Werewolves and Wranglers

by Kristen Banet

  “Well, that’s good to know,” he purred, leaning down. “I should stop teasing you, shouldn’t I? What can I do for you?”

  “I’m going to need all hands on deck for this, and I would love if you helped keep the peace,” she told him. That was the real reason she was there. It was just too easy to flirt with Valen and get distracted.

  “I can keep Tobias in line, but he’s not one to cause a lot of problems...”

  “No, that’s right—you were the one who got Easton worked up.” She raised an eyebrow.

  “I was. I know.” Valen looked away guiltily. “You won’t see that from me again, I swear it, Addy. I’ll be on my best behavior. They aren’t bad guys, and I know that. I just…he got me riled up without doing anything. I just wanted to make sure they knew I don’t want to see them hurt you, and I guess Tobias’ feelings about them got to me…”

  “Tobias’ feelings?”

  “He’s convinced they’re going to break your heart. He had me thinking about it, I guess, and…”

  “That’s right,” she muttered. “Well, that’s really all I need from you. Just…help me keep the peace. Valen, I’m positive if I can get all of you together, you would like each other. I just need time and the right place for it. You’re all great men and I just want to see my life start…working again.”

  “Of course, and I’ll do what I can to make that happen for you,” he promised. “Remy isn’t so bad.”

  “Remy is amazing,” she said, smiling. “I’ll let you get back to it. I’m nearly done for the day.” She started walking away, leaving him alone in the back.

  “Have a good evening, Addy.”

  “You too,” she called as she walked out.

  Her ride home was less pressing than it had been before she stopped at the saloon, mostly because she was avoiding what was next. With that conversation with Valen over, she felt a little better, but not by a lot. Now she just needed to see Tobias. They hadn’t had a long or real conversation since she had revealed that she knew about his feelings. She had no idea what she was going to say to him, but something had to be said.

  She released Dark Prince first, rubbing him down and cleaning him off for longer than she needed to. Once he was off in the field, she gathered her courage and walked to her shed, not pausing at the door. She strolled right in to find him over her largest cauldron.

  “What are you working on?” she asked softly. He looked up, spooked by her sudden appearance. “And we need to talk.”

  “Some potions for the werewolves. The less of them that transition thanks to the curse, the better,” he answered. Then he sighed, looking away from her. “We do need to talk, don’t we?”

  “You have feelings for me. Strong ones,” she stated like she was reading from a textbook. “And now you’re making them known.”

  “I should have a long time ago, Adalyn.” Tobias stopped what he was doing and looked back at her again. From the look of it, the potion was nearly finished and he just needed to let it simmer anyway. “I care deeply about you and I don’t want to see them hurt you. I just want to know if I have a chance.” He stepped closer. “And I don’t want to miss it when I’ve already missed so many.”

  “Tobias…” She couldn’t find exactly what to say now. “I need you not to press this right now.”

  “Tell me if I don’t have a chance,” he whispered, stepping closer again. “That’s all you need to do. If you don’t feel the same way, I will never bother you with it again. I’ll keep it to myself and you can always rely on me as your friend. Just tell me.”

  Her heart dropped. That was the problem. “I can’t. I can’t tell you that you never have a chance, Tobias. I’m just not ready for you and the feelings.”

  “Like those two don’t have feelings?” he asked. “Like they aren’t looking at a possible forever with you?”

  “They aren’t asking for it right now!” She was so frustrated with this. With Tobias’ feelings. With hers. “I’m not looking for the possibility of being attached to one man again. In a year or so, absolutely, probably, but…maybe never. Tobias, you deserve a beautiful wife who loves you and I’m not sure I’ll ever be that for you. I love you, you’re my best friend and one of the only people who really understands my magic and my love for it, but I’m not sure I’ll ever be that.”

  “Not sure, but not impossible,” he said with strength, stepping closer. “I can wait forever for you to be ready, Adalyn. Watch me.”

  “Please don’t,” she murmured as he leaned into her space. “Tobias, please. I don’t want to hurt you more than this already has.”

  “Then tell me I have no chance.”

  Oh, he’s going to hold on to that now. Tobias: non-confrontational, my ass. He’s been holding out on me. He’s about as tenacious as a starving vampire when someone’s bleeding out.

  “You know I can’t,” she repeated. “There’s a chance we could be perfect together, and—”

  He broke her off with a small kiss, just a light one, and she was lost. Like the fool she was, she grabbed his shirt and held him, making the kiss deeper as their tongues began to clash. In an instant, everything she felt or worried about disappeared. He grabbed her hips, holding her against his body. She moaned against his mouth as she felt him growing hard against her stomach.

  That made her stop and realize this was all sorts of wrong and that came flooding back to her quickly. She had a deal with her deputies that she could do whatever she wanted with her body with whoever, but that didn’t make this less wrong. She was giving Tobias something, some sign of her feelings and attraction she wasn’t ready to act on.

  Pulling away, she was shaking her head. “Tobias, this is physical. I’m attracted to you, yeah, but you’re going to want more than I’m ready to give. I could sleep with you—”

  “Then sleep with me,” he murmured, kissing her again. He kissed a line that she loved from her mouth to her ear. His hot breath gave her shivers.

  “Tobias…” she gasped as he lifted her and dropped her on the counter. She finally regained her senses enough to push him back. “Tobias, would you be okay with just having sex with me?” Please say yes. Please. I would just sleep with you in a heartbeat. I would have a casual relationship, but it can only be that. Please, please, please.

  He paused. His hazel eyes were dark as he shook his head. “No. I would want all of you. Something…Anything committed.”

  “Then we can’t do this, because I’m not sure I can give all of me to someone ever again.” Adalyn needed him to understand that. “Tobias. Casual. I want casual. I want control and no expectations. Yes, I’m terrified of having something like what I had with William again. He’s gone and I never even planned on marrying anyone until I met him.”

  “So…if this were just like you and the deputies, we would have a chance. But only in that case.” Tobias looked down, as if he were trying to come to terms with that.

  “Yes. Please get off Adalyn. She’s obviously made it clear she’s not interested in what you have to offer.” The cool, cutting tone of that statement could only come from one person.

  She looked over Tobias’ shoulder very slowly, dreading the man in the doorway. “Easton.” Something very scared went through her. The hardness of the sapphire eyes made her worried.

  “Remy and I were done and decided to follow you home,” he said casually.

  Tobias didn’t move, glaring over his shoulder at the Nephilim. “Excuse me, but as you could see, this was a private conversation.”

  Easton was next to them in an instant, grabbing Tobias by the front of his shirt. “She said no. You want more than she’s willing to give and that’s the end of it. Live with it.”

  “No fighting!” she snapped, jumping off the counter and forcing herself between them. “No!” She pushed each of them on the chest and Easton let go quickly. “Thank you, Easton, for making that clearer than I thought I already did. I had it handled. Now, let me finish this with Tobias, then I’ll come inside.”
/>   “I’m watching you, shaman,” Easton growled before turning away and literally just disappearing.

  “Dear gods,” she muttered before turning on her friend. “Tobias, I’m going to give you time to think about what I just said. It’s not that you never have a chance—it’s what you seem to want out of whatever we could have. I think you deserve more than I can give you.”

  “I don’t want anyone else,” he said softly. “And I’m willing to wait.” He glanced at the door. “It’s awful to see you with him, though. Where does he think he gets the right to step in like that?”

  “I’m about to deal with that,” she answered. “And it’s not your concern. Do you understand me? Not. Your. Problem.” She enunciated, hoping he knew to stay out of her relationship with the Nephilim. She wanted the conversation about him and her, not Easton or Remy or Valen or whoever else was going to come out of the woodwork and give her a hard time. “I don’t have answers for you, Tobias. I wish there was an easy one. For both of us. I’ve been asking Valen for help.” She reached out and touched his face. “I wish I could make this hurt less for both of us. Do you think this doesn’t hurt me? To see men I care about going at each other, and the only way for me to make one side happy is to hurt the other? To see you bleeding out your feelings? And I appreciate them, I do, but I’m not ready for them. I love that you want to protect me from someone hurting me, but I don’t want it. I want to give them a chance and see what happens. I love what they’ve brought to my life, and I’m going to ride with it for a little while.” She went up on her toes and kissed his check. “I am living this life I have on my terms. Don’t hurt me for it by fighting with them.”

  “Okay…I won’t fight with him, but if he attacks me again…”

  “He shouldn’t.” I hope.

  “Addy, I’m going to wait. I’m not giving up hope. Not if you have feelings for me and I have them for you.”

  That’s romantic—and terrifying. “Okay, but you can’t press it. I need time.”

  “Fine. Have time.” He nodded, seeming to accept her statement. “Go on. I’ll finish up here and get out of your hair for a couple of days.”

  “You still want to help me on the full moon, right?” She felt like an ass for asking.

  “Adalyn, of course I’ll help. It’s one of the few ways you’ve allowed me to be there for you.” He smiled, so gently, so very Tobias-like, even if nothing else recently had been like him.

  “Thank you.” She backed away and walked out of the shed. She had been expecting her night to be over once she had spoken to Tobias, but now she had another problem.

  Easton Black, who was acting like a stallion with a rival male around who needed to protect his mare. Something that needed to stop.

  She walked into her house and found him in the kitchen. She had no idea where Remy was.

  “We had a deal,” she started firmly. “We had a deal that I could do whatever I wanted with whoever I wanted. That this was casual and you would hold no judgement. Just like you are allowed to leave and do whatever you want with your life whenever you want to.”

  He looked up from her stove and over his shoulder at her. “You haven’t figured it out yet.”

  “Oh, I figured you out, but I never agreed to a change in the game,” she snapped. “Easton, you don’t own me. You aren’t allowed to. Neither is Remy. You will behave with Tobias. You will let me work it out. You will live with whatever decision I’m forced to make.”

  “So you would toss us out for him?” he demanded, leaving the food and walking up to her.

  “No!” she growled, poking his chest. “But I won’t tolerate the testosterone and the demands and the protectiveness. I’m not ready for Tobias. I handled it. You don’t get to put your hands on him. I’m expecting all of you to behave. We have the full moon coming up, and I expect everyone on their best damned behavior.”

  “Why? Because you’re the witch? The woman with all the control?”

  “No, because I’m the damned sheriff!” she roared. “I’m your boss, and my plan for the full moon will work if you all get over yourselves and work together for it. Also, I refuse to have this petty drama get in the way of what has been a very good thing, Easton. If this is going to end, it won’t be for me to go to another man. There’s hundreds of reasons to end something, like trying to change the rules of our relationship underneath my nose.”

  That made him pause. She watched the calculation in his eyes. He was considering what she said. She had a feeling he was also considering how powerful she was versus him. How she was his boss and they had things going on that meant this little stuff didn’t matter.

  “Did you like kissing him?” he asked softly, leaning forward.

  With a heavy sigh, she admitted the truth. “Yes. I’m pretty sure I would like kissing Valen too. I know Maxwell is good at it. Is that a problem?”

  “I’ve liked kissing other women in my life…so I guess not.”

  “If I were to kiss him again, would you try to kill him?” she asked, turning it back on him.

  He looked away and she knew the answer was yes, but he didn’t want to admit it. She could see the calculation happening again. “I don’t when it’s Remy because I trust him not to try and ruin our good thing.”

  “Well, this is all on pause until after the full moon,” she told him. “You will try to make an effort with Tobias, if you care at all about me. Or you can just not fight with him, which I will very much appreciate.”

  “Okay. I can agree to that.” He never did apologize for what had happened in the shed. As he went back to cooking, she had that on her mind. It was troublesome.

  When she went to bed that night, only Remy joined her. Easton went into one of her guest bedrooms, claiming he wanted to read.

  At least they promised not to fight anymore.

  17

  Adalyn

  The day of the full moon was finally on them and Adalyn was ready to gun down the lot of them and swear off men for good. Not the humans. She was ready to deal with them, but she couldn’t summon the anger for them. No. She wanted to kill the men in her life.

  I’m not sure whether I liked them fighting more, but I sure as hell hate what they’re doing now.

  They were cordial. They were cold. They were withdrawn. Standing now in the room with all four of them, she was living in a nightmare, and she was ready to be done with it.

  Protect Redstone and get laid. That was all I wanted. Why did they have to make this so hard? Why can’t I stop this?

  Easton was sitting on the reception desk, slowly unloading and reloading his revolver. Tobias was sitting quietly across the room, glaring at him. Remy and Valen were trying, talking quietly about the plan, but Adalyn knew the moment Tobias or Easton started drawing those proverbial lines again, they would each be torn to their respective side and it would be another silent war with her standing in the middle.

  “Okay, tonight.” She tried to stay focused. Tonight was the night her plan could come to fruition. They were all going to work together and see it wasn’t so bad. It was really all she had other than just walking away. Without her there, she figured they would all be the best of friends.

  But I can’t walk away either. Not from my friends who have been hiding their feelings for years. Not from my deputies, who are obviously in deeper than I could have guessed or prepared for.

  So, she had a plan. Step one, everyone would work together on the full moon. She would give them all chances to talk it out. Remy and Valen were fine. She hoped those two would continue building the friendship they had with some hard work. The town had very minimal issues recently. Everyone was keeping their heads down thanks to what was going on with the werewolves. Everyone was on edge. That meant the group of them were only focused on tonight.

  “Tonight?” Easton looked up at her, reloading his revolver again. She hadn’t realized she trailed off.

  “Tonight. We’re going to head to the Ranch in the next hour. Did everyone bring what they ne
ed?” She looked around at the bags. Snacks for the night. Plenty of ammo. “I spelled everyone’s guns, right? No one is bringing anything new?”

  “We’re covered,” Valen answered her. “Tobias and I. You got everything of ours.”

  “Same,” Remy said quickly. “We’re fine on that front.”

  “Then we should move out,” she declared pointing to the door. “And men, I’m going to need all of you to play nice tonight.” Or, damn it, I’m going to start using magic to fix this, and none of you will like that very much.

  They walked out before her, ignoring her last directive completely. She threw her hands up. She didn’t understand how four men in their thirties behaved this way. She almost wanted Maxwell back. He liked her bounty hunters somehow. He was friends with Tobias and Valen. He would be a voice of reason, maybe?

  My gods, what am I thinking? Now I know I’ve lost my damned mind.

  She walked out of the office and swung up onto Dark Prince. The horses were already loaded. They had been preparing for this night for weeks.

  “What’s the chance we’ll actually see the humans tonight?” Remy asked casually.

  “High,” Easton answered. “If they want to attack the werewolves while they’re vulnerable, tonight is the night to do it. Silver won’t just be painful and poisonous, it’ll kill them instantly. Anyone understand how that works?”

  “The silver actually tries to kill the curse,” Tobias said quietly, not looking up from his hands. “When they’re in human form, the curse is dormant, so the ‘cure’ can’t attack what it needs to attack. But on a full moon, the silver can really do its job. It kills the werewolves with it.”

  She waited. Tobias just answered a question for Easton. Was her Nephilim going to respond?

  “And new moons for werecats, I’m guessing?” Easton didn’t look at her shaman, but the conversation continued in that strained way every conversation was going now.

  “That’s right.”

  “Tobias has spent a lot of his time learning about the more animalistic supernaturals out there. Much of his ability is around them,” she explained brightly, hoping to play up her shaman a little. When it came to any sort of animal, Tobias was the person to go to. He was the mind behind many of their potions for livestock, and they’d had to work together to develop the were-suppressant potion.