Wolf’s Glory (20 page)

She saw him sniffing at Marissa"s neck. Oh yeah, Glory smirked to herself, his wolf had chosen Marissa as his mate.

How crazy did that sound? Even more crazy, Glory was starting to think it was normal.

“Sunshine.”

Glory turned, already knowing it was Shadow because, one, she could smell his scent, and two, no one else called her sunshine. No one else would ever get away with calling her sunshine. But she would put up with it from Shadow because … It felt okay coming from him.

“Sunshine, put your bag in here. We can"t totally hide ourselves from anyone watching the camp, but we don"t need to announce ourselves, either.”

Glory looked at the burlap backpack thingy he held, wondering what her purse, stuffed with her few articles of clothing, the cup she had been given, and what remained of what had been in it when she had boarded the plane, had to do with an announcement. Shadow must have read the confusion on her face.

“Your bag. It"s shiny. The sun flashes on it. Put it in here so it doesn"t give our position away.”

“Oh.” He was hot when he went all military like that. She took her purple fake patent leather purse off her shoulder and put it in the burlap backpack. She was going to ask who cared if they were seen, but she remembered the guy who grabbed her this morning and the way Laura and Beaglezilla had torn him apart. “Do you think those guys will try again?”

“We"ve killed twelve so far. Their friends may want revenge, but they would be fools to try.” Shadow looked around with approval at the dozens of men and wolves around them.

“We sent Sky to Taye yesterday to let him know we are coming, and Taye sent some of his Pack to help provide protection on the journey.”

They had killed twelve men today? Was that including the one The Beagle had

shredded? Glory decided not to ask. She looked around too, and she didn"t recognize all the men. Not that she knew all the one hundred fifty members of the Clan, but a few of these men were wearing jeans, and she didn"t remember the Clan wearing anything except leather leggings or breechcloths. “Shadow, how many did your cousin send?”

“Twenty. Most of them are in wolf form.” He helped her put the backpack on. “Here"s your horse, sunshine, and my father wants a word.”

The horse was huge and brown, wearing a teeny excuse for a saddle. Muddy Wolf was holding its bridle and looking at her almost sadly. When Shadow moved away Muddy Wolf gave her a quick hug.

“Glory, take good care of the Grandmother. And yourself. I hope you choose to come back to us in the spring. But that is your choice, even if you are already carrying a baby.

Don"t let Shadow force you. But I ask that you will let us know the child.”

It would be rude to laugh in his face, but the idea that she was pregnant was ridiculous.

She was on the Pi—Something cold shivered through her. She hadn"t taken a birth control pill in over a week. She and Shadow hadn"t had sex a whole bunch of times, but it only took once. She looked around for Shadow and saw him standing by one of the men in jeans, talking. “I"m not pregnant,” she told Muddy Wolf tightly, and took the reins from him.

The Alpha obligingly gave her a shove up into the saddle. “Your blanket is rolled up here, behind your saddle. Be sure to use it if you become chilled. Remember, Glory, you always have a place here.”

“Thanks.”

She hated horses. She really did. She was more sore than she had realized from the athletic sex yesterday. She tried shifting in the saddle to find a more comfortable position for her crotch. There wasn"t one. The column of women surrounded by men and wolves moved out of camp. Glory waved good-bye to Emma and the other Clan women. She would miss them. Even Sandra, with her sour disposition, had become a friend. She faced forward and looked around her. Except for the trees along the stream the landscape was dull. The nearly flat land was covered by dry dead grass, and the sky was turning overcast. It would probably rain, and the air was chilly. Glory was in the middle of the column, some women in front of her and some behind. Each and every one had a backpack just like the one Shadow had given her. It was a pitiful testament of just how few possessions they each had.

Jill pulled her horse up beside her. For an old woman she was pretty spry in the saddle.

Then again, she hadn"t indulged in a sexual wrestling match less than twenty-four hours ago, Glory thought. The thought she was trying to not think popped up in her mind. Oh, God, she could be pregnant.

“Well, Glory, we"re off,” said Jill cheerfully. “In a few days we"ll be taking hot showers and sleeping indoors.”

Glory caught hold of that comforting thought. “How long will it take to get to Taye"s place?”

“At this pace? Three days.”

Glory tried to find Shadow among the men. He was near the front, his black hair blowing away from his muscled back. It was an inspiring view. Drool-worthy, as she and Jill used to say about a hot guy back in junior high. Only three more days with him. Would she miss him? Yeah, maybe she would. She wanted to have sex with him again, if nothing else. Lots of sex. Maybe she"d meet someone from Taye"s Pack … No. She could see that they were all good-looking. There wasn"t an ugly or flabby guy in sight. But when she looked at them her girl parts didn"t perk up the way they did when she looked at Shadow"s back.

“All right, Glory, spit it out,” said Jill.

“What?”

“Whatever"s got your panties in a bunch. Ever since you talked with Muddy Wolf you"ve been distracted. So spill it.”

Glory"s belly fluttered. She put a hand on it. It was way too early to tell if she was pregnant—and she wasn"t, of course!—so that little flutter was just nerves. “Oh, it"s just, you know … He said … It"s nothing.”

Jill arched one grizzled brow.

Glory waved agitated hands. “It"s just … Shadow"s dad said…” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “He thinks I"m pregnant!”

All the male heads up and down the line, man and wolf, snapped around to stare at her, including Shadow who whipped his horse around to run back to her. He caught her hands and pressed them to his mouth. His black eyes shone at her with … Happiness? Hope? Pride?

“Chill out, Shadow,” she muttered. She swallowed her first instinct to call his father a nut. “I"m not, and even if I was, it"s too early to tell.”

His lips were gentle against her raw palms as he kissed each one. Without a word he rode back to his place at the front of the column. Glory felt tears threaten. Pregnant women were known for their wacky hormones and emotional outbursts, weren"t they? Damn. She was not pregnant!

“I"m not,” she hissed at Jill, trying to be quiet. Those damn wolves could hear a pin drop in the next county. Just look how they"d all turned when she said Shadow"s dad thought she was pregnant.

Jill gave her a significant look, silently demanding the truth.

“I"ve been on the Pill for years,” Glory told her.

“Women on the Pill can still get pregnant, Glory. You know that. How long has it been since you ran out? How many times have you and Shadow—”

“Ewww!” Glory cut her off. “Oh, my God, I can"t believe you would ask that!”

“Babies are important to everyone in the Clan, Glory. We rejoice in every birth. You don"t have to worry about anything. We will all take care of you and your child.”

Several nearby male heads nodded vehemently. Glory glared at them. “I"m not

pregnant!”

Jill"s old voice turned impatient. “Grow up, Glory. If you"re pregnant, you"re pregnant.

Just know that you will be taken care of.”

Was she pregnant? The only painkillers they had were some disgusting tea and whatever the plane crash survivors had left in their purses. She did not want to give birth in this place.

Were there any doctors? Was there even a hospital? Oh, God, she could be pregnant. She really could. And the most frightening thing of all was how happy the thought made her. She sought out Shadow"s broad back with her eyes again and wondered if their baby would be a wolf like him.

It was mid morning of the third day that the women and their guards saw Taye"s Pack"s den. Glory stared at the rundown motel surrounded by a tall chain-link fence. The one-level L-shaped building was plain, not what she had been expecting. Then again, what was she expecting? It had a ceiling, at least. Men and wolves patrolling the fence waited until they were only a few feet away before opening the gate and letting them ride into the grassy yard.

A man who looked quite a bit like Shadow was there waiting for them. He was maybe a few years younger, but he had the same white smile and dimple beside his mouth. Shadow slid off his horse to give him a quick hard hug. The man had black hair, but it was cut short.

He wasn"t a small guy, but he looked like it compared to Shadow. Glory watched them speak quietly for a few minutes until Jill dismounted with a stifled groan. Then she quickly swung down to go to Jill to support her. On the trip Glory had gotten stronger, and Jill seemed to get weaker. At night Jill had had a hard time breathing. Glory had missed sleeping beside Shadow"s warmth, but all the women had slept in a single tent, packed together like sardines.

Jill could pretend she wasn"t having any trouble, but Glory hadn"t been fooled. And she wasn"t fooled now even though Jill was trying to look like she was standing on her own.

“No, Quill,” she was saying forcefully to a young man with long curly brown hair who was trying to pick her up, “I can walk just fine.”

Glory gestured at Shadow. “Hey, big guy! Quit yakking. Jill needs to sit down.”

Shadow and the other man came over. “Sunshine, this is my cousin Taye, the Alpha of the Pack. Taye, this is my mate, Glory.”

Something in his tone made her feel as precious as the Hope Diamond. For a moment she considered being snappish, but she swallowed it. “Hi,” she said instead. “Nice to meet you.

Thanks for letting us stay.”

Taye displayed a killer smile and dimple. “It"s our pleasure.” He leaned over to gently embrace Jill and kiss her cheek. “Grandmother, let"s go inside. We have a fire in the rec room. My mate is anxious to meet you.”

The horses were collected by some of Taye"s Pack. The women were all dismounting

and sliding their packs off their backs. The air was cool, but even so Heather"s low-cut sweater left a lot of skin bare, and Glory saw that her nipples were tight little points. Many of the men were noticing all that surgically enhanced skin, and Heather was smiling back. She really hoped that none of the wolves would choose Heather for a mate. No one deserved to be stuck with a porn queen who gave any man over the age of sixteen and under the age of sixty a come-on.

Glory recognized Carla from the plane. She knew she had been a country music star only because someone had told her so, not because she was a fan. She hated country music. But Taye was obviously a fan; his killer smile came out when he went to her and put an arm around her waist. Glory thought they made a good couple. The way Taye held Carla and smiled at her made it plain he worshiped her. And the way Carla leaned into him said she felt the same. It was nice. She looked at Shadow, who was carefully helping Jill to a chair. Could they ever be like that?

As introductions were made, Glory looked around. This must be the rec room. It was spacious, with a polished wood floor and a big stone fireplace with a crackling fire. Small tables and chairs were scattered around, and a large deeply padded leather chair was angled beside the fire. Standing beside the chair was Rose, the blonde teen from the plane. She was searching through the increasing crowd of women and wolves with anxious eyes. She smiled when she saw Glory and waved. Glory went over to her.

“Who you looking for?”

Rose had naturally pale cheeks that showed a blush painfully clearly. “Sky,” she

confessed in a whisper that Glory could barely hear over the babble from the women.

Glory couldn"t tell if Rose wanted to see him or was looking for him so she could hide.

“Is he bothering y—I mean, how"s it going?”

“With him? Awful,” Rose said darkly. “He keeps trying to get me alone.”

“That"s bad?”

“He keeps trying to kiss me, and I"m like ew-no-thank-you.”

Glory suppressed her urge to laugh. “That might change when you get a little older.”

Rose sighed. “It might have to. He says I"m his mate, and he"ll never give me up. I don"t get this mating thing. Do you?”

“Not really.” Glory thought about it, remembering what the Clan women had told her.

“The wolf chooses, not the man. And after that, the wolf won"t let the man have anyone else.

But the woman can marry someone else if she wants. Unless she sleeps with the wolf. The guy, I mean. If she sleeps with him the wolf will kill any other man she gets close to. Uh …

You and Sky haven"t … uh…”

“Eww! No! Gross!”

Glory had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. “Okay. Oh, there he is.”

The young wolf was plowing through the four dozen or so people in the room with

single-minded determination, eyes fixed on Rose. Rose folded her arms and gave him a cold stare that he ignored. Glory was ready to settle in to be entertained when Shadow touched her arm and motioned to Taye. The Pack"s Alpha was standing on a chair, looking the small crowd over with keen eyes. Carla stood on a chair next to him.

“Kinsmen!” he called. “Ladies!”

The murmuring crowd quieted and turned to look up at him. Glory felt Shadow"s arm go around her waist, and she let herself lean against him a little bit. During the trip they had barely spoken. She had been with the other women all the time, helping the ones like Sherry who were still pretty badly hurt, and he had been busy seeing to their protection. It was nice to be able to stand with him now.

“I am Taye Wolfe and this is my mate, Carla. Ladies, arrangements have been made for those of you who are not mates to stay in Kearney. The mayor of Kearney has set aside a building for your use. He says it needs some repairs, but there are plenty of men willing to work on it. He also has men assigned to see to your safety. After lunch you will be taken to your new home. For you ladies who are mates, Glory, Marissa, Sherry, and Renee, we have rooms set aside here in the den.”