Desert Fate (The Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch Book 3) (20 page)
Read Desert Fate (The Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch Book 3) Online
Authors: Anna Lowe
“Hey, Stef! You’re back!” Cody called.
“Hey Stefanie, how was your trip?” Tina asked. She dropped her voice as she brushed by, balancing a tower of paper plates. “Next time make it a little shorter. Make our lives easier, will you?”
Stefanie turned to face him, and although she was pointing an accusing finger at his chest, all he saw for a moment was her eyes: the deep honey-brown he’d always loved. There were sparks of pure gold, too, a permanent mark of her Changeling days, though the gray and green tones had faded away as she settled into her shifter body.
“You haven’t been snapping at everyone, have you?”
“Yes!” Tina called over her shoulder.
“No!” Kyle insisted.
“Yes!” Cody yelled.
“Maybe,” Kyle grunted, pulling her close again. So he got a little cranky when his mate was away. Was that his fault?
“Hey, Stef,” Heather said as she jogged by with water jugs in each hand. “I called you for my team in the soccer game.”
“Wait a minute!” Lana chipped in from a few steps away. “Rae and I called her for our team.”
“I call her,” Kyle growled, and the others laughed and moved on.
“How was your trip?” he whispered then, keeping her close, the line of her body assuring him she really was back.
“It was fine. But you know what?” Her eyes shone with good news. “Remember that condo complex in Sedona I was telling you about? They’re going full solar, and we got the contract!”
He found himself hanging on to a breath, wondering if it meant what he hoped.
“So only short trips from now on.” She seemed as happy with the news as he was. “For the next couple of months, anyway.”
His hopes faded. “What happens after that?”
“I told the company I’d be needing some time off,” she said, tucking her chin into the nook by his shoulder. “I think it’s finally time for our own home improvement project.”
He drew a blank on that one. They already had solar panels on the house and had started installing a solar array on the biggest barn on the ranch. He knew Stef had grand plans for more, but those would be long-term, community projects. So what kind of home improvement did she mean?
“What project?”
“The one you keep harping on,” she said, poking his belly.
His heart stuttered. Ever since Greer had introduced the idea of a child, he hadn’t been able to erase the image. He’d been carefully feeling his mate out on the topic, but Stef said she wanted to settle in and concentrate on her career for a while longer. Kyle could understand about wanting to prove yourself, so he hadn’t pushed it. But if she was really ready…
“You mean, that project?” he managed, poking her back.
The healthy tan of her cheeks went a little pink as she nodded.
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure if you’re sure.” And Jesus, she really looked sure. Glowing. Happy. His.
“I’m sure!” he blurted.
Stefanie laughed. “Definitely?”
“Definitely.”
“Not just possibly?”
He grabbed her finger before she could tease him any more. “Not possibly. Not maybe. Definitely.”
“Good,” she smiled and pulled him into a kiss. “Because I’m that sure, too.” She drew a finger down his cheek and whispered, “Thanks for waiting.”
He got lost in her lips for a while, and when his brain clicked back into gear, he had to clear his throat.
Definitely
had more of an effect on him than he expected it to.
Stefanie smiled and swept him into a kiss that had a little more tongue and a lot more heat.
“Hmmm,” he murmured, tugging her closer. “How about we get started right now?”
She glanced around. “You mean,
now
, now?”
“Now, now,” he grinned, pulling her in the direction of the old bunkhouse. They’d fixed it up for the times they stayed over on the ranch. A home away from home of sorts, and one they were considering fixing up for a permanent move. Living out on the farthest edge of the ranch was gradually losing its appeal. A wolf belonged with his pack, after all.
“The good thing about being part wolf,” he started, slinging an arm across her shoulders, “is that you’re entitled to take yourself for a walk whenever you want.”
Stef wound her hand behind his back and slipped it into the rear pocket of his jeans as they strode away from the others. “Just a walk, huh?”
He held back an answer, because otherwise his lips might move straight into another kiss and they’d never make it to the privacy of the bunkhouse.
They walked to the top of a rise and paused there, taking in the view. The ranch was a flurry of barbecue preparations, but the meandering trail to the old bunkhouse beckoned in the opposite direction. Beyond, the hills rose in layers until they merged with purple mountains far, far away. There was a time when the view had made him feel like an outsider looking in. But not any more. He felt Stefanie’s body rise then dip in a satisfied sigh.
Yeah, he knew just what she meant. It was good to be home.
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Thank you so much for reading Desert Fate! Read on for a sneak peek at Zack and Rae’s story in Desert Hunt: the Prequel to the Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch series.
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Desert Fate
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Read on for a sneak peek of Zack and Rae’s story in
Desert Hunt
:
the Prequel to the Twin Moon Ranch series. In it, you’ll get to see many of the characters you’ve grown to love in the Twin Moon Ranch series.
Other books in this series
Desert Moon
(Book 1)
Desert Wolf
1
and
2
(short stories)
Desert Blood
(Book 2)
Desert Fate (Book 3)
coming soon:
Desert Heart
(Book 4)
Desert Hunt
(the Prequel)
Also by Anna Lowe…
Uncharted Waters
Uncharted Territory
Veiled Fantasies
Ocean Fantasies
Recommended reads
If you liked this book, try one of these Western Paranormal Romances…
Her Werewolf Bodyguard
(Moon Pack Rules) by Michele Bardsley
The Quick and the Fevered
(Fevered Hearts) by Heather Long
Alpha Wolf
(Black Mesa Wolves) by J.K. Harper
…or one of these sexy shapeshifter stories from authors I love:
Claiming His Fate
(Feral Breed Motorcycle Club) by Elllis Leigh
Tempted by the Pack
(Blue Moon Brides) by Anne Marsh
Desert Hunt
A Prequel to the Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch
Rae has a secret—one she can’t allow any wolf pack to discover. But with an old enemy hot on her heels, she has no option but to trust Zack, the man from the wrong side of the tracks. Taking off on the back of Zack's Harley seems like good idea at first, but when she lowers her defenses for the captivating coyote shifter, she might just be risking it all.
The new she-wolf in town may be strictly off-limits, but Zack just can’t keep away. When the thrill of the chase gets his blood pumping in more ways than one, he’s ready to overstep every boundary and break every rule. Destiny says she’s his—but the pack’s ruling alpha says she belongs to another.
This prequel takes place two years before the events of
Desert Moon
, Book 1 in the Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch series.
Desert Hunt: Chapter One
“Rae!”
It was a barked order, not a request.
Rae gritted her teeth and counted to five before turning slowly and facing the source: Sabrina, the daughter of the ruling alpha. Still a spoiled brat at seventeen. Rae didn’t want to imagine what the girl might be like in another couple of years.
“My father wants you in his office. Now.” Sabrina underpinned the command with a flick of her glossy mane.
Rae wouldn’t have thought it was possible for a werewolf to be a princess, but there it was. Sabrina made damn sure she punctuated every sentence with a jangle of gold bracelets and the same two words—
my father
—reminding everyone of the pecking order around here.
That was one of the bitter truths of pack hierarchy. The alphas and their offspring ruled the roost, and the rest of the pack had no choice but to fight or submit. Twenty-eight hardscrabble years had taught Rae that all too well.
She chipped another little piece off her soul and did as directed, pretending to be like the others. A good little female meant for hearth and home—and definitely, definitely, not for the hunt.
She worked off the tension steeling her jaw, reminding herself she had something far, far more special in her heritage than alpha blood. Something secret. But she’d be damned if she let on to anyone. A pack would claim her forever if they found out, and then she’d never be free.
“Do you ever bother looking in a mirror?” Sabrina smirked, eyeing Rae’s tangled hair.
Not nearly as often as you.
She nearly shot the words out but caught herself on the first syllable. So what if her long brown hair was usually thrown into a loose ponytail? So what if her figure said athlete and not cover girl? That’s who she was, and she liked it that way. She’d leave the plunging necklines to curvy girls like Sabrina, because attracting unwanted attention could be a dangerous thing.
She set off, finger-combing her hair on the way to the alpha’s office and flicking away a burr she’d picked up some time that morning. So she’d been out wandering again. Was that so wrong for one of their kind?
Except she wasn’t exactly their kind. Oh, she was a wolf shifter all right, but one born to another pack. And even back home in Colorado, she’d always been a little different. The one who didn’t quite fit in.
Her inner wolf let out a snort.
A lot different. If only they knew.
Rae eyed the alpha’s office door warily before giving it a nervous knock. There was a grunt, and she entered, dropping her eyes in the required sign of subordination to the grizzled old alpha and his haughty mate. Even after all these years at Westend pack, the gesture didn’t come easily.
“Your lucky day has come,” Roric announced, curt and cold. “Pack your things.”
For this alpha, a smile and a sneer were one and the same. What did he mean by lucky day?
She glanced uncertainly at his mate, who frowned in acid disapproval of Rae’s dusty jeans, her plain blue T-shirt, her… Well, her everything.
“Get moving.” Roric jutted his square chin toward the door. “Another pack is willing to try you out for a season.”
Rae’s heart thumped. She’d been hoping something would come along in another pack—a job, an internship, anything. She’d had enough of Nevada. Not so much the heat or the dusty flats but the stifling hierarchy of Roric’s Westend pack. That and the fact that these shifters had sold their souls. Gambling was big business in Nevada, but as far as Rae was concerned, it was a business wolf packs had no place in. What happened to their connection to the earth, to the old ways?
Unfortunately, Roric’s pack had only let go of some of the old ways. They’d clung to the rest: the crushing, absolutist authority, the strict delineation of male and female roles. The only consolation was that Roric wasn’t as bad as some others—like the alpha Rae had fled in Colorado ten years before. Here, her body was safe. And by now, she’d learned the ropes. If she toed the line carefully, she had a modicum of freedom. After all, no one ever paid attention to what the odd wolf out did on the night of a new moon.
But who knew what it would be like in a different pack?
“Where?” she blurted.
Roric waved a lazy hand as if it were all the same to him. But that gesture, like so many others, was probably rehearsed. This alpha didn’t do anything without analyzing it for the benefits—to him and his pack. Individual wishes didn’t register on his list.
“Arizona. Twin Moon Ranch.”
She caught a breath. When she’d put in a request for a transfer, she’d been thinking East Coast, where the packs were said to be more modern-minded. But Arizona? Wolf packs in the Four Corners area were known to be old school. And Arizona—that was old-old school. Who knew what kind of alpha she’d have there?
She glanced around, second-guessing herself. Westend had never felt like home, but did she really want to start all over again?
The hard faces greeting her provided all the answer she needed: the decision was made.
“Who knows,” the alpha female added with a conspiratorial glance at her partner. “You might finally find a suitable mate there.”
Rae hid the stutter in her breath. Was that a hint? A threat? The room leaned in over her, as enclosed spaces always did. She let her chin dip into the briefest nod, asking—begging—to be dismissed while her mind spun. Arizona?
Roric flicked a finger toward the door. She was released.
“Good luck,” Sabrina called, her tone clashing with the words.
Right, luck. Rae had been in Nevada long enough to know that it took a hell of a lot of waiting to win at any gamble. Better to make her own luck, or at least stack the odds in her favor.
She hurried to her room, forcing calm over her mind as she decided which of her few belongings mattered enough to take. Topping the list was her recurve bow and a freshly fletched set of arrows, with a few silver-tipped ones, just in case. Because there were wolves, and there were
wolves
. Who knew what Arizona might bring?