by Lisa Kessler
She pulled back. “I know it’s a long shot, but I have to try.”
I’d closed that door ages ago. “Be careful.”
“I will.” She smiled. “And tell Luke if he doesn’t take good care of my baby sister, I’ll come up to Reno and kick his ass.”
I chuckled. “I don’t need anyone to take care of me. But he does make me happy.”
“You deserve it.”
“Thanks. I love you.”
“Love you, too, Rave. Call me when you get there.”
I got back to the ranch before Luke. Good. I had one last loose end to handle before we left town. Once I was out of the van, I headed for the barn. The wind whipped around me, freezing my ears and stinging my cheeks.
The tack room door was ajar, and I hustled inside. Gabby was waiting.
I tried to catch her eye. “Thanks for meeting me.”
We hadn’t had an instant friendship. Tough when you both wanted the same guy. But we also didn’t have any bad blood between us, either. That’s what I was counting on.
“I’m only here for Luke.” She lowered the hood on her jacket. “He’s a great horse trainer.”
I wasn’t going to argue. “Did you talk to Adam?”
She nodded. “Yeah. My folks are going up to check out Whispering Pines this week.”
“Sounds good. Thank you.”
She crossed her arms. “We’re not doing any of this for you.”
“I know.” I put my hands up a little. “I appreciate you keeping it on the down low, too. If it doesn’t work out…I just don’t want to get Luke’s hopes up.”
Her stare weighed heavy on me, sizing me up. “You really love him.”
“Yeah, I do.” A smile warmed my lips. “Very much.”
“He’s a good guy. I’m glad someone’s looking out for him.” She sighed. “I better get going.” Neither of us moved as awkward silence descended. Finally she turned for the door. “Have a safe trip.”
And she was gone.
I waited a couple of minutes. The last thing I wanted was to bump into her again. I wasn’t going to apologize for falling for Luke, and aside from that, Gabby and I didn’t have much else in common.
When I figured the coast was clear, I opened the door and bumped right into Luke. He caught me before I fell and held me close. “I didn’t expect to find you down here.”
His knee was almost completely healed now. No more crutch, but he wasn’t exactly running just yet, either. I smiled up at him. “I’m full of surprises. So are you ready for the trip home?”
He bent to kiss my lips and whispered, “Almost.”
I hummed against him and stepped back. “Almost? We leave in the morning.”
He nodded with a playful spark in his eyes. “So we’ve still got tonight.”
“To pack…”
“Already packed.”
I raised a brow. “So what’s left to do?”
A sexy, lopsided grin lit up his face, and my heart fluttered as I ran my hand up his chest. “You sure your knee is up to it?”
He swooped me up into his arms. “What knee?”
I laughed and nuzzled into his neck as he carried me toward the cottage. His pulse pounded in my ears, and I lifted my head. “I can walk.”
He chuckled. “I’m fine.”
“Your heart is racing.”
“Not because of my knee.” He set me on the ground at the passenger side of the Mustang and opened the door. I got in and noticed sleeping bags and a backpack in the backseat.
He got in the driver’s side and answered me before I could ask. “Thought one last dinner at the vortex might be fun.”
I blinked. One of my few happy memories in this town. “Sounds perfect.”
It was dusk by the time Luke donned the backpack. The trail was rocky and uneven. I shook my head, eyeing all the rocks. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”
He handed me a sleeping bag. “It’s a great idea.”
His grin won me over against my better judgment. If he ever started using his sexy powers for evil, I’d be in trouble. “Fine, but if you hurt your knee again…”
“…you have my permission to I-told-you-so me all the way to Reno.”
I rolled my eyes, trying not to laugh, and headed for the vortex.
By the time we reached the top, I didn’t need my jacket anymore. The chilly wind invigorated me. For the moment. Luke stripped off the backpack while I started to unroll the sleeping bag.
“Just a sec.” He dug into the pack and removed cold pizza, a couple of beers, and finally an air mattress.
My eyes widened along with my smile. “Nice upgrade.”
He laid it out flat before hitting the battery pack switch to inflate it. “It’s the only thing I’d change about our first time up here.”
We munched pizza and stared at the tapestry of stars above us. Luke glanced my way. “Thanks for coming up here with me tonight. I know the weather’s not…ideal.” He smiled. “But before we go home, and you meet the Pack and my family, I wanted one more night of just us.”
I finished my beer and set the bottle aside, trying not to grin. “It didn’t have anything to do with the vortex energy up here making us…”
He chuckled and put my hand over his heart. “I already told you it wasn’t pounding because my knee hurt.”
I laughed as he laid me back on the mattress and grabbed the other blanket. “I had plans for you.”
“For me?”
He nodded, his lips brushing mine. “Big plans.”
His hands ran down my body, his touch hungry and possessive as our tongues wrestled together the way I ached for our bodies to join. He made quick work of the button and zipper on my jeans. I lifted my hips, and he slid them off.
“Yours need to go, too.”
He obliged my request, and judging by his erection, the cool temperature didn’t seem to have any effect on how badly he wanted me. I held the covers open for him to get inside with me, but he lifted the sleeping bag near my feet and slipped underneath.
I squeaked as he spread my legs. “You’re cold!”
“And hungry for you.” His breath was hot on my inner thigh. His cool lips made their way up, teasing me until my back arched, aching for his attention.
He pressed his mouth against me, his tongue sliding deep into my core. I buried my hands in his hair and bent my knees, opening myself to him. Luke growled, and the vibrations rocked through my bloodstream. He nibbled little higher, and my entire body shuddered.
“Right there,” I gasped.
He slid his fingers inside me while his tongue worked faster. My heart pounded in my ears. My hips writhed into his fingers.
From under the covers he murmured, “Let me taste you. Come for me, Raven.”
My orgasm consumed me. My body, my heart, my soul were all his. He withdrew his fingers as my inner muscles clenched tight, his mouth tender and slow against my sensitive flesh. I trembled, staring up at the stars and thanking whatever god or fate or destiny made Luke my mate.
His head poked out the top of the sleeping bag cover, passion still burning in his eyes. He sat up and tugged off his T-shirt. “Come here.”
I straddled his lap, enjoying the way he groaned as his erection entered the warmth of my body. God, he fit perfectly. He lifted my shirt off over my head and unfastened my bra. The cold air had my nipples rock hard before his lips covered my breast. I arched my back, watching the sensual way he fed on my body. He looked up at me from under his dark lashes as he ground his hips into me, sending another flood of heat through my veins.
I dropped my head back, moaning his name up to the heavens. He held me tight, the friction teasing us higher. I slid my hand between us, my fingers rubbing in time with his thrusts.
He kissed my shoulder. “I want to make love to you all night.”
My teeth grazed his ear. “We’ll freeze.”
A husky laugh escaped him. “Then we better come…now…”
Hearing him cry out
my name as he erupted deep inside me sent me right over the edge with him. We shuttered through the aftershocks, clinging to each other under the fathomless universe of stars.
“I love you,” I whispered. “Thank you for finding me.”
He leaned back enough to meet my eyes. “I would’ve searched forever.”
I kissed him as he turned us, lying over me on the air mattress without separating our bodies. Already he was stiffening again, and I had to admit…
I might miss the vortex.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Luke
Coming home hadn’t been anything like what I expected. A small part of me, a selfish part, had loved being my own man in Sedona, but something crazy happened when I got home.
I was still the same guy here.
Maybe it was all a state of mind, but I left Reno as the baby of the Pack, or so I thought, and now…I was no longer Adam’s assistant trainer. When we got back to Reno, he presented me with business cards.
Luke Reynolds
Head Trainer, Whispering Pines Ranch
Adam was quick to let me know he wasn’t retiring, but I was welcome to start bringing in my own clients and taking on more responsibility at the stable.
After I introduced Raven to all of the Pack, Taryn, Jared’s mate and owner of Goldstone Properties, found us a great rental house with two bedrooms and just enough space that Raven could bump into me whenever she liked.
My parents and Raven hit it off from the moment I introduced her. She took over tending bar at the Full Moon Bar and Grill and enticed my brother to commit to bringing Logan and the Howlers back for another intimate show in the restaurant.
The best part was seeing Raven happy. I thought she was gorgeous from the first moment I met her, but the shadows in her eyes were gone now, no more fear and anger. She smiled and laughed, and every time her gaze caught mine, I felt like the luckiest son of bitch in the world.
My only small regret was giving up the horses at Valley Farms back in Sedona. Especially Sabrina. I’d get new clients. I already had one. But Sabrina was something special. She was going to win championships, but it would be for someone else now.
I turned off the spigot at the end of the barn and rolled up the hose as Adam came down the barn aisle. “Did the corner stall on the right get new bedding?”
I nodded and straightened up. “Yeah, it’s ready. Is a new horse coming in today?”
He nodded. “Something like that.”
His cryptic answer made me smirk. “What the hell does that mean?”
Raven’s van pulled down the drive. She came down, all smiles. “Am I late?”
Adam shook his head. “Nah, just in time.”
It was like I just woke up in the damned Twilight Zone. “Is someone going to clue me in here?”
Raven grinned, coming to my side and sliding her arm around my waist. “It’s a surprise.”
“What is?”
Adam cocked his head; then I heard it, too. A diesel engine. A red Dodge dually with a matching horse trailer turned into the drive. I recognized it instantly.
“Valley Farms. What are they doing here?”
Adam stared at my mate and back to me. “Raven suggested to their daughter that Sabrina should stay in training with you at least through the upcoming show season. They came up last week while you were house hunting, and I showed them around. They thought it would be a good fit, and Gabby is going to come up one weekend a month for lessons.”
I looked at Raven, struggling to wrap my head around this. “You talked to Gabby?”
She nodded with a smile. “Don’t look so surprised.”
I chuckled, shaking my head. “You two weren’t exactly best friends.”
“True, but we both agreed on one thing.” She took my hand. “You’re an amazing trainer, and it wouldn’t be fair to Sabrina to stick her with someone else.”
I embraced her and swung her around, drinking in the sound of her laughter. When I set her down, I focused on my Alpha. “Raven got you involved, too?”
He nodded. “She convinced me Whispering Pines could handle two trainers, and when she told me her plan to get Sabrina’s owners up here, I had to help.” He glanced at the truck as they killed the engine. “They told me they hated to lose you. You were the best trainer they ever had.”
I stared at Raven and vaguely registered Adam in the background.
“I’m heading up to help unload the mare.”
His footsteps faded as I kissed her. Resting my forehead on hers, I smiled. “I can’t believe you did this.”
She shrugged. “You were giving up everything to bring me back here, and I couldn’t stand it.”
I ran my finger down her soft cheek. “Thank you.”
She shook her head slowly. “Remember that night when we met at the rest stop and you told me I wasn’t alone anymore?” Her eyes searched mine. “Well, you’re not, either.”
My heart pounded in my ears. I finally understood what my brother and the other wolves in the Pack had been talking about. My mate wasn’t only mine—I was hers, too.
And whatever the future held, I’d never be a lone wolf again.
I headed up to meet my new clients, and the devil himself couldn’t have wiped the damned smile off my face.
God, it was good to be home again.
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Acknowledgments
First off, I have to thank all my readers for your love of the Wolf Pack and for telling your friends about the series. I couldn’t do this without you! I also need to thank my editor, Jenn Mishler, for helping me polish this one, and to Bridget O’Toole, Tera Cuskaden, and the entire Entangled Publishing team for all your support for the Moon Series! I also need to thank my fabulous agent, Laurie McLean, for always believing in this series and helping me find a home for it!
Big shout out to my intrepid beta readers: Denise Fluhr, Heather Cox, and Elizabeth Neal! You guys always keep me on track and inspired to write more. Thanks SO much!
I’m also super grateful to my amazing Night Angels Street Team! You really are the BEST readers in the world. I’m so lucky to have you all in my corner helping spread the word about my books!
Lastly, I couldn’t do any of this without the support of my family! I love you Panda and Reno! And to my husband who was such a good sport when I drove him all over Sedona and out to the Hopi Nation for book research. He endures me asking every living breathing person a million questions, and never rushes me. And at least this time we didn’t get caught in a blizzard… I love you!
About the Author
Lisa Kessler is an Amazon Best Selling and award winning author of dark paranormal fiction. Her debut novel, Night Walker, won a San Diego Book Award for Best Published Fantasy-Sci-fi-Horror as well as the Romance Through the Ages Award for Best Paranormal and Best First Book. Her short stories have been published in print anthologies and magazines, and her vampire story, “Immortal Beloved,” was a finalist for a Bram Stoker award. When she’s not writing, Lisa is a professional vocalist, performing with the San Diego Opera as well as other musical theater companies in San Diego. You can learn more at authorlisakessler.com. She loves hearing from readers—[email protected]
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