by Anna Lowe
Mate. Her wolf nodded happily. Mine.
Soren took a bear-sized bite of muffin then sighed at the papers littering his desk. The guy loved woodwork, spare ribs, and rooting around in the outdoors. A bear doing office work, well, it just wasn’t natural.
Janna took hold of the back of his chair and spun him around. “How about you go for a morning walk. I’ll take care of the bills.”
His listless eyes lit up a little and turned toward the hills. A hint of oaky bear scent wafted off him, just from the thought of shifting.
“Um… well…”
“Just go.” She jerked her thumb at the door. “I got this.”
“Maybe just a short walk…”
She pushed him toward the door. Well, she shoved at his broad back, because bears didn’t budge unless they damn well wanted to. Obviously, his bear was all for it, because he was out the door, in his pickup, and off on the ten-minute drive to the national forest before she could say boo.
“Boo,” she whispered, looking at the sea of paperwork. She took one more sip of coffee and dug into the bills piled up on the desk.
Power, water, deliveries. She slit open envelopes, wrote checks, and made notes in the old-fashioned ledger that was Soren’s attempt at office organization.
Rent. She signed that check with a happy face in the memo line, because Tina Hawthorne-Rivera would be the one cashing it. If it weren’t for Tina, Simon and Soren might not have managed to rent the saloon from the wolves of Twin Moon Ranch. If it weren’t for Tina, Janna might still be on the run with Jessica, working temporary jobs with one eye over her shoulder and one eye on the road. If it weren’t for Tina, a lot of good things might never have come to pass.
Like her job here at the saloon. Her cozy room upstairs. Like meeting Cole.
It wasn’t Tina, a little voice in the back of her mind said. It was destiny.
She mulled that one over as she checked the next envelope. No return address, no logo. Her heart beat a little faster, and she cast a furtive glance at the door.
Probably it’s from the new microbrewery in Flagstaff, she told herself, trying not to tremble as she opened it up. Or maybe an appeal for a local charity. Or maybe—
She pulled the letter out and stared at the three lines of text.
Purity! Purity! the top line proclaimed in bold.
Tainted shifters shall pay with their lives came under that, and at the bottom…
Her stomach lurched.
You will pay with your lives.
The you was underlined four times, as it always was.
She crumpled the letter and threw it in the trash. Brushed her hands like she’d just handled a dead rat, then reached into the trash and pushed the letter even deeper. She glanced at the door, making sure no one was there to see. Then she forced herself to reach for the next bill and open it as if nothing had happened. As if the evil that hunted her was watching for her reaction on a hidden camera.
She sat ramrod straight and went through another three bills, pretending to be cool and calm. But inside, her gut churned.
The Blue Bloods hadn’t given up their hateful campaign. She was still a target. She and Jess both, plus Simon and Soren. All because their wolf and bear packs had mingled too closely for the shifter extremists who valued racial purity above all else. The Blue Bloods had ambushed the bear clan, then attacked her pack.
She stared into empty space and remembered the flames. The screams. Remembered Jessica yelling at her to run for her life. They’d gotten away, the sole survivors of that awful night.
Survivors of another awful night, too, not too long ago. The Blue Bloods had hunted her and Jessica right to the Blue Moon Saloon, and if it hadn’t been for Cole stepping in, then Simon and Soren arriving just when she’d given up hope, she would have been dead.
We’ll be back…
She could hear the taunting cry of Victor Whyte, the leader of the Blue Blood rogues as he escaped out the back door of the saloon.
She glanced at the trash can. Were the letters a precursor to more trouble, or were the Blue Bloods all bark and no bite?
“Gotcha, baby.” Simon’s teasing voice meandered in from next door as he flirted with his mate.
Janna rolled her shoulders and told herself to relax. There was no need to worry. She had two bears around, plus the protection of the Twin Moon wolves — the most powerful pack in the Southwest. The Blue Bloods wouldn’t dare stage another attack on the saloon. Would they?
She shook her head vehemently. There was no point living in fear, just like there was no point constantly mourning everything she’d lost in Montana. She was an upbeat, glass half-full type. She had to be because, otherwise, she might just grow old and bitter and spend her days sighing over a long list of regrets.
“Hey, Janna!” her sister called, and she practically jumped out of the chair.
“Yes?”
“Do you want to try my new muffin recipe?”
“Be right there.” She pushed away from the desk, happy to escape those thoughts for a while. She’d debated telling the others about the letters but decided against it. They all knew the Blue Bloods were out there. But the rogues had been taught a lesson, and they wouldn’t come wandering around here again.
All bark and no bite. She let the sentiment echo in her mind as she stepped out of the tiny office and looked around the back room of the saloon. She and Jess had fought off the Blue Bloods there, and Cole had come along at just the right time. He’d fought like a champion, too, until the rogues threw him against a wall. She closed her eyes, replaying that awful moment when he’d crashed and gone limp. Remembered shaking him and sobbing when he didn’t come to. Expecting the worst. But he’d been all right in the end. He’d shaken himself back to his senses and came out of the fight without a scratch.
Without a scratch…
Her mind stuck on that thought as she stared at the wall he’d been thrown against.
All bark and no bite…
“Janna!” Jess called, pulling her onward.
“Have fun.” Simon smiled as they crossed paths outside.
Bark…bite…scratch… Her stomach tightened as she thought it through.
“Try this.” Jess held out a muffin as she entered the café through the rear door. “Blueberry supreme. Simon’s new favorite.”
Janna nibbled but barely registered the taste. She helped her sister in the kitchen, because opening day for the new café was only two weeks away, and Jessica was working on some new recipes. It took two hours for Janna to work up the nerve to bring up what was on her mind.
“Jess…” she asked, gulping it down. “Have you noticed anything about…well, about Cole?”
Her sister chuckled. “You mean other than the fact that half the women in the saloon bat their eyes every time he walks in?”
“I mean… Well, anything else?”
“You mean, other than the fact that he looks at you like the sun might fade forever if you step out of the room? Other than the fact that he’s like a love-struck puppy around you?”
Janna faked a laugh to match her sister’s.
Love-struck puppy or love-struck wolf?
“He has been moody lately,” Jess added in a more serious afterthought. “But then, that man’s always had something eating at him.”
Cole had been awfully moody for the past few weeks. Mercurial, like spring weather back in Montana. He’d go from a dreamy kind of calm to sheer volcanic rumble in two seconds flat, and his gray eyes would go from darting restlessly around to calm as a fair weather cloud, drifting easily in a breeze.
On a razor’s edge, in other words.
Shit, shit, shit.
Jess shrugged and went back to washing a bowl. “Poor man’s probably going through withdrawal, now that you’ve gotten him to quit the hard drinking.”
Part of her wanted to swell with pride, because it was partially true. She’d been steadily working down his alcohol intake, and it had worked.
But a sink
ing feeling in her gut told her that wasn’t the reason for his mood swings. The real reason could be something else. Something terrible.
Of course, she’d checked him for wounds after the rogue fight, but she hadn’t been that thorough. Even a tiny scratch could be enough to turn a human.
Or kill him.
As if on cue, a shadow flickered in the front windows, and there was Cole.
Mate! Her wolf practically jumped to attention and wagged its tail. Plopped its butt on the ground and arranged its front paws just so, so that if he turned his head and used X-ray vision, he’d see a perfectly friendly, tame wolf.
And he did turn his head. Stopped dead in his tracks and peered in the windows as if he’d sensed her there.
“Hi, Cole!” Jessica waved cheerily.
He waved back and flashed his perfect smile.
Mate! her wolf cried. Mate!
She rushed out onto the sidewalk then screeched to a halt in front of him, panting. Searching his eyes for the telltale sparks of a Changeling.
“Heya, Janna.”
“Hi, Cole,” she mumbled, running her hands up his arms. She hung on tight in relief, because his eyes were normal. Well, normal for Cole, which meant dark and stormy, with shafts of silverish sunlight cutting through the clouds. But no stray sparks, no fireworks, thank God.
She reeled him into a huge hug of relief and laughed into his ear.
“What?” He looked at her with a grin.
She shook her head. “Just happy to see you.” Happy to see you human. Happy to see you okay.
Which had its own set of issues, she realized as she led him through the café for a muffin, then into the saloon. He was human. She was shifter. Getting involved with Cole could draw the wrath of the Blue Bloods.
You will pay with your lives…
She hid her shiver in a bouncy step and led him over to his favorite spot at the bar.
Getting involved with Cole meant putting her sister and the bear brothers at risk, and they were all the family she had.
Them, and Cole, too, her wolf chipped in.
She took a deep breath and forced herself to let go of his arm.
“So, what can I get you?”
“Coffee, please.” His eyebrow curved when he asked, and she melted all over again.
“More coffee here, too,” the guys in the corner called. “Simon, can you turn on the TV?”
She hurried off for the pot of coffee then zipped back to Cole, placed a mug before him, and poured. Just watching him smile made her go warm all over again.
He leaned over to whisper in her ear. “Love your coffee.”
Love! Her wolf grabbed the word like a bone and paraded around with it. He loves me! Loves me!
She wanted to smack the beast and yell, Coffee, dummy. He loves the coffee. But the way his eyes locked on hers made it easy to believe he meant something else.
She smiled shyly, and he smiled back. Touched her arm and sent crazy messages zipping around her body.
Then the television blared to life behind them, and Cole froze.
“A beautiful day here in Las Vegas for the annual bull-riding championships!” the announcer beamed.
Cole didn’t swivel his stool to watch or turn his head. Didn’t make the slightest motion. He sat stiff as a statue as the show went on.
“We’ve got a great day for you,” a second announcer chipped in and started going over the program for the day.
“Janna, can we get refills?” one of the ranch hands asked.
She dragged herself away from Cole and filled each of their mugs while peeking at the screen. Furious bulls twisted, turned, and tore up the arena. The men riding them jolted and jerked like puppets. Janna winced as one man after another crashed to the ground, then scrambled out of the way of charging bulls. Crowds cheered, buzzers buzzed, and the announcer went through a high-speed introduction of the competitors and the bulls. There was one named Gruesome, another named Haunted Hollow, and a third called Dante’s Inferno.
Janna glanced at Cole, whose face was a mask.
One of the Twin Moon ranch hands seated in the corner pointed as the television replayed a cowboy flying off a raging bull in slow motion.
“Just like you flying off that bull at the ranch, Jake.”
Jake flashed a good-natured smile and pulled up his sleeve. “I still have the bruise. Check it out.”
“Yeah, and a matching one on your ass,” his friend taunted, then remembered Janna was there. “Sorry, sweetheart.”
She barely noticed, still staring at Jake’s arm. She’d rarely seen a bruise on a shifter simply because they healed so quickly. Which meant Jake must have taken a hell of a fall.
“This new Brangus-Criollo hybrid we’re trying out sure don’t like to be ridden.”
“Don’t like much of anything,” another one griped.
Janna looked over at Cole, who had clamped down so hard on the brass rail of the bar, his knuckles were white.
“Uh, guys, can you watch this somewhere else?” she tried.
“Are you kidding?” one protested. “It’s the finals, Janna. The finals!”
She nodded. Bull-riding finals that Cole really, really didn’t want to see or even hear. Why, she didn’t know. Only that he looked stonier than ever before.
“So that’s the lineup for today, along with the top bullfighters in the country to keep the riders safe.” The camera switched back to the announcer, who turned to his co-commentator. “Sonny, how do you think last year’s tragedy will affect the riders here today?”
She halted in midstep and stared at the screen, where the man called Sonny was sadly shaking his head. Tragedy?
“Well, Frank, they’re pros. I know they’ve all thought about it, but they’ve got to come into the arena with clear heads today.”
“A terrible, terrible thing,” the announcer agreed, and the saloon went quiet but for the faint squeak of the ceiling fans. “Now, folks, some of you might want not want to watch this. Out of respect to the bull rider and his family, we won’t show the worst, but we feel it’s important to highlight the heroics of our pro bullfighting team.”
She watched, slack-jawed, as the view switched to another bull charging out of a pen marked with last year’s date. A replay of the event they were talking about.
“It started like any other ride…”
The sound switched to the voice of a different announcer. “And now we have Hammersmith, coming out of the pen…”
A huge black bull tore into the arena, bucking wildly.
“And at this point, A.J. looked to be in control…” the live commentator said over the voice of the replay.
The bull bowed its head, then snapped it up, bringing its horns within inches of the rider’s face.
“But watch when Hammersmith goes into his next spin…”
Janna didn’t want to watch, but she couldn’t not watch as the sound changed, going from the present-day announcers to the voice that had commented on the scene live.
“He’s down! He’s down!” the live announcer screamed.
Janna watched in horror as the young rider flew off the bull and crashed headfirst at an unnatural angle in the middle of the arena. The image cut away just before impact, but it didn’t take much imagination to fill in the blanks.
“Shit,” one of the ranch hands muttered under his breath.
“Doctors reckon the vertebrae were broken right there,” the original commentator said over the voice of the other. “Nothing no helmet’s gonna do about that.”
A horrified gasp rang out from the audience, followed by shouts as the bull wheeled to charge the limp body.
“Look at our bullfighters move in!” the live commentator shouted. “Look at that! Look at that!”
The coffee mug shook in Janna’s hand shook as she watched three men dart forward.
“This is why we don’t call them rodeo clowns, folks…” the commentator said of the three men.
“Watch the one in blue…”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cole go stiff. But her focus remained on the screen, where the fastest of the three bullfighters darted between the bull and the limp body in the dirt, trying to distract it. He sprinted right into the bull’s field of vision, but the bull was intent on the fallen rider.
Any normal human would duck out of the way, but the bullfighter in blue planted himself right in the bull’s way, daring the animal to attack him.
“Seventeen hundred pounds of charging bull, folks, and this man’s holding his ground.” The announced whistled.
The bull lowered its horns and thundered on.
“Get out of the way, man,” one of the ranch hands murmured at the screen.
The other two bullfighters waved and hollered from each side, trying to draw away the bull — to no avail.
Janna shook her head at the impossibility of it all. If the bullfighter moved, the charging beast would trample the fallen rider. But if the bullfighter stayed, he’d get trampled.
She watched, frozen, as the man put his hands out and grabbed the bull’s horns. The animal snapped his head upward, lifting the man.
“Look at that!” the announcer screamed as the man threw his weight to the side.
“Jesus, that guy has balls,” another ranch hand muttered.
The bull’s head twisted to the side, all his fury focused on his new foe. It cleared the injured man by an inch and bulldozed onward, trying to trample the bullfighter. The man dragged his feet, trying to stay clear of the hooves. Somehow, he found enough traction to spring to one side and then ducked as the bull jabbed his horns right. Dashed to the left again…
“That’s what you call a pro, folks,” the announcer murmured.
It went on like that for another minute, with an unrelenting bullfighter and an equally determined bull, until finally a man on a horse charged in and drove the bull away.
Cole slid off his seat and headed for the saloon doors without saying a word, but Janna’s eyes stayed rooted on the TV. There was something about the bullfighter on the screen…