Eddie’s Prize

by Maddy Barone

  It was The Grandmother who came up with the best way to cheer her up. She told the men it was girls’ night and shepherded all the women into the room she shared with Rose, where she brought out some bottles of home-brewed whiskey. Carla and Tami sat on The Grandmother’s bed, while the elderly lady took a comfortable chair. Lisa sat cross-legged on Rose’s bed with a full glass in her hand. Rose perched beside her with a glass that had only an inch of liquor in it. The teenager sipped cautiously and infrequently.

  Lisa frowned. “Are you old enough to drink?”

  “I’m sixteen. That’s old enough here.” She shrugged. “I don’t really like it, but it’s nice to be included.”

  “Good.” Lisa lowered the glass she had raised to her lips without drinking. “I mean it’s good you don’t like it. My mom was an alcoholic. Growing up with her was no picnic. Don’t do that to your kids.”

  Rose took a tiny sip and snorted. “What kids? First I’d have to have a husband, and that’s not likely.”

  Lisa was about to laugh at her when she remembered Rose had been claimed as mate by one of the wolves, Sky. After they’d had a fight, the young man had left to work in Omaha. “You’re only sixteen. A lot can change in a few years.”

  Rose choked on a deeper sip. “I feel a lot older than sixteen. Everybody is older than me, even my new BFF, Ellie. She’s getting married in a few months.”

  “Married.” Lisa drained her glass. “Ellie. I saw her at the Gala. I hope her husband will make her happy. She’s cute and sweet.”

  Carla held out her left hand to show off a wedding ring. “She is sweet. This ring belonged to her grandmother. Taye’s grandmother too. She gave it to us at Christmas.”

  Lisa held out her glass for a refill. “Eddie gave me a horse for Christmas. His name is Alexander. I named him after the little boy on the plane. Do you remember him? About four years old, with red hair?”

  In the lamplight, Carla was a sad Madonna with her long, brown hair framing her still face. “When the plane finally stopped moving, his mom was dead, so you picked him up and got him out. He died. I remember.”

  Lisa remembered how terrified she had been while the plane had dropped through the air. Through the screams and prayers and curses, little Alexander’s thin wail could barely be heard. After the horrendous roar and metallic screeching of the crash had died, there had been momentary silence followed by more screams and groans.

  What a horrible memory. Lisa swallowed a gulp of the fiery liquor. “I was there when Eddie delivered the colt, and the owner asked me to name him, so I called him Alexander. I wonder what Eddie will do with him now?”

  Tami, sitting on the end of The Grandmother’s bed, put her feet on the floor and leaned forward. “If you want him, I bet Taye and Snake could get him for you.”

  Lisa tucked her glass between her legs and spread her hands. “What would I do with a baby horse? I don’t know anything about them.”

  The Grandmother smiled an evil, almost toothless grin. “I’m sure your next husband will be glad to train him for you.”

  Lisa stared. “Next husband? I don’t want another husband!”

  “Tough,” said the old lady. “A woman of fertile age won’t be single long. You can do better than Eddie.”

  Yes, I can, Lisa wanted to say, but instead, tears started. “I don’t want anyone but Eddie!”

  “But you left him,” the old lady pointed out reasonably.

  “I had to!” Lisa sobbed. “He didn’t beat me, but it was abuse all the same. But he could be so sweet too. Oh, God, I miss him.”

  Carla took her glass away and set it down to hug her. “Lisa, if you’ve changed your mind, you can go back to him.”

  “I won’t,” Lisa said fiercely. “I won’t settle for being his housekeeper with benefits. I worked hard to become a good cook, but I need to be more than just his cook. The sex was great, but I want to be more than just his personal sex slave. And, okay, I get that guys here are possessive, but he acted like I was ready jump into bed with any guy who smiled at me.” Her voice rose to a near shout. “Maybe he didn’t mean to hurt me, but he did. Three or four times he grabbed me hard enough to leave bruises. I’m sick of being treated like a possession, or a bitch who can’t be trusted off a leash!”

  She reached for her glass. Carla handed it to her. “Did you tell Eddie how you felt?”

  “I tried! God, I tried. But every time I wanted to talk to him, he ran out. I mean, literally ran out, and didn’t come back until the next morning.”

  Rose’s eyes were round. “Wow, sounds like Jeremy, my friend Krystal’s boyfriend. He’s, like, seventeen, but he acts like he’s in kindergarten.”

  “Exactly!” Lisa poured the rest of her whiskey down her throat and glared at her empty glass. “Am I supposed to just hope Eddie grows up someday?”

  “Nope,” said Tami firmly. She lifted her glass and clinked it against Lisa’s. “Tell him he can come court you after he’s grown into an adult.”

  Lisa gave a watery laugh. “That’ll be the day,” she sneered.

  Carla said seriously, “If you want to talk to him, now might be the right time. He can’t come in here, so he can’t touch you. But if he really wants you back, he’ll listen to you.”

  Lisa drank more that night than she had in years. It was midnight before the women left to go to their own rooms, and it was a good thing that Snake and several other men were in the hallway. Lisa draped herself over Snake.

  “You’re my brother, right?” she asked him.

  “Right,” he said fondly.

  “Then…” She trailed off as she lost the thread of her train of thought. “Oh, yes, then can you help me to bed? I think I need to sleep now.”

  Snake helped her down the hall to her room and sat her on the bed while he built up the fire. She giggled and wavered her way to the bathroom to use the toilet and brush her teeth. When she came back out, he helped her strip down to her long johns. She slid into bed and looked at him with bleary eyes.

  “Thank you, Snake. Would you mind staying with me until I fall asleep? I’m cold. And lonely. Eddie left me alone so many nights… I don’t want to be alone.”

  He lay down on the bed, outside the covers, and put an arm around her. “It’ll be all right,” he murmured to her. “Do you want Madison to be your husband?”

  “Yes, I love him so much. I got over Donnie and Dave and Brent, but I’ll never get over Eddie.” Her mouth opened in a huge yawn. “But he doesn’t trust me, so I can’t be his wife. Maybe if he learns to not hurt me, I could be his wife. Maybe if he grows up, he could court me.”

  She fell asleep, her mouth open, snoring against Snake’s bare shoulder, feeling warmer and more relaxed than she had in days.

  * * * *

  Eddie picked up a stack of this morning’s flyers and headed north. He had checked in the mirror this morning, and he knew his eyes weren’t red, but the tears from last night made them feel raw. The night might not have brought him much sleep, but it had reinforced his thought that Bree was right. Lisa had a right to know everything. He wanted to kick his horse into a gallop, but the recently thawed snow had frozen overnight into pools of ice. Curbing his impatience, he let the horse pick his way over the icy roads to the den.

  Jay was at the gate along with two others in their wolf forms when he arrived. As if he’d been waiting for him, Taye stepped out of the den just as he dismounted and grabbed the flyers from the saddle bag.

  Wolfe stood with his arms folded over his chest. “What’s the news from Kearney?”

  Eddie glanced down at the newssheets. He had been so anxious to see Lisa he hadn’t even read the flyer. His heart squeezed with relief. “No new cases.”

  Taye held out a hand for a flyer. Eddie rolled one up and slid it through the fence.

  “Where’s Lisa?” Eddie asked.

  Taye was still reading the flyer. Jay answered with a shrug. “She doesn’t want to talk to you.”

  Eddie wanted to argue. He ground
his teeth. “Ask her to come out. I have something really important to say to her.”

  “I said no.”

  A roar built in the back of Eddie’s throat. He tilted his head back and let it out. “Lisa! Lisa, come out! I want to talk to you!”

  The door of the den opened, and a pudgy little dog galloped out. It threw itself at the fence, barking viciously at Eddie. It startled him enough to back up a step. The door opened again and Snake, wearing only cutoff sweatpants and a scowl, ran out.

  “Shut up!” he snarled.

  Eddie wasn’t sure who he was talking to, the dog or him. “I want to talk to Lisa.”

  Snake lifted a lip in a sneer. “She said you can come court her when you grow up.”

  Taye folded the newssheet. “Snake, where is Lisa?”

  “She was still sleeping when I left her, Chief.”

  Eddie felt his hands clench. “When you left her?” he asked, the low rumble of his beast edging his words. “Where did you leave her?”

  “In bed.” The young wolf’s words were unconcerned.

  A yearning for blood tore through Eddie. “You slept with her?”

  “She asked me to. She was lonely.”

  “You slept with my wife?” The howl ripped out of Eddie’s throat.

  Taye shifted his weight, looking closely at Eddie’s eyes. Eddie felt claws dig into his palms as the cat inside him tore at his control. Eddie slanted his eyes away, fighting with everything he had against his beast.

  Snake snorted. “We slept together. We didn’t have sex.” Out of the corner of his eye, Eddie saw his face contort in revulsion. “That’s disgusting. She’s my sister.”

  Slowly Eddie regained control, but it left him panting and shaking. Taye Wolfe was still staring at him. “What are you?” he asked softly.

  That was a question he couldn’t answer. “I just want to talk to Lisa. I love her.”

  Snake tilted his head to the side. “She still loves you too, but she thinks you don’t love her. Are you sure you love her? Or do you just miss your cook and your sex slave?”

  Air went out of Eddie in choked gasp. “What?”

  “That’s what you said to her yesterday. You missed having a hot meal on the table when you came home, and you missed having someone to give you comfort in bed.”

  Eddie shut his gaping mouth. “I didn’t mean it like that. I miss Lisa. Please ask her to come out.”

  Snake shrugged. “She’s sleeping. Come back later. And bring coffee.”

  “Coffee?”

  “Lisa asked you to get her coffee a long time ago, but you never did.”

  Eddie groped through his memories and found something so dim he couldn’t exactly recall when she’d asked for coffee. “She only asked once. She never brought it up again.”

  Taye’s eyebrow arched up beneath his bangs. “How many times does your wife need to ask for something before you give it to her?”

  Eddie felt strangely like shuffling his feet. “Will you ask her to come out?”

  “No,” Taye said sharply. “She’s sleeping. I’ll tell her you were by. If she wants to talk to you when you come back, fine. If she doesn’t, you’ll leave.”

  Eddie forced himself to take a step back. “Tell her … tell her I’ll tell her everything. No more secrets.”

  * * * *

  Lisa had the worst hangover of her life when she woke up a few minutes before noon. There was a distant voice bellowing, “Lisa! Lisa!”

  The pitch of the voice changed to a masculine scream. “Lisa!”

  She put a hand to her forehead to try to hold her head together.

  “Lisa!”

  For God’s sake, if that moron didn’t quit hollering her name, she was going to puke. Her stomach swam as she levered herself to a sitting position. Was that Eddie? He sounded like an imitation of the guy from that sand and sandal movie yelling outside the gates of the city for his enemy to come out and fight. She forced herself to get up and found she was still in her long johns. Moving carefully, she dressed. Bending over to put on her boots caused the nausea to threaten to overflow.

  “Lisa! Lisa!”

  She was going to kill him. Emerging into the hall, she found it filled with men who had apparently been waiting for her. Snake gave her a smile and held out a cup of … coffee. Greed filled her eyes.

  “Thank you,” she croaked, taking it with the same reverence she would have shown to liquid gold.

  “Actually, you should thank Eddie Madison. He brought it for you.”

  Maybe she wouldn’t kill him.

  “Lisa!” Eddie screamed outside.

  Then again…

  “How long has he been out there yelling like that?” she groaned.

  “About five minutes.”

  “Can’t anyone make him shut up?”

  Every head in the hall shook in the negative. Snake clarified. “We can’t break quarantine.”

  Lisa stumbled toward the rec room. Snake put a helpful hand under her elbow. “Should I get you some lunch?”

  Her stomach heaved. “No!” She swallowed. “I mean, no, thank you.”

  “Lisa!” bellowed Eddie.

  “If he doesn’t stop that, he’ll hurt his throat.” Lisa tottered to a small table and leaned on it. “Would somebody go out there and tell him to shut up? I’m not feeling well enough to see him right now. Tell him I’ll see him tomorrow.”

  Jay separated himself from the small crowd that followed her to the rec room. Carla sat by the fire, looking more alert than she had any right to after the amount of alcohol she’d drank the night before. Lisa lowered herself into the chair beside Carla and sipped the dark brew.

  “I feel awful,” she mumbled.

  Carla’s attempt to suppress her snicker failed. Lisa growled half-heartedly. Taye, standing on the far side of the room, stared out the window and growled in what sounded like surprise, and then repeated it with anger before tearing out of the room. Lisa winced when the den’s front door slammed shut.

  Lisa set her coffee down to go to the window to see what Taye had seen. Carla crowded close beside her. Outside, more wolves, on two and four feet, rushed forward, partially blocking their view. Between their bodies, Lisa saw something that made her almost forget her hangover headache.

  “Is that Eddie’s lion?” She craned her head for a better view through the wolves. “Why did he bring him up here? Oh, no! It’s going to try to jump the fence!”

  “It did jump the fence!” said Carla. “I hope it doesn’t hurt Taye or anyone else.”

  Lisa hoped Taye or anyone else wouldn’t hurt it. She ran out of the den without her coat, anxious to be sure Eddie’s pet wasn’t hurt. Men all around her were tearing off their clothes to change into wolves.

  “Don’t hurt it!” she shouted. “Leave it alone!”

  Tawny flashed against the gray of the wolves. Lisa backed up as it headed straight for her. Lobo’s beagle ran at it, barking in a ferocious frenzy. A big, golden paw swatted The Beagle out of its way, and Lisa found her back pressed against the wall of the den, the lion a foot away.

  Taye’s voice shouted, “No one move. Let Lisa decide what she wants to do.”

  Lisa dared to take her eyes off the lion for a split second, gaping in shock at Taye. What she wanted to do? What was he talking about? The cat spun and crouched in front of her, snarling at the wolves gathering around. Its lashing tail caught her on the thigh like a whip.

  “Ouch!” she gasped.

  “Back away,” Taye commanded.

  Lisa wondered where he thought she could back up to. There wasn’t even a millimeter between her back and the den. The wolves, growling, backed a few feet, widening the space between them and the lion. She couldn’t see Eddie, but he must be outside the fence, frantic to know what was happening.

  The lion turned so it was half facing her. Its golden-green eyes seemed to glow in the gold of its fur. Lisa thought it was beautiful in an alien, dangerous way.

  “Nice kitty,” she squeaked, and
broke into a nervous giggle.

  It lay down at her feet and … shimmered. Gold hair shifted, running up to its head and lengthening… Lisa stared, stomach dancing, an invisible hand squeezing off her air.

  “Eddie?” she gasped soundlessly, forcing nausea back.

  Her husband lay on the icy ground, his beautiful body bare. She dropped to her knees and reached a trembling finger toward his shoulder.

  “Don’t touch him!” Taye shouted. “He could be carrying the infection.”

  Lisa drew her finger back. “Eddie?”

  His golden head lifted, tears gleaming in the familiar turquoise of his eyes. “Now you know my secret,” he said.

  Her back slid down the den’s wall until she was squatting beside him. “Oh, my God,” she breathed, her gaze running over his perfect, golden body. He was a werewolf. Or a were-lion? She lost her battle against nausea and scrambled a few desperate feet away on her hands and knees to throw up the coffee. It wasn’t nearly so pleasant coming up as it had been going down. When she was sure she was done heaving, she went back to her position against the den wall.

  There was indescribable hurt only half-hidden on Eddie’s face. “Does it … the monst—the cat disgust you? Do I disgust you?”

  “No!” That came out automatically. Lisa examined the idea. “No,” she said again, with quiet surety. “I’m a little under the weather this morning.”

  Eddie leaned toward her, face tight with worry. “You’re sick? The Plague?”

  “No, nothing like that.” She saw him shiver. “Where are your clothes?”

  He jerked his head toward the gate. “I left them out there. My horse too.”

  Lisa looked around for Snake. “Would you go get them?”

  Taye folded his arms over his chest, staring at Eddie with displeasure. “You can’t leave now, with the quarantine in effect.”

  Eddie looked embarrassed as well as cold. “I should have thought of that,” he admitted.

  “Idiot,” Taye snapped. He took the clothes from Snake. “Go stable the horse, Snake. As for you, Madison, get dressed. You’ll be joining your horse in the stable.”

  Lisa protested. “Taye!”