by Anna Lowe
Desert Rose
The Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch
by
Anna Lowe
Book 5
Desert Rose
Copyright © 2016 by Anna Lowe
[email protected]
Editing by Lisa A. Hollett
Cover art by Fiona Jayde Media
www.FionaJaydeMedia.com
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in articles or reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons is purely coincidental.
Other books in this series
The Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch
Desert Hunt (the Prequel)
Desert Moon (Book 1)
Desert Wolf: Complete Collection (Four short stories)
Desert Blood (Book 2)
Desert Fate (Book 3)
Desert Heart (Book 4)
Desert Yule (a short story)
Desert Rose (Book 5)
Desert Roots (Book 6)
Sasquatch Surprise (a Twin Moon spin-off story)
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Desert Wolf: Friend or Foe (Book 1.1 in the Twin Moon Ranch series)
Off the Charts (the prequel to the Serendipity Adventure series)
Perfection (the prequel to the Blue Moon Saloon series)
Contents
Other books in this series
Desert Rose
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sneak Peek: Desert Roots
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Desert Rose
Axel Waldermann’s days in paradise are numbered, and he knows it. The last thing this reluctant hero needs is temptation in the form of a curvy she-wolf. One step too close, one kiss too many, and he’ll shatter the fragile alliance between his shifter clan and the powerful wolves of Twin Moon pack. But with destiny whispering in his ear and desire pumping through his veins, how can he resist?
Every local girl has her sights set on Axel, the most eligible bachelor in town. So what chance does an unassuming girl like Beth Carter have? When a deadly enemy lures Axel into the fight of his life, Beth will have to test her limits and believe not just in love, but in herself. Can this desert rose become a heroine and win her destined mate?
Chapter One
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* * *
Axel’s days in paradise were numbered, and he knew it.
It was a miracle he’d been allowed to stay this long at Twin Moon Ranch. Five weeks and counting was a hell of a long time for a shifter to heal, but the wounds inflicted by a hellhound were different, and his kind wasn’t the fastest of healers among shifter species.
Five weeks. When was the last time he’d ever spent that long in one place?
He slammed his hammer down on the anvil with a satisfying bang and listened to the metallic echo carry across the ranch. When that faded away, he listened to the quiet sounds of paradise. The wind whispering across the highlands. The sheep baaing from the lower pasture. The cheery chatter of children outside the schoolhouse. None of them in a rush to go anywhere. No pounding hooves, no sense of urgency.
He hammered again then wiped the sweat off his brow. The good kind of sweat, gained from working hard on one project for hours instead of running endlessly across the plains.
“Center it,” George grunted in his centuries-old bass.
Axel wiped his palm on his leather apron and did as he was told. The old blacksmith was extremely particular about the way he ran his workshop, and if Axel wanted to stay, he’d better do as he was told.
And damn, did he want to stay. As long as he could.
Bang! Bang! Heated steel yielded under his hammer, slowly taking shape. George had started him out with clay, which seemed like a waste of time until he got to work with metal and realized that molding it worked on exactly the same principle. Except, of course, that swinging a hammer was a lot more satisfying. It felt good to have some strength in his arm again, too. In his right arm, at least. His left arm… Well, that needed a little more time.
A smooth, feminine voice rose from the door, a flowery contrast to the harsh tones and smoky air of the smithy. “You’re working your apprentice too hard, George.”
“Hard work,” George barked in reply, “is good for the body and good for the mind.”
Axel straightened his apron quickly and nodded a greeting toward the dark-haired woman at the door. “Hello, Miss Tina.”
She laughed. “When are you going to drop the Miss, Axel?”
He grinned without answering, because saying, When hell freezes over, wouldn’t be polite. Tina was the alpha’s daughter. Tina was classy and kind. Tina was the reason he’d been allowed to stay on Twin Moon Ranch longer than any outsider ever had. The ranch was wolf territory, and he was a javelina—a wild boar. Just because their packs were allied didn’t make the shifter species friends. But Tina had opened the door to this world, so she’d always be Miss Tina to him.
Miss Tina, the wolf. Aside from him, the ranch was entirely populated by canine shifters. Big, tough alpha wolves like Ty, the pack leader, and Zack, their best tracker. Sleek, capable she-wolves like Lana, Rae, and so many others. A whole pack of shifters—families, youngsters, older folk—all settled peacefully in one place.
Axel stuck out like a sore thumb. Wolves were lean and graceful; he was big and bristly, even in human form. A bull in a china shop in any space smaller than a barn. When he shifted into animal form, he took the shape of a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound boar with curved tusks and cloven hooves. His kind and wolves were as opposite as opposites could be.
“How’s our hero today?” Tina smiled in that older-sister way of hers.
“Your hero has another hour of work to do,” George griped.
Axel looked at the toes of his boots. He’d been working since shortly after dawn—a good five hours now. A new record, because he’d been trying to add a half hour every day. But his bad arm—the one that had been nearly torn off by the hellhound five weeks ago—was throbbing, and the simmering flame of pain that always seemed to lurk under the scars on his leg was flaring up again. Even his good arm was screaming for a break now that he’d quit swinging long enough to notice.
“I’m good,” he murmured. “Another hour is fine.”
Tina shook her head at surly old George, whom nobody dared contradict. No one but her, that is. “How is he ever going to heal if you don’t give him time?”
“I’m fine,” Axel tried.
“He’s fine,” George insisted, sounding a hell of a lot like Axel’s dad.
Axel winced a little at the thought. Any day now, his father would be back f
rom wherever he’d been roaming in the Southwest, announcing that it was high time for Axel to rush off into the desert again.
Tina held up an insulated bag. “He’ll be even more fine with lunch. And you, too, George.”
George grumbled but took a cookie from the plate in her other hand. “Short break, then back to work.”
Tina shook her head. “For you, maybe. Axel will be back on the job tomorrow. Half days are enough for him right now.”
It shouldn’t have been such a relief to be babied, but heck, it had been a long time since he’d had anyone looking after him besides himself. Axel shot George an apologetic look before tidying his workspace, hanging up his apron exactly the way the blacksmith liked, then washing his hands. It was ridiculous, the pleasure that cool, running water and clean hands could give a nomad like him. Then he trailed out the door like a dog at Tina’s heels. What his dad would say if he saw him now…
“I’ll just get you set up,” Tina murmured, leading the way.
“You really don’t have to…” he tried, as he did every day. Not that he minded gourmet lunches set out on a picnic table in the sun, all for him. “Really, you don’t have to. You don’t owe me anything.”
Tina stopped in her tracks and turned. “I owe you everything, Axel. Everything.” The shine in her eyes and quiver of her lip told him she really meant everything.
“I just came along at the right time,” he protested, digging his right toe into the dirt. A nervous javelina habit that worked as well with feet as it did with hooves.
She snorted. “Right. You just came along and nearly died. You saved my life. You saved my mate.”
She started walking again, and thank goodness, because what exactly did you say to something like that? I suppose I did save everyone? You’re welcome?
He followed along, replaying the warm way she said my mate. He didn’t know what it felt like to be in love, but judging by the dreamy look wolves got when talking about their mates, it had to be out of this world. Tina practically glowed with happiness over Rick. Cranky old George had a special, loving grumble reserved for Gerti, his partner for over a century. And even Ty, the pack’s brooding alpha, went a little glassy-eyed around his mate, Lana.
Whatever love was, Axel figured it had to be good.
Two little girls in pink and yellow sundresses loped up, absolutely unafraid and unreserved. Which was nice, because most everyone else on the ranch either had a hero complex or gave him a respectful berth as if he might gore something other than a marauding demon in his spare time.
“Mister Axel! Mister Axel!”
That cracked him up every time. He’d never been called Mister anything by anyone.
“Yes, Miss Tana?”
The little girl liked the title, too. “Look!” Tina’s niece held up her cupped hands and opened them a crack. “We found a butterfly!”
Even a boar recognized a prompt when he heard one. “Wow.”
“When it closes its wings, it looks like a leaf,” Tana said. “Show him the leaf, Holly.”
The other little girl promptly held up the leaf, and Tina grinned at both of them. Axel, too. That Tana was going to be a hell of an alpha female someday, while her cousin Holly was bottled sunshine, just like her dad, Cody, the pack’s second-in-command.
Axel nodded. “Wow. It looks just like a leaf!”
The girls nodded proudly. “Let’s go show my daddy,” Tana said, and the two of them scampered off.
“Um…” Axel called after them. Surely the pack alpha didn’t need to be interrupted by a butterfly? He shook a little, imagining how far his father’s roar would carry if anyone dared interrupt him at work.
It must have shown, because Tina laughed. “Believe me, a visit from the kids is just what my brother needs. A reminder that it’s not about pack business all the time.”
The kind of reminder his dad could use. Axel suppressed an inner sigh. Javelinas could learn a lot from wolves.
He nearly sighed out loud as his eyes wandered over the bucolic scene. Twin Moon Ranch. There was something about the place that didn’t want to let him go. Or maybe it was just that he didn’t want to let it go. The chirping birds, the friendly faces, the peace. The soft touch of a woman’s hand on his cheek. Softness like he’d never felt before…
Well, the ranch scored on three out of four of those points. Because there was no soft touch, no woman of his dreams. That part was just a crazy fantasy his mind had created in the foggy weeks he’d spent drifting in and out of consciousness. His imagination had even provided a voice to go with that touch. Not Tina’s. Not old Aunt Jean’s. Just an angel who didn’t exist.
“Where should I set up your lunch today?” Tina asked.
“Um…by the library?”
“You sure do like that library,” Tina teased.
He would have shrugged, but his shoulder hurt too much. “We don’t have libraries. We don’t have nice places to sit and read and…”
Dang, he was starting to sound like a total goof, and Tina’s face took on that soft, I-feel-sorry-for-you expression. But it was true. He loved the library. The quiet. The timelessness. The books, with thousands of pages of facts, pictures, and stories. They had so many books in there, you needed a ladder to reach some of them. Amazing. There were fiction and non-fiction books. Picture books and books that were packed with words, words, and more words. Poetry. Mechanics. History. Home repair.
Just sitting outside the place was a privilege. Such a pleasure, he almost felt guilty loafing in the autumn sun when the whole ranch was hushed. When horses swished their tails at lazy flies, when the shadows flickered through the grove of trees. Even the crickets took a siesta at lunchtime. Axel would munch and imagine all those shelves with all those books, so many and so high, they stretched higher than his head and all around a vast space as big as a barn. Eventually, he’d quit anticipating and head inside to dive right in.
He had developed a little ritual these last couple of weeks. Browsing a little, pulling out the occasional book for a glance at more than just the spine. He’d worked his way all the way up to 624.33 in the Dewey decimal system, which was turning out to be his favorite section so far. Engineering and construction, with books on bridges, canals, and all kinds of amazing things. Then he’d sit and read in his favorite chair with his ears flicking at any voice in range. If only one of them turned out to be that magic one he’d been imagining all along.
Even without it, though, the library was an amazing place.
“All set?” Tina asked, patting him gently on his shoulder the way she did with her younger brother.
“All set,” he replied. “Thank you very much.”
“See you later, then. Bye!”
Tina was a mind reader. She’d figured out the first day that he needed some down time. You didn’t wander the desert as a boar for years and suddenly become a chatty socialite. Not even when you got to stay with a wolf pack as friendly as this.
“Bye. Thank you.” No matter how often he said it, it never sounded like enough. Tina might be grateful to him for saving her life, but he was equally grateful for this. This haven. This peace. This special place.
This feeling of home.
His chest tightened a little. Too bad it couldn’t last.
Chapter Two
“Thanks!” Beth dropped her bag on her porch and waved goodbye to the ranch hand who’d driven her home from the airport.
She tilted her face to the sun and sniffed the dry desert air. God, it was good to be home. Two and a half weeks in Seattle was about all she needed to gain a new appreciation for Arizona. The wide, open landscape. The clear, sunny skies. The crackling, dry fall air.
And interwoven with it all, the scent of the stranger she just couldn’t forget.
She tucked her lips together and told her heart to stop skipping. But it was no good, just as she couldn’t shake the thought of him during the time she’d spent away, no matter how hard she’d tried.
Time to unpack, she t
old herself. Back to the usual routine.
More like time to check on our mate, her inner wolf growled.
Not our mate. She shook her head. So not our mate.
Her wolf sniffed the air and licked its lips. Definitely our mate.
The beast had been delusional like that for the past six weeks, ever since the injured stranger had been brought in, barely clinging to life. What had she been thinking, going to visit him every day?
But he had nobody. Nothing.
He needed us, her wolf said.
Delusional. The stranger had been unconscious the whole time. It wasn’t as if he could hear her reading aloud at his bedside.
Aunt Jean said it would help. Aunt Jean said our mate would hear.
Well, the injured stranger might have been able to hear, but he certainly wasn’t her mate. Her mate was supposed to be a tall, blond cowboy with a nice, clean shave. She knew, because she’d imagined him that way for years. A nice, reliable beta wolf who worked a nice, reliable job.
Now who’s delusional? Her wolf snickered. Who wants a nobody when we can have our mate?
Not our mate. So not our mate. She repeated it over and over as she headed down the dirt path.
The problem was, the vision of the cowboy was faded and worn, like a movie poster that had been hanging on the wall for a little too long. Plus, he was two-dimensional and, well, a little dull.
Not like the hulk of a man who’d come charging onto the ranch not too long ago.
Came charging into our lives, her wolf sighed dreamily.
She’d tried reminding the beast that the stranger had come to save Tina, because Tina was beautiful and special and deserved to be saved. Heroes didn’t swoop in to save the likes of plain old Beth, the ranch librarian.
