by Zoe Chant
"Wow, you look like a sunbeam," Tara said, laughing. "No wonder your parents called you Daisy." She took out her phone. "Can I take a picture? I won't put it up anywhere. I just think you should be able to see what you look like, and Gannon doesn't seem to have any mirrors in here."
Saffron put an arm around Daisy's shoulders. "No, you should take a selfie of all of us, Tara. It's not every day we get a new girl on the ranch. We should commemorate this."
"I'm in," Charmian said, with her quiet smile, and put an arm around Daisy from the other side.
Tara laughed, and squeezed into the pile, holding up her phone. "Okay, everyone grin and say 'bears.'"
"Bears?" Daisy repeated uncertainly.
Tara snapped selfies and got all of them making faces at the camera, even Daisy, until they collapsed with laughter. The noise woke up the baby, who rolled over and started to cry. Saffron quickly scooped him off the bed.
"Can I hold him?" Daisy asked shyly.
"Sure." Saffron showed her how to support his head. "His name is Sebastian, but we call him Baz. He's probably too little to understand either one yet."
The weight of the baby in her arms didn't seem familiar, which made Daisy think she probably didn't have any kids of her own. Which was a relief, because that meant she hadn't left any children out there missing their mom. She would hate to think that she'd abandoned her children, even if it was accidental.
But the baby felt warm and snuggly in her arms. He fussed at first, but settled down when she jiggled him as Saffron showed her. He was a beautiful baby, with soft dark curls and wide, greenish-blue eyes that fixed curiously on her face. A small fist reached out for one of her swinging gold curls.
"Be careful," Saffron warned her. "He really likes pulling hair. I love wearing mine down, but I'm starting to think I might have to cut it shorter 'til he's older."
"And he's not going to be the only baby around here soon," Tara reminded her, placing a hand on the curve of her belly.
"Good thing you have a live-in midwife," Charmian teased, looking up from packing her tools back into her bag.
"Do you have any children, Charmian?" Daisy asked, swinging the baby's soft weight in slow circles.
"No, it just wasn't in the cards for me. But the way things are going around here, it looks like Alec and I are going to have about a dozen nieces and nephews to help take care of, so we won't be lacking for anything." She smiled impishly. "And the nice thing about nieces and nephews is that you can give them back to their parents when they misbehave."
"Don't listen to her," Saffron said, stroking Sebastian's cheek with her fingertip. "You're a perfect baby."
As if to prove the opposite, Sebastian screwed up his face and started to cry. Daisy anxiously handed him back to his mother, and he settled down to small hiccupping noises as he huddled against her shoulder.
"I think he needs to be fed," Saffron said. "Daisy, I'm breast-feeding. I can do it on the porch if it would make you uncomfortable."
Daisy shook her head. "No, I don't mind at all."
As Saffron sat on the bed to give the baby his meal, the sound of tires crunching on the gravel in the yard drew Daisy's attention. The women were all up here; who else would be coming to visit? She went swiftly to the open door and peeked out. The vehicles the women had driven up in—a newish-looking Jeep and, unexpectedly, a mud-splattered motorcycle—were parked on the far side of the vegetable garden, and a pickup truck was just pulling in behind them.
"Oh, that's Alec's truck," Charmian said, showing up at her side.
"He's the person who owns the ranch, right?" From the side of the house, Daisy saw Gannon appear and make a beeline for the newly arrived truck.
"Also my fiancé," Charmian reminded her. "Let me talk to him."
Without waiting for an answer, she strode swiftly down the wooden porch steps, reminding Daisy again that the tiny woman had an intensely forceful personality. Daisy felt overwhelmed, surrounded by so many strong-willed people; they might be willing to welcome her among them, but could she manage to hold her own against them? She wasn't sure.
At the truck, Gannon seemed to be confronting the newly-arrived Alec. From here Daisy couldn't hear what they were saying; she could only see that Alec was as big as Gannon, with short dark hair, and he didn't look like he was happy to have Gannon getting up in his face.
Charmian marched fearlessly to the two men, who were bristling at each other, and inserted herself between them. Daisy trailed along behind her, unsure what to do, but the confrontation definitely involved her, so she ought to be there.
"—on my ranch," Alec was saying.
"You said I could live here," Gannon shot back, with a low growl of threat in his voice. "That means my guests are welcome too. You want me to go, I'll go."
"No one is leaving," Charmian snapped, planting a hand on each man's chest to hold them apart. The top of her head didn't even come up to either of their shoulders, but there didn't seem to be the slightest shred of fear in her. "At least not without talking about it first. Honestly, what is it with you shif—you men wanting to solve everything by fighting?"
To Daisy's amazement, both men were honest-to-God growling at each other now. As she'd noticed before with Gannon, there was something deeply primal about the noise, as if a human throat could not possibly produce it.
"Stop!" she said loudly. All of them looked at her in surprise, Charmian included. Daisy herself was shocked by the forcefulness of her declaration. "Please stop," she added more softly. "Gannon, I don't want to get you in trouble. I don't want to get anyone in trouble. If Alec wants me to leave, I'll go."
"Feel good about yourself now?" Charmian told Alec, with a sharp bite in her tone. "A big strong guy like you, running a little thing like her off your ranch?"
Which was ironic coming from Charmian, who was so tiny that Daisy herself could probably have picked her up without breaking a sweat. However, Alec actually looked flustered in the face of his fiancée's righteous rage. "I didn't mean it like that and you know it," he said. Looking over Charmian's head, his eyes hardened again. "Gannon, unless you're prepared to challenge me right now, back off."
To Daisy's surprise, Gannon looked at her, as if he wanted to get her approval or permission. "It's okay," she said, with more bravery than she felt. "I appreciate you wanting to defend me, but I understand that this is Alec's land. If he doesn't feel that I should be here—"
Charmian opened her mouth to speak, but Alec spoke first. "That decision hasn't been made yet," he said.
Gannon took a long, deep breath, bowed his head, and took a careful step backward. "If she goes," he said in his slow, deep voice, still with a hint of threat lurking underneath, "I go."
"I understand that." Alec looked down at his tiny mate, who still had her hand planted firmly on his chest, and a hint of humor and affection came into his face and voice. "You can let go now."
"Can I?" Charmian retorted tartly. "Are you going to behave yourself?"
Alec smiled slightly, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "I promise you'll have no complaints," he said, and leaning down, he cupped one hand on the side of her face and rested the other at her waist, and captured her mouth with his.
It was some kiss. Even watching from a few yards away, Daisy saw Charmian rock back on her heels, her eyelids sinking closed until only a sliver of her eye whites showed, as if she'd become lost in an ecstatic dream. When Alec broke the kiss with a little sucking pop, Charmian wobbled, only the pressure of his hand against her waist keeping her upright.
Alec steered her gently out of his way, gave Gannon a tight nod, and looked at Daisy. "I'd like to speak to you in private," he said. "If you agree."
"Okay," Daisy said. Her voice rose into a nervous little squeak.
Charmian blinked her eyes, licked her lips, and seemed to come back to herself. "It'll be all right," she told Daisy. "He won't frighten you." She shot a coquettish look at Alec. "He knows that if he does, he'll have to answer to me later."
"If you don't trust me, you can trust her," Alec told Daisy. He jerked his head toward the back of the cabin, where the path led to the spring. "Walk with me?"
Daisy fell into step beside him. Gannon made a jerky motion as if to follow, but Alec shot a look at him over his shoulder, and Gannon stopped as if he'd hit a wall.
Oddly, Daisy felt it too. There was something about Alec that made a person want to obey him. She was impressed that Gannon had stood up to him earlier. If Alec gave a direct order, she thought it would be very hard not to follow it automatically.
She was glad she'd had a chance to get dressed. At least she didn't have to meet the ranch boss wearing nothing but a borrowed men's shirt.
"Your name is Daisy, right?" Alec asked.
Daisy nodded.
"I'm Alec Tanner. This is my ranch."
She nodded again, and then said aloud, "I know."
"Then you also know that I'm responsible for every person and animal on this spread. They're all mine, and I take care of them. That's a responsibility I take very seriously."
"I understand," she said, and she did. She respected that.
Even if it did put her on the outside, as a potential threat. She understood that too.
"Cody said you don't remember anything before last night," Alec said. "That right?"
"That's right. The first thing I remember is—is running from something." She was reluctant to tell him the whole truth, knowing it made her case for staying even weaker. But Alec wasn't a person she wanted to lie to. She had a feeling that the best way to handle him was to be as straightforward as possible. If she left pieces out of her story that made it back to him later, she had a feeling he wouldn't react well.
"From what?" Alec asked. He didn't react in surprise. "Human? Animal?"
"I don't know. I'm not even sure if it was a real threat." But she had a feeling that it was. "I don't know where I came from, or why I lost my memory, but Charmian thinks these might be needle marks." She held out her arm, showing him the inside of her elbow.
Alec held out a hand, then looked at her, meeting her eyes with his intense blue gaze. "May I?"
Daisy nodded, though she was unsure what she was giving permission to. She glanced back toward the cabin, but it was already hidden by twists and turns of the path.
Alec went down on one knee, a motion oddly similar to a marriage proposal. He took her arm in his hand and dipped his face into the crook of her elbow. As Daisy stared in surprise, he sniffed her arm.
He pulled away and shook his head. Releasing her arm, he stood up. "Can't smell anything. Though I guess if there was anything to smell, Gannon would have."
"Smell?" She couldn't help sniffing the inside of her arm. All she smelled was her own skin—along with a very faint musk of sex. Looking quickly up at Alec, she could feel herself blushing. If he thought he could smell something useful on her arm, then he surely must be able to tell that she and Gannon had slept together.
But, if Alec knew, he didn't mention it. "Where were you, in these earliest memories of yours?" he asked. "On the ranch, or somewhere else?"
"I—I don't know. I'm sorry. It was completely unfamiliar to me. I was somewhere in the woods on the side of the mountain, and that's all I know."
"How did you find your way to Gannon's cabin?"
She looked back in the direction of the cabin again, hidden as it was behind rocks and pines. "I don't know. All I know is that I felt as if I was going to something, like some part of me knew I'd be safe if I could get there. And when I reached the cabin, that's exactly how I felt. I'd been terrified in the woods, but here, I don't feel scared at all."
Alec gave a slow nod, as if she'd confirmed something for him, though she couldn't imagine what.
He started walking again, and Daisy followed, not sure what else to do. They crossed the stream, where the dishes were still spread to dry in the sun; Daisy made a mental note to collect them on their way back. On the other side, the path began to climb, winding steeply upward. Alec didn't go much farther before he stopped at a shelflike outcropping of rock, warmed by the afternoon sun, and sat on the edge of it. He motioned Daisy to sit beside him.
"What you have to understand, Daisy, is that if you stay, you're under my protection too," he said quietly. "Any threat to one of us is a threat to all of us."
"I don't want to bring danger to anyone here. That's the absolute last thing I want."
"I understand that. But we don't always get to make that choice." He raised a hand. "Daisy, may I look at your neck?"
"... Okay?" she ventured.
Alec lifted her loose blond hair, checking both sides of her neck. After her exchange with the women earlier, Daisy knew exactly what he was looking for, even if she still didn't know why.
"Charmian did the same thing," she said. "All of the other women on the ranch have scars on their necks. What does that mean? Should I have one too?"
Uncharacteristically, Alec hesitated. "If Gannon hasn't told you yet, I think he should be the one to do so. I may be ranch boss and alpha, but it's not my place; it's his."
A faint shiver trailed through her. Again, she had the feeling that there were a lot of things going on around her that she didn't quite understand—but, frustratingly, she hovered right on the brink of understanding. She just wasn't quite there yet.
"There's only one more question I need the answer to," Alec said. "Daisy, if danger comes to the ranch, following you—will you take our side, no matter what? Will you fight with us, to your dying breath?"
His ominous phrasing should have frightened her, but instead she felt the same sense of exhilaration as when she'd looked down from the edge of the cliff earlier. She felt as if she stood poised on the edge of something thrilling and wonderful. "Yes," she said firmly. "Yes, no matter what."
Alec bowed his head to her, a quick smooth bob of the neck. It was a strangely old-fashioned gesture, almost courtly. "Then welcome to the Circle B Ranch, Daisy."
"Thank you," she said, a trifle breathlessly.
Alec rose and offered her a hand up, and they walked back down the sunlit path. At the stream, Daisy paused to gather up the sun-dried dishes, stacking them carefully to carry back to the cabin.
She still wasn't fully at ease with Alec, but she felt more comfortable in his presence, enough to say, "I can't believe how at home I feel here. It's been less than a day, but I already can't imagine being anywhere else. Maybe I have a home somewhere else that feels just as natural for me, but I really don't think so. It feels like I've found my place in the world."
"It's not surprising at all," Alec said. "When Gannon explains it to you, you'll understand."
Back at the cabin, they found another truck parked in the yard; Cody had joined the group. Everyone was busy pulling coolers out of the trucks, and someone had kindled a fire in the firepit in front of the cabin. Gannon was kneeling by the fire, feeding it with small pieces of wood, but he straightened up quickly when Alec and Daisy came back into the yard. He started to take a step toward her, then hesitated, looking uncertain.
Daisy was the one to move instead. She hurried to him, realized her hands were full of dishes, and looked around wildly until Tara came up with a smile and took them from her. Then Daisy flung her arms around Gannon and burrowed against his hard, muscular chest.
His arms came up without hesitation to clasp her back, holding her in a protective cage of muscle and bone.
"He said you could stay," he rumbled into her hair.
She nodded against his chest. "I promised to fight to protect the ranch. And I meant it. I will, no matter what."
"Hey, nobody asked me to make that promise." Tara shot Alec a playful mock glare. "Have we changed the loyalty oaths now or what?"
Charmian grinned and slipped an arm around Alec's waist, leaning against him. "You're a good man," she said, poking him in the chest. "And a good alpha."
"Hey, someone needs to go down and see if the other boys are back from work yet," Cody call
ed. "Remy and Axl need to know we're eating up here. Of course, if they want to have sandwiches in an empty ranch house, they're more than welcome ..."
"I'll go!" Saffron said brightly. "If someone else will hold Sebastian for awhile, that is."
There were several volunteers, but Saffron shoved the baby into Daisy's arms. And then, looking girlish and delighted, she ran to the motorcycle parked in the yard. There was a helmet hanging on the handlebars. She pulled it down over her loose hair, kick-started the machine, and roared out of the yard.
Alec watched her taking the switchback turns down the steeply descending road with a look of almost paternal anxiety, but the dwindling figure of the woman on the motorcycle navigated each sharp turn without difficulty and vanished into the trees further down the slope.
"You know, she's been threatening to get a sidecar for the kid," Tara said.
Alec visibly shuddered. "Do I have veto power over that?"
"I made her promise to wait until Baz is big enough to wear a helmet," Charmian said. "It's the law anyway. So you're good for at least another couple of years."
Daisy let the playful banter wash over her, cradling the baby in her arms. Now that he'd been fed and had a nice cuddle with his mother, he seemed much more content to simply lie without fussing, idly waving his arms and legs in the air and looking around with his curious blue-green eyes. Saffron's eyes were blue, Daisy had noticed, so the green must come from his dad.
"Hi, little guy," she whispered. "I'm new here too."
Chapter Six
His mate could stay. Gannon still had trouble believing that it had gone so easily.
But Alec had relaxed a lot. He and Daisy seemed to be getting along really well now. Saffron came back on the motorcycle with Remy and Axl following her in Axl's four-wheel-drive SUV just as the sun touched the tops of the mountains, and the whole gang spent the evening around the campfire in the yard of Gannon's cabin.