Wolf’s Glory (5 page)

“We"re mates. The scent of a mate is always appealing.” He nibbled gently at her nipple.

“I knew this afternoon that you were my mate when I first scented you. I always hoped I"d find a mate, but so many don"t… And you are so beautiful. I have been so lucky to find you.”

Mate? He was really hung up on that word, wasn"t he? But Glory lost track of the

conversation, flushed with pleasure. “Kiss me.” Glory savored the delicious rush of heat that shot to the junction of her thighs when he sucked on her breast. She widened her legs. “Touch me,” she demanded. “Make tonight special, so I"ll always remember it.”

“I"ll give you all the memories you need, every night for the rest of our lives.”

The heat between her thighs made her ache to have him touch her there. She lifted one leg so she could grind herself against him. Then something poked at the back of her mind.

“Hey, Shadow? You know I"m only here tonight, right? I have to get back to civilization.

You know I"m leaving as soon as I—”

“Leaving?”

The strength of that roar made Glory"s eyes spring wide, but she couldn"t see his face in the dark. She could only feel the way his hands gripped her ass, holding her tight. “Well, yeah. I have an interview for the job I"ve been wanting my whole life. You"re a great guy, and I really want to spend the night with you, but this isn"t forever, you know.”

Shadow"s hands weren"t quite hurting her, but they weren"t caressing her either. “Glory, I"ll
never
let you go. You"re mine.”

“Excuse me?” Glory"s roar almost matched his. “Since when do you own me?”

“Since the moment my wolf claimed you as my mate!” he roared back.

Her failure to push his hands off fired her temper even more. She glared into the darkness where she thought his face was. “Take your hands off me, moron! And gimme back my shirt!”

“Glory.” His voice was a little hoarse. “Please don"t be angry. You don"t need your shirt—”

“Of course I need it! I"m not going out there half dressed!”

“Going where?”

“You don"t have to yell!” she screamed, conveniently ignoring the fact that she had been yelling even more than he had. “Your dad said I could stay with your grandma if I changed my mind, and
I’ve changed my mind
! So give me my shirt and then get me the hell out of this tent!”

His hands let go of her shoulders and in only a second he was pushing fabric into her hands. She jerked her bra straps back up and pulled the top on. It was backwards, and damn near choking her, but who cared? Her arm flailed, trying to slide into her jacket, but she couldn"t find the sleeve until Shadow"s hand guided her.

“Glory, don"t leave. You wanted me. I could smell your desire. Let"s finish what we started.”

Did he have to sound like a general giving orders to his troops? “Ha! In your dreams, buddy!” She poked her finger into the dark and yelped when it hit a hard chest and her nail bent backwards. “OW! Shit, shit, shit!”

“Glory?” The roar was gone from the voice, replaced by concern. “Are you okay?”

She tried to jerk her wrist away from his hand. “Just let me go. It"s not like you can see anything in the dark anyway.”

“Of course I can see in the dark. I"m a wolf. Quit trying to pull away, mate.”

“You"re delusional, that"s what you are. Let me go, or I"ll scream. Maybe your dad will come and beat the snot out of you.”

She was pulled forward by his hand on her wrist. The tent flap was thrown open, and the moonlight was bright compared to the darkness in the tent. She almost tripped going out and snarled at Shadow"s helpful hand catching her elbow to steady her. And there was his dad, standing with folded arms a few yards from the tent. He unfolded his arms and stepped forward.

“Glory, I will walk you to the Grandmother"s lodge. Son, you will stay here.”

Wolf"s Shadow snapped that she was his responsibility, and his previously mild—

mannered father growled something about Alphas furiously back. The son stared angrily a moment, then tipped his head back so his chin pointed up. That apparently ended the argument, because Arthur Muddy Wolf held out his arm to indicate the way. Glory took a step but couldn"t resist one last glance back at Wolf"s Shadow. He was staring at her with a set face.

“This isn"t over, Glory. You will talk with me tomorrow.”

“Whatever.”

It would have been a good exit line if she hadn"t tripped again in the grass. She settled for scowling.

The old lady"s tent was only two down from Shadow"s, and she must have been waiting for them because she pulled the door flap open as soon as Arthur Muddy Wolf called softly.

“Glory,” she said calmly, not sounding like the crazy lady from this afternoon. “Come in.” She nodded at the man. “I"ll take care of her.”

Glory tried to smile at Wolf"s Shadow"s dad. She didn"t need to be a bitch to him just because his son was a bossy jerk. “Thanks.”

“Goodnight, Glory. Don"t worry about my son. You"ll work things out.”

Yep, Shadow and his dad sure looked alike. They had the same killer smile, one which made her think of the Rock. Glory nodded and went into the old lady"s tent. She had a fire burning. It gave enough light to see, but not enough light to see well. But Glory appreciated its warmth. Her suit jacket wasn"t very warm, and she felt the cold all the way through.

Shadow had kept her warm…

She wouldn"t think about that jerk! The low bed was made out of wood bars that fit together like Lincoln Logs. Shadow hadn"t had a be—Glory clenched her teeth and turned to face the old lady, who was bending over a big wicker basket and pulling out blankets and furs. This tent probably wasn"t any smaller than Shadow"s, but with the bed and some chests made of woven wicker it seemed to be smaller.

“Here, Glory, you can make a sleeping bag out of these for tonight. Now, tell me what"s got your panties in a bunch.”

Geez, what kind of language was that for an old lady to be using? “Nothing,” she

muttered.

“And I"m the tooth fairy. Spit it out.”

Glory resolutely bent to spreading out her bed. Wolf"s Shadow had ruined her best chance in a year at getting laid because he had to go turn into Conan the Barbarian. Why did he think she would stay with him forever? What gave him the right to decide her future for her? This job at the study center was a dream come true. Even if she didn"t get the job, why would she want to live in a tent in the middle of nowhere with a guy she"d known for less than a day? She had a job in Minneapolis—not a great job, true, but still a job. And she had an apartment with a flushing toilet and a shower and a real bed and chairs.

The bed creaked when the old lady sat down. “C"mon, Glor, tell me what Shadow did.”

For a second the old lady sounded just like her friend, Jill. To Glory"s horror, tears rose and spilled. She scrubbed them away. “I"m not crying because I"m sad,” she snarled.

Flickering light from the fire painted the old lady"s face one minute, shadows hid it the next. “I know. You always did bawl when you were angry. At least, that"s what you always said. I always said that you were as much hurt as angry, like that time when Heather called you fat. So what did Shadow do?”

God, she really did sound like Jill. This was creepy. “He said he wouldn"t let me leave tomorrow. That I belong to him, like I was his dog or something. We only just met! What is he, crazy?”

“He"s an Alpha wolf who has just found his mate.”

“
Mate!
That"s what he called me. This is freaking me out! Wolf? What the hell does he mean, wolf? He keeps talking about his wolf.”

The old lady sighed, a soft sound almost lost in the snap of the fire. “Do you remember what I was saying earlier about what year it is and who I am?”

Glory shifted uncomfortably on the hard ground. She had been taught to be polite to her elders, and she had pretty much stuck to that even when she"d been in her gothiest phase. So she didn"t want to tell the old lady she thought she was nuts. “Um… Yeah, I remember.”

“I probably dumped too much info on you at one time. Do you still think I"m crazy?”

Glory wiped a hand under her nose. “Well…”

“Glory, it"s true. I am Jill. Fifty years have passed since you got on that plane. I read that text message you sent me right after the plane took off a million times before my battery died.

I don"t remember exactly what I replied, but it was something like „Break a leg. Call me asap after the interview." But you never did, and I never heard what happened to your plane. Don"t ask me how it happened, but you"ve gone forward in time. Something similar happened about ten years ago. Three or four women from the Times Before came to eastern Wyoming.”

Glory swallowed, remembering Jill"s text.

“You don"t want to believe me because then you"ll have to accept that your old life is over.” The old lady smiled wryly. “You always were absolutely the most stubborn person I ever met. From the day you gave me a black eye in third grade because I wouldn"t ask Billy Westfall to kiss you, I knew you were the most obstinate person I would ever meet. But you were also the most loyal friend I ever had. I"ve missed you.”

Glory swallowed, searching the fire-lit face. The shadows thrown by the fire danced across that face, one minute making it a mask of wrinkles, the next making it appear young.

Could it be … It
was
Jill. How…? “Omigod,” she whispered. “But … you"re old!”

“Thank you, Captain Obvious.”

“No, I mean … You … I…”

“Never mind, Glory. It will take you a while to get used to. It"s taking me a while to get used to it, too.”

Glory squirmed, and not just because there was something poking her in the butt through the blanket she was sitting on. “So, that means there really was a war? And my job…?”

“Yeah, there really was a war. No one knows exactly what happened. But I do know that terrorists had a big plan to set off nuclear devices in hundreds of cities simultaneously. They were mostly successful. Millions died in only a few days.”

“But…” Glory protested weakly.

“I know. It sounds crazy. But it"s true. Television was still working for a little while, and I saw it on the news. The hospitals couldn"t keep up with the wounded, especially the radiation victims. And then, everything else that could go wrong, did. Meteor strikes, earthquakes, tsunamis. I heard that parts of California broke off and sank into the ocean. And the plagues. So many died that they couldn"t be buried. In the Dakotas and Nebraska we didn"t have the nukes or the natural disasters, but the plague killed a couple hundred thousand. We don"t have cell phones, computers, or cars because there isn"t anyone left who knows how to make them or maintain them.”

A cold ball of goo swam in Glory"s stomach. Her dream job was gone. The center was probably sitting in the Pacific. Her whole life was gone. Her best friend was here, but she was old enough to be her grandmother. “Oh, God, you"re Shadow"s grandma?”

“Wolf"s Shadow? No, Shadow"s actually my great-nephew-in-law. His grandfather was my husband"s brother. Everyone calls me the Grandmother because I"m the oldest living person for five hundred miles. Even Josh Gray in Kearney is three years younger than me.”

“When Shadow talked about you I thought „the Grandmother" was a title.” Glory

scrubbed at her face with hands that trembled. Was she dreaming? This was too crazy to be real, wasn"t it? “Where are my parents?”

The wrinkled old face seemed to get more wrinkled. “I don"t know what happened to them. But it"s been fifty years. Even if they survived the Terrible Times, they"re gone now.”

Glory took a deep breath and pushed the thoughts of her parents away. “Okay, so tell me about this „my wolf" and mate thingy. What is Wolf"s Shadow talking about?”

Jill studied her wrinkled hands in silence for a minute. “You"ve a lot to take in already, so let"s just stick to basics for tonight, okay? We"re the Wolf Clan. The Wolf Clan has existed for hundreds of years, even during the reservation days. You know wolves have one mate, and they mate for life?”

“Yeah, sure. Before I settled on marine biology I thought about studying wolves. I did some research. You know that. So … you guys like, uh, act like wolves?”

“Sort of. Shadow"s inner wolf has chosen you to be his mate. Nothing can change that, but no one will force you to accept him.”

“Damn right no one"s gonna force me to accept him!” The brief flare of anger seeped away, and Glory sagged. “Jill, what"s going to happen to me? Where will I live? My apartment in Minneapolis is probably rented out to someone else, if it"s even there anymore.

All my stuff … And I"m gonna need a job.”

Jill reached a hand to touch Glory"s hair. “You don"t need to worry about that tonight.

We can talk more tomorrow. I"m exhausted, and you must be beat too.”

Glory was tired, but too keyed up to sleep. She let Jill show her how to bank the fire for the night, took off her jacket and lay down between two toasty layers of blankets and furs.

Fifty years ago Jill wouldn"t have dreamed of using the skins or furs of animals. Things had changed in fifty years. Glory tried to imagine what the world was like now. What had happened to her apartment with her clothes and everything else she owned? Was her car still sitting in the airport lot? She needed to find something to wear besides this useless business suit. Maybe the luggage from the plane had survived. She would ask Sha—No, she"d ask Shadow"s dad about it tomorrow. She wasn"t going to ask Wolf"s Shadow for anything. That idiot probably thought he was the alpha and she was the omega who should roll over and show her belly every time he gave an order. Ha! He was in for a rude awakening if he thought that. She had never taken orders well, and she for damn sure didn"t plan to start now. Shadow was only a pretend wolf, and she was not going to let him dominate her.

But what was she going to do? She couldn"t stay here. Camping sucked. Winter was

coming, and she hated winter even in a heated apartment. There must be a town where she could get a job. Not in her career field. If this was central Nebraska as the co-pilot said, then they probably didn"t have jobs for a marine biologist. But she was willing to do anything.