Alpha Possessed (The Dixon Brothers 1)

He starts leaping around with his tongue hanging out, looking like he wants to play.

“Where are your antlers?”

He grabs a chewed-up tennis ball from the thick grass and drops it at my feet.

“You want me to touch that?” I ask with a laugh when I look down at it. It’s covered in slobber.

But he looks so excited that I can’t let him down. I pick it up, throw it as far as I can, and then wipe the slobber on the back of my jeans as he takes off.

He grabs it and runs back to me.

“Oh, no,” I say with a laugh. “You only get one throw from me. Do you know where Cameron is?”

He tilts his head, trying to understand me.

“Cameron. About this wide. A little bossy. Huge cock.”

He drops the ball at my feet and wags his tail.

“Ah, you’re no help.”

He follows me over to the barn and then takes off running when he sees something that catches his attention on the other side of the field.

I’m nervous as I walk in, looking around for my man.

One of Cameron’s brothers is in there feeding the goats. He waves when he sees me.

“Good morning, Mary.”

“Easton is it?”

He smiles. “That’s me. The middle brother.”

“Right.”

I walk over awkwardly as a goat comes up to me and bleats out a weird noise.

“Don’t mind him,” Easton says. “That’s Roger. He’s a bit of an asshole.”

I laugh as he tilts his head and makes a screaming noise.

“Get!” Easton says, throwing a carrot at him. It bounces off his shoulder and he grabs it and leaves.

“Can I help?” I ask as I walk over to where he’s pouring a bag of feed into a bucket.

“Sure,” he says. “Why don’t you empty those water buckets and fill them with fresh water from the hose.”

“I can definitely do that.”

Maybe I was a little too cocky about my water game. The buckets are big and I end up spilling half of the first one onto my shoe.

“I’m really happy for you guys,” Easton says.

I turn and look at him, but he’s focused on the feed.

“Cameron needs his mate,” he goes on. “Maybe more than any of us, well, besides Jacob. I think you’re going to be good for him. You’ll calm him. He always was a hothead. Him and his bear.”

“Oh yeah?”

“That’s why we’re here. To start families. He’d never admit it, but I know that Cameron wants one so badly. He loves kids.”

“Kids?!” I say, spilling the rest of the water on my other shoe. “I’m just here for work. A couple of days and then I’ll be heading back to New York.”

“Right,” he says with a knowing nod. “Is that what you think?”

“I’m going back home,” I say with a nervous laugh. Aren’t I?

Why do these guys keep talking like they know something I don’t? Who knows more about my future than me? Certainly not these ranchers I just met.

I’m going home and that’s that. Last night was just a bit of fun. Okay, a lot of fun, but I’m not going to change my entire life around because I had one incredible, earth-shaking night. It’s not going to happen.

“It’s hard for shifters,” he goes on. “You know we can’t go dating or download an app to meet someone. We can’t just find a cute girl and try to make it work. We have to find the one. That’s a lot of pressure, plus think of the logistics of that. What if she’s not in your direct vicinity? What then? Should you travel to try and find her, but then what if she’s traveling through your home town while you’re looking for her on the other side of the planet?”

I just stare at him as he rambles on. Clearly, he’s getting frustrated about not finding her.

“It’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack, only the haystack has about four billion pieces of hay and could be on any of the seven continents!”

“I hope you find her,” I say as I slowly back out of the barn.

“And what if I find her when I’m eighty?” he says, not talking to anyone in particular now. “I’ll go crazy waiting all that time!”

I sneak out and take a breath of relief as I continue over to the stables to try and find Cameron. Moose joins my side again, holding a stick this time.

“Cameron?” I ask when I stick my head into the stables. “Oh, shit.”

“I heard that.”

It’s Jacob. He drops the shovel he’s holding and walks over, shoving his sleeves up his thick forearms as he stares me down.

“I guess I deserve that after last night,” he says. “I’m sorry I was a bit of a dick.”

I just stare at him.

“Okay, a total dick. You just don’t know what you’re doing.”

“I’m a professional journalist,” I say in a firm voice with my chin in the air. “I know exactly what I’m doing.”