Chapter Seven
Chapter Seven
Not one thing went wrong that day. The weather wasn’t as cold, but not so warm that the ground turned to mud, and the further south they went the less snow there was on the ground. The Beagle seemed to have made a miraculous recovery. She trotted alongside Laura, darting off every now and then to explore something of interest. Rabbit kept a stern watch, never going too far from Gen. Every couple of hours Laura stripped and turned into a wolf so he could run back to check for any pursuit. Gen relaxed a little more every time he returned and reported seeing nothing on their trail.
She and Laura traveled until long after dark, and Gen, who hadn’t spent much time in the saddle since selling Dean’s horse after he passed, was a bit sore. She was glad when they finally stopped to make camp on the downwind side of a large jumble of bricks. In the dark Gen wasn’t sure, but it looked like it might once have been some sort of building. Maybe a roadside rest area that had collapsed. There were enough bricks on top of one another to create a windbreak and the floor was cracked cement, so safe for a small fire.
Sitting on a folded blanket close to the fire, Gen ate the last of the bread and cheese slowly, resting a tin cup of weak tea on her knee. “We made good time today,” she said hopefully. “How far do you think we got?”
On the other side of the fire Laura nodded. “Close to thirty miles. If we get an early start tomorrow and the ground stays clear, we might make it to Taye’s den before too late.”
“That’s awesome!”
“Awesome.” One of his rare broad smiles glowed white in the shadowed dark of his face. “We traveled for about nine hours today. If we make the same progress tomorrow, we’ll be there in twelve hours or less.”
Gen felt like a teenager getting ready for her first date: excited and almost sick to her stomach with anticipation. “I can’t wait. I can’t believe it.” Smoke from the fire drifted into her face. That’s why tears stung her eyes. “I can’t believe it,” she repeated in a whisper. She licked her lips and forced the tears back. “It’s all thanks to you. I can’t believe how lucky I am that you showed up at my cabin.”
“You’re lucky?” Laura gave a choked laugh. “I’m lucky. I never thought I’d find a mate. I know,” he quickly added as Gen opened her mouth. “You haven’t accepted me yet. And maybe you won’t. That’s okay. I get to help you, at least. Keep you safe. That’s the…” He paused to swallow. “That’s the important part.”
Gen stared over the fire at him. Was he for real? A few days ago, she had been seriously contemplating —and dreading— becoming Mrs. Mike Lundgren. She couldn’t imagine a man more different than Mike. The mere idea of Mike being satisfied with just helping and protecting her was laughable. Being married to a man who wanted to take care of her without demanding more was a dream come true. Not that she had a problem with more when it came to Laura.
“Why don’t you come sit on this side of the fire?” she suggested, patting the blanket beside her thigh.
“You cold?”
“A little.” And the fire would die soon, making her even colder. She remembered how warm he’d been this morning. The same warmth he shared with her now as he settled cross-legged beside her. She snaked an arm around his waist and leaned against his side. “This is nice,” she sighed happily.
His chest rumbled with his deep voice when he said, “Yeah.”
“Kiss me,” she commanded in a whisper.
He hesitated a moment before bending his head and gently kissing her lips.
“Mmm,” she hummed. “More.”
He lifted his head. “Not now.”
“What?” Stung, she drew back. “Why? Don’t you want me?”
“Yeah, I do. But this isn’t a good place for our first time.” He gestured at the broken skeleton of walls. “It’s dirty. Not comfortable for you. Too cold. There’s no bed, only a blanket over cracked concrete. I want it to be perfect for you.”
“There wasn’t a bed this morning,” she began.
“This morning we had four walls and privacy.”
“Until the Duponts came,” she muttered. “Cockblockers.”
He gave one of his rare laughs. “We have time.” His face returned to its usual stoic expression. “And if you don’t accept my mate claim, it will hurt to remember having you for only a little while. I’d rather have all of you always. Not sure I could settle for less.”
She was just about ready to accept him this minute. But she had known him for only a few days. “We can still snuggle, can’t we?”
“Yeah, we can do that.” He put his arm around her and pulled her close.
She pressed her cheek into his chest. “Tell me about your family. Are your parents alive? No, you said your mom died when you were born. What about your dad? Any brothers or sisters?”
“Dad passed a few years ago. No siblings. The Clan is my family. I have dozens of cousins. Not everyone in the Clan is related by blood, but we’re all family.”
That sounded really nice. Gen was an only child whose parents had divorced when she was in second grade. Her dad had sent child support checks regularly and gift cards for her birthday and Christmas, but she’d seen him only a couple of times since she was eight years old.
“What about you?” he asked, rubbing circles over her back. “I suppose they’re all gone by now. Sorry. If you don’t want to talk about it, don’t.”
She shook her head. “My mom died a year before the crash. She and my dad divorced when I was seven, and he moved to California when I was eight. I haven’t seen him in twenty years.”
His hand paused. “Divorced?” His tone held strong disapproval. “He left you?”
She shrugged. “It was okay. He sent money until I turned eighteen, and mom saved a lot of it so I could go to school. She was a nurse, so she made okay money. I worked part time, so I didn’t have to take out student loans. That put me way ahead of most people my age. College wasn’t cheap, and I couldn’t get the job I wanted without a degree.”
He fell silent while his hand patted her on the back like she was a fussy baby he wanted to soothe. She snuck a peek at his face, which was frowning. “But your dad left you.”
“Really, it was okay.”
Of course, she didn’t see a lot of her mom once she hit middle school, since her mom worked a lot of afternoon and evening hours, but the college-aged babysitters were fun. She wondered if Laura would see it that way. Probably not, so she changed the subject.
“Clare knew who you were. Not you specifically, but your family. I heard a little bit about the Wolf Clan, but I didn’t believe it until I saw you turn into a wolf. Mr. Dupont wanted you to owe him a favor. That’s why we got to take the horse, isn’t it?”
“Probably. The Clan makes good friends and bad enemies.”
She put a hand over his heart. “Clare said the Wolf Clan treat women well. When she first came into the cabin this morning she asked if I was with you voluntarily. I think if I had said no she and her family would have tried to protect me. But when she found out who you were she said she wouldn’t worry about me. She knew you would treat me well.”
He pulled back to look down at her solemnly. “I will always treat you well.” His lip curled. “I would never leave you and just send money to you. If you accept my mate claim, we are mates forever.”
“I know.” She rested her cheek against his shoulder again. “I know.”
“Come on. Lie down. You should sleep. We’ll get an early start tomorrow.”
“Do you really think we’ll be with your family this time tomorrow?”
“Yeah.”
She curled on her side, forcing her excitement down. Tomorrow she would be with other women from her own time. She just had to get through another day of riding in the cold, and she would be home free. She tried to get comfortable, but that didn’t describe the concrete under her hip. Laura laid down too, and with his warm bulk spooning her, she drifted into sleep.
*
Lobo lay beside his mate, her back to his chest, enclosing as much of her as he could within his body heat. He listened to the sounds of the night, straining to hear anything out of place. This broken-down place was better than being in the open, but not much. If anyone came upon them here, there was little to protect them. Normally he would go and patrol to see if anyone was on their trail, but her story about her dad made him reluctant to leave her.
He clenched his teeth. What man would leave his wife and daughter? The Times Before might have had wonderful machines to make life easier, but how easy could life be for women and children when men could abandon them? Gen thought it was ‘okay’ because her father sent money. What good was money to a little girl who needed a father to love her and take care of her?
If she accepted him, he would never, never leave her. He didn’t have a fancy house or a lot of money to give her, but he would be sure she had good food and a safe place to live. And love and respect. He would love her with everything in him.
With gentle fingers, he picked up a lock of her red hair and stroked it over his cheek. She was already precious to him. He would feel protective of any woman in a hard situation and do what he could to help her, but the mate his wolf chose? He would do anything to protect her. Anything.