The Alpha's Mate (16 page)

Well, there you go, Mother. I took your
advice and got a man and a dog and you were right. Neither one of
them answers.

“I should have stuck with the cats,” she
muttered.

Chapter 16

Nothing happened. No one came to challenge
Marshall and there were no more attacks.

About three in the afternoon, two ancient
pickups made their way up the long driveway. The first barreled up
and came to a gravel spewing halt at the back door. Two old men
tumbled from the front seat, muttering curses and glaring at the
driver, a short, round, red headed woman with a close cut cap of
curly hair.

She wore a professional looking gun belt with
a pistol at each hip and carried a shotgun the size of a small
cannon when she emerged from behind the driver’s door.

“Aw quit yer belly achin’, old man,” she
laughed. “The way you drive, we liked to never get here.”

“We liked to never get here as it was.”
Elizabeth recognized the speaker as Roy, the coffee drinker from
the Dizzy Dish and Maggie’s errant husband. “There was no call to
take those turns at ninety miles an hour.”

By this time, the other car had pulled up in
a much more respectable manner. The driver was as old as Roy, but
his grinning face said that he enjoyed his ride. With him was
another older man and a middle aged blond woman who looked familiar
but Elizabeth couldn’t quite place.

“Had to come over Hawley’s Hill,” the red
head said. “The loop is blocked in too many places. Only one big
ole tree blocking the Hill, but these guys had to stand around and
talk about how best to get it out of the way. Never heard so many
tree stories in my life. You’d think they could just cut the damn
thing up and move it to the side, but no-o-o, they have to jaw
about it ‘til nature rots it away.”

“Hey! I’m supposed to be keeping an eye on
the town. I ain’t supposed to be clearing roads.”

Maggie was threading her arm through Roy’s
and dragging him into the house. “You’ve done lots of things you
weren’t supposed to be doing, old man. I’m just glad you’re here.
I’m guessing you’re snarling at each other ‘cause you didn’t meet
no one else to snarl at along the way.”

“Yeah,” Roy agreed, “Poor Harmony was a might
disappointed. She came out of that office loaded for bear. You
should see what she got loaded in the truck bed.”

Ah, the famous Harmony, sender of help and
spreader of gossip. Elizabeth had thought the voice was familiar.
Marshall, who’d slept at her feet for most of the day, stood by her
side and it wasn’t until Harmony approached, hand outstretched to
shake, that Elizabeth realized her right hand was fingering the
ruff of his neck. She snatched it away self-consciously.

“Nice to have a face to go with the voice,”
she said as they shook.

“Yeah, sorry about that. It threw me a bit,
hearing a woman at Marshall’s place. Not that there haven’t been
contenders before, mind you…”

Marshall snarled and snapped and Harmony
stepped back and lowered her head. “Sorry, sorry. Well, it was real
nice to meet you.” She turned back to the others. “We got more meat
in the truck. May as well feed ‘em up before the sun goes down.
There’s a box of clothes for them that needs ‘em.”

Clothes? Did they lose their clothes during
the shift to wolf? Would she have a houseful of naked men when they
turned back? The thought was intriguing, but decided the event
wouldn’t look quite the same in fact as in theory. Marshall and
Henry were wearing cotton pants when she met them in the woods; the
kind with a drawstring at the waist. Marshall’s were long and
Henry’s were cut off at the knee. She thought at the time they’d
come from bed and blushed at where that thought had led. She leaned
down to whisper to Marshall.

“Are you naked under all that fur?”

The big, bad wolf actually coughed and
sputtered and Elizabeth laughed.

“Or are you wearing those cotton thingies you
had on last night.”

Marshall rolled his eyes heavenward and
issued a soft whine.

“How am I supposed to learn if I don’t ask?”
she huffed. “I think I deserve a little credit here. Bizarre as all
this is, I think I’ve handled it pretty darn well. You’ll have to
excuse me if I have a few questions. I could be locked and
screaming in the bathroom you know,” she added, borrowing Maggie’s
words.

The wolf’s shoulders slumped in defeat.

“So, naked?”

Marshal moved his head slowly in the
negative.

“So when you switch back, you’ll have pants
on.”

His head moved slowly up and down.

He was obviously uncomfortable and Elizabeth
was enjoying it. “Apparently, some of you are naked or Harmony
wouldn’t have brought clothes. Does this mean you’re more modest
than the others?” She paused for effect. “Or do you have something
to hide?”

He huffed out a stream of air so strong his
lips flapped. Elizabeth giggled when he turned and stalked into the
house following the coolers of meat.

Dear Mother, sometimes having a man/dog who
doesn’t talk back is kind of fun.

Maggie called them together just before
sunset. “They’re going to be most vulnerable during the change, so
if they’re coming back, that’s when I figure they’ll hit.” She
turned to Elizabeth. “It takes some of them a few minutes to
readjust and it’s worse the longer they’ve been beasts,” she
explained and then to the group, “If they come as wolves, get out
of the way. It’s Marshall’s war.”

She made sure everyone was armed and
stationed around the outside of the house. The only one missing was
Gwenna who refused to leave George’s side when they moved him to
the bed in anticipation of the change. No one argued with her.

The sun, which always set too quickly for
Elizabeth, seemed to take forever to lower past the horizon. She
could feel the tension build. As it finally winked out below the
trees, hands gripped weapons a little tighter, eyes watched the
trees a little more sharply.

“Watch for flashes of light,” Brie whispered
beside her. “That’ll mean their coming as beasts.”

They watched for several minutes and then Roy
put his fingers to his lips and whistled loud and shrill. There was
a light from the cabin bright enough to illuminate the covered
windows, a series of groans and sighs and after a few more minutes,
the door opened and a few of the younger men began to come out.
They looked little more than boys.

“Eyes on the trees,” Maggie snapped and
Elizabeth knew she wasn’t the only one who’d forgotten her
task.

“Damn fools,” Roy shouted, “Get your butts
back inside. Marshall told you to wait for an all clear and I ain’t
given it yet. When he gets back he’ll have your hides decorating
his barn. Damned pups think you don’t have to follow orders.” The
young men quickly moved back inside and slammed the door behind
them. Roy went on to mutter something about young’uns not knowing
their place anymore.

“Marshall? Isn’t he here?” Even to her own
ears, Elizabeth sounded a little desperate. She flushed a deeper
red when Roy chuckled and winked.

“He’ll be back. Don’t you worry. He’s got to
see to the others. Send folks home. There’s a few wounded that need
tending, then he’ll come back here and take care of George, though
as far as I can see, you did a fine job of that yourself.”

“Thanks,” she murmured, her mind still on
Marshall. She didn’t know why she should be worried about him. He
was the Alpha, the Big Dog, the Boss Man. This was his job. He’d no
doubt done this before. And yet…?

Roy waited another fifteen minutes to sound
the all clear and Elizabeth thought he waited that long to prove a
point to the ‘young pups’.

This time when they emerged, it was with a
great deal of whooping and hollering. The general consensus was
that they had done enough damage to the other side and run them
off. Elizabeth wasn’t so sure, but reasoned that these people had
more experience than she in such matters, so she didn’t voice her
doubts.

Maggie was waiting for them. She laughed at
their antics. It wasn’t only the younger ones making noise and then
she got down to business.

“All right, you lazy good for nothin’s,” she
called. “Let’s get this place back in shape. Come on there. You
boys have been lazing around eating all day while we’ve been doing
all the heavy lifting.”

In little over an hour, the place looked like
the day had never happened. Floors were swept clean, furniture was
replaced, and kitchen and bath were spotless. Two freshly washed
blankets were in the dryer, while out in the yard, four young men
in teams of two, wrung out two more blankets to be hung to dry on
the rail. A load of towels was in the wash.

“You need to talk to that skinflint landlord
of yours about that washer,” Maggie joked about her ancient
wringer, “That thing is as old as Ruby.”

Ruby, who was standing a few feet away,
didn’t miss a beat. “Which is two months younger than you, you old
crow, and both of us are too old to spend another night anywhere
but in our own beds. Let’s get these boys loaded up and to home.
These old bones need a long soak in a hot tub. And I ain’t getting
up until noon tomorrow.”

“Ruby Taylor, you never slept ‘till noon in
your entire life…”

Elizabeth shook her head as she watched the
bickering friends walk out to the trucks and smiled at Roy when he
came up beside her.

“Those two have been best friends since
before they could walk,” he told her. “Burt and I found them all
the way over in east Texas, brought them home together as brides.
One wouldn’t go without the other. That story you heard makes good
tellin’, but it was the biggest mistake of my life. I was a damn
fool.”

Elizabeth was touched by the emotion in his
voice and she squeezed the old man’s hand. “Someone recently told
me that all of us could make that claim. You either stay that way
or change your ways. It seems to me you changed your ways.”

“I did and that old woman was good enough to
let me. I’d spent all those years wondering if I chose the right
one. Sure enough, I did.” He looked over the yard and back at the
house. “Marshall will be back shortly. We’ll drop this lot off and
someone will come back to get George and Gwenna. You gonna to be
all right?”

“I’ll be fine, but don’t send anyone back
tonight. George needs rest and Gwenna is exhausted. They can have
my bed tonight. I’ll sleep in the chair.”

George’s color was good and he seemed to be
in no pain and one of the men had told her that Marshall checked
him over before he left and said George could wait until he saw to
the others. That was good enough for her.

“And if you see Marshall, you tell him we’re
fine. He can come by tomorrow. He doesn’t need to come back
tonight.”

“Like that’s gonna happen,” one of the
teenagers snickered as he walked by.

Roy’s hand snapped out faster than a whip and
caught the boy in the back of the head. “You mind who you’re
talking to and who you’re talking about. Where your Alpha is and
when ain’t none of your business, boy. You show Miz Elizabeth some
respect.”

Most of the teenagers she was acquainted with
would be looking sullen and angry. Not this one. He looked
genuinely shamefaced.

“Sorry, ma’am.” He nodded his head.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Ronnie, ma’am.”

“I’m pleased to meet you, Ronnie. Everyone’s
very proud of you men.” She saw his eyes brighten when she referred
to him as a man. “I’m sure it was a slip of the tongue because of
all the excitement, so no offense taken…” She felt Roy stiffen
beside her. “…this time. And I’m sure there won’t be a next
time.”

“No ma’am there won’t.” He was grinning very
much like a boy as he ran off to climb in the back of the
truck.

“You’re a keeper, Miz Elizabeth,” Roy
chuckled, “A dove among the crows. You lock up now and keep watch.
You don’t let anyone in but Marshall. He’ll be here more soon than
late.”

“But…”

“I know. I’ll tell him. Don’t mean he’ll
listen. He never does.”

Chapter 17

The blaring of a car horn woke her. She
grabbed the shotgun, ran to the back door and peered cautiously
out. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, first in fright and
then in pique when she saw Marshall standing in the headlight’s
beam. He carried a large paper grocery bag. She snapped back the
bolt and opened the door.

“What is the matter with you, standing there
making all that noise?” she said as he came through the door. She
bolted it behind him. “George and Gwenna are sleeping and they both
need it. You need to be quiet.”

“I tried. You were snoring so loud you
couldn’t hear me knock,” he laughed. “I tried the doors and the
windows. I could hear you, but you couldn’t hear me.” He set the
grocery bag on the counter.

She set the gun next to it and placed her
hands on her hips. “I do not snore.”

He eyed her flannel shorts and orange t-shirt
and sighed. “I had such hope of tiny rosebuds.”

Elizabeth couldn’t help it. She laughed and
said, “Hope springs eternal.”

“From the human breast,” he finished the
piece, “Man never is, but always to be blest. Alexander Pope.”
Marshall shook his head. “I was never much of a fan. And yet, ‘Hope
is a pleasant acquaintance’.” He bowed low and made her laugh
again.

“But an unsafe friend.’ Where on earth did
you dig up Haliburton?”

The man read! He made her laugh. These items
were not mentioned on her mother’s list of What To Look For In A
Man, but they were definitely on hers.

“I had a great aunt who hailed from Canada. I
got her books when she passed.” He looked thoughtful for a moment
and then shrugged. “If I’d gone to college like my mother wanted me
to, I probably would have majored in English or literature of some
sort. Didn’t happen, but I still like to read.” He nodded at the
bag and closed his eyes for a second. “Can you cook?” he asked when
he opened them.