by Anna Lowe
“I think I wanted it even before I knew what it was.” For all that wolves and mating bites had once scared her into leaving Cody, the only real danger had been her own fears.
And her first shift into wolf form? It started with a pulling sensation, her face stretching in a mighty yawn that traveled through her body like the mother of all yoga moves, fast-forwarded. Cody stayed right at her side, his fur brushing hers until she insisted on practicing four-footed coordination alone. When he came back from where he’d been hiding around a corner, just in case, they ran and ran and ran. Then they tried another new move: mating as canines. Not so different, except for the solid half hour of furry nuzzling that followed.
They ended that magical night in a ballad, Heather letting her wolf voice warble for the very first time. Until that moment, wolf howls had always sounded mournful to her. Now that she spoke the language, she understood. Yes, there was sadness, but the rest brimmed with promise, love, and, above all, hope.
From hilltops all around them, the voices of her packmates chimed in. Her pack. That feeling of belonging she’d lacked all her life was finally hers.
Like the house. Cody leaned in close, brushing away the tears that welled up when they finished the tour and crossed the threshold back into the living room, a soothing world of beige and cream tones. Her yoga mat was already propped in one corner, and a bowl of strawberries beckoned from the granite counter. The photo of Buddy stood on the mantelpiece, beside the one of her and Cathy, with space around them for all the memories still to come. Maxi ran between them, sniffing like a hyperactive vacuum cleaner.
“The party starts at six,” Cody said, catching her in a hug.
“What party?”
“Our housewarming party. Tina insisted. But she said not to worry. She has it all organized, even the cleanup.”
Heather sniffed as her heart swelled. Being pregnant and desperately grateful made for a potent emotional cocktail.
Cody’s hand inched down her rear. “How about we do our own housewarming?”
She covered his lips with hers and mumbled a yes. A fire was already raging within her, insatiable for him. “Party’s right here, mister. Right now.”
Locked deep into her kiss, Cody tapped an answer on her back. One, two, three.
She tapped right back.
I. Love. You.
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Thank you so much for reading Desert Blood! Read on for a sneak peek at Kyle’s story in Desert Fate: Book 3 in the Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch series.
Thank you
Thank you for reading Desert Blood! I hope you enjoyed it and that you will leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. Reviews help readers make informed choices, and they also help an independent author’s work reach a broader audience. For that reason, I am making a special LIMITED TIME OFFER: a free copy of Book Three in the series to any reader who leaves a review of Book Two on Amazon or Goodreads. Just send me an email with a link to your review, and I’ll send you an advance copy of Desert Fate. You can email me at [email protected].
If you’re hungry for more of Twin Moon Ranch, you can get a free short story by signing up for my newsletter. That will get you a free copy of Desert Wolf, a fun, sexy, and action-packed story—all yours here! Signing up for the newsletter will also make sure you get updates about special deals and new releases in this series.
Read on for a sneak peek of Kyle’s story in Book 3: Desert Fate. You’ll get to see lots more of Cody and Heather (plus Maxi and the kids) as well as Ty and Lana in the next books of the series!
Books by Anna Lowe
Other Books in this Series:
Desert Moon (Book 1)
Desert Wolf (short story)
Desert Blood (Book 2)
Desert Fate (Book 3)
Desert Heart (Book 4)
Desert Hunt (the Prequel)
Travel and Adventure Romances:
Uncharted Waters
Uncharted Territory
Veiled Fantasies
Ocean Fantasies
visit www.annalowebooks.com
Recommended reads
If you enjoyed this book, you'll love these wolf shifter romance tales by some of my favorite authors:
Claiming His Fate by Ellis Leigh (Feral Breed Motorcycle Club series)
Tempted by the Pack by Anne Marsh (Blue Moon Brides series)
Guardian Wolf by J.K. Harper (Black Mesa Wolves series)
Full Moon Rising by Amy Green (a serial)
Now read on for an excerpt from Kyle and Stefanie’s story in Desert Fate!
Desert Fate
The only thing that can save her is his bite.
Kyle Williams is just a lone wolf trying to settle in to a new skin. But when the brown-eyed girl from his past turns up, bloodied by a rival male, the instinct to protect overrides everything else—including duty to his pack.
Stefanie Alt is a woman on the run, and fate is hot on her heels. The only one who can help her is the neighborhood bad boy she once knew. But even after one hot night under the desert moon, Stefanie isn’t sure she can trust him—or herself.
There’s more than meets the eye on Twin Moon Ranch, home to a pack of shapeshifting wolves willing to battle for life and love.
Desert Fate: Chapter One
The minute Kyle saw the wild flecks of color in the woman’s eyes, he knew. The question was, what the hell was he going to do with a Changling like her?
He’d been sitting on his porch, wondering how he was going fill an entire week off work, when he saw a pair of hawks circling the mesa. They weren’t circling high in the usual way, but dipping and swooping as if coming in for a closer look. A closer look at what?
So he’d driven out, then hiked into the hills to see for himself, and found a woman. One who’d sprung off the ground like a corpse come alive and sprinted like a deer for the horizon. It had taken everything he had to catch her.
Why did he chase her? Because the law enforcement officer in him never really went off duty. Because anyone who fled must be guilty of something. When he finally caught up and flipped her around to face the light, he’d expected a drugged-out glare, a string of obscenities.
He hadn’t been expecting this.
Tousled hair, wild eyes. Honey-brown eyes lit with irregular bolts of gold, green, and grey. A sure sign, he knew, of trouble. For her, for him, for his whole pack. Where had this she-wolf come from? And Jesus, where had she learned to fight? It was all he could do to keep her pinned.
He sniffed, searching for the tell-tale odor of a human recently turned, already thinking ahead to questioning—until her scent set off a rushing sensation. A tiny trickle of heat joined another and another until they formed a torrent and his whole system was engulfed by her scent. The sunlight dimmed and everything became the warmth pulling him in. The next thing he knew, he was right up against her neck, all but licking her skin. Inhaling her. His nose traced a long, lingering line along her neck and up to her ear. Her scent was foreign, yet familiar. Dangerous yet enticing, like a new kind of spice.
Want. More. Closer, his wolf demanded. Now.
She tipped her head back, drawing him closer, and Kyle followed. Everything tuned out until all that remained was the tingle of her body beneath his. Her fingers went from clawing to threading through his and the whole world seemed to hum and throb. His hip brushed her thigh and a growl built inside him. A hunger. It felt like his heart was trying to get closer to her by climbing straight over his lungs. He slid along her body and let their jaws scrape, their breath cross and—
With a snap, he jerked away, breath ragged. He blinked, trying to pull his senses out of their wild spin. Whoa. What the hell was he doing?
Touching. Tasting. Liking, his wolf growled from his daze.
His canines fought to extend past his gums with the instinct to claim, but he clamped his jaws together to lock them away.
“Look, I…”
He tried to catch his breath, to blurt out an apology—anythi
ng!—but the words all stuck in his throat. What the hell was wrong with him? He’d worked dozens of assault cases, put countless sick bastards away—and yet there he was, pinning a woman down. He’d explored her like a man in a brothel, not an officer of the law. No wonder she had that wild look in her eye.
The woman heaved a sharp breath, and the soft welcome of her body went steel-hard as she, too, snapped to some realization and shoved an angry palm against his chest. The kaleidoscope eyes that had drawn him in went from dazed to outraged.
“Get off me!”
He dragged himself back and held up both hands. “Sorry! I mean…”
She leaped to her feet, then swayed, her shoulder-length hair echoing the movement. When he put out an arm to steady her, the tingling started again. What was it with this woman? He’d never encountered a Changling before—well, except himself, but that was all a dim memory now. Maybe Changlings created their own high-voltage force fields. What did he know?
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she snapped, batting his arm away.
Right. He slipped closer as she swayed and ended up clutching his arm for balance. He tried to keep his grip tight enough to steady her but loose enough not to be a threat. “Why did you run?”
“Why did you?” she shot back and promptly closed her eyes on what looked like a wave of nausea.
Better not to go there. Not now. “Can you make it to my car? I’ve got water there.”
She looked tattered and worn, just like her khaki shorts and the scratched legs that extended out of them. The very long, slender legs. Her purple T-shirt was so covered in dust and burrs, it took him a minute to make out the logo. There was a silhouette of a mountain ridge with the words Boulder Marathon fit in among the peaks.
No wonder the woman could run.
“Just leave me alone,” she said, though her fingers were gripping him tight.
“You need help.”
“I need to be left alone.”
A memory kicked toward the surface from the depths of his memory. He’d said exactly those words when he first came to Twin Moon Ranch. Lucky no one had heeded him.
“Believe me, you need help.”
“No one can help me.”
He took in her matted hair, the dark lines under her eyes, and wondered how long she’d been on the run. He took a deep breath, reminding himself not to get too involved. He had to do a lot of that in his job. Usually, he could tune out, step back. But this time, his wolf was stirring, his nostrils flaring to catch more of that alluring scent.
He leaned in with a whisper. “I know what you are.”
He saw her eyes go wide and her body stiffen, though she tried to strike a nonchalant tone. She was proud, that was clear. Reluctant to show weakness. He knew the type; saw it in the mirror a couple of times a day. Or at least, the few times he bothered looking.
“And what am I?”
He looked at the colors swirling in her eyes, the inner wolf begging for release.
“You’re the same as me.”
Or what he’d once been; close enough. He’d made it through the Changling stage and out the other side, becoming a true shifter, capable of changing from his human body to wolf and back.
He could see her weighing up believing against fleeing and wished he could explain. Every human carried a second side deep inside, and hers had been awakened. If only he could just say it. Changling.
But words would never convince her, so he held his tongue, afraid to spook her off. More afraid than he ought to be. Why did it matter so much to him?
It matters, his wolf growled.
Slowly, carefully, she reached a hand toward him. The woman had guts, that was for sure. He held his breath when she touched a single finger to his jaw and the rush came again. Whatever strange energy she carried had jumped over to him and was spinning crazy laps around his body.
She tilted his chin up, examining his neck. A second later, she pulled away with an angry cluck. “I don’t think we’re talking about the same thing.”
“We’re the same,” he insisted. It’s just that his neck wasn’t where he carried his scars.
The woman watched, wary, as he worked down the top buttons of his shirt and pulled one side toward his shoulder, exposing the four parallel scars. Claw marks, puckered and red even after all these years.
“A bite’s not the only way to turn someone,” he explained, keeping his voice steady even as memories roiled inside.
She stared, first at the scars, then at his face.
“Wolf?” she whispered.
He nodded, letting out a puff of relief. At least she hadn’t turned tail and run again. He doubted she’d make it far, but he’d rather do this the easy way.
“There’s someone we need to see. Someone who can help,” he said, tilting his head in the direction of his truck.
“How can anyone help?” The hopelessness in her tone made him ache.
He ran a hand through his hair; the sweat was already going stiff. What the hell should he tell her?
“I don’t know. But I know they can.” Somehow. He nodded toward the truck, wondering if she would follow.
But the woman had gone stock still, gaping at him. What had he said? Kyle tensed, ready to grab her if she tried to flee again.
She didn’t run, though. In fact, she took a step closer, eyes swirling like a witch’s broth.
“It’s you,” she murmured, lifting a hand as if to touch his face.
Kyle blinked, wondering if maybe she was on drugs, after all.
She nodded, a look of wonder replacing the raw distrust on her face. “It is you. Kyle. Kyle Williams.”
He rocked back on his heels, unsure what to make of this stranger who knew his name. Then something in his memory gave a sleepy lurch, and just like that, the woman wasn’t a stranger any more. The freckles, the tousled hair, those eyes… Take away the glimmering flecks, and the hickory color was one in a million. A melody kicked off in his mind, and there she was, his brown-eyed girl.
“Stef,” he managed, “Stefanie Alt.” He gaped a minute longer, trying to process it all. “What are you doing here?”
Her eyes asked him the same thing.
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Click here to order your copy of Desert Fate!
More from Anna Lowe
Desert Moon
Book 1 in the series
Desert Wolf
a short story
Desert Blood
Book 2 in the series
Desert Fate
Book 3 in the series
coming May 2015
Desert Hunt
the Prequel to the series
available June 2015 in the
“Masters of the Hunt:
Fated and Forbidden”
multi-author Boxed Set
Desert Heart
Book 4 in the series
available Summer/Fall 2015
