Chapter 14
Cruz
While the girls were upstairs somewhere making plans to change my house, Luke and I got started in the basement with plans of our own.
“This really could work,” I finally said, staring around the room as if I could already see it complete.
“We can get a team in here and have it knocked out in no time,” he agreed. “Having a music legend for a mate is going to mean sacrifices, but you know that right?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Have you even considered that she’s on tour right now? This is just a few days off for her and then she’s back on the road, Cruz. You can’t expect someone like that to just uproot everything and give up her life to be here with you.”
I sighed. “Don’t you think I know that? It’s all I’ve been thinking about. But somehow, it has to work, because I can’t lose her, Luke.”
“I know. So why not give her a reason to come back. Let’s make this happen for her.”
“You really think we can pull this off in just a few days?”
“I know we can. Trust me?”
“Uh, yeah, okay.”
“Have you given Daisy the tour of the Pack yet?”
“Not really. With all the snow it’s been hard.”
“Well, the roads are all passable now, so why don’t you do that and maybe add a tour of the ranch and let Sydney and I work a bit of magic here.”
“You’re sure about this?”
“I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t.”
I hugged him. “Thanks for this. I’m having to push my pride aside and let others help a lot this week, or so it would seem.”
“I know you still aren’t great about trusting people, and hell if I can blame you.
Wouldn’t be surprised if you were already expecting Daisy to leave and never return.
Sadly, that’s just how we were raised. But life isn’t always like that.
And fate has a way of making everything work out exactly as it should.
You two have some growing pains ahead as you figure it out, but I see the way she looks at you.
You’re already doing a hell of a lot better than a lot of us. ”
I snorted. “Like you and Syd?”
“Remember how drunk she got the night she discovered I was destined to be her mate?”
“One of my favorite nights ever.”
He jabbed me in the arm. “Asshole.”
“She really did not make it easy on you.”
“No she did not.”
“I suppose in that regard I got it pretty easy. At least Daisy doesn’t hate me.”
“No, but you keep talking and I might. That girl isn’t going to be able to just walk away and cut ties. Trust me on that. And get the hell out of here. I have work to do.”
“Yes, sir.”
I jogged up the stairs and when she wasn’t on the first floor, I took the next set two at a time. I found them in the hallway bathroom. Sydney had found a notebook and pen and was jotting down notes.
I had no idea what this was going to do to my savings fund, but the smile on my mate’s face told me it would all be worth it.
“Hey. I was wondering if you’d like to get out of here and see some of the Pack.”
She looked from me, then to Syd. “We have company, Cruz. We can’t just leave.”
“Yes, you can. Luke and I can let ourselves out,” Sydney insisted.
Then she turned back to Daisy.
“Go on and let him show you around this place. And hopefully you’ll love it as much as we do. Just remember to keep an open mind and give it a chance.”
Daisy nodded.
“What was that all about?” I asked once we were alone again.
She shrugged. “Nothing to worry about.”
But her smile didn’t entirely reach her eyes.
“Come on,” I said, taking her hand in mine.
“Where are we going?”
“A tour,” I said. “We’re going on a tour.”
She didn’t argue as she followed me out to my truck. I opened the door for her and helped her in before climbing in on the other side.
And then we were off.
“Luke said all the roads were safe to pass now. I had suspected as much already and have to do a few things around the ranch today, but first I’ll give you the grand driving tour through town.”
I really hoped she liked Collier. Despite progress made today, I still had this unnerving feeling that she was going to bolt at any time.
The more I thought about it, the more it bothered me.
What the hell did I have to offer the princess of country music?
Because that’s what the media called her.
Of course after all her talk of putting a recording studio in the basement I had to look her up online.
Holy shit! I was in shock over just how popular she really was.
What did someone like her want with a guy like me?
In some way I knew she must be well known. Lily and her daughters had recognized her instantly. But I guess I thought she was shifter-known, not entire-world, all-seven-continents known.
She’d traveled all over the United States and the world. I read in one article that Daisy had even played a concert on Antarctica. Like what the hell? Antarctica? Does anyone even live there besides the penguins?
I’d never even been to Cheyenne.
The furthest I’d traveled was within three towns of this place.
And suddenly, the little lone wolf I felt responsible for was completely out of my league.
She didn’t need me, but I could feel our bond growing. I feared I already needed her a whole hell of a lot more.
What am I going to do when she decides she’s done playing small town wolf and goes back to her real life? Would she even think twice about walking away from here?
“Wow. This is so cute,” Daisy said, excitedly. She was sitting on the edge of the seat, craning her neck to see it all.
“It’s not much, but it’s home,” I told her, feeling sullen from the reality of our situation.
I had a feeling she would have liked to stop and explore it some, but not today. I had a sneaking suspicion that if we got out of this truck people would surround her, want her autograph, and monopolize her time.
Selfishly, I didn’t want to share a single second of it, not knowing how much more time I really had with her.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
She turned and took my hand in hers. My fears and anxiety instantly fled.
I sighed.
Mate, my wolf reminded me.
“Yeah, just a little stressed about work.”
“Oh, is something wrong?”
“Nah. I know my team is holding down the fort. I’m just not used to being away for so long.”
She frowned and nodded. “I know what you mean.”
And I feared she truly did.
“Over there is Collier Steakhouse and Tavern. It’s my favorite place to eat and get a beer.
But don’t mention that to Kate. All of the Six Pack and most of the cowboys hang out at her place.
I guess that’s not really fair. Most of us tend to gravitate to Kate’s for breakfast and lunch.
But dinner and late nights this place is usually hopping. ”
“We could go for dinner tonight,” she suggested.
“Maybe. I need to make sure Thomas put out a Pack announcement about you.”
She sighed. “You Googled me, didn’t you?”
“I had to know what I was up against, agreeing to this concert and all.”
I wasn’t about to make excuses for it.
She frowned as she stared out the window.
“What’s wrong?”
“I liked it when you didn’t know who I was,” she said softly.
“Oh, I’ve always known exactly who you are, Daisy.”
Her head whipped around as she stared at me in surprise.
“You did?”
“Yup—my mate.”
I winked at her and that sparkle in her eyes returned.
“I don’t care what you do for a living, honey. But I do care about you.”
She unbuckled her seatbelt and scooted over next to me as she cuddled into my side. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and quickly stole a kiss.
Life didn’t get much better than cruising through town with my lady by my side. All the worries I’d been battling for the last few hours disappeared. I could get used to this.
At the stop sign in front of the ice cream shop, reality once again slapped me in the face though.
“That’s Cruz’s truck,” someone pointed out, and people literally ran from several stores out to the sidewalk.
“Do you see her?” someone else asked.
A screeching squeal told me my mate had been spotted.
“It’s Daisy Brooks! It’s really her!”
People started waving and jumping up and down.
“We love you, Daisy!”
A couple teen girls ran across the road, causing me to slam on my breaks. They had posters in their hands. When they got safely to the curb, they held them high jumping up and down.
Phones were up snapping pictures of us as I drove by.
“I ain’t never seen nothing like this before,” I admitted.
She smiled. Her whole being just sort of lit up the cab of my truck as she waved back, causing an even greater round of hysteria.
“Honey, if this is the chaos you cause in Collier, I do not want to see you walking the city streets . . . ever.”
She just giggled, kept smiling, and waving at her fans.
While I slowed a bit, more from fear someone else was going to run out in front of me, I didn’t stop or even roll down the windows. That much attention on my mate made my wolf nervous.
Once we had cleared downtown Collier, I pulled out my phone and made a call.
“Thomas, I thought you were going to address the Pack.”
“I am. I have it written up and was about to hit send.”
“Too late. Word is out and I just gave Daisy a quick tour of our little downtown.”
“Aw, shit.”
“Yeah. A lot of pictures were taken.”
“Sent.”
My phone immediately buzzed.
“I specifically ordered no pics could be posted on any form of social media.”
“Let’s hope that it’s not too late.”
“Sorry man. I should have done it sooner, but it’ll be fine. I promised we’d keep her safe here and I mean it. Even if I have to build my own security team, your mate deserves to be safe here and to walk the streets without wackos like Lily attacking her.”
“I heard that!” Lily yelled out in the background.
I was still on edge but felt a tiny bit better knowing Thomas was on it. I knew that he wouldn’t say things like that if he didn’t truly mean it.
“Well, I guess Ronnie will be here in a few hours. Once those pictures make it online, he won’t have to guess where I’m hiding. He’ll know,” she said when I ended the call.
“Thomas is already working on it. And if something was leaked, we’ll deal with it, okay?”
She nodded, but her light dimmed at the mention of her manager.
Man, I hated that guy, and I’d never even met him.
My wolf roared in my head. I griped the wheel harder as fur started to sprout on my hands and up my arms.
Daisy gasped. “Cruz. Your hands.”
“I know. I’m trying to calm down.”
“What’s wrong?”
Through gritted teeth I managed to tell her. “I just can’t stand the thought of that asshole getting anywhere near you again.”
She sighed. “He’s my manager. It’s kind of inevitable that he’ll eventually be near me.”
I growled, but she didn’t move away or jump.
Sometime today my little mate had settled down and I hoped that meant she was coming to accept me. She wasn’t as jumpy, or stiffening at my touch. In fact, she had started to reach out to me now. I loved it and prayed this meant she was feeling our bond strengthening too.
Would that make it harder for her to walk away from me and return to her real life?
God, I hoped so.
I pulled up to the ranch and parked.
“I recognize this place,” she said with a smile.
“Someday, maybe you’ll show me your world, but for me, this is mine.”
I opened my door and slid out, taking her hand and sliding her out with me.
“What do we have here?” Austin asked.
I rolled my eyes.
“Who is that?” Travis teased.
Ridge gasped and faked a squeal, much like the people in town had.
I scowled at him.
“Travis, can you believe it? It’s our bigtime celebrity boss, Cruz!”
I chuckled and shook my head. “You’re an ass.”
“Oh, hi Daisy,” he added, as if he’d just noticed she was there too.
“Missed you around here, boss,” Will said. “But we’ve got everything under control. No worries.”
“Thanks, kid. I trust you were the one holding down the fort for me.”
“Yeah, cause the rest of us did nothing,” Ridge said.
We all knew it wasn’t true. My team worked like a well oiled machine with or without me. I respected the hell out of them for their hard work and dedication. It was nice to hear things were running smoothly without me. But I also needed to see it for myself.
I took Daisy’s hand in mine and started walking through my day. Even though I wasn’t physically doing the work for once, we still checked on the horses, inspected the corrals, confirmed the hay and feed supplies, and went through various other daily task stuff.
When I saw Emmett, I stopped and had a conversation with him to see how things were really going. He had nothing but praise for my team and even told me that a few of my boys had bunked up through the storm so he was able to stay home with his mate and their daughter too.
“Stop worrying and enjoy your time with Daisy. Mating is hard enough without trying to adult too.”
“Thanks, Emmett.”
“Everyone here is so nice and seems to really love what they do,” Daisy noted.
“We really do. You’re either born to be a cowboy or you’re not.”
“Is this what you always dreamed of doing?”
“Nah. I didn’t start until I was well into adulthood.”
“So you weren’t born to be a cowboy?” she teased.
“No, I was. I just didn’t know it until then.”
“I suppose I can understand that.”
“Want to see the nursery? Ruby had a batch of calves born shortly before you arrived. There’s a couple still in the dairy barn that’s closer than the nursery.”
“I’d love to see them.”
We strolled hand-in-hand over to the dairy.
As I figured, both Ruby and Clay were there doting over their favorites from the latest births.
Ruby always seemed to pick her favorites and refuse to let them be moved to the nursery.
This group was no exception. She had three of them she was doting over.
“Hey Cruz, hey Daisy,” Clay said before Ruby even noticed we’d walked in. She was too busy showing off the calves to someone.
When she finally stepped back I saw her sister Clara there.
“Clara! What a nice surprise. When did you get home?”
I felt Daisy stiffen next to me, and I bit back a grin.
“Daisy, this is Clara, one of Ruby’s sisters. She and her mate travel a lot for work.”
“We’re basically animal conservationists. Though, I also have a veterinary degree.”
“That’s really cool.”
“They rescue animals in bad situations,” I explained. “And sometimes a shifter too. That’s how she met her mate actually.”
“It’s true, but nothing I like to think about.”
She shuddered.
Her mate had been in his wolf form and stuck in a cage, being abused at a zoo or something like that. I’d heard enough to have nightmares from it, so I didn’t like to recall it either.
“Is he back too?” I asked, which was a stupid question since they never went anywhere without each other.
“You talking about me?”
I looked up and grinned as my friend walked in.
He hugged me, slapping me on the back.
“Welcome home, man. It’s good to see you. This is my mate . . .”
“Daisy?” he asked.
I rolled my eyes. Of course he knew who she was.
But I almost missed the look of surprise on her face. “Gage?”
What the hell?