fists and pulling back. He’d never thought of himself as weak, but only a weakling would stay buried behind the safety of the wolf, particularly when his mate was in peril.
Weariness dragged at him, magnifying the pain in his head. There was a sliver of empty space in the narrow bed. He could lie there with his mate pressed against him. The scent of her skin would soothe the headache. He reached for the blanket pulled up to her chin, but paused, his fist clenching again.
She wouldn’t like it. She hadn’t accepted his claim yet. Most of him wanted to brush that aside and lie with his body curved around hers, inhaling her delicious scent and feeling the warmth of her body sink into him. A very small part of him knew his mate would object to that. With a deep sigh, he surrendered to reason and lowered himself to sit on the floor, his back against the wall, one shoulder propped against the bed. If he slumped just a little his face was level with hers. Her breath drifted over his cheek. It was almost as good as lying beside her. With a faint smile on his lips, he folded his arms over his chest,
let his head drop to rest on the mattress next to her pillow, and fell asleep.
****
The weak March sun filtered through the blue gingham curtain and painted a golden stripe over Gina’s eyelids. The warmth of it roused her from sleep. Without opening her eyes, she stretched her toes beneath the comforting weight of the quilts and wondered what time it was. She rolled to her side and reveled in the quiet joy of a warm bed. She punched the feather pillow into a more comfortable shape beneath her cheek and snuggled into it. Something on the pillow tickled her nose. She brushed her hair out of the way. Her nose still tickled. She opened her eyes a crack to get a better view of the offending hair.
It was black. Her eyes opened wider. Black? Her hair was mousy brown. The bleary confusion vanished with a jolt when she saw the black hair was attached to a head. Cole. He slumped with his cheek against the edge of the mattress, one side of his forehead pressed to the side of her pillow. His face was relaxed in deep sleep. She could look her fill without him knowing. All the things Nikki had told her about the wolf clan rushed to the front of her mind. If she could believe the other woman, Cole could never, ever have any other wife, even if she refused him. Did she want to refuse him?
She inched away and raised herself on one elbow to look down at him. She could see only half his face. It was dark against the white pillowcase and sheet. His nose was a straight blade, his eyebrow a dark slash. She’d always thought his mouth was hard, but now his lips looked soft. What would they feel like if she dipped her head right now and kissed him? When she remembered what had happened in the mudroom before he left to patrol, a strange warmth spread through her. He was asleep. He’d never know.
That thought was tempting, but self-control—or self-preservation ̶ didn’t allow it. She eased a few inches further away and went back to studying him. His eyelashes were unfairly thick and long. Men shouldn’t have such long eyelashes. With those lush lashes and soft mouth, he looked almost pretty. No, his chin was too square for that, his jaw too hard. She nibbled her lower lip, studying him. Not pretty. She angled her head to see more of him. He was handsome in both his face and his body. Strong and sleek. His father was a powerful man. Maybe she was the only woman he could be with now, but Cole had probably had a bunch of other women friends before he came to Omaha and saw her. Had those women stroked the line of his shoulder and down his arm? Had they pressed their cheeks to his heart? Had they skimmed their hands down his chest to his belt?
