Chapter 4
SAM
I found Wes in the barn by one of the horse stalls, holding up his daughter, Remy, to peek inside. The ranch had a new foal, and she was getting a lot of visitors.
“Sam, her name is Spirit!” Remy said as I approached. Her eyes were wide, and if she smiled any bigger, her face would split wide open. She didn’t focus on me long, her strawberry blonde hair swirling as she turned back.
“Hey, Remy girl,” I replied, then peeked in and couldn’t help but smile too. Mom and her new foal were doing well. Spirit was standing on spindly little legs at her mother’s side, safe and protected. “That’s a perfect name.”
It made me think of another mother who was fiercely protective. Clio. My mate. I liked that she went all Mama Bear over JT. Except she was human, and JT was definitely not.
Which reminded me of why I was here.
“Got the new shaft ordered?” Wes asked. He knew I’d gone into town to the mechanic shop for the part that broke, keeping us from baling hay. It wasn’t a crisis, but rain was due later in the week, and we couldn’t bale wet hay.
“Ernie was out. Gotta go back.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Was wondering if you’re okay with me going to the rodeo in Missoula next month.”
Wes was the ranch foreman. While Rob Wolf and his brothers owned the land, Wes was my boss.
I’d worked on Wolf Ranch off and on since before I graduated high school.
College hadn’t been an option since it had been too expensive.
Instead, I’d worked the rodeo circuit–four years touring around riding on the back of crazy broncs, and I occasionally took a bull for an eight second ride if I needed some quick cash.
In fact, Boyd Wolf had been somewhat of a mentor on the circuit but had since retired.
I was successful enough to send back prize money for my mother and sisters.
I’d even stumbled into what I wanted to do long term.
With some of the earnings, I’d bought a prized bull to start a cattle genetics business, breeding top tier bulls for ranches and rodeos around the country.
Yeah, technically it was selling bull semen, but it could turn into big money, and that was what I needed right now, having found my mate.
Making more sales and adding more bulls to my stock had been a someday thing because someday had been far in the distance, and I’d been enjoying my life.
Out with friends, moon runs, and all the sex that went with it.
Until now.
It’d all been shallow fun. Something amusing to pass the time until I was ready to push my business to the next level. Until something happened. I just hadn’t realized that something would be a mate and a pup at once. A ready-made family.
And right now, I didn’t make enough money to support them.
I didn’t need much myself, but the three of us had no place to live because the bunkhouse sure as hell wasn’t suitable.
When I’d won big at a rodeo championship the first year and helped my mother and put money aside for my sisters.
After that, instead of buying a fancy truck like I’d wanted, Boyd had pretty much made me buy a piece of land in Cooper Valley.
I’d grudgingly agreed because helping family was one thing, but what eighteen-year-old needed acreage?
I hadn’t built on it, instead lived in the bunkhouse on Wolf Ranch and put any other prize money toward fixing up my Momma’s place and buying Lucifer, my first bull.
What kind of mate was I with land, a bull, and nothing else? It wasn’t like we could live in a tent. It snowed eight months out of the year. And we sure as hell weren’t moving in with Momma.
I shook my head, annoyed with myself.
No wonder Clio hadn’t given me the time of day. I’d been slow to grow my business because I didn’t need much, but it was time to get to the rodeos where I could work my connections.
Wes looked my way as he kept Remy lifted between his torso and the half-door. It was amazing how much the two of them looked alike with their fiery hair. Clio and JT were the same with their dark hair and blue eyes.
Wes answered my question with one of his own. “Oh? Which new girl are you taking to a concert in Idaho this week?”
I winced. That sounded like me. Working hard to play the field. But one visit to the mechanic, and I realized how shallow I sounded.
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Actually, I found my mate.”
His eyes widened, and a slow smile crept across his face, which was pretty much beaming for my usually-grumpy boss. He’d found his mate, Joy, recently. He was always pretty fucking chill. Sometimes, he was downright grumpy. But since he’d found Joy, he and his wolf seemed… happy. “Oh yeah?”
I nodded thinking of how fucking pretty Clio was.
While those gray overalls had never done anything for Ernie, with the belted waist they accented her lush curves.
She was petite, but that gray cotton was stretched taut around her wide hips and full ass.
With the zipper halfway down, I couldn’t miss how plump her tits were in a snug white tank top.
I imagined what was underneath. Miles of creamy skin.
Softness. That sweet scent. I’d like to lick and suck and fuck every part of her.
I cleared my throat and pivoted, so neither of them could see how my dick was getting hard. Now was not the place for that to happen, but I couldn’t fucking help it. “She’s the new mechanic at Ernie’s. Clio. And JT.”
“She has two names?” he asked.
At the same time, Remy said, “I know JT. He’s nice and smells special.”
“JT’s her son,” I clarified.
Wes hoisted her up, spun her around, and plopped her onto the top of the half-door, his hands on her waist. He leaned down, so they were eye to eye. “What do you mean you know him, baby?”
“He’s in my class at school.”
“How come he smells funny? Does he have a cat at home or something?”
She shook her head hard, her curls flying again. Then she tapped her chin in a way I’d seen Wes do a time or two when he was thinking. “No. He smells like… Lily. But better. Like… I don’t know, Daddy. Something special.”
Lily was Becky and Clint’s little girl.
“You mean JT’s a shifter?” Wes prodded then flicked a glance my way.
Remy scrunched up her face as she thought. “I don’t know. He doesn’t even go on top of the jungle gym, and I’ve been doing that since I was two.”
Wes smiled and booped her nose. “You sure have, but you know you gotta be nice and play in ways your other friends can keep up.”
“I know, Daddy.”
He lowered her to the dirt packed floor when she started to wiggle, clearly done with our conversation. “Time to run up to the big house. Marina’s waiting for you to make cookies.”
“Yes!” She pumped her fist in the air.
I couldn’t help but grin at how spunky she was.
“Ask her if she’s still okay working the bake sale at your school’s Fall Festival on Friday!”
“Okay!” She took off out of the barn like a streak, knowing she didn’t have to hide her speed here on the ranch.
“Straight to the house. No going near the creek!” Wes called as he followed her out of the building at a slower pace. When we got outside and had a clear view of Remy and the house, he tucked his hands in his jeans pockets.
“So you found your mate, and she’s got a kid?” he asked. “Didn’t hear there was a new shifter joining our pack.”
News like that would have spread, especially on a ranch run by the pack alpha. They’d have been welcomed in, and with the good weather we’d had, they probably even would have hosted a barbecue or something.
“Um, yeah. The kid’s part shifter. Definitely.” I thought of him up on those rafters. I had a feeling he skipped the top of the monkey bars on purpose. “But Clio’s not.”
We watched as Marina came out the back door and waited for Remy, hands on hips. When the five-year-old got to her, she got a hug. Before they went inside, Marina waved down to us, knowing Wes would be watching for it.
“You sure she’s not a shifter?” he asked. “Maybe all the oil and grease fumes blocked her scent. Clint didn’t know Becky was his mate because he had his nose busted.”
I touched my nose instinctively. “Not a chance,” I replied. “I picked up her scent right away.”
So had my wolf. And my dick. Cinnamon and sugar. She’d smelled like heaven.
Both were pissed that we’d driven away from our mate because I couldn’t have claimed her then and there.
I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell my boss I’d pulled off the road on the way back to the ranch because I couldn’t wait a second longer to come.
I’d moved the seat back, opened my jeans, and wrapped my Clio-scented hand around my rock hard dick and made myself come.
I definitely wasn’t telling him it had taken me just seconds to explode. Talking about her now made my jeans tight.
He touched his chin as he commented, “She must’ve been with a shifter.”
“Obviously.”
He crossed his arms over his broad chest. “And has to know her son’s a shifter.”
“Maybe. He climbed up onto the rafter over the shop.” I grinned.
“Sneaky and quick.” I raised my hand to stop the questions that he was dying to ask.
“I don’t have any answers. All I know is that I can’t have a mate and a kid and live in the bunkhouse.
I need to get to that rodeo and work the connections I made to get more orders. ”
Orders for semen straws, semen collected from my prized bull that I sold to ranchers to inseminate their animals and produce quality stock for the rodeo. Prized bulls were big money.
Wes nodded. “‘Bout time you got a fire under you. Your business is going to take off if you put some time into it. While I’m sure Boyd has a number of connections, let me know if you need any help from me or mine.”