Wolver's Rescue
Page 29
“That was why I bit him,” Tommie whispered, more embarrassed than before.
Cora started to laugh. “I don’t think that was the reaction he was looking for.”
Ignoring the women, Bull rose to his feet and advanced on the smaller wolver. He was still angry. “Eugene Begley, you sent me on a hunt for a male wolver.”
“I did not,” Begley said indignantly. “I sent you after Thomas Mortimer Bane. That she was female was on page two.”
“There was no page two,” Bull growled.
“Because you never read page two. Why waste the paper?” Begley laughed.
Bull was now towering over the other Alpha. His jaw was clenched and he spoke through his teeth. “They kept her in a cage, Eugene.”
“I apologize, too, for you being in that cage, Tommie. That, I didn’t know about. If I’d had any idea, I would have had Bull get you out a whole lot sooner.”
Power swelled and Bull loomed large. Eugene Begley didn’t look concerned. The others shrank back from the explosion that was sure to come, but Tommie raced forward and grabbed Bull’s arm as if she could hold him back.
“No huffy-puffy, Bull. It’s our mating day and I’ve had enough of murder and mayhem. You can fight with him tomorrow, but not today. It’s a rule. No bloodshed on Tommie’s Mating Day. I’m pretty sure it’s Primal Law.”
“You’re both crazy,” Bull said. He still looked a little put out, but the huffy-puffy thing was gone.
Eugene Begley laughed. “Crazy ain’t always bad, son.” He winked at Tommie. “Beats being boring.”
Chapter 34
Bull stood before the small assembly dressed in a clean pair of jeans and a crisp white shirt. He had several suits in his closet, two of which were custom made, but he knew what was in the closets of his wolvers and he wouldn’t shame them by the comparison.
Tommie stood beside him, prettier than he’d ever seen her. She wore a little make-up which he hadn’t seen her wear before and the effect was dramatic. Her golden skin shimmered. Her dancing dark eyes were lined and the lashes were long. When she rested them on her rosy cheeks they reminded him of a black bird’s shiny wings. Her lips were the red of autumn leaves. They matched her dress which flowed over her slender body like water. She’d assured him it was made of cotton, but he’d never seen cotton so sheer. Her hair was the color of dark chocolate, hanging loose over her shoulders and fluttering wild in the breeze. Someone had made her a crown of slender vines and berries.
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 w
as 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.
Epilogue
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.
Eli took care of those who didn’t. The big black wolf never did find his way home, but he never really left it either. On moonlit nights, Molly would grab a coat from the rack and say she was going for a walk. No one ever volunteered to go with her, and no one worried about her safety. She’d walk across the pastures and ford the creek and then she’d find herself a spot to si
t and wait. She was never alone for long.
The great black wolf would come padding from the shadows to sit beside her. She would tell him about her days with the pack and about Sammy, who was growing to look more like his father every day, or about Macey and the young wolver who became her mate. They were expecting a pup in the spring, though they’d told no one about it yet. Then always, not sometimes, but always, she would end by telling him how much she loved him.
These were the things you knew when you were the Mate, and Tommie became a good one. She gave her love freely and never gave up hope on anyone who came through her door. Having lived so long in the human world, she would never become fully wolver, but she didn’t regret those years. Through them, she’d developed a strong inner core that helped her withstand the pain of separation when her true mate was away.
She made few demands of her pack, and was flexible in all rules but one. When Bull returned from a hunt, his first day home was hers.
If it was a full moon, they ran as wolves together, over the paths Bull ran as a cub. At other times, they walked hand in hand with no particular goal in mind. Sometimes they bickered good naturedly and sometimes they made love under the cover of the trees and sometimes they walked in silence, each thanking God and Nature for what they’d been given.
It was during one such walk, that Tommie tugged on Bull’s hand and forced him to stop to look down the steep slope at the side of the road.
“What is that?” She pointed to something buried in a covering of vines.
~*~