Fierce (Wolf Ranch 5)

“Where’s Charlie?” I demanded, forgetting my manners.

For some fucking reason, Rob looked amused. “She went for a ride with Clint and Johnny. What’s the emergency?”

Emergency? No fucking emergency.

Okay, yeah, it was close to an emergency. No one should take my human on any kind of field trip without me.

Dammit.

How did she already become my human in my mind? I get my dick wet one night, and suddenly, I’m getting attached? I wasn’t pussy whipped like Rob or Colton or Boyd. Hell, or even Clint.

I needed to dial it back.

Rob slapped me on the shoulder. “Let’s talk,” he said and tilted his head toward the ranch house. I followed. He didn’t stop until we were settled in his office, Willow peeling off and heading to the kitchen where scents of spaghetti sauce were making my stomach rumble.

“So bad I’m called to the principal’s office?” I dropped in a seat as he moved behind his desk.

He smirked, dropped his hat on the hard surface.

“The problem with shifters is their hearing’s strong as fuck. It’s impossible to talk in private.”

“Or do anything else.” Yeah, I’d overheard all of the newly mated couples going at it a time or two.

“So, what’s up with you and the vet?” he asked, ignoring my reply.

I’d known Rob since the day I joined the pack, looking for a place to settle. His parents had been killed in a car accident the year before, and he’d been as fucked up as me. He was a year older, and at the time, already the alpha. He had a shit ton on his shoulders but had been handling it well. Perhaps that was why he’d welcomed me so readily; he recognized a screwed up teenager when he saw one.

I’d settled into the bunkhouse and been just like Johnny. Learning everything I could and just… living. I’d been free at Wolf Ranch. Everyone was a shifter. No one hid that from each other. From the town, yes, but pack members shifted and ran in the hills to their hearts’ content. They weren’t shamed. Verbally abused. Forbidden to be themselves.

It had taken a long time to let go of my anger toward my grandparents, how they’d pretty much chained my wolf inside me. Even safe here, when others on the ranch ran with the full moon, I hadn’t been able to shift. I never had. Not once. We figured since I’d never shifted before I lived with my mother’s family that I probably wasn’t able to do so. Maybe it was because I was half-shifter. Still, my wolf made his presence known. Howling when pissed. Prowling when aroused or eager.

Oh, I knew its feelings when it came to Charlie. He wanted her. Just like me.

I realized Rob was staring at me. Waiting. In his usual fashion, he was patient for a response, but I’d gone off on a wild tangent. I ran my hand over the back of my neck.

“Not much,” I replied. Charlie and I were close, but I wasn’t going to tell him we were fucking. Fortunately, he hadn’t been around to overhear us. At least I hoped not.

“Your scents are mingled in the bunkhouse.”

So much for secret keeping. Stupid wolf scenting.

I shrugged. “What? It’s not like she’s my mate.”

He looked down at his worn boots. “You have the urge to mark her?”

I frowned. That wasn’t possible, a fact which Rob should know. Then again, no one here had given up on my wolf appearing someday. Especially not after Willow, a half-breed like me, shifted for the first time in a life-or-death situation.

“She’s not my mate,” I repeated. “I would know.”

His dark gaze met mine. “Would you?”

It wasn’t meant as a dig, but it was hard to keep the anger down. He’d found his fucking mate. So had the other guys. I’d resigned myself to the fact that I probably never would, but it didn’t mean it wasn’t annoying as fuck to watch them like some kind of made for TV holiday movie.

“It’s a two-week thing.” I held up my hand. “Fun while she’s here. Nothing more. She’ll get that horse bred and head back to Colorado.”

My wolf howled, not pleased with me saying that aloud. He wanted more with her. So did I, but I wasn’t going to go back on our agreement. Charlie had a life in Colorado. A big-time job. She was smart. Successful. And she had family. A grandfather who needed her, who she loved. She couldn’t abandon him when it sounded like he needed her the most.

Besides, shifter-human pairings were a disaster. I knew that from my parents’ marriage, even though I was surrounded by successful ones. Even if my wolf never manifested, I was still a shifter. I could never, ever live among humans again. Not even for a mate.

“Then let’s introduce her to the pack. See if one of the others recognizes her scent. We could use a vet on the ranch.”