Cowboy Wolf Trouble

by Kait Ballenger

  Colt swore. He stepped forward, prepared to chase after her, but hesitated. If she wanted to put herself in danger, then so be it. He had more pressing matters to attend to than some she-wolf’s disobedience. He turned to mount Silver and continue his search for Lucas, but it was at that moment he caught the scent of a vampire on the breeze.

  Headed in the same direction as the she-wolf, but downwind from her. She wouldn’t detect it. Instantly, his protective instincts took over.

  “Shit.” Colt shifted and sprinted after her, running as fast as his four legs could carry him. She was fast, but he gained on her quickly. She dodged left then right, trying to throw him off her trail. Had he been any other wolf, she might have outmaneuvered him. But he wasn’t any wolf. He was Colt Cavanaugh, high commander of the Grey Wolf armies, and he’d made it his life’s work to be outplayed by no one.

  Anticipating her next move, he leaped from the bushes, tackling her. They rolled into a tangle of legs, teeth, and limbs until Colt came out on top, pinning her underneath him by biting onto the scruff of her neck as if she were no more than a pup. Even in wolf form, he outweighed her by at least fifty pounds and was nearly twice her size. Dragging her by the scruff, he pulled her back into the bushes with him and into hiding.

  The vampire likely drew closer by the second.

  Under the cover of the brush, he pinned her on her back, using his weight to keep her down and still, before he shifted into human form. She followed suit.

  As his fur receded, he clapped a single hand over her mouth, silencing her. She struggled against him and let out a strangled cry against his hand.

  Lowering his mouth next to her ear, he whispered, “Vampire. To the left.” The bloodsucker was still a considerable distance off. But that didn’t mean it couldn’t turn in their direction.

  Immediately, she stilled.

  As if in confirmation of what he’d said, a hiss sounded far off in the distance. Her head turned toward the noise and he felt her breathing quicken.

  Slowly, he removed his hand from her mouth, assured she wouldn’t make further sound. As they lay there together, naked bodies tangled in hiding, he watched her face. Adrenaline heightened every sensation, and her hazel eyes entranced him, urging him to draw closer, though he didn’t dare.

  She clutched his bicep like a vise, and braced her other hand against his chest, desperate and eager for something, someone to hold on to as her eyes urged him to help her in a silent plea.

  Another flicker of sound rustled off to the west, moving away from them. It could still circle back, but for a moment, they had a reprieve.

  He leaned down until his lips brushed her ear. “I’ll protect you,” he whispered. “You have my word.”

  At his promise, she relaxed against him.

  It was a gloriously awful mistake. Her acceptance of his touch changed the situation entirely, bringing a whole new awareness to the feel of her against him. The smooth, creamy softness of her skin. The hint of wildflower that lingered in her hair. The mounds of her naked breasts pressed against the hard planes of his chest, deliciously warm and soft. The feeling instantly stirred something low in his belly. He could feel every inch of her—the hourglass shape of her waist, the wide curve of her hips.

  He tried to fight his arousal, but he couldn’t. Not with her naked up against him. The tantalizing scent of her filled him with longing. He ached with it. Her scent drew him in like a siren. His cock stiffened until his length brushed against the warm crease of her thighs.

  Her breath caught, and her eyes grew wide in surprise, before they quickly began to narrow into a heated glare. Her mouth drew into an angry, annoyed pucker. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought his body’s reaction to her had pissed her off. But her eyes betrayed her, filled with another emotion, one that only served to worsen the situation at hand. Because what Colt saw reflected back in her golden wolf eyes wasn’t rejection, anger, or even surprise. It was desire, unmistakable.

  Pure, animal, raw.

  He felt his own eyes flicker to the gold of his wolf. Her sharp breath told him she’d noticed and slowly he shook his head, urging her to remain quiet. In response, she bit her lower lip, drawing his attention there. Their mouths were only a hairsbreadth apart, so close to touching he could practically taste her on his tongue. If their lips touched, he wouldn’t be able to hold himself back. He knew that without question. He’d take her, rough and hot, right here in the bushes like the animals they truly were.

  If only she granted him permission…

  They lingered, minutes seeming to stretch into hours as they slowly drew nearer. Just when Colt felt certain he couldn’t take the torture a second longer, that he would close the gap between their lips and kiss her, the rustling of the vampire drawing closer to them once again broke the silence. They both froze, the spell between them instantly broken. He felt the terrified thrum of her heartbeat against his chest at the vampire’s nearness. It was now several meters to the left, but they were still downwind, hidden. The forest had been prowled over by so many creatures tonight, Colt hoped it was enough to mask their scents.

  The bloodsucker lingered for a moment, then pivoted north. It must have decided to follow a different scent. After several minutes, when Colt felt certain the immediate threat had disappeared, he whispered, “It’s gone.”

  Immediately, he released her. He pushed into a plank position and lifted himself off her. Like a bat out of hell, she tore from the bushes, brushing the mixture of dirt and snow from her behind. He tried not to notice how her ample round ass and hips swayed as she did so, but it was a lost cause.

  Colt mimicked an owl’s hoot, ordering Silver to return. A minute later, the steed trotted through the trees toward them, having been trained to follow close by whenever Colt made chase. When the horse came to a halt, Colt opened his saddlebag, digging inside. He retrieved the extra pair of pants from his bag and slipped them on, eager to cover his massive cockstand.

  Locating an old T-shirt balled at the bottom of his saddlebag, he extended it toward her. He half expected her to refuse it, to shift again and run, but she didn’t. Instead, she accepted the shirt from his hand. Once his jeans were on and fully fastened and he’d given her sufficient time to cover herself, he turned around to find her standing, arms crossed. The shirt proved just long enough to cover her most intimate parts. Not that he wasn’t well acquainted with the feel of them by now.

  “Did you just touch me with…?” She gestured to his lower half, struggling to find the words until finally she settled on glaring at him.

  It had been a necessity to keep her safe. Plain and simple, and she had to know that. It wasn’t his fault his body had reacted that way in the process. She had been naked beneath him after all, and it wasn’t as though he could have prevented it. Engaging in a battle with the bloodsucker would have made her a target as well.

  He would have said as much, but something about those narrowed eyes sparked the pleasure of a challenge in him, and he found he didn’t need nor want to explain himself.

  “I’m not certain what you mean.” He knew exactly what she meant, but whoever this she-wolf was, he wasn’t going to make it easy on her.

  A defiant spark lit in her eyes that made him want to bend her over his knee and make that gorgeous behind of hers as pink as the blush on her cheeks. She indicated the lower half of his body again, making some bizarre signals with her hand as she pantomimed. She had to know how ridiculously amusing she looked from the way the fire in her eyes grew with each passing second.

  He watched with silent amusement as her frustration built.

  “A mongoose? An eggplant? I’m not very good with charades,” he said. A wicked grin crossed his lips. He enjoyed watching her bristle.

  Her hands clenched into fists. “You know exactly what I mean.”

  “My cock…” he finally offered.

  The blush
that burned on her cheeks and spread down the length of her neck caused the appendage in question to jerk in response. She had looked downright delectable flushed pink and bare in his arms. At least this time, the evidence of his thoughts was safely tucked beneath the fly of his jeans.

  “Yes… Yes, that,” she finally managed. “First you accuse me of stealing your horse, and watching you strip nude, and then you mount me with something that may as well have been attached to Biscuit over there,” she cast a quick wave toward Silver.

  Colt didn’t know where to begin. He wasn’t certain which part of that sentence he was hung up on more. The fact that she had been trying to steal his horse and watching him nude, that she thought Silver’s name was something as ridiculous as Biscuit, or the fact that she’d announced he may as well have been part horse between the legs.

  At least the last point was a fair assessment.

  “You were trying to steal my horse,” he said, deciding to start there.

  The horse in question gave a small, enthusiastic shake as he lifted his tail and batted his large, dark eyes. He puffed up like a damn peacock, eating up all the attention like it was sugar cubes.

  She released an impatient huff, as if he were slow on the uptake. “That’s beside the point.”

  As far as Colt was concerned, that was entirely the point. But as amusing as this frustrated little she-wolf was, he didn’t have time for this. “Look. I don’t know why you’re running around the woods during a vampire raid and stealing horses, but I won’t allow it. Not in my woods.”

  “Your woods?” She looked at him as if he were the insane one. “Last I checked, I had every right to be standing on this mountainside, no less than you do, and I didn’t steal your—”

  “That’s beside the point.” He turned her own words against her.

  Already this woman was pushing his buttons. But Colt was controlled, calculated. He wouldn’t rise to the bait, however difficult he found it not to.

  Releasing a steady sigh, he raked his fingers through his hair. “Let’s start with something simple then. What’s your name, sweetheart?”

  “I’d prefer not to start there, Commander.” She uttered his title as if it were little more than a participation trophy. From the way she said it, she knew who he was. She simply didn’t appear to give one flying fig.

  Colt fought down a growl. He wasn’t used to being defied, and he wasn’t sure he liked it. The woman was as frustrating as she was beautiful, and she had the saucy little tongue of a viper to match. In any case, he needed to get her to safety and fast. It was his duty to protect the pack, even viper-tongued she-wolves.

  “Fine,” he said coolly. “But you’re still going to march that sweet little ass of yours over to Biscuit,” he said, highlighting the absurdity of the name, “and get on the godforsaken horse, so I can take you to safety.”

  At least Silver had the presence of mind to look confused at the unfamiliar name. He stared at them while chewing on a blade of grass.

  The she-wolf looked at Colt as if he’d grown two heads. “No one has ever called my ass little.”

  That’s what she’d gathered from this? He couldn’t help raking his gaze over her. She was fuller-figured than many women of their kind, but to him, she was perfect. All luscious feminine curves to his hard muscles.

  “No, I’m certain they haven’t,” he said.

  Judging from her frown, she hadn’t caught the hint of appreciation in that statement.

  Ignoring the comment, she nodded toward Silver. “What if I don’t get on the horse?” she asked.

  His cock gave another eager pulse. Maybe he did like the defiance—at least from her. From the growing ache in his jeans, his lower head had different opinions from his ego.

  Colt was about to tell her that if she didn’t get on the horse, he would take one of each of her ample ass cheeks in his hands, bend her over, and give her a proper spanking for disobedience as any good cowboy would—a spanking that would leave her thinking of him with every bounce of the ride back to the camp—but as he opened his mouth, a familiar scent on the edge of the breeze alerted him, and Silver let out a warning whinny.

  Instead, he only managed to breathe out one word to her before the vampire came crashing into the clearing.

  “Run.”

  Order Kait Ballenger’s next book

  in the Seven Range Shifters series

  Cowboy in Wolf’s Clothing

  On sale June 2019

  About the Author

  Kait Ballenger hated reading when she was a child because she was horrible at it. Then by chance, she picked up the Harry Potter series, magically fell in love with reading, and never looked back. When she realized shortly after that she could tell her own stories and they could be about falling in love, her fate was sealed.

  She earned her BA in English from Stetson University—like the Stetson cowboy hat—followed by an MFA in writing from Spalding University. After stints working as a real vampire, a.k.a. a phlebotomist, a bingo caller, a professional belly dancer, and an adjunct English professor (which she still dabbles in on occasion), Kait finally decided that her eight-year-old self knew best: she was meant to be a romance writer.

  When Kait’s not preoccupied with writing captivating paranormal romance, page-turning suspense, or love scenes that make even seasoned romance readers blush, she can usually be found spending time with her family, being an accidental crazy cat lady (she has four now—don’t ask), or with her nose buried in a good book. She loves to travel—especially abroad—and experience new places. She lives in Florida with her doting librarian husband, her two adorable sons, a lovable, mangy mutt of a dog, and four conniving felines.

  And yes, she can still belly dance with the best of them.

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