by Elle Thorne
“She’s a shifter. She’ll heal quickly.” Gabe should know this.
“Right.” Gabe turned away. “Get her help anyhow.”
Jared got out, went around to the other side of the pickup, sat Darby as upright as possible, buckled her in, and closed the door, then went around to his side, got in, pulled his own door shut, and put the truck in gear. “See you after a while, Gabe. Thanks for looking out.”
He drove out of there, heading for Crooked Arrow. How the hell had Gabe known to be there? It was beyond Jared’s comprehension. Then again, Gabe’s junkyard, Bonegate’s Bonepile, wasn’t too far.
What the hell happened to this night? How’d it turn upside down?
Those fucking foreign wolves from out of town had ruined a perfectly good one-night-stand and left him with an injured girl on his hands.
So, why did it bother him more that she was injured than that the fact he didn’t get laid?
Forty minutes later, he pulled into the driveway, past the funnel-like configuration of massive rock pillars supporting a twenty-foot, powder-coated, heavy-gauge steel arch. Marking the entrance to Crooked Arrow, above head, the arc de triomphe was a magnificent example of metalwork. Wolf silhouettes were fashioned into the steel frame, all of them in different poses, as he drove beneath.
Jared had a dilemma. Take her to his cabin and tend to her wounds himself or take her to the main ranch home where he could get Stitches—a Crooked Arrow medical doctor who lived on-site—to tend to her injury.
Come on, he reminded himself. She’s a shifter. She’ll heal from this.
What he planned to do was set her up in his cabin, give her until morning, then he’d see how she felt. Meanwhile, he could clean a laceration, bandage it, make her some canned soup to get her through it.
Chapter Six
Darby opened her eyes. She had a headache from hell. Was in the same dress she wore… last night?
Last night?
She’d been at Ace of Clubs. She left with Jared. He was driving. She was going to get fresh with him. She was—
A wreck?
She glanced around her. A bedroom. Double bed. Clean enough sheets. Not a cluttered room. Far from it, in fact. Neutral colors. Manly colors. No pinks, yellows, pastels. Where the hell was she? She pushed up to her elbows, put a hand to her head. A bandage?
She swung her legs over the side, placed them on the floor, picked her butt off the bed and—
Collapsed with a crash against the nightstand, sending the lamp careening to the floor with a clatter.
The next scene couldn’t have lasted more than two seconds, but somehow everything went into slow motion. Footfalls came running. Boots, by the sound of them. They appeared in front of her, a pair of scuffed-up boots. She glanced up, following the jeans, the muscular legs, the bulge in the crotch. No shirt. Holy hell. A tight vee at the hips. Abs, an eight pack. Flaring to a wide chest, broad shoulders and—
Jared Dorsett!
Wait, what?
Where the hell was she? Why was he here? And half-dressed!
“You okay?” He leaned down and picked her up, pulling her to her feet, then setting her on the bedside. He stood over her, his face the picture of concern.
“What happened?” This was the only thing she could think to say because she had no idea why she lost her balance and fell.
“You hit your head last night when—” He cut off abruptly.
“When what?”
“When I had to brake suddenly to avoid hitting a deer.”
Memories came flooding back to her. She was supposed to be seducing him and learning Crooked Arrow secrets. Except for some reason, last night she hadn’t really been thinking about the secrets she’d come there to learn. All she could think about was Jared Dorsett and getting naked with him. Heat flowed through her, and she was sure her cheeks were a telltale sign of her embarrassment.
“I remember.”
He reached up to touch the bandage. “This should probably be healed over by now, what with shifter healing.”
She jerked away from him. The last thing she needed was him checking what was beneath that bandage. “It’s fine. I’ll take care of it later.”
He studied her as though confused by her action. “You want to leave it on?”
“Only until I can check it out myself.” She waved her hand to indicate the room. “This is your place? You brought me here and doctored me?”
He smiled. “It is my place. I’d hardly call it doctoring. Some peroxide, antibacterial ointment, and a cotton square and some tape.”
Suddenly, the sound of a door slamming open in another room interrupted their conversation.
“Jared!” a female voice called out.
A measure of an emotion way too close to jealousy ran through her. Surprised—because why would she have the right to feel possessive over him?—she kept her eyes focused on her hands to keep her emotions hidden.
“Hang on,” he told her, his voice low.
Now she felt as though he was keeping her hidden. From whom? Who did the voice belong to? A girlfriend? A lover? She looked up.
He strode toward the door, but not before a blonde had appeared on the threshold.
“There you are,” she exclaimed. “What happened to your truck? Did that happen here at the ranch?”
“Hey, Rachel. No.” He moved as though to block Darby from view.
Darby couldn’t see his face, but his tone was sharp, almost contemptuous.
Rachel, evidently that was her name, peeked around him at Darby. “Hi.” Then she glanced back toward Jared. “I didn’t know you had company.” Back to Darby. “Oh, what happened to your head? Do you need a doctor?”
“I’m fine,” Rachel said. She could tell Jared was uncomfortable with Rachel’s presence, and, at the same time, she didn’t want attention drawn to her injury. “Merely a flesh wound.”
“So, what happened to your truck, Jared? Is that when…” Rachel stared at Darby expectantly, as though waiting for her to supply her name. When she didn’t comply, and neither did Jared, Rachel continued. “Is that when she was hurt?” Confusion passed over her face.
Darby tried to remember but couldn’t. She did remember hitting her head.
“Rachel, we got this.” Jared’s tone was sharp, as before, but this time Darby could see his face, and the aversion he felt was evident. He clearly didn’t care for Rachel. Or maybe it was something about Rachel.
Was this possibly some information she could get? Might this provide the ammunition her father could use to gain power in Nevada? Was there some discontent that would allow a rift to be caused?
Hating herself for thinking this way, but missing her sister, and knowing her father planned to kick her out of the pack if she had no relevance, she swallowed her distaste and went back into spy-mode.
Shoot. On the topic of spy mode, where was her bag? Her vial of special potion which would attract the male shifters. She needed to make sure she kept him in thrall.
“Oh… okay.” Rachel backed out, a hurt expression on her face. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
After she’d left, Jared turned back to Darby. “Sorry. I don’t usually have anyone bursting in. I guess she was worried.”
“She seems nice.” Darby planted the seed.
“I suppose.” His shrug was noncommittal.
“You don’t like her?” Darby glanced about. “Where’s my purse?”
He pulled it from under a bunch of pillows in a wing chair in the corner. “She’s…” He paused for so long, she stared at him, wondering what he was trying to say. Or not say. His cerulean eyes narrowed. “Human.” His lip curled, as though in disgust, then he turned his head to study the view outside the window.
Beautiful scenery, a flattop mesa, the mountains in the distance, and yet, a part of Darby crumbled at the sight of his mien before he’d turned away. “So, you don’t care for humans.”
He snapped his head back in her direction, his hair, dark and messy, flying with the motion. “We
ll, you’re a shifter. You know how packs are. Pack conventions. The way our kind feels about humans.”
“Right, of course.” Her mind went back to her father. How he sneered at the fact her mother was human. How he despised her for it.
An alarm went off, causing her to startle.
He fished a phone out of his pocket. “Shit. I almost forgot. I have an errand to run. You can wait here if you prefer. I can take you to your car at Ace of Clubs later. After.”
“After what?” What sort of errand would take him away right now? What errand would he have set an alarm for? Curiosity piqued, she wanted to know more. And not for Peter Moore’s sake. For her own. She found the man interesting. He had depths and levels and secrets she wanted to know more about.
He glanced at her head. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
So, subject jump. “Yeah. I’m fine.” And she did feel okay. She’d take a peek at what was under the bandage when she had some privacy. She didn’t want him eyeballing how much she’d healed—or hadn’t—and drawing any conclusions about her. “Why? Are you thinking of nursing me back to health?” She went for flirty but found herself holding her breath, hoping he didn’t say otherwise.
“I was thinking of taking you with me.”
Ten minutes later, after splashing some water on her face and checking under the bandage, then adding a little dab of Ellie’s potion at her pulse points, Darby was getting into a four-wheeler with Jared.
“Hey, give me your car keys so we can bring your vehicle back. You don’t want it getting towed from Ace’s parking lot, do you?”
A spark of optimism found its way in her. Was it hope she’d get to stay longer so she could help her father? Or was it because she kind of was attracted to him? More than a little. She fished her keys out and handed them to him. “Maroon Toyota Camry. Oregon plates.”
He handed them to one of the guys who worked the stables. “At Ace’s. Thanks, David.”
The lanky cowboy-hat wearing stable hand nodded. “No problem. We’ll drop your truck off at the shop while we’re at it.”
Darby glanced at Jared’s Ford.
Odd, his window was shattered, just as Rachel had said. But her side only had a smear of blood on it. How’d it happen? He had no injuries on him. She had questions.
Here’s hoping he has answers.
Chapter Seven
Jared’s wolf was going crazy in his mind. The howling was relentless. The scent she was emanating was so much stronger than it had been when she’d first awakened. He’d been attracted to her then, too, no doubt, but now it was different. Her bedhead looked like she’d spent the night in the sack, giving rise to all sorts of ideas and body parts on his behalf. He’d wanted her and had deliberated kissing her until Rachel walked in.
Damned humans seem to ruin everything.
It’s not like he could say it out loud. Not with two human females mated to wolf shifters on the ranch. Keith should have said no to letting them live here. Should have kicked Luke and Judd off—
What the hell? No, he couldn’t get behind that. Luke and Judd were good men. They couldn’t control having fallen in love with humans. They should have walked away before they fell in love. It was simple, after all, wasn’t it?
For example, the female he had next to him in the side-by-side. She was wolf. She was perfect.
Too perfect.
Problem was, her scent was creating a fuss. He could see it when he watched the other males at the ranch as they circled. None of them came too close, but their raised pulses, sniffing, and posturing was overwhelming. He’d have to get her out on the range before any of them decided to let nature take its course and try to challenge his wolf.
That was all his brother Keith needed; a bunch of Crooked Arrow males sparring for a chance to hook up with this new sexy wolf shifter female. Truth be told, he’d be better off getting rid of her, sending her away. It would keep his wolf under control.
Except the thought didn’t make his wolf happy one damned bit. The lupine went wild at the thought of pushing her off the ranch and out of their lives. Truth was, Jared wasn’t particularly thrilled with the idea himself. How was he to keep her from creating a fuss among the other males, though?
He snuck a glance at her profile. The way she filled out the dress. The cute, pert nose. Her just barely sun-kissed skin. Not going to be easy parting ways with her. Going to be even harder keeping her from the other wolves on the ranch, at least while she was in season. She clearly had no idea of the effect she was having on him. And them.
She turned toward him, catching him unawares while he’d been studying her. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going? And what’s in the bag?”
“You’ll see. Almost there.”
He’d taken them past the Iron Flats Mesa and was rounding the bend when he encountered the local mustangs. At the head of the herd, the dark chestnut, Rocco, led his mares and offspring, galloping next to the side-by-side.
Darby’s face lit up. “Those are wild horses,” she shouted over the din of their whinnies, nickers, and thundering hooves.
He smiled at her enthusiasm. “Sure are.”
Grabbing the roll bar, she stood up and swiveled so she could better see the horses. Her dress swirled around her body, waving like a flag. “This is incredible! I want to touch one of them.”
“They might bite,” he warned. Rocco wouldn’t, probably, but the mares weren’t as forgiving. And none of them knew her. It would have been different if Luke was around. He seemed to have a calming effect on the animals.
She’d been reaching out but drew her hand back with a sheepish grin. “I’d rather not,” she yelled, then pivoted and sat in her seat, cheeks still flushed from excitement.
Twenty minutes later, he took the side-by-side around a bend, up a gulley, around another bend, and there it was. Crystal-clear water made for a great swimming hole. A waterfall crashed down on the far end. And all of this secluded in an ancient, giant crevasse. He pulled the ATV up short and nosed it onto a flat surface.
“Wow. I’d have never figured there was a place like this out here.” She turned around and around, stunned. “It’s beautiful.”
“It’s called Seeker’s Spot. I don’t know who named it, but…” He shrugged. He felt like he should know the history of the name, seeing as how it was frequented by Crooked Arrow shifters as a place for diversion, for picnics, swimming, and such, but it had been around so long, and he’d taken it for granted.
“What’s in the bag? Picnic?”
“Not exactly. Well, there are a couple of sandwiches and waters for us, but it’s food for a few kits.”
“Kits?” she frowned. “Like shifter kits?”
He shook his head. “Nope. So don’t shift into your wolf because you’ll scare them. The mother fox has a leg injury. She’s got young‘uns, so I bring them a little bit of sustenance until she’s better. Her mate was killed. I’m guessing at the same time she was injured. I found his body.” He pointed toward the other end of the crevasse. “That’s when I found her. She went nuts trying to protect his body and her kits. I buried him and gave them some food. Been feeding them ever since.”
“You bring them food every day?”
“I do. Many times, I shift into my wolf and hunt for them. I was going to suggest we do so, but—” He shrugged. He hadn’t been sure if she’d have been open to it or not.
She adjusted her weight from one foot to another, appearing uncomfortable, making him wonder why she was uneasy and then making him glad he hadn’t. He wondered why a woman who was eager to get naked with him would have shown reticence about shifting into her wolf.
“Anyway,” he pulled a package of steaks and a ten-pound log of ground beef from the bag. “This is the best I can do.”
“Oh, I doubt she’s going to complain,” Darby said, her discomfort seemingly gone. “Where’s the den?”
“See that over there? A dark spot?” When she nodded, he affirmed. “It’s the opening. I don
’t exactly go in there, you know.” He chuckled. “I don’t think she’d take kindly to it. Not to mention, there’s no way in hell I could squeeze in such a tight spot.”
She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Let’s feed them already.” She took her heels off. “I’m sure it will be easier going without these.”
“True.” He hadn’t even thought of it. “Hop on my back. I’ll give you a ride up there. Those stones can be sharp.”
This would be a true test of his ability to control the flames she stirred up in him, his wolf, and his pants.
Chapter Eight
Darby jumped from the boulder onto Jared’s back, wrapped her legs around his waist, and grabbed on to his shoulders. All muscle. He looped his arms around her legs then grabbed the bag. Less than 24 hours ago, she had no plan for how she’d get to know Jared Dorsett better other than going to the bar he occasioned.
She squinted against the bright sun, holding on to him while he clambered over stones and boulders and rough terrain to get them to the crevice which held the fox and her kits. A fox she’d not seen as of yet. And she didn’t have quite enough ammunition to take to her father, other than there were a couple of humans on the ranch. Would that be enough for Peter Moore? At the same time, she wondered if she could actually do it. Betray Jared Dorsett. Could she?
“Here we go.” He eased her off his back to a flat boulder and opened the bag. “Here, Vix,” he said softly, dropping to one knee.
“Vix?” Darby whispered, also squatting, right behind him.
“Short for Vixen,” he said, his voice low, a smile in the tone. “Not one of my most creative days.”
A raspy set of barks, yaps, and yips came from the crevice. She peeked around him, anxious to see the source of the noise. A small gray fox with a reddish-brown chest limped out from the crevice. Four little fox kits followed her out. She stepped toward Jared, but when her alert black eyes landed on Darby, she froze. The kits did the same, stock-still, gazes darting.
“I’ve never brought anyone else out,” Jared said softly. “It’s not like she lets me touch her, but she comes pretty close,” he murmured, his voice soothing. “Come on, Vix. Meet the pretty lady.”
