by T. S. Joyce
What he had shown Luna when he’d spoken of peace was a softness that said he wasn’t the monster the world saw.
You’re interesting.
She gave a private smile as she made her way back to her truck.
So was he.
Chapter Three
The weatherman was dead wrong.
She was only halfway through her drive to Tuff’s ranch when the storm clouds opened up on her.
Leaning forward in her seat, she gripped the wheel tighter and squinted through the heavy snow. It was like a freaking blizzard already. Her windshield wipers could barely keep up, and there was already so much snow on the roads, she was having trouble seeing the lines. She nearly missed the turnoff onto Maple Leaf Lane, and completely missed the driveway to Tuff’s place. She recognized the mailbox and had to put her truck in reverse to get back to it. The road was narrow and she couldn’t tell exactly where the ditch was on either side of it to turn around.
She wound this way and that through the trees, trying to contain her panic at the building snow hiding the gravel road. When she saw a light up ahead through the trees, she sighed in relief and loosened her choke-hold on the steering wheel.
The barn lights were on and Tuff was in the middle of dragging one of the frightened horses to the open doors.
Luna slid out of the truck and ran to the corral he’d just come from, unfastening her belt as she went.
“Heeeey,” she crooned to a black gelding who was pacing near the gate like he wanted to go with Tuff. “Shhhhh. Let’s get you somewhere warm, huh?”
He jerked back and snorted when she offered her hand, but that was okay. She was a stranger. She reached out and kept crooning nonsensical things until he let her closer. She tossed her belt around his neck and held the ends closed, then led him out of the gate. Confidence was key. She circled him back to close the gate. When she looked up Tuff was there, perched on the fence looking down at her, his eyes glowing like an animal’s. His facial features were sharper, and his teeth were gritted. His canines were longer. The snow was blowing his hair and every muscle in his body was tensed.
He didn’t say anything. Just looked to the horse she was leading and then back to her.
“I’m going to help.” She hoped her voice was loud enough to hear over the wind. What was she thinking? He could hear the heartbeat of a mouse in the barn. She didn’t know what else to say to a half-changed werewolf so she gripped the belt tighter and said, “Come on, friend.”
Beside her, the black gelding pranced sideways, but he didn’t tug the belt too much. He was a good boy. Tuff was going to have to deal with the half-wild colts running along the back of that pen. She’d picked the tamest one.
Luna took him right into the door of the barn and Duke nickered from his stall on the end. He had his head stretched all the way out.
“Hiya, fella,” she called as she led the black gelding to the stall right across from Duke.
There was a tack room up front and she grabbed a lead rope before she jogged back out into the snow, zipping up her jacket as she ran.
Tuff appeared through the billowing snow and handed off a horse to her. The sorrel was alert with his ears up, looking around, but he seemed calm enough. “This one next.” She bet his voice belonged to a wolf right now. His eyes were bright and his features sharp as glass.
With a nod, she handed him the rope she’d grabbed so he could catch another one. At least these horses already had halters on. He must’ve worked them today.
When she’d brought the sorrel to his stall, she went straight back out for another one, the sorrel’s rope in her hands to trade with Tuff again.
And they did that until they were down to the last three. Those were too wild, slashing out with their front hooves, and bucking up their back ends. “I’ll get these. Don’t want you hurt. Hay.”
“Hey?” she asked.
“Get them hay.”
Oooh. She ran back to the barn, nearly busted her butt on an ice patch by the door, righted herself and looked around for the hay storage. There was some in the loft above, and a few bales near the barn doors. She pulled her pocket knife and cut the strings on the front bale. She dropped a flake in each hay rack in the stalls.
A few were low on water so she hit the hoses on those stalls and turned them off as they filled up. While she worked, Tuff loaded the last three horses one by one into their stalls at the front of the barn.
The lights flickered, and Tuff glared up at the ceiling. The wind must’ve been blowing something fierce.
Her fingers were frozen by the time they had all the horses situated.
She kept looking at his face, but he wasn’t talking. He was just intent on the work. He was fast and efficient, and knew what he was doing. He took off halters, so she helped take off the ones at the end and then hung them in the tack room.
When she was done hanging the last one, she turned, and he was right there. She startled hard and jumped back a couple feet.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said.
“It happens a lot. It’s not you.”
Tuff frowned. “You get scared?”
She pointed to her ear. “Can’t hear people coming.” There was more to it than that, but he didn’t need to know how damaged she really was.
He canted his head and studied her. “You didn’t need me to tell you what to do.”
She shook her head. “I catch on fast. I like helping. I like being…useful.”
His lips curled back from his teeth and he ripped his bright gaze from hers. His teeth were so sharp.
Luna pressed her hand on his chest. “Hey. Do you need to change into the wolf? It’s okay.”
His heart was racing under her hand and his shoulders lifted with his heavy breath. She could feel the growl now. He stared down at her hand.
“It’s okay,” she repeated.
But instead of running off into the night, Tuff leaned in and his lips crushed hers. He pushed her backward until her shoulders hit the wall. His lips moved against her with a violence that left her shocked but wanting more. She didn’t have to be gentle with him. He was like her. He was a shifter.
She gripped the back of his hair and jumped up. He caught her behind the knees and pulled her legs around him. He was crushing her against the wall and she couldn’t get enough of this. Luna hung on tight, lost her mind completely. She had no idea what noises were coming from her when he pushed his tongue past her lips, but he seemed to like it. She could feel that growl of his rattling through her whole body and he was grinding against her now. His dick was hard as a rock, pressing between her legs. Every stroke felt good, even with their jeans between them.
Felt so good. Felt so damn good! “Tuff?” She’d lost all of her learning on volume control. Was she yelling? She didn’t fucking know and she didn’t care. “Tuff!”
He gripped her throat and ended the kiss, pecked her, then ground against her again. He said something against her lips, but she didn’t understand.
God, his hand felt good on her throat. He was the perfect amount of rough and gentle. Pulling the back of his hair, she leaned forward and clamped her teeth onto his neck. He moaned. She could feel it through her lips. He was building that pressure between her legs. Holy shit, she was going to…going to…
Hand still on her throat, Tuff eased back and let her see the words on his lips. “Come for me.”
He thrust against her harder and faster, kissed her, and she was yelling now. Her body exploded from her insides out, and in a blur she was on the ground. Just pinned against a wall one second, and then she was on the floor of his tack room the next. Tuff was leaned over her, and when he ripped his belt away from his jeans, another wave of excitement shivered up her spine. He shoved her shirt up and unsheathed his swollen cock from his jeans. He stroked himself over her, and Luna reached under him to cup his balls. He rolled his eyes back in his head and tensed, stroking fast.
Luna unzipped her jacket in a rush and pulled her sweater
all the way up, then yanked her bra down and arched up to meet him.
The veins in Tuff’s neck were so damn sexy as he yelled and leaned forward. Warmth splashed across her sensitive nipples and she cried out as her orgasm pulsed on.
He emptied himself completely onto her tits and then, chest heaving, realization pooled in his darkening eyes.
“What the fuck?” he said.
Her hair was definitely a straw smattered mess, her shirt was up to her neck, her tits were flopped out of her bra and covered in baby gravy, and Tuff was hovered over her with his hand still on his dick.
A single laugh escaped her before she pursed her lips against her inappropriate response.
They’d just lost their minds.
Tuff chuckled and zipped his jeans up slowly. Laughed again and rolled over onto his back next to her.
She giggled.
When she rolled her head to look at him, he was cracking up, which made her laugh even harder.
He rolled his head until he was facing her, just inches from her face. “I need to clean you up and feed you.”
“You don’t need to change into your wolf?”
“No, you dry-fucked that urge right out of me. Now I want a steak.”
She laughed. “Tuff! I’m a cow shifter! That’s what you’re hungry for? Beef?”
He shrugged and humor still danced in his stormy blue eyes. “I’d eat you, too. You probably taste fuckin’ delicious.”
She gasped and yep, there was the fire back in her cheeks.
He pointed to her. “Stay.”
“You’re the dog, not me. You stay.”
She wanted to hear the laugh that made his face look that happy so badly. He stood and disappeared out of the tack room, then came back a minute later with a wet cloth. He knelt and gripped the back of her neck, angled her up and gently wiped the warmth from her breasts, then pulled her up the rest of the way. Goodness, he was strong. It took him no effort to do that.
She could feel the vibrations of the blowing wind outside now.
When she was upright again, Luna took her boobs out of ho-ville to put them back where they belonged, in her bra and covered by a sweater. She followed Tuff toward the barn doors, but he turned on her right before he went out into the blustering snow, and zipped up her jacket for her.
He surprised her with how sweet he could be after he’d been so dominant in the tack room. With each layer she saw, she liked him more.
“Thank you,” she told him as he flipped the collar of her jacket up to protect her ear.
He had this faraway look on his face as he did one last check of the barn. “Your tips look good.”
She must’ve misunderstood. “My tips?”
He did this hot-boy smirk and glanced down at her northern-half curves.
The lightbulb went off in her head. “Ooooh, my tits.”
“Yep. Five stars. Highly recommend.”
“Just so you know, I don’t do this.”
“Don’t do what?” he asked, his dark eyebrow arching up as he zipped his jacket.
“Ho things.” She gestured to the tack room. “I don’t…I don’t do ho stuff with boys this soon. That’s not my style.”
“I know it’s not. I can tell.”
“Great,” she said.
“Yep.”
She nodded firmly. “Then we can just forget being embarrassed.”
“I’m not embarrassed at all,” he assured her.
“Because you…”
“Because I what?”
“You do this…often?” she asked carefully.
“Ho stuff?”
She nodded.
The smile faded from his face and his eyes went serious. “No. My animal is territorial. No one is allowed in my den. Tonight was the first time the animal didn’t care about his rules.”
Huh.
He started pushing one side of the sliding double barn doors closed, so she jogged to the other one and met him in the middle. He latched it closed and then led her toward his cabin. She slid a little on the ice that sat under the snow. He turned and picked her up, tossed her over his shoulder.
She was giggling like a maniac by the time he settled her back on her feet on the front porch.
Tuff pointed to his ear. The air froze in front of his face as he said, “I like your laugh.”
“Really?”
“It’s pretty.”
Well knock her over with a feather duster. She’d definitely never thought she would hear that compliment. “Th-thank you.”
“You’re cold. Come on.”
No, she was actually sweating from nervousness. The stutter wasn’t from a shiver. It was created from the purest form of awkwardness. If she could bottle it and sell it, she wouldn’t because no one would buy that shit.
She stomped the snow off her boots on the mat, kicked them off, set them by where he put his, and followed him inside.
Okay, his house was awesome. By the door was a bench where he clearly kicked off boots and socks. There was a little pile of both, and the throw pillows on the bench looked like they were covered in burlap sacks. The walls were wooden planks but the kitchen looked modern, with some kind of natural stone countertops and stainless-steel appliances. Even the light fixtures looked modern. The fireplace was all whitewashed brick with a jumble of logs stacked up next to it. There were pockets of chaos—a stack of mail that had piled up by the kitchen sink, a few hoodies thrown across the back of the couch, outdoor magazines in a mess all across the coffee table. But for the most part, everything else seemed to be in its place. He was clean but not overly tidy.
Which she liked because she was freaking messy. She should admit that out loud. “I’m messy.”
He was in the kitchen and turned around. “Okaay.”
“You’re a clean person but you can tell exactly what rooms I go into because I leave a trail of stuff.”
He glanced at the jacket she’d dropped by the door. “I’m sure you’re fine.”
Crap. She stooped and picked up the discarded coat, and set it on the bench. “I’m only behaving because I just met you.”
“After what we did in the barn, we ain’t strangers.”
Touché. Hands clasped behind her back, she padded into the kitchen to see what he was doing. He was seasoning two thawed steaks with butter and some seasoning mix from a mason jar.
“What if I don’t eat steak?” She looked at his lips fast to read his response.
“I got a salad kit in the fridge if you’re a grass-eater.”
Curiously, she asked, “Does your herd eat red meat?”
His smile was soft and it tugged at her heart. “All of them but Two Shots Down. He grew this moral compass that points away from eating his own kind. I’m a wolf. I have to eat red meat or the animal gets even harder to manage.”
She pulled the salad from the fridge and opened the cabinets until she found a big enough bowl. “My herd eats red meat, too.”
“Savages.”
He had a nice mouth. She liked watching how he formed words. Perfect black beard and straight white teeth. And for her, his smile was easy. Plus, he was a sensitive. That’s what she called people who were aware of her need to see their lips move to understand. He naturally turned his head toward her and said his words carefully.
She mixed up the salad and Tuff went out to his back deck and turned on his grill. Yep, that man was going to grill in the middle of a blizzard. In a t-shirt, apparently. She got her phone and took a picture of him through the window. His eyes were still a little too light to be human, but he held up the tongs and gave her a wolfish smile. The storm billowed on around him.
“I can send it to you,” she told him when he came in from putting the steaks on the grill.
“Let me see.” He held out his hand and she placed her phone in it.
He looked at the picture, then aimed the camera toward them both and snapped a selfie of them in his kitchen. She made a silly face. She wasn’t much of a serious selfie taker
. When he snapped the picture, he was laughing at her puffed out cheeks and big eyes.
“Perfect,” he told her. He added his number as a contact into her phone and sent the pictures to himself. Only he named himself Big-D McStuderson in her phone instead of Tuff.
Nicely done.
He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and entered her name as…He angled his phone toward her… “Perfect Tips.”
She snorted.
He asked all sorts of questions at dinner, which was delicious. Whatever seasoning he had made up in that mason jar belonged in restaurants. Her nerves disappeared thanks to him being so relaxed. He kept up the conversation easy, floating from one topic to the next, keeping the focus on her like he was genuinely curious. She didn’t miss it though. He was careful with information about himself. Mostly, he made jokes when she asked him anything.
“Did you go to public school?” she asked curiously.
“School and me didn’t get along.”
Okay, he hadn’t answered her. She pushed her empty plate back and tried again. “Do you get along with your cousins?”
“My cousins?
“The kids that were your age?”
“They are what they are. Finished?” he asked, pointing to her plate.
“Oh yes, but I’ll get the dishes. Sit and stay,” she teased.
She kept looking behind her to make sure he wasn’t talking, but he’d gone quiet and thoughtful and was slowly twirling his empty glass on the table.
She wasn’t so good at conversation, but with him, she wanted to keep trying.
“Do you like this place?”
He didn’t look up and she had to read his profile answer. “It’s a roof.”
“Why do you do that?” she asked, frustrated. “Why do you throw away my questions.”
“Because I don’t like interviews.”
The slap of those words stung. She couldn’t hear his tone so she tried to read his face, but it was a careful mask of indifference.
“I’ve done something wrong.”
“You haven’t done anything wrong,” he said. His eyes were still cool though.
“I didn’t mean to sound like an interview. I’m not…” Luna wrung her hands. “I’m not…” Just say it.