Wolver's Gold (The Wolvers) (33 page)

“Find that handsome sheriff of yours and make him take you to lunch at the Golden Palace,” Liddy suggested with a giggle. “And wear your
dark green bombazine, dear. It such a lovely dress and looks so pretty with your red hair. With a parasol and a pair of lace gloves, you’ll look quite the lady.”

“I don’t have a parasol
or lace gloves.”

“I do. I’ll run up and get
them.” Liddy scurried off.

It was a wonderful gift.
“Bertie, are you sure about this?”

“As sure as I’ve been about anything in my life
. I don’t want to see you tomorrow until all is said and done. I’ll be here by nine and you’d better be gone. For once in your life you’ll be a lady of leisure. You gave up your girlhood for this hotel. Let us give you one day of it back.”

“Have I told you how much I lov
e you, Bertie Mullins?” Rachel gave the older woman a hug which was immediately shaken off.

“If you love me, then
quit arguing and do as I ask,” Bertie snapped, uncomfortable with the affectionate display.

Rachel raised her hands in surrender and laughed.
“All right, you win. Tomorrow I will be a lady of leisure and thank you, Bertie. Thank you both.”

He might not have much time to spend with her, but there would be moments.
It would be her last day with Challenger McCall and she would make those moments count.

The visitors were settled in and the hotel was put to bed. Papa was still out, but that was nothing unusual. She turned off the lights except for the one always left burning in the back hall, so Papa would think she’d retired to her bed. Today’s dirty linens could wait for tomorrow.

Rachel had nothing
more to do but wait for Challenger McCall to come home. It was a fiction, she knew. This wasn’t his home, but for one night and one day, she could pretend.

She was dozing in her chair when the knock came at the back door. Arthur was immediately up and growling, so she knew it wasn’t McCall.

“Who is it?” she called through the door.

“Landon Hornmeyer
. Please, Miss Kincaid. It’s your father.”

Rachel didn’t hesitate. Ordering Arthur to stay, she opened the door. “What’s happened?”

“He’s down at the saloon. He’s collapsed, Miss Kincaid. The sheriff is trying to revive him. You need to come quickly.”

Rachel grabbed her shawl from the peg and closed the door on a growling Arthur
who was lunging at the door with fierce determination. She followed Liddy’s son through the gate and out to Schoolhouse Lane, her heart pounding in her chest and her wolf snarling a warning.

She stopped short and looked back just as
a blanket was thrown over her head. She started to fight and something pounded into her head hard enough for her to see stars.

“Don’t hurt her,”
someone hissed, and though the raspy whisper gave little clue to his identity, her wolf’s reaction was quite clear.

The she-wolf snarled.
“
Stupid Jackwolf. Kill.”

Rachel wanted to.
She kicked out as she was lifted off her feet and opened her mouth to scream. She was hit again and the stars blinked out.

Chapter 33

Rachel awoke when she was tossed unceremoniously onto a saddle, the horn digging painfully into her bruised rib. She struggled briefly, but the blanket around her was tied securely with rope. She didn’t think she’d been out that long and they must
still be in town. She tried to scream, but one of the loops of rope fitted tightly between her teeth. Between it and the heavy blanket, all she produced was a muffled screech which caused her to gag. Mouth gagged, nose enclosed by the heavy blanket, she felt like she couldn’t breathe and that, more than her circumstance, brought her to panic. She started to thrash.

“Rachel, stop. Stop. You need to cooperate. We’re not supposed to hurt you, but I can’t say the same for your father.”

Papa? She immediately stopped her thrashing. No longer struggling, she found it easier to breathe and to listen.

“Shut up
. You’re not supposed to talk to her.” That wasn’t Landon Hornmeyer.

“You shut up, Orly. Holt said she wasn’t to be hurt.”

“Right. Because that’s his job,” Orly snickered.

“No! Because the pack needs her
, and pack comes first.”

Pack comes first. It was the first Primal Law. Was it also the excuse they used to justify murder and thievery? Was it the excuse for what they were doing now?
She knew why they’d taken her and with Coogan’s reference to Papa, she knew she would have to comply if she couldn’t find a way out for the two of them.

Where was McCall? Surely he had returned by now and if he hadn’t, surely it would be soon. He would find her gone and Arthur in
a frenzy. He would raise the hue and cry, call for a search party and they would find her. They had to.

Blinded and uncomfortable, Rachel’s body felt as if they’d been riding for hours, but knew they hadn’t really gone that far when they finally stopped and she was dragged from the horse.

“Grab her feet,” Coogan ordered, “and for God’s sake, be careful.”

“She’s going to need more than God once Holt gets ahold of her.
”

“Shut up. He said he’d take care of her and once it was over...”

“What? He’d let her run her mouth off in town about what he’d done? He’d put her aside and give her to you? Grow up, Jack-ass.”

Rachel lay very
still, frightened but listening for sounds that might give her a clue to her whereabouts, memorizing the turns they carried her body through. Once again, her wolf recognized it first.

“
Bad place
.”

It was the most frightening fall of her life. When they set her gently on the ground, she thought they would remove her bindings, but when one of them
moved the rope that pinned her elbows and shifted it to her wrists, she knew she would be falling blind.

“We’re supposed to leave her tied,” Orly snapped, his voice echoing.

“I know,” Coogan snapped back. “I was just making sure they’re secure. I don’t see why, though. It’s not like she can climb out.”

“Don’t know. Don’t care. I don’t get paid to and you know what he’s like if you don’t do what he says.
Let’s get on with it. She’ll be fine.”

They slid her in feet first. Without sight to judge distance and no way to bend her knees to absorb
the impact, she landed hard. She fell, face first, but managed to twist her body enough to land painfully on the arm strapped to her side. Her head struck something hard. She grunted through the gag.

“See? I told you she’d be fine.”

“Maybe one of us should stay.”

“Why? So the rats don’t get her?
Holt said leave her ‘til tomorrow when it’s all over.”

What would be all over? Did they know about the Challenge? Rachel strained to hear more, but the two had apparently withdrawn.

Rachel tried to remain calm, but it wasn’t easy tied and blinded as she was in the deep pit of the mine. She tried not to think about rats, or bats, or other creepy crawly things that might be sharing the pit with her. Spiders. She hated spiders more than bats. The more she tried not to think about them, the more she thought about them, until she thought about what else she knew for certain was sharing the pit with her.

With the exception of a few tokens to help with identification, McCall and Washington had left the bodies where they were as witness to any wolver who might have doubts.
She didn’t like the idea of sharing their dark and eerie crypt, or the thought that followed. It could be her crypt, too.

She had no idea how long she lay there before her body stiffened and she shifted
uncomfortably into yet another uncomfortable position. The dark and the silence were driving her mad with worry and fear.

The only thing that kept her from crying was that she had no way to wipe her nose
and she was terrified of choking. When something nearby moved and emitted a muffled grunt, she screamed and again choked anyway.

“
Papa. Useless
.”

“He is not!” Rachel started to argue before she understood that her wolf only meant that the moving thing was her father and he couldn’t help
her.

Knowing she wasn’t alone calmed her
, and Rachel began to take stock of her bonds. Jack Coogan had said he was making sure she was secure, but he’d shifted the rope. With her elbows free to bend, she was able to free first one hand and then the other. She was convinced he’d done it purposely to give her this opportunity.

“
Kill stupid Jackwolf quick.”

“As opposed to slowly?”
Rachel silently asked.

The she-wolf grinned in her mind, showing all its teeth. A quick death was the best she could do for the likes of Jack Coogan and Rachel couldn’t disagree.

Hands free, she slowly inched the blanket up from her feet, tugging and pulling to free it from the rope that bound her legs. Her skirt kept rising with it. It bunched around the binding rope, preventing further movement, until she realized she needed to raise her skirts, too. Once pulled free, the result was a much looser binding and when she struggled up to a sitting position, she had enough slackness to untie the knots at her ankles and knees. It all took time. The gag and blanket covering her nose still hindered her breathing and she had to stop several times when she became lightheaded.

W
iggling and rolling to release the blanket from beneath her, she pushed, unwound, and untied until her shoulders were free. The last bit was the gag. It was tied the tightest and it took her forever to free her mouth. Panic rose each time the gag tightened while she attempted to untie the knot. Finally, the gag and covering were gone and she lay there breathing heavily of the faintly putrid air. It took several more minutes to restore proper feeling to her limbs.

The floor of the pit sloped downward and she had no idea what lay beyond in the darkness. Even with her wolf’s vision, she could see nothing but blackness. Carefully turning onto hands and knees, she cautiously crawled forward, praying she would find her father before her hands touched the remains of her packmates.
She paused, listened, heard faint stuttering breaths and moved forward. He was only a few feet away.

“Papa?” she whispered. His body was warm. He was bound as she had been only much tighter. She felt for his chest, found a rope tied so tight it had to restrict his breathing. Fearfully, she laid her ear to his chest. His heart was beating. His breaths were slow and shallow.

Needing all her strength, Rachel rolled him to his side and began the tedious process of untying him. The knot of his gag was sticky with blood.

“Oh, Papa.”

Once free, his unconscious body recognized its new freedom to breathe and he sucked in air almost too rapidly.

She positioned herself so her lap formed a pillow for his head and she stroked back the hair that had fallen over his forehead.

“Papa, please wake up. I‘m frightened and I don’t want to be alone.”

How long she sat, she didn’t know, but eventually she moved and dragged her father with her until her back was against the dirt wall.

“Papa, please, wake up.”

She must have dozed, because the next thing she heard was her father’s voice.

“Rachel, dearest, what is going on here?” he asked. “Have I done something to offend?”

“Oh, Papa, don’t. You didn’t do anything to put us here,” she told him because it was true. It wasn’t his debt. It was her
money. The debt was only a means of coercion. “This isn’t your fault. How badly are you hurt?”

“
I’m relieved to hear it. I’ve hurt my ankle and my head, but it’s nothing a few days of rest won’t cure. You mustn’t worry, my dear.”

Rachel was glad he couldn’t see her face. “Papa, do you know where we are? Do you know how you got here?”

“Well of course I do. I bumped my head, I didn’t break it. I was having a few drinks with friends and excused myself for a moment. I was... I... I ended up here... in a hole... This must be an old dig. How very odd.” Rachel heard him moving about, patting his chest and pockets no doubt. “Everything seems to be in order. We will be fine. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Papa was as he’d always been. A wolver couldn’t change the color of his tail.
As long as Josephus Kincaid could walk and talk and bend his elbow to take a drink with friends, there was nothing to worry about.

“Do you know why we’re here?”

He hesitated. “I’m sure it’s some minor misunderstanding. I’ll clear it up when we get back.”

She’d heard th
ose words before. He’d been gambling again and owed money for his losses. She closed her eyes and prayed for patience. “You need to listen to me. This is not some minor misunderstanding.” Though how he could think being trussed up like a turkey and thrown into a pit was minor, she couldn’t fathom. “We are in terrible trouble. If Sheriff McCall doesn’t find us...”

“Oh, I wouldn’t rely on him, my dear. I know how you feel about my speaking of your association with him and I will refrain from offering
my opinion, but the sheriff is unreliable. He never seems to be found when he’s needed. They were looking for him again tonight. Bertie will sound the alarm when she arrives to find you missing.”

But Bertie wouldn’t. Bertie would think she was enjoying her day as a lady of leisure.

“Papa!” Rachel snapped, patience at an end, “Will you please listen to me. They are going to force me to mate Barnabas Holt. They will hurt you if I don’t.”

“Nonsense.
I admit, Barnabas Holt is somewhat coarse for my taste and has adamantly pursued the subject of your mating with me, but he is the Second. He would not stoop to...”

“
Yes, he would. Hasn’t he hinted at what he might do if you don’t convince me to mate?”

“Merely in the heat of the moment, my dear.
That type of person always blusters. It doesn’t mean anything and I have stated quite clearly you have no interest. I promised I would and I have.” He reached for her hand and patted it gently. “Your consternation is understandable in our current circumstance, but you must rest assured that this will all work out in the end.”

“They will hold you hostage in this pit,” Rachel persisted, “and they will hurt you until I acquiesce to Holt’s demands and my legacy is transferred.” She didn’t bother to add that once the money was in Holt’s hand there would be no reason for either of them to live.

Josephus Kincaid was clearly shaken, but still refused to yield to the truth. “We will simply explain, my dear,” he stuttered. “The terms clearly state it must be a suitable match and if you are not happy, then...”

“Papa!
For once, will you take off the rosy glasses and listen. He will appear suitable. You said it yourself. He has money. He is the Second. He will present a charming face to them and I will have no choice but to play the part of the happy mate. Your life would depend on my doing so.”

Pulling her hand from his,
Rachel rolled onto her knees and began to crawl, feeling in front of her with her hand, searching for the remains John Washington found. Not long ago, she was terrified of finding them. Now she muttered one of McCall’s curses under her breath because she couldn’t find them. She crawled further and further from her father, down the sloping floor until she found what she was looking for. She cringed at the first touch, but Mother Nature had done her work. There was barely an odor left.

“Papa, get down on hands and knees and follow my voice, slowly, because I don’t know where this pit ends.”

“Really, my dear, you expect me to...”

“Yes,” she said through gritted teeth. “I expect you to dirty your already filthy clothes and crawl to me. There’s something I need to show you and no, it can’t wait.”

Surprisingly, she heard him move to his knees. When he came close enough to guide him, she took his hand and placed it on the bones and bits of cloth. She held his wrist to insist he not withdraw before he understood.

“Do you remember the Rutherfords, the couple who retired and moved away? This is
what’s left of them. Holt had them killed. We’re next.”