Desert Fate (The Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch Book 3)

by Anna Lowe

  His wolf gave a hollow huff then turned back to the bungalow and began circling it again. Dreaming wouldn’t get him anywhere. He’d tried dreaming himself into a different life as a kid, and all that accomplished was proving how futile hope was. His job was to protect, to prevent evil. Now more than ever—because this wasn’t just anyone. It was Stef.

  And this wasn’t just any night. The more he walked, the more he sensed it in the air. Something faint and thin, but definitely there. Something evil, like a poisonous fog.

  A moment later he was snarling in recognition. It was Ron, seeking Stefanie out from a distance. Trying to hone in on her, itching for that second bite.

  Come to me, mate, came the whisper in the night.

  Kyle pointed his nose north and growled. He made another round of the old adobe, slower now. He was no magician, but damn it, he would keep her safe. Every step became a deliberate act as he concentrated on erecting a wall of sheer stubborn willpower around Stefanie. A bristling wall that would make that coward Ron run for his life.

  He rumbled as he walked, rubbing his musk on every wall and every bush. He’d mask her scent with his own and secret her away. His mind cast up battlements, watchtowers, and catapults, all of them howling the same message: There is nothing for you here. He imagined the defenses going up, brick by brick, as if they were a physical thing instead of ephemeral, and power flowed from him as from a tap. Let Ron seek. He’d find more than he bargained for.

  Adrenaline coursed through his veins like the soldier’s high he’d heard about—the one that could fuel a man for hours if his cause was just. Around and around, losing track of time and place, pouring everything he had into protecting Stef.

  He was stepping into yet another lap when the moon, already long past its zenith, whispered, Enough. He paced one more lap around the old adobe, assuring himself that that probing outside force had given up, at least for the night. Then he hauled himself up on the porch, turned three circles, and slumped down in front of the door, utterly drained. With a heavy sigh, he tucked his nose under his tail, and closed his eyes in an approximation of sleep. But his ears stuck up like a couple of rotating radar domes, fully alert.

  Stef Alt, back in his life. He’d be damned if he ever let her go.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Pink morning light filled the room with a cheery glow. Stef could sense it, even from under the sheets. Everything was peaceful. The only reminder of her torturous night was the bedding—damp and twisted from sweat and fear. But that had only lasted the first part of the night. Eventually, the fear had ebbed away, and the house that had first felt like a cage became a safe haven where she could finally drift off to sleep.

  She was still half asleep, lingering in her last dream. One in which she’d been intimately wrapped around a man. A good man, not a monster. If she kept her eyes closed, she could still imagine Kyle spooned along her body.

  Of course, it was just a dream, but one worth hanging on to—even rewinding and reliving a couple of dozen times.

  It started the same way every time: he would appear like a spark of light in the otherwise bleak world of her imagination and pull her close, just like he’d done at the barn.

  “Stef,” he’d whisper, and she’d whisper right back.

  “Kyle.”

  Like he was hers, and she was his, and both of them knew it.

  His touch was warm and tender and incredibly right, and she shaped her body to his like they were practiced lovers. Then she touched every inch of him, from the bulk of his shoulders to the smooth of his chest. His hands slid over her, too, and everything she’d been ready to give up on came giggling back to life. Her face went warm, her core even warmer, and when his hands palmed her breasts, it was like she’d immersed herself in a hot bath. Make that a hot tub, with the jets aimed at all the right places.

  Her chuckle climbed to the rafters. Kyle was about the last person she could imagine in a hot tub. She’d only ever been in one once, but hey, this was her dream and she was running with it. She imagined sliding a hand underwater and working the length of him until he was hard and high and whispering her name like no man had ever done before. Looking at her through half-lidded eyes that said she was a thing of wonder and not the skinny kid from next door. She’d pull him closer than close, wrap her legs around his waist and urge him inside.

  Then he’d work them both into a raging heat that threatened to consume the night, and she’d rock with him, clutching with her inner muscles to push him over the edge half a second before she took off, too. Flying, flying, diving through the night.

  “Kyle.”

  She sighed out loud, holding on to the warm glow. A dream shouldn’t be the best sex she’d ever had, but it was. They did it again and again, and each time, he took her breath away.

  Kyle. A lover, not just a friend.

  The feeling lasted even after she showered, dressed, and tentatively pulled the front door open. She breathed deeply, and there it was: a promise, hanging in the air. A promise that somehow, everything would be all right. She found herself sinking down on the mat in front of the door. The spot seemed ridiculously cozy, perfect for hugging her knees and soaking in the sun.

  She was just drifting off into another sizzling dream when Tina came up and shattered the bubble.

  “Morning!”

  “Morning,” Stef mumbled, wishing it was Kyle there. Where was he anyway? What fantasies were playing in his mind?

  “How about breakfast?” Tina offered, leading her away.

  She reluctantly shook off the fantasy. At least her blissful morning made up for a miserable night.

  There were an awful lot of paw prints around the bungalow, she noticed. They formed a track, like the kind left behind by an old-fashioned pony ride that went around and around. Which didn’t bother her in itself—in fact, something about it set off an inner glow. But the track was like a moat, and the minute she crossed it, the world came crashing back in.

  Wolves. Shifters. Mates. A world she wanted no part of.

  “So, I wanted to show you the paddocks…”

  Tina was either oblivious or pretending to be because she took off on a post-breakfast tour to every corner of the ranch, from the barns to the irrigation channels and the schoolhouse. Stef dragged her heels the whole time. She didn’t want views or facts or introductions. She wanted…Kyle.

  His name popped right into her mind. He hadn’t left, had he? The thought had her nostrils flaring, desperate to locate him. And they did—he was out there somewhere, not far away.

  For a warm instant, she felt better, but then it hit her. Jesus, it was really happening. She was turning into a wolf, sniffing the air. Soon she’d be down on all fours, scratching an ear with her back foot and peeing on bushes to mark her turf. A line of sweat broke out along her forehead as she fisted her hands in her shirt.

  His shirt.

  She pulled the collar up to her nose and took a deep breath of it.

  “How are you doing?” Tina asked.

  “Fine,” she blurted, pretending to study the greenhouse. The one around the back, full of rich colors that contrasted with the dustier desert hues. But there was beauty in the open landscape, too. Just a subtler one. The desert was like Kyle: bristly and rough on the outside, contemplative and quiet inside. Full of hidden secrets, like the wrinkles in the hills.

  “And over here we have the pump house…”

  She made it through an endless morning and through another lunch, this time with Tina and two nice old ladies named Jean and Ruth. Stef just couldn’t picture them changing into anything but…well, nice old ladies.

  “So lovely that you’ve dropped in on us,” Jean gushed, as if she really had dropped in and not been blown in by some twist of fate.

  Fate brought us to him, said a faint, scratchy voice from somewhere inside.

  She looked out the window and tapped her foot against the floor. Where was he?

  “And how long will you stay with us?” Ruth asked, her f
ace bright.

  Stef looked at Tina, and Tina looked at the floor.

  “Um…I’m not quite sure.”

  The old ladies didn’t miss a beat. “And you’re an old friend of Kyle’s! Isn’t that sweet.”

  Sweet, like his kiss. Like his soft touch on her back when she needed it most. Like the little warble in his voice when he said her name.

  “Such a nice young man,” Ruth nodded.

  “Reminds me of that Baker boy, don’t you agree, Ruth?” Jean winked.

  Tina cleared her throat sharply, and they went back to stirring their tea.

  Yes, they really were nice, those two. If they shifted into anything, it might be a couple of old cats, purring on a sunny windowsill.

  Tina, though, she could picture turning into a sleek fox with a beautiful ebony sheen. Make that a crafty fox. Because for all that Tina sat quietly, Stef suspected something was up. Not that she didn’t trust Tina—the woman seemed genuine enough, just as everyone on the ranch seemed to be. But in the meetings yesterday, Tina seemed every bit a part of the leadership team as her brothers. So what was she doing, touring a stranger around the ranch and lingering over lunch?

  When Tina glanced at her watch and suddenly declared it time to get going, Stef was sure she’d been stalling all along. The question was, stalling for what?

  She had her answer shortly after they thanked the older women and turned a corner to the central square of the ranch. A group of men was just filing out of the council house. Meeting adjourned?

  Stef pulled up short as a wave of anger stiffened her spine. “So, they’ve finished deliberating my case?”

  Tina turned, a shadow of guilt veiling her eyes. “It’s not like that.”

  “Then what is it like? Tell me.”

  The others were coming up now: Cody, with a sunny expression that didn’t quite reach his eyes, along with a tight-lipped Ty and two others she didn’t recognize. Behind them, Kyle emerged from the council house looking like a man blindsided by a surprise verdict. Her heart sang on seeing him but clenched on reading that look.

  “It’s complicated,” Tina started.

  Stefanie all but bared her teeth as the men came up to face her. “Try me.”

  Tina exchanged looks with Ty and Cody, and Stef could sense words flying though no one spoke. More secrets?

  “Tell me!”

  It was Cody who finally met her eyes and spoke. “Look, we want to help you, we really do.”

  Not a promising prelude. A twitch started in her left eye.

  “This is the thing,” Cody continued as Kyle came up and locked his eyes on hers.

  His face wore an expression she knew all too well from the old days: the same bitter look that followed one of his stepfather’s rampages. The look that said he had to accept his fate, much as he despised it.

  Cody was going on, explaining that they couldn’t shelter her on the ranch for fear of trouble on a larger scale. Something about shifter laws that forbade one pack from harboring a fugitive from another. “And technically,” Cody added, “you’re a fugitive.”

  She threw up her hands. “Technically?” She hammered the man with a glare that held all her pent-up frustration. “Technically?” Then she stomped off, leaving Cody protesting behind her.

  “We have a solution, though,” he called. “There’s another pack, a hundred miles west—”

  “So glad you’ve figured everything out for me,” she shot over her shoulder and hurried away. They’d been stringing her along, all this time. They were shipping her out to her fate. She clenched her hands into fists, but then jerked them apart at a jab of pain. It felt like her fingernails were being pulled out by the roots.

  She paled. Were those claws in there, ready to break free? The rage she felt was far, far more intense than anything she’d ever felt before.

  At the sound of footsteps, she spun, not sure whether she could keep the wolf locked away. Not even sure if she cared.

  It was Kyle, though, not Cody or Tina, and the rage receded just as quickly as it had come. He looked worn and weary, a decade older than the day before. “Hey.”

  “Hey,” she whispered, cocking her head at him. “You okay?”

  Kyle shoved his lower jaw sideways on its hinge and grunted a reply. “Yeah. Good.”

  The man looked like he’d been pushing boulders up a mountain all night, only to have them roll straight down again. The blue of his eyes was a little pale, his look equal parts exhaustion and determination. The familiar look of a kid fighting impossible odds and refusing to give up. Before she could process her own thoughts, she had her arms around him, squeezing tight. It was a desperate, crazy gesture, but his arms went around her too, and she breathed him in, pulling great, long gasps of his scent into her lungs. He seemed to be doing the same, pulling her ever closer, refusing to let them be torn apart in the hurricane that was about to strike.

  She melted into him, and he tilted his head into hers, murmuring something undecipherable in low, scratchy tones. Then he shuddered, perhaps recalling some awful truth, and pulled away. He gazed at her quietly before smoothing a lock of hair behind her ear.

  “So now what do I do?” she whispered.

  His hands ran along her arms as he took a deep breath. “Do you trust me?”

  Did he have to ask?

  He took her hand and led her back to the others. There was a short standoff in which Stefanie feared Cody would start up again with that hypnotizing tenor of his. But Kyle squeezed her hand and started first.

  “She comes with me.” It was a statement, not a suggestion.

  Ty immediately started to bristle, but Cody protested first. “If she stays on the ranch, we’re in violation of pack law—”

  “If she stays with me,” Kyle broke in, “she’s not on the ranch. Technically.”

  Stef watched the three siblings exchange glances. Tina was the first to tilt her head sideways. “True, the old blacksmith’s place is on a separate parcel…”

  “I don’t like it,” Ty barked.

  “Could work, though, as a temporary solution,” Cody conceded.

  Stef’s heart jerked at the word temporary, but she kept her mouth shut.

  Tina went on, nodding to herself. “It’s far enough not to flaunt pack laws, but close enough in case…”

  Everyone went silent, and Stefanie wasn’t sure she wanted to fill in the blanks. Ty gave a slow nod, and she could read the message in his eyes. The one aimed at Kyle.

  Do not fuck this up.

  She looked from face to face, wanting to plead her case, but the distant sound of a child’s laughter pulled everyone’s attention away. She turned, letting her eyes drift over the ranch as the laugh rang out again, followed by the eager woof of a dog, both somewhere out of sight.

  And just like that, she understood.

  There was peace and continuity here on the ranch. Life. Love. Prosperity. She glanced at the ranch leaders, seeing them in a new light. Human or not, they were good at heart, and they had a lot to lose by getting embroiled in a battle that wasn’t theirs.

  And yet they were offering to help. Even if it was temporary, she’d take it.

  She felt herself swaying again, losing resolve. Because really, what else could she do but heed their word? She’d never felt so powerless in her life.

  Until Kyle nudged her and caught hold of her with those deep blue eyes. There was her answer. He’d been powerless, too, once upon a time, and yet he’d moved on. Kyle was living proof that there were ways to overcome.

  Though Ty was scrubbing his jaw, clearly unhappy with the solution, he did manage to give her a bolstering nod. Cody was smiling—a real smile this time. Tina was swinging her eyes back and forth between Stef and Kyle, analyzing them closely.

  Stef shivered, wondering what Tina saw in her. A raving lunatic? A rabid animal? A lost soul?

  “Come on,” Kyle said, tugging her hand.

  She took a deep breath. It was time to take action for herself, even if it was
only the first crawling inch toward an uncertain destination. One shaky step toward Kyle’s truck at a time. Her legs grew bolder when he swung in step beside her, and then she was climbing into the high cab and leaning over to open his door before buckling herself in. And there it was again, his scent, filling her with hope. The engine roared to life, and they were off, rolling under the ranch gateway and out into the desert.

  Just the two of them. Alone.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Stefanie tried to process her dark new reality of packs, mates, and unwritten laws during the drive home.

  Home. She snorted. Her home was a sparsely furnished rental apartment in Colorado, but she couldn’t go there. She doubted the neighbors even noticed her absence. And anyway, the North Ridge wolves would find her there.

  Wolves don’t give up on mates, Tina had said.

  She watched the prickly pear and cactus blur past for a few minutes, wondering whether the North Ridge wolves could find her here. The open desert wasn’t like the woods when it came to places to hide.

  What had Ty and Cody promised?

  We’ll help to whatever degree we can.

  She had to wonder what degree that might be.

  Kyle might have been thinking the same thing, the way he was flexing and re-flexing his fingers around the steering wheel. If push did come to shove, where would he stand? More importantly, could she even ask him—or any of them—to take a stand? After all, the mess she was in was all her fault.

  She tilted her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes, listening to the steady roll of the tires, searching for some source of comfort. Kyle’s hug had been more than just a hug of reassurance, and the scent slowly tickling her nose now was about more than a place to crash for a couple of nights. That much was clear, even to her untrained sense of smell. She drifted off, wondering why she welcomed the possibilities so keenly.

  Then there was a lurch, and she snapped her chin up, suddenly awake. Her lips parted in an instinctive smile at the sight of his house, the shed out back, the creaky old windmill up on a rise. Somehow, it felt more right than anything on the ranch. More like home.