The first was to his Alpha, who still wasn’t answering the phone. Bull left a message saying the job was done, because as far as he was concerned, it was. When Eugene mailed him the check, he’d mail it right back. He told his Alpha he was available for another job, but since this one was a tough one, he wouldn’t mind a few weeks off. It wasn’t a lie.
The second was to his human partner who took care of the land and Bull’s small herd of cattle when Bull wasn’t there in exchange for grazing his own cattle and a share of the profits.
He was amazed at how quickly everyone settled in. They were full up and crowded, but no one seemed to mind.
“We’ve lived most of our lives in tents, campers, and school buses,” Cora told him. “Having two whole rooms to myself is the lap of luxury. I don’t even mind not having a TV.”
Tommie pulled out the list she carried in her pocket and added TV.
A week later, after making love in their king sized bed, Tommie curled against him and drew circles on his chest.
“I have to go back, Bull. The list of things we need is growing longer by the minute. I have money in the bank, not a lot, but some. It’s what my parents left me. There’s a house full of furniture that we desperately need, a car in the garage, and the place needs painting before it’s sold.”
“If you’re going to do all that, then I guess we ought to make it official.”
~*~
“Make what official?”
“Us. I want you for my mate, Thomas Mortimer Bane.”
“Like married?” she squealed and climbed over him to straddle his waist. She leaned down to kiss him. “Okay. When?”
He oomphed when she bounced and held her hips still. “Yes, mated. But there are things we need to talk about, so I want you to listen before you agree. I won’t be here all the time, spitfire. I’d come as often as I could. Sometimes there’s months between jobs, but when there’s a job, I’ll have to go. It’ll be hard being so far apart. Painful, I mean, truly painful.”
“I’ve dealt with painful for half of my life.” She could endure anything just as long as he was hers. “At least with this, I’d know the reason. I’m stronger than I look,” she repeated what he always said of her. “And I’d have Cora and Molly to look after me.”
Molly, who’d become more and more depressed the farther they moved from the campground, was looking and feeling better every day and Tommie suspected that Eli, impossible as it seemed, had managed to follow them. Molly, more than any of them, would understand the pain of separation. She and Molly could lean on each other.
“I can’t leave my Alpha or my pack, Tommie. There are few enough who do what I do, but that’s only part of it. Like you just pointed out, we need the money and the job pays well. I won’t be getting paid for Thomas Mortimer Bane,” he said, kissing her nose, “and that was the money I needed to pay this place off.”
“Oh, Bull, I’m sorry.”
“I’m not.” Bull laughed and gave her a squeeze before he became serious again. “It wouldn’t matter if the place was paid off or not. We’d still need the money to eat and to build a decent sized herd. We need buildings and clothes and papers so they can find work. None of those things are going to be cheap and even when we’re running at full capacity, the cash from the herd won’t cover it all.”
“I can go back to work. I have a degree. I can...”
“Ride herd on this bunch while I’m gone,” he finished though it wasn’t what she was going to say. “You’ll be needed here twenty-four/seven. I love them, but it’ll be a while before I’ll fully trust them, except when it comes to you and your safety. That’s something I won’t worry about when I’m away. Someday, when we’re financially stable, I’ll retire and spend every moment with you. I’ll make it up to you, spitfire, but right now that’s the only way I can think of to make this thing work.”
He was going to say more, but Tommie had heard enough. She put her fingers to his lips. “Shut up, Bull. I get it. My wolf gets it, and if I don’t agree to it, she’s going to chew me up from the inside out. So, my answer is yes. I think we should make it official, too.”
He kissed her then, and it was the best kiss yet, filled as it was with the promise of a future.
“Are you happy now?” Tommie asked her wolf, though not out loud.
“Happy. Mate.” The she-wolf settled in a contented heap, then just as quickly jumped to her feet. “Pups! Pups!”
“One thing at a time, wolf, one thing at a time.”
Tommie could feel Bull’s big brown wolf chortling along with hers.
Chapter 33
Daniel entered the kitchen, breathless from running. “We’ve got company.”
“Damn it to hell. What now?” Bull turned to Samuel. “The place is already in an uproar. If I’d known there was going to be such a production over this mating, I might have thought twice before I asked her.”
“It’s been my experience, son, that when women start fussing and decorating and getting all primped and curled, it’s best just to stand back and let them have at it.”
“Whoever it is has the coolest truck I’ve ever seen.” Cory had followed on Daniel’s heels.
“Don’t even think about stealing it.”
The cub grinned. “You’re making this clean and honest shit pretty boring.”
“Good,” Cora called from the other room where she was adding the final touches to the table decorations. “Boring is what we’re looking for. And don’t let me hear you say shit again.”
Cory leaned in to confide. “She wouldn’t hear it if she wasn’t listening in on every conversation. I thought old people lost their hearing.”
“Watch who you’re calling old,” Cora threatened. “Samuel, get in here and help me carry these out.”
“Stretch,” Helens voice boomed from the vicinity of the kitchen, “These table cloths are going to blow right off if we don’t find something to hold them down. Don’t know why we can’t eat in the house now that we’ve finally got one,” she grumbled.
Bull left them to it and went out to meet their visitor. He had to admit, the cub had good taste. The big dually coming up the long drive looked to be tricked out with every add-on available. The truck made it less of a surprise when Bull saw who was driving. Eugene Begley liked shiny toys.
“Where the fuck have you been,” Bull greeted his Alpha as he stepped down from the big truck. “I must have called you a hundred times. Don’t you listen to messages?”
“Well howdy-do to you, too,” Begley answered. “Heard you had some good fishing up here and I thought I’d stop by. I got your calls all right, but each one had you hollerin’ about some new problem, so I figured you took care of the old. No sense me callin’ about what’s already been said and done.” He didn’t look at Bull, but past him. “Pretty view. Let’s take a walk. You can show me around. You three there can take a look at my truck,” he called to the cubs hiding on the other side of the porch. “You take turns drivin’ up that there lane, but you put a scratch on her and I’ll have your hides a-hangin’ on my wall.”
Whoops and hollers followed the cubs to the truck.
Begley grinned. “Wish I was that age again. Then again, maybe I don’t, knowing all the crap I’d have to look forward to.”
He wore a battered wide brimmed fishing hat with colorful hand-tied flies attached and a bulky vest with what looked like a dozen patch pockets, all bulging with something or other. Bull bet there were poles, creels, and waders in the back of the vehicle.
The Alpha kept walking, expecting Bull to catch up. The sun set and the little Alpha kept walking. He kept asking about the land, about the mountains beyond, and about the damn fishing. There was nothing Bull could do. Begley was his Alpha. That didn’t, however, stop Bull from thinking about Tommie, and their mating. He listened to Begley’s ramblings until he could wait no more.
“I’m being mated tonight, Alpha,” he finally blurted.
“And you didn’t invite me to the party
? I’m insulted. You know how much I enjoy a good time.”
“I had my reasons,” Bull started to explain only how did he explain that he was going to mate the wolver he was sent to eliminate.
“I’ll just bet you did,” his Alpha laughed. “I guess we’d better be gettin’ back then. Wouldn’t want to keep the lady waitin’. You are planning on introducing me, ain’t you?”
“Yes, of course.” Right after the deed was done. Before Begley could ask any more questions, Bull plunged ahead and away from the subject of mating and Tommie.
“You’re good at finding Mates. How about Alpha’s?”
“I found you, didn’t I?” Begley laughed.
“I’m not talking about me. I’m talking the Big ‘A’, the leader.”
Begley laughed harder. “Sometimes I think that big ‘A’ stands for big Ass. Why’re you askin’?”
“Because I’ve found a pack that needs one. It’s small and it’s not really a pack yet, but they need to be. They’re not what you’d call normal or average, but they have good hearts, and they’re loyal, and they’ll stand for any Alpha who’s willing to stand for them. They deserve a chance at a better life than the one they’ve been handed. There’s an older wolver who’d make a great Second. His mate, Cora, is one of the finest females I’ve ever met.”
He started to list the others, but stopped before he got to Eli. He couldn’t explain Eli and he wouldn’t chance Eugene sending someone else out to eliminate the problem because he Bull refuse to. If it ever came to that, and Bull hoped it wouldn’t, he’d do it himself, with respect, because Eli deserved better than to be taken out like a dog.
“But this new Alpha,” he now added to his list of requirements, “he’d have to be tolerant, real tolerant,” he emphasized. “He’d have to be the kind who sees strength as more than physical. I won’t have Samuel looked down on. I won’t have any of them looked down on. They’re worth more than that. They deserve more than that.”
“Just where is this almost-pack you’re so concerned about?”
“Right here, up at the house. Those three cubs are a part of it. That’s the other thing I need to talk to you about. Once they have an Alpha and settle on a name, I want to deed this land over to them. To the pack, not the Alpha.”
“And what about you? You’ve sunk every dime you’ve earned into this place. You’ve spent almost twenty years setting yourself up to go rogue, to spend your days alone up there like some hermit.” Begley laughed at Bull’s surprise. “You think I don’t know? I’m your Alpha, son, and I know your heart. What do you plan to do with the rest of your life?”
“Keep working for you, I guess.” The next few years would be hard for the pack. A little extra cash would help.
“Can’t do this work forever,” Begley said flatly. “What are you going to do when you get too old?”
Bull tried to make a joke of it. He laughed awkwardly. “Take your job, I suppose.”
Suddenly, Eugene Begley puffed up with power so strong it drove Bull to his knees. “This ain’t no laughing matter, boy. Tell me what you want.”
Bull felt his wolf rebel against the force that was holding him down and he used that rebellion to fuel his own anger. “This is more important than what I want. They’re more important than I am. They need this. They need to know they’ve got something to hold on to. They need someone who’ll look out for them and lead them and protect them, sometimes from themselves. They need someone to tell them and show them that they’re worth it. I’ve talked it over with the woman who’s waiting for me back at the house, to be mated,” he added, just in case Begley had missed that part, “and she agrees. These wolvers need a home to call their own.”
Bull could feel the call of the moon, stronger than he’d ever felt it before. He thought it might be because he was doing the right thing. Eugene Begley probably thought he was crazy for making this sacrifice, and maybe he was, because it didn’t feel like a sacrifice at all. He’d failed his parents and his siblings. He’d failed his first pack and he’d spent most of his life trying to make up for it, but nothing he did ever had. This was his redemption. Those wolvers would say that he saved them, but the truth was that they’d rescued him. They’d reminded him of what it meant to be wolver; to care about something above yourself.
“Moon’s rising, son, and I’ve got one more question.” Begley’s voice sounded far away. “What about Thomas Mortimer Bane?”
“Thomas Mortimer Bane is taken care of.”
And that was the most important thing of all. Tommie would have a home, too. She would have a pack that would love her and protect her and show her what it meant to be a wolver.
“Good God, William, you didn’t kill her, did you?”
The moon was rising higher. Her call was getting stronger, and the power of it was awesome in its intensity. Bull wasn’t sure how long he could hold out. Eugene’s power was holding him down and the moon was calling him to rise. Bull had no strength left to avoid Begley’s question.
“No, I didn’t kill her. She’s not feral. She’s wonderful and I love her more than life. She needs time to learn. She needs time to get to know her wolf and she’ll do that. She’s the strongest wolver female you’ll ever want to meet and she’s mine. You asked what I wanted for me. I want you to leave her alone, Eugene. I want her to be my mate. I want to see that she’s happy. That’s what I want.”
Eugene’s power lifted and the little wolver began to laugh. “That big Ass I was talking about was you, William Bulworth. I’ve been waiting a long time for you to pick your head up out of your sorrow and see what goodness the world has to offer. You won’t ever sit in my chair. You were never meant for it. You’ve got another job that needs doing.”
It was the last thing Bull heard before he was lifted by the moon’s call to be the Alpha of his pack.
~*~
Tommie felt it. The women in the room all felt it. Something remarkable and frightening was happening to Bull.
She’d been watching out the upstairs window ever since Cora had bustled in going on about an Alpha in a big truck. She said Bull didn’t look happy about it. Watching through the window, Tommie could see by the way he walked and held himself, something wasn’t right.
It looked like Bull was shouting at the smaller wolver and then all of a sudden Bull was on his knees and the moon rose and the two were surrounded by an eerie light. Bull’s head snapped up like he was looking at the rising yellow orb in the sky. His chest was thrown out and his arms were flung back and it looked from her vantage point like he was in pain.
And that was when Tommie started to run and because she was running and crying Bull’s name, the others followed. Alpha or not, she didn’t care. If the wolver valued his nose, he’d better leave her Bull alone.
Her wolf was running in circles inside her, yipping and howling with excitement. She wanted out.
“Mate. Mate. Mate. Alpha!”
After running across the field, Tommie was breathing heavily by the time she reached him, but breathing more easily, too. Whatever the power was that held him had let Bull go. He was still kneeling, but his head was bowed forward and his arms hung at his side.
“I don’t want this,” he was saying.
The other wolver, the one Cora said was Bull’s Alpha and therefore Eugene Begley, laughed. “Of course you do, son. It wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t.”
Tommie skidded to a stop, sliding to her knees. “Bull! Oh, Bull, what has he done?”
“Not a damn thing,” Begley chuckled. “That’s not in my power to do. My job’s just to get the ball rollin’. Your job’s to have the fun.”
“Fun? Fun?” she cried angrily. “You think this is fun?” Her lips pulled back from her teeth and she snarled.
“Spitfire.” Bull’s voice sounded like it came from far away and she immediately turned to him. “I’m sorry,” he said and reached for her and she clasped his hand.
And pulled it away so fast, she fell back, clutching her
hand to her chest. No, no, no!
“Yes, yes, yes!” her wolf howled. “Alpha!”
Bull had become the thing Tommie dreaded. He’d become an Alpha like the one who died by the shack. The feeling was the same when he touched her. Or was it? She looked at her hand and then at Bull’s astounded face.
Tentatively, as if she’d been asked to handle a snake, Tommie reached out to touch his cheek. She lost her nerve and pulled it back and then, because she had to know, she reached out again. This time, she forced herself to touch him. Her eyes almost popped out of her skull. This wasn’t the same at all. It was wonderful!
Her cheeks flushed, her breasts grew heavy, her breath was taken away. Something marvelous coursed through her body and ended up smack dab between her legs. “Bull!”
“You’d better hold back on that, son, or we’re going to have us an embarrassing situation here.”
The sensations subsided when Bull pulled away to snarl at the other Alpha. “You knew?”
Shocked and embarrassed, Tommie turned to him, too. “Knew what? What is it? What’s wrong with me?”
“Well now, I can’t say I knew, but I suspected. Soon as I got word about her I did a little diggin’. Seemed to me she’d have to be a pretty strong wolver to make it that far without the benefit of a pack or going over the moon. Seemed to me she’d have to be an Alpha’s daughter.” The little Alpha’s face saddened for a moment. “I am sorry, honey, in all my digging, I never did discover who your father was, but he was an Alpha, make no mistake.”
“I don’t understand any of this,” Tommie said. “What difference does it make who my father was? And what the hell just happened?”
Cora stepped forward and put her hand on Tommie’s arm. She was grinning from ear to ear. “There’s only two ways you can become an Alpha’s Mate.” She leaned in an aside, “That’s the big ‘A’, honey,” before resuming her normal voice. “You’re either a human born to be one or you’re the daughter of an Alpha and that’s a big ‘A’, too. What you’re feeling is the Alpha’s magic. It’s one of the ways he knows the woman he’s touching is meant to be a Mate, and that’s a big ‘M’, too. That Alpha you bit should have done it, too.”
Wolver's Rescue Page 28
