Wolf's Vengeance (After the Crash)

by Maddy Barone

  Snake hesitated, but it had to be asked. “How do you know your mother is still alive?”

  “She sends a letter with the man who collects the money. He leaves it at whichever place we’re supposed to put the money. It’s a different place every time.” Marc nodded to the marble box sitting on the mantel in the living room, just visible through the archway between the dining and living rooms. “We re-read them from time to time. She says she’s being treated well. She said no one hurt her.”

  An even darker shadow fell over all the Dirks’ faces. Snake thought he knew why. Why was any woman stolen except for sex? “I guess she couldn’t say anything else, could she?” he said. “The men probably read the letters.”

  Mike nodded heavily. “Yeah. In one of her first letters she said she wasn’t raped.”

  Stone gave Snake a glance that doubted the veracity of that letter. Marc caught it and nodded. “It’s been eleven years. For all we know she’s had other children. She was only in her mid-thirties when she was taken. If we find out we have more brothers or sisters, we’ll bring them back home too.”

  “She’s never said in her letters that there’ve been more kids,” Mike pointed out. “She does mention things like nice clothes and good food.”

  The men who stole women sometimes took very good care of their prizes, and sometimes they even fell in love with them. Snake doubted that was the case here. Why demand ransom from the sons of the woman you loved? Then again, why give up a source of easy money? “It sounds like some of the money you send is keeping your mother comfortable at least.”

  “Yeah.” Marc dragged the word out in a sarcastic drawl. “Won’t keep me from feeding a bullet to those assh—” He broke off with a glance at Sara. “I reckon it depends on what we find, but I don’t see any reason to waste time in a courtroom. Shoot ‘em or hang ‘em, that’s what I figure to do when we find ‘em.”

  “We’ll find them.” Stone’s voice was very sure, and he seemed older now than nineteen. Snake nodded his support as his cousin went on. “They’ll pay for what they did to your mother.

  “We’ll be able to see her soon!” Mord’s laugh was heartfelt, bubbling with relief and eagerness, lifting the mood out of the grimness back to jubilation. “Mel, I wasn’t too sure about this new man of yours, but if he’ll bring Mom back, I’ll welcome him to the family with open arms.”

  Mel snorted. “Thank you very much for your approval.”

  Her tone was tart, but Snake could sense the same lighthearted relief in his mate that overflowed from her brothers.

  Mord’s face creased with sly humor, though he tried to disguise it by setting his mouth into an earnest line. He leaned over the supper table, gazing at Snake with obviously faked concern.

  “Are you sure you want to be my sister’s husband?”

  Snake cocked his head to the side, aware Mel had straightened. “Yeah.”

  Mike joined in the teasing with a tsking sound. “You positive about that? Do you know what her track record with husbands is?”

  Mel’s happy scent instantly soured. She slammed her hand onto the table. “Cut it out, Mikey.”

  Snake put a hand on her knee beneath the table and gave her a gentle squeeze. “I don’t know what a track record is.”

  Mord widened his eyes with mock distress. “Do you know what happened to Rob Fosse?”

  Snake cut Mord off. “Sure. He got what he deserved.”

  “Melissa Ann is quick to shoot,” Mike said with a sad shake of his head. “Mind your toes, and other parts.”

  Mel gave a furious snort.

  Mord smirked. “And then there was Danny Bell.”

  Mel’s scent changed so completely, for a moment Snake felt as though he were teetering on a cliff with nothing to cling to. So many emotions rushed out of her he couldn’t identify them all. Shock, rage, grief, and guilt were some of the scents he caught. She stood up, drilling her brother with a glare of pure fury not reflected in her cold voice. “Sara, wanna give me a hand with these dishes?”

  Snake waved the girl back. “I’ll help with the dishes.”

  He sent a cold glare of his own at the younger Dirks, and maybe he would have said something to them if Marc hadn’t intervened.

  “You boys have time to flap your mouths, you have time to clean the outhouse,” he said evenly.

  “Aw, c’mon, Marc. We was only joking,” Mord protested. “It’s getting on towards dark.”

  “If you want to act like a shit, you can shovel it,” Marc replied evenly. He dipped his head in Sara’s direction. “Pardon my language.”

  Amid protests at the late hour and other complaints, Mel made her escape to the kitchen. Snake followed her, keeping his distance as he lifted the kettle to the stovetop to heat for dishwater. When there was no more to do but wait for the water to heat, he took her hand and looked into her eyes.

  “Who is Danny Bell?” he asked.

  Chapter 2

  Mel tugged her hand free and turned to the sink to hide the burn of tears in her eyes. Danny. She shot Rob with no remorse, but Danny…The muscles in Mel’s shoulders coiled tight and then slumped. Danny was different.

  “Mel?” Snake asked softly.

  Mel took a moment to be sure her face was under control before she turned around to meet Snake’s gaze. “Danny was my first husband.”

  Snake nodded, face calm and gently concerned, which confused the hell out of her. He was a vicious werewolf. Shouldn’t he be snarling about now?

  “Aren’t you going ask me how many husbands I’ve had?”

  The corner of his mouth twitched as if he were suppressing a smile, and that confused her too. The way he looked now, dressed in jeans and a cotton button-down shirt, with his long, wavy hair hanging down his back in a casual tail, he just didn’t seem like a werewolf. She couldn’t quite reconcile his wide mouth hiding a smile with the wolf’s muzzle dripping with Fosse blood.

  He shrugged a broad shoulder. “Sure. How many husbands have you had?”

  “Counting Jim Fosse back in Ellsworth?”

  The ghost of a smile left Snake’s mouth, leaving those luscious lips flat and hard. “No. We don’t ever need to count him.”

  Luscious lips? Mel mentally kicked herself. Well, she admitted in her private thoughts, Snake’s lips are perfectly shaped, plump, and almost pouty when he sleeps. She’d had a daydream or two of taking his lower lip between her teeth and biting down gently. His mouth was almost girlish, but his muscular body was anything but. She kicked herself again. Daydreaming about her confusing new husband was preferable to discussing Danny, but Danny was who she needed to be thinking about now. Snake would hear it eventually.

  “I married Danny six years ago, when I was almost eighteen. About a month after we were married, he was hurt while unloading a wagon.” The memory of his crushed legs gave her an inward shudder. “He died just before our fifth anniversary. I came back to the ranch after he died and lived here for a few months before we decided I’d need to get married again to someone rich enough to give us the money we needed for Mama.” She forced herself to stop rubbing her hands up and down her thighs and folded them over the rim of the sink. “Rob Fosse was the oldest of the Fosses, and their family was well off. The Leaning F is as big as the D, and the drought didn’t dry up their water as much as ours. I married him last December, right about Christmas time.”

  After a minute of silence, Snake spoke. “When did you come back home?”

  The edge of the sink cut into her palms. “You mean, when did I shoot him?”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s what I mean.”

  “February fourteenth. Valentine’s Day.” She tossed a defiant glare over her shoulder at him. “You want to know why?”

  How could he look so calm while her stomach was churning? He lifted a shoulder again in another shrug. “If you want to tell me, I’m listening. But I don’t need to know. You must have had a reason, and that’s good enough for me.”

  “I had a damn good reason.” Sh
e hesitated, teetering on the edge of telling him the full truth she never told anyone, but slumped back against the edge of the sink. “I don’t want to talk about it, okay?”

  “Okay.” He reached for her hands and held them. “Is that when the other Fosses threatened to burn the place, kill your brothers, and rape you?”

  A shiver worked its way down her back. “Yeah. There were seven Fosse brothers, and they have half a dozen hands, besides their foreman, Rick Avon, so they could have done it. I killed Rob, and you got Jim, Dave, and Randy, so they’re down to only three now, but that’s still enough. That’s why we’ve never been able to follow the man who collects the ransom for Mama. We never leave this place totally undefended in case the Fosses use the chance to take the ranch.”

  He nodded again. “I wondered why you hadn’t followed him to find your mother. Makes sense. What about before you killed Rob Fosse? Why didn’t you follow him then?”

  “The first few years, Marc didn’t want to leave us younger three alone. He was only twenty, and I was thirteen, Mike was ten, and Mord was only seven. Even later, Mike and Mord were too young, and Marc didn’t want to leave me without enough protection. Everyone in the area knew I was here, and lots of men will behave when a girl’s brothers are around, but if she’s alone or undefended…” She shrugged. “Well, you know what could happen.”

  The faintest shadow of rage colored his expression for a moment. “Yeah. You don’t need to worry about that anymore. I’ll see to it you’re protected.”

  “I can take care of myself.” Mel swept her thumb over the butt of her pistol. “Dad taught me to shoot before I was ten, and I haven’t taken my gun off since. I’m never unprotected.”

  His laugh surprised her. “Glad to hear it.” He glanced over at the pot of wash water on the stove. “Looks like the water’s warm. Let’s get going on these dishes.”

  Mel let out a shaky laugh. “Okay. I’ll get started if you’ll bring the dishes from the dining room.”

  After he went out to collect dishes, Mel braced herself with her hands against the sink’s rim for a long breath. Her husband was a stranger. His attitudes threw her off stride, but she thought she liked him. He didn’t push for details she’d rather forget.

  When he came in, holding a pile of dishes that would have taken two of her brothers to carry, she was busy at the sink. He set the dishes on the counter and took the washrag himself. “I’ll wash, and you dry and put away. You know where things go better than I do.”

  How odd that a werewolf washed dishes with deft hands and hummed while he scrubbed. Again, that domestic image clashed with her memory of his snarls and growls in the hotel room. Which was the real Snake?

  “Oh,” he remarked, as if the thought had just come to him, “I won’t be sleeping on the floor tonight. I’ll be joining you on your bed.”

  A plate slipped from her hands to shatter on the floor. She blinked down at the scattered shards for a moment before realizing her mouth was gaping wide. She closed her mouth and stared at him. This shouldn’t be a surprise. They were married. Her uncle had performed the ceremony yesterday. Last night she had expected him to claim his marital rights, but he had only lain down on the floor in her bedroom. She swallowed now, her breath oddly cold in her lungs, and bent to pick up the pieces of the plate.

  Snake stopped her with a wet hand on her wrist. His eyes were shadowed by thick stubby lashes, and it seemed to Mel they were carefully blank. “Was that such a shock?”

  “Well, ye—I mean, no. Well, sort of.” Mel inwardly cursed herself for fumbling her words as well as the plate. She drew in a calming breath and tried to smile at him. “We’re married. You’ve been pretty patient, but I know you want to, uh…” She waved the dishtowel. “You know.”

  He took a step closer, so close she could make out each individual eyelash that shaded his eyes. “Do you want to?”

  Did she? In her mind’s eye she could see through his clothes to the thickly muscled body beneath. During their trip to the ranch, she had seen him switch from man to wolf and from wolf to man often enough to have memorized how he looked naked. There was nothing about his physique that turned her off. What kind of lover would he be? Sweetly fumbling like Danny? Viciously aggressive like Rob? He was strong, stronger than a normal man. He could do serious damage to her without even meaning to. Her heart slowed to sluggish thumps, as if it were beating in a vat of icy molasses.

  Fingertips rough with calluses grazed her cheek. “Mel?”

  Her heart magically leaped free of the molasses to take off at a gallop. Staring at Snake, she jerked her head from side to side. “No, I don’t want to.”

  His hand fell away. “Okay, we’ll wait until you’re ready.” He turned back to the unwashed dishes and spoke quietly. “Please don’t be afraid of me.”

  She touched the butt of her pistol. “I’m not afraid of you.” She went to the closet the broom and dustpan were kept in and came back to sweep up the broken plate. “Just cautious, that’s all. You and me, we’re still new to each other.”

  “Okay.” Suds dripped from his fingers when he turned to face her. “It might take some time, but you’ll learn that I won’t ever hurt you. Tonight we’ll sleep together in your bed. Just sleep,” he said, raising his voice slightly to override her unspoken protest. “We won’t make love until you want to.”

  Wanting to and being happy about it were not the same thing, but Mel didn’t tell him that. Part of her was curious about making love with him. The rest of her wasn’t so sure. Sex with Rob had soured her on the experience. She poured the broken fragments of the plate into the garbage and went back to drying the dishes he washed with what she hoped was a serene face. Sleeping next to him. How hard could it be?

  * * * *

  Mel hurried to strip out of her clothes to take a hasty sponge bath in the washbowl on her dresser. Normally, in this kind of muggy heat, she slept in just her panties and a loose tank top whose armholes gaped nearly to her waist, but she wasn’t going to wear that with Snake sleeping beside her. Instead she chose a sleeveless button down shirt she’d inherited from Marc. The hem was almost long enough to cover her ass. She tugged it as low as she could, but it still barely covered her, and when she was lying down, it would ride up. She sent a quick glance to the door and dug out a pair of shorts and put them on too.

  Just in time. A knock sounded on the door. She swallowed, took a steadying breath, and called, “Come in.”

  Snake came in and closed the door quietly before leaning his back against it. The sun was just setting, and even with the curtains mostly closed it was light enough to see him clearly. Mel swallowed while looking him up and down. He was wearing only a pair of baggy shorts that belonged to her brother Mike. She recognized them from the many times she washed them. The faded blue cotton seemed to barely cling to his lean hips. She thought a sudden movement might send them sliding down those long muscular legs, and she wasn’t sure if that would be a bad thing. From his casual lean against the door, he smiled at her. It wasn’t a leer, or a suggestive grin, but just a small gentle curve of his lips. At that moment, he appeared to be the most handsome man she’d ever seen.

  “I’ve waited all my life to have a mate of my own.” His voice was low. “From the time I was ten until I was twenty, I barely ever saw a woman up close, but I always wondered what it would be like to have a mate. I dreamed of it. In my dreams, my mate loved me, and I would do anything for her.” His dark eyes looked directly at her. “I would do anything for you, Melissa, and I would never hurt you.”

  She hated being called her full name. “I believe you.”

  “No.” His hand lifted and swayed from side to side as if to disperse her words like campfire smoke drifting in his face. “You’re afraid of me. I smell it on you from time to time.”

  Mel resisted the urge to hunch her shoulders. She also forced her instant denial back. “Maybe I am. But I know I don’t need to be. You’ve been really decent to me. All your friends have been nice too.�
��

  “Then why? Is it my wolf?”

  Her shabby bedroom faded to be replaced by a hotel room. Randy Fosse’s hard hands dug cruelly into her shoulders to hold her down on the bed while Jim yanked on her shirt. The bruising pressure on her shoulders suddenly lifted, and a huge gray wolf tore into Jim Fosse, slinging saliva and blood over her…

  “Yeah,” Snake said in a near whisper. “There’s that scent. It is my wolf, isn’t it?”

  “No.” She curled her fingers to hide their tendency to shake, but she couldn’t quite keep her breath slow and steady. “No.”

  “My wolf would never hurt you, either. He cares so much about you, he’d rather be killed in a trap than do anything to harm you.”

  White fangs dripping with blood, shreds of flesh stuck between them. That’s what she saw in her mind’s eye when she stared at him. “I know that. Really. In the hotel room in Ellsworth you—he—could have torn me apart. But he just stood in front of me to make sure no one else could get to me to hurt me. So I know he doesn’t want to hurt me.”

  His hands went to the waistband of the shorts. “You need to meet him. When you know him you won’t be so afraid.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Getting undressed to let my wolf out.”

  She held a hand up, palm out, and stepped back so sharply the back of her knees hit the bed, and she almost fell on the mattress. “No! I’ve already seen the wolf. Not just at the hotel, but lots of times on our trip here.”

  “That’s not the same, Mel. You haven’t had a chance to pet him or scratch behind his ears. When you get to know him, you won’t be so afraid.”

  “Not now! It’s getting late, and I’m tired. I want to get some sleep, okay?” She hated the whining note in her voice on that last word and forced calm into her tone. “Snake, really, we have plenty of time for that.”