Desert Rose

by Anna Lowe

  She stumbled a little then blinked at her surroundings. Wait a minute. What was she doing, marching away from her bungalow like a soldier on a mission? She was supposed to be unpacking, not heading toward the ranch’s makeshift infirmary.

  “Hey, Beth. Good to see you back.”

  She froze in midstep like a criminal caught on the way to a cracked safe. “Oh. Hi, Tina. How are you?”

  “Great!” Tina smiled.

  Wow. Tina really did look great. Well, Tina always looked great, but she’d taken on an extra glow now that she’d won her destined mate.

  “How was your education course?” the raven-haired beauty asked. “The kids can’t wait for you to start helping Heather at the school.”

  “Really good.” Beth nodded. “I can’t wait to get to apply it all.”

  I can’t wait to get to my mate, her wolf growled.

  “Heather’s been counting the days until you got back,” Tina said.

  I’ve been counting the days down, too, Beth’s inner wolf grumbled.

  “I don’t know how she managed this year with so many kids in one class.” Tina laughed. “Well, the one class we do have.”

  A class that was bursting at the seams. The ranch’s one-room schoolhouse was up to fourteen pupils, which had opened up a golden opportunity for Beth: a part-time job as literacy aide. The perfect complement to her part-time librarian job and a new way for her to contribute to the pack.

  “I can’t wait to get to work.”

  Her feet, however, edged toward the infirmary as if a magnet were slowly drawing her in.

  Tina put a hand on Beth’s shoulder before she slipped out of reach. “I bet. But listen, Aunt Jean really wants you in the library.”

  “Right now?”

  Tina flashed a knowing smile. “Right now. A new package has arrived, and she’s sure you’ll be happy to see it.”

  New package? What had she ordered lately that was so important?

  “The new encyclopedia software?”

  “Better than that.” Tina’s smile was downright mischievous. “Now go.” She gave Beth a tiny push toward the library. “I’m sure you’ll love it.”

  Her wolf sniffed the air. Library, it announced with a firm nod. Good idea.

  Great. So now the wolf was in on the conspiracy, whatever it was.

  “Bye.” Tina waved. “Have a good time!”

  A good time? Something was definitely going on.

  Hurry up already, the wolf mumbled as she started on her way.

  That was unusual, too, because her inner beast usually went into snooze mode when she headed to work. This time, it was driving her onward as if it were time for a run under the full moon. What was with the beast today?

  She forced herself to walk, not trot. She spent far too much time isolating herself in the library as it was. No need to hurry, right?

  Except some secret switch in her had been flipped, and suddenly she was in a terrible rush, as she’d been all throughout the long trip home. As if some vitally important countdown had started, and she would lose her chance at…at something huge if she didn’t get there soon.

  She opened up her stride at the sight of a figure walking the same direction and wished she had longer legs so she could catch up without making a footrace out of a casual library visit. Which was crazy, because she’d never been all that competitive. And anyway, what did it matter if the other person got to the library first?

  She gasped a little upon recognizing the other person and picked up her pace.

  Her wolf started growling as she caught up with the curvy woman. Surely, it couldn’t be…

  Who else walks waggling her ass like she’s working a stage? Her wolf snarled, wrinkling its nose at the overwhelming odor of hair spray and Chanel № 5. Who else wears see-through tops to advertise the lacy red bra underneath?

  “Audrey?” she squeaked, pulling even at last.

  It had to be. Who else wore that much mascara or lipstick that red?

  “Beth. What a surprise,” Audrey replied in a dry tone.

  What was Audrey doing back on Twin Moon Ranch? “Are you visiting for the holidays?”

  Audrey cackled that belittling, don’t-be-ridiculous laugh of hers. “Not just back for the holidays. Back for good. Didn’t you hear, sugar?”

  Beth’s stomach lurched. Everyone had breathed a collective sigh of relief when Audrey moved off the ranch a few years ago. Now she was back? For good?

  “Why?” Beth blurted. “I thought you moved to that pack in Nevada. Mated with the alpha’s nephew.”

  Actually, she knew Audrey had mated with the man because Audrey had rubbed it in ad nauseam before her departure. Such a rich pack. Such a high-ranking mate. Such an exciting future. She’d gone on and on and on.

  And now she was back?

  Audrey flapped a hand and uttered a tragic sigh. “It didn’t work out.”

  Beth narrowed her eyes at Audrey. How could a mating not work out?

  Obviously, the man was smarter than we thought, her wolf grumbled. Or he learned the hard way.

  Still, mated shifters splitting up was about as unheard of as a Pope announcing carnal love for a stripper.

  Stripper. Good analogy, her wolf sniffed.

  “Um, well…” What should she say? Sorry? Serves you right? Audrey tried out men the same way some women plucked books off library shelves. This one today, that one tomorrow…

  “Besides—” Audrey heaved a dramatic sigh “—Westend pack wasn’t all they made it out to be.”

  Beth suspected Westend pack wasn’t all Audrey had made it out to be, but she kept her mouth shut.

  “Anyway,” Audrey went on, “how are you?”

  “Oh, good. I just got back from—”

  “Nice,” Audrey cut her off, completely disinterested in how the education course in Washington had been. How refreshing it had been to get away from the ranch, and how good it felt to be home.

  They walked in tense silence, passing buildings until there were only a few left where Audrey might be heading. The gym, the maintenance sheds, and the library. And since she just couldn’t imagine Audrey in the gym and with no hot men working in maintenance these days, that left…the library?

  “Um, Audrey, where are you going?”

  “Me?” she replied far too innocently. “Just going to the library. Maybe check out a book.”

  Audrey, in the library?

  The blonde’s voice dropped to a sultry whisper. “Maybe check out some man chest.”

  Her wolf’s ears perked in alarm, and she lengthened her stride.

  “We’ve gotten a few new faces on the ranch while you were gone,” Audrey sniffed, as if Beth were the one who’d been away for three years. “I thought I’d welcome him—er, them.”

  Him? Who, him?

  Beth’s wolf pushed her into race-walking speed, but Audrey managed to keep pace in her stiletto heels, despite the dirt path.

  “We can’t have them thinking we’re all homely nobodies here, can we?” The blonde smiled right at Beth.

  Bitch, her wolf snarled and urged her to lash back. Say that to her face.

  Beth felt the word on her lips. Felt it struggling to slip free, kicking and pushing and clawing away.

  But just like so many times in the past, she clamped it away. She was better than that, right?

  A dozen bitter memories fluttered through her mind. Audrey pushing her out of the way to get to Cody when they were in sixth grade—as if Audrey were capable of helping anyone with math homework. Audrey snaking a hand down Ty’s shoulder instead of assuring him he’d someday find his mate, back when he’d come home from another fruitless search, ten years ago. Audrey, winking shamelessly at Kyle and shoving the other girls aside when he’d first arrived on the ranch, so wounded and lost. Audrey, dancing so close—

  Beth ground her teeth together, trying to stem the flood. She didn’t need to compete with the likes of Audrey. She had a good job. She had her pride. She had her pack. What else
did she want?

  A mate, her wolf growled. My mate.

  The two women trotted up the stairs to the library side by side.

  My library. Beth hopped up the last rise and reached for the doorknob. No way will I let Audrey—

  A well-padded hip thrust her aside as they reached the door, and Beth was slammed into the doorframe as Audrey sashayed inside, grinning a crocodile smile.

  Chapter Three

  “Audrey, sweetheart!” The voice of an older woman stopped both of them in their tracks.

  If it hadn’t been for Aunt Jean planting herself in Audrey’s way like a tank, Beth might have unleashed her claws and finally, finally exacted her revenge. Revenge for years of barely veiled insults and not-so-subtle digs. Years of belittling looks and rolled eyes.

  You’re better than that, her mom had always said when she came home crying. Don’t take the bait. Don’t stoop to her level.

  God, how she wanted to stoop to Audrey’s level, just this one time. Let loose all the expletives clinging to the tip of her tongue.

  “What a surprise to see you here, Audrey.” Aunt Jean smiled warmly.

  “Hi,” Audrey murmured, stepping sideways.

  The older woman’s smile didn’t waver as she parried with a side step of her own. “And Beth. Darling!” Aunt Jean gushed as she always did. “So nice to have you home again.”

  Beth tucked away the tips of her emerging claws. Good old Aunt Jean, making her feel special instead of overlooked. Ever since Beth’s mother had left Twin Moon Ranch to care for an aging relative in a distant pack, Aunt Jean had taken over as surrogate mom, as she did for all the younger members of the pack. Even Audrey, who was busy primping her hair in the entrance hall mirror.

  Beth caught her own reflection in the mirror and promptly turned away. Medium height, medium brown hair. Medium everything, especially next to Audrey’s overproportioned features: her hair, her boobs, her beaded, shimmering top.

  “Nice to see you, too,” Beth echoed. “How have you been?”

  “Busy, busy!” Which wasn’t exactly news, since Aunt Jean was always busy with some pet project or another. Her eyes twinkled, though, as if she’d been occupied with more than just tending the library in Beth’s absence.

  Beth’s inner wolf peered over the older woman’s shoulder and flared its nostrils.

  What? What was so interesting to the beast in here?

  Her eyes skimmed the familiar scene. The floor-to-ceiling windows on the east side, framing the desert like a living landscape painting. The stacks climbing two stories around the walls. The old leather couch by the reference books. The brightly colored rug and pillows in the kids’ section, three steps forward and two steps down.

  Not there, her wolf hummed. Over there.

  She glanced toward her favorite reading nook, an alcove on the south side. Three windows let in the light, each taller than wide and focused on a different hummingbird feeder outside. A tiny flash of emerald sped past one frame, then into another where the tiny acrobat hovered and sipped.

  On any other day, Beth would have stopped to imagine the sweet nectar sliding down her throat. Or she might have walked over to pick up the scrap of paper lying on the braided Navajo rug, or to straighten the atlases lining the nearest shelves.

  Today, however, all of her focus jumped sideways, following the scrap of paper to a pair of booted feet. Big, booted feet. Crazy-big. Size twenty, maybe even twenty-two. Her gaze continued slowly, marveling at every inch of tree-trunk thick legs encased in faded denim.

  Her breath caught, her heart skipped.

  Mine, her wolf hummed. Mate.

  Mate? No way. Maybe her pulse was just on hold because it was good to see her erstwhile patient healthy again. Slumbering peacefully with his lips curled up, as if he were dreaming of something much nicer than the hellhound attack that had nearly ripped the life out of him.

  “Axel,” Beth whispered.

  “Axel,” Audrey purred at exactly the same time. She danced forward.

  Aunt Jean stepped in Audrey’s way, quick as a cat.

  “Let the man rest.” Jean murmured the words, but the command was clear.

  “Oh, I wouldn’t dream of disturbing him,” Audrey said, patting her bleached mane. “I’ll be quiet as a mouse.”

  A five-foot, eight-inch mouse on three-inch heels that clicked its way over to the chair opposite Axel’s, grabbing a magazine on the way. She hitched her skirt up higher than necessary to cross her legs and sat down, tugging the scooping neckline of her shirt down in one practiced move.

  Beth’s wolf snarled as Audrey rearranged the goods filling her push-up bra. If she so much as sniffs in the direction of my mate—

  The problem was, Audrey was already sniffing. Practically drooling, too.

  Beth’s wolf might just have growled out loud if Aunt Jean hadn’t placed a quieting hand on her arm.

  “Axel’s looking better, don’t you think?” the older woman commented casually.

  Looking good, her wolf agreed. As in, smoking hot.

  Which was crazy, because mile-wide blocks of muscle had never been her definition of smoking hot.

  But he was. Smoking, flaming, raging hot. The man had slabs of muscle plastered across his frame like so many boulders on a mountainside. All of it was chiseled in sharp relief like craggy cliffs. His forearms were a landscape in themselves, tapering out to hands as big as sledgehammers.

  You know what they say, her inner wolf purred. The bigger the hands, the bigger the—

  “Yes, he’s been getting stronger every day,” Aunt Jean went on.

  Any stronger and they’d have to tailor new clothes to contain his bulk. The only soft part of him was his face, which gave him the look of a gentle giant. The light caught his beard at exactly the right angle, giving it the same coppery glow as his hair. His beard was baby-soft if stroked from one direction but scratchy in the other. She knew, because she’d snuck in a covert touch or two. Maybe even three, but who was counting? She’d taken to ending her visits to his bedside that way, with a quiet stroke of his face and a little prayer to heaven.

  And it worked. Well, something worked. Because those cheeks were ruddy. Healthy. He’d survived.

  “Thank God,” Beth murmured.

  The man was a library in and of himself. That big, that full of hidden treasures. Axel as Mystery. Adventure. Biography. What made him who he was? Romance, because her imagination could spin a thousand happy endings featuring him.

  Murder story, her wolf muttered, watching Audrey bounce a foot impatiently in his line of sight.

  Axel would wake and see Audrey’s foot, then follow it to her unmissable curves. The bait would flash and he would jump for the hook, just like a hundred men before him and another hundred in the near future. Beth didn’t stand a chance.

  “Sweetheart, you’re just in time to read to the wee ones,” Aunt Jean said, steering her toward the kids’ corner, where a couple of preschoolers leafed through picture books, waiting for story time.

  She could have wailed. Dug in her heels, ducked her head, and stuck her wolf claws into the braided rug, refusing to be dragged an inch farther. Audrey was allowed to pimp herself to a perfect stranger because that’s what was expected of her. Beth, though, had to go read to the kids, because that was expected of her—the nice girl who always came in last. After reading to the kids, she would take out the trash, turn off the lights, and head home alone while Audrey partied the night away.

  Didn’t she deserve better?

  We do! We do! her wolf chanted.

  Didn’t Axel deserve better than falling prey to Audrey?

  He does! He does!

  Audrey was a taker, not a giver. She’d take Axel and leave him worse for the emotional wear.

  No! I won’t let her.

  But what if javelinas didn’t mind that kind of thing? Maybe Audrey was just Axel’s type. What did Beth really know about him, anyway?

  I know what counts, her wolf snarled.

&nb
sp; “Come along, come along,” Aunt Jean said, tugging her arm. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Trust me.”

  Beth’s head snapped around. What was Jean up to?

  Mischievous twinkles lit up the older woman’s eyes.

  Trust me. Jean’s voice sounded in her mind.

  “Look, girls. Beth is back,” Jean called out to the kids.

  Little Tana and Holly bounced up and down. “Hooray! Can we start school, Beth? Please?”

  Jean winked at Beth. The girls were too young for school but so eager to be grown-up that they begged for lessons, just like real schoolkids.

  “Beth has a great story for you today,” Jean said, shoving her down on the couch with her back to Axel.

  She could have cried. Couldn’t Jean at least have let her sit where she could see her mate—er, that really fine-looking man?

  Aunt Jean pushed a book into her hands. Maybe Jean was trying to protect her from the pitiful scene that was sure to unfold at some point. Axel would wake up, spot Audrey, and start to stutter and drool, as most men did. Maybe Jean was just trying to spare Beth the sight of Audrey prancing out the door with her latest prize.

  “Once upon a time…” Beth began in a shaky voice.

  Her wolf started to fill in the rest. Once upon a time, there was a tramp named Audrey who got what she deserved when…

  “No! No!” Tana cried. “Read it right. Read it happy!”

  Tana was only four, but she already had the commanding air of an admiral. Her parents would have their hands full someday, for sure.

  “Please…” Holly squeaked, radiating sunshine. “Once upon time…”

  Beth took a deep breath. This was how her second career had been launched, in fact. She’d started by reading to preschoolers, then helping in the schoolhouse on her mornings off. It wasn’t long after that Heather had encouraged her to apply for training in early literacy. The ranch management had approved the request immediately and paid for her training. Gratefully, in fact.

  Her smile wavered. She could see her future already: she’d be the next Aunt Jean, only less jovial. Helping everyone, noticed by no one.

  “Once upon a time,” Jean prompted her gently.