by Tamsin Ley
To Black’s surprise, the shifters dipped their heads in respect. He had to admit, the commanding force radiating off Renee at the moment rivaled that of his grandmother. Grandma. Lori had killed her. His veins felt sluggish with ice, reliving the loss.
One of the bachelors spoke up. “Banishment is customary.”
“Banishment?” Renee drew up straighter and crossed her arms. “So she can find another herd to terrorize? I don’t think so.”
Black wanted to string Lori from the nearest tree, but that punishment would be better than she deserved. She’d murdered two people. Terrorized the herd. And tried to kill his life mate. He wanted a punishment that would make her suffer. He glanced at her shattered leg and realized she’d already done that to herself. “Her days of running with a herd are over.”
Lori’s face paled to a chalky white. She stared at her leg as if only now realizing the break was real.
“Because of her leg?” asked Renee. “Can’t she just have surgery?”
“She could.” Black knelt next to Lori, his vet instincts breaking through his anger. The break looked even worse up close. “But the bolts and other hardware used to fix it would detach the first time she tried to shift. She’d be worse off than she is now. And without surgery, she’ll be crippled for life. In both forms.” Black kept his gaze on Lori, trying to find satisfaction at the thought of her crippled. It wasn’t enough, but it would have to do.
Renee’s eyes brimmed with tears, but the hard lines on her face told him she was angry, not feeling empathy. “I don’t know if that’s enough. But this isn’t only about me.” She spoke with that same note of authority she’d used when she’d asked about punishment earlier. She looked at the people around her, making Black take notice of them, too. Bachelors. Elders. Mothers. Teens. His herd. She said, “You lost someone, too. And it sounds like there’s still a choice to be made. Does she have surgery or not? How does the herd vote?”
“Wait!” Lori begged the watching shifters. “My plan could still work. There’s no one here but us. Just say the word—”
A bachelor walked past Lori without sparing her a glance and placed a hand gently on Renee’s shoulder. Then he turned to face the watching shifters. A gray-haired elder stepped closer and took Renee’s hand. Slowly, the entire herd moved to surround Renee and Black in the kind of acceptance only a herd could give.
Pride blossomed in Black’s chest. They were affirming his life-mate. Not even Old Man Toliman had received this kind of acceptance. He’d been respected, and the herd loved him, but he’d always been an outsider. A benefactor, not a peer. Renee had just become both.
An elder woman raised her voice. “She doesn’t deserve an equine form. I say surgery.”
“Take her to the human hospital.”
“Put in pins.”
“You can’t!” Lori screamed as two bachelors stepped forward, grabbing her by the arms. “They won’t operate without my consent!”
One of the men shook his head. “Not if you arrive unconscious.”
Her face creased into ugly lines. “I’m your lead mare! I was only looking out for you!”
The men dragged a screaming Lori from the pasture. They’d handle her from here, and Black was relieved to be free of the duty. Most of the shifters followed in human form. Others shimmered to horse form and departed toward the pasture.
Black only had eyes for Renee. He rubbed a hand over his hair, missing the comfortable weight of his cowboy hat. “How’s your leg? I can carry you home if you don’t mind riding bareback.”
She looked at him through her lashes. “Mmm. Riding a cowboy bareback. I like it.”
He chuckled, pleased to see his flirty little filly back. Kneeling next to her, he helped steady her as she lifted her injured leg over his flanks. Once she was settled in place, he rose. Her warmth settled against his spine, and her legs wrapped his withers with a comforting pressure he’d never expected to feel with a rider. Shifters talked about how humiliating it was to carry a human, how uncomfortable and heavy. But he rather liked how close it drew Renee against him. She wrapped her arms around his chest and settled her cheek against his shoulder with a sigh, her breath wafting across his bare skin.
He eased into a level trot, heading toward the ranch. Her knees tightened around him, ignoring the pain from the bite. “I want to feel the wind. Will you run for me?”
His blood thrilled at the words. “Are you sure?”
Her cheek nodded yes against his back. “I love you like this.”
He bunched his hind quarters and took off at a canter. Renee clung tightly to him, her body moving with his, melding against his, in an act as intimate as sex.
They passed Lori, who spat obscenities at them, but Black kept going. Renee cried, “Faster!”
“Don’t let go!” He yelled back.
“Never!”
He veered left, skirting the fence, and kicked it up to a gallop. Her thighs pressed his flanks, her breath hot on his shoulder. He’d never felt so free. So alive. He let out a whoop of joy, echoed by her laughter behind him. Taking a wide arc, he headed back to the house at a trot. If he never had anything else in this world, he had this moment, this inkling of belonging to someone, and he’d nurture the feeling the rest of his life.
PILOGUE
Renee played her fingers across Black’s chest, traced her lips over the line of his shoulder as he trotted over the darkened pasture. Crickets sang their nightly serenade from among the rocks where they’d first made love. She delighted in his sweet hay scent and this land.
Her land. Her ranch. The idea was still so new, she sometimes woke thinking she must’ve dreamed the whole thing. She’d been here over a week, overseeing everything from daily stall-mucking to a secret shifter meeting beneath a midnight moon. So much of her dad’s misconceptions about her grandfather made sense now. Maybe she should reach out to him now that she was settling down…
Black reached back and brushed a hand up her leg. “You okay?”
He somehow knew what she was thinking and feeling almost as soon as she did these days. She didn’t understand how he could know her so well in such a short time, but she knew she was happy here with him. Whole.
“I’m good,” she said, rubbing her cheek against his back. Whatever was going on inside her, she hadn’t figured out how to talk about it yet.
He seemed to know that, too, and continued on, his hooves thudding softly against the earth, steady as a heartbeat. Renee realized that what had been dancing around in her mind had nothing to do with her father, her mother, or even her grandfather. What she needed to talk about was right here on the ranch. Right here in her arms. Life-mate. They hadn’t talked about it since he first told the herd. As though he knew it scared her more than any thrill-seeking she’d done with Steph.
But now she was ready to jump.
Taking a breath, she tightened her arms around Black’s ribcage. “Will you marry me? For real?”
Another corny line, she realized, too late to take it back.
Black stopped and craned his neck to look at her, his lips crooked in a sideways smile. “You’re not just playing me, are you?”
She grinned impishly. He really did understand her. “I’ve never been very good at pick up lines, so I figured I’d cut to the chase. Besides, you did call me your life-mate, right?”
His face turned solemn. With one deft move, he lifted her from his back and set her gently to the ground before shimmering back to human form. “You are my life-mate, Renee. I love you. I have nothing to offer you but myself and a promise of undying adoration and protection. But if you’ll be my bride, I pledge myself to you freely and fully, until death steals my last breath.”
Renee took a step closer. “I don’t know how you did it, but you changed me.” She swallowed. “I love you, Black.”
He looked down into her eyes. “You changed me, too.”
Sliding one hand around her neck, he cupped her head and drew her into a kiss. She linked her hands
around his waist and pressed her heartbeat next to his. She’d finally found the one thrill she was willing to die for. And the only one she wanted to repeat every day for the rest of her life.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tamsin Ley builds worlds full of sexy heroes who don’t know they need a mate - that is, until they meet the woman they can’t resist. The romance is sizzling hot, a surprise twist waits around every corner, and the stories will never leave you hanging (although you may still crave more!)
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Wine-lover, beer-brewer, foodie, serious gardener, and secret zombie prepper, Tamsin lives in Alaska with her husband of twenty something years. In the long days of summer you can find her in the great outdoors, but when the long winter nights set in, she'll be at the keyboard creating imaginary worlds.
