BOYD
Iswung off Chesapeake, my mare, to examine a break in the fence line.
I’d ridden out to the back range, where the pasture met the mountains, the sun just breaking over the sharp peaks in the distance.
The view was incredible, and I thought of what Audrey had said.
This was the most perfect place. It was an incredible summer day.
It was warming up quick, but a light breeze would keep it from getting blistering.
The smell of fresh grass and pine filled the air.
Sure, I traveled to great places all over the country and up into Canada, but I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed it here.
How much I’d taken home for granted. I remembered what it had been like before my parents died.
The carefree way my brothers and I had roamed the land, and that had been before any of us could shift.
But others had. We’d have bonfires or even ice skating parties, and the elders would shift and run.
I’d felt awe and envy at the ability to turn into their wolf and go.
Rob, then Colton, had begun to shift, and while we’d been close, they’d been able to join in on the fun I’d missed.
In fact, I’d never once been able to participate because the first time I shifted, it had been because of the stress of the accident, the need to survive.
My wolf had saved me. My parents, though, had died.
So had all the fun. We’d still remained a pack, but the heart had left it.
Scanning the land, it hadn’t changed in the almost two decades since they died.
The mountains were as tall as ever, the snow still capped the peaks.
Birds still caught the wind. The river still flowed.
It would in another twenty years. Thirty.
Fifty. What mattered was a strong pack to carry it on.
I’d never once felt the desire to do so. Until now. Until Audrey.
I could see pups of our own who’d tumble and play and ultimately shift and run. I wanted to do it with them. To pass on the joy of the land. Perhaps this was my shot.
It had to be Audrey, but I had to figure out how. The question of how to mate her would never go away. I had to solve it. A falcon soared overhead and stirred me from my thoughts.
It was mid-morning, and I was on my own because Rob and the ranch hands had ridden out without me. That’s what I got for waking up late.
For once, it didn’t bother me a bit. I didn’t feel like a failure or that I’d disappointed my big brother.
Nope. I was on top of the world. Jerking off to the sultry sounds of Audrey using a vibrator had been better than any sexual encounter I’d had before.
Besides getting my mouth on her sweet pussy in the barn.
That had been heaven although I hadn’t gotten off.
Maybe that was why I’d come so hard the night before.
I’d had all that need, all that cum built up.
I couldn’t wait for our hot date. I’d spend the day out here in the wilderness, so I didn’t get in my truck and head to the maternity floor and wait for her.
Yeah, I’d lost it. Maybe I had hit my head when I’d been bucked from the bull.
I grinned. I didn’t give a shit. I was loving being not right in the head.
She was addictive. I’d spent last night in her company, and I couldn’t wait to see her again.
Any woman before her, and I’d have forgotten her name by now.
They’d been fun but not memorable. Not worthy of being my mate. Audrey was.
I pulled the tools from my saddle bag and began to repair the break in the fence. It was sweaty, manual work, but it felt good. As I finished, a scent made me pause. I lifted my head, took in the direction of the wind, where it was coming from.
Wolf shifter, but not one I recognized. Not one of the ranch hands or Rob.
And no other wolf should be on our property.
Of course, Rob could’ve held a pack meeting down at the ranch that I didn’t know about.
Except that didn’t make sense. He never would call attention to the pack that way. We always met up at a cabin in the mountains. One where wolves could run without fear of being spotted by humans. While he might think of me as a fuck up, he’d have told me about a meeting.
So if I was catching the scent of a strange shifter here at the fenceline, maybe Markle was right. There was a wolf around. Still, I refused to believe it had taken down any of his cattle. No shifter would do such a thing.
With the repair finished, I put my tools away and headed down the hill. I’d tell Rob about what I’d discovered. Twenty minutes later, I dismounted and led Chesapeake to the stable where I could brush her down.
I didn’t have to go find Rob because he was waiting for me, like he wanted to catch me out of earshot of the rest of the guys.
“I heard you caused a scene with Markle and the doctor last night. What in the hell is going on?” He paced the hard-packed ground.
I took the hat from my head, hooked it over one of the posts. The back of my neck got hot and prickly, and I rubbed it.
“They went out on one date. Didn’t go well. Markle’s been harassing her. Wouldn’t take no for an answer. The guy’s a real asshole.”
Rob’s eyes narrowed. “Well, that’s just not right.”
He didn’t like a guy fucking with a woman any more than I did.
He might be a prickly fucker, but he wouldn’t stand for that kind of shit.
We stood up for those weaker than us. While Audrey outsmarted the pants off me and could take care of herself, she was smaller than a guy like Markle and an asshole could overpower her easily enough.
“Fine, you protected her. I won’t argue with that. The thing is, I sent you down there to smooth talk the guy and instead you caused more friction.”
I didn’t usually give my brother shit back. Staying away was usually the way I handled myself when it came to dealing with family tension. But today, I had no patience. “Smooth talk? Kinda like you did when he showed up here wanting to organize a wolf hunt?”
Rob took his hat off and slapped it against his leg. He looked down at the ground and seemed to be more pissed about the situation than me. “I know. Hell, the man’s lucky I didn’t shove my boot up his ass. But you got all the charm in the family. You’re supposed to smooth over my social fuckups.”
Huh. Was that actually a compliment? From my big brother? Would wonders ever cease?
“Yeah, well, my charm evaporated pretty quick when I found out he’d been harassing my—” I stopped myself before I said mate. “—doctor.”
Rob nodded. “Can’t blame you for that.”
“Really, ‘cause it kinda seemed like you just did.” As I said, I didn’t usually give Rob shit, especially because he was alpha, but something made me push back today.
Audrey.
She was worth fighting for, even with my brother. I wanted him to know I wasn’t going to take any kind of shit talk about her.
Rob put his hat back on his head and walked out of the barn, shaking his head. When he got to the open doorway, he turned. “All I want to hear is that you’ve fixed it. The problem with the doctor and the problem with our neighbor. Can you do that for me?”
He was looking at me with his usual dark, focused gaze.
He wasn’t fucking with me. He was entrusting these pack problems to me.
One was my doing, the other bad luck that Markle had bought the property down the road.
Rob wanted me to solve them. He wasn’t micromanaging or whatever the fucking term was.
Did it mean he trusted me or that I was good at dealing with messes?
I was tempted to refuse because me making nice with Jett Markle wasn’t going to happen now. Not after the line I drew in the sand with him the night before. Especially when Audrey had used me to get him off her back. As if I’d play nice with a guy who was a dick to women.
Instead, I nodded and said, “I’ll do my best.”
Because he was the alpha, and respect for the alpha was in our bones. And, my need to please my big brother, to make him proud of me, to make me worthy of being in the pack even though I’d single-handedly destroyed it, was still something I craved.
It wasn’t until he walked away that I remembered the wolf scent. I’d tell him about that later because right now, I had to clean up for my date. I had a different scent on my mind now: juicy, sweet peaches.