by Lola Kidd
She came two more times before Owen roared and spilled himself inside of her. He pulled her until her head was resting on his shoulder. He rubbed her back. “I’m never going to let you go, now that you’re finally here.”
Four
Owen snuck a peek at Erin sitting in the passenger seat next to him. She’d been in Sunset Falls an entire day and he still couldn’t believe it. He’d been trying for years to find a mate and she had just appeared out of nowhere. He’d wanted to spend her first night taking it easy, just talking and having dinner. Instead, they had spent the entire time making love. Of course, he wasn’t complaining. They still got some talking in, but mostly, he’d taken Erin in every room in the house. Twice in some.
There wasn’t a single doubt in his mind that she was his mate. He wanted to go down to the courthouse and get married as soon as they woke up that morning. Erin wasn’t having it, though. She wanted her sister and her parents to fly out for the ceremony. Since they were going to wait two weeks, Owen wanted to get her an engagement ring. He had one all picked out and now he was just waiting for it to be ready. It was going to be a surprise.
He was so happy he wanted to drive right by the farm and take Erin on a nature walk instead. She wanted to meet his mom and the rest of the pride. He knew he’d have to do it eventually but he would have preferred to wait. At least by getting it out of the way early, he wouldn’t have to visit the farm again for a very long time.
“Are you nervous?” he asked, turning in to Brooks Farm. Lion cubs were chasing a baby goat around near the entrance. Owen beeped his horn and yelled out the window at the cubs.
“A little,” Erin said. “I know you said you don’t care what they think, but I still want them to like me.”
“My mom and sisters are going to love you.”
He pulled up in front of the house his mother and sisters shared. Since he’d last visited, the porch swing had fallen on one side. The railing was still broken on one side too. He ushered Erin up the steps, making sure she didn’t touch the broken railing.
“Owen! What a surprise.” Dawn answered the door with a baby on her hip. The little one stared at Owen and put his finger in his mouth. “Patrick, say hello to your Uncle Owen. You remember Owen. He gave you the toy train.”
The little boy hid his face behind Dawn’s shoulder.
“He’s just a little shy. He’ll warm up to you.” She stepped away from the door. “Come inside. No need to be standing on the porch all day like a guest.”
“Thank you. Dawn, this is Erin, my fiancée.”
Dawn’s mouth dropped open and then she turned to yell up the stairs. “Mom! Brenda! Get down here quick. It’s Owen, and he found a mate!”
Brenda almost fell down the stairs, she came running so fast. Her blonde hair was standing at odds away from her head as always. His youngest sister always looked like she had just rolled out of bed. Since she was born, his mom had always been trying to run a brush through her hair.
Brenda pulled Erin into a tight hug. “Owen, she’s so tiny! Look at her. Where did you find this little miniature lady?”
“Ugh…”
“We met online,” Erin supplied.
Brenda put her hand on Erin’s head. “You have to be a human. They don’t make shifters this small.”
“Leave the poor girl alone, Brenda.” Dawn put the baby down and hugged Erin too. “We’ve never even heard anything about you. Where are you from? How long have you known Owen?”
Erin gave his sisters the quick story while Owen tried to get Patrick to look at him. The little boy was hiding behind his mom’s leg while she talked. Owen couldn’t believe he’d been away from home long enough for Patrick to forget him. He’d seen the boy a few times since he was born. He brought him toys every time too.
“Where’s Mom?” Owen asked when he’d given up on coaxing the little boy to play.
“She’s sleeping,” Brenda said. “She was up milking this morning and then she repaired a fence. She did patrol along the fence last night too.”
“I didn’t know she did patrol too.” Dawn looked annoyed.
“Don’t tell me, it was Steve’s night?” Owen guessed. Brenda nodded discreetly but Dawn just scowled. Owen knew his good-for-nothing pack brother would foist his chores off on an old woman. That was just like him. The pride had gone without an alpha since Owen’s dad had died twenty years earlier. There were no older males and there were only three male cubs from Owen’s generation. Owen had left the pride when he was seventeen to take over managing the ranch.
His two pack brothers were the only males at Brooks Farm and they were the most lazy, good-for-nothing lions Sunset Falls had ever seen. They seemed to only have time for making cubs and napping. There were seven cubs running around the farm that belonged to the two men.
“When are you two getting married?” Brenda asked. “Are you going to do it at the farm?”
Owen shook his head. “We’re getting married at the ranch in two weeks. It’s the soonest Erin’s sister and parents can get out here.”
“How many people is it going to be?” Brenda asked.
“Only a few,” Erin said. “We came to invite you today. I hope you’ll be able to come.”
“We wouldn’t miss our big brother getting married.” Dawn smiled and picked up Patrick. “Maybe my little cub can be the ring bearer?”
“Oh, please say yes. He’ll be so cute in a little tux.” Brenda took Patrick and put him across the room. “Look at how good he takes direction. Pat, come to your Auntie Brenda.”
Patrick looked at Erin sitting behind Brenda and Owen standing next to her. The little boy didn’t move.
“Come on, Patrick. Be a good boy and come to Auntie Brenda.”
He looked at his mom and then started crying. Brenda shrugged. “He’s usually much better than this. I can’t believe how shy he’s being.”
“Well, he hasn’t seen Owen in almost a year. Of course he’s shy.” Owen’s mom came down the stairs and picked up the crying child. Her hair had gotten noticeably greyer since Owen had seen her last. She rubbed her lower back as she quieted Patrick.
“Mom, I’d like you to meet Erin Numm. Erin, this is my mother, Nina.”
Nina came and shook Erin’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Erin.”
“Erin and I are getting married, Mom.”
Nina frowned. “You’re getting married, and this is the first I’m hearing about it?”
“They met on the internet, Mom,” Dawn told her mom. “She’s a nice girl and a human. The wedding is at the ranch in two weeks and we’re invited.”
“I would hope we’re invited.” Nina gave Owen a pointed look. “Wouldn’t have been surprised if we weren’t, though. Do you plan on being as scarce with my grandbabies?”
“You’re always welcome to come to the ranch,” Owen told her. “I would never stop you from seeing our cubs.”
“I can’t leave the farm for a day. This place would fall apart without me.”
“Well, if those lazy lions would get off their asses, maybe you could take a day off.”
“I get plenty of help,” Nina said. “Quinton is a teenager now. He helps out a lot.”
Owen couldn’t place the boy, but there were only a few teenagers in the pride. Most were cubs or older than Owen. “I’m sure he does what he can, but you have two grown men. I’m running the ranch all by myself. The least they could do is help out around here.”
“Let’s not do this again,” Nina said. “If you want to change how things are done here on the farm, you have to be alpha of the Brooks Pride.”
“I shouldn’t have to be alpha.” Owen gritted his teeth. “Look, I didn’t come out here to argue with you. I wanted to introduce you all to Erin and invite you to the wedding. I’ve done that. Erin and I are leaving now.”
Owen took Erin’s hand and led her out to the front door.
“It was nice meeting you all. I really hope you guys make it to the wedding,” Erin said as Owen pulled her o
utside.
He opened her door and let her in the car first. Brenda and Dawn came to the front porch and waved as Owen spun his tires trying to leave in a hurry. He kicked up a big cloud of dust as he left the farm.
He beat the steering wheel once they were on the main road again. “Dammit! This is why I don’t come out here that much. It always ends this way.”
Erin touched his arm. “Families are hard. I think they seem nice.”
“They are nice,” Owen said angrily. “That’s why they’re getting taken advantage of. Steve and Rusty sit on their asses all day while our moms run the farm. It’s a disgrace.”
“You feel really strongly about this.”
“I do! That place used to be so different. When my dad was alive, everyone shared in the work equally. We started with only two families out there. Now there are four. And now all that work is going to waste.”
“Is that why you and your mom fight?”
“She wants me to be alpha.” Owen shook his head. “I don’t want that responsibility. My dad was alpha of the pride and he was great at it, but he didn’t have a lot of time for his family. We only saw him an hour a day or so. Even during the summers when we were home all the time, he was out working.”
Erin frowned. “That sounds awful. Both of my parents worked when I was growing up, but we saw them all the time.”
“It’s different on a farm, and my dad pushed himself to take on all the work. He was the only man on the whole farm after his best friend died.”
“That sounds really awful. It must have been really hard for him.”
“It was.” Owen blinked away tears. Thinking about his dad and the farm always made him emotional. “I love you, Erin. I don’t want the pride taking me away from my family. I want my kids to know me as a father, not as pride alpha.”
“I like when you talk about us having a family.” Erin kissed him on the cheek. “I can’t wait to be your wife. But you know I would support you no matter what you chose to do. Your pride is important to you. If you ever change your mind about being alpha, I’ll be right behind you.”
“Thanks, but I’m not going to change my mind.” It pained Owen, but he couldn’t lead his pride. He wanted to have a family badly. He would be spending hours a day tending both the ranch and the farm alone. Running the ranch was just enough work to keep him busy and still give him time to see Erin and their future cubs. He wished he could find a way to help his pride and have a family, but he didn’t see how that could work.
“Want to go into town tonight?” Owen asked. “I don’t want you getting the wrong impression of Sunset Falls. The rest of the town isn’t nearly as bad as the pride. There’s some really nice places here.”
“I’d love to see the town.”
“Great. It’s a date.”
Five
Erin felt terrible for Owen. She couldn’t imagine what it was like to live so close to your family but never see them. She knew that he wanted to help his pride, but she wasn’t sure how she could help. She would give it time and talk to him about it again before the wedding. There had to be a way for him to help the pride and see his family.
“Sunset Falls has seen better days, but the Two Wolf Inn is still the best restaurant in the state,” Owen declared.
The tiny restaurant was packed even though it was a Tuesday night. It fit right in on Sunset’s quaint State Street. “I would assume the owners are two werewolves?”
“Wolf shifters,” Owen corrected. “Werewolves only exist in the movies.”
Erin giggled. “So I don’t have to worry about getting bitten by a wolfman when there’s a full moon?”
“Not if he wants to keep his teeth in his mouth.” Owen flashed long canines at Erin. She’d heard him make all kinds of animal noises in bed. But this was the first time she’d seen him do any kind of shifting.
“Now I see how I got these bite marks.”
“You’re not the only one who got marked up last night.” Owen gave Erin a devilish wink as the waitress came up and interrupted them.
The entire time they were eating people stopped by the table to chat with Owen or just say hello.
“I thought you said you were a loner.” Erin smiled.
“I am a loner, but that doesn’t mean I’m unfriendly. It’s a small town, and we all know each other. I told you Sunset Falls was a great place.”
“It does run a little old,” Erin remarked, looking around the Inn. “I haven’t seen a lot of people my age. Even you’re pretty young for this crowd.”
“I know.” Owen sighed. “To be honest, most of the humans leave Sunset Falls if they want to have a professional career. Almost every business owner in the city is a shifter.”
“Really?” Erin was surprised. She’d only known a handful of shifters before coming to town and none of them were business owners. She’d heard of discrimination when shifters tried opening a business in human cities. She could see why they didn’t leave Sunset Falls like the humans did.
“Yeah, but now even the shifter teens have been leaving.” Owen looked around and then whispered, “I have a plan to turn all that around, though.”
“Oh, a secret plan.” Erin whispered too. “Would this have anything to do with the ASW Best Small Towns list?”
Owen looked sheepish. “I forgot I told you about that. Well, I guess I don’t have any big secret plan to reveal. But keep it quiet. I don’t want everyone knowing about it.”
“Why not? Maybe they’d want to help you send a packet to the magazine or something.”
“Maybe, but if we don’t win this year, everyone would be crushed. Keep it quiet and I can keep making a case for the town year after year. We’re bound to win eventually.”
“I don’t know.” Erin looked around. “You guys would have Best Shifter Retirement Community on lock, though. Do they have a list for that?”
Owen chuckled. “I’ll keep that in my back pocket. If push comes to shove, I’ll try to get on that one. And yes. They do have a Best Community for Seniors list.”
“What are the criteria? Maybe I can help you think of how to spin Sunset Falls into a model community.”
Owen talked about the communities that had topped the list during the last decade and Erin started seeing a pattern. She loved how excited Owen got when he talked about his idea. She was starting to form a plan in her mind. To even make the top fifty, Sunset Falls was going to need to make a few changes.
Like the human lists, the ASW seemed to favor places that were great to raise a family. Sunset Falls looked great to her. She and Owen had walked around the business district before sitting down for dinner. There were families out on the street, but it was mostly single men, old couples, and teenagers. That wasn’t going to go over too well with the ASW editorial staff.
“What Sunset Falls needs are more women.” Owen leaned back looking pleased with himself. “I can’t take all the credit for that idea. Me and a few buddies worked it out. As far as I can see, we don’t stand a chance of winning until we have more married couples.”
Erin was pushing her food around her plate as her plan solidified. “You need to brand your town better. Right now, you’re the underdog. I think there’s a lot of room to grow. Have you talked with your friends about LK Brides? It worked so well for us that I’m a convert now. I swear my Facebook page is just an advertisement for them.”
“I was hoping that our wedding would be a good enough ad for them.” Owen took her hand across the table. “Once I met you, I knew that it was going to work out for the town too. I can’t explain it, but it feels like everything is going to turn around for us now. There’s some hope.”
“For some of you,” Erin mused. She was thinking about the pride again. There was no way they were going to make that list with the pride in the shape it was. There were only two big shifter communities in town. Erin didn’t even want to hear about the wolf pack yet.
“Maybe you should go talk with your pride brothers. Have you ever tried sitting down w
ith them?”
“A dozen times before I decided to leave. There was no getting through to those blockheads. If I’d stayed, we would have lost the ranch. At least we have one income stream coming in still.”
Erin tilted her head. “You’re paying for the farm and the ranch?”
Owen looked uncomfortable. “About that. I may have forgotten to mention that the ranch is very profitable.”
“How profitable?”
Owen smiled. “Profitable enough to leave off a dating profile. Money seems to bring out the worst kind of women on dating sites.”
Erin nodded. “That explains why you’ve had so much trouble finding a wife.”
“I had trouble because I hadn’t met you yet. And I don’t mind telling you that you can spend your days however you want.”
“Are you saying I’m a kept woman now?” Erin laughed. She couldn’t wait to tell Erica how wrong she’d been about Owen. Her sister had so many wild theories about why such a handsome man was still single.
The waitress had already come to take their plates. Instead of returning with a check, she put a slice of chocolate cake in the shape of a heart in front of them. “Compliments of the house. Congratulations, you two!”
“Good news travels fast.” Owen took a forkful of cake.
“It sure does.” A gorgeous redhead sat down next to Erin. “Hi, I’m Gwen. I’ve known Owen since he was just a little cub chasing his own tail.”
Erin couldn’t help but notice Gwen’s tight dress and cleavage spilling out. The woman looked like sex on legs. She looked from Gwen to Owen and raised her eyebrows.
Gwen threw her head back and laughed, loudly pounding the table. “Oh, no! We’ve never dated. Owen is like a cousin to me. Everyone is dying to meet you. I’m just nosy enough to come over and bother you two lovebirds.”
“Don’t mind Gwen.” Owen pushed the rest of the cake toward Erin. “Her extremely loud bark is worse than her bite.”
