by Lia Davis
“I’ll owe you.” Luca saw the hesitation in Bertolf’s eyes. “I’ll owe you big time, Brandon. Hey, I know you want more night shifts off. I’ll work extra.”
Not getting paid to be an enforcer meant that all the volunteers took shifts when they could work. Since both Luca and Bertolf had day jobs, that meant nights spent on patrol. Bertolf had a pretty sexy M.I.L.F. at home for a mate, and two kids he adored.
“Look, I’ll work your nights for a week. You’ll get to spend more time with Tilly and the girls. It’s a win-win.”
“A month.” Brandon’s lips pushed out, then he added, “And, I want you to work another four nights during the year. Whenever I say so. Like holidays, or birthdays. Or any crap like that where Tilly wants me home.”
Feeling like he was signing his life away, Luca nodded. “Yeah, you got it.”
Anything to calm Bertolf down and keep him from exercising some kind of vigilante justice on Natalie for simply being human.
“And you’ll get the chick off-site? Right away? No fucking around?”
“Yeah. I’ll take care of it.”
“She sure looked like a nice piece of ass, Weylyn.” Bertolf grinned and backed away, heading for the SUV. “But don’t screw the pack just to get your rocks off.” He got in the car and rolled down the window. “I’ll be watching you.”
He started the SUV, veed two fingers on his left hand and pointed at his eyes, then pointed a finger at Luca. He stared at Luca the whole time he backed up, nearly hitting the shed, and never dropping his eyes until, finally, he drove away.
Luca looked up at the blue sky above the pines and took a minute to let the quiet and space wind his wolf down. He opened the cabin door and headed inside with the sinking feeling that he’d just given up every holiday from now until he was eighty. And that the hot sexy moment with Natalie was gone.
He was right, Natalie was off of the bed and in the kitchen, right by the little window. “What the hell was wrong with that guy?”
Luca wondered if she’d been able to hear any of their conversation and tried to think back, had Bertolf said anything? Had she heard? He didn’t need this to get any more complicated than it was.
“I’m sorry. He’s an asshole.” He picked up her backpack. “Come on, time to get you to town.”
She crossed her arms and leaned back against the counter. “Something’s going on here. And I want to know what.”
He couldn’t tell her about the wolf that raged inside of him, hungry for her touch. Or that the entire ranch had, not only its own secret police force, but its own version of social services and schools. He couldn’t tell her that, every single person on the ranch was either a wolf, a dreamwalker, or a spelltalker. Or a dormant, carrying the genes for any one of those things.
Or that they all carried a sleeping virus, transferred only at adolescence by the pack elders, or when the mating fever overtook them. She’d freak out. Or she’d go tell everyone what crazies lived here on the Windy Gap spread.
He’d never felt like keeping any of this secret was a burden before. But right now—staring into her accusing eyes, eyes that had trusted him, a stranger—now it all weighed on him like he carried all of wolf society on his shoulders.
“I’ll carry you to the truck,” was all he said. And he reached for her.
“No way.”
“Yeah, you have to go.” He scooped her up.
“Put me down, cowboy!” She pounded on his shoulders.
“I made a mistake. You shouldn’t be here.” He scooped up her backpack and carried her out the door, dropping her gently into the passenger seat. He deposited her backpack into her lap, almost expecting her to leap out. But she sat there, that sexy lower lip jutting out into a pout and every sexual feeling he’d tamped down while Bertolf was here came rushing back to the surface.
God, all he wanted to do was carry her back into the cabin and kiss that pout away.
But he had a responsibility to the pack, and to every member who lived on the ranch and in the surrounding parts of the county. And even, to the other packs. Every shifter had to keep the secret, or they’d all be exposed.
He turned away and went back to the house for his shirt, cursing Bertolf and his timing.
The drive off of the ranch and back to town took a long time, with silence building between them the whole way. At the four-way intersection, Luca went to make the turn into town. “I’ll take you to urgent care.”
“Don’t bother. Take me to my car. It’s at the trail head near the north entrance to the park.”
“Damn, you are as stubborn as a mule, aren’t you.” He shook his head and let the car idle. “You should get that ankle x-rayed.”
“Why are you so worried about me? I can take care of myself.” Natalie had her arms crossed over the backpack and was hunched on the other side of the truck staring out the window. “I just want to get my car, drive back to my hotel, and go to sleep.”
He should drive her to urgent care, but it was getting late now and he’d left Espresso in the corral. He also needed to see if Bertolf was working, and when he’d have to cover his shifts. And check his messages. “Christ.” He made the turn and drove into the park, until he saw the dented Kia alone in the empty dirt parking lot. “That you’re car?”
“Yeah.”
She got out and he rushed over to help her. She shook him off, hopping a short distance from the truck in the direction of the Kia.
“Hey, cowboy.”
“What?”
“I know something is going on at that ranch. I owe it to Yvette to find out.” She pinned him with her dark eyes. “And, Luca, I always pay my debts.”
A huge sinking feeling dropped the bottom out of his stomach.
“Leave it alone, Natalie.”
“If I have to, I’ll go to the news. I’ll tell everyone something is going down at that place. I’ll make shit up if I have to, just to get someone to finally follow up on this thing.”
“Fuck.” He couldn’t believe this. She’d been so sweet. Where was the girl he’d wanted to shelter, to take care of? Where was the woman he’d wanted to have sex with? “What do you want from me, Natalie?”
“I want you to explain it to me. I want you to tell me what you know.”
He couldn’t do that. But he also couldn’t let her tell everyone her suspicions.
“Look, it’s getting late.” He checked his phone and cursed. Bertolf was right, his little message icon had the number ten staring at him accusingly. “How about I come by in the morning and take you to breakfast. We’ll talk then.”
Something that looked like relief flickered across her face. For a moment, he saw the vulnerable Natalie he’d seen earlier. The one who looked so lost and alone. The one who’d pulled his heartstrings and made his wolf feel protective.
Then that look was gone and she flashed him a saucy grin. “Great. I could use a free breakfast. See you at eight at the Brunch Palace on the corner, cowboy.” And she opened the door and limped her curvy ass the rest of the way over to her car.
Luca climbed into the cab of the truck and leaned his head on the steering wheel. This sexy woman—with that wild hair and the mouth he wanted to kiss into submission—in one afternoon she’d turned his life upside down.
Natalie wasn’t going to stop and he had no way of keeping her quiet.
What the hell could he tell her that would keep her from going to the press and exposing the pack? And if he couldn’t come up with anything?
How the hell would he keep her safe?
Natalie flopped down on the bed in her hotel room. “What a totally fucked up day.”
She’d finally met a guy who was nice, sexy, and could pick her up and carry her around like she was Tinker Bell. But, of course, he was somehow involved with the death of her best friend.
At the thought of Yvette being dead, tears gathered, and she wiped them away. “No crying,” she told herself and got off of the bed, hobbling over to her suitcase. She got out a sexy, sc
oop-neck red t-shirt and some ass-hugging jeans with sparkles on the ass that Yvette had helped her buy.
“You are going to kick some butt with those rhinestones shaking on your booty, girl!” Was what Yvette had said when Natalie had sashayed out of the dressing room.
And they’d gone out that night and picked up some fine brothers and taken them home. Good times.
But now, Yvette was gone. And Natalie was on her own. No back-up for what she was about to do—take her sparkly booty and head to the local bar to get some info. It was time to find out what the locals thought went down at that ranch.
Someone was covering something up, and while Luca didn’t seem to know anything about Yvette, he knew something else. That was more than evident after that Bertolf dude had shown up and threatened Luca today.
And when she met her cowboy in the morning, she was going armed. With information.
She’d done enough waitressing to know that when you wanted information, you put on your sexy clothes and went where everyone was getting drunk. And in a mountain town—summertime, wintertime, anytime—that would be the bars.
She hobbled to the bathroom and got into the shower. She was putting her sexy on and finding out all of that ranch’s secrets.
For Yvette, for herself, and now, for Luca. Because when she’d peeked out the window that man had had a mean look in his eyes, and Luca had stood up for her. He’d stood up for her, now, she was standing up for him. Even if he didn’t want her to.
Chapter 5
After a night spent tossing and turning and thinking of nothing but his missed opportunity with Natalie, Luca drove into Wolf’s Peak. Despite not having any idea of how to get Natalie off of her obsession with the ranch, he was looking forward to seeing her. He found himself humming along with the radio and a country song about women with generous proportions. Oh, yeah, that man knew what he was singing about. Nothing like a woman with something to hold on to, and Natalie had all the right curves in all the right places.
He found a parking spot down the street from the Brunch Palace, right in front of Wulfric’s Sandwich Shop, turned off the engine and sat, trying to get his thoughts in order.
He liked Natalie, really liked her. She was sassy and sexy, and in the normal course of things he thought he’d date her. But she wasn’t pack, and while that wouldn’t put a stop to dating her, it would put a stop to anything serious. Anything at all.
Pack only mated with pack with the right DNA. In fact, there was fierce competition for pack mates. He’d heard of a few shifters who’d dated humans now and then before finding their mate, but it was all in fun. A few nights here or there.
Of course, there were always the dormants. Still pack, sometimes they carried one of the three magic genes, and occasionally, one would be born without any of the genes that responded to the Lycanthroism virus. They were still pack, still viable mates, even if they never showed the magic of being a shifter, or walked on the dreamscape like the dreamwalkers. Or were able to commune with the elder spirits like the spelltalkers.
Everyone in pack had value. Even lone wolves like him.
And then there was the issue of the blood on the edge of Windy Gap property. He had no idea what had gone on there, but someone on the ranch did. He’d have to tread carefully. Whoever had done the clean-up of what was likely Yvette’s murder, had done a good job. But they hadn’t expected Natalie, that was for sure. And now, Natalie was in hunting mode.
His wolf gave the lupine equivalent of a purr. It loved the idea of Natalie hunting and resonated with the thought, but Luca had to see if he could talk her down. Maybe it would be enough to tell her he’d look into it. Or else he’d be forced to go to Chief Howler and confess what he’d done by bringing a non-pack human into his cabin. If that happened, he’d likely be brought up in front of the pack council, and those women were ruthless.
He got out of the truck and made his way to the sidewalk, so engrossed in his dilemma that he didn’t even notice Rico Villalobos and Gabe Wulfric coming out of the sandwich shop Gabe owned with his brother Sam.
“Hey Luca, how’re they hanging?” The two enforcers came over and Rico gave him a slap on the shoulder. “What’s going on, man. You look serious.”
“Nothing much. Just heading to breakfast.”
He contemplated asking for help. Of anyone on the force these two would be the ones he thought he could trust with something like this. They’d always been fair.
But then he spotted Natalie waving at him from the window of the Brunch Palace and smiling at him today like none of the disaster at the cabin had even happened. She was hot, so hot, wearing a low-cut white blouse, the dusky tops of her breasts peeking out, distracting him from the men in front of him. He had to at least see if maybe she’d changed her mind about going to the sheriff. He had to give her a chance.
“Hey, Weylyn.” Gabe gave him a friendly shove. “You sure everything’s okay?”
“No. I’m good.” He shook off Natalie’s pull and refocused on the men in front of him. “You two on duty today?”
“Yeah, Rico’s stuck with me.” Gabe shouldered the other, slighter man. Rico shouldered him right back.
Luca had a brief spurt of envy. Rico was one of the few full-time enforcers so he got preference when choosing partners and he alternated between the two Wulfric brothers, Sam and Gabe, while Luca usually got the short straw of men like Brandon Bertolf.
Natalie waved again.
“Hey guys I gotta go.”
Gabe nodded at the window of the Brunch Palace. His eyebrows rose. “I see you’ve got better things to do today than work.”
Rico turned, spotted Natalie. “Orooo! That’s one hot lady, Weylyn. Watch you don’t get burned.”
The two partners laughed and walked away, laughing and shaking their heads at him. Luca headed for the door of the restaurant.
He walked inside and headed for the booth where she was sitting. “Hey Natalie.” He might get singed, but the sight of Natalie’s welcoming smile had him thinking it would be one hell of a fire.
“Hey yourself.”
When he looked closely, her eyes were shadowed, like she’d had just as little sleep as he had. But the disheveled woman he’d dropped off at the hotel the night before was gone, and in her place was this hot young thing, with bright eyes and a lipsticked smile.
Luca sat down. “You look different this morning.”
“It’s amazing what a shower will do for you.” She handed him a menu. “You’re late and I’m starved.”
He took the menu and scanned it. The waitress came by and poured them coffee and said she’d be back in a minute.
“Who were those two dudes?”
“Just some guys I know.” He blew on the hot liquid before taking a sip.
Natalie poured several creams into her coffee and dumped in a bunch of sugar packets. “Do they live at the commune with you?”
He almost spit out his coffee all over the menus. “What the hell?”
“I asked around last night. You didn’t tell me there was a whole town’s worth of people living there, and more in the surrounding community. Word is that ranch is some kind of commune where you have weird religious practices and that’s why you’re so secretive. Is that why that guy threatened me? Is he afraid I’ll bring in the law and shut down your naked rituals?”
Luca stared at her. “What naked rituals?”
“Didn’t you know? That’s what the noobs around here think. That you’re all dancing around some fire circle without clothes on and howling at the moon?”
Luca started to laugh. And laugh. And laugh some more. He laughed so hard that once he’d stopped he realized everyone in the restaurant was staring at him from their waitress to a baby with round blue eyes and baby food smeared all over her face. He sobered up slowly, taking his time to sip a little coffee before answering, “No, I didn’t know that.”
A commune. Of course, it wasn’t far from the truth. They all ran around naked at the ranch and there w
ere lots of pack who chose to live on site. It was one of the reasons no one but pack was allowed on site without lots of preparation. You never knew when someone would shift and not have anything around to wear. Shifters didn’t care about clothes, but the rest of rural Colorado did.
“Well, that’s the gossip.” She picked up her mug and eyed him over the rim. “So, if you aren’t holding weird naked religious ceremonies, what the hell is so secretive about a ranch?”
“I…” He didn’t know what to say. She’d blindsided him.
She was looking back at him with triumph sparkling in her eyes. “Cat got your tongue?”
That look on her face, as if she’d just hooked the prize at the county fair, got to him. He forgot he was supposed to be convincing her to go away and leave town. All he wanted was to take her out of this restaurant and back to his place and finish what they’d started the day before. “Man, oh man, Natalie, you are one beautiful woman.”
“What?”
“You’re amazing. You’re smart and pretty and obviously, something very special. So tell me, why do you need to know any of this? What’s got you so determined to find out what goes on at the ranch that you’d trespass onto private land, scale a rock-face by yourself, and take the time to find out what the locals think?”
“I…”
“Now that cat’s got your tongue.” He grinned at her.
He really liked her. Too much. There was something special about her that had his blood singing and all he could think as he sat across from her was that he wished she were pack and he could share everything with her.
But he couldn’t.
So instead, he needed to find out why it was so important and maybe then he could get her to let it go. “I’m not going to say anything to you, Natalie. No information. Unless you share with me first.”
She pursed her lips and the slight motion sent images of that mouth hot on his, kissing him senseless.
Grateful for the table between them that kept him from grabbing and kissing her he asked again, “Well, are you going to tell me why you have to know all this? Or do I walk away?” He moved to get up.