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- Herausgeber: Vanessa Vale
- Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021
Books 1 - 3 of the thrilling Wolf Ranch series!
Includes:
Rough - Pack Rule #1: Never reveal to a human.
Wild - Pack Rule #2: Always protect your mate.
Feral - Pack Rule #3: The alpha must mate.
The best in shifter cowboys!
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Wolf Ranch Boxed Set - Books 1 - 3
Renee Rose
Vanessa Vale
Wolf Ranch: Rough, Wild & Feral
Copyright © 2020 by Bridger Media and Wilrose Dream Ventures LLC
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the products of the author's imagination and used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from both authors, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover design: Bridger Media
Cover graphic: Period Images; Deposit Photos: tolstnev
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Contents
Rough
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Wild
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
Marina’s Recipe
Feral
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Epilogue
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Rough
Wolf Ranch - Book 1
1
BOYD
My thoughts were on fucking.
Most guys had their heads focused on their upcoming ride, the eight seconds they had to keep their ass on the back of a pissed off bull. Me? I wasn’t thinking with that head.
I was amped up, and I wanted to pump that excess energy into a hot, tight pussy. And there were tons of options around the arena.
“Hey, champ. Can’t wait to see you ride,” one of the buckle bunnies cooed as she strutted past me.
“Thanks, gorgeous.” All I had to do was wink at Sherry or Cindy… whatever her name was, and I could take her for a ride. With the jean skirt that was—thank you baby Jesus—nothing more than a denim Band-Aid around her waist and a white tank top that barely hid her perky tits, I knew what was on offer. The ride might take longer than eight seconds—I could go all night—but once I climbed off, like with a bull, I didn’t linger. The ladies knew the score. I got off—got them off a time or two since I was a gentleman—and they could brag they’d fucked the rodeo champ. Everyone left satisfied.
Satisfied, definitely. Happy? Not so much anymore. Sure, Sherry/Cindy was gorgeous, but a romp with the lollipop of the day didn’t do that much for me anymore.
Or for my wolf. A quick lay wasn’t what we wanted. Maybe it was the start of moon madness kicking in, but it was pissing me off. My dick had become… selective. That’s what happened to shifters who were ready to mate. Their inner wolf sought a true mate, and no other female would do. That was a big problem for a guy like me who had fucking on his mind… all the time.
The noise from the crowd in the stands was muted on the lower level of the arena. The scent of popcorn and spilled beer couldn’t cover the tang from the animals. The concrete floor had scattered bits of hay that clung to my sturdy boots, but I wasn’t heading toward the chutes. Not yet. With the steer roping event happening now, I had time to check on my friend, Abe, before my turn in the bull riding event. I turned down a narrow hall and ducked into the medical room.
“Fucker, you hurt your hand before you even got in the ring? What were you doing, jerking off?” I asked, pulling my hat off as I came in the door.
Then I stopped short. Froze. Holy fuck.
My wolf perked up. Sniffed.
Yeah, Abe was sitting on an exam table in his dusty jeans and snap shirt, but I wasn’t looking at him. Hell, he could have been wearing a hula outfit, and I wouldn’t have known. It was the woman who was holding his hand, putting some kind of metal brace around his finger, who I stared at.
Petite, curvy and with the most luscious ass, she could make a man weep… or jizz in his jeans like a fifteen-year-old. My wolf stood up and preened. She looked my way with wide eyes behind glasses. Fuck me, I had no idea I had a thing for glasses. My usual woman ran tall and willowy, with perky tits that overflowed in the palms of my hands. Maybe that was where my problem lay, where my selectiveness came from. None of them were her.
But that didn’t make sense. I didn’t need to breathe in to pick up her scent. In the small room, the sweet aroma of ripe peaches hit me like a stampeding bull.
Delicious. But not the scent of a she-wolf.
She was human. A gorgeous, curvy, human.
My wolf practically howled at the sight of her. Long hair cascaded down her back like a dark waterfall. She had a round face with skin as pale as cream. Her plump lips would look incredible wrapped around my dick. And those curves. Oh fuck, yes. Tits that would fit perfectly in my hands, wide hips that would be perfect to grab as I fucked her from behind. And that ass? Yeah, I couldn’t miss those delectable curves since she faced Abe but was glancing over her shoulder at me. That ass would cushion my hips as I pounded into her. It’d also look damned gorgeous with my pink handprints on it.
My dick punched against my jeans wanting to get to her. Get in her.
“What the hell, Boyd?” Abe muttered. “I broke my fucking—sorry, ma’am—finger helping Burt with his tow hitch.” He glanced up at the woman, chagrined for saying a bad word. And ma’am? What the hell? He was behaving like a blushing school boy with his first crush.
Oh, fuck no. Abe wasn’t getting his hands on her. He was human and a decent guy. Still, no fucking way.
“The doc here’s bracing it, so I can compete.”
Doc? She was a doctor? Maybe I expected a guy in a white lab coat and pressed khakis, not a hot little number like her. A hot smart number. She probably had more brains in her left pinky finger than I did in my whole head. All I knew was she was mine.
She deftly wound some white medical tape around the braced finger and the one beside it, securing them together, then tore off the strip. He’d lucked out it wasn’t the hand he used to grip the rope, so he could compete.
“What are you doing later? Think I can buy you a cup of coffee to thank you?” With Abe sitting on the exam table, they were the same height. All he had to do was lean, and he’d be able to kiss her. She eyed Abe, and I wanted to growl, then rip his head off.
“I won’t be able to concentrate without knowing your answer.”
“Focus less on me and more on that bull you have to ride.”
Abe grinned, that smile a known lethal weapon to women’s panties.
I launched myself forward, tugged off my cowboy hat and stuck my hand out. “Hey there, I’m Boyd.”
She glanced my way, then back to her work. Her gloved fingers wound one more strip around Abe’s fingers. “Hi, Boyd. Sorry—my hands are full.”
Blue. Her eyes were blue behind those nerdy, fuck-me glasses.
“Oh, ah. Right.” I dropped my hand and settled instead for my own panty-dropping smile. The one that usually guaranteed me a woman’s phone number without having to ask for it. I stepped closer, close enough that Abe frowned.
Mine, buddy. Back the fuck off.
“I’m Doctor Ames—Audrey. Excuse me.” She needed me to step back because I nearly had her pinned against the table with my body. Not touching, but definitely crowding.
“Audrey Ames,” I repeated. “Guess you always got the first desk in school.”
“Yep, you know it.” She didn’t look at me twice. Didn’t blush or bat her eyelashes. Didn’t stick out her chest, so I could see what was on offer. Hell, she hardly did more than glance my way once more as she moved to the counter where she made notes in a file.
“Doc here works at a hospital but is moonlighting the event in case someone gets hurt,” Abe explained, holding up his injured hand.
I frowned. “You know her shoe size and what she had for breakfast this morning, too?”
Audrey spun about and gave me a look that would have withered the balls on a lesser man. Still, it was far from the fuck me now expression I was used to. “I’m standing right here.”
I winked and looked her up and down. “You sure are.”
After a quick purse of her lips, she tugged off her gloves and tossed them in the trash can.
Goddamn. The first time a female had truly interested me in years—maybe ever—and she barely saw me. Didn’t give a shit that the big buckle on my belt meant I was a rodeo champion. Didn’t give a shit that the dick pressed uncomfortably right behind it was rock hard just for her.
How was that even possible?
I ignored the hairy eyeball Abe threw my way.
“Why haven’t I seen you around before?” I tried again.
“Me?” She looked over, surprised. Like I came in here to flirt with Abe or something.
“As Abe said, I work at Community General in Cooper Valley, and unless you were going to have a baby, we’d never meet. Your regular rodeo doc had something come up, so they called our hospital begging for a fill-in to cover tonight. The pay was decent, and I have med school loans, so I figured, why not?” She shrugged. “I’ve always wanted to see a rodeo.”
Of course, I never got hurt, or if I did, not enough to ever need a hospital since shifters healed so fast.
“Sorry, sweetheart,” Abe said, his eyes going up to the ceiling as if he could see through to the stands above us. “I’ve messed up your spectator plans.”
She gave him a small smile. Him. Why the fuck didn’t she offer me one of those soft turn of her lips?
“I’ll get up there after this and see you ride.”
Abe’s chest puffed up, and I wanted to break the rest of his fingers. Better yet, his leg, so he couldn’t compete. If she was going to see someone ride a bull, it was going to be me.
“You live in Cooper Valley.” I hardly believed the coincidence. “You gotta be kidding me.”
She finally gave me her full attention, turning and leaning that gorgeous ass against the cabinet to look at me with curiosity. “Yes. I moved here a little while ago. Why?”
I pointed at my chest. “I’m from Cooper Valley—Wolf Ranch. You know it?”
She shook her head, her dark hair sliding over her shoulders. “No, I’m fairly new to town and work tons of hours. I know the inside of the hospital really well.” She gave me a wry smile.
There. A fucking smile. I was like a beggar seeking the smallest of crumbs from her.
I sidled in her direction. “I could take a day or two off and show you around. Love to, in fact.”
Abe cleared his throat, making Audrey look his way. “You’re all set,” she told him. “Don’t break anything else out there. I have no idea how you guys do it.”
He hopped down off the table, picked up his hat and settled it on his head. He didn’t make a move to leave. Hell no. He was trying to make a move.
The asshole had the nerve to grin, then slap my back with his good hand, much harder than necessary. “Well, we’d better get into the chutes. Almost time for the bull rides. You gonna watch me, Doc?”
I gave him a look that screamed fuck off, she’s mine. I might’ve even growled a little, too.
We had a short stare down, and he finally relented. He sighed, flicked the rim of his hat. “Ma’am.”
I knew Abe was a smart guy because he finally left, and I was alone with the hottest female in all of Montana.
“About that tour,” I said, taking a step closer and giving her my easygoing smile. I tucked my thumbs into my front pockets.
I wasn’t the kinda guy who believed in signs or gave much credence to fate, but after my wolf’s reaction to her presence, to discover such a gorgeous creature was living in my hometown felt significant. After all the wandering the fucking country riding angry bulls, and she’d been right fucking here. It was fate the rodeo was in my hometown, and she was working it.
“Oh, no,” she dismissed me immediately, turning away to clean up from tending to Abe. “I’ll watch the bull riding and see you and Abe ride but have to go right back to work when I go home. Thanks, though.”
Shot down. It was just a tour. Sure, it meant I wanted to show her around… my dick, but I’d show her a few sights first. Maybe she needed to see me in action. First on the back of a bull, then maybe in bed. Who didn’t want to fuck the champion? It wasn’t like I had anything to worry about. No human could out-ride me. Especially not when I wanted to win.
I definitely wanted to win now. I stuffed my hat back on my head.
Doctor Audrey wanted to see some riding? I would show her exactly how it was done.
2
AUDREY
The testosterone in the arena was overwhelming.
Unfortunately, my undersexed body was standing up and taking notice. I would swear my ovaries dropped two eggs when Boyd entered the med room. All cowboy swagger and charm. He’d stepped so close I’d been able to smell his aftershave and soap, and it did something crazy to my head. I mean, my body. Everywhere. I got all hot and tingly, and my brain lost power for the moment.
I already had a thing for cowboys. The hats, the loose hipped gait, rugged exteriors and the air of… maleness. It was definitely a perk of moving to Montana. Boyd was about as gorgeous as God made them with that chiseled jaw and lazy smile. Sandy colored hair that was a few weeks past a haircut. Pale eyes that had roved over me as if I were a tasty treat he wanted to devour. A crooked nose that proved while he might be quick with the smile, he was probably quick with the fists, too. It was the whole package—all six feet plus of pure muscle and virile man that made my nipples harden and my panties get damp.
My body had reacted to his presence like I’d been seeping in pheromones that crazily enough made me feel like I was in heat, and he was some kind of stallion ready to mount. I might not have been with a man in a while… close to a few days short of forever, but I knew the signs. He’d wanted me as another notch on his bedpost.
My mind was a total slut—wanting to be tied to that notched bedpost—which it had no business being. The animals might be branded, but each one of those Grade-A cowboys should have a mark that guaranteed them players. They were all quick-grinning males who could make a woman wet with just a wink and have her drop her panties with the crook of a finger.
These rodeo champs apparently thought they were God’s gift to women, although why Boyd and Abe—Abe might have been subtle about his intentions, but he’d flirted nonetheless— bothered making a play for me when there were a dozen or more scantily dressed cowgirls out there for the taking was beyond me. They probably dished it out to every female they met. Cowboy code or something. My panties were ruined after being in the same room as Boyd for even a few short minutes, but I fortunately still had them on. Or, unfortunately, because I had no doubt the guy knew his way around a woman’s body, and there’d been a perfectly sturdy exam table for me to be bent over and fucked.
Yup, my slutty mind was pretty darned busy. Abe was the only injury so far for the event, and I was able to head to the stands and watch the bull riding. I was the doctor on call. If someone got hurt, I was to tend to them, connect with the ambulance standing by and get the person to the hospital.
From where I sat—unless someone randomly started choking on a corn dog in the vendor area—I’d know if my assistance was needed. I sat near the aisle with easy access to the competitor area and a great view of the chutes. This was where the bulls were held and readied, then the cowboy climbed the fence and hopped on its back. Once the man was secure, the gate was flung open and off they went, the pissed off bull doing anything to fling off his rider. It practically guaranteed me a few more patients before the event was over.
I scanned the chute area for the two of them, watched as the first few competitors completed their rides. I was equally turned on and filled with dread as one after another had his turn. The crowd felt the same as me, cheering and gasping in equal measure. Riding a bull was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen. And the dumbest.
I didn’t know how these guys lived past thirty. Maybe they didn’t. That thought made my chest unexpectedly tighten, like I’d already developed an attachment to the two cowboys I’d met.
Not the first one, the second. Abe was handsome. Gentle, considering his size and what he did for a living. Sweet, even. Boyd, though, was… dangerous. I wasn’t afraid he would hurt me physically, although he had at least a foot on me and probably fifty pounds, but something else. He could hurt my heart. Screw with my plans. I’d been so focused on med school and my residency. On my career. It wasn’t like me to deviate because of a perfect ass in a pair of Wranglers. He was a bad boy who I knew was trouble but wanted anyway.
A rider was flung from his bull and landed hard, then rolled to clear himself from the back hooves of the bull. The rodeo clowns—I was sure they had some other name I didn’t know—ran over, redirected the animal, so the rider could get to his feet. I exhaled as the crowd cheered at his high score. He dusted himself off, lifted his hat in salute and walked out of the ring.
Boyd’s face appeared on the jumbotron, his quick smile twenty feet wide. The crowd went wild, which meant his ego was probably as big as his image on the huge screen. Yeah, I needed to keep my distance from that one because I wasn’t the one-night-stand kind of woman. With med school and residency, I barely socialized, let alone dated, let alone had tons of sex. Or any, really. Maybe a fling would be best for my crazy schedule, but no, that wasn’t me. I was the long term, commitment type. In fact, I’d moved to small town Montana to settle down. Slow down. Find a partner and start a family, just as I’d always longed to have. A family made up of two parents who loved each other and a gaggle of kids. I wanted that kind of insanity. Sledding, science fair projects, pet gerbils. That was what I longed for. Especially babies.
Screwing a rodeo champ was not part of that picture, and I doubted a rodeo champ wanted to fuck a woman who had baby fever. The words “ticking clock” wasn’t the same for him as it was for me. His plans lasted eight seconds, mine a lifetime.
Still, my body went on full alert when I spied his name on the ticker—Boyd Wolf vs. Night Sweats, which was a crazy name for a bull.
I leaned forward to spot him down in the chutes. They all looked the same in their helmets, safety vests and chaps, the sponsors’ logos splashed across the shoulders of their collared button-downs. But then I saw him—at least I was fairly certain it was him. The rider oozed the same raw confidence he’d shown in the medical room.
He straddled the snorting black bull then set about adjusting his grip on the rope with easy, deft movements. Only his hand held him on that beast. I knew none of the details about bull riding, only that I’d overheard it was called a rough stock event. Rough was the definitely right word.
“Hey, pretty lady.” Abe came up the concrete steps and settled his large body into the seat beside me.
I couldn’t help but smile at him, but I glanced back at the chutes.
“Hard to watch?” he asked.
I nodded. “Your ride went well. You stayed on past the buzzer. I should be congratulating you, right?”
He tipped his hat back, then set his hand on my shoulder. “Yes, ma’am. Best ride of the night. So far. We can celebrate by you getting that coffee with me after.”
His quick grin and mild manner had me smiling. He was handsome. Courteous. But like Jett Markle, the local rancher who I’d had one bad date with the week before, he didn’t do anything for me. Like those romance novels I read in my spare time, I wanted spark. Heat. Attraction. Chemistry.
Jett was turning out to be a creep, so I couldn’t put Abe into the same category.
The announcer called the next ride, and I was distracted by Boyd’s imminent turn. When I looked his way again, he wasn’t focused on the thousand pounds of pissed off animal beneath him, but at me. His gaze was locked onto me, and I gasped. No, he wasn’t looking at me, but at Abe’s hand on my shoulder. Boyd’s jaw clenched, his eyes narrowed. If I wasn’t mistaken, he was as pissed off by that action as the bull was to have a rider sitting on him.
Why was he looking at me? I wasn’t important. I was the short, dumpy doctor who had zero social life. Still, he stared. I tried to school my breath when he nodded his head. I realized it wasn’t for me when the chute was flung open.
Night Sweats came pawing out, snorting with fury over the rider on his back. I held my breath, stomach bunched up in a tight knot as he kicked his back legs up.
Even with the wild ride, Boyd seemed to take the body-snapping movements with ease, his thighs gripping the sides of the bull, his arm flung up, his back staying loose, his movements gracefully in sync with the animal.
It was mesmerizing.
Magical, even.
A wide smile stretched across his lips like riding bulls was a walk in the park for him. Oh God. Was that for real?
He scanned the audience… as he rode the bull.
What bull rider had the presence of mind to look for Mom when he was trying to stay on the back of a pissed off bull?
The crowd was going wild—cheering and stamping. Boyd had already been on the bull for eight seconds.
Nine.
I stood to see better, and he caught sight of me. Again.
That was impossible.
He might have glanced my way before, but now? On the back of a bull? He wouldn’t be looking for me in the crowd.
I shrieked, covering my mouth as he was thrown, flipped straight into the air like a frisbee. Oh God—no! Time slowed. I squeezed my eyes closed, then opened them again at the horror unfolding. As Boyd’s spinning body came down, the bull turned and tossed its head, landing a vicious horn right below the protection of Boyd’s vest.
He’d been gored.
Badly.
Possibly lethally.
“Oh shit,” Abe said. While I knew it wasn’t good, Abe’s words confirmed it. He’d seen more rides than I had, and this was worse than others.
I switched into medical mode, my training kicking in. I ran down the steps before I even knew my feet were moving, sprinting along with the EMTs for the arena.
“Hold up!” a manager yelled, barring our entrance while the rodeo clowns distracted the bull, and two riders rode out to rope it. “Now, go! Go!”
Boyd was on one knee, trying to get to his feet. Adrenaline was probably the only thing keeping him upright. Blood soaked his shirt and jeans, staining the dirt below him.
“Stop moving!” I yelled as I ran up. “Hold still, Boyd.” To the EMTs who followed with a backboard, I barked, “Get him on.”
Carefully, they transferred him to the board, strapped him to it and stood, walking quickly across the dirt ring toward where they’d left the gurney.
“I’m going to need a pressure bandage and an IV. And morphine,” I ordered, one of them speaking into the walkie talkie strapped to his shoulder, giving information, hopefully, to the ER. “I’ll ride along to the hospital.”
I wasn’t a trauma doctor. I was an ObGyn, but all my training as I did my rotations came rushing back. I jogged alongside the gurney, trying to gauge the depth, location and severity of the wound when a hand closed on mine.
My gaze flew to Boyd’s face. It was pale and sweat stood out on his forehead, but he grinned at me.
“Just a scratch, Doc,” he said, his voice raspy. His breathing was difficult, especially on inhales. I had to assume a punctured lung. “No need to worry.”
Was he actually comforting me? Now?
I squeezed his hand back, surprised at how relieved his upbeat attitude made me feel. As a doctor, I knew he was in a great deal of danger but was also aware the patient’s outlook could make the difference between living and dying.
“I usually do the reassuring, but I’m glad you’re staying positive. I’ll get you something for the pain as soon as we’re in the ambulance.”
He winced, trying to sit up and look at the injury.
I pushed him back down, although he wasn’t going anywhere with the strap around his waist. “Take it easy, champ, you’re losing blood.”
He gave a half grin as his face turned pasty. His blood pressure was most likely dropping, and he was going into shock. I needed to get him stabilized right away. As his lashes flickered, he mumbled, “Guess you’re not going out with Abe for coffee, huh?”
What? He had a hole in his chest and was worried about me going out with Abe? “Guess not. Hang on for me, okay?”
But it was too late. He’d lost consciousness.
Heart thundering in my chest, I hustled into the ambulance with him and took over the insertion of the IV needle into his arm as the paramedic settled an oxygen mask over his face.
Boyd Wolf was probably the cockiest cowboy in the west. It was his job to get on the back of a bull, but it was my job to save him when he fell off. I’d do everything I possibly could to do so.
3
BOYD
I blinked, looked around. Where the fuck was I? Sterile walls. Beeping monitors. Antiseptic scent. Shit. No.
I couldn’t be in a hospital. I’d barely gotten scratched when that bull nicked me with his horn. It had hurt like fucking hell, but it hadn’t been so bad. Just a little blood loss. A big hole in my chest. I’d seen Audrey in the stands—my wolf ready to show off for her—and was prepared to focus on the ride, all eight plus seconds, and then get back to her. Get in her. But then I’d seen Abe set his hand on her shoulder, and I’d focused on that. The way his fingers lightly gripped her. Felt her heat, could breathe in her sweet scent. I’d thought of that, only that. Not the big ass bull I’d been riding on.
Was she interested in Abe? Had she liked his touch? I’d wondered about that, then I’d been pissed as hell. No fucking way. My wolf had screamed at me, “He’s touching her! Get his fucking hands off her. Now!”
Abe would’ve had more than a broken finger before the night was out, an entire hand, except the bull had kicked just right, and I’d gone flying. I was used to falling off. Hell, I did it on purpose often enough, so people wouldn’t wonder as to why I was so fucking daring. It was the fact I knew I’d never get hurt that made me champ. Even a horn in my torso couldn’t keep me down for long.
What was bad, and sad, was that I’d fucking passed out. I’d planned on jumping off that gurney before it ever made it into the ambulance, track down Abe and tell him he could fucking forget Audrey even existed.
Not that Doctor Blue-Eyes would’ve let that happen. She’d been there within seconds of me hitting the hard packed dirt and began to treat me as if I were human.
She’d touched me. I’d felt it through the pain. My wolf had, too.
Hell, if getting her to focus on me was to get gored by a fucking bull, I should have done it earlier in the night. I remembered her squeezing my hand as she jogged beside the board they’d strapped me to. Vaguely, I remembered her next to me in the ambulance, speaking in those low, clipped tones to the EMTs. Stern. Authoritative. Bossy as fuck. That little slip of a female had given orders like the most ruthless of alphas.
I was good at sensing people. It was the shifter in me. Audrey had been worried… about me. And I remembered liking how that felt. She cared and if that didn’t do something funny to my insides.
I fought the drugs pumping through my veins and opened my eyes once again. I had no idea how long I’d been out and that was bad. My body was healing wolf-quick, and anyone could have noticed. I knew exactly nothing about hospitals since this was the first time I’d been in one, but it looked like they were going to do some kind of procedure, maybe even take me to the operating room. Watching doctor shows on TV clued me in to that possibility. A nurse in blue scrubs had her back to me, arranging instruments on a tray, then stepped out of the room. Like whatever was planned was going to happen.
I stifled a groan as I tugged the IV needle out of my arm and disconnected the monitoring equipment.
The last thing I needed was to expose my species to human doctors, especially the ones in my own home town. Revealing what we were was against pack rules. The easiest way to do that was to get them to cut me open.
My brother Rob—the pack alpha—would kill me. He’d do it in a more painful way than being gored, that was for fucking sure. He already thought I was a fuck-up and would probably swear up one side of Sunday and back down the other for getting injured in front of an entire arena full of people and forced to have medical intervention.
If he were me, he would have gone off into the woods, shifted and licked his wounds until he was healed, which would have taken a few short hours.
Me? Yeah, I was in fucking trouble here.
As softly as I could, I rolled off the hospital bed to crouch on the floor. A hospital gown had been draped over my privates and fell to the floor. I had to assume they hadn’t put me in it so they could keep my chest exposed, so they could treat it. I was bare ass naked. Picking the gown up, I shoved my arms through the sleeves. My ass was hanging out, and I was too weak and groggy to reach back and tie the tabs closed, probably more from the morphine than from the wound. I gave my head a shake to clear it.
I looked down and touched the place on my chest the bull had punctured. I couldn’t see it through the scratchy fabric, but I could feel that the flesh had closed. It was well on its way to healing, thank fuck. Even an injury as grave as a fucking bull horn through my chest knitted and fused fast. Quickly, before the nurse returned, I slipped out the door, the back of my gown flapping open in the back. I didn’t give a shit if someone saw my bare ass. I just wanted out.
I opened the cabinets outside my room until I found the plastic bag with my bloodied clothing and personal items and ducked into a bathroom to pull on the crusty clothing. They weren’t ideal, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. My hat sat on top, and I set it upon my head. I didn’t like being without it. I felt more naked with my head bare than in the hospital gown with my butt hanging out.
I dipped my head as I slipped out, but I snapped it up the moment I stepped into the hall and caught her scent. I sniffed. Peaches and vanilla. Yeah, I’d recognize her anywhere. But where was—
I turned to search for her, and she barreled into my arms. Well, my chest, really. That hurt like a bitch, but I caught her elbows to steady her as we collided, my wolf celebrating her nearness. Mine!
I smiled down at her, so caught off guard by the intense pleasure of touching her, I forgot my dilemma. I forgot that I was supposed to have a huge hole in my side.
She gasped, then frowned, looked me over. Since she was a full head shorter, her gaze was right at chest level and my bloody, torn shirt. “Boyd! How are you—”
She pulled back to look at my wound, and I dropped my arm from touching her to cover it, hunching a bit like it pained me. I was a bull rider, not an actor, and I was fucking this up more and more by the second.
“Listen, Doc,” I began. “I appreciate your help, but I’m more of a heal-at-home kind of guy. Nothing a little time on the couch can’t fix. I’m going to check myself out now.”
Horror flickered over her face. “You can’t!” She reached for the hem of my untucked shirt.
I shrank back. At least, I meant to shrink back. In actuality, something different happened. Her fingertips brushed the skin of my lower belly and every cell in my body reacted. My dick thickened in my jeans.
Shock flashed over her face when I kept her hand from drifting higher to the wound, her pupils narrowing to tiny points, then blowing wide. “But you… I mean—no way. You shouldn’t be standing, let alone leaving.”
Fuck.
My brain caught up with my dick as soon as it happened, but by then it was too late. I’d wanted to feel her touch, skin to skin. Wanted to feel her heat, to have her scent on me, permeating into me.
Dumb move. Another one.
I pushed her hand out from under my shirt and stumbled backward. Running into her was pretty much letting her in on a big fucking secret. A big shifter secret.
“I’m ah… not as hurt as you thought. Lots of blood for a little wound. I’m feeling better, but I’ll rest up. I promise.” I backed up. My wolf howled to stay near her. It didn’t understand why I was walking away. “I’m gonna head to my family’s ranch. You know, heal.”
I had her stunned surprise on my side. It took her seconds to process the unbelievable. At least unbelievable for humans.
“I’ll take good care of myself. As long as you promise me you won’t go out with Abe. He’s not the man for you.”
“Wait!” she called, but I’d already turned and started jogging as swiftly as I could down the hallway. As soon as I turned the corner, I broke into a run and got the fuck out of there as quickly as possible.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
What had I been thinking? Yeah, I wanted the hot little doc, but I couldn’t have her now. There was no fucking way I could even see her again. The secret would be out. I couldn’t expose what I was or the pack. Rob would be pissed.
All I could hope was that she didn’t realize the extent of healing that had taken place, that I was somehow just a hard-headed bull rider who hated hospitals and that she’d let me go without further inquiry. That I wanted just that. Except… that was a goddamn lie.
She knew who I was. Knew about Wolf Ranch. I’d mentioned where I was from earlier in the arena. I was far from anonymous. If she was as smart as I figured, there was no way she’d take what she’d seen as the end.
No fucking way. She’d come after me. My wolf howled at that. Perhaps that was the only reason why I wasn’t running back inside, finding the nearest empty hospital room and fucking her until she had no doubt she was mine and mine alone.
That was the stupidest thing of all. If she showed up at the ranch, I was going to have to explain to Rob—hell, not just Rob but the entire fucking pack—exactly how badly I fucked this up because my wolf was saying Dr. Audrey Ames was my mate.
Yeah, total fucking mess.
As usual.
The black sheep of the family returned.
And he was still the irresponsible playboy everyone thought he was. Plus, his wolf said his mate was human.
4
AUDREY
“It was the strangest thing,” I said, my eyes on the road.
While I didn’t have a fancy car with the in-dashboard phone setup, I did have a stand for my cell and the ability to use the speaker. I was thankful for it since I needed both hands on the steering wheel. The two-lane highway cut through the mountains and followed beside the river, and there were more twists and turns than straightaways. “I saw the accident, saw the wound. Hemothorax, possible ruptured spleen, blood loss.”
“I don’t know what half of that means, but it sounds bad,” Marina said. My sister, well, half-sister, was nine years younger and in college in California. She was no dummy, studying structural engineering, but medicine wasn’t her thing.
I frowned, slowed for a curve. “It explains the struggled inhales, the loss of BP. Hmm, maybe it was a spastic diaphragm,” I replied, thinking aloud. They were possibilities, but I’d seen the accident, the aftermath.
“You said he was standing in the hallway when you ran into him, then walked right out. He had to have been less injured than you thought.”
“I saw the accident,” I repeated. I’d tried to touch his injury, but he’d stopped my hand over his belly. I’d felt the heat of his skin, the hard ridges of his abdomen. What I hadn’t felt was a hole in his side. No, I didn’t usually get turned on by sucking chest wounds, but it seemed I clearly got all hot and bothered by feeling up a cocky cowboy’s torso.
It had been two days since the rodeo, and it was finally my day off. I’d thought about him asking me out, to give me a tour of Cooper Valley. I could’ve said yes, but I just didn’t want to tango with a cowboy who was so obviously a player, no matter how hot he was. Although I was sure he’d be well worth the tumble.
Since then, I’d been busy with patients and a whopping five births—and it wasn’t even the full moon—and I’d still thought about Boyd Wolf. I went over every moment of my care for him, from the moment I dropped to my knees in the dirt beside him until I watched his taut ass as he walked out of the hospital. I also thought about the fact that I had actually stared at his taut ass. That I thought his ass was taut.
It was. Same with his belly. How did I turn into a starry eyed thirteen-year-old having her first crush thinking about a guy non-stop? If it weren’t professional, I’d probably have doodled on patient charts little hearts with our names in them.
It was because I was worried about him and because I thought he was hot that I was in my car and driving to Wolf Ranch where he’d told me he would recover. I also may or may not have contacted the rodeo to make sure he hadn’t returned to work. Even if I had overestimated his injuries, he shouldn’t have been able to saunter out of the hospital like nothing hurt. Just to be safe, I’d told rodeo management explicitly that he wasn’t cleared for competition and shouldn’t be allowed to return until he had a full examination.
Preferably by me. Not because I was dying to see those washboard abs in person. Not at all.
“I want to know why you’re so bothered,” she said. “He wasn’t as injured as you thought. This is the first patient…” She cleared her throat. “Man… who you’ve ever thought about going to his house to check on. There’s more here.”
She might be my baby sister, but she wasn’t much of a baby. She knew me well enough to read into my actions. Dammit.
I sped up as the canyon ended and opened up into a wide prairie. I wasn’t more than twenty miles from Cooper Valley, but I’d never been on this side of the mountains before. The pines that dotted the rugged canyon disappeared. The land was almost flat, only slight undulations in the landscape. The river curved in the distance, trees lining the bank in spots making it picturesque. This was the Montana of my fantasies. Open ranges. Big skies. Vast land and no people.
“Audrey.” She prompted me since I’d been quiet as I ogled the view. “Tell me about this hot cowboy.”
“I didn’t say he was hot,” I protested.
She laughed, the sound loud through my cell. “You didn’t have to. Please, I have no boyfriend, and there isn’t a guy in my program who’s even an option. They’re more into math equations than breasts. Let me live vicariously through you. What’s his name?”
“Boyd Wolf.”
She was quiet for a few seconds. “I’m doing a search for him because any guy who lights your fire must be… holy shit, woman. No wonder you’re driving to his house. Do you have sexy undies on?”
I gasped, then laughed. “I can’t believe you just said that.”
I did have on my nicest underwear, a bra and panty set that matched and wasn’t made of simple cotton. I also put on makeup, kept my hair down instead of up in a usual sloppy bun and had tried on three different outfits. All for Boyd Wolf. Maybe I really was crazy, putting effort into a guy who was sooooo wrong for me.
“He’s not badly injured, you found that out. He’s hot as hell, and you touched his abs. Don’t you want to touch the rest of him? I’m looking at his pictures online, and I want to lick him from stern to mast.”
I rolled my eyes and couldn’t help but smile. Marina was twenty-one and single. Someone eighty and married would find him hot.
“There’s just something weird about it,” I said. “I know what I saw, what I treated. I can’t explain it.”
It was as if there’d been magic involved. Sleight of hand where you saw a quarter in a hand and the next minute it was in a glass bottle. I saw his wounds. I saw the way he’d been able to hurry out of the hospital a short time later. It made no sense. I couldn’t let it go.
“What I want to know is why you’re thinking so much about this guy when you had Mr. Hot Rancher on the hook last week.”
I frowned. “Who? Jett Markle?”
“From what you told me about him, he’s one tall glass of water.”
“He’s also self-centered, authoritarian and did nothing for me,” I grumbled. Jett was thirty-five, handsome in the clean cut, preppy sort of way. His brown hair was parted, well cut and groomed. His smile was broad, but I wondered if it were as fake as the veneers on his teeth. His clothes fit in with Montana. Jeans, simple button-up shirts, leather boots. He was just… polished. Fake. He was playing at being a cowboy whereas Boyd was all cowboy.
There I went, using Boyd Wolf as husband measuring stick.
“But Boyd Wolf did.”
“Exactly,” I replied before I caught myself.
“Ha! I was right. You never told me what happened with Jett.”
“We went to a fancy steak place. He ordered for me.”
“What?” she practically squawked.
“Yeah, I mean, I don’t even like lamb. And rare, yuck! Then he told me about how he’d retired from a hedge fund company at thirty-five and bought a big piece of land to fulfill the lifelong dream of being a rancher.”
“Hedge fund company?”
“New York City,” I replied.
“Does he actually ranch?”
“I have no idea. I can’t imagine him getting his hands dirty let alone riding a horse or castrating calves. He lives on this side of the mountains.” I put on my blinker and turned when my GPS said. I’d remembered Boyd mentioning the name of his family property, Wolf Ranch. It wasn’t hard to forget when it was his last name. It had been easy to search and plug in for directions. “While most people live in the town, the older homesteads, probably like Wolf Ranch, are over here. Also, the big parcels for the moved-to-Montana folk like Jett.”
“So I guess the date was a one-time thing?” she asked. “If he’s that bad within the first hour, it’s not worth a second go.”
I huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, I made it pretty clear I wasn’t interested. Didn’t even let him walk me to my door. But I think he took it as playing hard to get. Maybe even saving myself.” I gave the last mental air quotes. I wasn’t a virgin, and I certainly wasn’t saving myself for marriage, but I was looking for someone to marry. It just wasn’t Jett. I wasn’t that bored with my vibrator to sleep with him.
“Why?”
“Because he keeps calling. Even texted and said he’d pick me up on Friday after my shift.”
“You told him your work schedule?”
“Hell, no. I have no idea how he got it. Maybe he threw some of his hedge fund money around.” I’d been hopeful before the date, but it had been obvious really fast, right about the time he said I’d be eating lamb for dinner, that it wasn’t going to happen with Jett. I’d made it clear in my lack of interest, but it bothered me that he didn’t grasp the fact that I wasn’t interested. He was rich and attractive. Surely there had to be a whole slew of eager women in town to take him on.
The road had followed a split rail fence for the past mile. I slowed when it was broken by a huge archway. If I had any doubts of where I was, the words Wolf Ranch carved into the wood would have helped. The driveway was dirt. Straight. Long. I couldn’t see any buildings from the road, which meant the ranch was big.
“Ignore him. Go for Boyd Wolf. If you don’t, I will.”
“You will not.” I was surprised by the snap to my voice, even though I knew she was messing with me.
She didn’t argue. Instead, she softened her voice. “You deserve a great guy. A nice guy. A hot guy. You deserve every orgasm he can give you.”
“Marina!”
“What? You do. You might look at vaginas all day, but I bet yours has cobwebs on it.”
I was not answering that one.
“Boyd Wolf is cocky. Sure of himself,” I countered.
“So? That makes him good in bed.”
I sighed, took a deep breath. “He’s definitely a player. Listen, I’m here. I have to go.”
“Have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. Actually, forget that. Do everything I wouldn’t do and then some.”
She ended the call as I rolled my eyes. I leaned forward and looked up at the arch. Wolf Ranch. I had no idea what I was doing, driving all the way out here. Boyd Wolf was fine. Marina was right. I’d been wrong about how seriously he’d been injured. There was no other explanation. Yet…
Fine, I wanted to see him again, to believe he really was healed. Or not hurt. He couldn’t have healed if he hadn’t really been hurt. Gah!
I dropped my forehead to the top of the steering wheel. I was fooling myself if it was only my need for answers that had me idling in front of his ranch. I was interested in knowing more about Boyd than as a doctor. I wanted to know why his abs were like a washboard. Why his skin was hot and smooth. If the chest hair I’d felt disappeared beneath the waistband of his jeans.
If his cocky attitude meant he was cocky in bed. If he’d be bossy and stern…
Yeah, I was totally screwed.
5
AUDREY
I’d made it all the way down the long drive and to the main house but hadn’t gotten out of the car. My pep talk had gotten me this far but had fizzled out just shy of the front door. I sat in my idling car when a rap sounded on my window.
I shrieked a little and nearly wrenched my neck looking out at the… wow. Those were some broad shoulders under that cowboy hat. It was another very good-looking cowboy. He didn’t look happy. Where the hell had he come from? I’d been staring at the house—a full on farmhouse of epic proportions—but not too focused to have missed someone of his size approaching.
I quickly shut off the car and opened my door. The man stepped back, still frowning. He resembled Boyd, except a little older, and everywhere Boyd radiated happy go lucky, this guy radiated grumpy. I took a guess at him being an older brother.
“Hi! I’m Dr. Ames.” I reached back into the car, fumbled with my purse and medical kit and pulled them out, spun back around to face the guy, then stuck out my hand. Yeah, I was flustered. “I’m here to check in on Boyd.”
He looked down at his own hands, dusting them on his jeans, then held them up. “I’m not fit to shake,” he said, although I suspected he just didn’t want to touch me. Which was stupid, and I was certainly reading way too much into it. “You’re… what did you say? A doctor? Why would you need to come all the way out here to check on Boyd?”
I didn’t know why, but his skepticism or confusion offended me. I frowned, stared him down, then squared my shoulders. “Yes. I attended Boyd when he was injured at the rodeo the other night. He left the hospital without completing the proper discharge papers.”
Shock and disbelief flickered over the man’s face, then his scowl deepened. “I see. I’m sorry, my little brother does have a habit of operating outside the rules.”
Okay. It seemed there was a little family tension here. I gave a bland shrug to make light of it all. “It’s fine. I just wanted to check on his wound. Is he here?”
I looked away from the gorgeous grumpy guy. The long dirt drive where I’d parked sloped down to a giant barn, a stable and corral. In front of me stood a large ranch house with plenty of windows and a wrap-around porch. A beautiful place to raise a huge family. Lots of rooms, lots of places for kids to run and play while the parents sat in rocking chairs on the front porch and watched. A pang of envy filled me. I couldn’t imagine growing up in a place as idyllic as this, and I was… jealous.
I’d been raised by a single mom with depression. It hadn’t been a Norman Rockwell painting like this place probably was.
To the left, a long two-story building stood with a similar porch on the ground floor and a balcony running all along the top floor. Doors opened to the top balcony, almost like the ranch version of a dorm or apartment building. A bunkhouse, perhaps? How many people lived and worked here? On a piece of land this size, I assumed a fair amount.
“I’m right here, Doc.”
A deep voice had me spinning on my heel in the direction of the road that led to the barn. Boyd came jogging up in a pair of ripped jeans and fitted t-shirt in hunter green, a few flecks of straw on the shoulder. There wasn’t a hint of effort in his gait as if he was injured. The relaxed smile on his face didn’t indicate pain or discomfort. The snug shirt couldn’t hide any kind of bandage.
He tugged off a pair of work gloves as he came up, his smile as wide and charming as I remembered it. For one moment, I forgot everything under the glare of that magnetic white-toothed grin. Heat blossomed between my legs, my nipples tightened in my bra. This feeling was why I was standing here, why I’d driven all this way. I felt like I’d been hit by a charging bull, and I’d never, ever felt like this before.
Not over a man. Not over a man I didn’t even know. Gah.
But then reality came crashing back.
What in the hell was happening? How was it possible?
I’d have sworn on a stack of Bibles this man had been a bloody mess just two days ago. Now it looked like he’d been throwing hay bales out in the barn. No way could a guy with a sucking chest wound be able to twist his body, let alone throw hay.
As if he was suddenly reminded of his injury, he sagged a bit, bracing his ribs with his forearm with one hand, then took off his hat with the other. His light hair was damp with sweat and had a crease from his hat. I wanted to ruffle it with my fingers.
“Awful nice of you to come check up on me.”
Again, that devastating grin.
Again, the ruined panties.
“What the hell happened to you?” Boyd’s brother demanded.
“Doc, this is Rob, my brother.”
I nodded as a way of hello. I couldn’t tell if Rob was bothered by my presence or bothered by Boyd or just all around a cranky person, but I didn’t want to find out.
“You didn’t answer my question. What happened?” Was that a growl in Rob’s voice?
Boyd rolled his eyes. “Nothing.”
Boyd grabbed my wrist and tugged me away from Rob and back in the direction he’d come. I had to practically run to keep up with his long gait. The sun was warm, and my shirt began to cling to me. I glanced back at Rob who stood where we’d left him by my car, watching us.
“Where are we going?” I asked, trying to catch my breath.
“Somewhere alone.” He slowed down and glanced down at me. His gaze held heat. Promise. Need. All of it was potent and made me catch my breath in a way a dash across the property ever could.
Somewhere alone. My body was thinking that was an incredibly good idea. My mind… not so much.
BOYD
I didn’t shut the barn door behind us, although I wanted to lock it up tight to keep Audrey in… and everyone else out. My wolf howled with enthusiasm that she was here with me. She’d shown up, just as I’d assumed, but it had taken two fucking days. I’d rubbed one out in the shower morning and night, my dick getting hard just thinking about her. The curve of her cheek, the lush swell of her tits, the roundness of her hips, the berry color of her lips. The thought of those lips trying to wrap around every inch of me. I was big, and she was a little thing and would have a hard time. At first.
Fuck, my dick was punching against the zipper of my jeans, and all I wanted to do was push her up against the wall, tug down her pants and drive into her. Or, I could bend her over a saddle stand and take her from behind, spank her ass for making me wait two days to see her again. To breathe in that sweet scent.
That was what had pulled me from my chores. Peaches. I knew she was here the second I breathed her in, even from afar. I’d know her anywhere by that alone. And then she’d been talking to Rob. The fucker had not been happy to see her. Hell, he wasn’t happy to see anyone. As alpha, he was protective of our land, of our way of life. Any outsider, no matter how fucking gorgeous or perfect for my wolf, would get a cold shoulder. Plus, he kept his distance from all females—shifter or human. He wouldn’t say why, but I suspected he might be getting a trace of moon madness. It could overcome male wolves—particularly alphas—when they haven’t mated by a certain age. Turned them wild—feral. If it went on too long, the shifter could lose his humanity altogether.
“Um… what are we doing in here?”
