Wolf Tracker (17 page)

He looked first shocked, then angry. “You act like I’m insulting you! I’m
honoring
you. My wife will have a comfortable life. I’m the richest—”

“Man in hundreds of miles. Yes, I know.” Tami snorted. “You’ve said so often enough.” The irritability that had plagued her since the rapes surged out of control. It felt almost good to let it go. “If you’re such a good catch, why don’t you have a wife already? A handsome, rich man like you should have no trouble finding a wife.”

Before, he had been angry. Now he looked dangerously enraged as he stepped so close to the fence he pushed against it. Heart jumping, Tami backed away, right into a mass of growling human and furred wolves surging forward.

“I’m not giving up!” Dick’s voice cut through the cold air. “You’re the woman I want for my wife, and I’m
not
giving you up!”

Jay cut the growling off with one slash of his hand. “You deaf? She said no. You ever give Miss Tami any trouble, we’ll kill you.”

Dick swelled and waved his hand at the mounted men behind him. “I have twenty-five cowboys who will fight for me, and I’ll hire as many as I need to.”

Tami tried to resist the over-protective wolves pulling her further back. “To do what?” she shouted. “Good lord, Dick, I told you no. Don’t you understand that word?”

“You’ll be my wife. You understand me? If I have to burn this place to the ground to get you, I will!”

He was crazy. Literally, clinically insane. Tami planted her feet against the tide of wolves pushing her back. “Stop that,” she told them, annoyed.

“Mr. Dickinson.” Jay sounded bored. “You might want to re-think that idea. Don’t think we need a war hereabouts, and that’s what you’re talking.”

Dick motioned sharply with one hand and one of the men brought a saddled horse to him. Dick mounted and jerked the reins hard to back the horse away. “This isn’t over, Tami. I’ll be back for you.”

Jay watched the men ride away with a stony face. “Chad, fetch the Chief. Mikey, Alex, follow Dickinson. Be sure he doesn’t come back. Snake, stay with Miss Tami. Don’t take your eyes off her. Miss Tami, you should stay indoors until we get this sorted out.”

“You don’t think he was serious?” Tami asked uneasily.

Snake flashed into a naked angry man in a burst of heated air that blew against her. “You should have let me bite him a long time ago,” he scolded her. He took her arm and steered her toward the door of the motel. “Let’s go in.”

Having a werewolf transform inches from her still made Tami’s stomach lurch. “Okay.” She hurried to shake his hand from her elbow and walked quickly in front of him into the motel where she sought out Carla. Carla and the other women were washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen. The Grandmother was sitting in a chair beside one of the wood-topped worktables, where she carefully polished silver serving spoons.

Carla frowned at Snake. “Go get dressed, Snake.”

“Lupa, Jay told me to not take my eyes off Tami,” the wolf replied earnestly.

Carla looked from Tami back to Snake. “Get dressed,” she ordered. “Tami will stay right here until you come back.”

Snake left the kitchen at a run. Carla wiped her wet, soapy hands on a towel. “What’s up?”

Marissa, Rose, and Renee also stopped what they were doing and came across the kitchen to listen as Tami sucked in a breath and told them about Dick Dickinson, his proposal and her refusal of it, and his threat to burn down the den and take her against her will. She found herself shaking slightly as she finished.

“That asshole,” spat Marissa.

Carla looked troubled. Renee said, “Wasn’t he dating Connie Mondale? Or at least, trying to date her?”

“Not anymore,” said Rose.

Snake came back in at a run, wearing jeans and a cotton shirt and a hopeful expression. “Can I bite him now? Lupa, can I?”

“We’ll let Taye decide what to do,” Carla said distractedly to the bloodthirsty wolf. She looked soberly at Tami. “Did he seem serious? Will he really try to attack us?”

Tami shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. I think he’s crazy.”

“Yes,” said the elderly lady decisively. “Richard Dickinson has always reminded me of Keith Berenson. You won’t know him, but he was a man who took charge in southeastern North Dakota during the Terrible Times. Just because he had the power to do it, he tried to lock women up and hand them out like bribes to men he wanted indebted to him. He did what he wanted, and no one had the power or the nerve to stand up to him.”

More of the men had entered the kitchen silently, including Jay. “We’ll stand up to Dickinson,” the Beta wolf said calmly, and the other men growled agreement. “Miss Tami is under our protection. Lupa, I’ve sent a couple boys to follow Dickinson. Chad is finding the Chief. All the women should stay inside until we get this straightened out.”

“Straightened out how?” asked Carla.

“We’ll kill him,” growled Snake fiercely.

“We’ll see what the Chief says.” Jay’s answer was mild, but his black eyes gleamed with a martial light. “Dickinson would be all kinds of a fool to attack us.”

The Grandmother nodded. “He would. But I think Tami’s right. He is mentally disturbed. His first wife died in childbirth and the baby with her. They say he beat his second wife to death. He has quite a temper. With so few women, he’s had a hard time trying to find the third Mrs. Dickinson. It may have unhinged him.”

Tami had a bad feeling about this. If Dick did have twenty-five cowboys and hired more, he really could attack the den. “I’m so sorry about this,” she said helplessly. “But I can’t marry him.”

“Of course not,” said Snake ferociously.

Tami wrapped her arms around herself. With the fires in the ovens banked, the kitchen was getting cold. “I don’t understand why he picked me. A month ago he wanted Connie.”

A slight flush rose in Jay’s cheeks. “That’s my fault. I told Des how much he was bothering Miss Connie. Des took him aside and told him if he didn’t quit pestering Miss Connie he’d kill him.”

“He picked you because you’re strong and beautiful,” said Snake loyally.

Jay nodded. “This ain’t your fault, ma’am. Don’t you worry about this. We’ll fix it.”

He led the wolves out of the kitchen, leaving the women looking nervously at each other. Tami heaved a shaky sigh. “I know this isn’t my fault, but I feel bad anyway. He might really try to do something stupid.”

The Grandmother’s frail, thin hand patted her arm. “He might, but the Pack will defend you.”

“They shouldn’t have to. Can’t we call the police?” Tami stopped with a snort of disgust. “No, I guess not. What can I do to stop this? Isn’t there anything I can do?”

The Grandmother’s eyes half closed in thought. “Not much. But if you already had a husband, Dick Dickinson would have to quit pestering you. I mean a legal, married-by-a-priest husband, not just a claiming or common-law husband. Were there any men who visited the Plane Women that you liked?”

Tami shuddered. “No.”

“Well, don’t worry about it,” said the Grandmother comfortingly. “The Pack doesn’t mind a fight. In fact, they’re probably looking forward to it.”

Carla looked worried. “But people could die,” she protested. “Can’t Ray Madison do something? He’s the mayor.”

“We’re not in Kearney,” the Grandmother pointed out. “He won’t risk himself or his people over a dispute not in his town.”

Tami shuddered and tried to think of a man who had visited the Plane Women’s House that she felt comfortable with. There was Paul Cruz, the tall young man with the red beard, from Odessa. He was pleasant. But he hadn’t been there to visit her. Jesse Skorley was quiet and polite. But he was too young, and his attention had veered to Katie and seemed fixed there. She couldn’t think of another man she liked enough to even imagine marrying.

But that wasn’t quite true. She liked Tracker.

Chapter Seventeen

Tracker arrived at the den late on Christmas morning. He immediately noticed a higher level of security. He passed a couple of the wolves running a four-pawed perimeter patrol more than two miles outside the den, then another patrol a mile outside, and the fence surrounding the den had a dozen men and wolves walking inside and out of it, fiercely alert. He was allowed in the gate, and Jelly came to take his horse. He almost asked the kid what was going on. With outsider guests coming for dinner, he expected a few more men on fence guard duty, but nothing like this.

But Tracker didn’t need to say anything. Jelly must have sensed his concern. “Dick Dickinson has threatened to burn the den and take Miss Tami.”

Ice-cold rage, stronger even than what he’d felt toward Tom Leach, flared under his breastbone. That damn wolf woke up and growled inside him. “That so?”

“Yeah, so we have triple guards watching for him.” The kid looked eager. “It might be a real war!” He dropped his voice. “But don’t mention it to the Lupa or the other women. They don’t like it.”

Tracker nodded and went into the den, leaving his horse with his little cousin. A heavy weight settled under his breastbone. Tracker’s first real battle had been when townies had stolen the Clan’s women. Tracker had been eighteen years old. All the women but his sister, Stands Tall Woman, had been killed in that fight. That couldn’t be allowed to happen again.

Tracker paused in the front room to savor the delicious scents of pine mingled with roasting meat, and most delicious of all, Tami. He stamped the snow off his moccasins and went in to the rec room. Several of his cousins were there, including Red Wing and Hawk in Flight, standing around the pine tree in a corner.

“Dan.” Red Wing came forward to hug him. “Good to see you.”

“You, too.” Tracker slapped his shoulder and turned to wrap one arm around Hawk and give him a little shake. He raised his brows at the Clan men in silent inquiry. “Not with the Clan?”

Bobby Hawk in Flight gave a rare smile. “We’re here to visit our mates.”

“Both of you have found mates?”

Red Wing laughed joyously. “The Clan has four new women. They’re running us ragged! My mate sent me to Omaha to find her son, but it turns out he was in Kearney the whole time.”

“My mate was injured in the crash,” Bobby Hawk in Flight said softly. “So I made her stay here for the winter. She’s getting better. Smell that?” He inhaled deeply. “My Renee is a fine cook.”

Some of the other wolves joined them. “Yeah,” grinned Jay. “We’ve been sampling her cooking for two months now.”

Red Wing elbowed Jay. “I can tell. Her cooking has put a little extra meat on your bones, it looks like.”

Jay jabbed a playful fist into Hawk’s rock-hard belly. “Come spring, she’ll fatten you up, Hawk.”

“And Hawk will swell her belly with a baby,” teased Red Wing.

They all fell silent at that happy thought. Hawk smiled. “What have you been up to, Dan?”

Tracker shrugged. “Hunting,” he said enigmatically.

But they knew by his tone he wasn’t talking deer or turkeys. “Who?” Hawk asked.

He told them in short, laconic phrases about Tom Leach and his cohorts hiring him to find Tami and bring her back to them, of how they had treated her, and of his decision to bring her here instead.

Jay said thoughtfully, “That’s why she had so many nightmares when she first came here.” His face sharpened. “You kill all of them yet, or are there a couple left for us?”

“It’s been taken care of.”

“Damn.” Jay’s face fell. Then he brightened. “We’ll take care of Dickinson.”

The rage flared again. “What’s he done?”

“He asked Miss Tami to marry him, and when she told him no, he said he was going to marry her anyway, even if he had to burn the den to the ground to take her away from us.”

Hawk corrected him. “The way I heard it, he
told
Miss Tami she was going to marry him.”

Red Wing smiled eagerly. “Right after dinner, I’m heading back to the Clan to bring reinforcements. I just hope I don’t miss it.”

Hawk said seriously, “We’ll try to hold off until you get back.”

Jay and some of the others of the pack began describing the extra guard patrols Taye had set up, and his plans for the defense of the den. In the midst of this, Tracker smelled Tami’s sweet scent and turned to see her enter the room. She paused for the tiniest moment before she smiled at him.

“Merry Christmas, Tracker. Jay, the Grandmother needs help moving something in her room.”

Jay and three others from the Pack promptly left the rec room. Tami smiled again and left, too. Tracker curbed the desire to call her back. He’d see her later. This time he would talk to her, too, try to get to know her better so he could begin courting her.

* * * *

Tami went back to the kitchen to continue peeling the mountain of potatoes heaped in baskets. Her stomach fluttered when she remembered the happy shock that had zinged inside her at the first sight of Tracker. It fluttered again when she remembered her erotic dream Tracker had starred in. She told herself firmly she had nothing to be ashamed of. He had come for Christmas to spend time with family, not her. Even so, the holiday was a little bit merrier for her because he was here.

Her stomach fluttered again, not so pleasantly, when she remembered Dick and his threats. She could marry Tracker. She thought he would be bearable as a husband. More than bearable. She liked him, at least. He made her feel safe. Her dream told her she might be able to welcome him in bed. But who said he would be willing to marry her? He had never given her any indication he was interested that way. In marriage, at least. In the beginning of their journey together, he had admitted he wanted her sexually. Her body shimmied with a faint shadow of arousal. But she needed a husband, not a lover.

But the thought stayed with her. She overheard some of the wolves talking in the yard when she went out to throw the potato peels into the canister in the shed. One was saying something about seeing a strange man riding a little too close to their territory. Tami’s heart felt like a hand had clenched it tight. What if it was one of Dick’s cowboys? She had to do something.

The Gray family, a couple of men in their forties and some in their twenties, and a teen girl called Ellie, arrived and were warmly welcomed. Ellie was also Taye’s cousin. Tami looked from the tall, muscled Alpha, to the slender, short teenager and saw no family resemblance at all. But Taye obviously felt affection for his cousin. He hugged her gently and shook hands with the men. Shortly after the arrival of the Gray family, two tall blond men entered. These were the Overdahl brothers, Dane and Neal. Dane looked like he was quite a bit older than Neal, maybe mid-thirties. Ellie was engaged to be married to Neal. They were a cute couple, she so small and dark, he so tall and fair, both so young and innocent. The last guests to arrive were familiar to Tami: Faron Paulson and Donna Morgan. He was dubious but polite when he was introduced to his stepfather, Red Wing. Faron announced proudly that Donna had agreed to be his wife. Tami stood just inside the rec room door, watching this strange family grouping.