Yeah, he needed to get her home.
“I never thought to have pack again,” Stewart answered, ignoring B. “We live simply here. Your father, he did not listen to his heart. I know you are not he. Your blood runs differently. Still, to be obligated for that kind of relationship again?”
Drew couldn’t say he blamed the male. “Then why reach out at all?”
Chia answered. “My mate needs to share his love.”
“The choice is yours. I can certainly deliver the toys for you. If your need is also to be there when they are delivered, I’m going to need a swearing. Or Ryker, old relationship or not, will cut off your head when he sees you.”
He couldn’t speak more plainly.
Stewart exhaled loudly. “It’s a risk for me.”
“Everything in life worth doing is.” Drew answered as Stewart once would have instructed him. “I can make it a nonobligatory oath. You don’t have to come to pack meetings, unless you want to. We’ll only call on you during the direst of circumstances.”
“I think I can live with that.”
“Of course you can,” B called out, choking slightly on his water. “Drew makes everyone happy. All of the time. Bends over backward for it. Forgets his own pain. If you need something, Drew provides it.”
With his chest tight, he looked around the room. “We need something to cut our hands.”
Chia’s hand changed into a talon. Drew stared at it for a second. When this was over, he might have a hard time believing it happened. “That’ll do.”
***
Betty would have given anything to wake with no memory of her day before. Only amnesia wasn’t part of the herbs she’d ingested, or it seemed. She rolled slightly to her left, feeling a slight ping in the skin on her back, which should have, for all rights and purposes, been all but destroyed thanks to the bear.
No matter how many times she shifted, she couldn’t have repaired such a life-destroying swipe.
In fact, she felt pretty…okay.
Drew stared at the ceiling next to her. “You feeling better?”
“Yes.” She sat, pulling the sheets up as though they could shield her from the conversation they needed to have. The movement made her back stiffen. Maybe she wasn’t as close to okay as she’d thought. “Thank you for taking care of me.”
He spoke through a jaw she could hear clenching. “Despite what you seem to think, I love you more than breathing. Of course I took care of you.”
A pounding on the door spared her having to answer as Drew leaped into the air. “Fuck, it’s Gee. He never comes to our house.”
She looked at the clock. “I’ve never seen him awake at six in the morning.”
Drew stormed from the bed and rushed to the door. She sat up farther. They were apparently going to have the kind of day where Drew’s responsibilities began at dawn, where she couldn’t even count on a few minutes alone with him to greet the day. What could Gee possibly need? He was usually the least bothersome of them all. She rubbed at her eyes. Maybe she should brew two pots of coffee at the same time.
The creak of the door shocked her. Did her bleary eyes lie or…no, her nose confirmed the tale her eyes told. Horror revved her exhausted brain. Gee stood in her bedroom. She was dressed but tugged the covers up even farther.
“Gee.”Betty couldn’t come up with anything more intelligible to say.
Drew rounded the corner next to him. “Sorry.” He tugged on the bear’s arm. “See? She’s alive. Out of my bedroom. B, maybe you’d better meet us in the living room. He really wants to talk.”
“Obviously.” Her voice squeaked. Drew was right. The time of year heralded new beginnings, strange occurrences—and freaking Gee walking into her bedroom. She was so not a fan of the holidays.
***
With the coffee brewing, she sat next to Drew on the couch since Gee occupied the ugly orange chair. Why didn’t anyone ever sit on their other furniture? It was the like the orange monstrosity caught any of their guests’ attention and didn’t let go. She was never going to be able to think about the ugly piece of furniture the same way. It was ugly, but it was the perfect place to fuck. She almost wished the bear hadn’t sat there.
He snarled when he spoke. “When I heard the two of you went up that mountain, I couldn’t believe you’d do something so stupid.”
“When you heard?” Drew stretched out his leg. She wouldn’t be surprised if it hurt him. He’d way overdone it the day before, mostly her fault. So much for making things easier on him. “You had to be listening when we planned the whole thing.”
Gee growled. “I was not. I would have. I wanted you to know about the toy so you could include it in the festivities. Not so you and Betty could go traipsing up Shifter Mountain without the least concern for your own safety.”
“Shifter Mountain?” Betty sipped her coffee. “I’ve never heard it called that.”
Gee rubbed his forehead. “That’s because, in one of his smarter moves, Magnum banned the pack from visiting. The only shifters there are ones who prefer solitude. I don’t even think any lone wolves except Stewart would venture anywhere near it.”
“He’s not a lone wolf anymore. I oathed him. He’s pack.”
“You’re kidding.” Gee jerked forward. “Why would he want to rejoin?”
“So Ryker doesn’t kill him when he delivers his toys.”Deciding she’d really said quite enough on the subject for a lifetime, she stood. “Anyone want any eggs?”
Gee reached out to grab her and then stopped. Probably smart. Drew wouldn’t take well to anyone, even the Bear, manhandling her except him. Gee wouldn’t mean anything nefarious with the act, but wolves were wolves. She got it. If some woman tried to touch Drew….
Seeing the action, she decided to stop walking away. Gee didn’t have to grab her to get his point across. He finally spoke. “You’re sure you’re okay? That bear…if the birds hadn’t interfered, you’d be dead.”
“Oh you know her?” Betty didn’t try to hide her surprise. “Personally?”
He blinked rapidly. “Not in the way you’re implying. I make a point of staying away from crazy as much as possible. I had high doses of it from Magnum. I know who she is, and I stay away from her and the simple piece of evil she calls a child. In either their bear or human forms.” His shudder moved through her from where he held her arm. “The birds don’t often interfere. You’re lucky they care about Stewart.”
Drew shook his head. “All of this is information I could have used before I ventured up the mountain. I cannot believe you weren’t listening.”
“Someone spoke to me, and it didn’t occur to me you and B would decide suicide missions were on the agenda for Christmas this year.”
She patted the old bear on his shoulder then retreated a step. Small contact wouldn’t make Drew too upset. “I appreciate your concern. We’re still here to tell the tale.”
Gee closed his eyes and, when he opened, them his gaze was distant. “If the two of you ever knew the lengths which were gone to in order to secure your rule. The oaths broken. The risks taken. You’re both our new hope. Try not to die before the first anniversary of your becoming Alpha.”
She looked at the wolf who held her heart so completely. “He’s well taken care of.”
Just not by her. She’d not risk him with her foolishness again. She’d only made everything so much harder by going with him. He’d had to worry about her. Being Drew, he could probably have gotten away from the bear without issue if not for her. And then all the hours he’d had to worry…. She rubbed at her forehead. Meaning well wasn’t enough, not with the way they lived.
After an awkward breakfast with Gee telling stories about her great-great grandmother and some trouble she’d gotten into with a local elk population, the bear left and Betty got to the business of cleaning the kitchen.
Her mate came up behind her, tugging her against him while she stood at the sink. “You said lots to me yesterda
y, Ms. Betty. Most of it I can’t even think about with the day ahead of me. One thing. If you ever so much as think I might prefer you to be anything other than exactly what you are, I’m going to roar like I’m a lion instead of a wolf.”
She didn’t say anything; just let her eyes close as she listened to his heart beat and the rush of the water in the sink.
He spoke again. “Do you have any idea how terrified I was for the hours you were missing? When I didn’t know what happened to you?”
B turned in his arms. “You had two hours. Sometime you should give ten years a try. Then you can see how terrified turns to crazy.”
“I wondered if you were okay that whole time, B. I had no idea if you were alive or dead. I was gone for ten years and, for me, you were, too.”
She nodded. “Then maybe we’re both nuts.”
***
B wandered out into the square. She had things to do. Several of the dominants needed to be consulted about the run and how to direct the humans during the event. Brick had been assigned to patrol the perimeter of the space to make sure it was free from danger.
When she arrived at their meet-up spot, she didn’t see Brick, which wasn’t surprising. Their time hadn’t been set in stone. She left a copy of the run’s limits on Drew’s desk and walked back outside. Laughter caught her attention, and she turned her attention to the Christmas tree, which must have been put up while she was being an idiot on Shifter Mountain.
The things Gee knew which he didn’t share….
Human females surrounded the green tree, placing decorations all over it. Bright-colored lights and tinsel started to cover the branches. It wasn’t her tradition. But she could see how it was going to be really pretty when it was all done up.
Betty approached the group slowly. As the Alpha’s mate, she knew all of them of course. But she didn’t know them, not like she did the shifters. Was that her fault or theirs? Probably hers, since the burden of making them feel welcome should have fallen to her.
She stepped closer to the tree. “Looks beautiful.”
Ryker’s mate, Saja, turned at the sound of Betty’s voice, a braid of multicolored garland in her hands. The dark-haired woman seemed fragile, and so not at the same time. She didn’t answer immediately; instead she took a couple of steps away from the tree and looked over their work before pivoting to face her again. “Thanks. Making it shine is part of the joy of the whole thing.” Friendliness radiated in her words, and her smile was as quick and light as Ryker was dark and somber. Honestly, she’d never have pegged the woman for the Enforcer. Of course, she’d never have pegged any poor female to be stuck with him.
“I can see why.”
Squinting one eye closed, Saja laughed. “No you don’t. Ryker doesn’t either. It’s not a wolf thing. That’s okay. Your pack is pretty damn amazing, and you all have so many beautiful aspects, we just want to add a little of our own.”
Betty cleared her throat. “Need anything?”
“No.” Saja’s ease and cheer seemed unflagging, softening even the hint of rejection held in the word. “We’ve pretty much got it all here—between us we emptied three Christmas stores from here to the mall in Rapid City.”
Okay, not going exactly as Betty hoped. Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. “How about another set of hands?”
Saja ascended the ladder, winding the colorful rope of garland through the branches, and glanced at her. “Do you decorate trees?”
“I never have. I’d like to give it a go. Unless you think I’d be in the way.”
Ryker’s mate motioned toward the spruce. “By all means. The more the merrier.” The other women paused, the surprise in their scent and expressions a subtle, yet visceral reminder to her she hadn’t reached out to these mates. These human pack mates as well as she should. Saja glanced at the others then at her again. “Did you know the celebration of evergreens or bringing in trees and evergreens goes all the way back to Ancient Egypt….”
The day passed easily in tinsel, bubble lights, and a debate among the women between a star, a Santa hat, a wolf, or an angel for the top of the tree. They laughed as they discussed a place in New York City where the biggest tree imaginable was decorated every year in a big amount of fanfare. Betty had actually seen the spectacle on television.
Betty held a piece of ribbon in her fingers. They’d given up everything to be with the men they loved. Could she have gone and lived with Drew in their world if he’d needed her to? She thought she could have. Anything for her love….
No doubt it would have been hard as hell.
“You okay?” Saja took the ribbon from her. “You’ve been twirling the same gold piece for ten minutes. I think it’s twirled out.”
“Oh.” Betty rubbed at her eyes. “Lost in my head. Maybe I’ve had too much eggnog.”
She’d hated it, but kept the opinion to herself. They’d all been so happy she tried. Betty might as well be Scrooge sometimes. At least that story was one she was familiar enough with; she’d read Dickens. Bah. Humbug.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Saja sank onto the snow-covered ground, packing away some of their supplies. “I’m a good listener. Even though I have also been known to talk.”
Betty sank to the ground next to her, catching a loose ribbon and winding it. “We’re not exactly friends, which is probably my fault.”
Ryker’s mate sighed, no offense in her expression. “I didn’t seek you out either.”
“I owe Drew a lot of apologies. I ran my mouth about things I shouldn’t have. Questioned some things. Mostly, I was wrong. I need to eat crow later and I’m obsessing over it a little bit.”
Quiet for several long moments, Saja secured a string of lights before shaking her head. “The thing about living with these very powerful men is they actually need us to question them. Otherwise, they get the idea they know everything when they really don’t.”
“He’s my Alpha.”She wondered how much the humans really felt that relationship. Or if they were only as attached as their wolf mates needed them to be.
“Even at home?”
Betty let out a breath she held. “No.”
“See? There you go.”
A scent wafted past Betty’s nose, and she immediately lost track of her conversation. She scanned the area until she spotted a figure she’d never thought to lay eyes on again in her lifetime quietly walking down the street as though he didn’t have a care in the world.
“I’m sorry, Saja. I have to go.”
A warm hand touched her arm. “All okay?”
“No.”
Betty walked away from the warmth of the humans toward the cold misery of a figure who’d made her adolescence so awful she placed him only below Magnum on the list of people to detest. Archie Bevin. The schoolteacher had managed ages twelve to fourteen when she’d been those ages.
Trailing him, she kept her distance by remaining downwind. She didn’t want him to see her yet. First, she had to find her footing. What was he doing there, and why was he wandering around as though he had every right to?
He’d been banished.
She stopped walking abruptly as the reason for his presence slammed into her. He’d come back. Drew must have welcomed to the pack again. He was a returned wolf.
Betty had to make sure. Turning on her heel, she ran to Drew’s office. No one was there when she arrived. Where had they all gone for the day? Rummaging through the papers, she finally found the folder she’d been looking for. The new pack mates. Sometime that morning, Drew had scribbled in his chicken scratch Stewart’s name on the paper.
She looked over the others—recognizing several, including Roland, August, and Meyers—each name eliciting a memory. Most were benign, but the one she hadn’t wanted to find rested beneath the others. Worse, a nightmare who should never have been welcomed home. Archie.
Violent sickness curdled her stomach, and Betty doubled over, her wolf threatening to force a shift to make
her better. She held off the change. She needed her human self for a while. Otherwise, she might give in to the need to run and never return.
Reaching out, she gripped the edge of Drew’s desk. She couldn’t even blame her mate, considering he didn’t know her history with the man. Quite simply, she’d pushed it out of her mind to the point she simply never thought about it.
Magnum’s hand on the side of her face. “I got rid of the man, Elizabeth. I did it for you. My son’s wolf has noticed you. And your family would be a good combination with mine. I know you love him. Don’t tell him, not ever. Unless you want your mating not to be about your strong wolf and instead about him feeling sorry for you.”
Betty stood. The need to run wasn’t her way anymore. She’d been young, hadn’t the skills or the ability to know better.
She wasn’t that wolf anymore. Only Magnum had known. Archie had vanished. Ryker, in retrospect, had already started keeping to himself to avoid the Alpha’s moods. As much as she disliked the Enforcer, she didn’t doubt he’d have killed Archie if he’d known. If not then, then when he returned. If Magnum hadn’t told Gee, he wouldn’t have any more information than the rest of them.
Her own parents were never informed. By herself or Magnum.
Betty walked out of the office with a faster gait. Someone had to give her information, and she spotted the perfect person for the job.
Heading straight for her was Tasha Hannigan, the mate of Drew’s cousin Colt. She was a true Beta wolf and a gift to the pack in every way. She also knew everything about everyone.
Well…almost everything.
“Hi.” She embraced Tasha in a quick hug and got one back. “Mind if I ask you a quick question?”
“Of course not.” Tasha’s sweet smile almost made Betty feel better.
“Archie Bevin. I just saw him. Where is he saying? What is he doing?” So much nervous energy flowed through Betty, she wasn’t certain she wouldn’t expire from it if she didn’t get moving fast.
“Oh. Right.” Tasha grinned. “Well, they need so much help in the schoolhouse that we put him there. Back in his old job before Magnum ousted the poor man. He’s staying on the second floor of Gee’s bar.
Wolf's Holiday Page 4
