Rough (Wolf Ranch Book 1)

by Renee Rose

  “It’s the rodeo champ.”

  She screamed, and I had to pull my phone away from my ear.

  “Why are you crying? Did he hurt you? I’ll come up there and beat the crap out of him.”

  Marina and I looked nothing alike, but she wasn’t any bigger than me. In fact, she was the same height, but had the slim build of a dancer. A strong wind would blow her over. Not that Boyd would hurt her, but she couldn’t even reach his throat without a step stool to punch him there.

  “I’m crying because he loves me, too.”

  I realized that I couldn’t tell her that he was a wolf. She’d think I was mental, first off. Then she’d come up here to have me committed. I wanted her in California, in college, where she belonged. I could understand why Rob wanted to ensure their being shifters remained a secret. Keeping Marina far from Montana would ensure she didn’t learn the truth. She’d have to come here someday, but I’d worry about that then.

  “Then what is going on? I don’t understand why you’re so upset.”

  “We had a… falling out.” I told her about Karen, skipping the fact that she was a shifter. “I shouldn’t have believed her spiteful words, but it’s hard not to. You should see her. She looks like a Victoria’s Secret model.”

  “Yet Boyd loves you.”

  “Yeah, he does.” Having Marina say it somehow made things shift inside me. Rob had said the exact same thing earlier, yet I’d felt just as bad. Just as heartsick.

  Boyd loved me. Boyd loved me. He didn’t say the words aloud. He hadn’t had to. I saw how he felt for me in everything he did. In how he protected me. In how he touched me. How he spoke to me. Fucked me.

  In his letters, he hadn’t said it either. In fact, he’d emptied his heart to me in those six notes. Everything except those three words. He said if I took him back, that he’d share them with me. Say them, so I could hear them from his lips. Believe them.

  “Marina… I have to go.”

  “To see Boyd?”

  “Yes. I have to go right now.”

  “I’m coming out to meet him! In fact, I’m booking my flight now!”

  I gave a watery laugh as I hung up on her, and I could hear her shouts of happiness. I hopped up from the floor and ran to my car. I’d waited my whole life for a man to be mine, to make a family with. A life with. I had it with Boyd. I just had to go and get it.

  26

  BOYD

  My mother used to say plan for the outcome you wanted to achieve—even if it seemed unlikely to happen at the time. When I hit puberty and was pissed off that I hadn’t had my first shift yet, she would pull me down to sit beside her and say, “Let’s plan the party we’re going to have to celebrate your first shift.” And then I started making a list of all the things I wanted to do at my party, which was mostly about food because I was a growing pup and could eat the entire refrigerator’s contents in one sitting. We made a list of all the food I wanted at the party: pizza and hamburgers and chocolate cupcakes. We talked about who I wanted to invite: just family and the ranchers, not the rest of the pack. By the time we were done, my mood had changed from resistance to anticipation.

  It had been wise then, and I tried it now.

  Audrey hadn’t taken me back, but I was planning for when she did. I’d told Rob I was claiming one of the ranch’s private cabins as my own. No way would I claim my mate in my childhood bedroom in the main house. He’d nodded in agreement, and that was that. I’d gone up there, to the one our grandparents used to live in before they died and began to clean it out.

  Besides a good scrubbing, it needed some upgrades—granite countertops in the kitchen, some nice Italian marble in the bathroom. The floors were a beautiful tongue and groove oak plank. All they needed was to be sanded and refinished. The walls—hmm. I’d have to wait for Audrey to take me back to make decisions about the walls. I didn’t know if she’d like them to remain rustic, with the logs showing the way they were now, or if I should cover them in plaster and let her pick paint colors.

  I would do all the work, of course.

  She worked hard enough.

  So far, I’d spotlessly cleaned the place and had a new king-sized bed delivered, complete with the best mattress and real linen sheets. I’d yet to have her in a bed and fantasized about what I’d do to her first.

  Like planning my first shift party, getting in the mode of imagining how I would trick this cabin out until it met every last one of Audrey’s dreams lightened my mood.

  Hope started to bleed in.

  Enthusiasm for the future I imagined for us. Together. Mated.

  This cabin was for us, for the family I would give her. Hell, it was the first place that was really mine. I’d left home and pretty much lived in hotel rooms ever since. It felt good to stand here, to know this was where I’d live with Audrey for the rest of our lives.

  First, she had to take me back. Second, I had to mate her. I’d had a long talk with Rob about the mating bite, and he thought I could fight the instinct to tear her flesh and keep my human consciousness enough to choose a safe enough place on her body where I didn’t bite too deep. Audrey was a doctor, and I’d get her thoughts on it… assuming she’d be okay with it. I had to hope that since she didn’t seem bothered by the fact that I was a shifter that she’d be okay with this, too. She’d know muscle density and shit. The bite would hurt her—and I fucking hated that part because she wouldn’t heal quick like a wolf—but it wouldn’t kill her.

  I was getting too far ahead of myself, and I closed my eyes, took a breath. Calmed myself and my wolf. I’d get her back, I just had to have patience. For a guy whose job lasted eight seconds at a time, it was fucking hard.

  I heard the crunch of gravel and stepped out to see who it was. The cabin was built on a bluff over the first rise from the main house. It had views of the mountains to the south and practically all of Montana to the north. The road that led to it dead ended at the cabin, so no one ever drove out this way. I recognized Rob’s truck and—oh fates—Audrey sat beside him.

  My wolf stood up and practically howled at the sight of her. I couldn’t help the grin that split my face, the way my heart skipped a beat then pounded. It was as if seeing her brought me back to life. Yeah, I loved Audrey, and that was never going to change.

  I wanted to race to the truck and throw the door open, scoop her into my arms and carry her across the threshold like a groom carrying his bride. But no. She wasn’t mine yet.

  The last thing she told me was not to call her.

  I had to stand here and wait. Wait for her to show me a sign first.

  A shiver of recognition, of anticipation, ran through me as I stood rooted to the porch, watching her. Her peach scent tickled my nose the moment she stepped out of the truck. Rob didn’t get out. Hell, he didn’t even turn off the engine, only tipped his hat and drove off, leaving her here with me.

  Alone. Together. If she was done with me, it was a mile back to the ranch house.

  Audrey fumbled with her purse and then dropped it like she was nervous. She bent, as if to pick it up, then seemed to change her mind. Stood. I caught my breath as I realized she was running.

  Toward me.

  Into my arms, which I stretched wide to catch her. She flung herself at me and wrapped her legs around my waist, her arms around my neck. I hooked my forearm under her ass and buried my face in her neck. Breathed her in. If she thought I was ever letting her go now, she was sorely mistaken.

  My wolf sighed, and I exhaled a deep breath. She felt warm and soft, fragrant and sweet.

  “Boyd,” she choked, her warm breath fanning my neck. It sent goosebumps along my skin. “Thank you for the letters.”

  I took care not to squeeze her as tightly as I wanted to. “Did you just now read them?” Fuck, I sounded a little choked up myself. I’d had a feeling she hadn’t read them. Maybe just because I didn’t want to believe she could’ve read them and still refused to see me. I’d poured my heart and soul into them… the words just for he
r.

  “Yes.” Her arms wound tight around my neck, and she trembled a little, but I didn’t scent her tears.

  I spun around and carried her inside—yes, across the threshold—then shut the door and pushed her back up against it. She was so close I could see her pale eyes dilate. Her scent changed with hints of her musky arousal.

  “Do you believe that you’re mine now?” My gaze dropped to her lips. I remembered how she tasted and wanted my fill, but I needed her answer first. “That you’re my mate?”

  “I might,” she whispered against my temple.

  I ground the bulge of my cock between her legs. “Then I’ll just have to convince you,” I rumbled.

  “Oh yeah?” Her voice was pure honey. Seductive and sweet. There was a confidence to it she didn’t usually have when we were sexual. She hadn’t held back with me before, but it seemed like she’d finally realized her power over me. “How are you going to do that, champ?”

  “First, I’m going to lay you down on our mating bed.” I recaptured her full weight again and carried her toward the large bedroom.

  A little V formed in her brow. “Our what?”

  “Oh, I guess I’m gettin’ ahead of myself, aren’t I? See, I was renovating this cabin, thinking I might talk you into living here with me. Making this ours, where we’ll raise our pups. There’s a big tree out front for that tire swing we talked about. That hill you rode up is the perfect sledding hill. Of course, if you want to live in town to be closer to the hospital, I’ll buy you a house there, too.”

  She gave a watery laugh and kissed my neck. “I think you’re still ahead of yourself with the tire swing, but I’d like to know more about this mating bed.”

  “Mmm. Well, it’s this one right here.” I laid her down on it, her dark hair fanning out on the white blanket. “A brand-new king-sized love pad just for you.” I unbuttoned her shorts and dragged them down her thighs with her panties. Got rid of her sandals. “And right now, I’m going to use it to show you the treatment I want you to get used to.”

  “Shouldn’t we… talk?”

  I stilled, my gaze shifting from her pussy to her face. “Are you leaving me?”

  “No.”

  “Do you love me?”

  She licked her lips. “Yes.”

  “Say it,” I all but growled. My wolf wanted to hear the words from her lips.

  “Boyd Wolf, I love you.”

  I’d never felt better in my life than right now. My mate loved me. She was in our bed, her pussy bare and ready to be claimed.

  “Audrey Ames, I didn’t say it in the letters. I wanted to look you in the eye, just as I am now, so you could hear the truth. See it on my face. I love you.”

  Tears slipped from her eyes, and she smiled.

  Fuck yes.

  “Talking’s over,” I said, tossing my hat to the floor. Using my shoulders, I pushed her knees wide and licked into her, one long lap with a flat tongue, then another.

  “Boyd!”

  I growled as her taste coated my tongue. Her scent filled my head. Her soft skin was beneath my palms. My dick was uncomfortable in my jeans, but it could wait. I had to please my mate first. I settled in and used the pointy tip of my tongue to trace inside her labia, around her clit.

  She squeaked and moaned and shifted around, her belly shuddering with each breath, her fingers finding my hair. Tangling. Tugging.

  “You see, a wolf can’t ever leave his mate,” I told her when I lifted my head to look at her beautiful face. Her essence coated my mouth and chin. Her cheeks had flushed pink, and her eyes were closed, but they flew open when I spoke. “It’s biologically impossible. But she can leave him. So that means his one job in life is to make sure she stays happy.”

  Color feathered across Audrey’s chest, her blue eyes shone bright. “This is how you’re going to do that?”

  I fucking loved the breathy way she spoke.

  I flicked my tongue over her clit again. “That’s right. I’m going to lick your pussy every damned day. Among other things.”

  “Show me,” she commanded, gripping my head and pushing my face into her wet folds.

  A snarl rose up in my chest, taking me by surprise. Fuck. The full moon was just a few days away. Making love to Audrey without marking her might be an impossibility.

  I shoved my wolf down as best I could.

  Right now was about making Audrey feel good, and I was going to do that if it killed me. I flicked my tongue over her clit in a steady series of flicks, then used my thumb to retract the hood so I could suck it.

  Audrey screamed, her hips bobbing beneath me. “Oh my God, Boyd!” She shoved me off her. “Boyd. Boyd.” I lifted my head.

  “I need you inside me. Please.”

  Hell, yes.

  She didn’t need to ask me twice.

  I stood up on my knees to pull a condom from my pocket.

  She held up her hand. “No condom.”

  I frowned, froze.

  “I want you bare.”

  “There’s no fucking way I’m pulling out.” I was strong, but not that strong. I’d never gone without a condom before. Ever. Feeling Audrey’s pussy, all hot and wet against my uncovered dick… I wasn’t even sure how long I’d last. I’d probably go off like a randy kid and embarrass myself. But I sure as fuck wasn’t going to be able to pull out.

  “Good.”

  I opened my jeans, pushed them down enough, so I could pull out my dick. I gripped the base, stroked it from root to tip as I stared down at my mate. Pre-cum beaded, then slid down the crown.

  “You want my cum in you?”

  She bit her lip and watched as I squeezed the base, hard, to stave off coming all over her belly. “Yes.”

  “You know what’s going to happen?”

  She looked up at me. “I’m an ObGyn. I’d say I have a pretty good idea.”

  I shut my eyes, tried to block out how fucking hot she looked. My mate was finally with me, and I was holding off. I had to though.

  “Audrey,” I groaned.

  “I love you,” she said. “I want it all with you. Why wait?”

  Setting a hand beside her head, I leaned down. Kissed her. I tried to go as calmly and as sweetly as possible, but her words, the fact that she wanted me to put a baby in her belly, was making it almost impossible to remain calm.

  “Your eyes are glowing,” she whispered when I lifted my head. “Is that the wolf?”

  I stroked her cheek, amazed at how silky soft it felt. “Yeah, darlin’. Did you, ah, read my letter about… marking? The way a wolf takes his mate?”

  Her glasses were crooked on her face, and I reached to carefully take them off.

  “I read it.”

  “You want a baby, we’ll give it to you. But my wolf wants to claim you. Right now. On our mating bed. Besides filling you with my cum, it also means puncturing your skin. It’s forever, darlin’.”

  She raised her arms to lift her shirt, and I stood back up to give her room. She got the shirt up and off and cupped her breasts through her bra. “I want to be claimed,” she purred. “I want your cum in me. I want you.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked again, helping her strip off her bra next. It was one thing to have consent to fuck, another entirely to mate.

  Perhaps she had a wolf in her because she all but pounced up to her knees and grabbed my dick. Her mouth was over the flared head and licking off all the pre-cum.

  “Fuck!” I shouted, my hands instinctively going to her head.

  She gave me a strong suck, then pulled off, looked up at me.

  “I’m sure.”

  Jesus fuck! My wolf roared. I stripped in seconds, then dove on top of her, kissing the hell out of her mouth. My teeth were already descending. My vision had sharpened.

  The change in her was remarkable. Before, she’d surrendered to my sexual advances. Her body had been responsive, her passion deep and her kink was definitely wild, but she’d been unsure of me. Of us. Now, she’d come into her power.
/>   “You finally believe me,” I said, nudging her knees apart and settling into the space between. My cock slid over her wet folds, coating it.

  “About what?” She rolled her hips in eagerness.

  “About how fucking sexy I find you. How beautiful. How incredible. I don’t give a shit about Karen or any other woman. Human or shifter. Now or ever. Got me?”

  “Yes.”

  I dropped down on top of her and kissed her mouth again. My rigid cock found her entrance without my hand to guide it. I rocked gently and—fuck!— it inched in. My eyes rolled back in my head at the exquisite feel of taking her bare. The tight clench of her pussy, how her sticky arousal coated the head of my dick, how my pre-cum was already beginning to mark her. From now on, any shifter would scent me all over her. My teeth came down again.

  She felt so good, and I only had the tip in. I was thrusting before I meant to even move, claiming her so hard the bed slammed against the log wall. Fuck—I didn’t want to hurt her.

  “Yes, Boyd,” she encouraged, her nails digging into my shoulders. “Harder.”

  Fates, if she kept it up, I’d lose my mind before we even got started. I’d blow my load before she got off.

  Speaking of mind—I needed to concentrate. Except it was getting harder and harder. My hips had found a delicious rhythm rocking in and out of her, stroking inside her tight channel with the most satisfying thrusts. The wet sounds of my dick fucking her pussy filled the air.

  “Where… where do you want it?” I panted, trying hard to stay focused.

  Her blurry eyes looked up at me and she frowned. “It’s in me.”

  I couldn’t help but grin. “My bite, darlin’. You tell me where it should go, so it’s not so bad for you.”

  In the letters, I mentioned the mating bite, about what Rob and I had discussed about making it safe for her. I told her as a doctor, she would know best where I should leave my mark.

  “Oh, the bite?” She lifted her shoulder, let it drop. “Right here, in my deltoid. That should be safest.”

  I closed my eyes and nodded, trying to keep my cool. This was the moment, like saying vows when getting married. I’d dreamed of this, hoped for it, but never expected I’d find my mate. That she’d love me back, give me everything, including a baby. A pup.