by Scarlett Ray
Wolf Protector's Secret Baby
Scarlett Ray
Contents
Chapter One: Dani
Chapter Two: Noah
Chapter Three: Dani
Chapter Four: Noah
Chapter Five: Dani
Chapter Six: Noah
Chapter Seven: Dani
Chapter Eight: Noah
Chapter Nine: Dani
Chapter Ten: Noah
Chapter Eleven: Dani
Chapter Twelve: Noah
Chapter Thirteen: Dani
Chapter Fourteen: Noah
Chapter Fifteen: Dani
Chapter Sixteen: Noah
Chapter Seventeen: Dani
Chapter Eighteen: Noah
Chapter Nineteen: Dani
Chapter Twenty: Noah
Chapter Twenty-One: Dani
Chapter Twenty-Two: Noah
Chapter Twenty-Three: Dani
Chapter Twenty-Four: Noah
Epilogue: Dani
Thank you for reading!
Other Titles by Scarlett Ray
© Copyright 2019 - All rights reserved.
It is not legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental.
Dedication
Our Readers~
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
~Eleanor Roosevelt
Chapter One: Dani
I figured hanging up on someone was at least a little more polite than letting loose the string of swears and insults building up in my head, so I slammed the office phone’s receiver down without saying a word. Instead, my frustration came out in a choked growl as I dropped my head into my hands and leaned against the desktop. The room’s homey atmosphere should’ve made me more comfortable, but it was impossible to relax when I knew the phone would ring again any second.
“Hey,” came a familiar voice.
“Oh, it’s just you,” I looked up to find Maggie in the doorway.
She was watching me with a sympathetic smile, “I thought maybe someone let an angry bull loose in here without me knowing.” She didn’t mean anything by it, but she already knew I wasn’t in the mood for teasing.
“Can we redirect all my calls to your phone instead?” I asked, trying my best not to whine. “You know how to handle them better than I do.”
“Someone else looking to buy the preserve off you?” Maggie asked as she came to meet me at the desk, leaning her plump hip against the edge of it.
“Always,” I swiveled around in my chair to face the huge window that made up the back wall of the office and looked out onto my family’s nature preserve. The view was amazing - a hundred different shades of green and brown and gray, trees and hills and cliffs. Just looking out at it calmed me down some—but the threat of losing it worked me right back up. “Not even a full year since the accident, and I’ve got more of those damn vultures calling every day trying to take advantage.”
No one was prepared for my parents’ death, least of all me. But according to their will, I was now sole proprietor of Vasquez Preserve, a 10,000-acre natural park that had been in our family for generations. And there was a lot more to running the place than I’d realized, including government and corporate bastards constantly trying to buy it up and bulldoze it.
“You know you sound just like your daddy when you get angry?” Maggie asked with a smile that crinkled her eyes at the corners. She had worked with my parents nearly my whole life and was pretty much my only guidance now that the property had passed to me. “It’s part of the job, sugar. Literally comes with the territory. And it’s not going to stop any time soon, so it’s best you get used to it.”
“Thanks for the encouragement,” I grumbled, sinking further into my chair.
“Okay, how about this: take a break for a little while,” she suggested, gesturing to the forest that seemed to stretch on forever. “Go out and take a walk. Clear your head. Remind yourself why it’s so important to stay strong. Maybe that’ll make it easier.”
“And who’s gonna take my calls while I’m gone?” I asked, shooting her a sly glance.
With a heavy, exaggerated sigh, she finally gave in, “I suppose I can handle them for an hour or so.”
“Well then,” I said, already on my feet and grabbing my hat to head for the door. “I’ll see you in an hour or so.” I flashed Maggie a grin as I left.
The Visitor Center was a small building, containing my office, Maggie’s, and a couple for Guest Services. My dad wanted to be as close as possible to the preserve while he was working, but he didn’t want to disturb the area too much, so most of our white-collar staff worked out of a proper office in town. Point is, there were no elevators to ride or lobbies to navigate; I walked right out of my office to the front door and into the Arizona sun.
I felt better already. Something about the cedar-y smell of juniper and the squeaky chirps of bickering swallows made it easy to forget all the stress I’d left behind indoors. The hiking trails all started from this point and then branched off as you went farther along, so I started walking, hoping to get a little lost for a while. There was no such thing as silence out here, and I preferred it that way. The preserve was constantly full of life. That was the whole point.
Though I steered clear of the designated camping areas, I still ran into a couple of other people on the trail. First, it was one of our park rangers on foot patrol, and he tipped his hat to me as he passed. Another few minutes of enjoying the scenery, and I crossed paths with a couple of middle-aged ladies in tights and tennis shoes. They looked a little star struck, returning my nod with an energetic wave. Once I got past them, I could hear them getting all giddy over seeing a “real live cowgirl.” As if I needed any more proof they were from out of town. But then, most of the preserve’s business—most of the whole town’s business—came from tourists like them, so it didn’t bother me much.
Rocks crunched under my boots as I made the same climb I’d done a hundred times or more by now. It would take some work, but it would definitely get me the solitude I was looking for. When the trail headed off at a rocky cliff, turning sharply to the right, I ignored it and instead looked for the familiar crags and ledges where my hands and boots would fit. There was a ledge up at the top where I could sit and be totally invisible, totally unreachable for just a few minutes. That sounded like heaven right now.
But as I was making my way up, concentrating on my climbing and paying attention to where I put my feet, a man suddenly shouted my name from below. I’d thought I was alone and gotten so absorbed in what I was doing, the sound startled me so much that I jumped, my foot slipped, and I dropped straight down with barely enough time for an, “Oh, shit!”
Instead of hitting the ground and breaking something, like I was expecting, I fell into the arms of whoever had called me, knocking him to the ground too with me practically in his lap. With a groan, he muttered, “Sorry about that. You okay?”
Despite still being out of breath from climbing, I managed to start in on him, “What in the hell—” but I stopped short when I got a look at his face. At first I wasn’t sure, but as he swept his hat off to look me in the eye, there was no mistaking who this was, “Noah?”
He responded with the same crooked smile I had known since we were kids. Noah Wright and I had practically grown up together. He’d worke
d on my parents’ ranch, the same as I had, and we were thick as thieves until he headed off for college about five years ago. The more I looked at him, the more I realized that other than a few minor changes—his black hair was a little longer now, and he’d finally let his beard grow in like I’d always nagged him about—he was still just the same as when he left. And I grinned right back at him.
“What are you doing here, stranger?” I teased. “How long have you been back in town? Why didn’t you…” I stopped myself as my eyes wandered down to his shoulders and I realized he was wearing a uniform. One of our uniforms. “Wait. You’re working on the preserve now?”
Chapter Two: Noah
Talking got harder when Dani looked me in the eye, and when she smiled it was nearly impossible. Damn it, even after all this time, being near her again had me tripping over myself already. Lucky for me, she figured out the situation without me having to explain it. Keeping my smile in place, I asked, “You don’t even know who’s working on your land?”
“Boy, do you know how many rangers we have out here?” she set her jaw, the way she always did when she was getting defensive. “Besides, I’m not in charge of hiring.” At that point, it seemed like she realized she was still sitting in my lap, so she pushed herself up to her feet and offered me her hand.
“You knew this was the plan, though,” I pointed out, getting up and dusting myself off, trying hard not to let my eyes wander. The years obviously hadn’t done anything but good for her; she still looked as good in those tight jeans and button-down blouse as I remembered. Better, even. I tried to focus past my inner wolf’s already insistent urging to wrap my arms around her again and not let her go this time. “That was the whole point of getting my degree. So I wouldn’t have to be a ranch hand my whole life.”
“Nothing wrong with being a ranch hand,” she said, adjusting her hat after it had nearly gotten knocked off and tossing her chestnut-brown braid back over her shoulder. “So you’re just…here now, huh? You totally disappear for five years, and now you’re back like it never happened?”
Shit. I recognized that fire in her eyes, the edge in her voice. And it wasn’t like I could admit I was consciously trying to distance myself from her. Not without pissing her off more. “I was halfway across the country, Dani. I didn’t have the money to be flying back and forth all the time.”
“They don’t have phones out there?”
“Phones work both ways.”
She tried for another couple seconds to stay mad, but pretty soon the tension in her body relaxed, “Well, I’m glad you’re home.”
“So am I.” Although I wasn’t sure if now was the best time, I still felt like I needed to say it, “I’m sorry about your parents.”
Dani looked surprised for a second that I had brought it up, but how could I not? I wouldn’t go as far as saying Lily and Anton Vasquez helped raise me or anything, but they were there for me more often than some of my actual family members. I still felt like shit for not being at the funeral, but nobody bothered to tell me about it until after the fact. Even though I knew it wasn’t my fault, part of me still insisted I should’ve been there for Dani.
“So am I,” she repeated, frowning harder. “Ahem. You’re on patrol right now, huh? I guess I shouldn’t be keeping you from it. It’s good to see you again.” She shoved her hands into her pockets and started to walk past me, back up the trail toward the Visitor Center. Her office now, since Anton couldn’t be there. My beast panicked a little at the thought of her leaving on such a bad note, and it forced me to speak.
“Hey, hang on a minute,” I called, jogging over to walk by her side and putting my hat back on. “That’s it? ‘Good to see you’? You’re not curious about what I’ve been up to the past five damn years?” I kept my tone light so she knew this wasn’t an actual interrogation, and she responded with the same.
“Oh, now you wanna talk about what you’ve been up to?”
“I bet I’ve got a couple stories you’d like to hear. Isn’t there anything you want to tell me?”
She let out a dry chuckle, “I can think of a thing or two.” Was I still on thin ice here? Maybe I needed to be more careful. But then, Dani was never the kind of person to tiptoe or play games. If she was still irritated, I was going to hear about it one way or another.
“So let’s catch up. Off the clock, I mean. We could”—This is a mistake. Luke is gonna kill me.—“we could have dinner? That’ll give us some time to talk,” I suggested.
She threw me a sidelong look as we walked, and I hoped she couldn’t see how bad I wanted this. After a few seconds of consideration, she nodded. “Okay, cowboy,” she agreed, forcing me to smile; no one had called me that in a while. “I’ll make you dinner. It’ll be a chance for you to meet Nicky.”
“Who?” my stomach dropped as I realized she might have gotten a boyfriend while I was gone. And I didn’t have any right to be jealous. As much as my wolf insisted otherwise, we were never actually together. No more than once, at least.
“You’ll see,” she said simply, probably enjoying seeing me sweat. “You free tonight?”
“Sure,” I replied. After all, Luke couldn’t take up my whole evening. But this meant I would definitely have to tell him what was going on. Oh well.
“Good. And, uh, we’re at my parents’ place,” she added, her smile slipping a little. “Just so you know.”
We? She didn’t get married while I was gone, did she? “Got it. I’ll see you tonight, then. Eight o’clock?”
She wrinkled her nose, “Might be too late. Let’s say seven.” Before I could ask how it was too late, she added, “You really should get back to your patrols now.”
“Right. Yeah.” I forced myself to stop following her and left with another hat-tip. I’d wandered so far from my patrol route I’d have to book it to finish on time. It would’ve been so much easier if I could’ve just shifted, but that wasn’t exactly an option. I would have to do it soon, though. My wolf had gotten twice as active and loud in my head since seeing Dani again. And we both hated the idea that she was seeing someone, even more the idea of meeting him.
I was restless the rest of the day, jumping at shadows, looking for something to take out all this sudden energy on. No such luck. I would just have to find some free time to let my beast run wild later. There was a section of the preserve, about 3,000 acres, that was off-limits for the most part, meant for the purposes of isolating and protecting the wildlife that lived there. My pack had been using it for years as a place to blow off steam in wolf form when necessary. Later.
* * *
After work, I drove out to my cousin Luke’s house. It wasn’t far from the Vasquez ranch, so we would have plenty of time to talk before I had to meet Dani. When I got up the driveway to the two-story house, I had to step over a kid’s bike to reach the door. Immediately when I knocked, I could hear commotion from inside, feet pounding across the floor and two young voices I recognized.
Luke’s wife, Camilla, opened the door and welcomed me in with a smile and a hug. She was a tiny thing, so I had to bend down pretty far to meet her.
“It’s good to see you, Noah. Luke is just—” she started to greet me but I didn’t get to hear the rest, because her two boys tackled me, trying to knock me to the ground. Apparently five years wasn’t long enough for Matt and Todd to forget their lifelong goal of beating me in a fight.
“Hey!” I snapped, wrestling them off so I could deal with them one at a time. Matt was still only nine, so he was pretty easy to manage, but at fourteen, Todd was actually starting to be a nuisance. “If you two think I can’t still whip—oof!”
Todd landed a pretty solid blow to my stomach and laughed, “You get soft at college, Uncle Noah?”
“All right, that’s it,” I grabbed the little shit in a headlock, his mop of red hair the only thing visible as he tried to get away. When Matt leapt at me again, I caught him and hefted him over my shoulder. “Nice try, you two, but you’ve still got some growing t
o do.” They both struggled harder until Luke’s voice interrupted.
“Do I need to separate you three?” he asked as he came down the stairs. At about 6’ 4” and half again as wide as me, he was imposing enough to stop the fight with just a word.
“More like you need to get control of your pups,” I let them both go since I knew their dad’s presence would be enough to stop the roughhousing. They were both visibly disappointed but didn’t try to attack me again.
“Oh, they’ll get you someday,” Luke assured me, giving me a firm slap on the back. “Good to see you.”
“Likewise.” And I meant it. I had plenty of cousins, but Luke had always been the closest I had to a brother.
“All right, you two,” Camilla said, addressing the boys with her hands on her hips. “You had your little sneak attack. Now it’s homework time.” They grumbled but headed back upstairs without argument. “And you two have some catching up to do, I’m sure. Go on outside and I’ll come get you when dinner’s ready.”
“You sure you don’t need any help?” I asked, even though I knew what her answer would be.
“Oh hush, I’m fine. Go on,” she shooed us out onto the back porch, and Luke thanked her with a quick peck on the lips.
“So?” he said, taking one of the solid wood deck chairs as she headed back inside. “Culture shock hit you yet?”
“Yeah, a little,” I laughed as I took a seat. “I’ve only been back a few days, but every time I look up, I notice something else that’s different. And I run into people who used to know me all over the place.” Even at work, apparently. The conversation paused briefly as Camilla came back out to hand each of us a beer, always happy to play the hostess.