Wild (Wolf Ranch 2)

“Yeah, found some trouble.”

In the form of a five-foot-two she-devil who soothed my wolf, emptied my balls and sated my dick. Then bolted like a pissed off bull out of a chute.

Boyd smirked.

“Problem?” Rob asked, one brow raised. He was alpha now, but he’d come into the role when he was only eighteen. Still, he had it down, barely showing any emotion below his signature gruffness.

“Nothing I can’t handle.” I’d find her and light her ass up for leaving me. Then I’d fuck her and maybe that ass, reminding her who was in fucking charge. It wasn’t her.

“We were thinking you liked a big sandbox instead of home,” Levi commented.

I thought of the tour I’d finished in Afghanistan. The desert climate did shit for me. I couldn’t shift and run. Hot as fuck, especially under fur.

“Had to keep my fellow soldiers safe,” I replied. It was true. I had better hearing, eyesight, sense of smell. I couldn’t die very easily. All of that was why I’d climbed quickly through the ranks, but it didn’t always keep my soldiers alive. And lately, with the fucking moon madness, I had to question my own abilities on the job. I didn’t want to be a danger to my team, and I felt I was more of a liability than an asset these days.

“You’re getting fucking old. Maybe it’s time to let someone else save the world?” Levi continued.

I thought of my men and at first was pissed Levi thought I’d abandon them, but he was right. It was my job to lead them, regardless of our orders. But when I hit thirty, I’d become restless for more. My wolf let me know it was time to focus on finding a mate and claiming her. He wanted to protect a mate. Pups.

I wasn’t at retirement age yet, but maybe it was time for someone else to save the world, just as Levi said. No one else on base had a wolf inside them.

“Maybe,” I replied, not ready to tell him I was thinking the same thing. It was time to decide to re-up, but it seemed my wolf had made the decision for me. Same went for the woman from last night. My fucking mystery mate.

“Why the fuck are we standing here? Time you met my woman,” Boyd said, then turned to lead us all toward the kitchen.

The scent of vanilla and sugary cake got stronger as we cut down the hallway to the back of the house. Mom had wanted a huge kitchen, and Dad had given her one. A big central counter, huge rustic farm table and chairs to seat the five of us along with the shifters living at the ranch. It even had a fireplace for the cold Montana winters.

Mom and Dad had been gone now over fifteen years, so it’d been a while since I’d smelled scents like these in the house. Not that Rob didn’t cook, but he didn’t fucking bake.

“Darlin’, Colton finally got here.”

Boyd went over to a woman and dropped a kiss on her lips. I didn’t know if she had blonde hair or two heads or had fairy wings because all I saw was the other woman standing at the counter with a metal spatula in her hand.

Her.

My mate’s scent hit me now. Clearly, it had been masked by the baked goods on the counter and in the oven, but no wonder I’d gotten hard when I’d come in the front door. She’d been here frosting a fucking cake while I’d been roaming the streets for her.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I growled.

Everyone froze and stared.

“Hi,” she said, her voice a breathy whisper. My wolf howled. My hands clenched. It was a good thing the counter was between us.

“Ha, I knew it,” Boyd said on a laugh.

“How the fuck did you know?” I asked him.

He sniffed the air.

I raised my hand to shut him up, in case he felt like sticking his damned nose… literally none of his fucking business. I didn’t look his way, didn’t break eye contact with her. Marina.

My mate was Audrey’s little fucking sister. Which meant…

“You knew who I was,” I said to her.

I was beyond pissed.

She nodded and bit her lip. She had on the same clothes as the night before, just like me. Her hair was up in a bun, and her cheeks flushed from the heat in the kitchen. She looked perfect. Whole. Here.

And yet I was so angry at her.

“Surprise!” She faked a smile and raised her shoulders in a funny shrug.

“Um, you two know each other?” Rob asked from behind me.

“She’s my fucking ma—,” I stopped because I didn’t know if Marina even knew what we were. Audrey did, but it was against pack law to reveal to humans. The existence of shifters was a closely-guarded secret. Audrey knew since my brother fucking bit her neck and claimed her. Marina would need to know before I claimed her as well, but Boyd and Audrey shouldn’t have told her. “She’s my fucking…”