Seer: Reckless Desires (Norseton Wolves Book 8) (13 page)

“
Hello
?” Leo whispered into her cell phone. She was at work and shouldn’t have answered, but the area code on the incoming call was the same as her old Wolverton number. She didn’t know who could possibly be calling her new number from there.

“Leo? That you?” came the whispering voice.

“Mama?” Leo gestured to the server sharing her dinner shift, and he nodded and went to cover her table.

She stepped outside and moved out of visual range of the windows.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Mama said. “That man gave me your number. Told me to call you and say that he’s okay, so I borrowed someone’s phone.”

“
What
man gave you the number?”

“I didn’t catch his name. There was too much happening too fast. He just said to call when I got the chance.”

“One of Samuel’s friends?”

“Oh, no. He’s Native American, I think. Or maybe Mexican.”

Leo stopped in front of a patch of decorative succulents in a memorial planter and clutched her chest. “Does he have lips like a Calvin Klein model?”

“Uh. Sure? I mean, I guess that could be the case. Tall guy.”

“Hack job of a haircut?”

“Looks all right to me,” Mama said.

“Looked better before the doofus cut it,” Leo snarled. “He’s a wolf, right?”

“Oh yeah. Definitely a wolf. Took a chunk out of Mitch’s hide.”

“
What
?” Leo sat quickly on the wooden side of the tall planter so she wouldn’t fall flat on her face from shock.

“Mitch was talking mess. You know how he is, and the guy said he wanted to see Samuel. Wanted to talk to him about you, and Mitch was trying to be the big, bad alpha, telling him to buzz off.”

“Oh my
gods
. That’s Arnold.”

“And you know this Arnold, I take it?”

“He’s my mate.”

“You already had a mate.”

“No, Mama. My
mate
-mate. My true mate.”

“What? You’re
joking
!”

“I know my sense of humor could use an upgrade, but I’m being dead serious, Mama. Where is he? Is he all right? What the heck is he doing up there?”

“I already told you that. Weren’t you listening?”

“Okay, you told me he bit Mitch, but what happened after that? He didn’t tell me what he was doing. Oh my
gods
, what is he doing?”

“Probably kicking a hole in Samuel’s head or something, I dunno. Mitch finally gave in and told him where to find the guy.”

“Hold up—Mitch submitted?”

“Yep.”

Leo scratched her head and bobbed her knee, trying to force her brain to make faster connections. There were rules and procedures for leadership turnover, but alphas were so rarely ousted, she couldn’t quickly put her finger on what was supposed to happen. Thinking she knew, she snapped her fingers. “Wait—Arnold is your alpha now?”

“Uh-huh. I hope he stays. He’s real nice-looking.”

“Yeah, he sure as heck is, but he doesn’t belong there. He’s not staying there.”

“Well, shoot, what are we supposed to do with no alpha?”

“You have two choices, the way I see things. You can let Mitch have his job back, or you find someone you like and who you think would do a better job.”

“Huh,” Mama said. She said the word in that way that Leo could imagine her rubbing her chin and narrowing her eyes. She had her thinking cap on, and Mama was nothing if not a dangerous thinker, even if she didn’t do her thinking out loud the way Leo did. “Where’d you find this Arnold guy?”

“I ran. He found
me
. I wasn’t looking.”

“Never seen a wolf fight for a woman who isn’t even around.”

Leo sniffled and rubbed her eyes with her free hand.
Such a stupid time to cry.
“He likes me. Wants to marry me and adopt Kinzy.”

“Is that what you want?”

“Yes. More than anything, Mama.”

“Maybe he’ll get Samuel to do the right thing then. Oh,
shoot
.”

“What? What’s happening?”

“I’m in town right now. Peeking out the grocery store window. I think Mr. Hot Lips found your stud wolf.”

“What do you see? What are they doing?”

“Well, hold on. Samuel’s coming out of the hardware store with one of his wives—Bertha, I think. She’s the one with the red hair, right?”

“That doesn’t matter. Tell me what’s
happening
!”

“Let me step outside so I can hear. Arnold’s got his hands in his pockets and is following them, calm as he pleases, and Samuel’s doing one of those fast walks like he has to pee real bad. Okay, I’m outside now.”

“Katie,” came Leo’s father’s voice through the speaker, “Go back inside the store until this mess is resolved. And whose phone are you on?”

“Mind your business,” Mama snapped.

Leo felt her eyes bulge. She’d never heard her mother talk back.

“’Scuse me?” he said.

“Move. You’re blockin’ my view, and I’m trying to explain to my daughter how her old mate has had the fear of the goddess put into him by her new mate.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m talking to
Leo
, butter brains. And that guy—the one who’s
technically
our new alpha—is her mate. Say thank you to Leo, sunshine. There are gonna be some changes around here, if I have anything to say about it.” Mama’s hand must have muffled the phone speaker, because the “Hey, you. What’s your name?” she said next came out in a muffle. “You’re with him, right?”

“Mama?” Leo asked. Her heart was pounding hard and muscles coiled as if she were right there and ready to spring to action, but she couldn’t see anything. “Mama! Tell me what’s happening.”

“Oh. Sorry. A guy came with your Arnold. Name’s Jim, apparently. Is he one of yours? Where are you, anyway?”

“New Mexico. And, yes, Jim’s one of ours.”

“Nice fella. Haven’t seen him shapeshift, but he can swing a shovel like nobody’s business. Hopefully Nicky will wake up in time for his birthday party next week.”

Leo pinched the bridge of her nose and choked back a laugh. “Samuel’s brother, Nicky?”

“Uh-huh. He tried to jump that Jim guy, and the shovel was convenient. Nicky’ll be all right, I guess. He needed to be taken down a peg, anyway. Thought he was all that, and has been sniffing after your sister, looking for his next piece of meat, even though she already has a mate and three kids.”

“Now, you’ve gone too far this time,” Daddy said. “We do things the way they’ve always been done. If a man’s got the means to provide for one of our girls—”

“Oh, shut
up
. I swear, I’m not in the mood right now. Go somewhere else if you’re not gonna be useful.”

Daddy didn’t respond. Leo imagined he was standing and staring stupidly at Mama like she’d grown a second head. Leo probably would have been, too.

“Hey, Grant!” Mama shouted.

Leo held the phone back from her ear a bit before Mama could scream again, and lowered the volume. There was only one Grant in town, and that was one of Leo’s brothers.

“Yeah, Ma?” came Grant’s winded reply. Leo figured he’d run over from somewhere else.

“You wanna be the pack’s Alpha?”

“Say what?”

Leo snorted.

“Job’s up for grabs,” Mama said, “and I don’t think your daddy has the stuff.”

“Now, hold on a minute—” Daddy started, but Mama was allowing no obstacles to the plan that was obviously coming together in her head.

“Go on down to the Mayor’s office and tell them you’re the alpha now. I doubt anyone here will challenge you. Go!”

Leo clasped her hand over her mouth and let herself laugh. Grant wasn’t the worst contender for an alpha job, at least for the interim. He might not have been the most aggressive wolf, but he had a heart, at least, and he wasn’t afraid to ask people for help. He had potential.

“Mama, where’s Arnold now?” Leo asked. “Is he all right?”

“Oh, he’s fine. He’s standing on the sidewalk across the street. Still has his hands in his pockets. Samuel hopped into his truck and squealed the tires, driving away. Left his wife and kids standing right there under the awning, the bastard.”

“What’d Arnold do to him?”

“No idea. Does it matter?”

Leo hated feeling so petty and vindictive, but she had to be honest. Honesty brought peace.

“Nope. Doesn’t matter one dang bit,” she said.

___

Leo was waiting in the gatehouse with Kinzy, who’d conked out in her stroller, when Arnold finally returned to Norseton late the next evening.

Jim, driving the truck, slowed at the gate and let down the window.

Alpha strode to the truck and leaned his forearms onto the windowsill. “Well?”

Jim shrugged. “I don’t think you need to worry about most of that pack. It’s Samuel and the rest of the folks on the fringes who might cause trouble later. They’ll need time to regroup, though, if they do anything at all.”

“Wanna tell me how you two managed to evict an alpha?”

“He started the fight,” Arnold said. “All I wanted to do was talk. I wasn’t gonna stand there and let him kick my ass.” He turned his head a bit and muttered, “Or
try
to.”

“So, that’s your story?”

“It’s the truth.”

“You sure?” Alpha asked.

“Yep.” Arnold’s grin hinted that he may have telling the
spirit
of the truth, but may have been ignoring some minor details.

Alpha squinted at him. “You don’t have any designs on being a pack alpha, do ya?”

“No more than any other fool here.”

Alpha looked at Jim. “And you?”

“Nope,” Jim said around the toothpick he held between his teeth. “I’m not a people person that way.”

“Then by all means, go on home and clean up,” Alpha said. “Someone fired up the grill. I hear there’ll be steaks tonight.” He leaned inside the gatehouse and hit the switch to raise the gate.

Jim crept the truck through, and stopped just in front of the descending metal arm.

Arnold hopped out of his side of the truck, closed the door, and then thumped the side.

Jim got moving.

Arnold sauntered over with his hands in his pockets and leaned down to peer through gaps in the stroller’s sun canopies. “Sleeping.”

“Yep,” Leo said. “She didn’t sleep all last night. I guess that makes up for her sleeping through the night before.”

He raised his eyebrows and rocked back on his boot heels. “I feel like somehow you’re gonna blame me for her sleeping schedule.”

“Yup. Mine, too. I couldn’t sleep, either. Why didn’t you come back last night?”

“I was busy making sure your brother didn’t get his ass handed to him by some eager upstart before he’d even had a chance to settle in.”

“Oh,” she said quietly.

“Good enough reason?”

“I guess so.”

“Sorry I didn’t call you back. Forgot to take my phone charger.”

“You were in a pretty hot hurry to leave.”

“Had to be done. When I get visions, I don’t sit around and wait for the goddess to say ‘never mind.’” He gestured toward the road. “Long walk to the wolf village. Better get started before the meat’s all gone.”

He started pushing the stroller, and Leo stood lamely, watching him go. She would have never thought a man pushing a lavender stroller that had ruffles could be so sexy.

Alpha gave her a gentle push after him. “When you get down there, tell my missus to save something for me, eh? Starving up here.”

“Yeah, I’ll tell her.”

Leo caught up to Arnold and, nervously, slipped an arm around his waist. She didn’t know what to say, but she had to touch him. Touching didn’t require thought.

He bent down and kissed the top of her head. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Everything all right here?”

“I think so.”

“What’d I miss, besides folks not getting any sleep?”

“Apparently the Amber Alert for Kinzy has been called off.”

“
Hmm
, I wonder why that could be.”

“Yeah, me, too,” she said. “I suspect for the same reason Samuel called Mary, asking what kind of papers he needed to sign, though.”

“Huh. Imagine that.”

“Yeah. Mary said he sounded very hostile.”

“I doubt she cared.”

“Nope. That Viking Amazon is unflappable. So…”

Arnold gave her a brief squeeze around the shoulders before returning his hand to the stroller handle. “So, how do you feel about the name ‘Graywolf?’”

“Graywolf?” She laughed. “Where’d that come from?”

“It was my wolf grandfather’s last name, and my mother’s, before she got married.”

Mine. I’ll take it. It’s mine.

She pushed her too-long bangs out of her eyes and cleared her throat, trying to be cool—even if she wouldn’t have known the feeling if it’d bitten her on the behind.

She shrugged with feigned nonchalance. “Oh, well, I guess Leo Graywolf has a certain—
quality
.”

“Figured you’d think so. If you don’t like it, we can come up with something else.”

“No. He was the last Graywolf, wasn’t he? Petra told me there weren’t many of you.”

“Yeah. Last one.”

“Well, now he won’t be.” She looked down at the road and kicked a couple of small rocks. The question she wanted to ask would have been so inconsequential back in Wolverton, and she needed to get used to things being different—to
relationships
being different. “So…do you think he would like me? Your grandfather, I mean.”

“You kidding? Granddad would have loved you. Your sense of humor reminds me of his.”

“Really? Poor guy. And poor
you
.”

“Baby, don’t feel sorry for me. If the worst thing you ever do is make me groan from telling bad jokes, we’re gonna do just fine.”

Leo gnawed on her lower lip for a few seconds as they started the descent on the path to town. “Would the goddess happen to have anything to say about us?”

“Hasn’t she already said enough? Are you waiting for her to change her mind? She never does.”

“I’m used to people changing their minds.”

“No, you’re used to people not respecting you, but you’re not in that place anymore.”

“I’m home now.”

“Yep. And I’m not gonna change my mind about you. That’s a
promise
.”

“Aww,” she whimpered.