“Honestly? Lots of families adopt children of different races.”
“Like I said, this was long ago.”
She scowled at the thought of such ridiculous behavior. “It couldn’t have been that long ago. You don’t look more than what, twenty-five?”
“Zed found me in 1904.”
Her jaw fell open. “And Jayson? Is he old like you?”
He shot her a look, and she flinched. “Not old-old,” she put in hastily. “You know what I mean.”
“He ain’t been turned very long. With Jayson, what you see is what you get.”
Except when he suddenly started acting like a gentleman, sleeping in the rocking chair and kissing her softly on the forehead.
She shook her head in amazement. “So you grew up speaking English and learning ranch work. How do you know about your people’s beliefs on hair? Was it something you remembered from childhood?”
“When I grew older, I wanted to know of my heritage. I left home and found a tribe of Dine’.”
“Dine’?”
“Navajo people. They wouldn’t accept me, bein’ what I was. So I stayed alone near their village, hidin’ out where I could watch and learn.”
What a sad upbringing, losing his entire world, not accepted in his adoptive parents’ town because he was Indian, not accepted among Indians because he’d been raised by whites. Or maybe it was because he was a werewolf by then and they knew it. He’d had to live alone outside a Navajo encampment, watching without being a part of it, just to see what his life might have been like.
She took his hand again. “I thought I lost my world when I had to leave town. But you truly lost it all, even your culture and language. Can you speak any Navajo?”
“Bééhózin da.” The inflection in his words raised and lowered convincingly in a dialect well-matched to his appearance.
Her brow arched in question, and he gave a faint smile as he dropped right back into cowboy drawl. “That means I speak a little. It ain’t an easy language to pick up, but I reckon my roots helped.”
They walked in silence, their steps crunching through small rocks and leaves and what seemed like millions of pine needles. Her nose burned when she breathed in, not from cold but because she still wasn’t used to hyper-clean, pine-scrubbed air. Images of tiny Tse Wauneka wandering alone in the desert followed her for a while until she could finally shake them off.
“So when are you going to tell me where we’re going?” she asked.
“I’m about to show you.”
He stopped short with a wince, however, and he shut his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Are you okay?”
He didn’t answer right away. He just stood there, and then he shook his head as if banishing a headache or dizzy spell. “Fine,” he said, though the word was strained. “Just one thing while it’s still you and me. Before we have Jayson to deal with.”
“What’s that?”
He bent closer and pressed his lips to hers. He let out a sigh she could barely hear over her drumming pulse, and she felt him trembling when he took her face in his hands. He explored her mouth with a tenderness that circled her heart and threatened never to let go.
“Tse,” she whispered when he broke off.
His lips parted in obvious shock. “Unless you want me to do somethin’ right improper, you won’t want to use that tone while you call me that.”
“What tone?”
“The one beggin’ me to forget Jayson’s waitin’.”
Just like that, the mood had shifted from romantic to hot and alluring, and Lana was damn tempted to say his name again just to see what he’d do about it. His eyes brightened the way they did when he was aroused, and desire thickened low in her stomach. She wanted him. God, she wanted him bad.
In typical form, he broke off suddenly and started walking again. “We best not keep him too long. Who knows what trouble he’ll get in?”
Zane running off when she needed his lips was getting to be a habit, and part of her wanted to grab him and make him stay. To play it safe, she kept herself a couple paces behind and forced herself not to stare at his round, tight ass.
Soon after, he stopped and turned. “You ready?”
In more ways than he knew.
He reached for her hand again, and this time when she took it, she felt the tingle between her thighs rather than up her arm.
He led her into a clearing, where she stopped and broke into a wide smile. “The blossoms,” she said.
Flowers lay like a blanket beneath the most beautiful tree she’d ever seen. It was completely alone and out of place among the tall pines, with thick, artistically sprawled arms spread wide and covered in the same delicate flowers she wore in her hair. Jayson was lying on his back beneath the tree, looking like a calendar model with his shirt off, his hands behind his head, and his eyes closed. A paper sack stood nearby, and deli food sat in containers beside him.
“You made us a picnic,” she said in delight.
He opened his eyes and sat up, his abs flexing most invitingly with the movement. “You’re here,” he said with a sexy smile. “I was startin’ to wonder if he was keepin’ you all to himself.”
She’d started to wonder the same thing. “What’s the occasion?”
“We’re celebratin’,” he said. “Two things, really.”
“The first being?”
He spread his arms. “You’re lookin’ at the newly hired grease monkey at Manny’s garage.”
She grinned at the look of pride on his face. “Congratulations.”
“Good,” Zane said. “Now you can pay up on that wager you lost in Arizona.” Zane turned to Lana. “I was forced to school him when he bet me a cowboy could hold his liquor better than an Indian.”
She gave a tiny laugh. “And what’s the second thing?”
“Not so fast,” Jayson said, getting to his feet. “Let’s take a while to bask in the wonder of employment.” He glanced up. “What do you think of my tree?”
She gazed admiringly at it. “It’s beautiful. What kind is it?”
“Cherry.”
She ran a hand along the trunk, which forked into separate branches quite low. “It doesn’t look like it belongs here, does it?”
“It doesn’t belong here. But a stubborn boy once decided he wanted a cherry tree in the woods, so here it stands.”
She glanced at him. “You don’t mean you planted this?”
Zane laughed. “I like how she hears ‘stubborn boy’ and automatically thinks of you.”
Jayson shot him a mock glare. “I brought cherries home from my Granddaddy’s farm and wanted to plant ‘em. No one figured they’d grow, of course, and for a long time, they didn’t. Then one day I saw the sprout of a new saplin’. Should have seen the look on my sister’s face when I dragged her out here to see.” He stepped back and smiled. “Took forever for it to grow taller than me, even though I was barely a sprout myself. Now look at it.”
“It’s incredible.” A flower flitted down to join the rest already in her hair. “You have a sister?”
His face fell somewhat. “A twin sister, once. But my family’s gone now. That’s why I left town. There was nothin’ left for me here.”
Lana felt a pang of regret for asking. “Was it werewolves?”
“It was.”
First Jayel, then Zane, and now Jayson, all victims of tragedy because of werewolves. “I’m sorry. I guess that’s something you and Zane can relate to. He told me about his family on the way here.”
The men glanced at each other. “I reckon we all know somethin’ about loss,” Zane said.
Lana could have kicked herself for putting a damper on such a perfectly happy moment. “Well in any case, it’s a lovely tree,” she said, determined to fix the mood. “Surely it doesn’t get cherries on it, though?”
Jayson nodded. “It does, matter of fact. The pits came off a crop of self-pollinators my Granddaddy bred himself.” He turned to her with a grin, and t
he brief cloud of unhappiness lifted. “I used to come here twice a year, once durin’ blossom time and again for cherry pickin’. This is the first time I’ve been since I got back to Shay Falls. The blossoms are already droppin’, but it’s still quite a sight.”
Leaning her head back to stare up into the branches, she stroked the nearest limb. The branches hung low enough to easily reach, even climb. Where she stood, there was a large fork that would make a handy seat. The bark felt smooth to the touch, and for the first time in a while, she dropped her shields and allowed the tree’s natural energies to flood in. A sensation of power and union and peace followed, and for a brief moment, she wasn’t just in the woods. She was truly part of it.
She pulled her hand away and turned to Jayson. “You must have some sort of magic in you to make something this magnificent grow wild in the middle of the woods.”
His stare seared her. “I grew wild in these same woods. Why not my tree?” He eyed the flower-studded braid lying over her shoulder. “By the way, I like the hair, darlin’. A lot.”
“Zane did it for me.”
Jayson clutched at his chest. “Zane actually touched your hair? I’m shocked. He’s got a real thing about that.”
Lana’s eyes bounced to Zane’s, who were glittering enough for her to feel her knees wobble. “He told me.”
“And did he tell you what he did the first time I dared grab hold of his Injun warrior braid?”
Zane took her hand and pulled her down to sit on the blanket with him. “It wasn’t a warrior braid. And I’m sure she ain’t interested in our ancient history.”
“Why not?” She accepted a hunk of bread he tore off from a long loaf. “You told me your ancient history on the way over.”
Jayson plopped down and reached inside the paper bag. “His history’s ancient, all right. Unlike the tale of him and me.”
She picked at a tender piece of fresh bread and nibbled it. “How long have you been together?”
“We met two months ago in New Mexico,” he said, pulling a beer from the sack. “Zane’s the one who convinced me to come back here.”
“Wow,” she said, and her tone reflected it. “Only two months?”
He reached back in the bag “Wine or sweet tea?”
She thought about it. “Wine, please. Unless it’s red. Red wine gives me a headache.”
“Is that bad?” Zane asked, handing her a paper plate loaded with rolled slices of roast beef, cubes of white cheese, and a bunch of green grapes.
She plucked up a piece of cheese. “Red wine headaches?”
“That we’ve only been mated two months.”
“No, it’s just surprising. The way you two are, well, it feels like you’ve been a couple forever.”
“We ain’t never been a couple,” Jayson said. “We were always meant to be more.” She felt the heat when his eyes met hers. He kept staring while he popped the cap off a white wine cooler and handed it to her. “But I know what you mean. That’s the way of it with werewolves. When we seal a mate bond, it’s like we’ve known each other our whole lives.”
She heard a tiny sound coming from Zane, almost like a growl low in his throat. When she looked over, he was staring at Jayson with a seductive smolder that instantly sprouted gooseflesh.
Jayson caught the expression too. “Damn, Zane,” he said. “You look ready to eat someone alive.”
“Did you feel the change earlier?” Zane asked.
Jayson nodded. “12:42 p.m.”
“What change?” Lana asked, wiping a drip of wine cooler that fell onto her jeans.
Jayson smiled dangerously. “Moonrise.”
“You can feel that?”
“Not just any moonrise,” Zane said.
“Full moon tonight,” Jayson added with a nod.
“Oh, right,” Lana said. “I keep track of that, actually.” As witches were sensitive to lunar energy, she tended to get a little twitchy herself during full moons. But it wasn’t like she could pinpoint the exact moment of moonrise.
“I don’t just mean that,” Zane said. “It’s my turnin’ moon. The anniversary.”
“Well, hot damn,” Jayson said. “No wonder you’ve got the distinct whiff and desperate look of an animal in heat.”
Lana choked on the wine she’d been sipping. “Do I even want to know what you two are going on about?”
“It’s his fertile phase.” Jayson was watching her much too closely now.
“I didn’t know men had fertile phases,” she said, stuttering over the words. Was she really going to talk biology with two virile studs?
“Men don’t,” Jayson said. “Werewolves do. Happens one full moon a year in the same month we first got turned. Makes us a little, well, what’s the word I want, Zane?”
Zane took a long drink off his beer. “Insatiable.”
The word shot down her spine. “And it’s Zane’s time right now?” she asked. She thought of his reaction in the woods, how he’d stopped suddenly and shifted gears, erotically speaking. Moonrise had done that, even though it was still the middle of the day.
“There’s somethin’ else,” Jayson said. “We have an idea about how to stop Jonathan Tyson.”
The name curdled her stomach, and she set down the grapes she’d just picked up. “That’s quite a change in topic.”
“Not actually.” Zane turned to her. “It’s right on target.”
“I don’t understand.”
And she wasn’t sure she wanted to. Hearing that name brought her right back around to the ever-looming threat of depression.
“Zane and I were talkin’ on our way into town this mornin’,” Jayson said. “We know why Tyson’s so obsessed with you. More important, we know how to fix it.”
Her throat thickened at his grim smile. “You aren’t thinking of going after him?”
The wild flicker in his eyes startled her. “A mighty temptin’ thought, I’ll admit. But no. This wouldn’t require us gettin’ anywhere near him.”
“So how, then?”
“By makin’ you lose your appeal,” Zane said.
She screwed up her face. “How? Even if you understood him enough to know why he picked me, I am who I am. It’s not like I’ll stop being his target by changing my look. I already dyed my hair, but that was for disguise.”
“Brown ain’t your natural color?” Jayson asked.
“You believe in the metaphysical,” Zane said. To her double take, he added, “I sensed you connect with nature a few minutes ago, and I’ve seen the horseshoes and eye charms in the cabin. Plus there’s your belief about that braid.”
She shrugged. “I do believe in magic, as it happens. But there’s no magic I know of that can make a killer stop chasing me.”
“That’s because you ain’t seen our magic,” Jayson said.
Her head shot around in surprise. “Your magic?”
“Surely you’ve sensed it,” he said. “You feel a draw to us, a helpless attraction I’d wager is highly unnatural for you.”
She snorted. “You really are sure of yourself, aren’t you? And of my feelings.”
“I’m a werewolf, darlin’. I know a lot about your feelin’s. I know men have wooed you since the day you hit puberty. I also know that no matter how attractive they were, you didn’t care.” Her smile slipped as a dull thud pounded in her temples. “You kept your virginity, knowin’ deep down you couldn’t give yourself to just anyone. You were waitin’ for the right one.”
“So what? Shouldn’t any woman hold out for that?”
“You ain’t just any woman,” Zane said. “Your chemistry is unique and hard to resist.” He closed his eyes. “Especially right now.”
“It shines around you like an aura men can sense,” Jayson added. “That’s why they’re drawn to you.”
“How do you know all this?”
“It’s a trait all werewolf mates possess,” he replied. “And there’s only one way to stop it.”
“I’m not sure I want to hear this.
”
“You need to be claimed by your mates.”
For a man who kept a wise-ass grin on his face roughly fifty percent of the time, Jayson was playing this card utterly straight. The shine in his eyes, the hard set to his jaw, everything in his posture told Lana he believed every word he was saying. Zane did nothing to rebut the theory, either. He just stared at her with an unsettling heat.
“Claimed as in what, exactly?” she asked.
“You already know,” Jayson said. “And that’s definitely somethin’ to celebrate.”
That sent a tingle through her. “You’re not actually suggesting that if I give up my virginity he’ll leave me alone?”
“That’s exactly what we’re suggestin’,” Zane replied.
“I can’t believe you’re going along with this,” she said to him. “Forgive me, but you’ve always struck me as the saner one.”
“Hey, now,” Jayson said. “I may be a lot of things, but I ain’t crazy. Zane knows I’m tellin’ the God’s truth.”
“It is true,” Zane said. “The same magic that creates werewolves has a hand in bringin’ mates together. So if you believe in magic, believe in this.”
She shook her head. “This sounds more like you’re exploiting a very vulnerable subject to maneuver me into bed.”
“We ain’t got to maneuver you for that,” Jayson said. “Your own body will push you into our arms, no matter what. It was a certainty from the moment you crashed into me. Before that, even. When destiny chose you as our mate.”
She shut her eyes. “You really think I’m some predestined mate.”
“Ain’t no doubt,” Zane said. “We sensed it the moment we saw you.”
“You ain’t some quick conquest,” Jayson said. “We’re drawn to each other because you’re meant for us, Lana.”
“Says destiny,” she said. “If destiny is really so busy running my life, why didn’t it stop me from getting on a madman’s radar?”
“It brought you straight to us, didn’t it?” Jayson asked. “Just like me comin’ back here right before you showed up. Just like the dreams you’ve had for years about the men who would finally claim you. Do they remind you of anyone you know?”
Disorderly Cowboys [Lone Wolves of Shay Falls 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 12