Rough (Wolf Ranch Book 1)

by Renee Rose

Had Boyd ordered him to change form?

  Shift, kid.

  Yes. Boyd had known what he was. Known what to do to help him. Knew because he’d done it himself.

  That meant… Boyd was one of them. Boyd Wolf wasn’t just a cowboy, a rodeo champ. Wolf wasn’t just his last name. He was a werewolf. Or whatever I was looking at right now.

  It seemed far less strange than it should, but I was sure that was because I was in crisis mode. There was no time to get dramatic. I had a patient to save. Despite Boyd’s instructions, I couldn’t let the bullet wound go untended. Breathing had been his first priority, but now that his lungs were clear, I grabbed one corner of the blanket and yanked it up to ball over the wound, providing compression, rolling him to his back to look for an exit wound. There wasn’t one. Which meant the bullet was still inside.

  I needed to get him to a hospital.

  The young man reached down. I thought he was going to feel for his wound, but instead he tried to tug more of the blanket around his waist. Oh right. Because he was, well, naked. It seemed wolves couldn’t very well run around wearing clothing.

  Boyd stalked back, anger radiating from him, I presumed from his interaction with Jett Markle, who he must’ve managed to send away. His clothes still dripped water as he crouched beside the kid and took his jaw in his big hand. He wasn’t gentle. “Who the fuck are you?”

  “Boyd, I need to get him to a hospital,” I said.

  “You don’t, Audrey.” He gentled his voice with me, which seemed sweet, considering the circumstances. “If he’s breathing, he’s going to be fine.”

  “He’s been shot.” I knew I was stating the obvious, but the obvious was well… strange as hell.

  “And I was gored by a bull. He’ll be fine,” he told me. Then, to the boy, “Who are you?”

  The young man coughed a few more times, not opening his eyes. “James. James Clifton.”

  “You care to explain why you were running in wolf form across my neighbor’s ranch?”

  “Visiting—” He coughed again. “—my girlfriend.”

  Boyd groaned. “You just endangered the whole fucking pack, my friend. Just so you could get laid.”

  His eyes blinked open, and he tried to sit up, but Boyd pushed him back down. “Please—don’t tell my parents. You can call my sister instead. Karen. She’ll pick me up.”

  Glancing at Boyd, I cocked an eyebrow, silently asking “who?” He must have caught on because he said, “The woman from the bar.”

  Ah, Total Bitch was a wolf? Seriously?

  Boyd stilled and stared at the kid. “Don’t tell your parents? I’m going to tell someone worse than that. Your alpha.”

  The boy groaned, and I looked him over to see what the problem was but realized he wasn’t happy about Boyd’s words.

  “He’s gonna make the decision about how this gets handled. End of story. How are you feeling now?”

  The youth had lost blood, and his face was pale, but he pushed himself up to lean on one elbow. This time, Boyd didn’t stop him. “Better.”

  “Lemme see,” Boyd said to me, putting his hand over mine where I held compression on the gunshot.

  He wasn’t a doctor, but I guessed he knew more about this young man’s physiology than I did, so I let him lift away the pressure.

  He pushed and prodded the wound, making the kid flinch, then shook his head. Most of the blood had washed off in the water, but the area was red and angry. “Bullet must be in the bone, but it’ll come out on its own.” Boyd turned his head to look at me. “He doesn’t need care. I swear to fate, Doctor.”

  I swear to fate.

  Interesting turn of phrase.

  He’d mentioned fate when he talked about meeting me. Was the belief part of his culture? Wolf culture?

  He reached out, lightly wrapped a hand around my elbow and squeezed. “You okay? I imagine this is a shock.”

  “Uh, yeah. Yeah, it is.” I looked at him through new eyes. My sexy rodeo champ was actually a wolf. Boyd Wolf. “You must think me stupid.” I looked away.

  He turned my chin back with his fingers. “You’re the smartest person I know.”

  “Were you going to tell me?”

  He looked slightly guilty. “Yes. I wanted to. From the very beginning. It’s just… forbidden. I was trying to figure out what to do.”

  “I won’t tell your secret.” I looked him straight in the eye, then at James, so they both knew they were safe with me. “Doctor-patient confidentiality. I won’t breathe a word. You both have my promise. Besides, who’d believe me?”

  “Thank you. That means a lot.” Boyd squeezed my elbow again. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know. Answer all the questions. But let’s get James out of here before anyone else sees him. You have to work tomorrow?”

  I nodded. “Office hours.”

  He looked down at the boy, a teen, who’d just wanted to sneak away for time with his girlfriend. It sounded so very familiar. Hadn’t it been exactly what Boyd and I had done?

  “How are you doing, kid? Can you walk yet?”

  James nodded and climbed up, wrapping the blanket around his waist. Boyd was right. He seemed to be improving by the minute. His color was already returning. My medical mind reeled from what I’d just witnessed. He’d been shot, as a wolf, fell off the side of a cliff, almost drowned and was now standing. Impossible. But it was right in front of me.

  Boyd helped me to stand. “Go and get in my truck,” he ordered James. “Follow the path, and you’ll see it. Try to run off, and I’ll hunt your ass down.”

  After the young man started away, his shoulders slumped in defeat. Boyd slid an arm around my waist and pulled me against his wet body. He brushed back my hair and pushed my glasses up my nose for me. “You sure you’re okay? Not freaked out?”

  “Definitely freaked. Um, it’s a lot to process. I… I guess I like it,” I admitted, which sounded dumb. But it seemed like the missing piece to understanding Boyd just fell into place. He was too perfect before. Too good looking. Too strong. Too charming. I felt I couldn’t trust him, like something wasn’t real. Now it made sense why he was such a spectacular specimen of a male. How he could ride bulls for so many years without breaking his neck. How he could walk away from such a terrible goring. It made it easier to believe what he said, even about his interest in me. About how he knew from the first that I was the one.

  He wasn’t just looking at me as a man, but as a wolf, too.

  I pushed up his wet shirt and ripped off the bandage covering the place he was gored by the bull. Nothing! Not even a mark. I traced my fingertip over it, in awe. Boyd Wolf was something special. And I felt honored to know his secret.

  Boyd’s face broke into a smile. “Yeah? You like it?”

  I nodded. “I have a lot of questions. A lot. But I want to see your wolf.”

  Boyd cupped the side of my face with one hand and traced my lips with his thumb. “I’ll show you, darlin’. Any time you want. And I’ll answer all your questions later. I promise.”

  I tipped my head toward the truck. “How soon will he heal fully?”

  “Oh, shortly. A teen in perfect health? It’ll just be a mark tomorrow. And then nothing by the next day. His pride’s probably hurt worse. Come on, I’d better get him to Rob.”

  I frowned. “Rob, your brother?”

  “Yep. As you can guess, he’s a wolf, too. All of us at the ranch. Rob, he’s the pack alpha. My dad before him. James is going to have to answer to him for this.”

  I had a lot to take in. And I wanted to know all of it. I was thrilled by it all. Definitely excited. And titillated. Awed. Confused. Intrigued.

  We walked back to the truck in silence, then climbed into the front seat. James was in the back—the truck was a huge four door behemoth. I couldn’t help checking in with my patient again, even though I knew he had to be fine if he walked all the way from the waterfall. Boyd had been worried about him when he’d been unconscious, but his concern slipped away once I cleared h
is lungs. I had to believe Boyd wouldn’t be so relaxed if James’ life was still in danger. “You feeling okay? Any dizziness, nausea, anything else I should know about?”

  “He’s fine,” Boyd assured me. “James, this is Dr. Ames. You be respectful with her or you’ll have even more to answer for.”

  The young man nodded in awkward agreement. “It hurts, ma’am, but I’ll be okay.”

  Boyd nodded, clearly satisfied with the answer, started the truck and pulled out. It seemed that teen boys were stupid over girls, wolf or human.

  “Did you actually tell Jett Markle he shot your dog?” I asked, laughter bubbling up now that the major crisis was past.

  “I did,” Boyd chuckled. “And then I took his shotgun and bent the barrel, so it’s unusable. What an asshole. I mean, aside from shooting a wolf, which of course, I take very personally, he’d have ridden his horse by my truck to get above the waterfall, meaning he knew there were people around. And he still fired? I seriously should’ve shoved that shotgun up his ass instead of just giving him a black eye.”

  He bent the barrel of a shotgun?

  “I thought no one lived on that property right now,” James spoke up from the back seat. “I mean, Shefield died, right?”

  “That’s no excuse for you running around in wolf form in broad daylight,” Boyd said sternly. “But yes, Shefield died. I don’t know, Markle says he’s buying it, so maybe he thinks it’s already his, but I’ll be damned if I’d let that happen. I gotta figure out if he’s full of shit or not, and what I can do to stop it.”

  “You’re staying then,” I commented.

  He turned to look at me, as if he didn’t need to stare at the road to drive.

  “Those words mean you’re staying, that you’re not picking up and heading off to the next competition.”

  He nodded, then looked away. “I hadn’t said it aloud, that I was retiring. That this was where I now belonged. I told you I wanted a reason to stay. That it was you. You’re mine, Audrey Ames. I’ve told you that from the start. As for being a wolf, as for being a member of the pack, I have a purpose here. If it’s to finish Jett Markle, then so be it.”

  I stole a glance at Boyd’s profile. His jaw was set with new determination. He appeared far more serious than usual, although our conversation was pretty hefty. While I missed the boyish grin, I also admired this Boyd. He wasn’t just a playboy. He was a leader. He handled crisis situations with confidence and ease. Better than some doctors I’d been in surgery with.

  Boyd pulled up in the circle drive in front of the ranch house. The memories of my first trip here, how he’d seduced me in his barn in about five minutes flat came flooding back but mingled with so much more pleasure now. I was sore between my legs, a constant reminder of what we’d done. Of how he’d ensured I would never forget he’d pretty much ruined me for anyone else.

  Because now I knew what he was. We shared a secret. Trust. This wasn’t a quickie. It wasn’t just sex.

  “Audrey, stay in the truck, darlin’. I’m just gonna deliver James to Rob, and then I’ll drive you home. I want to stay with you.” He looked at me with a gaze so fierce it made me hold my breath. “But if I do, I won’t let you sleep, and you need your rest.”

  “I need to up my vitamins if I’m to keep up with you… and your wolf.”

  21

  BOYD

  A lot of shit went down, and I knew Rob was going to blow a gasket. My brother was grouchy at best. With what I suspected was moon madness starting to plague him, he was even less patient with people, specifically me.

  I hadn’t exactly caught him up to speed on the Audrey situation, so that was going to add fuel to the fire. I didn’t want to leave her side, not just in the truck while she waited but tonight. Her work was important. She helped people. Saved lives. Brought babies into the world. I couldn’t be totally selfish and fuck her all night long, no matter how much I wanted to. But I sure as fuck would be waiting for her after her office closed tomorrow.

  James shuffled down the drive beside me with the blanket around his waist. I could offer him a pair of jeans, but I let him suffer a little. He definitely deserved it. Dumb teens and their hormones. Although, I knew just how he was feeling.

  I put my fingers between my teeth and whistled loudly. Yeah, we used cell phones and all, but some old-fashioned methods still worked just as well on a ranch. If Rob heard my signal, he’d come out to find out what was going on. He did, not a minute later.

  Rob stalked out of the house, characteristic annoyance in his expression. He set his hat on his head as he took the steps down from the porch. When he got an eyeful of James in nothing but a blanket, then Audrey sitting in the passenger seat of my truck, he scowled even deeper. Crossed his arms over his broad chest.

  “You wanna tell me what the fuck is going on?”

  Because I could be as dickish as my brother, I nudged James. He also had to own up to his shit. “You tell him what happened.”

  The teen swallowed, his gaze not reaching Rob’s face. “I was out runnin’,” he said.

  “Elaborate,” Rob ordered.

  “I was visiting my girlfriend, so I ran down the mountain in wolf form because, well… we were sneaking out together. I cut through Shefield’s property on my way home. Jett Markle shot me.”

  “What?” Rob roared, turning his furious gaze to me.

  I nodded my confirmation. “He fell into Shefield’s swimming hole. Audrey had to resuscitate him.”

  Rob’s eyes narrowed. His neck grew red, and his fingers clenched into fists. “What about Markle?” he gritted, clearly not concerned about a gunshot wound.

  “He saw the shot hit its mark, then the fall from the top. Nothing else,” I answered. “As Audrey tended to James, I found Markle and read him the riot act. Told him he shot my dog, and he’d better keep away from me and our property, or I’d shove that gun up his nose and fire.”

  “What were you doing at the pool?”

  “I was with Audrey, doing what you asked.” I threw that in his face, since he did tell me to stick close to her. What I needed to do was come clean with Rob about my relationship with her. That I wanted to mate her and make her mine. That I’d had the urge to mark her.

  He’d have to listen to that. Our wolf urges didn’t lie, and they didn’t lead us wrong. Even if it was against pack rules.

  I would tell him later, but not in front of the kid.

  Rob took a deep breath, and I knew he could smell her on me. Knew exactly what we’d been doing.

  “So she saw,” he said grimly.

  I nodded. “She saw, and our secret is safe with her. Doctor-patient confidentiality.”

  “That’s going to keep her from talking? This isn’t a mental health visit to a clinic. She just found out we’re shifters.”

  James bobbed his head in agreement. “She promised us, Alpha.”

  Rob shook his head and stared through the windshield at Audrey, who looked back at him with round eyes. I wanted to tell him to fuck off because she was clearly wary, even scared of him. I didn’t like anyone fucking with my mate, even the alpha.

  But because he was the alpha, I stayed silent. I’d ensure she was okay once I got back to the truck.

  He lowered his voice even though she was human and wouldn’t hear. “I know I told you to stay on her after the bull riding accident to make sure she didn’t know what you were, but I did not mean fuck her until she falls for you. What happens when you move on to your next conquest? You think she’ll still keep our secret then? No. This is a problem, Boyd. And so is Jett Markle.” He turned to James, “You are in some serious shit with me, James.”

  The teen dropped his head to the side to bare his throat and signal submission. “Yes, Alpha. But please, could you call my sister, Karen, instead of my parents? They will outright kill me.”

  Rob frowned, then he pulled out his phone and handed it to James. “You call her. I’ll need a sit-down with both of you about this.” He turned to me. “Get Audrey hom
e.”

  It was all I could do not to growl back at Rob. I wasn’t going to fucking move onto another conquest, and his saying that pissed me off. But then he always thought I was the fuck-up, didn’t he?

  Because I was.

  Even after baring my secrets to Audrey, the truth remained. I’d been the reason our parents died. Now I was part of the reason the pack was at risk. It might have been James prowling after his girlfriend that Markle had seen, but now the bastard had a hard-on for me. I’d taken his girl at the bar the other night. I’d punched him in the face after he supposedly killed my dog. I was getting in his way every chance I got, and that made things worse with him, not better.

  Rob would have done the exact same thing, protected a woman from an asshole and saved one of our pack members. But pointing that out wouldn’t change anything.

  Fucking hell.

  I stalked to the truck without a word, not trusting myself not to be disrespectful with him, which would be particularly bad in front of a young pack member.

  Audrey jumped when I slammed the door too hard, and I automatically reached for her hand. “Sorry. Fuck!”

  “Is he mad that I know?” Audrey asked. She was so fucking smart.

  I wanted to roll my eyes, to growl, but I didn’t. Her scent, the way her hair was all tangled and wild from our swim, then fucking, eased my frustrations. Just being with her, cocooned in the cab of my truck together, made me feel better. My wolf settled. “Yeah, but I can deal with it.”

  “What will you do?” She stared at me with those pale eyes, then pushed her glasses up.

  The memories of the car crash kept flooding my mind. The crush of the metal car all around, forcing me to the floorboards. The silence from the front seat. How I’d worked my fingers bloody trying to get out, then I’d painfully shifted for the first time and been able to paw my way through the smashed window. With four animal legs, I’d been easily able to work my way up the embankment, but I’d had no idea how to shift back. I’d waited there, staring at the crushed truck for what felt like hours before someone drove by and called the fire department for help. They had to use the jaws of life to cut them out, and they’d been dead.