Wrangled Fate: Book One: Black Claw Ranch

by Lane, Cecilia

  “Asking so you can start putting the squeeze on your girls? Sounds like cheating to me.”

  “We’ll see what the spring brings us.” Trent cocked his head and sized him up.

  “Calves and tourists, same as last year,” Ethan answered.

  Tension hung in the air between them. They were similarly sized. Even their animals were close in power. If the talk went down in flames, they’d have a brutal fight ahead of them.

  Trent relaxed first. Jesse let out a breath behind him, as did the bachelor lions at Trent’s back. One hurdle down, only a thousand more and a clan war to go.

  At Trent’s sharp whistle, his pride melted back into the barn and took Jesse with them.

  The five horses were already draped with blankets and waiting to be loaded. There was some jostling with Trent’s lions stepping on Jesse’s toes, but sharp growls sorted out the hierarchy quickly.

  Jesse looked each one over, rubbing a hand down necks and legs and checking alertness before leading them into the trailers. Any concerns needed to be raised before they left Trent’s ranch.

  Ethan folded his arms over his chest and turned to Trent. “You got a minute?”

  Trent nodded and led him far enough away from the activity to make listening in difficult, but still kept them in sight.

  “I couldn’t help but catch a whiff of wolf when I pulled up.”

  Trent screwed up his face. Caution clung to him like a second skin. “There’s a wolf,” he said hesitantly. “Skittish fucker. I don’t recommend anyone getting near.”

  “What’s he look like?”

  Trent waited a beat before answering. “Four legs and furry.”

  “You know what I mean,” Ethan growled.

  “Brown hair. Lanky. Wolf has a reddish coat.” Trent sighed heavily and leaned against the fence post. “The man’s not right in his head. He showed up here a few weeks back, spouting off about being hunted down.”

  Ethan stayed silent. A vortex of anger and sadness blasted off Trent. No wonder, really. He’d watched his entire family be butchered by hunters. If a shifter came to him with a story of being hunted, he’d be the first in line to offer them shelter.

  “I put him up in a hut at the edge of the property. Far from you, far from anyone else. I don’t even get near but once every few days to drop off some supplies. Even then, I stay well enough away.” Trent dipped his chin to his chest and frowned. “You should, too.”

  Ethan’s bear danced through his mind like some trained circus animal instead of acting like a proud apex predator.

  Their mate asked for one thing, and they’d done it. This was their chance to prove their worth and earn her smiles.

  Over the bear’s celebration, the instinct to protect reared its head. Ethan didn’t like what it meant for Tansey if her brother ran to the edges of enclave territory to hide.

  If Trent’s wolf was Rye. If. By the Broken, he could hardly contain his urge to move and prove it one way or the other.

  Ethan ground his teeth together. Damn it all. The woman already changed too much.

  “As much as I’d like to, I made a promise.” He still saw the fire in her whiskey-brown eyes when he shut his own. Ethan shook himself and squinted at the lowering sun. Clouds gathered in the distance with the threat of an early spring storm. “When are you taking him supplies next?”

  Another beat. Trent reluctantly answered, “Tomorrow.”

  “I’m coming with you.”

  Trent’s expression hardened. “No.”

  “I need to. Finding this wolf might solve a lot of problems for the both of us.” He squared up to the lion alpha. Didn’t matter what Trent said next. He’d find the wolf himself if he had to. The easier path was one where he tagged along.

  Trent rolled his shoulders. “Fine. I’ll head out as soon as the morning mess is handled. I’m not waiting on you, so don’t be late.”

  Ethan grinned. “Wouldn’t dream of it. I’ll get out of your hair until then.”

  “Bring your own damn horses, since you’re taking all of mine,” Trent called after him.

  Ethan waved his agreement and caught up to Jesse leading the last horse toward the trailers. A peek into the larger hauler showed all the gear Trent was willing to send along neatly packed away.

  “What was that about?” Jesse asked from inside the trailer. Quick work tied the horse in place. He dusted his hands on his jeans when he stepped back out.

  “Once we get the horses settled at home, I need to head into town.” Ethan continued at Jesse’s questioning look. “That wolf we smelled might be the missing brother. She deserves to know.”

  Jesse toyed with a spare lead line. “You don’t have to be the one to go. You don’t even know if it’s him.”

  “I don’t want to spook him if there’s a change in routine. Trent is taking supplies out tomorrow. I’ll let her know. She might be useful for keeping him calm.” Ethan shut the door and slid the bar locks into place. One trailer secured, they moved to the other.

  “Or she could trigger something and set him off. We don’t know why he cut contact and ran.”

  “Only way to find out is to ask.” The sooner he could clear the wolf and the woman off his plate, the better. Viho needed all of his focus if the man amped up their fight.

  Ethan’s bear huffed and settled down. The aches and pains that troubled him all day faded into nothing. He prodded at the bear and tried to figure out the casual response to the potential threat.

  The answer made him scowl.

  Why fight? He was finally heading in the right direction—toward their mate.

  Chapter 15

  Tansey propped herself up on pillows and listened to rain patter gently against the window. Muriel said they were lucky it was just rain and not a late snow. Either were likely this time of year.

  She browsed automatically, clicking from one tab to another for the billionth time. No new activity had registered on Rye’s accounts.

  Was it illegal? Probably. But with no one else looking and an entirely too-easy password to guess, she took it upon herself to dig for information in those first few days. Snooping every night quickly became a habit.

  His phone hadn’t been used since two days before she started getting worried. The numbers he’d called or texted were to her, mostly. A few went to his boss at the bar he tended. He’d called his ex-girlfriend once, but she said it’d been nothing more than an accidental butt dial when Tansey pressed her for details. A second phone crossed Tansey’s mind for a brief second before she dug into his bank account.

  Her brother was broke. Dead broke. Ready to overdraft for buying a single stick of gum broke. No way was he able to afford even a shitty burner phone with the lack of money in his account.

  Worry gnawed at her every time she saw Rye hadn’t touched his phone or tried to withdraw the ten cents to his name. As much as she wanted to latch on to the idea that he was simply having a wild time as a brand new shifter, she couldn’t believe it for more than a second. What had gone so wrong in his life that he left behind an empty bank account? He’d never hinted at any trouble. Then again, he’d never hinted that he’d disappear.

  A sharp knock on her door pulled her from turning the puzzle pieces over and over. Anxiety threaded through her. She wasn’t expecting anyone. Maybe Ethan was right, and Viho was outside her door ready to do away with her entirely.

  Stupid. Viho seemed the type of man who knew how to dispose of a body. Taking her from her rented room was sure to blow back on him immediately. No, if Viho wanted her, he’d do it sneakily.

  Judah? Muriel? Neither seemed likely.

  Tansey pushed her laptop away and padded across the soft carpet to open her door an inch.

  Six feet and more of delicious cowboy leaned against the wall across from her door. With one foot propped against the wall, thumbs hooked into his belt loops, and his hat hanging low and covering his face, he looked every inch of confident charm.

  Tansey swung the door open further. Her
eyes lingered over the bulging muscles of his arms and the hard lines of his stomach. Just the appearance of him kicked her heartbeat up a notch. Irritation, she told herself. Suspicion. Anything but good, old-fashioned lust.

  “Didn’t harass me enough, Ethan? You had to come back for more?”

  “Well, if you’re going to talk like that, I guess I’ll take my information elsewhere.” Ethan unfolded from the wall.

  “What information?” Tansey asked at once.

  He flashed a tiny smile. “I was at the lion pride’s ranch on business and caught the scent of a wolf I didn’t know. I pressed Trent for details and he admitted to letting a lone wolf stay on the edge of his land.”

  Tansey drew in a shuddering breath. Did the air rush out of the room all of a sudden? She felt as light as someone without gravity holding her down.

  “Stay? Or stay?” The inflection made the two options very different.

  “Stay. Trent said he talked about being hunted down. Do you know anything about that?”

  She shook her head. “No. Like I said, I’ve been the only one trying to find him. Viho helped get me here, but something still put Rye into motion to begin with.”

  The information was something to add to the pile. Hunted down, he said. Maybe that fit with his empty bank account, but there’d hardly been any deposits since before he got himself turned into a shifter.

  “Did he say anything else? What he looked like? Did he give a name?” she asked.

  “Lanky guy with brown hair, is what I’m told. Wolf has a reddish coat. Does that sound like it might fit?”

  The description wasn’t much, but it was a start. Rye was tall and thin. Dark hair most of the time. That combination fit more than a million people, she suspected. Combined with a red wolf cut down the numbers significantly.

  “It’s Rye. It has to be,” she said with conviction. She raced into her room, then back into the hallway. “We have to go. It’s him.”

  “Easy there.” Ethan raised his hands. “It’s night and it’s raining. I could shift and maybe find him, but there’s no way I’m taking you out. I won’t risk you or a horse taking a fall and breaking a leg.”

  Begrudgingly, she stuffed her hands in her pockets. He was right. She had no idea where to go or what sort of terrain was out there.

  “So when?”

  She didn’t like the image conjured up by her mind of Rye huddled in some leaky cave filled with bugs and snakes. Or the one of him crawling through the desert with dry, cracked lips. If Ethan wasn’t rushing off for a rescue, then she trusted that Rye would survive the night.

  “We’ll head out in the morning. The way Trent tells it, the man might need some convincing we’re not there to hurt him. Seems being untrusting runs in the family.” Ethan shot her a pointed look.

  Tansey turned on her megawatt, forced-to-be-polite customer service smile. “We call it being proactive.”

  Ethan snorted. “It’s a pain for those of us on the other end.”

  For two solid heartbeats, she stared at him. He deserved an apology for the crap she’d thrown his way. She didn’t even know where to begin. “Ethan, I—”

  “Forget about it. I can’t say I’d have done anything differently if my sister went missing,” he said gruffly. “I’m glad this might be coming to an end for you. He’s lucky to have someone so determined in his corner.”

  Emotions flooded through her as the reality set in. Tomorrow morning, it’d be over. She could ask Rye all the questions that’d piled up in her mind since he disappeared.

  “Thank you!” She flung herself at Ethan, wrapping her arms around his neck. His hands snapped around her as he steadied himself against the surprise attack.

  Then she felt him. All of him. And her mouth went dry.

  A shiver worked through her at the press of his body against hers. Hot, that was him. Heat rolled off him and settled deep in her core.

  Her response had been much the same when he pinned her against the wall at the barbecue place. Or when he’d kissed her at the bar. She didn’t know how he did it, or why she felt it the same since the first time his fingers brushed over her skin, but it was real. She didn’t imagine the sharp reaction her body had for the shifter.

  His lips had short-circuited all her thoughts quicker than the simple press of his palm against her arm. He’d known exactly how she needed to be kissed, teasing her into relinquishing control and showing her he knew what he was doing.

  Another shiver worked through her at the unprompted memory of their kiss.

  Was it wrong to want more?

  Ethan’s hands smoothed down her back and left a trail of fire in their wake. He came to a stop at her hips and slowly, carefully, peeled her away from him.

  He passed a hand down his strained face. Silver replaced the blue of his eyes roving up and down her body. “I should go…” His throat bobbed with a hard swallow.

  A growl filled the thick air between them. Ethan swallowed that, too, then spun on his heel and stalked down the hallway.

  “Hey!” Tansey called before he rounded the corner. Balls, she couldn’t let him walk away like that.

  Ethan stopped in his tracks. He didn’t turn right away, which had her chewing on her lower lip. When he finally faced her way, he tipped his hat upward enough to show off those whirling silver-blue eyes that made her melt.

  “I haven’t eaten yet. Do you want to grab a bite? It’s the least I can do—”

  “After accusing me of abduction with a possible side of murder? After sending the cops to my ranch to toss the place? I’m still setting everything to rights after that one.” Ethan’s eyes danced with the teasing smile he barely kept off his lips.

  “I was going to say after trying to shoot you, but I like those better. Less violent on my end.” Tansey calmed the butterflies in her stomach. “For all the help you’ve provided when I didn’t deserve any of it, can I buy you dinner?”

  “My mother would roll over in her grave if I accepted. How about I take you out instead?”

  He’d convinced her once before to celebrate a win, and that was simply getting her information in front of the right people. A real, solid location on Rye’s whereabouts was an even bigger reason to honor the occasion.

  “All right,” she said with a look thrown over her shoulder as she stepped back into her room to grab her wallet and phone. “But only because you’re buying.”

  Chapter 16

  Tansey rushed through the door of the bar with Ethan close behind her. His palm hadn’t left her lower back since he whipped open the door of his truck and guided her across the puddle-filled parking lot. She ignored the disappointment when he snatched his hand away.

  Leah toddled from one end of the bar to the other, hand on her belly when she wasn’t reaching for discarded glasses and bottles and passing over replacements. A dark-haired man tending the bar with her turned some dials on a machine and cranked up the volume on a fast-paced country tune. The crowd responded with a cheer and couples stepped into motion.

  Tansey wiped at the raindrops clinging to her skin. The slow rainfall that’d wet the night when they left Muriel’s had turned into a downpour while they stuffed themselves full of barbecue.

  “Claim us a seat,” Ethan said over the noise. “I think there’s a spot near the pool tables that just opened up. Stout’s your poison, right?”

  That he remembered surprised her. Then again, the entire evening was a surprise. After butting heads at every step, the last thing she expected was for Ethan to show up at her door to announce he might have found her brother. He could have easily passed along the information to the police and left her out of the loop.

  “That’s it,” she told him. He tipped his hat and made his way between packed bodies while she squeezed through the press to find them a table.

  She tried not to let the fact that he remembered her drink count for anything. Dinner had been pleasant and thawed the tension between them. They’d talked about plans for the next day and how he
got tangled up in her mess, but he stopped her before she could make any big apologies. The chivalrous cowboy showed himself with a tip of his hat, a slow smile, and an insistence that he help a woman in need and buy her dinner after.

  He’d kept his paws to himself and maintained his polite exterior. She knew something wilder lurked underneath the pleasantries. She’d seen his eyes churn with hunger and heard the deep gravel in his voice. She’d also felt her heart tripping in thrilled reply.

  He was a confusing contradiction and her response to him was equally stumping. The smart thing to do, the right thing, was to keep far away from the man. She’d been so hell-bent on finding her brother that she didn’t care what damage her accusations may have caused. Trust, too, should have been out the window. Instead, she felt compelled to believe his words and her body craved his touch.

  Pinned down. Bundled up. Pressed against a wall. She was intimately familiar with the strength the man possessed. She’d experienced the toe-curling kiss he could deliver. Was it so wrong to want another taste? She pressed her thighs together to ease the ache those thoughts spawned.

  Tansey jumped as a dark pint slid across the table. Ethan squeezed himself into the empty seat and took a sip from his own bottle. His nostrils flared and his eyes dropped to her chest, then jerked back to her face.

  He couldn’t smell her, could he? She wracked her brain for every tidbit of information she knew about shifter senses and decided, probably, yeah. Warmth spread across her cheeks, but she didn’t drop her gaze.

  A coy smirk lifted one corner of Ethan’s mouth and he took another long draw, saying nothing. He didn’t need to. He set his hat on the table and mussed his sandy hair into model perfection.

  Yep, it’d be a miracle if she didn’t throw herself at him before the night ended.

  The pool table next to them cleared in a rough jostle of motion and curses. Ethan knew the group, giving them tight smiles as they passed by. He jerked his chin toward the empty space. “Have you played before?”

  Tansey ducked her face to hide her smile. “It’s been a while.”