Rugged (Wolf Ranch #8)

Chapter 1

1

JOHNNY

“The first kill’s the hardest,” Clint Tucker said, looming over the body.

On the ground was the rogue shifter who we’d hunted at the request of the Shifter Council. After a hearing, they’d sentenced him to death because he was the lowest of the low. He’d deserved to die.

But Clint was wrong–it wasn’t hard at all.

“He killed his mate,” I said, even though Clint knew the score. “Got into an argument and… finished her.” I shook my head, wiped a hand down my face, and realized it had blood on it.

Great.

“And the pups,” Clint added. “They hid under the front porch. Heard it all.” He spat on the body. “Worthless. They only came out after he drove off. Found their mother shot in the head. They called their alpha.”

“They did the right thing,” I said.

Clint had zero remorse for putting this guy down. He had a mate and a beautiful little daughter. Lily. He’d stop at nothing to prevent harm coming to them.

He nodded. “They did. When it’s time for Lily to get a mate, I’ll be answering the front door with my guns and silver bullets.”

I couldn’t help but grin, even at a time like this. We were somewhere deep in the Bighorn Mountains west of Ranchester, Wyoming. We’d tracked this guy here all the way from his pack land in North Dakota.

It was early morning, an hour before sunrise. The air was cold, the wind whipping through the pines. It never stopped blowing out here, which was this fucker’s downfall. We scented him miles away.

“This isn’t my first kill,” I admitted. First as an enforcer though, when it was sanctioned. But I’d had blood on my hands before.

He looked up from the body to meet my gaze. The moon was setting, but I could still see the question in his eyes.

“I killed a guy before,” I admitted.

His eyes widened but didn’t otherwise react. He was one chill dude. “Shit, Johnny.”

“I was eighteen. We went to the Pack Games with our mom hosted by her old pack. There was a shifter there. He took interest in my sister.” I spat the last because it still made me furious.

“Mate?”

I shook my head.

If it was weird for him to have this conversation over a dead body, he didn’t show it. As a retired enforcer, he’d seen all kinds of shit, I was sure. He’d walked away from the job when he found Becky, his human mate. Except, he’d volunteered to come on this job with me since we were pack mates, and it was my first.

With Clint done, I was the new Wolf Pack enforcer. Rob Wolf knew my past and had volunteered to take me in when I’d been banished from my birth pack. Knew what was in me. A protective streak. A mean streak. Hell, probably a hell of a lot of darkness. That was why I was chosen for the enforcer position. Besides being unmated and young.

“What happened?”

“I thought she was interested in him, too. Maybe she was, maybe she wasn’t. All I know is I happened upon him assaulting her in the woods,” I gritted out between clenched teeth. Worse than that, but I didn’t need to say it aloud. “I stopped it, but…”

I thought back, remembered the red I saw, then the red of his blood as it soaked into the ground. “I went too far.”

He slapped me on the shoulder. “Protecting those weaker than you is a sign of a good alpha. And to be an enforcer you have to be willing to go too far. That’s the only way to stop a shifter gone bad.”

I swallowed around the lump in my throat. “Yeah. He’d gone fucking bad.”

“You’ll make a solid enforcer. You are one.”

I dropped my gaze, remembering after the kill what they’d done to me. Kicked me out of my pack. Separated me from my family. “That kill wasn’t sanctioned.”

He shrugged. “So? If he was hurting your sister, that means he’d probably hurt others before and would have hurt others after.”

Clint had been a natural enforcer. Protecting the pack and meting justice that the Council handed down. He’d worked closely with Levi, another shifter and member of the Wolf Pack, who was the sheriff of Cooper Valley. Together, they made great protectors not only of the shifters in the community but the humans, too. Their combined roles were crucial to keep us and our kind’s secret safe. It also helped that his mate was human, and Lily was both. Perfect.

Now I was in Clint’s role, and I was already friends with Levi. Still, I questioned whether this was a good fit. If I was too good. Too dark for the role .

“I had to go before the Council.” That had been scary as hell.

“So that’s why they knew of you.”

I laughed although the reason wasn’t all that funny. “Yup. My punishment was that I got shipped to Wolf Ranch. Left my family behind.”

“Wolf Ranch isn’t a punishment, kid,” Clint reminded. “You know that.”

It wasn’t. At the time, I thought it was, but now I knew differently. The Montana pack was pretty fucking great. I may have left my family with my old pack, but I’d made a found family with the Wolfs. It was where I belonged.

“Your sister’s safe because of you,” he added.

I looked down at another shifter who liked to knock a female around. He wouldn’t harm anyone else again, either. I nodded in agreement.

“She’s mated now and has two pups,” I said, thinking of Simi. I couldn’t help but smile a little and feel pride.

He grinned. “Good. Sounds like she put that behind her.” His smile slipped as he studied me. “Have you?”

The wind ruffled my hair, the air cooling my sweaty skin. Had I put what happened to Simi behind me?

I shook my head. “No. Definitely not.”

Squatting down, I dug through the man’s pockets to strip him of his ID. We’d leave him here, miles from civilization, far from any road. The animals would get him .

I looked up at Clint. “What’s that make me? Dangerous? Ruthless? No way I’ll find a mate with what’s inside of me.”

He took off his hat, ran a hand over his dark hair, then set it back in place. “Your soul’s not black, kid. You didn’t sentence him to death. The Council did. You’re just enforcing their decision. Remember, there’s one less threat to those who can’t protect themselves. You see that. You know it.”

I tossed him the guy’s wallet.

“As for a mate?” he continued. “You’ve seen everyone else at the ranch find theirs. One after the other. Even me. It’ll happen when you least expect it.”

I stood. I didn’t want to keep talking about this. We’d done our job. He was right. Everyone else at Wolf Ranch had found their fated mates. But they weren’t murderers.

I was.