Wolf's Holiday

by Rebecca Royce

  His mate turned her back on him and walked to the window. “Have a good run, my love.”

  ***

  Betty stormed through the crowd of revelers. The real party wouldn’t start until after the run. It seemed, however, some of the pack was happily getting their holiday on a little bit early. Good for them. Her scent must have given away her mood because no one stopped her or tried to get in her way. She was a woman on a mission.

  Crazy baby? Bad blood? Just the two of them?

  On the far side of the gravel lot opposite the bar, Ryker stood with his arms folded, staring impassively at Roland James. The tension roiling between them didn’t bode well for anyone. Not her problem. Not tonight.

  Betty didn’t mind it being only she and Drew for the rest of their lives. She’d be lucky to have every day with him, to close her eyes with a last breath knowing he was with her. Tears threatened, and she pushed them down. She’d always thought they’d have kids. Bunches of them. Pups running through the backyard after their first shift, laughter, pack.

  B pushed through the door of Gee’s and slid up to the bar. The old bear looked at her, eyebrows raised. He walked over and leaned toward her.

  “Hello, Betty.”

  She nodded. “Gee. I’d like a drink. A big one.”

  “Sure.” He moved behind the bar and came back with a glass he set down in front of her.

  She pointed to the red container. “That’s water.”

  “Big drink.”

  Her hands shook, and she put them in her lap. “I’m not having a great night. I get that was funny. Only my sense of humor…it’s fled.”

  “Which is why I’m not pouring you a large drink. Not making it my business how folks around here want to drown their sorrows. I’d be out of a job if I did. But you’re the Alpha’s mate. You can’t come and get drunk if you’re mad or sad. Doesn’t look strong.”

  She leaned forward. “Then give me the bottle, and I’ll take it home.”

  “Not going to happen.”

  Betty slumped in her seat. Wasn’t this supposed to be a happy time of year? She’d been enthused after hanging out with the humans. When had it all gone to shit?

  “You know”—Gee picked up a glass and started to clean it—“many folks get depressed this time of year. It can be sad to not have family around or realize you don’t have the life you always thought you would. I remember one time, many years ago, I had a similar conversation with your great-grandmother.”

  All right, he’d caught her attention. She loved when the bear told stories. “You did?”

  “You’re named after her. Only no one called her Betty. Elizabeth wasn’t going to ever be so informal. She was Elizabeth. Her mate was Patrick. They sometimes called each other ‘ma’am’ and ‘sir.’ Had a real sense of right and wrong, those two.” He shook his head, and she wondered if he was seeing them as though they were really there.

  “Do I look like her? My parents always talk about how they named me after her because she was such a strong wolf.”

  Gee shook his head. “She didn’t have red hair. Your sister, Magnolia—she looks like Elizabeth, but you have her spirit. I knew it when you were born. You looked me right in the eye the same way she used to.”

  Betty smiled. “What else was she like?”

  “Well, she and Patrick used to fight as hard as they loved. He would do something to make her mad, and she would rail at him not caring who they were in front of.” Gee tapped his fingers on the bar. “One time, at Winter Solstice, the pack had gotten back from a run. Everyone had piled together to warm up, the way they always do. And I don’t know what Patrick said, but Elizabeth she jumped over the bar, grabbed some of the best whiskey, and poured it over his head before she tore his shirt off his body.” Gee shook his head. “The next day Patrick came in and paid for the bottle.”

  Wow. Betty had done a lot of dramatic things in her life, only she’d never thought of publicly pour alcohol over Drew’s head. Even when he’d come from being missing she’d not told him off in front of others. Her grandmother was…spirited.

  “And you have no idea what they were fighting about?”

  Gee rocked back on his feet. “Not the particular details. I know it had to do with your grandfather, Stan.”

  Stan, Betty remembered. Before he’d died in a raid—or maybe it had been a war, the details of the skirmish and his death were sketchy in her mind—he used to bounce her on his leg. He always smelled of peppermint and cigars. He had a deep, throaty laugh.

  “I haven’t thought about him in years. He was a nice man.”

  “That night, your grandmother was convinced your grandfather had turned him into some kind of hooligan. Patrick had given him permission to skip the run. The old Alpha, one of Drew’s ancestors—actually, the shortest Alpha on record, think he only lasted two years before his brother killed him—was easy-peasy about the rules. Patrick didn’t think Elizabeth should have cared so much, considering the Alpha didn’t.”

  Betty shuddered. Two years. She tried not to think of Drew being assassinated. Mangum’s cronies had been mostly dealt with, although a few remained, always trying to get over onto pack land. Other than them, she couldn’t imagine anyone actually wanting to hurt Drew.

  Although, when the pack got stronger, he’d be at more risk. A fully functioning pack was far more desirable. Betty shook her head. She couldn’t fix the problems of the world. She’d mated a male who was Alpha. Living with the ramifications was one of her jobs.

  “Funny to think they worried about my grandfather. He was such an upright person. A dominant. Ran the lumber business. Serenaded his mate every year on their anniversary, even after she died.”

  “Listen, I’m not expert. I have a daughter, as you know.”

  Gee so rarely spoke of Amelia. She was always around, yet so infrequently did she join them for celebrations. Betty had always wondered if she was extremely shy. The slim girl never reciprocated Betty’s overtures of friendship. Not when Magnum was alive and not since Drew’s return. Eventually, Betty had given up.

  “How is she?”

  “Oh, fine.” Gee shook his head. “Listen, raising children is tricky business. It’s like mixing drinks. Overall you can add the same booze to the same simple syrup a million times. It makes the same combination. Except for the one time it doesn’t. One ingredient goes sour and, boom, you’ve got a gross concoction. You don’t even know how it happened—you always store things at the right temperature, buy them fresh. Just, one day, it’s bad. That day, your great-grandmother, she was afraid your great-grandfather had left the ingredients out to sour.”

  Betty put her head in her hands. She’d love to talk more openly, only she didn’t want every wolf in the room to hear her business. Drew was afraid they were starting with improperly stored stuff. Maybe he was right. What chance did the baby have with a mother who was always screwing everything up?

  Gee touched her arm and she looked up at his usually stern yet kind eyes. His gruff demeanor didn’t seem present at all. “You two have as much of a chance as anyone else. Do you understand what I’m saying to you? There was nothing wrong with the product for generations. One bad seed does not a poorly formed apple make.”

  Betty wiped away the one tear she’d shed. “How did you know?”

  “When you live as long as I have, sometimes you know these things.”

  “Oh yeah?” Betty smiled. Time to lighten the mood. “Exactly how old are you, Gee?”

  He never told them. All of their years together, and she knew so little about his personal life. It was hard not to love Gee, even if she died knowing exactly as much as she had about him as when she was born.

  “As old as I need to be.”

  Betty sipped her water. “Cool.”

  ***

  Drew smelled the cub before he saw him. Coming to a halt from his exhausting run, Drew shifted back to his two feet. He sniffed the air. The kid was there, but not the mom,
which was fine by him. He approached cautiously, surprised to see the child was in his human form sitting on the ground.

  A quick glance told him the cub remained outside of pack land.

  “Where’s your mom?” Drew leaned against a tree a distance away. He wasn’t worried about the child hurting him. Not in his human form, anyway.

  “She had some things to do. Since she’d shifted, she decided to run some errands. Told me to wait here.”The kid held a baseball glove and a ball in his hand. He tossed the ball in the air and caught it twice while Drew watched. They must have been the gift he’d told Colt to get.

  He moved slightly closer. He didn’t want to scare the kid, should probably leave him alone. Who knew when crazy Mama was going to come back?

  “You happy with that?”

  The kid looked up at him with large eyes. Had she even left him with any food? “I’d like it better if I had someone to throw it with.”

  “Balls are more fun when we have someone to have a catch with.”Shit, he was going to do it. “Let’s have at it, then. Throw it to me.”

  The child wildly tossed the ball and Drew had to dart to not let it drop to the ground. Good thing he was a shifter. “You could have a strong arm, which isn’t surprising. If you could fake being human, you could be a baseball player someday.”

  Drew gently tossed the ball back to the kid, who dropped it rather than catch the easy throw. “I’m not any good. Can’t catch or throw.”

  “The power is there. Again.”The child threw a pass, and it was closer to Drew than it had been the last time. “As with most things, getting good at something requires some work.”

  “I’ll never have anyone to throw it with again after today. My mom isn’t exactly a baseball player.”

  Drew considered the problem. “Tell you what. If your mom will let you, you can come to the edge of pack land, and we’ll throw. Once or twice a week.” Maybe some of the other pack members would do it, too. He wouldn’t order them, only ask.

  “You would do that?”The kid’s posture changed as he stood straighter. “Why?”

  “Because I know how it is when things aren’t exactly right. When you know…you would want them to be different. But you’re a kid. So what are you going to do? I can’t fix your life. There’re no social services for bear shifters. I have to protect my pack. It doesn’t mean I don’t get it.”

  The kid looked him up and down. “You had a bad mom?”

  “Dad, actually. My mom died early. A truck hit her in her wolf form, and after that she never really recovered. One day, she was just…gone.”

  The kid threw the ball, this time straight to Drew, and he caught it. “Good job.”

  “You seem really normal. I mean for a wolf. You had a bad dad but you’re not crazy. You’re not weird. People don’t stare at you. Or run from you. Or call you names.”

  “I’d kill anyone who did.”Drew paused. “Who does that to you?”

  “Everyone. We don’t meet too many others, anymore. When we do, they all say, ‘Oh, hey, there’s that crazy bear with her crazy cub.’ You’re Alpha of this pack, and you smell really normal. Not sick or crazy. You turned out well. Think I could, too?”

  “What’s your name, kid?” Drew couldn’t have this conversation with someone whose first name he didn’t know.

  The boy scratched his head. “Ledo. Weird, right?”

  “Well, Ledo, there’s no shame in being weird. The best people I know always have been. And you should never let anyone define you. If your mom is a nightmare, get out of there when you’re finally old enough. The second you look like a grown human male, you shift and go find your life somewhere else. If I can, when you’re older, I’ll help you.”

  Ledo snorted. “Mister, when I’m old enough to be a man, you’ll be long gone from this Earth.”

  They threw in silence until Ledo smelled his mother and took off in her direction. Drew stood against the tree, watching the child disappear. The snow picked up, and Drew shifted back into his wolf form.

  Tomorrow was Winter Solstice. He had a pack to run with and a mate who needed to hear some promises.

  Chapter Six

  Betty didn’t want to be late. She drove the truck as fast as she could down the road. They had six hours till Drew would call for the Winter Solstice run to start followed by a party like the pack had never seen. She patted the seat next to her just to be sure it was really there. They’d never had Christmas before, and she’d never had a reason to buy Drew a gift in December.

  She had braved the human mall to get him the damn thing, and she wanted to get it home, wrapped, and set up before Drew led the pack on the Winter Solstice run. The car sputtered and made a strange noise before black smoke shot out the back. Jerking the wheel, Betty turned the car off the road.

  “Shit.” She clenched her teeth. Obviously, she should have had someone look at it before she’d taken the drive. Drew’s car they occasionally used, hers had been sitting stagnant for a long time. When it started up without issue, she’d assumed everything was fine.

  Betty pulled out her cell phone. She hardly ever used the device; no one did on pack land. Good thing she’d remembered to charge it and bring it with her. Someone was going to have to come get her since she had no idea what to do about the car.

  She’d have to be a damsel in distress and wait for rescue, since she wouldn’t risk being caught shifting outside of pack borders.

  Betty sat back in her seat and dialed. A second later, Jackson, the pack mechanic, answered. He’d been raised by humans but was back with their pack. Unlike some others, welcoming Jackson to the fold didn’t bother Betty in the least. He was a good, solid, fun member of their small world.

  “Hello?” The male shouted into the phone, which didn’t bode well for him to be able to hear her.

  “It’s Betty. Can you hear me?”

  “Betty?” he shouted. “Barely. Sorry. Lots going on here. Some of the juveniles overturned some of the old farm tractors. There’s lots of screaming parents in the shop. Looking forward to the run tonight.”

  “Here’s the thing, Jackson. I think we should be fine because we have six hours until the run. But I am an hour outside of town, and I am broken down on the side of the road.” She took a deep breath. “Any chance of a tow?”

  “Hold on.” He shouted something she couldn’t make out and then came back to the line. “I think it’s going to be a few minutes until I can leave. I’ve got to get this crew out of here. Can you sit tight?”

  “Listen, Jackson. Don’t risk the run because of me. If it gets too late, stay there. Let Drew know I’m fine. I really am. I know he’ll have issues, but I swear it’ll be fine. I’ll hang out here until tomorrow.”

  He said something unintelligible and then their connection broke off. She was lucky she’d gotten as much communicating as she had. The lack of much cell service was purposeful. Keeping themselves hidden proved paramount.

  “Drew is going to kill me.”

  Betty hopped out of the car. She was an hour by car from the border. Not shifting made it harder but not impossible. She’d walk.

  Betty grabbed the books from the passenger seat and set out toward Los Lobos. She’d never gotten to tell Jackson where she was, so the likelihood of his finding her was slim. But if she ran into someone she knew, maybe they’d pick her up.

  Somewhere in the distance, a bird cried out. Other than that, the road was quiet. Betty used to love moments filled with no noise. When Magnum had run the pack, she’d gotten so little time to herself. Pack members showed up at her door day and night needing help, needing kindness. She’d been glad to give it.

  Since Drew’s return, they didn’t come by as often in the middle of the night unless there was an actual emergency. Lately silence meant being left with her own thoughts.

  She’d hoofed it about a mile farther down the road and was making pretty good time. Drew wasn’t going to like that she’d taken off pack land w
ithout leaving a note. Not that he’d been around to discuss it with or indicated when he planned to return. He might not even know she’d ever gone and come back.

  A buzzing behind her caught her attention, and she turned in the direction to see five motorcycles plowing down the highway toward her. She wasn’t overly alarmed by their presence. Groups of motorcycles passed through the Hills during the summer all the time.

  Only it wasn’t summer.

  The dead of winter with snow on the ground didn’t seem really conducive to riding. She rubbed at her eyes as the strong scent of alcohol hit her. They must really be drunk for her to smell the booze over the oil and the gasoline. She stopped moving and watched them.

  Sure enough, several of the men didn’t seem at all capable of managing their bikes. They swerved and jerked.

  Betty shook her head. If they were going to ride in the middle of winter on an ice-filled road, they could at least….

  She never got to finish her thought. One second she watched the bikes, the next the lead rider hit ice and skidded, the motorcycle jerking forward. The huge machine went down on its side, skidding with a loud groan as it barreled right toward her.

  Betty tried to move, but the machine hit her anyway.

  She was thrown backward. And then black.

  ***

  “So we’re all set?”Drew spoke to Bastian. “The tree is ready to go?”

  The human male looked up at the top of the tree where Drew indicated.

  “Looks good to me. We had fun putting it together.”

  He could imagine. “I saw the one in Rockefeller Plaza a couple of times when I lived near New York City. Beautiful. But, I have to tell you, I prefer ours.”

  Drew wandered through the crowd, saying hello when others did. No one needed anything from him. The whole venture could be called a tribute to organization, mostly Saja’s. The woman could probably run his pack if needed.