Wolf Ranch Boxed Set - Books 4 - 6

Chapter 4

4

CLINT

Mate.

How could I have been so stupid? I’d missed that the hot little nurse was my mate. Four months ago, I’d had my mate in my arms, my d**k deep in her p***y, and I’d had no idea. That was one for the shifter record books.

Fuck! A growl rumbled from my chest as I drove out of town.

My nose had been freshly broken the night she and I hooked up at Cody’s, and I hadn’t been able to smell, but still—shouldn’t I have known?

Yeah, I’d been attracted to her from across the room, but so had lots of other guys. Including the one who’d punched me.

Prickles ran all down my arms, across the back of my neck thinking about it. Becky was my mate, and she’d been alone, unprotected while I’d been away. I hadn’t even had any of the other pack members watching out for her. Nothing from me.

Nothing. I was the shittiest mate ever. I wanted to beat the s**t out of something, pissed at myself for not being there, even when I’d had no idea. It made leaving her behind now even worse.

I’d breathed in her honeyed scent at the meat counter in the f*****g grocery store, and I knew.

My wolf had howled and preened with joy.

She’d been sick! I’d attentively driven her home, ensuring she was safe. What kind of mate left? Walked away when she was clearly feeling poorly?

Me.

As I drove my truck up the mountain to the pack cabin for our meeting, I ignored the curious glances from Shelby, who was probably smart enough to put two and two together. And stay silent.

A wolf didn’t get that interested over a human puking in the grocery store for nothing.

Now that I reviewed our interaction at the bachelorette party, all the signs were obvious. How I’d lost control when that asshole had tried to pick her up. How satisfied I’d been when she’d gone with me into the storage room. How satisfied she’d been when we were finished. How I hadn’t wanted it to be a one-time thing.

But it had never occurred to me that she might be mine.

Mine.

And now, it had taken all my willpower just to walk away from her and get in my truck when Shelby had pulled up in front of her place. Claiming a human wasn’t the same as claiming a she-wolf. They didn’t recognize you by scent. They had different ideas about how partnerships with the opposite s*x were formed. Becky had no idea she was mine. Even worse, all she probably thought of me was the quickie she’d had at Cody’s over the summer.

She wasn’t a quickie. Sure, we’d had one, and I’d walked away. I’d been gone pretty much the entire time since, dealing with enforcer s**t. There had been no opportunity to revisit the connection we’d had. To see if there was more.

It was a coincidence we’d bumped into each other at the store. Coincidence she’d thrown up on me. I’d blocked her path not knowing… f**k, my mate was sick! That was going to torture me all f*****g night until I got eyes on her again and could verify she was feeling better.

Yeah, I’d had to leave. It had been obvious she’d wanted me gone, embarrassed at being sick on me. I didn’t give a s**t about that. I was in this with her, throw up and all. She just didn’t know it yet. Like Audrey and Marina before her, she knew nothing about shifters. What I really was. What she meant to me.

Which only had my frustration ratchet up another notch. The further I drove away from her, the angrier my wolf got. I had to figure out what to do because she was f*****g mine, and I’d take care of her. In fact, I might need to get a place in town, so I could keep a closer eye on her. Even if she wasn’t ready to accept me as her mate, she required protection. Seeing her sick reminded me of just how vulnerable she was.

Protection.

Oh, f**k.

Reality hit me like a brick in the temple.

How could a council enforcer possibly mate? I’d already written it off as a bad idea. I’d gone into the role with my eyes wide open, knowing the danger, the threat to my life. My job had zero rainbows and unicorns. It was all silver bullets and neck snapping.

The assholes I hunted had zero problems with hurting those who I cared about to get back at me. Hell, being mated to an enforcer all but put a bullseye on a female’s back. It would be especially bad with a human. She was so vulnerable. One punch from a vengeful shifter could snap her neck. And humans didn’t have regeneration capabilities. She would die.

I’d never be able to live with myself if something happened to her.

Hell, I already wouldn’t be able to ever sleep again for fear something could happen.

Dammit.

I’d just found my mate, and I couldn’t have her. The safest thing for Becky was for me to stay away. Her own mate was her greatest threat.

Fuck!

I pulled in front of the pack cabin and backed around, so the tailgate faced the front porch to unload the supplies for the meeting and dinner afterward. It was a new moon, but I was as agitated as I’d be at a full moon. I smacked my hand on the steering wheel, and Shelby just watched then climbed from the truck.

I slammed the truck door as Rob came out of the building to help. He eyed me, as if he could already sense the shift that had taken place inside me. It was true. I was normally very even-keeled. I was the quiet one. It was one of the reasons I’d been chosen to be an enforcer. I was strong and lethal but lacked the blood from an alpha line that produced hot-headedness or the need to prove something.

Colton would have made a good enforcer and proved it in all his years in the military, but he was in line to be alpha. And without a mate, he could’ve gone moon mad.

I’d volunteered for the job. Dealt with the consequences of it. The danger. The long lapses of time away from home. Even killing.

I’d thought I’d be safe enough from moon madness, not having the alpha line’s blood in my veins. Now that I’d met my mate? Now that I knew how hard it was to stay away from her? To not claim her? I wasn’t so sure. I’d only known Becky was mine for about an hour, and I was starting to lose my s**t. I would go insane if I didn’t claim her, moon madness or not.

“What’s got into you?” Rob asked as I stomped around the truck, the snow smashing under my feet with a satisfying crunch. He grabbed some of the bags. “Your side bothering you?”

I scowled. My breath came out in a white cloud as I eyed my friend. My alpha.

My side? My head had been so focused on Becky, I’d completely forgotten about the throbbing wound. I wasn’t used to healing at such a slow pace, but this wound was a good example of the impact silver had on shifters. It burned and was just starting to close up. It would heal completely over time, in another day or two… but s**t.

“It’s fine,” I grumbled, not used to being coddled about an injury. Hell, it was the only time I ever had one. As a kid, my mother hadn’t even done it since we f*****g healed so fast. Except for now.

He looked at Shelby who shrugged but said, “I think you Wolf boys aren’t the only ones Fate threw together with a human.”

Rob stopped mid-stride, five bags of groceries balanced in his arms. He pinned me with a look, eyebrows raised. “That right? You found your mate? Holy shit.”

My scowl grew deeper.

“Who is it? Someone you saw in town?” he prodded.

I snatched a bag off the top of Rob’s load because between him and Shelby, they’d already unloaded everything. I chose to ignore them both as I stomped inside.

I hadn’t gotten it sorted in my head yet. The last thing I needed was to talk it over with my alpha.

“Hey, Clint,” Willow, Rob’s mate, called from the kitchen. Shelby had been wrong about Willow being human—we all had. Turned out the DEA agent possessed latent shifter genes that presented themselves when her life had been threatened by a bullet to the gut. She’d shifted for the very first time at the age of twenty-six, her inner wolf coming out to save her. While Rob had accepted Willow as his mate when he’d assumed she was human, our alpha had actually mated a rare and beautiful ginger wolf.

I dropped the grocery bag on the counter.

“I’m going for a run,” I muttered, not waiting for Rob or Shelby.

Wolves didn’t normally run during the day when the chance of being spotted by a human was higher, but we were up on the mountain, on pack grounds. I’d be safe enough. I was an enforcer. I knew the f*****g rules, and they included not mating. Sure, they were my f*****g rules. My job was dangerous. What kind of mate was I who killed as ordered? A mercenary. An assassin. Sure, I only finished off rogue shifters who needed to be put down, but still. There was a darkness in me that would taint Becky. Destroy her as it would surely begin to destroy me.

I really, really needed to let off some steam; otherwise, I’d be in my truck and headed back to my human mate, and that was the last thing I could do.

Hey, sugar. I’m your mate. Yeah, I’m a wolf shifter, and I’m going to bite your neck as I take you hard and make you mine forever. Oh yeah, I’m a council enforcer who ends rogue shifters with a silver bullet to the brain. Let’s f**k.

I stripped and shifted to my wolf, with fur as black as my soul, I knew that wasn’t going to work. Not one f*****g bit.