Tuesday Teaser 4/17/18: Gina’s Wolf Part 9

The move is progressing. I wish it was DONE but it’s coming along. On Saturday 90% of the stuff was moved to the storage unit. I still have the stuff for donating and a few more things to move either to my mom’s house or the storage unit. My goal is to have all that out and have the apartment completely empty by supper time next Saturday.  Then it is CLEANING time. Oy! I’m so tired. The check out at the old place is April 27th at 4pm. So one way or another, this will be over in less than two weeks. Then I’ll be able to concentrate on poor Gina and Cole. They are due a little snuggle time, don’t you think? Chapter 5. They get to -er- know each other better in Chapter 5. Promise.

I did manage some writing this weekend. I’m not completely happy with the last bit of Chapter 4. It is very dialogue heavy. But the great thing about rough drafts is that you can get the general ideas out and then go back later to re-write and polish. So, here is a scene between Nikki and Gina while Cole is off running his patrol to be sure the Kansas-Missouri people haven’t followed them.

Cole’s breath stirred her hair. His arms tightened for a moment, then relaxed. He raised her chin with his fingers. “I’ll be back soon, mate.”

“Be careful,” she whispered.

His smile was a bold slash of white in his dark face. “Always.”

With complete unconcern, he stepped away, unbuttoned the shirt and let it drop, and then unfastened the jeans and stepped out of them. Gina gawked at the male perfection of his naked body. His broad shoulders tapered to a hard, narrow waist and long legs. She got a glimpse of his sculpted chest and belly before he turned to the door, showing her a hard, round behind. Dang it, she thought, he’d turned away too soon.

He opened the door and paused to glance back at her. His wicked smile said he knew she liked what she saw. “All yours, Gina. All of me belongs to only you,” he said.

Then he blurred into gray fur and was gone, the door swinging shut behind him.

Behind her, Nikki cleared her throat. Gina was sure her cheeks were beet red, but she composed her face and turned to the older woman.

“Would you like some help cleaning up from breakfast?” she asked.

“Sure. The wash water will be ready any second.”

For a moment, Gina looked at the crumpled shirt and jeans on the floor. “He could have folded them, instead of just leaving them on the floor,” she muttered, bending to pick them up.

Nikki laughed. “Just like a wolf. You can put the clothes on the stool there. He can find them there when he gets back.”

In a few minutes the two women were at the kitchen sink, washing, rinsing, and putting away the breakfast dishes. Gina, scrubbing a dishrag over a plate, cast a sidelong glance at Nikki.

“What did you mean when you said you were from the Plane Women’s House?”

“Ah.” Nikki paused in drying a plate to smile at Gina. “Have you and Colby been mated long?”

“Um.” Gina looked down at the soap suds floating on top of the water. “Not, er, no. That is, I barely know him.”

Nikki put the dried plate in the cabinet before focusing on Gina. “Have you accepted his mate claim?”

“No. I don’t know. I don’t think so?”

Nikki’s brows drew slightly together as she dried her hands on the dish towel she held. “Have you made love?”

“No!”

“Then you haven’t.” Nikki sounded very sure. Her tone sent a wave of relief crashing through Gina. “It is always the woman’s choice whether or not to accept the claim. No wolf would force his mate to accept him.” A small smile lit Nikki’s face. “But a wolf bent of winning his mate can be stubborn. Don’t expect Colby to give up. I remember how patient Stag was with Sherry, right up to the moment he decided desperate measures were called for.” She laughed, her eyes softening at some memory. “Poor Sherry. It worked out for them though.”

“Who is Sherry?”

Nikki’s eyes shifted back into focus, though the smile lingered. “Sherry was one of the women on the plane with me. So was Colby’s mother.”

“Plane?” Gina echoed blankly.

“You wash while I talk,” Nikki said. “I’ll start at the beginning. Way back in 2014 I boarded a plane. Only an hour after takeoff, the plane crashed. There weren’t that many survivors, and most of us were hurt.  We didn’t know it at first, but we had travelled forward in time and found ourselves in 2064, fifty years after terrorists nuked most of the world.”

Gina stared, open-mouthed. She had a vague idea of what a plane was because her stepfather was obsessed with re-creating the technology from the Times Before. This woman had actually ridden on one.  She had lived in the Times Before. “That must have been terrifying.”

“It was. We were rescued by the Lakota Wolf Clan. They took us in and helped us get back on our feet. Some survivors were mated to wolves. The rest of us were given a large apartment building to live in That was called The Plane Women’s House, and they turned it into a very successful restaurant.”

Gina nodded, absorbing this. She knew of the Plane Women’s Eatery.

“Connie was the pilot of the plane. She mated Des, and other wolves came to live there, and now that group is called the Plane Women’s House Pack. Des and Connie are in charge there.”

“Is that where Cole is from?” Gina rinsed a glass, but her attention was on Nikki. “He said something about it. Or is he from the Clan? I’m confused.”

“I don’t blame you. The Clan lives on the prairie in tents during the summer and in the Black Hills in the winter. Until about forty years ago the Clan was the only werewolf pack. But they don’t like to be called werewolves. Taye’s mother ―that would be Colby’s grandmother― separated from the Clan and went to live near her family near Kearney. Several of the men of the Clan went with her. They became the Pack. Now they are sometimes called Taye’s Pack or the Kearney Pack.”

“So there are three groups of wer… I mean, wolves.”

“Right.” Nikki took the glass and dried it. “One important thing to remember about wolves is that they are fanatical about keeping women safe. Any woman, but one they are responsible for? They will do anything for her.” Nikki turned from the cabinet to look at Gina very seriously. “Colby won’t hurt you. He might be a little high handed about how to keep you safe.” She laughed at Gina’s snort. “Well, I bet he is as much of an Alpha as his father. Taye acts all laid back and even-tempered until some guy gets too close to Carla. Then watch out.”

“Ha. Is he as bossy as Cole?”

Nikki seemed to think. “I don’t know. I think Carla learned to manage him pretty early. Like you did at breakfast. Yes, I noticed how you touched him and asked him to wait to go to Omaha. That was good. No pleading, no tears, no yelling. You have the knack of controlling yourself and getting your way without drama.”

Gina started on the frying pan. A need for self-preservation had taught her how to gauge a mood and act in the way most likely to keep her from trouble. Yelling and throwing tantrums had achieved nothing but vigorous spankings and days without food. Keeping her rebellion hidden deep inside had been much safer. “I don’t want to control him,” she said in a low voice.

“Controlling and managing are two very different things. Here, give me that skillet. I’ll finish it after I’ve put you to bed. You are practically asleep on your feet.”

She really wasn’t. Nikki had given her a lot to think about. Her mind was going over and over the story of the plane and the wolves and the packs until they were muddled in her brain. Maybe she was tired. She was suddenly aware of how her feet and back ached.

Nikki handed her the dish towel. “Dry your hands. I’ll get you one of my nighties. You can sleep in my daughter’s room. She married a few years ago, but she lives only a mile away and was home last weekend for a couple of nights. I just changed the sheets on her bed. Come on.”

In a few minutes Gina was wearing a long flannel nightgown and the warm socks, curled up in a narrow twin bed under a comforting mound of quilts. “Thank you,” she murmured and was asleep before Mrs. Andrews had closed the door and tiptoed back to the kitchen. She was still asleep when Cole returned from his patrol and stepped into the dim room. She didn’t see the way his mouth softened with wonder as he looked at her, or the longing on his face when he reached a trembling finger to touch her hair. She didn’t see him strip or feel the bed sag under his weight. When he curved his larger body around hers she only mumbled wordlessly and snuggled in to his chest. It wasn’t until she woke several hours later that she realized the warmth came from the naked body of a man who stared at her with dark, hungry eyes.