Wolver's Reward by Jacqueline Rhoades Read Free Book Online Page A

nice as she was, she was still human, so
he couldn't tell her about being a wolver or about pack, but he
told her about his early 'family' and the abuse he saw there and
how they earned their living. He didn't tell her everything, but he
told her enough for her to get the picture.
    "I never heard about earning an honest dollar
until I came to live with the family that adopted the younger cu...
kids. I earned every honest dollar that paid for that bike. I get
that for you, it's about love. I understand that, but it's not for
me. Pride now, that's different. I get pride, and that bike is it.
That's what that girl stole from me, my pride, and I want it back.
I need it back. It's all I have left."
    With the way she looked at him, River thought
the old woman was going to give him a lecture, but she swallowed
whatever she'd been going to say. Her hand left the wheel and
reached for his. "You be careful now, son. I want your promise on
that. You've learned hard lessons the same as I did, but you're
still young, just like I was when I met Paul. You've still got
lessons to learn. Your pride is worth a lot, but not as much as
your life. Or your heart," she added. "I have about a hundred
dollars in my wallet. You can have it if you need it."
    He'd thought about stealing her money and
here she was offering it to him. He felt guilty as hell.
    "Thanks, but I'm good. And ma'am? You need to
find another mechanic. If he says this engine can't be fixed, you
tell him you want a rebuilt one. He might argue, but you stand
firm. It won't be cheap, but it'll last as long as you need it to."
He gave her hand a squeeze. "I'll promise to be careful if you
promise not to pick up hitch hikers anymore."
    She would have driven him all the way to the
preserve, but he wouldn't let her. The sun would be setting soon
and he didn't want her driving on unfamiliar roads in the dark.
    He'd run another six or eight miles before he
sat down to rest.
     
    ~*~
     
    The six wolvers were crowded into the pickup
truck's cab. Arnold was driving again and Reb shared the front
passenger seat with Celia. The other three, none of them small,
were crowded into the back.
    "We should have brought him with us," Celia
said.
    Arnold gave her a questioning frown.
"Why?"
    "Why?" she asked back, her voice rising and
falling on the word. "Did you not see him?"
    "He was pretty hot."
    "Hot? What kind of word is that?" Arnold
caught his partner's eye in the rearview mirror. "What, exactly, do
you mean by that?"
    "You know perfectly well what I mean."
Lawrence was enjoying Arnold's reaction. "No need to get your
knickers in a twist, dear heart. It was only an objective
opinion."
    "Subjective. Opinions are not objective."
    "Well then, I suppose you're right," Lawrence
agreed. He sank his hook of jealousy a little deeper. "In my
subjective opinion, the wolver was hot. Ladies? Am I wrong or
right?"
    Darla didn't hesitate. "Darn right he's hot.
Makes me wish I was twenty years younger. Did you feel his abs?
Hard as a rock."
    "Yes, I felt them. When I hit him, and I
think my knuckles are swollen because of it," Arnold sulked.
    "I only meant if you're attracted to that
sort. Perhaps," he offered, giving Rosemary a hug and letting
Arnold off the hook, "he displayed a bit too much of the animal,
for my taste anyway."
    Darla snorted. "In case you've forgotten,
Lawrence. We are animals and that cub was prime."
    "He's not a cub," Reb objected, though
quietly.
    She couldn't stop thinking about him, about
the way he'd looked at her, about how angry he became. He looked
like he thought she was the one who needed help instead of the
other way around. And when she hit him, he didn't look angry then.
He looked... Reb mentally shrugged, but she couldn't get that look
in his eyes out of her mind.
    After she'd hit him with the bat and he'd
looked at her with those sad and beautiful eyes, she was sure the
pain in them didn't come from the blow. He looked at her as if
she'd betrayed him, which she had, she