A Total-E-Bound Publication
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Luke’s Surprise
ISBN # 978-0-85715-528-3
©Copyright Lavinia Lewis 2011
Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright April 2011
Edited by Stacey Birkel
Total-E-Bound Publishing
This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-E-Bound Publishing.
Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-E-Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.
The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.
Published in 2011 by Total-E-Bound Publishing, Think Tank, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL, United Kingdom.
Warning: This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has been rated Total-e-burning.
Shifters’ Haven
LUKE’S SURPRISE
Lavinia Lewis
Dedication
Dad, thanks for everything you’ve done for me over the years. I’ll try to show you every day how much I appreciate you. Mam, thank you for all your love and support. You were truly a special person. I miss you. Louise, you were there for me when I needed you most. I can’t thank you enough.
Trademarks Acknowledgement
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmark mentioned in this work of fiction:
Stetson: John B. Stetson Company
Jack Daniels: Jack Daniel Distillery, Lem Motlow Prop, Inc.
Chapter One
“Luke! Get your butt in here and help me carry these damn boxes!”
Luke put down the book he was reading and rolled his eyes at his brother’s hollerin’. He’d been happy to move home after finishing his senior year in college, but his elder brother Kelan had taken to ridin’ his ass on a daily basis about anything and everything.
As much as he loved the ranch, he was beginning to wonder if he’d be better off finding himself a place in Houston. Sure he couldn’t live for free then like he was now, but the few hundred bucks a month seemed like a small price to pay for his sanity.
“Luke!”
“I’m coming!” Luke shouted back. “Jeez, can’t a man have five minutes peace in this place?”
Luke stormed into the kitchen and glared at his brother. Kelan was piling boxes near the door that looked damn near as heavy as he was. Kelan was shirtless, his muscles rippling as he worked and he was sweating up a storm.
At five foot seven and a hundred and forty pounds, Luke was not a large man especially when stood next to Kelan who came up at six foot four. Luke often wondered if they were from the same stock. But looks could be deceiving. Luke’s wolf genes meant he was stronger than most men his size. Strength aside, he looked at the boxes and groaned.
Kelan raised an eyebrow and his mouth curled up into a smirk.
“What? Too heavy for you, or you afraid you might break a nail?”
“I might be small but I could still take you.” Luke sniffed.
Kelan let out a low, booming roar of laughter.
“I’d like to see the day, little brother. In fact, I’d probably welcome it. Looking out for an entire pack is not all it’s cracked up to be, ya know. Some days I’d gladly hand over the responsibility.”
Luke was surprised by his brother’s response. He knew Kelan loved being alpha of their pack. He’d been born for it. Maybe something had happened that Luke wasn’t aware of. That would sure explain why Kelan had been so riled up lately.
“Is everything alright with the pack?” he inquired.
Kelan looked thoughtful for a moment. He opened his mouth to say something then shook his head and picked up a box.
“Nah, it’s nothing I can’t handle. Now get over here and grab a box, will ya? I need them loaded in the truck.”
Luke didn’t push. If Kelan wanted to tell him, he’d do so in his own time. His brother could be as stubborn as a mule when he wanted to be. Luke crossed the room and lifted the first box. Yep, they were as heavy as they looked. He grunted and made for the kitchen door.
“What the hell is in these things anyway? Lead?”
“Tools I found in the barn. Used to belong to pop. Figured they were no use to us, so I’m giving them to old man Walker. He just bought another hundred acres and took on two new hands so I reckon he could put ‘em to good use.”
Luke hid his grin from Kelan as he lugged the box outside. As obstinate as his brother could be, he had a good heart. He was always looking out for members of the pack. It was one of the things that made him such a good alpha.
When they had finished loading the boxes, Kelan went into the house to get cleaned up and grab his shirt. Luke followed him inside. After a quick shower, he caught up with his brother in the kitchen.
“You want me to come with you to Joe’s? I can help unload the other end.”
Kelan grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and took a long gulp before turning to Luke and offering up a mischievous grin.
“You were going to do that anyway. Nice of you to offer though,” Kelan chuckled.
“No problem. Anything I can do to help, bro.”
Kelan narrowed eyes at his brother’s response. Before he could do anything to prevent it, Luke stole the bottle of water out of his hand and drank it down, finishing it quickly. He handed the empty bottle back to Kelan with a snicker.
“You may be bigger than me, but you’re as slow as molasses in January.”
“That a fact?”
“Yep. I’d say you’re…oof!”
Before Luke could finish the sentence, Kelan had tackled him to the floor and had him flat on his back, arms pinned above his head. He straddled Luke’s stomach and grinned down at him with a devilish glint in his eye.
“Care to say that again?”
“Sure, you’re as slow as…aaarrggh!”
Luke screamed when Kelan began tickling him relentlessly.
“Okay, okay I give.” he panted.
“No sir, that ain’t good enough. What am I now?”
“You’re the biggest, strongest, fastest, brother in the world. Okay?”
“Now see, that there’s more like it.”
Kelan got off his brother’s chest and stood, reaching a hand down to help Luke up.
“But you forgot best looking.”
“Nu-uh,” Luke argued as they made their way to the truck. “I’ll give you biggest, strongest, and I’ll even stretch to fastest, but best looking? Please. We both know I’m the prettiest in this family.”
“Prettiest?” Kelan sputtered. “Okay you got me there bro. That’s a title you can keep. I’d take most ruggedly handsome though. And stud.”
Luke snorted. “Stud? Give me a break. When was the last time you went on a date with anyone? You actually need to be getting some to describe yourself as a stud, brother dearest.”
“And how do you know I’m not? I do just fine, thank you very much. I don’t see you bringing any girls around here anyhow. You afraid they’ll take one look at me, realise they’re with the wrong brother and dump your skinny ass?”
“In your dreams, bro.” Luke retorted. “And
I’m not skinny, I’m athletic.”
They were still arguing over their merits when they arrived at Joe Walker’s ranch. Kelan knocked on the door and they stood on the porch, waiting for an answer. A couple of minutes later, a flustered, red faced, old woman appeared at the door, squinting at them before ushering them inside.
“Boys!” she cooed, smoothing a hand over her white as snow hair. “It’s been an age. You called at just about the right time I’d say. I’m fixin’ supper. Come on in.”
“Howdy ma’am,” Kelan said, tipping his hat and walking into the house.
“Mrs. Walker,” Luke said, following his brother.
“Now, I’ll have none of that Mrs. Walker business. It’s Alice to you boys.”
“Don’t go to any trouble on our account, ma’am,” Kelan said.
“Nonsense. I bet you boys haven’t had a decent meal since your ma has gone, God rest her soul.”
Luke didn’t have the heart to tell Mrs. Walker he was an excellent cook and there was a pot roast waiting for him and Kelan when they got back.
“Ma! Have you seen my new… oh, sorry, didn’t realise we had company.”
Mrs. Walker’s son, Ethan, strode into the living room. He was a tall man, almost the height of Kelan, with broad shoulders, every inch of him solid muscle. He stepped up to Luke and Kelan and reached out his hand.
“Luke, good to see you again. I didn’t realise you were home from college,” he said, grinning at Luke in an almost predatory manner. Luke shivered but reached out and shook Ethan’s hand. Before he released it, Ethan stroked his fingers over Luke’s palm.
“Just got back,” Luke explained, feeling his face fill with heat.
“Kelan, good to see you. What brings you boys to our neck of the woods?”
“We just called by to see Joe,” Kelan said, giving Ethan’s hand a firm shake. “I’ve got some old tools I thought he could use.”
“Oh, that’s mighty nice of you, Kelan.” Mrs. Walker said. “You just missed Joe. He’s taken his new foreman to the bunkhouse to introduce him to the hands.”
“New foreman?”Kelan asked in surprise. “What happened to Pete? He quit?”
The old woman scrunched her nose up in distaste.
“Seems Pete was having relations with one of the hands, so Joe let them both go. We run a clean, respectable, family business here, couldn’t have any of that carrying on, now could we? What would the neighbours think?”
“Good riddance too,” Ethan added, shuffling from one foot to the other, refusing to meet either Kelan’s or Luke’s eyes.
Luke stared at Mrs. Walker and her son open mouthed. He turned to Kelan just in time to catch the frown on his brother’s face, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared.
“If you’ll both excuse me,” Luke said, “I need some air.”
Luke turned on his heel and left the house without waiting for a reply. He stomped to the truck and got in, slamming the door behind him. He groaned and gripped the steering wheel when he felt his eyes shift to their wolf form. Damn. When he had been younger and less in control of his emotions, that would happen a lot. But now he had to be pretty damn angry for shifting to happen without any warning and without him being able to stop it.
Luke closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. He hated bigotry in any shape or form. He wasn’t attracted to men himself, but his elder brother Cody was gay and Luke didn’t think any less of his brother because of it. If anything, Luke loved Cody more because of who he was.
When Cody had come out at seventeen, everyone—including their parents—had given him a pretty hard time. But Cody had taken the abuse and criticism with dignity. He had risen above the closed-mindedness and never pretended to be something he wasn’t. Luke respected his brother for that. He was proud of him. So there was no way Luke was going to stand there and listen to another thing Mrs. Walker had to say on the matter. And he knew for certain that Ethan was gay—the man had come on to him more times than he cared to remember.
Luke was used to men coming on to him. Looking the way he did, most men assumed he was gay when they met him right off the bat. It used to bother him when he was younger but now he couldn’t care less. Luke concentrated on his breathing and slowly he felt his eyes return to normal.
A few minutes later, Kelan came out of the house and walked straight to the truck. He got in and held his hand out to placate Luke before he even had a chance to open his mouth.
“Now, I know what you’re going to say, Luke, but we live in the goddamn Bible Belt. What do you honestly expect? You can’t stop people around here from speaking their minds and you can’t change them either.”
“So you just go along with it? Is that what you think we should do?”
“What else can we do? Just because I don’t go around raising a ruckus whenever someone says something I don’t like, doesn’t mean I agree with them, okay?”
Luke slumped his shoulders in defeat.
“I just feel like such a traitor to Cody, ya know? I feel like we should have defended him in there. Even though he had nothing to do with the discussion, he also had everything to do with it.”
“Cody knows how we feel about him, Luke,” Kelan said, patting Luke on the arm.
“Does he though? Really? Because you know what, Kelan? I don’t think Cody has the first clue what we think of him. How would he? When we were kids and dad was ripping him a new one every chance he got, where were we? What did we do to help him?”
“You were twelve, Luke. What could you have done? Me, on the other hand…” Kelan shifted in his seat, looking uncomfortable.
“Look, I’m sorry,” Luke said, dipping his head in shame. “I didn’t mean to insinuate anything. You were only twenty yourself and dad was a pretty scary man to stand up to. It just makes me so angry when I hear shit like that, ya know?”
“Yeah I know, bro, me too. Say, you think Cody’s happy in New York?”
“I don’t rightly know. When I went to see him last year, he said he was happy enough. Got himself a good life there by all accounts.”
“I don’t know,” Kelan said, shaking his head. “He always says he’s happy, but I get the feeling he’s lonely.”
“Yeah, I imagine he is. Can’t be too many wolves living in New York. I hate the damn place myself, never saw the attraction. Too many people and not enough space.”
“True enough. Come on, let’s get rid of these tools and get the hell out of here.”
“What? You’re still gonna give the tools to Joe?”
“Yes, Luke, I am. I’m helping out a pack member. His beliefs don’t come into this, okay? Now, I don’t want you starting anything when we see Joe, you hear?”
“Okay, fine. Let’s get this over with,” Luke huffed.
Luke and Kelan left the truck where it was and walked around to the bunkhouse. Several men were stood outside in the yard, talking with one another. Luke recognised one of the men as Joe. The other three had their backs to him but he didn’t think he knew them. At a guess, he’d say they were all wolves.
Most pack members had wolves working for them, it made life easier when you didn’t have to keep secrets from the people you spent the biggest part of the day with. As they got closer, Luke used his wolf senses to find out.
The scent of the men confirmed Luke’s suspicions but what he could also smell in the air around him was an aroma so rich and enticing it made his cock rock hard within seconds. His face heated from embarrassment when felt his balls draw up close to his body. What the fuck?
The scent was the most incredible thing he had ever encountered. It was rich and tangy, earthy even. Luke had no personal experience with these matters but from what he’d learned from other wolves, the smell could be coming from only one source. He’d never caught the scent before but somehow it felt as familiar to him as breathing. It was like coming home.
Luke thought he had been in no rush to find this but now that the scent was imprinted on him and burned into his memory, he
realised he had been waiting his entire life to find it. The smell could only be coming from his mate.
Excited beyond words, Luke looked around him to see where she was. The doorway to the bunkhouse was open but he couldn’t see any women inside. Luke looked across the yard to the stables but he couldn’t see anyone around that area either. His senses, however, were telling him she was close.
Luke looked around some more in confusion. Damn it, where was she? He could hardly wait to see what she looked like. As they got closer to the men, Luke grabbed hold of his brother’s arm.
“Kelan, wait.”
Kelan looked over at Luke’s anxious expression and frowned.
“Luke, we’ve already had this discussion. I’m giving the tools to Joe—now I’m ordering you as your alpha to not give me any shit over this.”
“No it’s not that, it’s… oh God.”
The scent grew stronger, invading Luke’s senses like nothing ever had. His cock was so hard now, it was becoming painful. He shuffled from side to side trying to relieve some of the pressure.
“Luke, what the hell is wrong with you?”
“My mate.”
“Your what now?”
“My mate. My mate is here.” Luke said, pleading with his eyes for his brother to understand.
Kelan looked around the yard and across to the bunkhouse. He turned back to Luke his eyebrows raised in question. “Where?”
“I don’t know where, but I can smell her. She’s here.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive. Her scent, it’s like nothing I’ve ever smelt before. It’s incredible.”
“Well hell, congratulations, bro! I’m real happy for you.”
Chapter Two
Mark Malone stifled a yawn as he listened to his new boss drone on about the ethics of working hard for a living. The man was a dick. Mark was sure Joe had never put in a hard day’s work in his life. He was the type of person to let others do his dirty work for him.
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