Taking the Bull by the Horns

by Chant, Zoe

  “Um,” Tora said. “Uh.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t introduce myself,” the man said. “I must’ve startled you. Let me start again. My name’s Wyatt Armstrong, and I think you may have one of my lambs.”

  “Oh!” Tora said, blinking, holding the now peaceful lamb up against her chest. “I wasn’t – I mean, I just found it! It was bleating and crying, and I wasn’t sure what to do. I wasn’t, uh, stealing it –”

  The man chuckled – a deep, low sound that seemed to reverberate through Tora’s lower belly. “No, that’s fine, I didn’t think you were. You’d have to have a pretty hard heart to hear a lamb bleating in the rain and just cycle on by.”

  The man laughed again, and Tora found herself laughing along with him – as well as kind of melting a little bit.

  Oh my God, he’s so hot. And funny – I mean, he’s funny, right? That’s not just my hormones talking, is it?

  “Not to mention the fact you look a little soaked to the skin yourself,” Wyatt said, his green eyes flickering down over Tora’s dripping wet clothes. “Look, this may be too little too late, but…”

  Tora barely had time to blink before Wyatt had shrugged off his raincoat and was laying it over her shoulders. He was right – it was a little too late to stop her from getting soaked to the skin, but…

  Oh, it’s warm, Tora thought hazily, resisting the urge to rub her cheek against the collar of Wyatt’s coat, where the warmth of his neck still lingered.

  “But – but won’t you get wet now?” she managed to stutter out, once the power of speech returned to her.

  “A little rain never bothered me,” Wyatt said with a small smile. “In fact, I kind of like it. So let’s complete your look and do what we can to keep you at least a little dry.”

  So saying, he lifted his wide-brimmed hat off his head and put it on Tora’s, who couldn’t do much else but blink up at him.

  Is this guy for real?!

  He must’ve been wearing his hat for a while, because he had a dent in his dark brown hair where it’d been sitting against it – not that that did literally anything to detract from his looks. In fact, the mild imperfection mainly served to make him, somehow, even better.

  “Oh – I – well, thank you,” Tora said, finally remembering her manners, just as the little lamb reminded her of its presence, struggling in her arms and bleating softly. “I think we should probably get this little guy out of the rain.”

  “You’re right there – you want me to take him for a bit?” Wyatt asked, as the lamb kicked out with its little hooves again, struggling against Tora’s hold on him.

  “If you wouldn’t mind,” Tora said, shifting the lamb awkwardly in her arms. “I think he’s a little cold.”

  “You’re probably right,” Wyatt said. “I should get him back to somewhere warm and cozy as soon as I can.”

  Tora swallowed. Did that mean Wyatt was going to disappear off to wherever he’d come from? She knew she was being silly – not to mention keeping him out in the rain – but she didn’t feel like she was ready to say goodbye to him just yet.

  “I’m staying in the cabin up on the hill just there,” she blurted out, before she had time to second guess herself. “If you wanted to bring him up there, we could get him dry and wait out the rain? I mean, if you don’t need to be elsewhere, that is…”

  “Oh, you’re Tora Kingston?” Wyatt blinked, looking surprised. “I didn’t realize you were my cabin guest for this week!”

  Tora’s mouth dropped open. “It’s your cabin?”

  Oh, but of course it is – W. A. from the note, Wyatt Armstrong.

  “I meant to be there to say hi and welcome you properly, but I got caught up trying to get the sheep in before the rain hit,” Wyatt explained. “And speaking of – that wasn’t a bad idea of yours. If it wouldn’t be imposing, then maybe we should just take this little guy back to the cabin and get him cleaned up nice for his momma. Are you sure you don’t mind?”

  “Not at all,” Tora said, as Wyatt leaned down to take the lamb from her, his large, sun-browned hands brushing against the insides of her forearms as he did so.

  For a moment, Wyatt seemed to freeze, inhaling a sudden, sharp breath. His olive-green eyes flickered up to hers, wide and surprised.

  “Is… is something wrong?” Tora asked, after his intense gaze into her eyes extended beyond the fifth second. Not that she minded him staring at her, but…

  Wyatt swallowed, shaking his head a little. “No – no, I’m sorry, nothing’s wrong,” he said quickly. “Sorry. Just spacing out for a moment. Sorry.”

  Tora missed his eyes the moment he dropped his gaze from hers. She knew it was a cliché, but she really felt like she could have gotten lost in them.

  They managed the lamb handover without any further incident – at least until Wyatt, holding the now totally calm lamb under one burly arm, frowned, holding his hand against its wooly little body.

  “Poor little guy’s a bit cold,” he said. “Let’s get you warmed up.”

  And with that, still cradling the lamb on one forearm, he started taking off his shirt.

  Tora’s eyes popped open, before she quickly looked away, feeling an intense blush creeping its way across her face.

  Okay! Well, I guess this is a thing that’s happening!

  “We – we should hurry back!” she yelped, grabbing the handlebars of her bike and managing to kick up the stand on her fourth go.

  Her heart beating madly, Tora started walking along the path back toward her cabin, resolving very firmly to not notice the way the drops of rain were currently rivuletting over the grooves and dips of Wyatt’s firm, muscular chest.

  Chapter 2

  My mate. She’s my mate.

  Wyatt couldn’t stop himself from sneaking sideways glances at Tora the entire walk back to the cabin – which was only ten minutes away, but still, he found it hard to keep his eyes off her even for longer than three seconds at a time.

  She was beautiful – but then, he would have thought that no matter what she looked like. A mate was a mate. All ability to be objective kind of flew out the window where mates were concerned.

  Still, Wyatt had found himself appreciating Tora’s looks even before he’d known – her hazel eyes flashed with life and warmth. Her hair had been wet, but he’d always liked dark hair. He’d never really thought much about women’s haircuts – whatever made the woman in question happy, that was about as far as his opinion went – but he did appreciate the way Tora’s short hair brought out her cute-as-a-button features. She was tall, with an athletic build. The way the rain was making her clothes cling to her revealed sturdy, muscular frame.

  Perfect for a farmer’s wife, his inner bull spoke up, raising its head with its long, curved horns and snorting a powerful jet of air through its nostrils.

  Maybe so, but I just met her ten minutes ago, Wyatt told it with irritation. Give a guy a chance to make an impression before you marry us off, yeah?

  Being a bull shifter definitely had its advantages – the animals he tended seemed to accept him as one of them, for example, perhaps sensing his inner animal and knowing that he wasn’t the same as other humans.

  But it also definitely had its downsides. Namely, that his bull absolutely tended to live up to the expression bullheaded: it was stubborn and strong-willed, and once it knew what it wanted, it tended to be pretty obstinate about getting it.

  And Wyatt had known from the first moment his hands had brushed against Tora’s skin and his bull had raised its head, stamped its massive hooves and bellowed MINE! that it was not going to give him a moment’s peace until he’d told Tora just who and what he was, and what they were to each other.

  No, his bull said, shaking its head. I am not.

  One thing at a time, all right? Wyatt tried to bargain with it – which he already knew would be useless – as he watched Tora park the bike under shelter and then run back to him to open the door of the cabin.

  “Oh my goodness, come in be
fore you freeze!” she said, eyes wide.

  “It’s really fine,” he reassured her. “I don’t feel the cold.”

  He truly didn’t – being out in the cold and rain didn’t bother him in human form, just as it didn’t bother him in animal form either. It was all the same to him. The only thing that had mattered was getting the lamb wrapped up nice and warm. He was too young to be away from his mother yet, really.

  “It was lucky you came along when you did,” Tora said as together they hurried inside, to stand, dripping, in the entryway to the cabin. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t shown up.”

  Wyatt was aware of the way her eyes kept resting on him and then darting away – just as he was aware of the blush he could see working its way over her cheeks, despite the fact she must’ve been cold from the rain.

  It was adorable.

  And it proves she feels it too, his bull chimed in insistently a moment later. She can sense it. She knows what we mean to each other.

  Wyatt did his best to ignore it. It might be true that Tora could sense the immediate attraction between a shifter and his mate, but that didn’t mean she knew anything more than that. She probably didn’t even know what a shifter was, let alone a fated mate.

  A mated bond needed to be built on more than overwhelming attraction, though.

  I need some time to get to know her, and show her I’m someone she might want to get to know better, Wyatt tried to explain to his bull, who was resolutely not getting it. She’s human. She needs more time.

  His bull just snorted at that. If it could express disgust, it was definitely expressing it now.

  As if to remind them both that it was here too, the lamb bleated suddenly, lifting its head from where it had been docilely resting it on Wyatt’s arm.

  “Okay, little guy, hold your horses,” Wyatt said. “We’ll get you warmed up in no time.”

  “I’ll go get some towels,” Tora said. “Since, uh, your shirt…” Her eyes were looking everywhere but him. “Though, uh, I guess I’ll just have to drip everywhere a bit,” she continued after a moment as she carefully took off Wyatt’s raincoat and hat, hanging them on the door where they could drip onto the doormat. She toed off her muddy shoes, carefully stepping over them and into the cabin.

  Wyatt waited patiently as Tora bustled off. He had his own muddy boots to deal with, which he couldn’t do while holding the lamb.

  Tora was back quickly.

  “Okay, towels!” she said, holding them up. She’d gotten changed into some dry clothes in record time, and, while he was happy she was no longer cold and wet, Wyatt wouldn’t help but miss the way her wet clothes had clung to the lines of her body.

  “And I got you, uh, this.” Tora held up a blanket, before putting it down on the carved wooden bench by the front door.

  “Thanks,” Wyatt said, smiling. “If you wouldn’t mind taking the lamb for a moment, I’ll get my shoes off and get myself covered up.”

  “No problem.” Tora reached out, the towels covering her arms, as Wyatt placed the lamb down in them. She got it all wrapped up in no time, and the lamb, seeming to sense he was somewhere warm and safe, didn’t struggle at all.

  “So you own this place?” Tora asked, as Wyatt started working off his boots. “And all the land surrounding it?”

  “Sure do,” Wyatt said. “The cabin was here when I inherited the land from my uncle – he built it and then never used it. He used to run a ranch out here, but he sold off all his animals once he got too old to run it, and kept the land. He died without having any kids of his own, so I guess I was the first one in line to inherit.”

  “And you run your own ranch here now?” Tora asked.

  Wyatt shook his head. He’d gotten one boot off, so he started on the other. “Not quite. I run a sanctuary.”

  “An animal sanctuary? For lambs?” Tora cocked her head, obviously curious.

  “For all kinds of farm animals, really. Horses whose owners can’t look after them anymore, sheep, pigs and cows that’ve come off ranches and farms where they’ve been neglected. Chickens, too. And I’ve got a couple of llamas,” Wyatt said.

  He could hear the note of pride in his own voice, but he couldn’t quite help it. He was proud of what he’d built here – all the animals with nowhere to go who he and the volunteers who helped him run the place had given a home to. Nothing gave him more satisfaction than seeing his animals wandering his fields, safe, happy and contented.

  “Oh, wow,” Tora breathed. “That’s… that’s very noble of you.”

  “I suppose you could look at it that way,” Wyatt said, standing up fully again, having gotten his second boot off. He picked up the blanket and draped it over his shoulders, pulling it across his chest, noticing how Tora was suddenly finding it a lot easier to look at him. “And I do love what I do. But I feel more like it’s something that someone has to do, and I’ve got the land to do it, so it might as well be me.”

  “Well, I am going to continue to think of it as noble,” Tora said, as together they made their way into the living room. “I’m sure this little guy does, too. Don’t you?”

  On cue, the lamb bleated.

  “He might be hungry,” Wyatt said. “He’s really a little too young to be away from his mother for long, and she’s probably looking for him too. That’s why I was out and about in this rainstorm – I was getting the sheep in, and I noticed there was one unaccounted for.”

  “Ah – so that’s how you found us,” Tora said, nodding. “How’d he get out in the first place?”

  Wyatt could feel his expression darkening, but he couldn’t help it. “We’ve had some… visitors, you could call them, lately. Running around all over the place and leaving gates open. It’s been a real pain in the neck.”

  “Oh.” Tora glanced up at him. “Is this because of the, uh, the aliens? People coming to town to see if they can see them?”

  Wyatt had to admit he was surprised – he knew from her booking that Tora had only arrived in town today. “I guess word travels fast around here.”

  “Well, word of aliens certainly does, anyway.” Tora sat down on the floor in the middle of the living room, placing the lamb down gently in front of her. She unbundled him slowly, taking some time to dry his wool, as he lay obediently in front of her.

  It made Wyatt’s heart glow to watch her.

  She clearly has the touch, his bull spoke up. Look – the lamb trusts her already. She’s perfect.

  I know that, Wyatt told it impatiently. That’s not the issue. If it were up to me, we’d already be up at the house drinking a toast to our future together. But we have to go at Tora’s pace, all right?

  “So, what do you make of all this alien stuff, then?” Tora asked, her eyes sparkling a little mischievously. “Are there little green men from Mars?”

  “Well, I don’t know about that,” Wyatt said diplomatically – to be honest, he himself didn’t really believe in aliens, but he was very aware that most people wouldn’t believe in shifters, either. “All I know is, since word has got around about the lights in the sky and the crop circles showing up, all of us around here have had a hell of a time keeping the alien hunters off our land. It wouldn’t be a huge deal, but they leave gates open and animals get out – like our little friend here. Plus, it’s dangerous – for the alien hunters, I mean. Cows might look docile, but get ‘em mad and it’s a bit risky.”

  “Especially if you run across an angry bull,” Tora mused. “I wouldn’t like that much.”

  Well, let’s hope that’s not a dealbreaker, Wyatt thought.

  “But I would kind of like to see a llama,” Tora continued a moment later. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in the flesh before.”

  “No? Then you should,” Wyatt said, jumping at the chance to invite Tora around. “You can come look at my llamas anytime.”

  I really hope she doesn’t think that’s my smoothest come-on line.

  “I’d – I’d really like that,” Tora said with
a brilliant smile.

  Well, even if she did think inviting her over to look at his llamas was his slickest line, she didn’t seem to mind too much, Wyatt thought with relief. He knew Tora was attracted to him – they were mates, so it was natural. But did it wear off over time with a human? He knew he still would’ve had to impress her even if she’d been a shifter, but he wasn’t sure if his timeframe to do that was shorter with a human.

  “Well, before we do anything else, let’s get some nourishment into this little one,” Wyatt said, going into the kitchen area of the cabin. “He’ll be hungry, since it’s about his usual feeding time. Luckily, I have just the thing.”

  “Oh, is that the sheep’s milk?” Tora asked, looking up from where she was still carefully drying off the lamb’s back and sides. “I noticed that. It’s pretty unusual, isn’t it?”

  “I guess so,” Wyatt agreed. “But some people find sheep’s milk easier to digest than cow’s milk, and I have plenty of sheep producing milk at the moment, so I like to have it as an option – plus, it’s something I’m kind of trying out with a friend, just to see how many people who don’t have an issue with cow’s milk could be tempted into trying it.”

  “Oh?” Tora looked up. “What’re you trying?”

  Wyatt took the sheep’s milk out of the fridge, before opening a cupboard and finding the things he’d need to feed the lamb – a baby’s bottle (there for emergencies, since he had plenty of couples with young kids stay here) and a saucepan (for obvious reasons).

  “Well, it’s kind of still in its experimental phase,” he said slowly. He hadn’t really told anyone about what he’d been working on with his friend Salvatore yet. “My friend’s a dessert maker – he trained in France and everything. He came to me with an idea to start a fancy brand of small-batch dairy products: ice cream, yogurt, slightly unusual things like sheep’s milk, stuff like that. He had to talk me into it, but when I tasted some of the sample products he’d whipped up, I had to admit, I was convinced.”