by Fiona Archer
www.jenniferwoodhull.com
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One Night with the Cowboy Wolf
by
Kait Ballenger
Chapter One
“I’m gettin’ out. For good.”
Walker Maxwell had muttered the words to his fellow soldiers on the North Carolina shoreline only two weeks earlier. Now, as he stood in the middle of Wolf Pack Run, the Grey Wolf pack’s ranch compound, the Montana mountains in the foreground of the blue-orange sunset, reality hit him. He was home.
Fuck.
Tipping his Stetson, he strode toward the stables. He’d find her there. Five years since he’d traversed these pastures, back when he’d been eager to get to...hell, anywhere but here. But still, he remembered every bend and curve, of the earth and the woman he intended to claim. Wolf Pack Run hadn’t changed. But he had, and he was out to prove it.
In twenty-four hours.
Walker swore, a feral growl that was more wolf than man. It was less than ideal. The brief leave from MAC-V-Alpha, the shifters-only military unit he served in, had taken a few called-in favors, but in three month’s time, he’d be free.
And she would be his.
No other man would dare look at her again.
He’d make certain of it.
At the stables, the smell of fresh hay and saddle polish singed his wolf senses. He hadn’t shifted in forty-eight hours since this trek had begun, and already his wolf clawed for release. But for now, his sole focus was her.
Walker sucked in a hard breath at the sight of the woman. Anna Lee Adams may have been five years older, but every inch of her was more succulent than that day he’d first kissed her years ago. She’d worn that damn two-piece bikini out at the creek, and despite telling himself he couldn’t undress his best friend’s little sister, he’d done exactly that. And a bit more...
His wolf stirred. For too long she’d been a ghost of his past. But now she was flesh and blood. Real. The sweet scent of her hit him, and his eyes flashed to his wolf. Her lush peach behind was squeezed tight into a pair of worn jeans as she leaned over the stall gate. A work apron covered her front as she monitored the animal in her care, but her top, tied up from the summer heat, showed a hint of the sun-kissed skin of her lower back.
He’d once kissed her there, above the mouth-watering dimples of her ass cheeks as he trailed his mouth lower to explore the sweet pink folds of her...
One of the horses whinnied.
Anna’s head snapped toward him, aware of his presence. A stray lock fell from the messy bun atop her head onto her pretty oval face. He’d fist those long mahogany locks in his hands again before night’s end.
“Walker?”
Lord, that throaty voice had always done him in. When he’d left, she’d been training as one of the Grey Wolf pack’s midwives. Their kind held more than a few rituals surrounding the birth of the pack’s pups and the animals in their care. Even then, it’d been clear this was the place for her. But not him.
Not until now.
“Anna.” He drew close enough the spatter of freckles across her cheeks came into view. He flashed her a cheeky, wide-toothed grin. “I’m home.”
Chapter Two
Home?
Walker Maxwell had never considered Wolf Pack Run his home. Anna sucked in a hard breath, her hand stinging from the slap she delivered at his words. It wasn’t like her to lay hands on someone—she was a caregiver, not one of the pack’s warriors after all, but that slap had felt good. Too good for a woman who was supposed to be over him.
This wasn’t his home. He’d used that same reason to break her heart years ago.
Walker pawed at his jaw, golden wolf eyes wide but not surprised. “I deserved that.”
She placed her hands on her hips. “You did.”
Anna turned away, refusing to look at his familiar, handsome face as she monitored Bess. The mare had bred a foal a few years back, but that time the babe had gotten stuck in the birth canal. They’d lost the foal, and nearly Mama too. This time would be different. She’d make it so.
Silence stretched between her and Walker, pregnant with tension.
“I came here to see you,” he finally said.
“Well you’ve seen me, best be on your way again.” She waved a hand. She wouldn’t play nice. Not after the way he’d left. She’d understood his reasons, but that hadn’t made it hurt less.
“Levi told me you and one of the pack alphas are getting engaged.”
“Did he?” She shook her head. Her brother was as much of a silver-tongued charmer as the man beside her.
Sure, she’d dated since Walker. But none of those relationships had panned out because none of those wolves had been Walker. She’d stupidly confessed as much to her loveable, idiot brother on his last leave. At first, Levi hadn’t been keen on the idea, but apparently, he’d suspected it. Now he was clearly out to play matchmaker, feeding Walker some cockamamie story about a fake engagement.
Devious bastard.
Her brother misunderstood. Nothing would change between her and Walker. Not until Walker found whatever he’d been searching for all those years ago, what had caused him to leave in the first place. That’s why Wolf Pack Run had never suited him, why she hadn’t suited him. He’d been too keen on searching for whatever it was to stay put.
And this was her home, even if it wasn’t his. It always had been.
“Gossip travels, I guess.” She didn’t affirm or deny it. Considering it had brought him here, she was interested to see this play out.
The years had treated him well. He was taller than she remembered, towering over her. Where he’d once been lean muscle, those same corded limbs were now thicker, more defined. Wide shoulders framed a narrowed waist, and his chiseled jaw was peppered with a dark shadow that matched the short buzz of his hair. Those familiar gold wolf eyes pierced through her. They’d looked the same years ago as he’d gazed up at her from between her legs that time they’d stolen away in the hay loft.
Heat flooded her cheeks.
She quirked a brow in challenge. “You got anything to say about it?”
“Matter of fact, I do.” He stepped closer. “I have a lot to say about it...” He flashed another white-toothed grin, the kind that used to make her go weak in the knees—the kind that still did. “...considering I plan to seduce you.”
Chapter Three
Seduce her?
Anna shook her head. She wasn’t some booty call. Sinfully handsome as he was, he’d be hard to resist for long. But she would resist.
Because if she didn’t...
She crossed her arms. “Good luck with that.” Her eyes flashed to her wolf, sassy and haughty.
He quirked a brow as her gaze darted downward to make her point.
His boot was about to land in manure. Walker swore.
Anna grinned. She should’ve let him step in it. “Guess you don’t remember how things work around here.”
Like her and her heart.
Walker prowled to her side, all lithe movements and predatory grace. His wolf eyes glowed. The pack’s enemies would never mess with this alpha. Even if she did. “I’m serious, Anna.”
Bess let out a pained whinny, and Anna turned her attention toward her. The laboring mare was staying put in the fresh hay Anna had spread out. It wouldn’t be long now.
Anna cleared her throat. “I’m sure you’re serious, like when you told me you couldn’t love me like I deserved all those years ago.”
Couldn’t. Not didn’t. For Anna, that’d been an important distinction.
Because he had loved her, and she him, and yet still he’d left.
“I’ve changed.” The words were a near-growl.
She laughed. “You sound like a bad ex-boyfriend.”
Which he wasn’t. They’d never had a chance at a true relationship, and Walker had always been good to her. Even when he’d lef
t he’d been kind, decent...
Typical cowboy riding off into the friggin’ sunset.
That had irked her to no end.
“No one makes you feel the way I do. I’m certain of it,” he said.
Boy, to have the confidence of a talented-in-bed alpha wolf...
And talented was an understatement. She remembered that—vividly. “Careful, soldier, someone might mistake you for humble.”
“There’s no time for humble. Not when I have less than twenty-four hours to win you over.”
Twenty-four hours? Then he’d leave again and where would she be? She swiped a strand of hair from her face. “I’m no base-bunny.”
“You’re more than that to me. Always have been.”
Something forced her to look at him then. A gentleness belied those words, which from this hardened cowboy was new to her. Even before he’d left for his black ops shifter team, he’d risen up the pack’s rank. The Grey Wolf pack was the strongest, largest pack of their kind, ruling over the Seven Range Pact, the allied agreement between the seven shifter clans which controlled the Montana mountains they called home. The promise of being one of their elite alpha warriors had been lain out for Walker like it’d been his birth right, which she guessed it had been. He was cousin to the pack’s high commander, and thus a member of one of the pack’s four founding families, after all.
The intense look in his piercing eyes froze her in place. Maybe he had changed.
He wasn’t the same man he’d been before. That much she could see.
“You want a chance to seduce me? Be my guest.” She swept an arm out.
From the fiery gleam in his eye, she wasn’t certain she’d ever had a choice. When Walker Maxwell set his mind to something, not even heaven and earth would stop him.
That sexy smirk curled his lips, all too familiar. “You won’t regret it.” His words promised that and more.
A prickle of heat coursed through her. “I have one condition.”
He lifted a brow.
“I’m not leaving this horse’s side.”
Chapter Four
Here? Walker shook his head. If she thought being in the stables would deter him, she was mistaken. He’d faced more challenging battles than this—laboring horse and all.
“Bess nearly died last time. I won’t leave her.” Anna nodded toward the horse.
He loved that Anna was stubborn when it came to caring for those she loved—animals included.
“One of the cow cams won’t do?”
Anna cast him an annoyed look. “And be at least fifteen minutes out if she needs me? No.” Her mind was settled, which meant...
They were in for a long night.
Outside the stable doors, darkness cloaked the mountainside. The lamplight cast a shadowed hue. Thunder rumbled. They’d get rain tonight.
Pulling the stable door closed, Walker moved toward her. “Settle in then.” He grinned.
Anna frowned. But clearly her heart wasn’t in it.
“You can’t look mean even when you try, Anna. You missed me, at least a little.”
They’d been friends before. When they’d been young, he’d spent so much time with her and Levi back in those days he’d basically taken up residence in their home. It’d been better than staying at his own.
The horse’s large belly contracted.
“That’s the problem, isn’t it?” Anna ducked into the pin and felt the mare’s rounded middle. “I missed you more than a little. Nothing I’ve ever felt for you was in half-measures.” Satisfied with the horse’s progress, the stall gate latched behind her again. “So what’s your strategy? Cast out a few half-hearted promises? That was never your style.”
He smiled. “You’re right. It isn’t.”
“What then?”
An amused smirk tugged at his lips. “I wait.”
Anna batted a playful hand at him. “Flashing that grin won’t change my mind.”
Walker laughed. “That’s not the plan, though admit it, the grin helps.”
A smile tugged at her lips as she fetched supplies for Bess from the storage room.
“You’ll come around,” he drawled.
Returning to his side, she leaned on the stall gate. “And what makes you certain?”
He drew closer, sliding his hand onto her bare lower back. “This.”
A sharp, aroused breath tore from her lips.
“You burn hot for me, Anna. I feel it, and so do you.”
“You’re only here because you’re jealous.”
Of the engagement? He chuckled. He was jealous. But that wasn’t why he was here.
“You’re damn right I’m jealous.”
“Exactly.” She started to ease away. “That’s why you came back.”
“Is it?” His words caused her to pause. “If you’re certain, I’ll walk out this damn stable right now.”
The cords of her throat moved as she swallowed, but she didn’t answer.
“Or...” His voice grew graveled with need. “Let me kiss you, and we’ll both see if you have the willpower to wait out the night.”
“I am way more stubborn than you,” she challenged.
He grinned. “We’ll see about that.”
Walker wasn’t sure who kissed whom. All he knew was his mouth was on hers then, capturing, claiming. His tongue parted the seam of her lips, probing and tasting as his hands explored. Her lower back, her ass, the gentle swell of her breasts. His cock stiffened. Fuck, she tasted like strawberry wine and every sinful thing he’d wanted to do to her.
With a sharp growl, he broke the kiss between them, before either of them got their fill. His eyes flashed to his wolf’s with dark promise. “And now, we wait.”
Chapter Five
“This isn’t going to work.”
It’d been two hours since he’d kissed her, and it was the third time she’d said it. Whether it was to convince him or herself, Anna wasn’t sure.
“Mhhm,” he grumbled.
Walker was perched on a nearby haystack, those wolf eyes watching her from beneath his Stetson. Large, muscular arms folded over his chest. Every time she moved, drew a breath, checked Bess, anything, the heat of his gaze prickled her skin.
“It won’t work,” she said again. “I mean it.”
“So you’ve told me.” The deep timbre of his voice shook her. That damn smirk of his curled his lips, anticipating. Years ago he’d once whispered from between her legs that anticipation was everything.
It was indeed.
Damn him.
Anna frowned. She was about to tell him exactly how this wouldn’t work when suddenly the lights flickered out.
“Shit,” she swore.
The storm raged overhead now, rain coming down in buckets. The generators at the main compound would’ve kicked in, but out here, electricity wouldn’t return until it passed.
Thankfully, with her wolf eyes, she could still see. “I’ll get some candles from the shed.”
Walker rose to his feet. “I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
“There’s no reason for us both to get soaked. If it were our enemies, the sirens would be going off by now.”
“I don’t take chances. Not when it comes to your safety.” Something dark flashed in his gaze. He wouldn’t take no for an answer. Walker had seen more than his fair share of violence.
“Let’s go then.”
Ten minutes later, they were back in the stable, both soaked. A box of candles, a lighter, and a weatherproof flashlight sat at Anna’s feet. Wringing out her hair, she watched Walker light several of the candles. A flickering glow cast over them, highlighting the hallows of his face.
Turning away, he cast his Stetson aside and stripped his wet shirt off, the muscles of his bare back writhing. A dark tattoo across his side peeked out from the jutted ridge of his obliques.
“You’re not playing fair,” she mumbled.
Walker cast that wry grin at her, but a pained whinny interrupted.
�
�Bess.” Anna snatched the flashlight from the supply box, holding it high. Walker was at her side within seconds. The foal’s head and front legs had emerged.
Anna grinned. “That’a girl, Bess,” she whispered.
“Do you need to help her?” Walker gently took the flashlight.
“No.” She shook her head. “If there’s no issues, it’s best if she does it on her own.”
Silently, they watched as the great beast gave several hearty pushes before the baby horse emerged. Immediately, Mama cleaned up the little foal. In the pack’s custom, Anna recited a few words in the Old Tongue, the language that harkened back to their ancestors, the true wolves from which their kind had been birthed.
As she finished, Anna smiled, her heart full. The old mare had been morose, heartbroken even, when she’d lost her previous foal, but now, new life thrived.
Together, she and Walker watched in silence. Minutes later the foal stood on spindly, wobbling legs.
Anna swiped a tear from her eye. “Amazing, isn’t it?”
She chanced a look toward Walker. He was watching her with a softness in his eyes that stole her breath.
“Breathtaking,” he whispered.
She knew he didn’t mean the new life before them.
Anna sighed. She’d always had a soft spot for this cowboy. Grabbing one of the nearby candles, she placed her free hand against his chest.
What would one night hurt?
Chapter Six
There was no sight more erotic than Anna Lee Adams laid out naked on the saddle blanket before him. Bathed in candlelight, her soft curves and the desire burning in her eyes nearly did Walker in. He’d take her in all the ways she’d allow before night’s end. That much was certain. “Are you sure you want this?” he growled.
She bit her lower lip and nodded affirmative, eyes full of desire.
His cock gave an eager jerk, and he ran a hand over his length. He’d take her, at first, tender and sweet and then harder, faster until she was screaming his name in pleasure. But not until he took care of her needs first.