by Cecilia Lane
Wild Fate
Book Four: Black Claw Ranch
Cecilia Lane
A Shifting Destinies Novel
Copyright © 2019 by Cecilia Lane
Cover Art by Kasmit Covers
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Wild Fate: Black Claw Ranch #4 by Cecilia Lane May 2019
Contents
Wild Fate
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Epilogue
Next in Series
Newsletter
About the Author
Also by Cecilia Lane
Wild Fate: Black Claw Ranch Book Four
One night was all it took for Alex Carter to lose his humanity.
And everything important in his life.
Alex has been a dark disaster ever since a bear shifter ever since he lost her. Tearing through life on a path of self-destruction, he is fueled by one thing—revenge. His maker stole everything from him the night he left him for dead, and Alex intends to return the favor even if it costs him his life.
Wanting nothing more than to begin anew, Olivia West is thrilled to land her new position at Bearden as a geneticist studying shifters. Liv believes she’s on the right path until she sees the face of the man who wrecked her for love forever—Alex Carter.
When the pair are forced to reunite after six years of separation, neither is prepared for the pain and sparks that fly. Alex and Liv are driven into each other’s arms as old passions burn hotter than ever. But when Alex’s maker returns to Bearden with a hunger for blood, Alex is torn between slaying the demon of his past and protecting the only woman he has ever loved.
With everything on the line, Alex must rise from his destructive past if he hopes to have a chance at redemption and save his one true mate.
Wild Fate, book 4 in the Black Claw Ranch series, is a steamy bear shifter paranormal romance for readers who love fated mates, second chances, and tortured cowboy heroes who cherish the women they love.
Download now because you love the story of two tormented fated mates finding their way back to the one that got away.
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Chapter 1
Alex Carter pushed himself upright from the bar. Blood pounded in his ears. For a single moment, he reconsidered his actions.
Then he twisted back around, wiping the blood from his lip.
“Come on,” he taunted, “is that the best you can do? My dead grandmother hits harder than you.”
The man’s face purpled with anger. His fists tightened as he drew back for the next punch.
Fuck yes.
Alex ducked the first, but took the second right in the ribs. He added his own blows to the mix, loving the release he felt every time he connected with flesh. Fury and hatred and remembered hurts boiled inside him and needed to go somewhere.
Together, he and his opponent crashed between onlookers. Some watched with bored disinterest, nursing their bottles and pints. Others whooped and cheered for the bit of action as they circled and lashed out.
A sudden foot between his own feet stumbled Alex backward. An uppercut flung him over a high-top table. The man was instantly there, holding him down with a firm hand.
“You motherfucker,” the man gritted out. “Stick your dick elsewhere.”
Alex laughed, long and loud and crazed. Do it, he silently urged. End it.
He didn’t even know what prompted the fight. Flirting with the wrong woman, probably. Too much to drink, likely.
Just wanting to fuck some shit up, definitely.
His bear roared in his head, but the noise and desires went unacknowledged. Sharp claws raked up his insides and demanded he paint the bar red with the man’s blood.
Wild bear. Insane bear. He needed to be put down.
“The fuck is this?” Gideon Bloodwing yelled over the noise. He shoved through the onlookers and caught the man’s fist right before he slammed it into Alex’s nose.
Pity.
“Back off,” Gideon snapped. He turned to Alex, eyes glowing silver. “Your clan is coming to get you. Wait outside before you start another fight and I have more tables and glasses added to your tab.”
“Just adding some entertainment to a boring night, Bloodwing,” Alex snarked. He tongued his teeth and spun in a slow circle.
“Third time this week.” Gideon glowered. “Out. Now.”
The simple thing—the smart thing—would have been to leave. Gideon was a dragon. A literal, fire-breathing murder machine with his own set of issues. The dangerous look flashing in his eyes only needled Alex more.
He picked up the nearest pint and swallowed it down, gesturing for Gideon to make him leave.
Gideon knocked the glass out of his hand and to the floor, shattering shards in all directions. Then he wrapped a firm hand around the back of Alex’s neck and shoved him through the crowd. Gideon used Alex’s face as a battering ram to throw open the bar door and sent him sprawling into the parking lot.
“Stay out,” the dragon growled, smoke curling out of his snarling lips.
Alex raised both his middle fingers in salute. When the door shut with a loud thud, he pushed himself to his feet started toward his truck. Wait for his clan? Nah. He didn’t need his alpha’s disappointment or anyone else’s shit. He had enough of his own to weigh him down.
The outside was too quiet. The dreaded silence itched at the back of his head and let too many unwanted memories bubble to the surface. Fuck, he was sick of those thoughts and the feelings they brought.
His bear rolled through him with the desperate need to shift.
Yeah, fuck that. He’d already done so four times that day alone. Many, many more if he added up the week. A lifetime worth if he counted the month.
Skies above, he hated April.
The night sky wasn’t unlike the one from six years ago. Same twinkling stars breaking up the velvety blue-black wrapping around every cursed asshole taking a breath. A world of difference existed between that old version of himself and the one pressing at the fading bruises on his cheek.
Alex’s bear growled, overriding all human attempts to contain the noise. His skin broke out in a cold sweat a
nd the sudden clenching of his stomach nearly doubled him over.
Fuck. Fuck, not again. Not now.
Headlights slashed across the parking lot. His vision swam and he couldn’t tell if they belonged to someone turning into the bar or leaving the barbecue joint across the street.
He could still feel the teeth of the bear cutting into his arms and legs. Claws tore up his middle, but not well enough to finish the job. He didn’t know exactly when he lost consciousness. Sometime after being dragged away from the campsite, for sure. The crinkle of twigs and leaves breaking under his body were as deeply imprinted on his brain as the rest of the sounds and smells of that horrifying night.
With a snarl, he tore off his shirt and gave in to the bear pacing away under his skin.
Cracks and pops ripped through him with blinding pain. No one ever warned about the fast shifts. Slower ones eased into the pain of a body changing from one shape to another. Drew it out, but made it manageable. A man could breathe through those.
The fast and hard ones, supposed signs of a powerful beast, were like tearing off a bandage. Quick and done, but the pain lingered long after the sudden rip.
The bear’s giant paws tingled with sharp jabs of pins and needles as he ran toward the river and into the mountains surrounding Bearden.
He clawed up trees as he passed, gouging them while pretending they were the face and form of their maker. That beast haunted his dreams. A good life was ruined in the span of a bear attack.
The first time he woke—alone, bloodied, and shockingly still alive—his bear shoved him aside and took the driver’s seat. Full of rage and hurt, he put his nose to the ground and tried to sniff out the unfamiliar scent of their maker.
Alex hadn’t known anything then. Hadn’t known about shifters or rogues or what shifters did to rogues caught forcibly changing unsuspecting humans. He’d understood one thing, only.
He was different and dangerous.
Not a damn thing had changed in the years since.
Cracks in the distance. Rustling of branches and leaves. Alex slowed and cocked his head. Someone wanted to sound the alarm on their approach.
Ethan lumbered out of the trees. The bear sized him up immediately. Bigger, but only by a hair. Cool confidence rolled off the other bear, like he understood exactly where he belonged in the world.
Alex and his bear both wanted to tear that place down and set it on fire.
Ethan’s fur melted away until a man crouched in the dirt. He picked through the pack that had fallen from his mouth and tugged on a pair of jeans.
“Shift,” Ethan ordered.
Alex growled at the power infused in the word. He shook his head to clear the stinging firing through his ears and down his spine. Muscles braced against the command from his alpha.
Ethan leveled him with a steady look. “Shift,” he repeated.
The bear again shook his head. Claws pawed at the dirt underfoot. Anger bubbled to the surface that anyone would dare order him around.
Fuck. Shit. Alex panted, locked away inside the bear. Maybe this was it. He’d been poking and prodding for years, slowly getting worse with each anniversary. Every single deathday card he received, coated in a scent he’d never forget, drove him a little closer to the edge of insanity.
The rogue who turned him was a fucking monster. He slipped closer to becoming that same villain each passing day.
Ethan would have to put him down eventually. Alex prayed for a quick death. Ethan was an honorable man; he’d make it fast.
“Shift,” Ethan ordered for a third time.
Something broke inside the bear and a rush of twisting, snapping pain doused Alex in another cold sweat.
His chest heaved as he sucked in breath after breath and willed his limbs to stop shaking. When he finally found the will to sit up, he found a pair of jeans next to him and Ethan sitting not far away. His alpha pretended to be engrossed in the noises of the night, but the stiff set of his shoulders and the slight tilt of his head said his focus fell on Alex.
Shit. No escaping the bullshit words of wisdom.
He should have broken more chairs and tables at the bar. Maybe a window. Something worthwhile to deserve the unwanted pep talk.
Alex eyed the mountain peaks above him and calculated the time it’d take to run up one and throw himself off. With his luck, Ethan would order him to sit his ass down and listen.
Silent growl in his throat, he shoved himself into his jeans and took a seat far enough from Ethan to make his intrusion known.
Couldn’t a man wallow in self-pity and find a fight in peace?
Ethan pulled a bottle from his pack, took a swig, and passed it over. “You made it another year. Happy changing day, fucker.”
Alex glared and snatched the bottle. Three huge gulps burned fire down his throat, but didn’t touch the raw unease still scratching at him.
“You get another card?”
Alex stared straight ahead and took another gulp. They were the same every year. Birthday cards meant for children, counting up the years since he’d been turned. No address, no signature. Just the rotting, stinking scent that invaded his nose on the day of his death and transition into something else.
“Gideon filled me in on what happened tonight. Said you didn’t even talk to that man’s girlfriend, but the moment he started popping off, you stepped in. You were looking for a fight, weren’t you?”
His bear growled and paced. Fight. A sending whipped through him. The world painted in red. Another fight. More blood. More opportunities to find a quick death and end things before he got too bad.
“You’re not the first to have trouble adjusting to this life. I know it wasn’t easy on you coming into this without a clue. Might be easier on some now that they know about us, I don’t know. They aren’t my clan. You are.” Ethan leaned over to grab the bottle and took his own sip before handing it back. “I haven’t lost one of you yet. I don’t plan on letting that happen anytime soon.”
Alex shrugged noncommittally. He didn’t live in a shifter town without knowing what happened to those who lacked control. They were dangers that needed to be put down. The act was a favor to everyone involved. The crazy asshole was put out of his misery, the good-intentioned alpha was freed of a problem, and the rest of the fucking world was saved from an unpredictable danger.
“Tansey didn’t have good control after Viho changed her, either. She could hardly walk the first time she shifted,” Ethan said with warm fondness lacing his tone and scent.
Alex lifted his lip at the mention of Tansey. Not at her, her, just the idea of her. She was Ethan’s mate. Marked, claimed, fated, all the trappings.
He thought he had someone like her once. His maker stole her from him, too.
Hunter had Joss. Lorne had Sloan. Soon enough, even Jesse would have someone regularly licking his dick.
Which left Alex out in the cold.
Another line between him and the others. They had futures. He looked forward to death. They had people surrounding them with bullshit kumbayas and fuzzy feelings. He had memories of pain and cut himself off from everyone he once knew.
Including Liv.
Beautiful Liv. Perfect body, silky hair, creamy skin. Smart as a whip, too. Wild when she wasn’t hitting the books and outmatching everyone in her class. And she wanted him. Dumb fuck army brat who just wanted to play in the dirt all day.
Alex killed the memory of the woman. No good would come from dragging up the past.
He was a hollow man and nothing could fill the void. He couldn’t go a day without shifting or his inner animal made life unbearable. No amount of drinking or fucking quieted the beast inside him for long.
Ethan started talking again about making plans, getting his bear under control. He made veiled threats of locking Alex down before he spent another night in the drunk tank or drew the attention of zealots in the Supernatural Enforcement Agency.
Alex just stared into the night. He didn’t even have the energy to mouth of
f. Fuck if that wasn’t a sign of the end times. He hated being locked in his head.
He was getting worse, not better. There wasn’t any control to be had.
Better if Ethan just put him down before he lost the last bit of sanity and became like the monster that created him.
Chapter 2
“Are you sure this is what you want?”
Liv West straightened and closed her eyes for a brief moment to steel herself. Luckily she already had most of her bags packed, so she was ready for the guilt trip.
The stairs to her room creaked as her mother approached, continuing with her running commentary about Liv’s life. “I just don’t see why you need to go there.”
“That’s where the research facility is, Mom. I can’t exactly work there and not be there.”
Her mother gave her a flat look as she took a seat on the bed next to the open suitcase. Liv folded another shirt and placed it inside. The fresh laundry pile grew smaller with each item stashed away. Her nerves replaced the mountain of clothing. Once she was done, she was free to leave. She just had one obstacle to get through before she drove off toward her dream job.
“They’re dangerous, Liv. I know you want to work on this shifter thing, but are you sure you’re going to be safe?”
“Mom,” Liv groaned. “This is my decision. It’s a great opportunity.”