by Bonnie Vanak
“Poor baby,” I murmured. “How did you get her to settle down once you found her?”
“I encouraged her to partake, hell, take charge of typical skin activities like the theater. She also likes to help the older females make quilts. Anything remotely human that she enjoys, I encourage her to do in order to keep her in touch with her human half.”
“Because she’s more wolf than human?”
“Because if she ever leaves this ranch and goes running as wolf in the wild, she will get shot if she doesn’t shift to human quickly enough. She already broke the law once before, soon after I got her here. She bit a human in Laramie. One more violation and the Council will order her execution.” Dante’s expression turned grim.
We fell silent again as we rode. The delicate harmony between shifters and humans was critical to surviving. The Council of Shifters had laws, and if shifters violated those laws, punishment tended to be extreme.
I ruminated over this for a moment as we began to ride again. The meadow grass grew half a foot high, and wind brushed over the tips. In the distance, jagged mountains showed their peaks. It was lovely out here.
Wild.
Untamed.
And dangerous.
“Felicia doesn’t easily trust, shifters or skins. I’ve been working with her in wolf form. She has a tendency to be vicious around humans when she’s in wolf skin.”
Dante stopped. Leather creaked as he turned in the saddle. “Peyton, I love her. She’s my sister. But never let your guard drop around her when she’s upset. Felicia shifts into wolf as a defense mechanism and unfortunately, her wolf thrives on sheer instinct. She can hurt you, even if she likes you.”
“That’s why you don’t allow humans here on the ranch for very long.” I understood more fully now.
He nodded. “It’s safer.”
“Yet you’re allowing me to spend the weekend. No, you wanted me here, planned for it.”
Dante looked thoughtful. He stroked his horse’s neck. “You’re different, Peyton. Not really human.”
But it was more than that. “I’m not the only psi in Wyoming. Why me? Why spend all that money on me, Dante? And then protect me from the Browns by taking me here? What do you want?”
I needed answers.
I hoped I would get them soon, before my heart got even further engaged. Because I was falling for these three shifters and falling hard.
And everyone knows when you fall hard, you can get hurt.
Badly.
17
Dante didn’t answer me at first. And then he pointed to the nearby forest. “Over there is where we run as wolves. Sunday’s a full moon and we’ll run as a pack. Have you ever seen the wild wolves run under the moon?”
Asking a question to dodge answering one was an old tactic I’d encountered several times on the job. This time, I needed answers.
“Dante, why did you bring me here?”
He started to say something about the Browns, and I cut him short. “No. The real reason. You had this planned for some time. Those clothes didn’t magically appear in the guest closet overnight. You had me measured, and the clothing made. Why?”
His expression shuttered. “I will tell you, Peyton. I promise. But not now. For now I only ask that you enjoy yourself, and get to know us.”
“When?”
A half growl, half laugh tore from his throat. “Woman, you are tenacious. Very well. Monday after breakfast. For today and tomorrow, my wish is that you simply allow us to indulge you.”
Did I have a choice? I suppose even out here, on a ranch run by powerful shifters, I could call for an Uber to take me home. But I had a deep desire to learn more about Dante and his pack. Maybe learn from them as well.
And the sex, wow, there was no denying the sex was amazing. I was hooked.
I shrugged. “All right.”
“You will stay?”
“Can I leave?” I asked.
He narrowed his eyes. “We do not hold anyone prisoner here, Peyton. You are free to stay, or leave.”
I shrugged again, not really wanting him to see how much I did want to stay. Doing so would give him more power over me, and sexually, I was already toast because I craved him, and his betas, like a drug. “I don’t have any plans, so sounds good.”
Cheerful orange and calm, balanced green glowed around him. How quickly his aura had changed with my agreeing to stay.
He flicked the reins. “I will share with you a secret. It has little to do with you. But first, you must share a secret of your own with me.”
Impish light gleamed in his dark eyes.
I searched my memory. “All right. My secret is that I have an underwear fetish. I like buying panties in all different colors.”
Dante laughed. “I like that. Would you like to know my secret?”
I smiled at this side of him, relaxed and unguarded, unlike the fierce, concentrated intensity when he’d taken me.
Or the troubled, burdened alpha of a large shifter pack.
“Sure. I adore secrets.”
“Norman is not the owner of Crossroads. I am.” He gave a crooked smile. “Rather, my corporation is.”
I sat up straight in the saddle. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“There are three things I do not ‘kid’ about.” He ticked off his fingers. “One: My pack and defending my own. Two: Business. Three: Sex.”
At the last the hungry look returned to his face as he gazed at my breasts. But I needed answers before he engaged in Round Two.
“Norm’s listed as the owner! I checked before I came to work there.”
I didn’t want to get involved with any more werewolves. The Brown brothers already had me in their claws. Why would I work in a strip club owned by another wolf?
“I did it on purpose. If any other alpha wolf discovered I owned the club, there would be fights, destruction, vandalism. Norman is listed as the owner of record, but he is the manager. In turn, he takes a share of the profits.”
“And if he ever ratted you out?” I challenged.
Dante’s gaze darkened and his smile tightened. “Have you ever seen a python win a fight with a wolf? We eat snakes for breakfast.”
Swallowing hard, I ignored that remark, for it only reminded me what a dangerous wolf Dante was.
We kept riding. I changed the conversation to talk about the ranch’s cattle and the horses they bred. Then he stopped.
“I’ll race you,” he challenged.
Caught off guard, I hesitated as he galloped ahead. But I knew Belladonna, knew her quick eagerness.
“Let’s go, girl,” I urged, and gave my mount her head.
We galloped across the meadow. Sheer joy shot through me. It had been too long since I’d ridden, and what a horse to ride! Belladonna raced, and I felt one with her, rider and horse, our spirits and mutual longing for freedom sealing us together.
When I finally pulled her short, panting, Dante pulled up beside me. I didn’t know if he would be insulted that I’d beaten him.
“That was quite impressive.” He leaned over the saddle horn, and a grin touched his face. “You’re a good rider, my sweet. It will serve you well.”
Surprised, I blinked at him. “I thought you’d be upset that I beat you.”
He laughed. “I don’t mind losing to you, Peyton. And I could tell back at the stables that you longed to race. I saw it in your eyes, the same keen anticipation as I saw in Belladonna’s.”
I grinned. “Guess I’m easy to read.”
His smile faded. “Sometimes. Others, it is more challenging. Peyton, I want you to have fun this weekend, and get to know us. We are wolves, yes, but I believe you will find us more civilized than some humans.”
When we reached the stables, Dante helped me off. He kissed my cheek.
“I guess you’re too busy to go for a longer ride,” I told him.
His dark gaze twinkled. “I intend to take you for a much longer ride later tonight. Today I have to do inventory. If you like
, Alex would love to have your help for a while. I understand you’re proficient with data analytics?”
“More so with the human element.”
“Good. He’s been working on a new method that may help our investments, if you’re game.”
It sounded intriguing.
Dante had a cowhand drive me up to the lodge and show me to Alex’s large suite of offices. Gabriel, it seems, had to patrol the perimeter, a daily exercise to ensure no Browns or other threats would wander onto pack land.
Alex greeted me warmly as I walked inside. He got up from behind a sweeping curve of a wide, Cherrywood desk and hugged me.
“Good morning, sunshine,” he said, and kissed my mouth.
I hugged him back. “Is that all you do on a Saturday? Work? If so, I’ll have to help you so you can come out later and play.”
Delight filled his smile. “Come see.”
Giddy as a schoolboy, he showed me his treasures – banks of computer screens displaying spreadsheets filled with numbers. With quiet pride, he explained the multiple computer screens where he kept track of the pack investments.
“I could use your help,” Alex confessed. “I’m working on our investments and you’re a data expert in patterns. Maybe you can use your knowledge for next week. I told Dante I have a feeling the market is due for a correction and I want to know which way to shift the funds.”
We worked for a couple of hours as I pointed out behavioral patterns of stock investments. By the time we finished, Alex was suitably impressed and I felt glowing with pride.
His compliments, showered on me, boosted my self-confidence.
Alex kissed me deeply, and sighed with contentment. I hugged him, needing to touch him.
And then he pulled away, all business again, talking about the ranch and the profits.
I wondered what had happened to him.
Why was Alex so reserved?
What had happened to him?
18
For lunch, I dined with Dante, Alex and Gabriel at the Bucking Bronc Café, the roughhewn, cafeteria-style restaurant on the ranch that served the cowboys working the Bar B Q. We spent an hour eating, laughing, talking about the ranch, about the work Alex had done. Dante asked if I was happy in my job.
I just laughed and told him it was a paycheck.
It wasn’t hard to miss the glances he exchanged with Alex.
After lunch, Gabriel excused himself to oversee a patrol and installation of security cameras on the pack’s furthest perimeters. Alex needed to return to work, but I wanted to see the rest of the pack.
And I’d promised Felicia I’d watch her team rehearse the play.
Dante had explained that ten of the pack’s teenagers and seven tweens had gathered to rehearse. The barn served as a terrific little theater.
Felicia, Dante’s sister, directed. Standing atop a hay bale, she shouted directions from a megaphone. I sat on another hay bale, the audience for this rehearsal.
They’d been rehearsing for two weeks, she informed me proudly.
She had written the play as well. Romeo the werewolf and Juliet the human, a tale of hope of two-species crossed lovers. A tall, gangly teen played a love-struck wolf staring at Juliet, who stood in the loft, which would serve as a balcony.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Dante enter the barn, check the tack, make some notes on a tablet. Inventory? Maybe. But why do it himself when he had assistants who ran the ranch while he was in Cheyenne?
“But soft! What sunrise through the barn breaks? It is the yeast…” Romeo warbled.
“East,” Felice yelled back, staring at the script in her hand.
“Yo, right, east. And Juliet the skin is the moon.”
Puzzled, I glanced at Felicity. “The moon? Not the sun?”
She shrugged. “We’re wolves. We run with the moon.”
Romeo continued. “Arise, silver moon, and let us see your fair skin, and chase the sun, whose day is done.”
It rhymed. Of a sort.
I saw Dante draw closer, and scowl. Maybe he didn’t care for the classics.
“Oh my lady, and my love, whose pale white breasts are soft as a dove!” Romeo screeched.
I flushed. Ok, maybe this was a warped werewolf version of Shakespeare.
“Whose pale skin is soft as a dove, Simon! Not breasts!” Felicia yelled through her megaphone. “Don’t you know your lines by now?!”
“Will you stop that caterwauling?” Dante shouted at Felice.
The entire cast fell silent.
The papers rustled in her hands as she lowered them, staring at her brother. Her lower lip wobbled precariously.
The other kids lowered their gazes and stopped talking. One or two trembled.
Damn. My temper sailed out of control. Fisting my hands, taking a deep breath, I approached Dante and jabbed my finger in his chest.
“Cool your jets, alpha. They were having fun. It’s a Saturday. And this is a barn, not your office, so stop yelling at them.”
Dante narrowed his gaze and scowled at me. The primitive part of me shrank back, but I knew if I allowed him to intimidate me, our relationship would be over. Because long ago, I’d vowed to always stand my ground against people, and shifters, who tried to control me.
He got close. Real close, not the kind of close where he wanted to stroke and kiss me, but the aggressive close. Shoulders tense, he spoke in a low voice. I could almost see the hairs on his day beard bristle with rage.
“Are you telling me, the alpha, what to do on my land and with my pack?”
I held my ground. “It’s their land and their pack too, and from what I understand, you gave them the barn to host this theater production. You don’t have to be an asshole about it. If you have business here and you changed your mind, tell them.”
And then I threw my shoulders back and looked him right in the eye, the ultimate challenge to an alpha shifter. But deep inside, I knew Dante would not hurt me. I trusted him, had to trust him.
“You can rage all you want, but you need to know this about me, Dante. I’ll always stick up for kids who have been wronged. Always. I don’t care who or what you are or what threats you make against me.”
For a moment we stood toe to toe, the tension so thick you could slice it. I heard the rapid breathing of the teens and tweens behind me. Then suddenly his entire body relaxed. A weird, almost knowing smile touched his full mouth.
He went to Felicia, placed his hands on her shoulders. “I am sorry I yelled at you. I have urgent business here in the barn. Can you take the others and rehearse for this afternoon in the auditorium? You can have the barn back tomorrow.”
Felicity nodded. And then he hugged her and she hugged him, tight.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Romeo grin, and nudge the teen beside him. “It worked,” he whispered.
Odd. What worked? Instinct nudged me to study their auras. They swirled with innocent white, laced with the deeper, darker color of earth brown. I saw deception twined with earnestness.
Felicia winked at Dante, who hastily looked away. “Go,” he ordered with a scowl.
They hurried away. I lingered, leaning against the wall. “Ok alpha, what gives?”
His look was guileless. “What?”
“That little show you just put on for me. You weren’t serious.”
Dante frowned. “Of course I was.”
“Your aura says you weren’t.”
The mask dropped. Dante’s full mouth opened, and then closed. Guess I had surprised him. “Your powers are quite astute, Peyton. I shall have to remember that.”
Then he kissed me hard, and left.
In the auditorium in the main lodge, Felicia had already set everyone up in their places. The stage was set with a real balcony, with a Western backdrop. I sat in the audience and watched, unsurprised when Romeo said all his lines flawlessly, and Felicia had no need to admonish him.
Because what had happened in the barn was a show… for my benefit.
When they took a break, I approached Dante’s sister. Felicia was flipping through a script, making notes.
“Why?” I asked gently.
She did not look up, but nibbled on her Sharpie. “Dante asked for my help. He wanted to see how you’d react.”
“React to him yelling at you?”
It was a rhetorical question, but she nodded.
Suddenly I understood. I wasn’t here because Dante wanted me here to have weekend sex with him and his betas. He wanted more. He wanted me to fit in. And fitting in meant accepting the most important person to him – his sister.
“He wanted to test me because you’re important to him. More than anything, or anyone else, on this ranch,” I guessed.
Now she did look up, her gaze troubled. “I love my brother, Peyton. But he should have settled down a long time ago, and maybe would have, except for me. I’ve been in the cog in his wheel. He would have found someone special by now if not for worrying about me. I’ve forced him to stay here instead of going into the city more for female company.”
I sat next to her. Maybe Dante had brought me here to test me out, see how I’d like the ranch for a more permanent relationship, but right now what mattered more was Felicia. I put my hand on her arm. Touch was important to shifters. Werewolves especially thrived on it.
“You’re not a cog, Felicia. You’re his blood, and that’s a lasting bond. Dante is an alpha. I doubt anyone can force Dante’s hand.”
“Probably. But he keeps pushing me into all these…human… activities and preventing me from shifting.” She scowled and shook her head, making her short hair bounce. “Even my hair! He wanted it cut short. As if it will make me more human. He hasn’t let me shift and run with the pack in months. I’m allowed to shift only when he is alone with me and then only for thirty minutes, so I won’t lose my magick. Sometimes when he pushes me so hard I want scream and run away, as wolf, and never return.”