by Anna Lowe
“I like this one,” she murmured.
He cracked an eye open and found her tracing the tattoo that circled his shoulder.
“And this one,” she said, moving on to the jagged lines above.
One by one, she catalogued them all. The zigzag patterns, the angry tornado whorls. The interlocking triangles around the bigger, bolder blocks. Some he had no recollection of acquiring. Others he remembered all too well.
He watched Carly, trying to keep the past in the past. But then she got to the one tattoo that wasn’t entirely abstract, and he held his breath.
He’d been with women who’d studied his tattoos, but none of them got that particular one right. The big, bold circle swirled around a wolf etched in thick, separate strokes.
Oh, they’d say. It’s a wolf, howling at the moon. That’s cute.
Which always made him wince, because they couldn’t be more wrong.
Carly ran her finger over that section again and again, and the smile playing around her lips faded.
“A wolf crying under the moon,” she whispered sadly.
Luke went perfectly still. It figured Carly would be the one person to see that tattoo for what it was, just the way she saw him for what he was.
Her eyes flicked to his face, and he saw a question in them. Why is he crying?
Before he could answer, though, she put a finger on his lips and shook her head. As if she didn’t need the answer, because she already knew.
The wolf was him. A wolf who hadn’t quite come to terms with his ghosts or atoned for his sins.
She stroked the wolf’s back as if petting it and kissed Luke softly on the brow — exactly the kind of kiss he needed just then.
“No regrets,” she whispered.
He forced a thin smile. He had a shit-ton of regrets. But this night wasn’t one of them, so he leaned forward and nuzzled her. Lightly at first, then harder, scrubbing her with the stubble of his jaw. Marking her as thoroughly as she marked him.
Carly’s hands ran over his back then nudged toward his ass in long, lingering sweeps that hinted she was ready for more. Was he?
He rolled onto his back and motioned her closer, then captured her lips in a kiss. Hell, yes, he was ready.
He was just about to roll on top of her when she beat him to it. One surprisingly firm hand pressed him back into the mattress, and her blue eyes sparkled.
“Lie back,” she ordered him.
He grinned so hard, his cheeks hurt.
“Make me,” he whispered.
Her eyes dropped to his cock, and she licked her lips. “I’ll make you want to.”
He chuckled, settled back, and let her move over him, scattering wet kisses around the tight nub of his nipple as she went. Slowly, she moved downward, and every nerve in his body hummed in anticipation.
She’d been straddling his thigh, and as she slid down, he could feel her go wet for him in the same way his cock glistened for her.
She smacked her lips — once, twice — then stopped.
“You should see yourself, Hot Stuff,” she laughed.
Spread out and powerless to resist? Cock straining for the first touch of those incredible lips? Well, he could live with that, given the woman he was handing the reins to.
“I like what I see,” he murmured, noting the hunger in her eyes.
“I like what I see, too,” she said, tiptoeing her fingers down his abdomen to his cock. She wrapped her hand around it and started tugging gently up and down.
He was a goner right there. And when she dipped low enough to drop out of his line of sight, he held his breath. A second later, her lips closed around his cock, and his eyes just about rolled back in their sockets.
“Good?” she asked out of the side of her mouth.
“Great,” he whispered, threading his fingers through her hair to guide her back into place.
Chapter Thirteen
Luke never wanted to wake up. He could snooze his life away as long as it felt this good.
Mate, his wolf murmured, still groggy. Mate loves me.
Her leg wound over his, and he smiled without opening his eyes. It was morning — the kind of morning he’d pictured having after their night at the bar, back when they’d met initially.
Except for something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Some new stress had wormed its way into his gut while he lay there snoozing, and the last part of the morning wasn’t entirely peaceful anymore. Something itched at the edge of his conscious, but he was so tired — and the residual bliss so good — that he slumbered right through whatever that was trying to warn him of something.
Just relax, he’d told himself, drifting back off to sleep. For once, let yourself relax.
And he had. Sometime later, he woke again and sniffed, ready to inhale Carly’s sweet scent. But instead of sighing with pleasure, his nose crinkled. Some bad scent was registering instead. He sniffed again, stiffening despite the soft rub of a hand on his ribs.
“Morning, baby,” she whispered.
He frowned. Had Carly’s voice grown huskier overnight? And damn, he didn’t remember her nails being that long or painted or—
When she kissed his ear — more like, licked his ear — he shuddered. Last night, Carly’s touch had been an elixir. Now, it made his skin crawl.
He turned slowly to come face-to-face with her, wondering what had changed.
“Whoa,” he yelped.
“Surprise, baby,” a sultry voice said.
He blinked and, holy shit. That wasn’t Carly’s golden wave of hair. That hair had had all the life bleached out of it.
“Audrey?” He jumped clear out of the bed and slammed into a chair as the scent of her dime-store perfume hit him. “What are you doing here?”
She chuckled and batted those oversized eyelashes at him. “Surprise, baby. Did you miss me?”
Hell, no. He didn’t miss her. Why would he?
Audrey’s eyes dropped to his groin, and she licked her lips.
Fuck. He grabbed the towel he’d discarded the night before and wrapped it around his waist.
“I heard what happened. I came to take care of you,” Audrey purred, sounding a hell of a lot like a cat purring to a mouse.
“Where’s Carly?” he demanded.
For a second, his gut lurched. Had Carly left without saying good-bye? She’d promised not to.
No, wait. He remembered a sleepy kiss and a whispered, I have to go. Something about a field trip with the kids. Or had he been dreaming that?
Crap, had he dreamed the whole thing?
Audrey scooched across the mattress and propped her face in her hands, looking up at him far too innocently. Her shoulders were bare, her skin flushed.
“Who cares about anyone but you and me? It’s just us here.”
Us? He and Audrey weren’t an us and never would be. But, shit. Had he been so out of it that he’d slept with Audrey?
No way, his wolf snarled.
He looked around the room, sniffing deeply. Carly’s scent was all over the place. On the sheets, on the towel. On his skin. So, whew. All Audrey had done — so far — was curl up beside him while he was asleep — a sitting duck, in other words. He’d long since figured Audrey was a man-eater, but fuck. The woman was as low as they came, sneaking in on him like that.
Sunlight cut through the windows, and a rooster crowed. Daylight already. A mixture of exhaustion and deep, sexual satisfaction had lulled him into the soundest sleep he’d had in years. But now… He’d never felt dirtier or more used. His claws pushed under his nails, itching to punish the tramp.
“What time is it?” he asked.
Audrey brought her elbows together, plumping up the ample breasts overflowing from a lacy red bra. “No hurry, baby. We have time.”
He dropped the towel, grabbed his boxers, and pulled them on. Fast.
Audrey whistled. “Now that’s a sight for sore eyes. No need to hide, honey. Not from me.”
He yanked his pants on wordlessly —
his grimy pants from the day before, which seemed like a lifetime ago — and muttered under his breath. He’d never been closer to unleashing his claws on a woman.
“Get out,” he barked through clenched teeth.
“But, baby, don’t you think I deserve a reward for waiting for—”
“Out!” he shouted, though he beat her to the door, grabbing his shirt as he went. Shit, this was supposed to be an entirely different kind of morning. A nice one. Quiet, too — the first truly quiet morning he’d had in a long, long time.
He hurried away from the guest house, untangling his shirt as he went, then pulling it over his head. Clean skin, filthy shirt. Like his past and present, butting up against each other yet again.
“Luke!” The screen door slammed behind him, and Audrey scurried out along with a waft of her overwhelming perfume. She was wearing her bra, and her shirt was in her hands.
His shirt blindfolded him for a moment — thank God, because he’d already seen enough of Audrey for a lifetime — but he hurried on. The second he yanked the shirt down from his face, he pulled up short.
Oh, shit.
Cody Hawthorne stood ten steps away, scowling. Sunny Cody Hawthorne, who’d never looked more like his grouchy brother, Ty.
Cody glared at him, then flicked his eyes away just long enough to glance behind Luke.
“Audrey,” Cody grunted in a flat, dangerous tone. “Go.”
“I was just—” she protested.
“Go.”
Luke waited for her to blurt the truth in her own defense. For her to say something like, I didn’t sleep with him. Why would I?
But she didn’t say a word. She just strutted away, her shirt limp in her hands.
Cody stood dangerously still, giving Luke the evil eye. Then he shook his head. No words. Just a bitter shake of the head that cut Luke to the bone.
I didn’t… I wouldn’t…
Luke wanted to shout, to explain. He’d worked his ass off for days. He’d resisted so many wrongs and even managed to get a couple of things right. He hadn’t laid a hand on Audrey, and he didn’t want to. Couldn’t Cody see that?
Footsteps scuffed the earth to his right, but he didn’t bother looking. How could this possibly get worse?
“You bastard,” Carly said.
He whipped his head around. “Wait, Carly—”
Her hair was gold and shiny in the early morning light. Her skin, too. Her tan seemed even more golden beside the brown leather of his jacket — yes, she was wearing it in public, even. But her face was thunderous. She’d been carrying a steaming mug in each hand, but her elbows drooped, and coffee poured to the ground.
“What were you doing with Audrey?”
The scent of fresh coffee hit his nose, another reminder of the morning he didn’t get to have.
“I just woke up. I don’t know how she got in there.”
He stepped toward Carly, but Cody blocked the way like a goddamn linebacker. “You don’t know how she got in?” His voice was full of scorn.
“I was asleep! I didn’t notice.”
Carly’s eyebrows flipped up in fury. “You didn’t notice the difference between me and Audrey?”
He looked around. Jesus, how could he ever explain?
The anger in Carly’s eyes turned up a notch. “I went to set up what I needed for the field trip as quickly as I could. I even got us breakfast. And I come back to find this?”
What could he say? What could he do?
She turned on her heel and stomped away.
“Carly,” he tried, but Cody stepped closer, crowding him.
“I told you not to mess with my sister or anyone else in this pack.” Cody tilted his head to the right. “Now, go.”
At first, Luke thought Cody was throwing him off the ranch, but it was worse than that. Cody was pointing him to the council house where Ty stood, frowning murderously.
Luke glanced over his shoulder at Carly, but all he saw was the red of Cody’s face.
Carly! He tried calling to her mind, and for a second, he thought he heard her hurried stride pause. Carly, how you can believe I would have anything to do with Audrey. Why would I?
Because all men are the same, her voice shot into his mind, full of disdain.
That’s not me, he pleaded. That’s not me.
She snorted and threw up a barrier to block any other thoughts from getting through. When she passed his truck, she all but ripped off his jacket and threw it in the back.
Carly!
The wind blew from over the hills, and a parched tumbleweed rolled past. Cody shoved him toward the council house.
“I told you not to touch my sister,” Cody growled again.
Luke didn’t bother looking back at him. He looked straight ahead, bracing himself to face Ty. He climbed the stairs and stepped over the threshold, squinting as he went from the bright light of day to darkness.
“You,” Ty Hawthorne spat.
Luke’s eyes hadn’t adjusted enough for to him see more than a broad outline, but Ty’s words were loud and clear.
“Here I was thinking I might thank you today,” Ty started in a voice that was dangerously low.
Cody snorted behind him.
“You saved the kids. We appreciate that.”
I cleared your damn cesspool and dug you a ditch, too, Luke wanted to add.
“So I’m not inclined to kill you. But I’m close.”
Luke put up his hands. “I get the kid sister thing. Believe me, I do. But—”
“What do you understand?” Cody shouted back, as if he was the only man in the world with a sister.
Luke took a menacing step forward, barely holding back a punch. “I had a sister, man. Had.” Did he have to go into the details?
Two skeptical looks greeted him, and something broke inside. The dam holding back the worst of his memories.
“Greer came after her.”
Cody looked like he had been about to say something, but he froze at Luke’s words.
“Fucking Greer. No one could stop him. Not my father. Not my uncle. Not my older brothers. Greer killed them all, and then he came for my sister.”
The only sound was the creak of the floorboards as Cody shifted uncomfortably. That and the buzz of a fly against a window.
“I was a kid. I couldn’t stop him. I couldn’t do anything. And you know what my sister said?”
Cody and Ty didn’t look like they were about to ask, so he plunged ahead. “She said, ‘Don’t worry. He can’t get me.’ She went in the back room while my mom tried holding Greer at the door, and a minute later—”
The sound of a shotgun thundered through his mind. The one his sister turned on herself.
He swallowed. Hard. The Twin Moon wolves might know the feeling of protecting someone, but did they know what it was like to stand by helplessly?
“She couldn’t kill Greer with that gun, but she could kill herself.”
Gun wounds weren’t usually enough to kill shifters, but a barrel placed against a head would.
The room went painfully silent. Ty looked at Cody, who looked at the floor. Luke paused, raging inside. Did they get it now? Did they finally get it? He had to honor the memory of his sister by getting his ass to North Ridge and preventing anything like that from happening again.
He took a deep breath, trying to get himself back on track. Fighting with words instead of with fists sucked, though. He itched to turn into wolf form.
“Carly is an adult. She can make her own choices,” he said when he’d collected his nerves.
“She makes bad choices,” Ty growled, though his voice wasn’t quite as menacing as before.
“Bad choices, or choices you disagree with?” Luke narrowed his eyes on Ty. “Who made you her boss?”
“I run this pack.”
“And that entitles you to decide who does what?” Luke shook his head. “Then you’re no better than Greer.”
Ty showed his teeth, but Luke held his ground. God, did he wish it
were Greer there so he could throw himself into a fight. The one battle he’d never had a chance to wage.
Cody motioned to the door. “Get out. No stops, no good-byes.” He took a key off a nail behind the one desk in a corner of the room and tossed it — make that, hurled it — at Luke. “Just get in that truck of yours and go.”
Luke would have protested, but he remembered the look of betrayal on Carly’s face. She sure wasn’t going to forgive him. Which meant there was nothing left for him here.
Luke gripped the key so hard it bit into his palm. “You going to order me not to go to North Ridge next?”
No way was he going anywhere but Colorado. These assholes weren’t stopping him.
“You can go wherever the hell you like. Just don’t expect a welcoming committee,” Ty barked.
The two brothers exchanged looks, and fuck — Luke knew what that meant. Their father was acting alpha at North Ridge. They’d call ahead so that when Luke arrived, he’d be turned around immediately.
Fuck. His whole plan had been to prove himself to them. He could have driven straight to North Ridge a week ago without stopping here. But no, he wanted to do the right thing. And see where that got him.
Told you, a low, edgy voice growled in the back of his mind. The one trying to pull him back to the dark side.
It was nearly enough to make him roar and rage. To lash out at Ty and Cody and anyone else who tried to stop him. But then his own words hit him and he paused.
No regrets, he’d promised Carly.
He took a deep breath. She might not keep her side of that bargain, but he would. No regrets.
He fingered the keys to his truck and stepped out the door without another word. His jeans felt grimier than ever, and his shirt stuck to his back. He was leaving Twin Moon Ranch with less than he’d started with, but hell. He’d figure something out.
Somehow.
He got in his truck, fired it up, and drove out the gate, trying not to look back. But he couldn’t help it; his eyes darted to the rearview mirror, and there it was. The most peaceful corner of the planet. The place where he’d screwed everything up. Well, Audrey had done that, or at least proven how fragile trust could be.