Wolf’s Glory (16 page)

Finally Muddy Wolf stood up. “We are all here as witnesses and speakers for the Clan.

We have two issues to decide. First is our brother Two Bears.”

Glory followed his nod, and saw Two Bears, the guy who had kept staring at Rose,

seated halfway around the circle in the first row. He held his head high, looking at no one, although pretty much everyone was looking at him.

“It is said that Two Bears took the woman chosen by Blue Sky At Midday"s wolf for his mate away against her will. Blue Sky At Midday wanted to kill him, but the woman

demanded that Two Bears be judged by the Council. Blue Sky at Midday will speak.”

Sky sprang up as his father sat down. “I was in the healing tent when I first saw Rose Turner. My wolf immediately chose her as my mate. At almost the same moment, Two Bears entered the tent and demanded that my mate speak to him. She was frightened of him. I could smell her fear, and it enraged my wolf. I spoke to him. I warned him to leave my mate alone.

But he didn"t listen. That same night, when Rose left her blankets to relieve herself, Two Bears followed her to the women"s place and tied her hands, and forced her to go with him. I knew that Rose was terrified. My wolf woke me, and I gave chase. I found them.” Glory could almost hear his teeth grinding. His face looked far less pretty and youthful now. “My mate"s wrists were bruised and bleeding from the ropes. And her face was bruised.”

An almost unheard murmur went through the tent.

“I took her away from Two Bears and brought her to Taye"s den because it was closer than the camp. I thought she"d need medical attention, and Taye"s mate would welcome her.

Two Bears came too, because I wanted him close by. As soon as I knew my mate was well, I intended to kill him. The Lupa told Rose she was welcome in the den. Then my brother Wolf"s Shadow came.”

Sky sat down with a face that looked like it was carved from stone. Glory looked around and thought that no Hollywood movie could really capture this scene. The air had started chilly and damp, but the heat of so many bodies packed so closely together was making her start to sweat. From the smell of it, she wasn"t the only one sweating. But it wasn"t a terrible smell, just earthy. The firelight didn"t go all the way back to the outer rows of faces, so all she could see was the dark blur of faces punctuated by the glimmer of werewolf eyes.

Muddy Wolf had risen to his feet while she"d been staring around. “Wolf"s Shadow will tell us what he knows.”

Muddy Wolf sat down, and Shadow stood up. Glory admired the way the firelight lit his muscled body. He had the best chest and abs she"d ever seen. “When Rose Turner and Two Bears and Sky disappeared, my mate was concerned. At her word, I went searching for them.

I followed their trail to Taye"s den near Kearney. All three of them were there. Sky wished to kill Two Bears, and so did Taye. I saw myself the blood on Rose"s wrists and the bruise on her face. Two Bears used her badly. But Rose asked that Two Bears be judged by the Council. She asked this in my hearing. I told my brother to bring Two Bears to the Council.”

After Shadow finished, Muddy Wolf asked Two Bears to speak. Two Bears stood up and spoke in cool, emotionless tones. He admitted that he had taken the woman. He thought she was beautiful and since he had no wolf to choose a mate for him he wanted a wife. He had decided on Rose before he"d known that Sky"s wolf had chosen her. Sky was young. He"d have other chances to find a woman, but he, Two Bears, had waited decades to find a wife.

Everything Shadow and Sky had said was true.

“Geez,” Glory whispered to Jill. “He"s admitting it?”

“People don"t plead „Not Guilty" when they"re guilty here. Now hush.”

Muddy Wolf opened the floor to discussion. Several people stood to speak. Some

thought death was the appropriate penalty for stealing a woman. Some thought he should have his johnson cut off. Ouch. That sounded a little extreme to Glory. Some thought he should be banished. Everyone, whether they looked Native American or not, sounded Native American. Not because they spoke like Tonto from the Lone Ranger, but because their voices took on a different rhythm. It gave their voices a formal quality they didn"t have in their everyday speech. Anyone who wanted to speak, could. No one yelled, interrupted, or argued.

They just took turns standing up and talking while everyone else was dead silent while they listened. It was all pretty cool until each of the younger women got up and every one of them voted for death. Glory hadn"t known they were so bloodthirsty. Only Jill voted for banishment. But her vote was the important one, it seemed, because after all the discussion dwindled, Muddy Wolf stood up and decreed that from this hour forth there was no one in the Clan named Two Bears. Two Bears was an outsider with no kin, never to be welcome among the Clan again.

Glory had thought he"d be relieved, but he stood like a defeated old man and shuffled out. Not a single person watched him except her, and his eyes were glued to his feet. As soon as he was gone, Muddy Wolf moved into the other topic.

“My nephew Laura, who prefers to be called Lobo, has brought disturbing news from the north and east. The men from the ranches and towns have learned that we have a large number of women here, and they are making plans to take them from us. We need to decide what to do to ensure the women"s safety.”

Again, orderly discussion took place, each person standing and giving his opinion on how to handle the situation. There were some votes for fighting to defend the women. Others felt that since the women weren"t part of the Clan it was senseless to risk their lives fighting.

But, pointed out others, some of the women like Glory, Marissa, Renee, and Sherry were mates, and perhaps some of the other women were mates for Taye"s Pack. The Clan needed to begin their move to the winter camp in the Black Hills, and they needed to build up their supply of winter stores. Some suggested asking the women what they wanted to do. After a lengthy discussion, all conducted with quiet courtesy and respect, Jill stood up.

“The Clan is strong. But are we strong enough to defeat hundreds of townsmen? And if we do defeat these, there will be more. And more. We cannot win. We cannot move the women to the winter camps with us. We cannot feed so many. We should send the women to Taye"s Pack so their wolves can see if any will choose one of these women as mates. Those who are not chosen by Clan or Pack should go to Kearney. Let the mayor of Kearney, Ray Madison, decide what to do with them. Glory and I will go with them and stay the winter to see them settled. In the spring we—”

For the first time there was an interruption. Shadow leapt to his feet with a howl. “No!

Grandmother, no!”

There was a massive gasp at Shadow"s rudeness.

He jumped across the fire to grab Glory"s arms and pull her up. “You can"t leave me!”

“I-I—” Glory stuttered.

“Sit down, Shadow,” Jill commanded in a hard voice. “You and Glory can discuss that later. I am going to stay with Taye"s Pack for the winter. I"m getting too old to winter in a lodge.”

Her arms would be bruised, Glory was sure. “Let me go, Shadow,” she hissed.

“No. You"re mine. You can"t leave me.”

“Moron. I mean my arms, now. That hurts, so
let me go
.” She was acutely aware of everyone staring at them. “Go sit down. We"ll talk later.”

Carefully, slowly, he released her. His eyes were almost frightening in their intensity. He turned with deliberate calm and walked with dignity around the fire back to his place. His face was smooth and cold, but his eyes shimmered across the fire at her. While Jill made her plans for moving the women starting tomorrow afternoon, he glared at her. She could swear she saw his wolf in those eyes.

Glory knew that Shadow would want to talk to her as soon as the Council was over.

She"d been almost as surprised as Shadow when Jill had said that the two of them would be going to stay with Taye"s Pack. Sure, they had talked about it, back before the survivors had come in needing help. But in the last several days Glory had been too busy to think of it. She had meant to mention it to Shadow, but last night … Had last night changed things? She liked him. She really liked what he did to her in bed. But she didn"t love him, and living through winter on the plains in a tent was not high on her to-do list.

She and Jill weren"t even out of the tent when Shadow"s big hand closed on her arm.

“Glory,” he said peremptorily. “I want to talk to you.”

Okay, he was, as she had suspected he would be, really mad. Did that give him the right to talk to her like she was a puppy who had just piddled on the rug? “Fine,” she snapped.

“Talk.”

Jill stopped and looked at Shadow for a long moment. “Remember what I said about

giving orders,” she murmured before walking away.

About a dozen other people were lingering, not even trying to hide their interest in what should be a private conversation. Sky came up to them and smirked at his big brother. The smirk turned to a suspiciously sweet smile when he turned to Glory. “Give him hell, Sister.”

He walked on, escorted by The Beagle, who did her best to trip him in her excited do-si-do around his ankles. Laura/Lobo trailed behind. The sight of him reminded her of something she had wanted to ask earlier.

“Why is your cousin named Laura? That"s a girl name.”

Shadow"s nostrils flared. “Don"t turn the subject.”

Boy, going by the sound of that snarl, he was royally pissed off. “I was just wondering.

Chill out.”

The grip on her wrist tightened to near pain. He dragged her three steps before she recovered enough to dig in her heels. “Shadow, if you don"t let me go right now I"m gonna kick you where the sun don"t shine. Let. Me. Go!”

He turned on her in a whirl of hair and clenched teeth. “Are you defying me, mate?”

“Why?” she snarled back. “Is that a crime?”

His answer to that was to pick her up and throw her over his shoulder. Rage stole her voice for more than a minute, enough time for them to get to Shadow"s tent. Her head scraped against the flap when he carried her through. The sun was just setting, and the rainy day made it dim inside the tent, but it was just bright enough for her to see that the blankets had been folded neatly on a narrow Lincoln log bed. Where had the bed come from? But she was too angry to care about that right now. As soon as he set her down she opened her mouth to shriek at him. As she took a deep breath to blast him she saw a shine in his eyes. Tears?

“Glory,” he rumbled thickly. “Don"t leave me. I can"t live without you.”

Her rage seeped away like air from a deflating balloon. “Shadow…”

“I forbid you to leave! You will stay with me, mate.”

Just like that that her balloon was inflated again. “Listen, jackass, I don"t take orders from you. You don"t own me, so back off.”

Few people were able to tower over her. She was taller than a lot of men. But Shadow towered now, using his height to try to back her off. She stubbornly planted her feet, tilted her chin back, and glared into his eyes. There was no sign of tears, only the eerie yellow glow of a wolf enraged. If she hadn"t been so angry she might have been uneasy. But under her anger seethed sexual arousal. It seemed that the angrier he was, the yummier he smelled. He was so big and handsome. Not many people could stand up to her when she was angry. She was angry now, but secretly enjoying it too. There was nothing like a good argument to clear the air. Now if only Shadow would behave, they could yell at each other for a while and then have some wild sex and both let off some steam before moving into a calm discussion.

“You are mine.” His voice had crawled down into a wolf"s growl. “My mate. You will obey me.”

Did the big Neanderthal have to be so sexy when he growled? She hated bossy guys, and she sure as hell wasn"t going to turn into a doormat just because he was built like one of her favorite wrestling stars, but damn, he was fine. Her eyes told her so, and the heat between her thighs agreed. She folded her arms under her bust, plumping her breasts. Her nipples were hard, pushing against the soft cotton of her T-shirt. She hoped he noticed. She inhaled deeply and arched her back to be sure he did. “Fat chance, big guy.”

His nostrils flared, and she wondered if he could smell her arousal. Yum. It looked like he was aroused too. She could tell for sure when he pulled her against him so tightly she could feel his erection pressing just a little too high on her body to make contact where she wanted him. “Mine.” His voice was so deep and rough that it didn"t even sound like him anymore. “Say it,” he demanded.

Glory raised on her toes to force that pressure against her clit. “Uh-uh. No way.”

“Mine!” he roared.

“Yeah, I heard you the first ten times you said that.” Glory couldn"t quite manage to sound bored. Her clit was pulsing in time with her heartbeat, and it was pretty fast. Fear?

Excitement? The lyrics of her favorite Nine Inch Nails song floated in the back of her mind.

It seemed like whenever they were together and her blood was pounding through her veins like this she thought about that song. She rubbed against him, wanting the friction of her jeans between his hard flesh and her need. “C"mon, big guy, what are you going to do about it?”

“Say it,” he demanded again.

“No. And you can"t make me.” She smirked and rubbed her clit harder against him.

Taunting him like this was fun. “I"m a grown-up woman and I belong to
me
.”

“You belong to me.” His hand went to the top button on her jeans. “Say it.”

The twist of desire clenched harder between her thighs, wetting her panties. She licked her lips and unhooked the first few fasteners on her bustier teasingly. “Make me.”

Less than a second later her jeans were dragged down her legs and her panties were torn off. Her libido was dancing with hot elation, looking forward to his cock going deep. She found herself on the ground, her knees digging into the flattened grass, her weight braced on her hands, and Shadow was behind her, one arm clamped around her waist. His muscled thigh shoved her knees farther part, straining the denim still clinging to her legs. She felt the head of his penis plow through the crease between her legs, but she was so wet he slid past her opening and had to try again.