Chapter 3
THREE
Declan
I woke later than normal after a night of restless sleep.
My bear didn’t understand why we weren’t with our mate.
Unfortunately, there was no reasoning with our animal halves.
They operated on instinct, and instinct told him our mate should be with us.
He didn’t understand she was human and needed a gentler approach.
It helped that she was familiar with shifters and knew about fated mates. But I didn’t know how she felt about the topic. She might disapprove of her sister being mated to a bear. I’d need to feel her out, try to get her talking about the subject. Then I’d know how to bring up that she was my mate.
I threw on my clothes and went to the kitchen to grab food and coffee.
I needed to get some chores done before Chloe woke up.
Then I’d dedicate the rest of the day to helping her learn how to ride properly and showing her around the ranch.
I wanted her to see my home. What I hoped would soon be her home.
Mae pulled a plate covered in tinfoil out of the oven and slid it onto the table for me before grabbing a mug to fill with coffee. “Got a late start, I see. Mason and the boys are already out in the barn.”
Although we were all fully grown men, Mae insisted on calling Ethan, Gabriel, Austin, and Luke boys.
Said she’d call it like she saw it. Only Mason and I escaped the label.
Me because I’d always been the responsible one.
Mason, because he came back from the army changed.
It wasn’t just the limp that had never healed, despite his shifter healing.
It was the shadows in his eyes that said he’d seen and experienced things the rest of us hadn’t.
“After Chloe wakes up and eats, send her to the barn ready to ride. I’m going to teach her to ride Tank. He’s the steadiest of all the horses we have.” I shoveled my breakfast in my mouth before draining my coffee. I was in a rush to get started.
“She’s already up.”
Mae’s words had me turning to her. “What?”
“She headed out before sunrise with her camera. Said she wanted to get the lay of the land.” Mae dried a plate and put it away, unconcerned that my mate was out there alone. “She was the first one up. Isn’t used to our time zone yet, apparently.”
I shoved my chair back and rushed outside.
Hopefully, she’d stuck to the yard and barn.
I didn’t like thinking of my mate by herself, unfamiliar with the ranch.
But when I reached the barn, I didn’t see her and only smelled the faint scent of her, telling me she’d been here but not recently.
I checked the stalls, relieved when I saw none of the horses were missing.
“Not often we get to call you out for being late.” Ethan leaned against the door of his horse’s stall. The gray horse, Storm, hung his head over my brother’s shoulder. Storm was like his rider. A bit of a mischief maker, but steady under it all.
“Have you seen Chloe?”
“Nope. But the keys for the second ATV are gone.” He pushed away from the stall. “Figured you were out with her. Want me to go find her?”
“No. I will.” I grabbed Thunder’s saddle and got him ready to ride. “Call me if she finds her way back.”
“Will do.”
I led Thunder out of the barn and swung up into the saddle, my eyes on the ground as I approached where we kept the spare ATV, near where the hose connected to the barn. I was suddenly thankful for the water fight yesterday, as it made the area muddy enough to create a track for me to follow.
I urged my horse into a gallop. There were plenty of dangers on the ranch, and I worried my mate would get hurt.
My lips tightened, and I slowed as I neared the pen where we kept Havoc, the meanest bull alive.
If he weren’t such a good stud, we would have sold him off to the rodeo long ago.
My alert gaze scoured the fence line, relaxing when there was no sign of Chloe.
Havoc would pick a fight with anyone who came near his territory, as evidenced by him rattling his gate as I passed.
The trail veered away from the pen, heading out farther into the pasture.
The sun was still low in the sky, and I wondered if Chloe had traveled this path in the dark, my worry deepening.
I squeezed my legs around Thunder and he picked up speed again.
The ATVs we used on the ranch were large, suited for the size of shifters, not my mate.
And the terrain got rougher farther from the ranch house.
I reined in Thunder when I caught sight of the ATV at the base of a tall rock formation.
I didn’t see Chloe anywhere. I slid off my horse, dropping the reins and looking for her trail.
The keys were in the ATV’s ignition, but the engine was cold, suggesting she’d stopped a while ago. But where could she be?
I followed her footprints in the dirt to the base of the formation, and my stomach twisted. She wouldn’t have climbed the rocks, would she? I stepped back, tilting my head to peer up. “Chloe?”
Her face, surrounded by that riot of red curls, peered over the edge. “Declan? What are you doing here?”
“I should be asking you that. How’d you get up there?”
She raised a brow. “I climbed.”
I cursed under my breath. “It’s not safe. I’m coming up to get you.”
“Don’t be silly. I’ll be right down.”
Before I could move, she was over the edge, her camera swinging from her back.
She climbed her way down the rock, searching for foot and hand holds as she went.
I shadowed her from the ground, ready to catch her if she slipped, but she moved with confidence, and soon she stood next to me, wiping her dusty hands against her pants.
“I got some great shots. The view up there is amazing.” She walked toward the ATV, stopping when she spotted Thunder.
Her camera came up, clicking as she moved around my horse.
He preened, almost as if he knew he was being immortalized on film.
After several minutes, she straightened and turned to me. “Can I get some shots of you on him?”
Chloe
Declan looked even more stern than usual as his arms crossed, causing the muscles there to bunch. His eyes were shadowed beneath the brim of his hat, but I imagined them focused intently on me. He made no move to mount his horse.
“You shouldn’t be out here alone. It’s not safe.”
His deep voice distracted me. The sound sent pleasant shivers down my spine as my insides turned liquid. Then the words pierced the haze of attraction that was always present around him.
My eyes narrowed and my shoulders straightened. “I often work alone. It’s easier.”
“You could get hurt.” His tone was brusque, leaving no room for argument. Or so he probably thought. I wouldn’t fold just because I’d been told not to do something.
“I spent the last month alone, hiking in the backcountry on a mountain. I think I can handle your ranch.” I stalked over to the ATV and put my camera away, figuring I wasn’t getting my shot of him on the back of his horse.
Probably for the best. I didn’t need a picture to moon over when I was in my bedroom tonight. “I’m here to take pictures.”
“If you’d waited, I was going to show you around.”
The growl in his words affected me way too much.
He was not my type. I repeated it to myself a few times, but it didn’t seem to work.
It was part of why I’d taken off so early.
I’d spent the night tossing and turning, thinking of him.
Men never affected me like this. All my relationships had been light and easy.
Temporary flirtations that never really impacted me. But Declan was different.
I’d thought if I was alone, away from him, I could get my traitorous body back in line. It clearly hadn’t worked, because as soon as I’d heard his voice calling out to me from over the cliff, my skin had flushed and my breath had quickened.
“There’s no need,” I said. “I can explore on my own.”
He yanked his hat off his head, and his dark gaze settled firmly on me. “Not a chance.”
Now I was mad. I didn’t like restrictions. I chafed under them. “Who are you to tell me what to do?”
“I’m—”
“Oh, never mind. It doesn’t matter. Just because you hired me doesn’t mean I’ll obey everything you say. I’m not your horse.” I got on the ATV and turned on the engine. The vibrating beneath me did nothing to soothe the fire he lit inside me.
“Chloe—”
I gunned the engine, cutting off his words before releasing the brake and turning the ATV back toward the ranch.
The vehicle was larger than the ones I’d driven before, but I felt comfortable enough to push the speed.
I flew across the pasture, the wind tangling my curls, and didn’t stop until I’d neared the main yard, by the bullpen I’d seen earlier.
Grabbing my camera, I hopped off the ATV and headed over to the fence to take pictures of the animal.
With my hand shading my eyes, I looked for the bull, but couldn’t see him.
My brows furrowed as I walked along the fence line, then I came to a stop when I saw the gate hanging open.
A loud snort behind me had me freezing in place.
I pivoted slowly, careful to make no sudden movements, and saw the bull standing a short distance away.
It was between me and the ATV, blocking my obvious escape route.
The bull pawed at the ground, his head lowered and shoulders hunched.
He kept his protruding eyes trained on me.
I knew little about bulls, but I was sure he was preparing to charge.
I shuffled toward the opening in the fence.
If I could move closer, I could try to get inside the pen and close the gate after me, leaving the bull on the outside.
The animal shook his head from side to side, as if warning me not to move. But I couldn’t just stand there and wait. I couldn’t outrun a charging bull either. I took another sliding step to the side, and he pawed harder, dust flying up where his hoof met the ground.
Just as I grabbed my chance and ran for the pen, Declan raced up on his horse, vaulting off the back to land with a roar that distracted the bull.
It knew Declan was the greater threat. Suddenly, Declan shifted, clothes tearing, and I learned I was right when I’d thought he was a bear.
He was massive. I’d studied the different types of bears when I attended my sister’s wedding, and with his long, shaggy coat, large, muscular shoulder hump, and distinctive facial profile, Declan was a grizzly. One of the most dangerous.
He stood on his hind legs, over nine feet tall, and roared at the bull, which tossed its head before lowering it and pointing its horns at Declan. It pawed the ground one more time before running straight at him. Terror filled me at the thought of those horns slicing into Declan.
Before the bull could gore him, Declan’s bear grabbed the bull’s head and twisted, sending the animal to the ground with a heavy thud.
The bull struggled to its feet, hooves slipping beneath it as the grizzly wrenched its head again before biting at the animal’s shoulder.
Thundering hooves approached, and I watched the brother with dark blond hair who had shot me with the hose yesterday launch himself off his horse and shift into a tiger midair.
The others circled their horses, one by the gate, ready to close it as soon as they got the bull back inside.
Declan’s bear and the tiger herded the bull toward the pen.
It was tossing its head, threatening to charge, but every time it tried, one of the two would swipe at it, sending it staggering on its feet.
Finally, the bull was in the pen, and the gate swung closed.
The brother closest to the gate got off his horse and fiddled with the latch.
Declan shifted back and strode over to me. My curious eyes barely got a peek at his naked form before he swung me up in his arms. I grabbed his shoulders as he carried me over to the ATV and set me on the back. He called out to his brothers, “Get Thunder back in the barn for me.”
Then he was in front of me, driving the ATV back to the yard.
My arms wrapped around his stomach, the feel of his muscles against my skin sending shivers through me, the vibrations of the ATV beneath me only heightening my arousal.
I couldn’t stop myself from pressing tight against his bare back as I rested my cheek on him.
He would probably yell at me when we stopped, accuse me of being careless or something, so I let myself enjoy this moment.
The attraction couldn’t go anywhere, but I was done ignoring it.
I’d never felt for anyone what I did for him, and I lived for new experiences.
I would let myself build as many memories as I could before leaving, and worry about my heart later.