by Anna Lowe
“We’re really going to let this guy stay?” Kyle protested. “Right here among our families? What if he’s lying?”
“Don’t worry,” Cody said. “We’ll keep a close eye on him. And just think. We can use an extra hand with some of the projects no one’s excited about taking on.”
“Like what?” Tina asked.
Cody flashed a sly smile. “Oh, I have a few ideas. What do you think, Ty?”
Ty looked like he’d prefer getting rid of Luke the old-fashioned way, but when Lana put a hand on his arm, he took a deep breath and nodded.
“You set it up. And keep a good eye on him.”
“You bet I will,” Cody said. “Any volunteers to help?”
“Me,” Kyle grunted. “Believe me, I’ll keep an eye on him.”
Me, too! Me, too! Carly’s wolf cried, but she batted it down. No way was she admitting what she felt for this man to anyone.
Not even herself.
Chapter Seven
Four days later…
Luke had survived a lot of bad times. Desperate times, when he hadn’t known where to go. Hungry times, when he was young and struggling to hang on. Rough-and-tumble times, as he’d fought his way to the top of the drifter pack.
But he’d never experienced anything like the last four days.
Four bone-aching days in which the wolves of Twin Moon Ranch had thrown everything at him they could. One break-your-will test after another.
“You want to prove yourself, wolf?” the alpha, Ty Hawthorne, had challenged him. “Do it. Starting right there.”
Right there was the old cesspit beside Kyle Williams’ house. The place had once been a bunkhouse with no amenities except an outhouse. The cesspit had been covered over ages ago, but the rotten boards were threatening to cave in. The pit needed to be mucked out, filled in, and covered over so the area was secure for kids.
Kids who seemed to have been evacuated for the time it took Luke to finish that miserable job, because Kyle Williams didn’t trust him one bit. The guy watched Luke like a hawk the whole time — whether Luke was up to his knees in petrified shit, tossing shovel after shovel up or hauling it away in a wheelbarrow. It was nowhere near as messy as he’d feared — in fact, the setting in the shade of mighty cottonwoods might even be called nice. But the work was backbreaking, and the symbolism burned his soul. The wolves of Twin Moon Ranch hadn’t just forced him to his knees — they’d put him a level lower than any living creature on earth.
It would have been easier if Kyle had jeered or shown sick satisfaction in seeing Luke forced to stoop so low, but he didn’t. He just looked on with grim distrust, reminding Luke how much proving he really had to do.
So, no — Kyle didn’t say much, and Luke worked in quiet monotony. The others would come and go, checking on his work. Ty would stop by and glower. The pack’s main tracker, Zack, would pause, have a word with Kyle, and shoot Luke glares of warning.
Make sure you never mess with my pack, asshole. Don’t you dare mess with us.
Luke gritted his teeth and worked on. Each of those men was a powerful alpha type, though Ty was obviously the top dog. Still, Luke’s inner wolf itched to take them on. He figured he stood a fair chance, too, but that wasn’t the point. He had a new type of battle to fight now — an inner battle that was all about holding back instead of lashing out.
And, shit. Who’d have thought showing no reaction would be so hard?
He stripped to the waist and sweated buckets under the searing sun. It wasn’t summer, but boy, did the desert heat up. Every fly on the ranch seemed to give up on the livestock in their rush to get over to him. They buzzed around his head and tried landing on his lips.
Luke cursed under his breath as he worked. Not only had he messed up his chance to beat Steen van Kleij to North Ridge and be welcomed as a hero by delivering the news of the rogues — now he was a goddamned slave to the wolves of Twin Moon Ranch.
“You miserable yet?” Cody asked cheerfully. It was his turn to keep an eye on Luke, though Kyle was lurking somewhere nearby, too.
Luke nearly snarled yes in reply. But deep down, the answer was no. He wasn’t miserable. Tired, yes. Sore, absolutely. And thirstier than he’d ever been before. But in spite of it all, it felt good, in a way. Like he was doing penance for his sins. Cleansing his soul. Proving himself, one shovelful at a time.
“Not yet,” he murmured, pushing the shovel deeper with his foot.
“Maybe we ought to work you harder.” Cody laughed in another one of his impossible-to-interpret moments. Was Cody goading him, or was he genuinely an upbeat guy?
“Maybe,” Luke murmured, refusing to take the bait.
It had taken him a while to puzzle out who was who on this ranch, but he’d finally figured it out. Cody — the most relaxed, easygoing wolf shifter Luke had ever met — was Carly’s full brother. The pack’s thundercloud of an alpha, Ty, was Carly’s half-brother. Same father, different mothers, apparently. Tina, the dark-haired she-wolf, was another half-sibling. But no one here seemed to do anything by halves. They all seemed equally close.
The whole ranch was like that, in fact. One big, happy family in which everyone was ready to drop everything to cover each other’s backs. In a word, a pack. A very tight-knit pack. Kyle, the cop he’d mauled all those years ago, had been human, yet even he had become part of this extended family together with his mate.
They were all on the inside, while Luke was on the outside. Way, way outside.
He wiped the sweat off his brow and tossed another shovel upward, resisting the urge to throw it at Cody.
Cody laughed as if he’d imagined the same thing, then grew more serious. “You can take a water break, you know.”
Luke squinted up at him. So Cody was genuinely a decent guy, it seemed. And though a short break didn’t sound bad, Luke shook his head. He didn’t need water. He needed to prove something to the wolves of Twin Moon Ranch — and to himself.
Cody stretched and walked away. “Do as you please. I’ll be right back. Time for a changing of the guard.”
That happened several times a day — a different wolf coming by to keep an eye on him — so when yet another pair of boots paraded by at eye level in the heat of the afternoon, Luke barely looked up. Until he realized the boots came with pretty laces and a pair of swinging tassels.
Carly. His breath caught before he even looked up. And when he looked up—
His heart skipped and hopped, and what was sure to be a goofy grin spread across his face. He forgot about the blisters on his hands and the long list of jobs that stretched out ahead of him. All he saw was her.
Mate! Mine! His wolf did a happy dance.
A happy dance in a cesspool. He was definitely nuts.
Carly’s legs were a mile long, especially from that angle. Her hair shone like fool’s gold, which was fitting, given the way his mind switched off. Her tank top hugged her curves, and his fingers twitched, remembering the way she’d heated under his touch.
“I warned you, didn’t I?” she said, squatting down.
He wiped his brow. “Warned me of what?”
“Turning over a new leaf isn’t worth it. Look at you. You’re wallowing in lonely misery.”
He laughed, and damn, did it feel good. So good, it was pretty much the highlight of his day. But then again, that wouldn’t be hard.
Carly’s gaze strayed over his bare, sweaty chest before she yanked it back to his face, and his mind flashed back to their night together. Clearly, she hadn’t purged the memories either, no matter how she pretended not to care. So, yeah. That was definitely the highlight of his day. His week. His month. Hell, maybe even his whole year.
She’s the highlight of my life, his wolf whispered.
“Wallowing? I guess I am. Miserable? A little,” he admitted. “But lonely? No. Not any more.”
He locked his eyes on hers and took a deep breath, inhaling her sweet scent.
Sparks bubbled in Carly’s eyes. Her lower lip tremb
led a tiny little bit, telling him he wasn’t the only one wishing for another night. Maybe even more than one night. Maybe even—
He scowled and looked at his boots. Sure. Right. She was a member of the pack’s ruling family, and he was…standing in a pit of petrified shit.
Carly motioned around. “Are you saying this is worth it?”
It wasn’t a tease this time. Her breath caught as she awaited his answer, as if she really, really had to know. As if she was considering reinventing herself, too.
“Seriously,” she said. “Is it worth it?”
He contemplated the edge of his shovel. He could escape this ranch in a heartbeat if he set his mind to it. And yet, he hadn’t done that. Instead, he was up to his waist in muck and planning the long road ahead. Was it worth it?
He nodded slowly. “Yeah. It is.”
She cocked her head, looking for some sign of a lie. Her lips pursed, and she grew serious, even contemplative. A different Carly. A quieter, more earnest one.
His wolf hummed inside, and the whole desert seemed to lean closer, listening in. A fresh breeze tickled the air with the scent of flowers, making it feel as if he’d taken Carly’s hand and walked her to the shade of a cool stream. The earth heated, and his cheeks flushed. Hers, too.
Kiss her, the desert whispered. Kiss your mate.
He ran his tongue over his cracked lips. When another whisper reached into his mind, he clutched the shovel harder.
Kiss him. Was that Carly’s wolf, urging her on?
The blue of her eyes was brighter than ever when her gaze dropped to his lips. She leaned closer, and he did, too, holding his breath. Waiting. Wishing. Dreaming. The kind of dream that had been getting him through the roughest moments of the past few days.
A dream of Carly Daredevil Hawthorne, kissing him.
He could picture it so easily. He’d rock to the balls of his feet and let his lips close over hers to savor the taste of the world’s most delicious she-wolf. Her silky hair would cascade over his hands, and the sun would illuminate it in a heavenly glow. Her body would heat against his, and she’d slide closer, inviting him to touch and explore.
Just one kiss, his wolf begged. Just one.
Her eyes went a little glassy, asking for the same thing. I need you like you need me.
Which was crazy. What would a woman like Carly need from a man like him?
The breeze wafted through the cottonwoods, making the leaves dance, and the whisper worked its way to his soul. Peace. The sound carried like the voice of a wise old man. She needs peace.
He pondered that one. Wasn’t he the one with an ugly past to come to terms with?
Kiss her, the desert said. Or maybe that wasn’t the desert. Maybe it was destiny.
Kiss me, her quivering lip agreed.
Carly rocked forward at exactly the same time that he did, and their lips brushed. But then a horse whinnied in the distance, and Carly broke away, blinking wildly.
Luke sucked in a deep breath. Whoa. What had he been thinking?
Footsteps sounded, not too far away, and a big man — the local blacksmith, a boar shifter — waved to Carly and continued on his way.
She cleared her throat and tossed her hair, pulling herself together far more quickly than Luke did.
“Well, keep at it, then, Hot Stuff,” she said, morphing from needy she-wolf to brassy, confident Carly with every word. “Keep at it.”
When she walked away, his eyes trailed after her. Part of his soul did, too, dragging along like a puppy who didn’t want to be left behind.
You can’t change who you really are, deep down inside, she’d said to him in the bar, in a way that suggested she’d tried for herself.
He wondered how hard she’d tried and why. Wondered who she was inside.
The shirt she wore was emblazoned with a bungee jumping logo — another clue in the riddle that was Carly. What was she out to prove, taking all those risks? That she was invincible? Was she trying to punish someone — and if so, whom? Herself or her loved ones?
His wolf perked up at the thought. Loved ones. If I love her…
He shook the thought away and ordered himself back to work. One shovelful, then another. A third.
No more dreaming, he told his wolf with every heave.
But when he heard Carly’s step again, he turned around eagerly.
“Hi, Car—”
The smile froze on his face because it wasn’t Carly, after all. It was whatshername — Audrey — the she-wolf who’d ferreted him out on his first day and refused to leave him alone.
“Luke. Honey,” she purred in a voice that dripped saccharine as she leaned over to greet him. So far over, her low-cut top left nothing to the imagination.
“Hi,” he said, averting his eyes.
If he were still a horny teenager, the sight of her fleshy tits tussling with each other under that thin top might have turned him on, but not any more. If anything, the sight had the opposite effect.
“How’s it going, sugar?” she cooed.
It had been going a hell of a lot better a few minutes ago.
“Fine, I guess.” He couldn’t throw a shovel full of dirt up with her right there, so he transferred it from the left corner of the pit to the right. Anything to keep his eyes off what he really didn’t want to see.
Audrey wore her hair in a big, poofy style, bleached so often all the life had gone out of it. She leaned so far over, he was afraid she’d stage a fall and launch herself right into his arms. As it was, he was amazed Audrey didn’t keel over from the weight of the long, fake eyelashes she kept batting at him.
“I run a styling salon, you know,” she whispered seductively.
Luke blinked, wondering if she had a room in the back for “entertaining” certain customers. The second Audrey had found him on the ranch, she’d introduced herself and offered him a free cut and shave — a very close shave, as she’d put it. Her eyes had danced over his body.
A cut, he didn’t need. A shave, yes, but not by her. No way.
“And I was thinking—” she started.
“Audrey!” Cody yelled, giving Luke the evil eye. As if Luke was the one cornering Audrey and not the other way around.
Audrey straightened quickly, but the gleam didn’t go out of her eye. It just shifted over to Cody.
“Why, hello, cowboy.” She faced Cody with a deft wiggle that made the right sleeve of her shirt slip off her shoulder. “What can I do for you?”
She licked her lips, communicating a dozen options to Cody, who pursed his lips and jabbed a thumb over his shoulder.
“Um…Ty wants to see you.”
Luke arched his left eyebrow. He’d bet a hundred bucks Ty didn’t want to see any more of Audrey than he had to.
But, hell, it worked, because Audrey’s eyes sparkled and she immediately strutted off. “Bye-bye, boys. Bye-bye.”
Luke leaned on his shovel and watched her go with a sick kind of fascination. Were women like her real?
You ought to know, his wolf grumbled. You fooled around with a few in your time.
That was before I found my mate— he started, then stopped himself a little too late.
Told you. His wolf grinned. Told you Carly is our mate.
Cody sighed and turned to Luke, offering a hand to pull him out of the pit.
“Quick break.”
It was more order than offer, and Cody underscored it by throwing a heavy arm over Luke’s shoulders the second he was upright. He steered Luke to a tree stump where a water bottle stood in the shade.
“You might have figured out what Audrey is interested in,” Cody said.
Luke figured a nod wasn’t required.
“But Carly…” Cody trailed off, fishing for words. “In case you didn’t know, she’s my baby sister.” Cody jerked a thumb in the direction Carly had gone.
She’s my mate, Luke’s wolf growled quietly.
Cody went on as casually as if talking about the weather or the crops.
; “I’m not sure why she keeps stopping around here…”
Luke’s wolf growled. Because deep down, she knows we’re mates, too.
“…but if you touch my baby sister, I will rip you limb from limb.” Cody flashed a broad grin that said, Yes, I am a nice guy. And no, I am not kidding. I will happily rip you limb from limb.
Luke studied Cody, sizing him up as his wolf urged him to respond to that challenge with his own.
We can take this guy. We can fight any wolf in this pack. We can earn our mate!
He took a deep breath, fighting back the urge to act. He wasn’t here to challenge the local wolves or fight for a girl. He was here to prove himself. Could he really clean up his act? Was there any good left under all the bad?
He gulped enough water to drown a camel, hoping to wash thoughts of Carly away, and went back to work. Well, he tried to, anyway. But every shovelful of dirt, every drop of sweat that poured down his face only seemed to reinforce the image of her in his mind. And no matter what he did, the dry wind teased him with her scent.
Mate, the desert whispered insistently. Get out there and win her before…
He stopped abruptly and sniffed the wind. Before what?
Dark images swirled through his mind, all blurry and monochrome. Was there trouble afoot? Was Carly in danger?
Before what? He wanted to hiss back as he eyed the clouds over the hills.
Before it’s too late, the wind whispered. Before it’s too late.
Chapter Eight
“How’s it going, sweetheart?” a shrill voice cackled over Carly’s phone.
Carly took a deep breath, telling herself to be patient. “Fine, Mom. How are you?”
“Oh, fine, sweetie. Do you have a minute to talk?”
“I have a minute.” She checked her watch. “I promised the kids I’d go for a walk with them. I’m just about to pick them up.”
She was just about to kill Audrey, too, after seeing the hairdresser saunter over to Luke with lust in her eyes. The thought made her nauseous. That was Carly’s man, not Audrey’s.
But, oops. He wasn’t her man. She didn’t want him, right?
Wrong, her wolf sulked.