by Vaughn, V.
Dare taken, he nodded through the next kiss.
He led her into the cabin, kissed her and deposited her gently on the massive bed, then padded away. Lana heard a drawer slide, the scratch of a match. A faint glow flickered over Ty’s cheeks, then licked blue across the wick of a lantern. She quivered when he blew out the match, the circle of his mouth sending a thrill straight to her core. Playful wasn’t the word for him, now. Sensual was more like it. The man was true to his word.
The lantern revealed a small, simple cabin. Overhead, the open rafters hung with wispy reminders of years past. A masculine hideaway that didn’t hold a female scent. Not a trace.
“My brother and I built this place,” he said, circling the bed with the lantern, his cock erect.
She rolled, following him with her eyes, transfixed by the light and the sight of his body. She wanted to mark him the way he’d marked her, rubbing against him until his scent was indistinguishable from hers.
Ty set the lantern down amidst a clutch of devil’s claws on the bedside table, then settled along her body, matching their lengths. His eyes met hers from behind long, dark lashes that contradicted his rougher edges. Starting slowly, he rubbed her shoulder in circles until she cooed in delight.
“For a wolf, you’re pretty damn good at sensual,” she sighed, combing her fingers through his hair and finding it dewy with sweat.
“You define sensual,” he murmured, letting his stubble scour her breast.
She was getting sucked in way over her head. But oh, it felt good. Never mind the thing about a feud. So her mother had been with Ty’s father, once upon a time. Weird, but okay, everyone had a past. That their fathers had gone from friends to sworn enemies had nothing to do with her love for Ty.
Yes, love. She loved him. She wasn’t sure how it was possible, but destiny’s kind of chemistry wasn’t something you could analyze in a lab. It was the way it was. When the time came, she and Ty would face his father together and show him they were serious.
The question was, would the man listen? And what about the rest of the pack? Who would they side with?
The questions bumped uneasily through her mind. Maybe she was getting ahead of herself. It wasn’t like Ty had declared any feelings for her, after all. From the moment she’d first kissed him, everything had started rolling out of control, faster and faster. So fast that she worried about destiny falling behind. She was a passenger on a runaway train about to jump its tracks and the conductor was nowhere in sight. All she could do was hang on to the wild ride and hope that momentum would carry them through.
Ty’s lips closed around her nipple then, pushing away her anxious thoughts. Though her vision only registered shades of yellow-gray in the lantern light, she’d never felt so immersed in sensation. Ty’s breath at her breast, the honeydew of his tongue. The feel of his short, silky hair between her fingers. A trace of wolf stayed with the man, together with the scent of sage, earthy and fresh. She wanted to memorize every heartbeat of this night. The tickle when he reached the top of her thigh, the heady bubble of pleasure when his fingers slipped inside.
Slow and sensual. The man was a natural.
When their bodies locked together at last, their movements were unrushed, like the long days of summer. They swayed in a gradual escalation of motion and sensation that brought them to their highest peak yet. It wasn’t cliffy or steep like those that had topped their earlier rounds, but rather a smooth, round dome with views all around — a panorama of the past, the present, even a hint of a promising future. When they both came in the very same breath, the climax didn’t push them blindly off the heights but sent them into a long, easy slide into a new valley. A secret Eden no one but them was allowed to enter.
A place called home, where their souls joined as one.
Afterwards, she stroked Ty’s chest until the tight cords of muscle eased into slumber. It was deep in the night. The moon was in the west, a few hours away from setting. She felt so warm next to Ty, so secure. And yet this man was so much more than just raw, gritty power. He’d revealed an incredibly tender side, too, stroking her long after the act, the motion seeming to soothe him as much as it did her.
She looked back on the night, trying to make sense of her feelings. The first time, in the truck, had been all about lust. Outside the cabin — that was thrill with an undercurrent of possession. But this last round? This gloriously soft, silky sex? That went deeper.
She wondered what emotions they might cycle through if they kept this up. Admiration? Respect? Love? Or just bitter disappointment. Even regret.
She rested her chin on Ty’s chest and watched him sleep, her fingers tracing the curves of his shoulder. She wanted to etch every detail of this beautiful night into her memory. Just in case.
* * *
Ty floated through the night, plastered to Lana as if someone had brushed her with glue, then pressed her to him. Except that person was himself, architect of his own predicament. He wanted to relish this short peace, this calm before the storm, yet something nagged at him, even in sleep. He tried swatting it away. Why leave this perfect spot he’d found somewhere between her left breast and hip?
But Lana was nudging him. “Ty, someone’s coming,” she whispered, her muscles wound tight.
His left ear flicked at the sound of an engine. Then came a squeak of brakes, the creak of a chassis, and the thump of a door closing. He stretched slowly, then sat up with a jolt, sniffing. Had he really slept so soundly that he’d missed someone’s approach?
He sniffed again and cursed. “Cody.” Why the fool was coming to the cabin to disturb the most glorious sleep of his life was a mystery to his hazy mind. But two things were very, very clear in the dusty pink of the pre-dawn sky. He was keeping this woman forever, and he was going to kill his brother.
Cody came crashing up the path to warn them of his approach, then cleared his throat on the stoop for two long minutes before finally calling through the open door. “Uh, Ty?”
He let his growl fill the still cabin. “It better be damn important.”
“It is, it is.” Cody’s voice barely trusted itself past the door frame. “Sorry!”
You better be. He rolled away from Lana and pushed himself up, feeling heavy and spent. Pack business, always pack business. He covered the distance to the door slowly and leaned a weary shoulder against the frame.
Cody’s hands tunneled into his pockets like maybe if he bored deep enough, the rest of him could hide in there, too. Yeah, he knew just how pissed Ty was. Good.
Still, the reason for his brother’s visit couldn’t be good. He raised a hand to scratch at his ear, but stopped halfway as Lana’s soft step resonated through the floorboards. He couldn’t suppress a twinge when her naked body tucked behind his, soothing and inquiring at the same time. Her fingers intertwined with his, giving them something much better to do that maul his own skin. He felt a new rush, one that had nothing to do with taking her back to bed. She was offering him all her inner strength and encouragement. He imagined facing his duties with that kind of support. Jesus, how different his life would be.
It wasn’t that he minded what he had to do. Hell, he lived for it, but he longed for more. Love. Companionship. Comfort. The words came rolling through his mind, all by themselves. Lana could give him all that, and more. She would shore him up, not weaken him. She could stand up to his power without fading away. With her, he could carve out a small space for his soul within the demands of the alpha role. Hope straightened his shoulders, even as they struggled under the implied threat weighing down the air.
“Good morning, Cody,” Lana murmured, peeking out from beside his shoulder. He curled a possessive arm backwards, just in case his little brother didn’t get the message.
Cody shifted back. Way back. Message received. “Morning.” He tipped his hat with that boyish smile that managed to melt just about every female.
Lana showed no reaction. She just nodded, sending a wave of satisfaction through him. A feeling t
hat faded with Cody’s next words.
“We got trouble, Ty.”
Chapter 11
Lana parked Cody’s truck in its usual spot, just inside the ranch gate. Back at the cabin, Ty had kissed her goodbye before going off with his brother to examine the scene of what appeared to be another rogue incursion. It was a hurried kiss full of unspoken promises — all but the one she’d managed to extract before he left.
“Promise me you won’t run off to fight without me.” Her voice wavered as she tugged him close.
Ty’s eyes were darker than ever as he pulled back to study her closely. “Lana,” he started, reluctance weighing on his lips.
She tightened her grip on the front of his shirt. “Promise!” She let her expression say the rest. That she was damn good in a fight. That she’d fought off rogues before. That she’d do anything for him, and anything to gain the respect she deserved in his pack.
His eyes searched hers a moment longer before he nodded, then pulled her into a last embrace. One that spun her dizzy inside, even though his lips were the only things moving.
When Ty broke away and drove off with Cody, she could practically see the burden of responsibility clamp down on his shoulders. She kicked at the dirt, then drove back home to the ranch. Alone.
Wait. Home?
She decided not to examine that one just now. She had enough on her mind. Enough to give the steering wheel a frustrated punch after parking the car. Damn it, she could help! Back in the Berkshires, she fought on the front line alongside her brothers. None of this women-stay-back-at-the-ranch nonsense. She and Ty could fight together through any obstacle the outside world could conjure: fathers, feuds, rogues. They’d conquer it all together, or die trying.
But this wasn’t her pack, no matter how much her heart leaped at the notion. One night with the alpha — no matter how delicious — hardly qualified her for special privileges. She knew she’d have to tread very carefully. She and Ty would have to face his father soon, and it wouldn’t be pretty. The thought had her hugging Ty’s shirt more closely around her as she stamped over to the guest house. She took a quick shower, deep in thought, then headed over for breakfast with her grandmother and Jean.
“Did you have a nice night, dear?” Jean leaned in for a kiss. “Oh. Oh my.”
Her grandmother looked over with raised eyebrows, and Lana shrank back. The women were old, but their noses missed nothing.
“Oh, you did have a good night,” Nan observed, and the older women giggled as her face went hot. She wished for the thousandth time that her kind weren’t able to scent every single emotion, every change in physical state.
Jean waved Lana to the breakfast table and winked at Ruth. “What do you think is redder, her face or the jam?”
“Oh, definitely her face.”
She buried her head in her hands. “Please don’t tease me,” she mumbled, suddenly very, very tired as the older women broke into stories of their own conquests and mornings-after.
“That lovely Baker boy, you remember him, Jean?” Nan was going on. “What big hands he had.”
Her hands flew to her burning ears. Too much information. Then something clicked and she shifted from embarrassment to outrage. “You knew about Mom and Ty’s father!” Her grandmother and Jean exchanged knowing glances. “Why did you bring me out here? Why?”
Nan smiled kindly. “Because I knew there was something special for you out here, dear.”
Jean murmured in agreement. “Someone.”
Her heart stumbled over the next few beats.
Nan went on. “The sky, the space. The spirit of this place. The first time we came — you remember?”
How could she forget?
“I knew you belonged here. I wanted you to see it again, to feel it, to taste it.” She flashed a naughty smile. “No innuendo intended.”
“Nan!” she protested. The heat in her cheeks told her they’d blazed right past red and deep into purple.
“You never seemed quite settled in the east,” her grandmother continued. Lana found herself looking at her lap; it was true. “I wanted to give you a second chance.”
She jerked her chin up. “At what?”
Her grandmother smiled coyly. “To finish what you started, last time we came.”
She had a thousand questions, but Jean butted in with a sly look. “Breakfast first.”
* * *
Lana stared out the picture windows of Jean’s house and took in the endless view. It was so much grander than the tight, green views of home. Stark and dangerous, yet exhilarating, too. Much as she loved the Berkshires, the desert tugged at something in her soul.
“How could Mom ever leave this place?”
Her grandmother gave her a sad smile. “Because your father offered her something Tyrone Hawthorne never could. Love.”
She pulled in a long, careful breath, as if speaking the word aloud might jinx everything.
That was all she got out of the two older women. They were stubbornly elusive, hinting rather than telling, insisting she had to find her own path. No matter how hard Lana pressed, they refused to explain themselves. Finally, she stamped away, drained. Fine, she huffed. She’d drop into bed for an hour or two, then try to make sense of it all.
When she awoke in the guest house and stretched, she checked the clock. Twice. That hour or two had stretched to six. Apparently, a long night of spectacularly fulfilling sex had taken its toll on her. Was Ty feeling it, too?
She wandered outside, hoping for a glimpse of him and immediately sensed that something was going on. Something big. The serenity of the ranch had been replaced by a leaden silence. The few pack members who were out and about wore dark looks and sniffed the air anxiously. Even old Jean seemed unsettled when Lana stopped by, rattling her teacup and jumping at every sound. Where were the rogues? What had the scouts discovered?
When she finally did catch a glimpse of Ty in the center of a huddle of men by the ranch gate, he looked deadly and resolute. When he glanced up, his gaze traveled through the air like a shock wave. She would have given anything to read his mind now, but the armor was locked in place and buckled tight.
When Ty immediately turned his attention to the business at hand without even acknowledging her, her heart sank. Last night, everything had seemed so clear. Now, in the light of day, she wasn’t so sure. There was no signal from him, not even a blip, and her mother’s warnings echoed in her mind. She could never establish equal footing with an alpha. She’d be relegated to the role of cook, maid, and sometime bedmate, expected to be at her powerful mate’s beck and call.
Maybe she needed to set emotion aside and think this through. Her pride, her independence, and her career were all at stake. Was she really prepared to risk everything for this man?
Yes! her wolf screamed.
The thing was, the beast was prone to seeing things in black and white. Real life was layered with nuances, and she couldn’t just will them away. All Lana could do was return to the shaded porch of the guest house and sit there simmering in uncertainty.
Things only got worse when an uninvited guest appeared. Audrey, wearing a broad smile that could only mean trouble.
“Lana, I just—” Audrey started, sashaying forward with all the warmth of a rattlesnake. Then she pulled up short, sniffing.
Here it comes, she groaned. More teasing.
Audrey pursed her ruby-red lips and smiled. Or was that a scowl? “Welcome to the sorority, honey.”
She blinked.
“So, how was it?” Audrey urged. Her words fell with the sticky drip of fresh blood.
Sorority? Her mind whirred. A group of women who had…what? Audrey leaned forward, eager to hear every luscious detail of her seismic night.
A sorority of women who’d slept with Ty? Her gut heaved as Audrey’s thick lips curved into a smug smile.
Audrey had slept with Ty? Her stomach twisted into a knot.
Audrey chuckled in staccato, cutting thrusts. “Oh, it must have been g
ood, I can tell. But of course, with Ty, it’s always good.”
Always? She nearly choked.
Audrey’s dreamy eyes went up as if she were reveling in her own carnal memories. “He’s screwed all the girls here, honey.”
Her jaw swung open. “Everyone?” Did he take them all to the cabin, too? Shower them with that incomparable blend of tenderness and blazing desire? But that could hardly be called screwing. She studied Audrey. Was she just trying to rile up the new girl in town?
The blond’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “He gets a piece of just about every woman who passes through here. And who would say no?”
The punch landed square in the gut, just as intended. She hadn’t said anything but yes, yes, yes.
But what about the promise in his eyes? Had she misjudged him so badly? Lana wavered, her stomach churning. She knew it was only Audrey’s word versus her wolf’s love-struck heart and frankly, neither was to be trusted. God, nothing would hurt more than finding out she was just another easy fuck for Ty. The flavor of the month. The flavor of the week, for all she knew.
Her heart sank. Here she’d been, thinking Ty was the One. But maybe history was repeating itself. After all, her mother had left Arizona to escape Ty’s father, a man incapable of love.
Like father, like son?
“I’ll let you down easy, honey.” Audrey’s triumphant tone suggested just the opposite. She forced herself to meet the woman’s eyes, determined to deny her the pleasure. “He’s taken.”
Taken? Was this another of Audrey’s games?
“He’s taken, well and good. Just…waiting.”
“Waiting for who?” She scraped the words through the sandpaper of her throat.
Audrey’s face took on a vengeful sheen as a long fingernail slashed the horizon. “Some woman he met years ago,” she spat. “That’s what he told Lucy after they slept together and she ran to him crying every day for a month.” Every dagger that pierced Lana’s heart was a bull’s eye for Audrey. “He said he lost his heart to someone a long time ago. He can never love anyone but her. The bitch.” Audrey sniffed, nose held high.
