Rough (Wolf Ranch 1)

That was why it seemed only fitting, rather than shocking, when I spotted a grey wolf slinking along the rocks at the top of the waterfall. I gasped, first with surprise, then a little panic, then pleasure at the magnificent sight. “Look!” I pointed to the ridge.

“Oh, shit,” Boyd muttered.

If his response seemed strange, I didn’t have time to register it because at that moment, a shot rang out from the distance, behind us. I startled and slapped my hands instinctively over my ears.

“Hold your fire!” Boyd roared, flying to his feet at the same moment I screamed, and the wolf gave a terrible yelp.

I’d never forget the sound of it. I watched as the poor creature blasted sideways, the bullet striking its hindquarters. It lost its footing in slick moss and water.

“No!” I screamed as the wolf fell over the edge, legs scrambling in the air as it took the drop into the pool. It hit the surface with a huge splash.

Everything happened so fast.

Boyd ran to the edge and dived into the pool after the wolf, which was insane.

“Stop! Boyd!”

Shit! It was one thing to admire its magnificence from afar, another to go after it. Did he not understand it was a wild animal he was attempting to rescue? The creature was badly injured. If it was alive, it would surely tear his throat out when he tried to help it.

I stood at the water’s edge, holding my breath, trying to see beyond the bubbling surface of the pool. Time lengthened. Stretched. It felt like forever but was probably only a moment before Boyd popped from beneath the surface and walked out of the pool holding a lifeless wolf.

“Oh my God, Boyd!”

He dropped the bloody animal on the blankets and instantly started chest compressions. “Shift, kid. Now.”

“Boyd, be careful,” I warned. “That’s a wolf, for God’s sake. He’ll wake up and bite you.” I wanted to help and was obviously trained in CPR, but I wasn’t a veterinarian. This was way out of my wheelhouse.

The wolf jerked several times, water pouring out of its mouth.

“Shift,” Boyd commanded again, his voice louder.

And then bones cracked and crunched and the wolf changed. Into a human!

I stared. Blinked. Yes, I had my glasses on. A naked male. Dark hair, slim build, late teens. Not a wolf.

“Audrey, take over,” Boyd ordered, straightening. Water dripped off him, his clothes clung to him. He was breathing hard, his gaze dark. Fierce. I’d never seen him like this before. His fingers were on the guy’s neck.

“What?”

“You’re a doctor, and he’s been shot. He’s got a pulse, but he’s not breathing. Help him.”

“But… but—”

“Now,” he commanded.

I blinked again and pulled myself together. I slid seamlessly into his place, dropping to my knees on the wet ground to provide rescue breaths. Human bodies I could handle—regardless of how they appeared in front of me. Had he just been a wolf? My training made it easy to go on autopilot, doing everything I could to save his life.

Boyd was already jogging away and up the steep bank along the side of the waterfall. “I gotta keep Markle from seeing him. Do not call 911. And don’t worry about the gunshot wound, just get his lungs cleared.”

I knelt beside the blankets where just a short time ago we were naked and… making love. No, that hadn’t been making love, it had been fucking. But it had been more than that.

Now I was trying to resuscitate a kid who’d been a wolf. I heard Boyd speak, but it took a while for his words to filter in.

Markle.

Jett Markle had shot the boy—wolf. Whatever he was. Whatever the fuck just happened.

I heard Boyd’s voice shout in the distance. “You just shot my motherfucking dog, Markle!”

The sound of the two of them shouting continued, but I missed the rest because the boy at last coughed, and his lungs started to clear. I rolled him to his side and let him work the rest of the water out with gasps and coughs.

“That’s it,” I encouraged. “You’re going to be okay.”

Was that true? The kid just got shot. But Boyd had said not to worry about that part. And then the pieces started to fall into place. It was as if my brain finally understood what had been in front of me all this time. I wasn’t crazy.

I now knew why Boyd’s wound that miraculously healed. Why he didn’t want me to examine it. How he’d walked out of the hospital right after being gored by a bull. The way he’d known this wolf was actually a man. No, boy. I looked at him more closely and guessed him to be sixteen or so. Not much more.

Had Boyd ordered him to change form?

Shift, kid.

Yes. Boyd had known what he was. Known what to do to help him. Knew because he’d done it himself.