Bucking Fate: A Shifting Destinies Bear Shifter Romance (Black Claw Ranch Book 5)

by Cecilia Lane

  The sky streaked dark blues with the reds and yellows of dawn over the roofs of two big buildings. One was an unpainted barn with both doors thrown open. The other was a large cabin with a columned porch lining the front. Small decks on the upper level allowed for private viewings of the scenery.

  Jesse put his hand on the doorknob. “Ready?”

  The main space spread out before her, open and welcoming. A staircase led to the second floor and ended on either side with carved bear heads that’d been worn down by many hands over the years. Exposed beams lined the ceiling to complete the homestead look of the cabin’s log exterior.

  The fireplace was empty, but large enough for an entire extended family to crowd around. Couches and chairs clustered together for the intimate whispers of smaller groups.

  Or the loud exclamations Jesse walked her into.

  “I feel like a beach ball,” a redhead complained. “I can hardly reach the stove.”

  “Then maybe you need to take that as a sign to relax.” A man led her to the table and sat her down. “Us Shaws make big boys.”

  “Joss and Hunter,” Jesse said from her side. “You saw them at the farm store.”

  Saw, and drew. A sudden thought occurred to her and she rounded on him, twisting her fingers together. “I think I lost my sketchbook again. After you went through all the trouble of returning it.”

  Amusement tinged the air around him. “Not like you had anything important going on.”

  Joss stuck her finger under Hunter’s nose. “So you are hoping for a boy!”

  “A boy who loves princess dresses or a girl who goes all rough and tumble cowboy. I don’t care.” He kissed her palm. “All I want is a family with you.”

  A man with dark curls gagged. The woman beside him drove her elbow into his ribs.

  “Alex and Liv,” Jesse whispered. “Sloan and Lorne on the other side.”

  A dark-haired woman drifted from the stove. “And I'm Tansey,” she announced, drawing Nora into a tight hug. “Don't you worry about a thing, got it? You're among friends. Come on, let's get you a spot at the table. You can meet the rest of these jokers while food cooks up.”

  “Ethan back yet?” Jesse asked. Tansey shook her head, but didn’t elaborate.

  The kitchen door opened at that moment and another man strode inside.

  He had the same feel to him as Viho. Commanded the same respect. But his eyes weren’t cold and hard, even if they made her wolf cower under the weight. Like Jesse’s, they were kind.

  “No sign of him.” The man stepped forward and held out his hand. “I’m Ethan, alpha of the Ashford clan. I hope Tansey’s been on her best behavior.” Behind him, she rolled her eyes. “You’re welcome in my territory for as long as you’d like. You’re safe.”

  Safe. Jesse had said the word, too. Something about Ethan blanketed her in the feeling.

  She jumped when Jesse’s hand landed on her lower back again. Gold churned in his eyes and a muscle jumped along his jaw. “The fucker will regret stepping foot back in this enclave.”

  “Tansey filled us in.” Joss smiled warmly. “You’re in good hands. There’s no one I’d rather have on my side than these boys.”

  “That fucker won’t get close to you. And if he does, we’ll put a stop to him,” Hunter promised.

  “Nothing but a yellow-bellied coward,” Lorne added.

  “Going to enjoy picking my teeth with that dickbag’s bones.” Alex grinned like a madman. “Maybe that’s what I’ll get you guys as a baby shower gift.”

  Joss scrunched up her nose, but Hunter cocked his head. “Will they have little shapes carved into the ends? Joss picked up some themed toothpicks for the guests last week that have card suits.”

  “Now you’re dictating my gift?”

  “That’s the whole point of a registry, isn’t it? I’m just saying, if you’re going through the trouble of whittling the bones of our enemies, you might as well go the distance with a little gusto.”

  “Could we not talk about improper body disposal at the breakfast table?” Sloan admonished.

  Ethan poured himself a mug of coffee. “Cleary that’s an after dinner topic.”

  “To be discussed with cigars and brandy, of course,” Tansey added.

  “But only in our secret evil lair behind a hidden bookshelf. Improper, otherwise.” Jesse winked at her.

  Nora giggled. The alarms blaring in her head and announcing her impending doom stuttered to a stop.

  She slapped a hand over her mouth, but Jesse cocked an eyebrow at her. “None of that. You want to laugh, you laugh. You’re here and you’re safe.”

  Her wolf loped through her head, then sank down to her belly. These were good people, the beast seemed to say. Maybe it was naive, but she dipped her toe into trusting them.

  They were Viho’s enemies, which made them her allies. Right? And heck, five men with growling beasts under their skin was more firepower than her one wolf who preferred to hide when trouble snarled in her direction.

  Her wolf lifted her snout high in the air with a snooty denial.

  The truth hurts, beastie.

  Jesse squeezed her shoulder. The touch sank through her with all the pleasure of sliding into a hot, relaxing bath.

  Maybe it wouldn’t be so awful to stick around.

  He canted his head toward the door. “You want to see the rest of the place?”

  “Twenty minutes!” Tansey called over her shoulder.

  Back outside, Jesse led her toward the barn. “They can be a bit much.”

  “I like them.” The words popped out of her mouth before she had a chance to consider them. They tasted like the truth.

  They were like the family she’d never experienced. Bickering, but with obvious affection. Love tinged the teasing. The sour notes she’d grown familiar with during her time as a captive of the Vagabonds didn’t exist with Jesse’s clan.

  Two horses wandered in a small fenced yard on one side and whickered as soon they drew near. Jesse propped a foot on the fence and leaned forward to run a hand down the neck of the closest one.

  As much as she liked the clan, doubt still lingered in the back of her head and kept her from sliding head first over the welcome mat they laid out for her.

  She couldn’t escape Viho. She thought she’d tasted a moment of freedom, but that was all it’d been. A moment. He’d tracked her down and crushed any hope of escaping his orbit.

  Her stomach fell to her toes. Standing there, stomach churning with guilt over actually enjoying her morning and the company of the man who’d rescued her, she knew she was in for another moment. She held her breath and waited for it to vanish.

  She didn’t just doom herself. Jesse and his clan had clashed with Viho and survived. Her existence on their land, in their homes and lives, would just draw the trouble they’d already escaped.

  They didn’t know her. They didn’t deserve the danger nipping at her heels.

  Jesse tucked his finger under her chin and lifted her face. “You’re safe. You don’t have to run. Let me help.”

  Nora frowned. She knew she should tell him everything. She plucked the words out of her head and lined them up in the correct order for her confession.

  “You ever been riding?” Jesse asked before she opened her mouth.

  Nora shook her head. “Never ever.”

  “Come on.” Jesse slipped between the slats of the fence and wrapped his fingers around the horse’s halter. “Meet Takoda. Climb up. I’ll take you for a spin.”

  “What? Now?”

  “Right now.” His mouth twitched in a lopsided smile. “I’ll hold her steady. Climb the fence and throw a leg over.”

  “But there’s no saddle. No reins.”

  “There’s a back and a mane. You won’t be doing the driving, anyway.”

  She threw a glance over her shoulder. The main house was outwardly quiet. The same went for the rest of the surrounding land. Elusive peace settled in her bones and her wolf stopped pacing through her
head.

  What was one little horseback ride before vanishing?

  Once she was settled and holding to Takoda’s mane, Jesse took a step forward.

  And the horse followed.

  Nora hid her squeak in a sudden clearing of her throat. “So Tansey and Joss run a bed-and-breakfast. Does that mean the rest of you just lounge around on haystacks all day?”

  “There’s a lot more to it than that.”

  “Mmm. Must be hard getting those bales in just the right spot for the perfect nap.”

  “You’ve obviously never tried to sleep on one. You’d just have pieces sticking at you every way you turned. Highly uncomfortable.”

  “So you have tried.” She wiggled in victory. “I knew it.”

  “Sometimes you just need to take a breather,” Jesse chuckled with his concession. “No shame in that.”

  No, no shame.

  No shame taking the help being offered, either.

  Jesse watched her closely. Nora tightly clutched the horse’s mane and swayed with each plodding step. She would not fall under his scrutiny.

  Hopefully.

  Was it crazy to hope that extended to every part of her life?

  Chapter 9

  “Send them through!” Jesse hollered to the others. He stepped back from the gate he’d shoved through thick mud and eased between the fence to mount his own horse. Takoda tossed her head, flinging droplets of water in a sign of displeasure.

  He wasn’t happy about working in the rain, either, but sometimes life demanded hard jobs.

  The rest of the clan whooped and clicked their tongues while driving the cattle into the smaller pasture. The work was made tougher by the drizzle that had started earlier that morning. Slow and steady, the ground turned to mud underfoot and washed away any scents from the land.

  Pity. They had a dead cow and no trail to follow.

  Fucking Viho. As if the water in their eyes and soaked clothes weren’t a miserable enough time.

  The herd was supposed to be grazing further away from the houses while the closer areas had a reprieve from hooves. Ethan had checked them as soon as Viho’s return to the area came to light, but they’d been comfortably sleeping where they were last turned loose. In the time it took for the man to return home to ready for the day and ride back out with the rest of the clan, that asshole wolf had snuck in and savaged a poor cow.

  Which meant the fucker lurked nearby, watching and waiting for his moment to attack.

  His bear rolled through him uneasily, but Jesse shoved him aside. Nora was safe where he’d left her. His den had to be good enough. He couldn’t keep her locked in a cage or never leave her side again, much as he wished he was with her at that very second.

  Soon. She had a shift at the barbecue joint she intended to make. He’d sit at the bar until the night was over and he could drive her back to safe territory. Anything to assure himself she wouldn’t be harassed in the damn parking lot again.

  With a savage growl, he urged his horse next to Ethan. They were silent as they watched the flow of cattle from one pasture into another.

  “He knows where she is,” Jesse said after a moment.

  “Only a matter of time.” Ethan turned his head, lips pressing together in an angry scowl. “Which begs the question, is this about the woman or about us?”

  The question was one he'd wrestled with until sleep finally dragged him under. If Viho had been watching the clan, then it was his interactions that put a target on her back. Fuck, of course the prick would go after her. Jesse had only thrown a man out on his face for getting too handsy with her.

  A random act of crazed wolf violence was only mildly better and still made his bear rage for blood.

  “Does it matter? He wants her. I won’t let him touch her.”

  Ethan was quiet for a moment. “Did Trent try to peel you away?”

  “Yes, but that wasn’t why I was out last night.” He rolled his shoulders. “My old man is in town.”

  “What does that sonovabitch want?”

  “A second chance.” Jesse made a noise halfway between a snort and a disbelieving laugh. “He says he’s changed and wants back in my life.”

  “You believe him?”

  “That he’s convinced himself he’s the good guy this time? Sure. That’s he’s changed? That remains to be seen.”

  Jesse shot his alpha a look from the side of his eyes. Ethan sat straight as a post as he watched the herd. The man was a friend. His closest, in fact.

  They’d survived their fathers together and gone on to build so much over the years. Fixed up the main house. Put a new roof on the barn. Built a new barn when the fucking wolves burnt it to the ground. Added cattle to the herd and numbers to their clan. And when humans entered the enclave, they were one of the first to offer tours of their wild little town.

  Times had been hard and lean, but they powered through. He’d felt like a gulf had grown between him and the others, but a few words and actions closed it right back up. He wasn’t a mated man—not yet—but they were working with him to keep a woman safe.

  He couldn’t leave them.

  “Did you know Trent had to put down one of his pride?” Jesse asked, passing a glance over the herd.

  Ethan scowled as a thread of pain entered his scent. The task was the worst fate possible for a shifter, and something that always stuck with the alpha carrying out the sentence. Sometimes, though, there was no saving a broken animal from that final end.

  “His second, from what I heard.” For a loaded moment, the only sound came from the complaining herd. Then Ethan said quietly, “I’m not going to keep you here. You know that, right?”

  “Where else would I go?” Jesse shrugged up a shoulder. “This is the only clan I know.”

  “That’s the spirit. Remind me to ban you from leaving the ranch. Wouldn’t want you learning there’s more than us in life.” Ethan snorted, then turned serious. “I mean it. You’ve been unsettled lately. If there’s something I’m not offering you here that you can get elsewhere, say the word. I’ll release you.”

  Jesse glanced over his shoulder and toward the houses. They were too far to see, but he still felt a line tugging him right back.

  What did he want? A mate. A home. A future.

  He wanted Nora.

  And he’d do anything to keep her safe.

  “She’s your mate, isn’t she?”

  “Like fuck she isn’t!” Hunter called as he rode up, Alex and Lorne on his heels. He took off his Stetson and shoved his soaking hair out of his eyes before slamming his hat back on his head. A wide grin stretched his mouth as he pointed a finger at Jesse. “We all saw the way he looked at her. Last man standing is about to fall.”

  He itched to get back to Nora. Heat rolled down his spine and settled in his middle. He wanted a taste of her lips, to see if she was as sweet as she smelled. Needed to feel her melt against him, all soft curves and delicious scent.

  She was right there. His bear willed him to reach out and touch her.

  And he still hesitated.

  Viho. His father. Hell, even Ethan's old man had felt the snap of broken bonds.

  The remembered scent of sour sweat and alcohol pushed into his brain. His father’s cologne ingrained a reminder of the danger of having it all and losing it in a night.

  So many examples of the horror a mate and clan could bring, and Jesse toyed with fire.

  “Not so sure about that,” Jesse scowled. “I don’t know what she feels. Kind of hard to pin things down when you’re on the run from some sick fuck.”

  She was his mate, but she was still in danger. He wanted her in his life like the others had their slices of happiness waiting at home.

  They hadn’t grown up around the devastation when that joy was taken away. Those memories stilled him. He had to see Nora safe before he could take that final step. He didn’t want to lose her, and he didn’t want to force her into anguish should he fall defending her.

  She wasn’t safe while
Viho still breathed.

  Jesse cleared his throat and put away wishes and dreams for another day. “We’ve got enemies pounding on the door. There’s no staunching bleeding wounds with a bouquet of daisies.”

  “I mean, have you tried?” Hunter teased.

  “Stuff enough of anything in there and you’ll block things up. Might not live too long, but at least you won’t be leaking everywhere,” Alex added.

  Jesse glared. Fuckers thought they were so damn clever.

  Ethan shook his head. “Good luck. I’ve worn that same look and nothing in the world stopped Tansey from thrashing into my life. Not even Viho.”

  “Besides, a little danger always spices things up a bit,” Alex smirked.

  “We only hope Liv forgets to take the ball gag off you one day,” Lorne said. “I dream of the hour of silence it’d give us.”

  Jesse cracked a smile at Alex’s scowl. “Truth speaker.”

  Ethan let them have the moment of relaxed laughter before fixing Jesse with an understanding look. “There’s no easy button. You told me once that even mates have hurdles to jump and fights to have. So be the best damn version of yourself because that’s what she needs.”

  All around, the others nodded. Jesse scrubbed a hand through his hair and settled his Stetson back on his head. It didn't do a damn thing to keep him dry, but it gave his hands something to do when all he wanted was to twitch his reins and gallop back to Nora.

  Even now, he could sense her general direction and just about hear the quiet tinkling of her laughter after she made a dumb joke or let her thoughts carry her off into the weeds. She deserved more than a vicious wolf or an unworthy bear, but she had both circling her. He wanted to see her strong enough to defend against one and maybe choose a life with the other.

  “Go on, get your ass back to your mate,” Ethan said. “We’ll figure out patrols and get the herd settled.”

  The grumbling at being forced back to work didn’t let up even as Jesse turned his horse around and flicked the rest of the clan off with a half smile.