Rough (Wolf Ranch 1)

Becky smiled. “Let’s say eight o’clock. Wear your cowgirl boots.”

My smile drooped. “What if I don’t have cowgirl boots?”

She elbowed me. “Kidding. I was kidding. You can wear anything you want, except scrubs.”

I looked down at myself. “No problem.”

“You should get a pair of cowgirl boots,” Alana said, then kissed the top of her daughter’s head. She had lots of dark hair like her father. “Don’t you agree, Anabelle?”

“Anabelle,” her husband choked. “It’s perfect. She’s perfect.”

“She sure is.” I went over and gave the hat to dad to slip on the newborn to help her stay warm. I grabbed new gloves from the dispenser on the wall, then clamped and cut the cord. Their happiness lifted me out of all my misgivings about proper attire or good-looking rodeo champs.

There was a new baby in the world, and her name was Anabelle. She was going to continue to bring endless joy to the world, simply by being alive.

If only everything was so miraculous and beautiful.

10

BOYD

“Here comes trouble,” Levi, one of the ranch hands, muttered at the sound of hooves trotting up our drive. A bunch of us were sitting on the corral fence watching Sam, another of the ranch hands—and fellow pack member—tame the new stallion he’d bought.

It was always tricky at first. Horses that weren’t foaled on the ranch had to get used to the shifter scent. Even the tamest of horses acted wild when we first brought them in. They didn’t want to submit to humans that smelled like wolves.

I thought of Audrey, of how skittish she’d been the day before, how quickly she’d bolted after I’d tried to tame her. With my tongue. I shifted on the top rail, my dick getting hard without any room for it to fit.

I looked down the drive at the man riding toward us, squinting slightly into the bright sun. The day was hot, the sky blue. At least for now. Later in the afternoons, clouds usually built up over the mountains bringing storms.

Under the brim of his hat, I saw an unfamiliar face. I pegged him at late thirties. He rode stiffly, his spine straight, his hold on the reins too taut. He sure as fuck didn’t know how to ride a horse.

“Who is that?” I murmured in case he was a shifter and had hearing as good as ours.

“Jett Markle,” Rob replied, his voice as flat as usual. “He bought Didi’s Double D ranch awhile back. The spread on the other side of Old Man Shefield’s place.”

I hadn’t been back much in the decade since I’d graduated and bolted like a wild mustang, but I remembered Didi and why her place was called the Double D. I’d heard from Rob the place had sold but hadn’t given it more thought. Until now.

“He’s an asshole,” Rob added, tipping his chin down but kept his gaze on the visitor. Markle was a human on pack land. Rob might appear calm, but I sensed the tightly coiled tension in him.

I took his comment with a grain of salt because shifters didn’t think much of most humans. Rob, especially. He’d liked Old Man Shefield, our next door neighbor, but that was only because we’d known him since we were kids. We’d swam in his swimming hole. He’d been a good neighbor to our parents and offered a lot of support to Rob after they died. Even at eighteen, Rob hadn’t accepted much help, but the guy had offered it nonetheless.

Markle trotted up and sat on his horse instead of dismounting. He didn’t loosen his hold on the reins, despite the fact that they were no longer moving. “Howdy.”

Rob sniffed, and I knew he was taking in the man on the wind. I picked up heavy cologne, soap and the tang of his sweat. Looking at him, I knew he wasn’t from around these parts. While his clothes looked casual, they were expensive and too clean. No way he’d saddled the animal nor would he brush him down when he returned to his stable. Nah, he wouldn’t want to muss his manicure. What fucker buffed his nails?

Levi and I waited for Rob, as our alpha, to respond first. Rob waited a beat, then another, like Markle wasn’t worth his time. “How’s it going?” Rob asked in the bored tone that implied he didn’t give a shit how Markle answered.

“Not good. I think there’s a wolf or wolves in these parts.” He glanced behind us at the open land, as if he were looking now for the animals. “I saw prints on my land, and I’m missing one of my herd.”

Rob bristled and the ripple of irritation ran through all of us. We were a pack, and pack animals were completely in tune with their alpha. Rob was blasting annoyance, and we’d all felt it.

Of course, Markle hadn’t because he was just a human. Frail and inferior. And, clearly, an asshole.