The Alpha's Mate (13 page)

“Now, shouldn’t we be arranging to move Max
to a hospital?”

“No!” Marshall and Henry answered
together.

“We’ve got it handled,” Marshall said firmly.
“GW’s on the way and I have more to do. You and Henry need to stay
out here. Please.” He gave her a small nod. “And this time…” He
then gave Henry a quelling look and Elizabeth watched as Henry
seemed to shrink in size and lower his head. “This time, I expect
to be obeyed.”

Henry’s silence was answer enough.

How dare Marshall treat Henry like that?
Henry was his partner, not his slave.

“Why do you let him do that to you?” she
asked when the door was closed behind Marshall.

Henry grinned sheepishly. “Marshall ordered
me to take you back to the house. I disobeyed. He had to show who’s
boss. I had to say I recognize it. It’s done.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Elizabeth was angry on
Henry’s behalf. “He’s not your boss. He can’t fire you.”

“No, but he could do a lot worse. He could
have me shunned.”

“Throw you out?”

“Yeah, but like I said, worse.”

Elizabeth thought she understood. This was a
side of Marshall she would never have suspected. “He wouldn’t break
up with you over something as petty as this, would he?”

“Break up?” Henry choked on the words. “As
in, ah, couple break up?” He took two steps back and she could tell
he was in shock.

Oh, oh. He must have been referring to
something else and she’d just compounded his concern. Elizabeth
reached for his hand. “I told you I know about you two. I just
can’t picture Marshall leaving you over something like this.”

Henry gripped her shoulders and bent down to
look in her face. “Who have you told about…?” He gulped. “Us.”

“No one.” She smiled reassuringly. “It’s your
life and not my place to out you.”

“Praise be,” he laughed in relief.

“There’s nothing wrong with being gay,” she
assured him.

“Not if you really are.” He was grinning now.
“We’re not. Marshall’s my cousin. His folks took me in when I was
five years old and my folks were killed in a car accident.”

“But… but… Marshall said… He commented
on…”

“What did Marshall say exactly? No, wait a
minute. Let me guess. He made some smartass remark about those
living room curtains I brought home, didn’t he? Or no, he called me
a sweet little housewife. Yeah, I can see it in your face. He’s
been calling me that since we were in high school.” He shrugged.
“Just because I like to cook and don’t like living in a pig sty. I
keep telling him, ‘Boy, you better catch up with the rest of the
world. You’re never going to catch yourself a mate if she finds out
you don’t do nothing around the house. Women ain’t as set on
keeping house as they once was.’ Shoot, Lucy says she can’t cook at
all.” His eyes widened as if he’d just thought of something. “So
you don’t know about us at all, do you?”

“Lucy?” Elizabeth asked weakly. She was
trying to process this new information and it wasn’t going
well.

“Girl I’m seeing over in Galton. She’s from
the… ah… Home Depot. I must have bought out half the Home Décor
department before she’d go out with me. She can’t cook, but she’s
got real good taste.” Henry looked away from her and out into the
yard.

“Which brings me to something Marshall spoke
of; Miz Elizabeth, I ain’t like Marshall at all. I’m strictly
second string and I’m happy that way. I think you must’ve made a
mistake about that same as you made a mistake about me and
Marshall. Still and all, my heart’s pretty much given to Lucy if
she’ll have me. I’m real flattered, Miz Elizabeth, but I ain’t
interested.”

“I never… I wasn’t… It never occurred…” Could
this get any worse? Elizabeth sat down on the steps with a thunk.
She’d been wrong from the very beginning. And shame on her for
making unfounded assumptions. Marshall must have thought she was a
crazy woman.

She was so sure that someone like him would
have no interest in someone like her that she twisted everything he
said to justify her own convictions.

“I’m a fool, Henry,” she sighed.

“Well ma’am, I suppose all of us could say
that at one time or another. Question is, what’re you going to do
about it? Stay a fool or change your ways.”

A howl sounded from the woods followed by a
series of short yips.

Henry’s head snapped up at the sound. He
listened intently.

“Are they near?”

“Not near enough for you to worry about.
They’re out at Coop’s place. I got to go,” Henry said as Marshall
called his name.

He pointed his finger at her. “You need to
stay out here until Marshall calls,” he said before he entered the
house.

Elizabeth sat on the bottom step and stared
out into the darkness. Wolves were out there attacking people.
Shouldn’t they be calling someone? She was alone here and
vulnerable. They could attack here as easily as they did on the
trail.

Damn! Why was she sitting out here waiting to
be eaten? This was her house and she was on the outside while the
big, brave men were safely within. She didn’t even have her broom
for protection and the poker was lost down the side of the hill.
What’s wrong with this picture?

She marched up the steps, grabbed open the
screen door and pushed through the wooden one. She jammed her
knuckles into her mouth to stifle a scream.

Chapter 13

A wolf was retreating through the open back
door. She only saw the broad hind quarters and the tail, but it was
enough.

Where were the men? And Max, helpless in bed?
Why was there no screaming, no sounds of violence?

Elizabeth barred the door behind her, ran to
the kitchen and bolted that door, too. Next was the bedroom. She
was afraid of what she would find and her hands began to shake.

Max was in the bed, just as Elizabeth had
left her. Elizabeth tiptoed closer and gasped. Max’s face was no
longer battered and bloody. Her eyes almost swollen shut –Elizabeth
glanced at the clock on the nightstand- just an hour ago were now
closed normally in sleep. Her long lashes rested on pale pink
cheeks, shadowy splotches of deeper pink the only sign of the
beating she had sustained. This couldn’t be!

Faint movement on the other side of the bed
caught her attention. She rushed around the foot of the bed.

And then she did scream.

Marshall lay on the floor, curled in a fetal
ball. His body shimmered with a strange golden light. The muscles
of his arms and legs bulged, rippled and transformed into the legs
of a wolf. His body began to change as well. The light brightened
to a blinding glow and she raised her hand against it and the
horror of what she was witnessing.

The great silver coated wolf struggled to its
feet.

Elizabeth backed against the wall, too
frightened to speak or run.

The wolf bowed low with his forepaws
stretched out in front and his rear end high in the air. Max was
still asleep in the bed. There was no one else in the room, but
Elizabeth distinctly heard someone whisper her name.

“Li-i-z-z-ie. Wa-a-a-tch.”

The wolf leapt to the bed and lay quietly
next to Max. Her hand reached out until it made contact with fur
and then she smiled.

The wolf rose and walked off the bed to the
floor in front of Elizabeth.

“M-Marshall?”

The wolf nodded once and headed out the
door.

Elizabeth sat on the edge of the bed. Her
heart was pounding so strongly in her chest, her shirt moved. She
watched it, fascinated by the movement of her blood spattered
shirt. Blood? It wasn’t hers. It was the blood of the wolves she
had killed.

Bile rose in her throat. Those wolves were
men and she was the cause of their deaths. In her overwhelmed mind.
She felt the thud of the poker as it hit and punctured the soft
flesh of the wolf’s side. She heard the crack of the wolf’s spine
as it splintered against the trunk of the tree. Yes, she reasoned,
her actions were in self-defense and self-preservation. She thought
they were wild animals and that was sickening enough, but those
were men and their blood now stained her shirt.

A whine from the kitchen drew her from her
thoughts. The wolf –she couldn’t quite comprehend that the creature
was Marshall- stood at the door. He looked up at the bolt and
curled his lip.

“Sorry. I thought you were the bad guys.” She
slid the bolt as the wolf ‘chuffed’ in exasperation.

When he was gone, Elizabeth leaned against
the counter and breathed deeply several times. In through the nose
and out through the mouth. It wasn’t helping. This couldn’t be
happening. She was attracted to a dog. She started to giggle.

“What’s up, dog?” she said aloud. “You old
dog you. Dog gone it, Marshall, you sure are putting on the
dog.”

Her giggle turned into a laugh. She laughed
until the tears streamed down her cheeks. She was becoming
hysterical. She knew it and she didn’t care.

“Dammit to Hell. I think I have the right to
a little hysteria.”

She’d been so relieved to hear Marshall
wasn’t gay. Now all she had to contend with was his being a canine.
So tell me Dr. Freud, how does having the hots for a gay guy
compare to having the hots for a wolf guy? I don’t think there’s a
list for this.”

She’d never developed a taste for hard
liquor, but she wouldn’t say no to a stiff one right now.

“Bottom shelf, right hand side, back
corner.”

Max stood in the doorway. She leaned
carefully against the frame. Her skin was so pale and her hand
shook as she plucked at the robe she wore, the pale pink one that
had been hanging on the hook on the back of the bedroom door.

“Hope you don’t mind. I didn’t think you’d
appreciate me running around in my undies. Not that I can actually
run.” She shuddered. “Are you going to get it? Because I could
really use one, too.”

“Did you read…?” Elizabeth tapped her
forehead with her finger. That was all she needed; a mind reader.
“Oh shit, what am I doing? Max, you need to sit down.” Max had
started to sway and Elizabeth ran to her.

“You were talking out loud,” Max explained
once she was settled in one of the chairs by the fireplace. “Go get
the jar.”

There was a quart jar of clear liquid right
where Max said it would be. Elizabeth popped the sealed lid off the
jar and brought it and two glasses over to Max.

“Just a little and sip it slow,” Max warned.
“That stuff of Ruby’s will curl your toes.”

“Are you sure you should be drinking?”

“Can’t put me in any worse shape than I was.”
Max held out an unsteady hand for the glass. “Where’s
Marshall?”

“Um, Henry heard some howls from the woods.
They, um, changed and took off.” Poor Max was in better shape than
before, but certainly in no condition to be told she was hanging
out with werewolves. Unless she already knew.

“GW? Did you see him? Is he with Marshall?”
Max asked worriedly.

“I couldn’t see anything. It was too dark.
She told Max about the battle, what she did, saw and heard. “By the
time it was over, I was halfway down the mountain. Marshall took
off to you and Henry stayed with me. Max, what happened to you?
When I left, I thought you were dying and now…”

“Marshall. Marshall fixed me up. Was he man
or beast when he left?”

O-o-okay, so she did know. “B-beast. Wolf?”
Elizabeth finally took a sip from her glass. She felt the liquid
burn all the way down until it landed like a hot coal in her
stomach. Whoo-boy! Powerful stuff indeed! Her eyes spurted
tears.

Max waited until she was breathing normally
again. “At least you didn’t run screaming down the mountain.” She
offered a weak smile. “Do you hate me?”

“Hate you? Why would I hate… oh, because you
knew about…?”

“Not just knew about. I am one.”

“But you can’t be. You’re a nurse.”
Elizabeth’s hand flew to her mouth. That didn’t come out right. She
took another sip, this time better prepared for the fire.

“Yeah, amazing isn’t it? We have human brains
and everything.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Elizabeth thought Max’s smile meant she took
no offense, but then she said, “Good, because I wouldn’t want to
rip your throat out over it.”

Max lay back, clearly exhausted. “Just
kidding. Females can’t change but once a year. Once a male reaches
his full growth, he can change all year long. They can go over the
moon alone when it’s full. Other times they need the Alpha. That’s
why I asked if Marshall was man or beast. If the moon’s not full,
they can’t change without him.”

Once she got past the man-beast thing,
Elizabeth’s curiosity took over. “Why Marshall?”

“He’s our Alpha.” Max took a solid drink from
her glass and Elizabeth was a little envious that the woman didn’t
wince. “Every pack has to have an Alpha, with a capital A. The pack
can’t function without one.”

“Every pack? There’s more?” Elizabeth took
another sip. This stuff was tasting better and better.

“Oh sure. I was born to the Tall Pine Pack in
south Georgia. Traditionally, most females mate outside their pack.
I think it was a way to keep the line from inbreeding. Anyway, I
met GW when I was home on Spring Break. We had this big Spring
Festival every year. You know, games and rides and crafts and
stuff, but it’s really more of a chance for the packs to mingle
without outsiders taking notice. Folks come from all over and GW
came down to take a look see and he saw me. I knew it was a match
first time he kissed me.” She sighed happily and Elizabeth envied
that, too. “I finished school; we got hitched, and moved up here.”
Her eyes clouded over as she looked at the door.

“GW thinks someone is trying to take over the
pack. His father says it feels more like a feud, but he can’t
figure the cause.”