Desert Moon (The Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch Book 1) (10 page)

He put the truck in reverse and let it roll backward. If she was so sure something was amiss, he’d better check it out. “Where?”

Lana leaned over, reaching across his body to search outside his side window. For a moment, all he could sense was her pure, flowery scent. He wrapped an arm around her waist, and tugged her closer, reaching with his lips. He would have lost himself in her body again had it not been for Cody’s truck pulling up behind them.

He gave himself a little shake, then broke away from Lana and turned off the engine. If only it was as easy to settle his raging pulse.

“Up there,” Lana pointed.

Cody’s headlights filled the cab, and Ty slipped outside. A door slammed, and his brother joined him in silent contemplation of the hills.

“What?” Cody ventured.

“Lana saw something up there,” he said as she stepped to his side and exchanged a nod of greeting with his brother.

Cody must have caught the way he slid an arm around her waist, like he meant to hold on, not just for tonight but forever, because suddenly he was wildly signaling his doubts.

You know who she is
, Cody started.
Are you crazy?

Ty could imagine the rest. It was one thing to enjoy a woman for one night, but to contemplate keeping one? And not just any woman, but a Dixon? He should never have told Cody about the feud.

You’re playing with fire. Dad is going to skin you alive—

He shoved a hand flat against his brother’s chest, letting his eyes flare until Cody wilted and raised his hands in defeat.

Lana was not a choice; she was a necessity. He knew that now. This wasn’t about pleasure or a fleeting thrill. He needed her to become part of him. The fact that they could hear each other’s thoughts, clear as day, was proof of that.

Lana wasn’t an outsider. She belonged here, with him.

He was consumed with the need to possess her. Nothing but the mating call could do this to a wolf. But then again, he thought he’d heard the call once before. Long ago, when he’d caught that phantom scent on the wind.

The voice of doubt returned. Maybe he was kidding himself, letting one hot night carry him away. He’d go crazy trying to figure it all out in one night, though, and there was more pressing business right now. He set off up the gully, Cody and Lana following close behind. They climbed one hundred yards, scraping along the loose dirt and picking their way around wait-a-whiles. He stopped and cast his eyes around as Lana scrambled higher. Cody was right; there was nothing.

“Up here,” Lana called.

He swung up in six long strides, Cody’s skeptical step a tick slower behind him.

“There,” she pointed.

How she’d caught the glint of broken glass from way down on the road, he couldn’t tell. But a wave of silent pride swelled in him as Cody did a double take.
Man, she’s good.

Mine
, he growled back.

Cody put his hands up.
All right already!

The ground was littered with shattered beer bottles. Lana edged around the shards on nimble, bare feet and craned her head toward a spot higher up. Mumbling, she set off up the steep slope. Doubled over the way she was, the flannel shirt barely covered her glorious ass. He shot a mental bark at his brother, and Cody averted his eyes.

“Here,” Lana called.

He scaled the slope, catching the scent of ashes before his eyes found a burned-out campfire. The ashy smell covered the scent of dried blood, and he studied the hollow until his eyes confirmed what his nose had already registered. There was a desiccated pile of sheep bones stuck with bits of matted wool. The place had been used as a temporary camp.

He exchanged looks with Cody. The rogue coyotes. It had to be.

Lana’s nose crinkled, probably as much from the fight that had scarred her as the smell. “Three days old, maybe?”

Close. More like two. The desert worked that fast.

“What do you think?” Cody asked. “Four of them? Five?”

He only nodded vaguely. “Enough to make trouble.”

Big trouble
, Cody agreed.

“About as old as the dead sheep back there, right?” Lana waved toward where they’d met the Seymour ranchers, and a second stab of pride registered in him. He watched as Lana pointed around the campsite, reconstructing the scene. “So they stopped here and ate their fill. And then?” She looked from him to Cody, then back.

Exactly the question he was asking himself. Where were they now? Where would they strike next?

Lana kicked the dirt. “Fresh enough trail,” she murmured, sniffing the air like she was considering going after it herself. “You got a good tracker?”

He nodded. They had a few. Kyle, for one. Zack was another, but he was still off hunting with his mate. For an instant, Ty wished he could follow the rogue trail himself. He was a good tracker—a damn good one. But as alpha, he didn’t get to do that any more. He had to delegate, even when he wished he could do it all himself. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to follow the trail and rip the rogues to shreds. For trespassing on pack territory, not to mention interrupting his night with Lana.

Lana. He wanted her again. But he had duties to fulfill…

Something his sister Tina had been saying for years echoed in his mind.
Give Cody more responsibility. We lead as a family.
He studied his brother in the moonlight. Had he finally matured enough to be trusted?

Lana paced, looking for more clues, bare legs poking a long way out from under the flannel shirt. Ty caught himself looking a little too long, a little too closely and gave himself an inner pinch. Now he was the one who was dazed to distraction by a female, while Cody, of all people, was on track.

So let Cody handle it.

The rogues would strike again, but not tonight. He could feel that much in the air. He could afford to take the rest of the night off.

“Cody will take care of it,” he announced.

Cody went wide-eyed.
I will?

He made his instructions quick and clear, so that even his little brother couldn’t mess them up. “Get back home and double the night watch. Assemble the trackers by first light. Got it?”

“Got it, got it,” Cody echoed, double timing it back to his truck.

He could feel the heat rise in his cheeks as he gave the orders. The very thought of trespassers on ranch land, even here on the periphery, pissed him off. But when Lana pressed to his side, his heat slid from anger over to desire. They weren’t finished for the night. Not by a long shot.

CHAPTER NINE

The world was tipping sideways and Ty wasn’t even trying to hang on.

He watched Cody leave in a plume of pale dust. Anticipation and the glorious sense of letting duty go, if only for one night, danced inside him as he and Lana climbed back in the truck and resumed their drive. A few minutes later, he turned off the main track, putting the truck in low gear to grind up the rough, serpentine path. Would she like his cabin in the hills? Would she feel at home there?

The thought brought a hail of laughter from his wolf. Something about the bachelor falling hard.

Whose side was the animal on, anyway?
If you want to share, play nice.

The wolf promptly shut up.

Lana stroked his arm, sending little ripples of soothing heat through his body. He hadn’t even realized he’d tensed up until her touch eased it out of him. So much that his mind slid back off track with renewed lust.

“Keep touching me and you’ll find yourself in the back of the truck again.” His voice was all gravel, swirling at the bottom of a mountain stream, but Lana only smiled. “That or right here,” he finished, shaking his head at himself, his hands searching for a dry grip on the steering wheel.

Lana tilted her head back in silent amusement.
Is that a promise?

Yeah, she knew right where she had him, and she liked it, too. The funny thing was, his wolf didn’t protest her power over him.

He tried not to dissect the thought too much as he drove on. When they finally reached the end of the track, he brought the truck to a halt with its bumper pushing against the bushes. He sighed, thinking how long it had been since he’d been up there. There’d been too many fires to put out down at the ranch lately. The sooner he erased the rogue problem, the sooner he and Lana would have time for more nights up here. More time for each other.

The truck was still swinging gently on its chassis when she turned to face him, a question in her eyes.

“We have to walk the rest of the way,” he said. “It’s not very far.” Still not close enough for his appetite, though.

Damn
, he gulped,
she really must be reading my mind.
Because Lana’s hand went to the top button of her shirt—his shirt—in a move that was anything but innocent. She slipped the button open, then the next. His lips ticked with desire as his eyes followed along. She slipped out of the passenger door and stood outside, the wide V at her neck hinting at the swell of her breast. In one smooth move, she tugged the shirt off and tossed it into the cab.

Thump
, went his heart, and the heavy sensation echoed in his groin. Lana stood as naked as she’d been at the beginning of this crazy night, waiting for him. He yanked his T-shirt over his head and swung his door open.

“Beat you to the top,” she called with a grin.

His jaw dropped as her finely coiled ass raced into the bush. He could already hear the pattern of her footsteps change from two to four. Ty dropped his pants in record time and shifted, following her cue.

Brush and brambles dragged along his thick fur, but all he felt was the rush of the chase. He bared his teeth in excitement. Damn, but the she-wolf could run. He thundered after her but only came within reach of her taupe rump on the last bend. He closed in, lust pulsing through his body. But Lana just flipped her tail and leaped away, teasing him again. His blood pressure rose a notch as he kicked into high gear. He was beginning to think she might actually beat him to the front step when he knocked into her from behind.

Gotcha
. He grinned in triumph, even though he suspected it was the other way around. Lana had a way of turning everything upside down. Yep, there it was, a triumphant look in her flashing eyes. She’d slowed at the last minute to let him catch up. His masculine pride would have been a lot more hurt if not for the fact that he was halfway up her back. The tufts of her ears were within snapping distance of his muzzle and for a moment, he was tempted to take her the wolf way. It would be so easy, so good.

Yet he hesitated. This woman was so different than any he’d ever met. Didn’t she deserve better than a hot, hard screw in the dark?

He rubbed his muzzle against the ruff of her neck. The tips of her ears were silk against the coarse stubble of his chin, and she gave a light growl of pleasure, coaxing him in with a brush of her hips.

Tempted. He was sorely tempted. But he wavered. He wanted to offer her something more than quick fuck. A lot better, and not just in terms of physical pleasure.

He stepped back and shifted, pulling himself to his full human height. The transformation was smooth and effortless, a sign that his wolf agreed. The question was, would Lana’s wolf agree?

He waited with baited breath. Her long-legged wolf was as seductive as her human one was, in that same spitfire way. Absolutely perfect, from the sheen of her brown coat to the bright blue of her eyes. Was he nuts for restraining himself?

But the fact was, he wanted all of her—the woman and the wolf. The latter harbored her instincts and passions. Her human side, though, was the seat of her mind, her heart, her principles. If he wanted to win this woman over, it was that side he would have to prove himself to.

The fact that he even wanted to win her over, that he even cared, struck him with its novelty. There were a hundred reasons they ought to stay apart, yet all he wanted was for them to be together. Together for good.

For good
, his wolf echoed.

He squatted and reached a cautious hand toward her wolf, palm up. There was a time to be alpha, and a time to be an equal. Ty prayed he would remember how.

Lana’s eyes flashed, then softened, and she let out a slow breath. Slowly, her canine features blurred and gave way to her human shape in a rolling motion that left her seated on the ground before him. She leaned back on her elbows and considered him as her hair flowed over a shoulder, exposing her bare breasts.

“Alpha,” she growled in a low voice that said her inner beast was barely leashed, “You better not be turning me down again.” It was a warning, a protest. Her pose, however, was all tease. Her bent knees spread slightly apart, inviting him in.

God, he loved her pluck. He leaned into her space, pulse hammering. “She-wolf,” he rumbled, “you will never doubt me again.”

A ripple of laughter went through her naked body, and her breasts—the only soft flesh amidst lean muscle and taut skin—quaked with it. The movement sent an answering twitch through his cock.

“Oh, no?” she teased, leaning back farther and making space for him to kneel between her legs.

He sank an arm on either side of her body and came to within a hair's breadth of her lips. “No.”

“Never?” she asked, eyes sparkling as her legs squeezed along his sides.

“Never.” He managed those two syllables, then fell into a hungry kiss. It was bold, possessive, demanding, but he couldn’t hold back. The wolf was close to taking over now. When Lana gave back in kind, the thin line between man and wolf merged and he eased her to the ground, locking her body beneath his and tugging her arms up over her head.

“You sure you want this?” he asked when he came up for air. Yeah, he was a little late in asking, but he had to be sure.

Her body was tight and hard, yet it wasn’t fighting his weight. On the contrary, she was pushing herself closer. “Don’t you dare stop, wolf,” she said then devoured his mouth with hers.

He clamped both her hands in one of his and let the other sweep along her body until it found the warm swell of her breast. He lowered his chin and let his lips follow the same path until they tightened over her right nipple. Her scent, taste, feel—he chased after each in turn, his mind jumping wildly from one to the other and back again. He switched from one nipple to the other and nipped just hard enough for her to cry out, even as the arch of her back demanded more. He wondered how long he could hold out this time.