Rodeo Wolf: Fated Mates of Somewhere, Texas (#2)

by Krystal Shannan

  He smiled into her hair. “I wish there was. But this is my penance now.”

  They clung to each other while Bracken paced and Beau watched, soaking everything in, and the Quades all stood in stunned silence. Dee and Will clung to each other, and his cousin stared at him like he was crazy.

  Maybe he was.

  Miranda Quade looked over her shoulder, hatred in her eyes. Ryan’s hackles went up, and he touched Bracken’s arm with his elbow. His alpha looked so pissed. But he was handling his anger, channeling it into support for Kate. He was a good alpha.

  “We have to do it,” Phillip’s whisper finally became audible, like he was getting angry with his wife and not able to control himself anymore. “What if we don’t get another chance?”

  Miranda shook her head. “You’re making a mistake, Phillip.”

  But the old alpha shook his head and turned away from her. He gestured toward Ryan and called out, “I have two conditions.”

  “What are they?” Ryan asked, keeping Kate against him.

  “You travel with us during rodeo season,” he said. “One of my boys will be with you at all times.”

  “Done.”

  “And you move closer than Durant. At least down to Somewhere, if you won’t live in El Paso. I won’t have you in another state. Or my grandchildren.” His voice was so hard, it sounded like he was ready to call the negotiations and start fighting.

  Ryan hesitated. He hadn’t planned on moving away from Durant. He didn’t want Kate any closer to her grandfather. That was a deal breaker. She needed to not be anywhere near him. But Somewhere was still a full day’s drive from El Paso. And there were other wolves there. Good ones.

  But it meant he would have to leave his pack completely. He wouldn’t be able to streamline the daily operations of the Trewitt ranch. The scaled-up breeding enterprise would become Bracken’s and Beau’s.

  He didn’t want to leave his home. But keeping Kate and his brother and Bracken and Dee alive…well, that was more important. Kate needed to know how much he loved her. How safe she was with him.

  “Done,” he ground out.

  “And one more thing,” Phillip said, walking toward him, his hand out in a handshake.

  Ryan reluctantly held his hand out in response, holding his ground until the alpha was practically standing in front of him. Then he took half a step in front of Kate to keep her protected from the old asshole.

  Phillip grabbed him, pulling him close, and hissed into his ear. “You can die.”

  And he didn’t even see the knife.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  The sound of metal against flesh made bile rise in Kate’s throat. The smell of blood in the air almost immediately followed it. She lunged forward, but Bracken and Beau held her back.

  “Let go. Ryan! No!” She kicked at her brand new alpha, trying to get to her mate while pain from his wound lanced through her side. It burned as badly as if the knife had pierced her own body.

  Ryan held her grandfather’s wrist now—the one with the knife—and they were staring at each other with such hatred, their gazes seemed to slice worse than a steel blade. The veins on Ryan’s neck were popping out and sweat beaded his brow.

  “This is between them now, Kate,” Bracken rumbled in her ear. “If you interfere, it turns into a brawl.”

  The dueling bodies moved again, and this time the knife went into Ryan’s upper thigh. Kate bit her lip to keep from screaming out in pain. Ryan used the momentum to shoulder her grandfather backward several paces, ramming him into the side of Dee’s white pickup.

  Both men grunted and growled. Ryan’s shirt was bloody. His jeans were bloody too. But his fists landed solidly into her grandfather’s stomach with a swift one-two pattern.

  He grabbed the hand with the knife and twisted, using the old man’s forward momentum against him. Her grandfather’s body flipped over Ryan’s back and landed on the dusty ground with a thud.

  Didn’t seem to faze the old man at all. For someone upward of a hundred he was built like a steel trap.

  He was back on his feet in a moment, weaving and waving that bloody knife. She tried to move toward her mate again, but both Bracken and Beau tightened their hold on her.

  “He’d never forgive us if you got hurt,” Beau whispered.

  “Grandfather will kill him,” Kate sobbed out. “I can’t let that happen! I can’t lose him.”

  The two fighters faced off and circled each other, looking for a way in.

  “Nah, Ryan’s just letting him get a few in to make it look like a fair fight,” Beau said, his voice holding just enough mirth to make Kate doubt the scene unfolding in front of her.

  She held her breath, wanting to do something to help her mate, but Bracken and Beau closed ranks, holding her back with their broad shoulders. Their big frames were like walls of solid muscle on either side of her.

  Another swipe of the knife, but Ryan blocked it this time and grabbed his opponent by the wrist. Kate’s breath caught, feeling the rush of victory inside her mate. He kicked out one of the old man’s legs, bending him at the waist, then brought his closed fist down hard on her grandfather’s back.

  “Come on, Phillip,” yelled Miranda Quade, standing in tense anger on the outside of the circle. This was the unspoken rule. Let them fight.

  Her grandfather growled, but couldn’t get out of the arm lock Ryan now had him in. They continued to struggle against each other, kicking and rotating. Ryan slammed the old man’s wrinkled hand against Dee’s truck, but the knife didn’t drop.

  The urge was strong, with tensions so high, to hope this would end in a blink. But they were too evenly matched.

  Turning in her mate’s arms, Dee looked away.

  Phillip kicked off the side of Dee’s truck to gain leverage, but Ryan absorbed it and threw them both to the ground with a resounding thunk. Her mate was on the bottom first, the knife pointed at his neck.

  Kate’s pulse pounded in her ears. Her legs turned to jelly. Please. Please. Please. The damn man wrestled bulls for fun. He could take her grandfather, no matter how tough. He could do this. She closed her eyes and prayed, unable to watch anymore. The stakes were too high. The possibility that Ryan would lose was too unbearable.

  “Get him!” Miranda screamed, and the hatred in her voice chilled Kate’s blood. How could she have believed this woman loved her, cared about her? There was no love in her heart. “Go for the kill, Phillip. Bring our granddaughter back to us. Kill him!”

  The sound of the struggle almost brought Kate’s eyes open, but she just couldn’t watch. With Bracken and Beau still holding her back, there was only one way she could reach him—she pushed her love across the bridge of their bond. I love you, Ryan, she wanted to say. I love you. Stay with me. I need you.

  Kate’s heart stopped at the sound of steel slicing into flesh. She opened her eyes and tried to scream, but only a wordless gasp came out.

  Blood poured onto the ground, but she felt no pain. It wasn’t Ryan’s blood. Not this time. It couldn’t be…but what if it was? What if his death had broken the bond. Kate yanked on her arms again, desperate to get to him, but neither Bracken nor Beau would give an inch.

  After what felt like the longest seconds of her life, Ryan moved.

  He pulled the large, wood-handled knife from her grandfather’s neck and jabbed the air with the bloody blade, pointing it at her grandmother, who had sunk to her knees with a cry of pain. All of the Quades had done the same. They were on their knees in the dirt or on all fours. Pain etched into each of their faces. The cries were deafening. Even Will. Everyone.

  “I’m taking Kate home. You’ll never see us again,” Ryan said, his voice booming out across the field.

  “You gave your word.” Her grandmother spat out, somehow managing the words through the obvious torture of losing an alpha bond and a mate bond in one stroke.

  “That deal died when he tried to kill me.” Ryan stood over the body of his fallen foe like a champion. “If you or
your pack so much as ever cross the Texas-Oklahoma state line, I will rain down hell on all of you.”

  Kate felt a moment of pity for her grandmother. She’d been yoked to Philip for so many years. Surely she hadn’t been so mean and cold in the beginning. Surely the pack hadn’t always been this screwed up. But her heart told her it didn’t matter. That it had been poisoned for a long, long time, and the only way out—unless another, wholly different alpha stepped up—was to escape.

  “You offered yourself,” screamed Miranda Quade, her voice almost inhuman. “I told him to take your deal. I told him you wouldn’t lie, but he didn’t believe me. Please don’t keep me away from my family.”

  “When he shoved this knife into my gut, all my goodwill ended. You are nothing to Kate. Not anymore. Your pack is nothing to her. You have no claim. And I will kill any Quade who comes near her again. Or any of my pack.” He wiped the bloody knife on his pants leg and then slipped it into his belt. Then he turned on his cousin and her new mate. “Dee, you’re coming home with us.” He pointed at the white truck. “Get in.”

  “Ryan, I can’t just—”

  “Either your mate comes with us and pledges to Oklahoma, or he goes home to El Paso without you. You are not pledging to their pack. Their alpha declared war and I refuse to have family on the wrong side. Get in the truck,” he roared out the last few words.

  Both Dee and Will nodded. With Dee’s support, Will managed to walk to the red truck. They pulled a couple of duffle bags out of the back, then moved them to Dee’s white one. He couldn’t take his. It belonged to the pack. They’d never let him have it. Will was stumbling through the pain, but his mate helped him into her truck.

  Kate glanced at her family one last time, all writhing in pain from the loss of their alpha. They would have to bond to someone quickly to even be able to function. Her grandmother. Her cousins. Some of them looked lost and bewildered beneath the ache that had taken up residence inside them. Some looked angry. Her brother was on the ground too. Daniel looked up at her for a moment, but there was no regret. No sorrow in his ice-blue gaze for what had just transpired between their two packs. Just anger. No doubt he would blame her for Grandfather’s death. For everything. They all would.

  Ryan was right. Phillip had declared war.

  She shuddered through a breath and broke away from her brother’s glare. Breathe. In and out. Bracken and Beau released her and Ryan’s arms were around her a second later. Breathing became so much easier.

  She feathered her hands over her mate’s body, inspecting every inch of him for injuries. Bruises abounded, but the two stab wounds seemed to be the only defined damage. They would heal in a few hours thanks to his wolf’s enhanced healing. With proper bandaging, they wouldn’t even leave a scar.

  “I love you so much, Ryan Travis. There aren’t enough words to tell you how much you mean to me.” She slipped her hands around the back of his neck, pulled him toward her, and kissed him hard. “I was so scared I’d lose you.”

  He shook his head and pulled back. “I would never have let him win.” He cupped her face gently, stroking her cheek with his calloused thumb. “I love you and I will never ever let anyone hurt you again.”

  She sobbed. She couldn’t help it. All the adrenaline and worry from the fight came crashing down at once. She could feel his emotions mixed with hers. She was happy and terrified and exhausted all in the same exhalation.

  Ryan slipped one hand behind her legs and the other under her arm and lifted, cradling her against his chest. “It’s time to go home, baby,” he whispered into her ear. “I got you.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Bracken accepted Will’s bond before they left Tyler. Ryan didn’t like the idea of leaving a whole pack of wolves with that kind of pain, but there was nothing to be done. They would need a new alpha bond, and there was no way they would pledge themselves to Bracken. Not that any of the Trewitts would want the Quades around now.

  This was war.

  Ryan lay in the back of Bracken’s truck, his head cradled in Kate’s lap. She’d insisted on using the first-aid kit in the tack box in the back, and he was at least bandaged. They’d need a new kit, though, because it had taken all their supplies to clean and dress his wounds.

  Beau had offered to go with Will and Dee, partly to give the alpha time with his brother, and partly because they had to make sure the new couple made it to Oklahoma—that they didn’t try to go back.

  The pull of the Quade family was real. Ryan didn’t get it, but it was real.

  He glanced up at his mate, who had her fingers in his hair. She hadn’t stopped touching him since the fight was over. He could understand it, though. He didn’t want her to stop touching him either.

  They’d pulled back onto the road toward Durant.

  “I’m gonna have to call Aaron VonBrandt,” Bracken finally said, breaking the silence.

  Ryan cringed at the words. They were falling back into their old way of communicating. Bracken talked to Ryan about everything he did as alpha. Training. But Ryan couldn’t take over as alpha anymore.

  “Yeah,” he said, anyway. Their old pattern.

  “He’s gonna want to know about what happened to Phillip.”

  “Yeah.”

  “There will be a new alpha in that Quade pack.”

  “Yeah.”

  “They weren’t able to figure out anything else about this un-bonded wolf business, at the summit, and now I wonder if Quade knew more than he was saying about that,” his alpha continued, pulling out onto the main road and hitting the cruise control. Bracken sat back and Ryan could feel his presence shift in the vehicle.

  “They didn’t tell us anything about that,” Kate piped up, easing some of Ryan’s tension about whether or not to engage her in the conversation. “Is that why we were all gathered for the summit?”

  “The VonBrandts found an unbonded wolf in New Orleans.” Ryan reached his right hand down to stroke her calf, just to be able to touch her. It made his side ache, but dammit, it was worth it.

  “Like, her alpha was dead?”

  “Like, she was raised without a pack,” Bracken said.

  Kate’s intake of breath was sharp. It mimicked the shock Ryan had felt upon hearing about the same thing from his alpha. Un-bonded wolves were basically unheard-of among the Moonbound packs. The lack of an alpha bond would torment a wolf, unless that wolf had never experienced such a bond. Unless that wolf had never had a pack.

  Ryan couldn’t imagine it.

  Kate’s fingers tightened in his hair, like she could feel the frustration swirling in him. He gazed up at her face, but she wasn’t looking at him. Her eyes were fixed on her new alpha, and for good reason. Bracken’s magick was swirling around them in the cab, and he probably didn’t even know it. He’d been thrown off by this visit to Somewhere.

  Big time.

  “How could she have been raised without a pack?” his mate asked, curling her fingers against his scalp and scratching. This was something she did subconsciously, when she was tense, like she was scratching a dog’s neck for comfort. He liked it, but it was turning him on a little too much. Or turning his wolf on. Or both.

  “She doesn’t remember her family. Her mother apparently dropped her off at a church in New Orleans when she was a baby, which also suggests that there was something wrong with the mother.” Bracken’s magick tightened the air and made it harder for Ryan to breathe.

  “Hey, Brack,” he said in a low voice. “Your magick.”

  The air calmed again and both Kate and Ryan let out long breaths. Her fingers relaxed, back to her normal stroking. He was gonna get hard at this rate.

  “So what happened at the end of the summit?” Ryan pulled his mate’s hand onto his chest so she’d stop lighting up all the nerve endings on his big head, making his little head think it was time to dance.

  “Aaron called things off on account of Phillip’s display this morning. We were already starting to realize that we’d need to call a bigger
summit together,” Bracken said. “Francis and Aaron have some business contacts with other packs. Adam and I know a few more packs who have wolves that are regularly on the rodeo circuit.”

  “There are the McConnells, in Kentucky,” Ryan said. “The Gallaghers and their Proulx cousins in Colorado and Wyoming. The Vegas pack.”

  “Falcon Scott’s little pack in Kansas,” Bracken added.

  Kate’s fingers momentarily tightened around his, like the mention of the Manhattan pack had dredged something up for her. But she relaxed her fingers back against his chest, steering clear of his wound. It would take time for that name not to bring up emotions for her, but he tried not to show that he’d noticed her response.

  “Francis Dubois is connected to the Rangers,” Ryan said, continuing like there was nothing strange happening.

  “And he’s planning to ask his nephew, Rainier, who’s a Ranger, to join us in Vegas.”

  “Vegas?” Kate and Ryan repeated at the same time.

  “Yeah, Aaron wants to call a big summit in Vegas in a few weeks. The week before the next moon, so we’re not stuck shifting in a completely unfamiliar place. He’s offered to pay transportation costs for all the alphas. He knows some hotel that will basically give us a wing of the place, and he wants to convene as many wolves as he possibly can. He’ll get in touch with all the alphas he knows, and so will Francis, and so will we.”

  Kate looked down at him. She could hear the expectation in Bracken’s voice just like Ryan could. Were they really going to ignore the fact that he was mated? Again?

  “Uh, Brack…” Ryan started, not quite sure where he was going with this.

  “Yeah, I know. We’ve got to talk about this alpha stuff.” His big shoulders went up and down, against the seat in front of them. Ryan could feel the magick swirling again.

  “Yes, we do.” Kate’s fingers returned to his hair, absently. She might as well have wrapped her hand around his dick.

  Ryan pulled himself up into a sitting position, wincing at the pain. Once he’d slid against Kate’s side, he wrapped his arm around her back. He’d rather be in a little bit of discomfort than get a full-on erection in the truck with his alpha.