Wolf Ranch Complete Boxed Set

Chapter 10

10

BOYD

“Here comes trouble,” Levi, one of the ranch hands, muttered at the sound of hooves trotting up our drive. A bunch of us were sitting on the corral fence watching Sam, another of the ranch hands—and fellow pack member—tame the new stallion he’d bought.

It was always tricky at first. Horses that weren’t foaled on the ranch had to get used to the shifter scent. Even the tamest of horses acted wild when we first brought them in. They didn’t want to submit to humans that smelled like wolves.

I thought of Audrey, of how skittish she’d been the day before, how quickly she’d bolted after I’d tried to tame her. With my tongue. I shifted on the top rail, my d**k getting hard without any room for it to fit.

I looked down the drive at the man riding toward us, squinting slightly into the bright sun. The day was hot, the sky blue. At least for now. Later in the afternoons, clouds usually built up over the mountains bringing storms.

Under the brim of his hat, I saw an unfamiliar face. I pegged him at late thirties. He rode stiffly, his spine straight, his hold on the reins too taut. He sure as f**k didn’t know how to ride a horse.

“Who is that?” I murmured in case he was a shifter and had hearing as good as ours.

“Jett Markle,” Rob replied, his voice as flat as usual. “He bought Didi’s Double D ranch awhile back. The spread on the other side of Old Man Shefield’s place.”

I hadn’t been back much in the decade since I’d graduated and bolted like a wild mustang, but I remembered Didi and why her place was called the Double D. I’d heard from Rob the place had sold but hadn’t given it more thought. Until now.

“He’s an asshole,” Rob added, tipping his chin down but kept his gaze on the visitor. Markle was a human on pack land. Rob might appear calm, but I sensed the tightly coiled tension in him.

I took his comment with a grain of salt because shifters didn’t think much of most humans. Rob, especially. He’d liked Old Man Shefield, our next door neighbor, but that was only because we’d known him since we were kids. We’d swam in his swimming hole. He’d been a good neighbor to our parents and offered a lot of support to Rob after they died. Even at eighteen, Rob hadn’t accepted much help, but the guy had offered it nonetheless.

Markle trotted up and sat on his horse instead of dismounting. He didn’t loosen his hold on the reins, despite the fact that they were no longer moving. “Howdy.”

Rob sniffed, and I knew he was taking in the man on the wind. I picked up heavy cologne, soap and the tang of his sweat. Looking at him, I knew he wasn’t from around these parts. While his clothes looked casual, they were expensive and too clean. No way he’d saddled the animal nor would he brush him down when he returned to his stable. Nah, he wouldn’t want to muss his manicure. What fucker buffed his nails?

Levi and I waited for Rob, as our alpha, to respond first. Rob waited a beat, then another, like Markle wasn’t worth his time. “How’s it going?” Rob asked in the bored tone that implied he didn’t give a s**t how Markle answered.

“Not good. I think there’s a wolf or wolves in these parts.” He glanced behind us at the open land, as if he were looking now for the animals. “I saw prints on my land, and I’m missing one of my herd.”

Rob bristled and the ripple of irritation ran through all of us. We were a pack, and pack animals were completely in tune with their alpha. Rob was blasting annoyance, and we’d all felt it.

Of course, Markle hadn’t because he was just a human. Frail and inferior. And, clearly, an asshole.

I thought of a different human, much smaller and curvier. Sweeter and not an asshole. Audrey, my wolf whispered, missing her. I was going to do as Rob commanded and stick to her like f*****g glue, but I knew she’d need some time. I’d got her off real good and needed to be patient for the chance to do it again.

I still didn’t understand how it could be that my wolf had picked a human for us to mate, but the message was undeniable. Audrey Ames was mine.

“You found a carcass?” Rob demanded, stirring me from my thoughts. For once, I was thankful for his gruffness because it did a damned good job of killing the hard-on the thoughts of Audrey had brought about.

“No, but I’m missing one head.”

“Probably wandered off.”

Levi and I nodded our agreement.

No f*****g way a wolf killed one of his cattle. There weren’t any lesser wolves—what we called the plain wolves, the non-shifting variety—in the area because our pack had marked its territory. Sure, there were plain wolves in Montana, especially now since the rangers had released some in Yellowstone National Park, but not on Wolf Ranch. Not anywhere near Cooper Valley.

Shifter wolves were the dominants in the species. Lesser wolves would never hunt on our grounds. And a shifter would never kill a cow. We liked to eat beef, but on a roll with some cheese and ketchup like everyone else. Most of the pack were ranchers like us, and they knew better than to cause trouble with the locals that way. They might go out hunting, but they’d be killing deer or rabbits, not cattle.

The asshole was lying.

“It did not wander off,” Markle snapped and his horse sidestepped in fear. He tugged on the reins which yanked at the bit in the animal’s mouth. I had to stop the growl in my throat. None of us liked to see a horse mistreated, even through ignorance.

“I’ve never seen a wolf in these parts,” Levi drawled, his outright lie bonding the rest of us to him. It was always us against them as far as pack policy with humans, and right now, we were very much against Markle. I couldn’t see the city slicker out there on the range counting head every day. Unless he had three cows, I doubted he’d be able to tell one was gone.

“Yeah, me neither,” Johnny said, the youngest of our pack, as he strode over from the stable. With him were two other guys, Clint and Joe. They must’ve heard the approach, heard some of the conversation, or at least their alpha’s anger, from wherever they’d been working.

Markle glanced down at the twenty-year old and spluttered in anger. “I saw prints on my ride over here.”

“On your property?” Levi asked in disbelief because none of us would’ve run on a human’s land.

Rob shot Levi a look because his question was the wrong one to ask. Our story was that there were no wolves not that wolves hadn’t been on Markle’s property.

“Probably a dog’s,” I offered, to cover the mistake. “Our border collie might have ventured over your way. I think there’s a b***h in heat down the road he’s been howling to get at.”

Markle shook his head. “It’s a wolf. I came here to let you know because you have cattle, too. We need to organize a party and hunt the thing, or he’s going to cull both our herds.”

Levi let out a low growl beside me. I elbowed him in the ribs.

“I don’t think that’s necessary.” I jumped off the fence and sauntered over to the asshole, turning on my charm. I tipped my hat back and looked up at him, absently patting his animal’s sweaty neck. “But we’ll keep an eye out. If we see any signs of wolf, we’ll let you know.”

Markle frowned at me. “Who are you?”

“That’s Boyd, my younger brother,” Rob said, stalking over to stand beside me. Even though I’d grown up and left the ranch, stood shoulder to shoulder in height, he still thought he needed to protect me.

“The rodeo champ,” Markle commented, studying me in a different light. It was as if I had value, if only for being famous. “I’ve heard of you.”

I wasn’t surprised. It was a small town, and there wasn't much to talk about. The fact that the nation’s champion bull rider came from Cooper Valley was a source of pride for the human locals. The ones who didn’t know there was no real reason to be impressed because I had nothing to fear from a pissed off bull. I actually had to hold myself back, or I’d give away that there was something very different about me. I’d been fine with it for a while, back when I was young and cocky. Well, cockier than I was now. It lost its appeal pretty fast when there was no goal besides having fun. Sure, the money was great, but my life had been… shallow. Just like the women I’d f****d.

I had a different goal now, and she wasn’t shallow at all.

I tipped my hat. “Nice to meet you.”

He scowled like the feeling wasn’t mutual. Which was fine since I’d lied through my teeth, anyway. He turned his attention back to Rob. “We need to hunt this wolf. Now. I’m about to double the size of my ranch and—”

“What do you mean double?” Rob interrupted.

“I’ve got an offer in on the Shefield property. Old Shefield left it to a young niece who has no interest in ranching. From what the Realtor said, she’s still in college and most likely won’t be able to cover the cost of the taxes to keep the place. She’ll take my offer. And then I’m going to double my herd.”

I detected another growl from one of the guys behind us.

If I weren’t standing so close, I’d be growling too. I hadn’t taken much interest in Wolf Ranch since I’d been gone, but I sure as hell felt strongly about this. No f*****g way we wanted Markle to be our next-door neighbor. Having one property between us was going to be bad enough, especially not with his stance on wolves.

We had to make sure that deal fell through.

“Well, if you guys won’t track some wolves with me, I’ll rustle up some hunters at Cody’s tonight,” Markle said, scanning all of us. We weren’t all here, but there were six of us, and we were all big. None of us liked him. He had to sense that, or he was as dumb as a nail in a fence post.

“Keep off this property, or we’re going to have a problem,” Rob growled. Yeah, Markle’d be pretty dumb to not miss his lack of welcome either.

Markle tensed, his lower jaw jutting out. “If I track the wolf over here, you’re damn right I’m going to follow it to your property.”

A low, collective growl rippled through the pack, every shifter suddenly stepping forward to flank their alpha and form a united front. This was the Wolf pack. No one f****d with us. We could take this one guy out, finish him and bury him in the back forty for no one to find for fifty years. Sadly, he’d probably be missed, maybe by his mother, and we didn’t need anyone else snooping around.

“No. You won’t.” There was no mistaking the menace in Rob’s voice.

Markle glared at Rob for a long moment, but there was nothing he could do. With an angry scoff, he yanked the reins to turn his horse around, then kicked its ribs and rode off without another word.

“f*****g d**k,” I muttered as soon as I deemed him out of earshot.

“You boys see what you can find out about those prints,” Rob ordered.

“I’ll bet they don’t exist,” Levi said. “You think it’s true about Shefield’s place? We can’t have that asshole next door.” He took his hat off, scratched the back of his neck, then settled it back in place.

Rob shook his head. “I sure as f**k hope not.” He looked at me. “You see if you can find anything out about it. Go to Cody’s tonight, too. He seemed to like you the best.”

I huffed at that. Totally doubtful, but I could use my fame to my advantage, at least with Markle.

“Make sure no one joins him on his hunt,” he added.

I nodded, headed off toward the main house to shower. It was pathetic how buoyed I felt to have Rob give me a task for once. To trust me to handle something, other than the things I’d f****d up.

“I’m on it,” I called.

Cody’s it was. And maybe I’d find a little more out about my sweet doctor while I was mingling with the humans. My patience with giving her some space was pretty much over. My wolf, and d**k, were in agreement on that one.