Wolver's Reward Read Free Page B

for a particular answer.
    "Nope, just stopped in to blow off a little
steam." Whatever their game was, River wanted no part of it. "And
now I'm headed out."
    "We're headed to a Chase," one of the cubs
blurted. He bounced with excitement. "Alpha's got himself a
Mate."
    River offered a congratulatory nod. "Good
luck." Finding a Mate was a big deal for an Alpha. It solidified
the pack and enabled pairs to breed.
    "Yeah, thanks," The Alpha accepted with a nod
of his own. "We were supposed to meet someone here. One of our
own," he added. "Is he in there?"
    "Nope, just some busted up bikers. Hope you
find him, though." River started to move away when the Alpha called
him back.
    "You're welcome to come with us."
    River kept moving. "Sorry, but I've got
someplace else to be. Enjoy the party."
    Parties after a mating chase could last for
days with plenty of food and music. Outside packs might be invited
and under the full moon, unmated females would be hot and looking
for company. What the hell, he had nothing better to do, but by the
time he changed his mind, the wolvers had already entered the bar
and he didn't want to look like he was begging.
    He pulled out the ramp and rolled the bike
back on the truck as soon as he got back to the motel. Deciding it
probably wasn't a good idea to spend the night so close to the bar
in case some pissed off biker came looking for him, River stayed
only long enough to shower and shave. His cuts and bruises were
already healing, one of the advantages of being born wolver.
    He found the nearest Wal-Mart and parked
between two monster RVs that were also parked for the night, he
pushed the seat back to its limits. Laying his head back on the
rest, River slept until the rising sun shining through the
windshield awakened him.
     

 
     
    Chapter 2

    "It's making that sound again," Celia said
from her seat in the back of the van. She readjusted the pillow
beneath her, groaning a little to make everyone aware of how
uncomfortable she was on the floor.
    "Told you we should have stopped at that gas
station a ways back," Darla told the driver. She too, was on the
floor because there were no seats in the back. The van was meant
for cargo, not wolvers.
    "We didn't need gas," Arnold, the driver,
reasoned.
    "Yeah, but it wouldn't have hurt to put some
oil in. The light's on again."
    "The light wasn't on when we passed the
station," Arnold argued.
    "It looks like we have two of them on now."
Lawrence rose up on his knees to look over Arnold's shoulder. "What
does it say?"
    "Check engine."
    "Yeah, like any of you would know how."
    "If you wanted a mechanic, Darla, you should
have gone with Jude. Engines are his domain, not mine."
    "Margaret says I stay with Reb."
    "Rebecca," Lawrence corrected.
    "Becky," Rosemary quietly corrected from her
seat by the back door. "I think I feel sick," she added.
    She'd been thinking she felt sick for three
hundred miles, but no one paid much attention. Anything new or out
of the ordinary made the timid wolver feel sick.
    The knocking of the engine continued.
    Reb/Rebecca/Becky sat quietly in the
passenger seat, head bowed, fingers playing with a loose thread at
the hem of her shirt. She ignored the constant corrections, as she
always did, since her voice held no sway in the matter.
    It had always been this way. The pack
functioned as a whole under her parent's guidance, but divided
along lines of sex when it came to her name. She thought of them as
Team Alpha and Team Mate with the males siding with her father who
called her Rebecca and the females choosing her mother's Becky.
Only Darla used the name she preferred, Reb for Rebel, a name she'd
chosen for herself when she was ten and had done her best to live
up to ever since.
    Reb wasn't feeling too rebellious now. What
had seemed like a great idea months ago when this whole
misadventure began, now felt like a sentence of life imprisonment
where only death-do-you-part opened the cell door.
    She was on her way to be mated to an