Ellie's Wolf by Maddy Barone

her?”
    All of them stiffened and frowned. Quill pulled her to face him. “That lady who was chosen first? Why would they kill her?”
    “Because she killed their brother.”
    The wolves didn’t say anything, but she could tell they were wondering why Mel had killed her husband. “She had to kill him. He was…” She swallowed. “Not a good man.”
    Male faces hardened with fury on Mel’s behalf. Quill nodded at Snake and Paint. “You two take a look around. Make sure she’s okay.”
    Snake nodded. “What if she’s not? I didn’t like the way they hauled her out of here.”
    Quill shrugged. “Take the rest of the money. Buy her if you have to.”
    A fresh wave of relief washed through Ellie as she watched Snake and Paint turn away. “They said they had a room in the hotel,” she called after them. Quill was still holding her hand. She looked up at him. “Thank you!”
    A faint flush bloomed in his lean brown cheeks. “You know we don’t like to see women hurt.” He raised their joined hands to his lips. “Are you okay?”
    His lips were warm when they pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. It was far too intimate a gesture from a man she didn’t really know. He had won the Bride Fight. Did he think he was her husband? Or was he only pretending as part of his rescue mission? She swallowed. “I am now.”
    He brushed a fingertip over the blunt edges of her chin-length bob. “You cut your hair.”
    Blood warmed her cheeks. “Years ago. It’s easier to take care of like this.”
    The crowd, which she had momentarily forgotten, roared. Ellie twisted to look at the stage, but at only a smidge over five feet tall, she was too short to see over the men, even when she lifted to her tiptoes. “What’s happening?”
    Ellie swallowed a shriek when Quill’s hands closed on either side of her waist and lifted her to sit on his shoulders. She steadied herself by clutching at his hair, although he kept one arm lifted to brace her back and the other wrapped around her knees to hold her in place. After she’d grown accustomed enough to relax, she looked ahead at the stage.
    There were only two men left in the square, circling one another. Ellie wanted to cheer when she saw one was Jelly. After a minute of watching the fight, Ellie tapped Quill’s head to get his attention.
    “Please let me down. I’ve seen enough.”
    Quill lowered her to the floor, studying her face with concern. “Too bloody for you?”
    “I just can’t bear to watch that.”
    Ellie found her face pressed into Quill’s chest. It was still damp with the sweat from his own fights. Embarrassment scorched her cheeks, and not just from the intimate position. It was the urge to lick his skin to taste his sweat that made her blush. Quill was warm and male and comforting. It had been so long since she and Neal had made love.
    Temptation was removed when Quill raised a fist and howled. Ellie quickly stepped back from him, hoping he wouldn’t notice her blush.
    “Who won?” she asked.
    “Stone. We’ll get everyone together and leave for Moore’s Mill right away.”
    “Stone? I thought it was Jelly who was fighting.”
    Quill’s eyebrows lifted. “He Eats Jelly was his boyhood name. He is Spotted Stone Wolf now.” He spoke a guttural string of Lakota, which Ellie couldn’t begin to repeat, but which must be Jelly’s new name in Lakota. A white smile flashed across Quill’s face. “Don’t call him Spot unless you want to rile him up.”
    Ellie knew the members of Taye’s pack, being Lakota, were given names that changed as they aged. She nodded, trying to practice calling the young man Stone in her mind. But to her, the sweet, almost simple teenager would always be Jelly.
    “Here they come.” Quill swept his arm around her waist as if he wanted to be sure she didn’t get too far from him.
    Sara was being carried, stiff and angry, in J—Stone’s arms. When she saw Ellie, she gave her savior a vigorous elbow to the ribs, struggled