Elder Wolf (Wilde Brothers Ranch Book 1; Tate Rock Shifters)

by Scarlett Grove

  She quietly nursed her wine, trying not to think about Austin and the enchanted days they had spent together or compare them to the life that she was living now. She had finished her first glass of wine when her date finally arrived. He sidled up next to her and gave her a thousand-kilowatt grin with excessively whitened teeth. His shirt was unbuttoned by one too many buttons, and his gold watch matched the thick gold chain that hung over his hairy chest. He ran his hand through his gelled hair and then reached out to shake hers. She tried not to cringe as she took his hand, only gripping with the tips of her fingers.

  “Cheyenne, I presume?”

  “Felix.”

  He had seemed handsome and interesting on the Internet. But now that she was meeting him in person, he seemed like one of those same overblown, preening, self-involved bachelors who would rather be dating a twenty-two-year-old if they could. She wondered how she had won the lottery for his attention.

  “What are you drinking?” he asked.

  “Red wine.”

  He ordered two more drinks from the bartender, and she took a sip from her second glass.

  “Sorry I was late. I was hung up with my business.”

  “Your profile said you’re an entrepreneur?”

  Cheyenne knew that “entrepreneur,” for many of these guys, meant that they were part of some multilevel marketing conglomerate and lived in their mothers’ basements. She was definitely getting that kind of vibe from this guy.

  “Yes,” he said, flashing her that grin again. “I sell nutritional supplements.”

  “Right.” Of course he did.

  He proceeded to look her up and down and then smacked his lips as if approving of what he saw. Cheyenne was not on the same page. While his suit looked expensive, he did not have a workout routine to match. He’d probably bought the suit when he was in better shape. It didn’t fit at all well.

  He had the distinct bulbous red nose of an alcoholic and the lecherous glances of the kind of man who was addicted to porn. Cheyenne was just about ready to get up and leave when he started talking about himself and his supplement business as if he was Elon Musk. He did not ask a single question and seemed to expect her to be impressed. Not that her life was particularly impressive. But she wasn’t going to try to make it sound like it was.

  She drank the rest of her second glass of wine. At least this one had been free. She was about to order a third—might as well get a buzz before she got her email from her boss at nine o’clock at night asking her to edit the project. At least if she was three sheets to the wind on a Friday night, adjusting budgeting reports would be more entertaining.

  “So, you want to come back to my place?”

  “No,” Cheyenne said, sipping her wine. She was feeling a nice buzz and couldn’t help snorting and laughing at his request.

  His face fell in horror at her rudeness.

  “What makes you so special?” he asked. “I could have any woman in this place. You think you’re so great. But you’re still single at forty. Women your age have hit a wall. You’re never going to find a man who’s as good a catch as I am. But you’re going to be an uppity bitch and not go home with me?”

  “Yep,” she said. “That’s me, an uppity bitch. And don’t you forget it.”

  “Enjoy your cats,” he growled and stormed away, leaving her in peace to finish her wine.

  She checked her emails for one from Mr. Strong and was surprised that he hadn’t sent her anything yet. She did find an email from her friend Carly, telling her about the terrible date she’d just been on. Carly was a divorced mother of two, and they had graduated from high school together.

  “I can’t believe how rude these men are. You’d think their dicks were dipped in gold.”

  Cheyenne snorted and hit the reply button.

  “I just experienced the same thing. Total sleaze thinks he’s God’s gift to women. Called me an uppity bitch. I just agreed with him.”

  Carly sent back several emojis—and something that surprised Cheyenne.

  “I’m joining Mate.com,” she said. “I hear shifter men make wonderful husbands.”

  “You can’t be serious. Not with all this hyena terrorism going around.”

  “Shifters have done wonderful things for this country. Not all of them are hyenas. In fact, hyenas are a tiny fraction of the shifter community. Besides, didn’t you tell me that your first love was a shifter?”

  Cheyenne leaned against the bar and ran her fingers through her hair. Had she really taken on the prejudices of her family because of what had happened to her mother? Her memories of her time with Austin were some of the best of her life. She missed him almost every day. And every time she went out with another one of these creeps, she couldn’t help but wonder if he was out there somewhere, living a happy life with his mate.

  “Maybe you should join Mate.com too.”

  “I couldn’t. My family would kill me.”

  “Cheyenne, you’re a forty-year-old woman. You can’t still care about what your brothers think.”

  “You’re right,” she said, taking another sip of her wine.

  Cheyenne was feeling daring and, if she admitted it to herself, just a bit desperate. She’d had it up to her ears in condescension, being overlooked, and having other people tell her what to do. She gritted her teeth and laughed maniacally to herself as she clicked over to Mate.com. She was going to do it. She was going to join a shifter dating website, and nobody could stop her.

  She gleefully filled out the questionnaire. She knew there was no way she could be matched with Austin since he was already mated. But maybe she could find someone just as good. Someone who could make her feel those same feelings.

  She finished her profile, and her matches started to load. A 100-percent match was a fated mate. She bit her lip as she scrolled down the screen. Seventy-nine percent, 82 percent, 96 percent—they were all attractive and masculine with just that hint of sweetness that could make you feel really loved. But when she got to the bottom of the screen and found a 100-percent match, Cheyenne nearly fell off the barstool. After twenty-five years of running and avoiding and not daring to think that maybe he was still out there somewhere, Cheyenne Bailey had been matched with her first love, Austin Wilde.

  Chapter 3

  Austin blinked many times, trying to comprehend what had happened. Cheyenne Bailey was dead. But right there in front of him was a woman named Cheyenne. The same red hair, the same freckled cheeks. She was older and, to Austin, even more beautiful. But it was definitely the same woman.

  He’d known that face since he was five years old, and he would know her anywhere, anytime. But how could this be? How could Cheyenne Bailey still be alive? A tear slid down his face, and he wiped it away with a trembling hand.

  Was someone playing a sick joke on him? The love of his life. The woman he mourned with his sixteen-year-old broken heart, the woman he had missed and longed for every day of his life. She was there. She was alive. How could it be possible?

  Austin’s entire reality seemed to crumble and fragment. It was as if he was looking into an alternate dimension from one of the science fiction novels he used to read as a kid and trade back and forth with Cheyenne. He stood up from the computer, left the room, pulled a bottle of whiskey from the kitchen, and poured himself a large shot. He threw it back in one gulp and gritted his teeth.

  “How is this possible?” he said aloud. “How is this possible?” The volume of his voice increased.

  The front screen door screeched open, and he turned to look through the kitchen. His youngest brother, Gunner, stomped off his boots and stepped into the house. Austin poured himself another shot of whiskey and threw it back. Gunner saw him and approached with a grin on his face.

  “What’s gotten into you, big bro? Haven’t seen you throwing back a drink since Dad died.”

  “I’ve had a shock,” Austin said. His heart was still thwacking in his chest.

  “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

 
“I have.”

  “Huh?”

  “Cal and Cash finally convinced me to join Mate.com.”

  Gunner slapped Austin on the back. “Good job, big bro. It’s about time you decided to put yourself out there to find a lady. You aren’t getting any younger.”

  Austin grumbled at his youngest brother. Gunner was nearly twenty years his junior.

  “So, who is she?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What do you mean, you don’t know?”

  Gunner opened the refrigerator and pulled out a glass bottle of raw milk, poured himself a glass, and started to chug. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and let out a satisfied sigh.

  “I think somebody’s messing with me,” Austin said.

  Gunner snorted. “For the last time, Austin, the Internet isn’t spying on you.”

  “You don’t know that,” Austin snapped. Then he took a deep breath and let it out. “This isn’t about that.”

  “What is it?” Gunner’s tone changed as he took in his brother’s state.

  “You know that girl I told you about?”

  “The human that you have been pining over for the last twenty-five years?”

  “Yes.”

  “What about her? I thought she passed away when you were sixteen. A car accident right after her mom was killed in an airport bombing. Tough luck. That must’ve really been hard on her family.”

  “It was. That’s when they all moved away.”

  “What does this have to do with your Mate.com match?”

  “It’s her!” Austin said, almost yelling.

  Gunner took a step back, grinning, and then his face turned confused. “Wait. What? Maybe the Internet is spying on you,” he said and took another swig of milk.

  “This isn’t funny, Gunner. It can’t possibly be her. Someone is purposely trying to hurt me. Do you think it’s the McCoys? Do you think they put up a fake profile for Cheyenne Bailey? They found some woman that looks exactly like her except forty years old?”

  “The McCoys suck, but I don’t think they would go to that much trouble to bother you online. Besides, they aren’t that smart.”

  “What else could it be? Her family told me she was dead.”

  “Unless she’s not?” Gunner said.

  Austin ran his fingers through his hair and stormed out of the kitchen. This could not be happening. It was just too strange. He’d lived his whole life believing that his true love was dead. She couldn’t be alive.

  That would mean that her brothers and father had all lied to him and had taken her away. It was too heartbreaking and horrible to even imagine. Had she been in on it? Had she wanted to get away from him? Had she been okay with her family telling him she was dead? All these thoughts swirled through his mind.

  He stormed up the stairs, having no idea what he was doing. He needed to blow off some steam. Then his cellphone pinged in his back pocket.

  “Austin? Is that really you?” The message had come from Cheyenne through Mate.com.

  “I’m Austin Wilde. Who are you?” he typed out.

  He felt like an idiot. He knew very well who it was. But he just couldn’t believe it.

  “Don’t you remember me?”

  “Of course I remember Cheyenne Bailey. But your family told me you were dead.”

  There was a long pause. Austin stood halfway up the stairs, staring at his phone, his hands trembling. He squeezed his eyes shut and took several long, deep breaths, trying to calm down.

  “I had no idea they told you that. They told me that you took the side of the hyenas and never wanted to see me again. They told me that if I ever tried to reach out to you, I was betraying my mother’s memory. I was so heartbroken I didn’t know what to do. But then they told me that a few years later, you found your fated mate and got married. I never tried to find you after that. I wish I had.”

  Austin sat down on the stairs and rested his head in his hands. His head was throbbing, and his heart was pounding. Sweat trickled down his arms. He couldn’t believe what was happening. It just didn’t feel real.

  “It’s not your fault,” he said. “We were both lied to.”

  “I knew that they hated shifters. But I had no idea they would lie to me like this.”

  “What about you? Do you hate shifters? Do you hate me?”

  “Of course not. You were my best friend. You are my first love.”

  “I want to see you.”

  He couldn’t help it. He’d missed her all his life. There wasn’t a week that went by that he didn’t think about her or think about what could have been. Now she was alive and his fated mate. Tears began to stream from his eyes, and he covered his mouth.

  Austin was not a man who showed emotion so readily. He’d grown up tough. He’d worked hard since he was eight years old. He wasn’t some pampered metrosexual. But finding Cheyenne alive cut him to the quick. He wept on the stairs, staring at the phone. Gunner walked by and snickered. Austin glared at his brother and growled. He flashed his sharp teeth and the dominance in his eyes. Austin might be forty years old, but he could take his brother in about three seconds flat.

  Gunner scuttled off to the kitchen, and the smell of steak wafted up the stairs. Gunner must’ve started dinner. Austin took a deep breath and let it out as he stood and climbed the rest of the way up the stairs.

  “I’d like that,” she replied.

  “When can we meet?”

  He was ready to go to the ends of the earth to find her, but then he realized it was calving season, one of the most important, busiest times of the year on the ranch. He couldn’t just leave.

  He swore and smacked the wall with the side of his fist and then rested his head against his hand, squeezing his eyes closed. He didn’t have the experience for this. He hadn’t dated in years. He had no idea how to convince the woman he’d loved since he was six but that he’d thought was dead to come out to the ranch during calving season. He was just not equipped for the situation.

  “I have vacation days at work. I could come visit you. I imagine you’re busy at the ranch.”

  He let out a sigh of relief and walked into his bedroom, sitting on the bed.

  “I’d love that,” he said.

  “I’ll have to give a few days’ notice. I’ve been working tons of overtime and haven’t taken a vacation in years. I just finished a big project, so there will be a lull at work right now. It’s probably a good time to get away.”

  “So, you could be here as soon as a couple of days from now?” he asked, getting excited.

  “Yes. Possibly.”

  “Will you let me help you pay for the trip?”

  “Money isn’t really a problem. But I’ll let you take me out to dinner,” she said with a winking emoji.

  Chapter 4

  Getting vacation time was not as easy as Cheyenne had hoped it would be. She didn’t know why she’d expected it to be a breeze. Maybe it was the utter shock of being matched with Austin after all these years. When they were kids, he’d hinted at the possibility that they belonged together. But it was known that shifters couldn’t fully sense their fated mates until they were adults. Even though both of them had felt so connected and attached to each other back then, there had still always been a question of whether they really belonged together.

  Once Cheyenne got the vacation days she needed, she quickly made arrangements to stay at Fate Rock Lodge for a full two weeks. She pulled her suitcase out of her closet and began to pack her clothes, considering the trip. She had plenty of money in savings, since she’d always been frugal and hadn’t had a vacation in years. She’d never had anyone worthwhile to go anywhere with.

  But now, for the first time in twenty-five years, Cheyenne Bailey had hope in her heart. She had hope for love and hope for the family she’d wanted for so long. She could not believe that Austin was single and matched as her fated mate.

  Her brothers had been lying to her all these years. They were all married with their own children, while she
was still alone. Part of her wanted to confront them for what they’d done, to scream at them and ask them why they had lied to her. But she knew that it was a waste of time. Besides, she didn’t want to draw attention to the fact that she was going to see Austin—a shifter.

  Even after all these years, her brothers still held resentment for all shifters—not just Austin but each and every one of them. It wasn’t that Cheyenne loved her mother any less than her brothers did. In fact, it was she who carried on her mother’s memory and visited her mother’s grave every year at the anniversary of her death. But she didn’t see the sense in living with hatred in her heart, especially when that hatred was for someone she’d loved so dearly.

  Cheyenne finished packing her clothes and then went to the bathroom to pack her toiletries. She looked at herself in the mirror. She was so much older than the girl she’d been the last time she’d seen Austin. After the last date she’d been on, like so many others, she wondered if anyone could ever love her as she was now. She was well past the prime years for motherhood. And she didn’t know if she even could carry a child anymore. How would Austin feel about that, she wondered? It was different for men. They always seemed to want young girls. And they could continue to have children later in life. She ran her hands over her cheeks and the lines around her eyes.

  “You need to stop thinking like that,” she said to herself. “This is Austin Wilde. The love of my life. If he can’t accept me as I am, then no one ever will.”

  She was trying to cheer herself up and convince herself that everything was going to be all right. But instead, she felt worse. She was past her last chance. The years she’d lost would never come back. She shook her head; she was being an idiot. No matter what happened with Austin, she had to stay strong. Maybe it was time for her to quit her job and finally start that artisanal jam business her friends had been telling her she should start for years now.

  It was one of those things that her mother had taught her. Making jam had always made her feel close to her mom, even after all these years. But Cheyenne had never had the guts to pull the trigger. She’d been waiting for something to happen at work, to finally find a man to live her life with. But it had never happened. Austin was her last chance at romance. Her last chance to find that life. If he disappointed her, if he couldn’t see in her what he’d seen when they were children, then screw it. It was time for her to make a change for herself.