Free Wolver's Reward by Jacqueline Rhoades

would mount
her and mark her, whether she liked it or not.
    River had never witnessed one of these brutal
matings. He'd been too young to go over the moon with the pack, but
he'd heard the stories and the laughter of those who had
participated and watched. He'd seen Forest's terror at what her
future held, and he'd seen what that terror had done to the once
smiling little girl.
    His wolf watched all this, not understanding
the transaction, but clearly understanding that something big and
bad was going to happen. Sharing his human's feelings, he began to
whine with impatience.
    "I know, damn it. I can fucking see it, too,
can't I? But what the hell would you like me to do about it?" River
silently hissed.
    " No cub. Wolver. Fight ."
    The wolf's curling lips and bared fangs
should have felt weird to the human River, particularly since the
snarl was directed to the human within, but River had felt this
show of angry disgust from his wolf since he was a pup. Man and
wolf were one just as boy and pup had been. The anger was like a
third entity that filled the space between them.
    "We're here to get the bike back. That's it,"
River argued. "This isn't our business. It isn't our fight. Why
should I fucking care?" But even as he said the words, the image of
Forest's face formed in his mind.
    The moon rose. Light flashed as men shifted
to wolves. A wolf screamed out its cry of death, and the tension
that was bubbling beneath the surface erupted in a volcano of
violence.
     

 
     
    Chapter 6

    Designer pack's Second was down and Leather's
was fighting for his life. The seated Alpha shouted something and,
with a wave of his hand, the females of his pack were sent over the
moon. In the midst of her shifting, the Mate was knocked to the
ground by a snarling wolf. Having spent energy he couldn't afford
on the females' shifts, the sickened Alpha was slower to shift
himself. It was obvious his strength was ebbing fast. He had all he
could do to fight off the attack directed at him by two other
wolvers.
    River pawed the bundle of clothes from his
neck and raced for the Mate, enraged by the wolf that attacked her.
Ruthlessly, his sharp teeth tore into the assailant in a relentless
release of pent up anger. A Mate was sacred. She was the heart of
every pack and he would not see another die a brutal death. His
wolf was right. He was no longer a helpless cub. He gave the
attacker no chance to fight back.
    Muzzle muddied with the blood of his victim,
River turned to the Mate, but she was already on her feet and
defending her Alpha. She was vicious in her defense, but obviously
untrained in the rules of this kind of battle. She slashed, but
when her opponent was temporarily blinded by blood from the swipe
of her claw, she turned away to scan the area around the RV.
    River finished off the blinded wolf before it
had a chance to regain its sight. He did it without thought or
mercy. The wolf had threatened the Mate. It deserved no mercy.
    The small clearing had turned into a riot of
battling wolves. The sharp, coppery smell of blood filled the air
along with the snarls and growls of the battling wolves and the
cries of the wounded. Flashes of light began to flicker in the area
where the vehicles were parked as some wolvers, probably Designers,
fled the scene.
    Her Alpha raised his head and gave a sharp
bark, before returning to his defense. Assured that he was holding
his own with the help of his Second and one of the females, the
Mate ran for the RV.
    River followed her and pushed her aside when
she would have joined the battle that was raging at the vehicle's
door. She snarled and snapped at his efforts to protect her. River
blocked her path, baring his teeth and daring her to defy him. She
snarled and snapped again. This was followed by a whine that
combined both fear and anger as she pointed with her snout toward
the RV. Someone was in that RV, someone the Mate wanted protected
at all costs. She wouldn't rest until she knew that someone