“One is a good start. After all, producing an heir is par for the course.” Alaric placed a hand on her belly, long tanned fingers contrasting with the white of her wedding dress as they splayed outward in a tender caress. “It would seem we’re already on our way to doing just that.”
“Wh-what?” Ilyssa stared at him, her mouth dropping open in surprise. She looked down at his hand and then back up at his smug smile. “Oh, come on,” she snorted. “You must be joking.”
When his expression did not change, she blinked. “Are you telling me I’m pregnant? How is it you know this? It’s my body; I think I would know if I was with-child!”
Alaric chuckled. “All women experience a change in their body chemistry when they are expecting,” he explained. “I knew from your scent. It’s different, now.”
“Oh, this is great.” Ilyssa threw up her hands. “So, are you telling me that every Werewolf in the vicinity can smell that I’m going to have a baby?”
“Of course,” he said. His golden eyes narrowed to slits, and his lips curled in a sly grin. “You didn’t think they were congratulating us on our nuptials alone, did you?”
Ilyssa let out an indignant gasp and shoved him lightly. “Bad wolf,” she said, chiding him, but she could not hold back the smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth.
She looked out over the city, to the sunlight dancing on the sparkling waters of the bay. “Well, all right. We’re going to have a child. This is good to know.” She drummed her fingers on the marble railing and nodded. “I guess this means there won’t be a need for any wedding night ‘celebrations,’ then.”
Alaric stared at her, speechless. Ilyssa found she couldn’t keep her straight face a moment longer. She sputtered, breaking out into robust laughter. “Now I’m joking,” she assured him. “Trust me, my love, with you, every night will be a celebration.” She slipped her arms around his waist and hugged him. “So. A pack, eh? I suppose we could make that happen.”
“I will be more than happy to do my part,” Alaric said. “My bride.” Cupping her chin in his hand, he tilted her face up and smiled down at her. “My Human queen.”
“My Werewolf king,” Ilyssa murmured, and drew him down for a kiss.
*****
THE END
Wild West Werewolf
A Paranormal Romance
By Jasmine Wylder
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Bonus Story 2: Wild West Werewolf
Chapter One
“I’ll go around the East end of the ranch,” Silas Ward pointed off toward the land that met with the West Fork Trinity River. His breath misted in front of him with each exhale.
He turned to face his daughter when Emmie didn’t answer.
She quickly realized she’d been nodding her head. “Right,” She spoke too loudly after her silence. “Red and I will take the West.”
Emmie was anxious to get moving in the cold. Her fingers and toes were beginning to go numb in the dark cold and it was no use to stand around talking. Emmie grinned at her father as she double checked her rifle and turned Red toward the East end of the ranch. The sun would be up soon, the sky was starting to glow with the promise of future warmth.
“…And be careful.” Her father’s words fell like pebbles at her back. Emmie’s eyes and ears were focused ahead. The last few months something had changed between her and her father. She’d grown into a woman and Silas had just seemed to notice, or maybe just the women in the town had begun whispering in his ear.
Her behavior had never bothered her father before but now he was suddenly all too aware that she was supposed to be a lady. not the farm boy he’d raised her to be.
Emmie was careful to wear dresses and do her hair up whenever she was sure to be noticed by someone from town but now even the old work pants she wore this morning had gotten a prolonged look.
Red trotted off, happy to be moving on the land he knew best. She went out a quarter of a mile and turned. Silas was nowhere to be seen, only lazy blocks of cattle clumped into misshapen groups speckled the land.
“Now it’s just me and you,” She leaned over Red and gave him an affectionate pat. “Let’s go find some cattle rustlers.”
Emmie gave a light whistle and Red took off again, this time at a canter. The air seeped straight through the woolen scarf she'd pulled around her neck and her eyes watered, but her thighs gripped around Red, her muscles contracting and blood finally begins to move through her body.
Mornings were always early on the ranch but this morning they’d come out for a reason. Thieves.
Nothing had been taken from the Ward ranch, yet. But there were rumors. The McGillicuddy Ranch to the East of them had lost a dozen head of cattle in the middle of the night. Vanished into thin air. And the McGillicuddy’s didn’t have any to spare. They were hard up and the whole town knew it.
It had been Emmie’s idea to do a few security rounds in the middle of the night and Silas had basically agreed. He’d not thought it a large enough problem to enlist the help of ranch hands or to make a 2 A.M. round as Emmie had first suggested but he’d thought one early morning round couldn’t hurt.
A soft sound of movement made Emmie stop. She pulled on Red’s reins and looked into the partially lit morning. The sound came again, clearer now that she’d stopped moving. Emmie turned Red on a ninety-degree angle and stared ahead. When the sound came once more she took off. Red instinctively understood his owner, his legs and neck reached forward as he lunged toward their unknown destination.
The thundering of Red’s hooves wouldn’t go unnoticed by thieves if that’s what the noise was, so Emmie pushed the horse to move with all his power. The sun was coming up now and the horizon became clearer as Emmie accelerated.
A small group of longhorn cows were running along the horizon. Emmie squinted out to where they moved. In a few yards, she understood why she didn't see any thieves.
"Coyotes," Emmie said under her breath as she pulled up short. With one flick of her hand, she unstrapped her gun and swung it over her shoulder. She pulled the rifle into focus and held tight to the group. There were three or four coyotes, and they were snapping at the cattle, moving faster than she'd ever seen before.
"Come on," She whispered to her rifle. Red held still as if he knew just what she'd wanted. As soon as one pulled into focus they were quickly out again. Emmie refocused and waited for one on the outside of the group. With a quick motion, she cocked the gun and pulled the trigger.
The rifle blasted into the early morning air. She hit him, she could have sworn she’d hit him, but he was already gone. The cattle began to scatter and stumble in different directions. Her shot had scared the coyotes off. Emmie squinted hard, holding her rifle with one hand and guiding Red forward with the other.
Nothing. The cattle were no longer together and Emmie could see no sign of the coyotes. She trotted around the spot where they’d clustered. A spray of blood dotted a dry patch of cold ground.
"I thought so," Emmie spoke to Red, whose ears perked up at the sound of his mater's voice. She sighed and looked uneasily to the horizon. After a hard moment of staring at nothing, Emmie made a call to the cattle. She rounded up the group, and slowly moved them back toward the main house. They would have to keep the groups closer to home overnight unless until someone could watch them graze during the day.
Halfway back to the main house, Emmie saw Silas galloping toward her. She saw worry and relief on his face at the same time and Emmie realized that he'd heard the shot.
“No men, just coyotes,” Emmie called out in his direction before he could ask.
“Coyotes?” Silas’ brow wrinkled.
Emmie raised her shoulders in a shrug but her face burned red with embarrassment.
“They dead?”
Emmie coug
hed a little and looked away, “No.”
“No?” Silas stopped his horse and Emmie could feel her father’s eyes staring at her. She was a sure shot. Better than any of the men on the ranch. Better then Silas himself.
“I hit one but then it disappeared. They were large and…fast…not like the usual coyotes from around here.”
Silas nodded but didn’t respond. Emmie took a large breath then began moving Red around the cattle again.
"Well, help me bring them in," Her words came out sharper than she'd meant them to and she could feel a bad mood settling over her day. The sort of mood that would be very hard for her to shake.
Once the cattle were close enough for them to keep an eye, Emmie took off toward a small empty paddock on the far side of the main house. She unbridled Red and grabbed her rifle.
“Where are you going?” Silas called after her.
“I need to make sure this thing is working properly,” She indicated the rifle in her hand and watched as Silas repressed a smile. Emmie was not amused even if her father found it humorous.
“I don’t miss.”
"I thought that's exactly what happened," Silas laughed. Emmie had been talking more to herself than to her father but now she turned to him with wide eyes. He tried to straighten out his face but it was useless, he began laughing again almost immediately.
Emmie's jaw tightened and she walked into the paddock with more purpose and aggression than was strictly necessary. She picked up three discarded horseshoes and walked them back to Silas.
“Throw them,” Her voice was void of the good nature Silas was unable to repress.
He took a sigh and looked at his daughter with a nod, “Alright.” He pulled one horseshoe away and shifted.
“No,” Emmie shook her head at Silas.
“What?” He looked at his hand defensively.
“All three at the same time,” Emmie tipped her head forward.
Silas slowly grinned again then moved all three half-moons into his right hand. With a flick of his wrist, he threw the group high into the air.
In one swift motion, Emmie lifted her rifle. Three shots rang out followed by the sound of startled hooves scampering away from the noise. As each horseshoe fell to the ground Emmie looked at them happily.
“Guess it still works after all.” She smiled at her father, dropped her rifle to her side, turned, and walked with a light step back to the main house.
Chapter Two
The town of Cool Water Gap was so small it hadn’t been officially added to the map of Texas. With most of its residents being cattle and quarter horses it wasn’t difficult to see why people made an event of going into town. Town consisted of the buildings that formed three sides of a square.
A general store stood on one side, a twenty-seat church at the far corner and the thirty-seat saloon at the other. Emmie lifted a large bag of feed onto the end of their family wagon. Silas was still in the store probably being cajoled into buying things he didn’t need. There were three particular women of the town who had a special eye for Emmie’s father.
Two were widows and one a spinster. One of the widows also happened to own the general store. Emmie watched with pity every week as Martha’s eyes grew greedy for Silas’ attentions. He was not good at setting boundaries. Emmie knew that her father should be interested in finding a good woman who could make his life better, but she also knew that he wouldn’t.
Anna, Emeline’s mother, had died when she was only two-years-old in a horse accident and Silas had never even considered adding another woman to his life. He’d raised Emmie the best he’d known how and ignored the near stifling attentions he’d received ever since.
“You here by yourself?” Kate McGillicuddy leaned over the back of the wagon.
“Silas is trapped inside with Martha,” Emmie smiled at her friend. Kate and Emmie had grown up together. Kate only a year older and Emmie’s nearest neighbor they’d spent plenty of time playing at the McGillicuddy farm as children. Kate’s mom was wary of letting her little girl play with Emmie at the Ward ranch where Emmie was allowed to run around like a little boy.
“How’s your family doing?” Emmie jumped onto the back of the wagon before she noticed a particularly vocal townswoman giving her a look of disapproval. Emmie brushed her skirts out and smiled at the woman.
“Not great, dad hasn’t been able to sleep since before the recent cattle disappearance.” Kate’s face changed and Emmie thought for the first time that she looked much older than her years. “So, I decided to work at Birdie’s place,” Kate looked across the square and Emmie followed her friend’s gaze.
Birdie Samuels owned the saloon in town. The Little Bird Saloon drew its customers from miles away, the women who worked there earned themselves a permanent stigma while the men who frequented the saloon seemed to get a free pass from everyone in town.
“Your father is going to let you?”
Kate shifted uncomfortably, “He’s not happy about it but there’s no other choice really.”
“Are things really that bad? Maybe Silas could help or—”
"—it's ok Emmie." Kate's eyes met hers. "Really, I'm just so grateful that Birdie gave me a job." Kate lifted up taller and pressed her lips together not unlike Birdie Samuels who was a good fifty pounds heavier than tiny little Kate.
Kate turned into the square and Emmie followed her friend’s gaze.
"Who are they?" Kate's voice went soft and at first, Emmie had no idea which "they" she was talking about. Then she noticed a group of men walk out from behind the new church building. Emmie squinted at them.
All four were young, rugged, they looked like they lived on the road, one had a limp and Emmie could see his leg was bandaged and his bandages seemed to be showing fresh blood.
“Probably wranglers, cowboys,” Emmie looked back to her friend who was still staring with interest.
“Early for that sort, don’t you think?” Kate shifted her weight and Emmie noticed her friend take on a more womanly posture. Emmie wasn’t sure how she felt about the shift in her friend.
“Maybe they’re just passing through? Headed somewhere to cattle drive in April?”
The men began walking across the square and each one turned to look Kate. The looks they gave made Emmie's arm hair stand on end and her heart beat fast. The last man, taller with a set jaw and gray eyes, caught Emmie off guard. His eyes were focused on her.
Emmie meant to look away but found herself unable. Her gaze was glued to the focused gray eyes and a heat pulsed through her body. She felt like the wind had been knocked out of her lungs.
“Well, well,” Kate turned around to face Emmie whose bizarre spell had finally been broken by the other woman. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Emmie’s voice didn’t even sound like her own coming out of her mouth.
“Hey,” A male’s voice came from the square and Kate whipped back around as Emmie looked for the cause of the sound.
The first guy in line, thicker than the others with dark red hair, was standing over one of the boys from town. He was a big boy but he’d always been a bit slower than the other children his age. The town was protective of the boy and seemed to take it as a group effort to take extra care of him. Emmie had never seen anyone be overly mean to him. Ever.
“What just happened?” Emmie jumped off the edge of the wagon her body taut with attention.
“I don’t know,” Kate’s voice hadn’t raised above a whisper. “Maybe nothing?”
As the boy stood up, looking as confused as everyone watching, the large stranger pushed him back to the ground. Other townspeople looked on but Emmie didn’t see anyone else. Before she even realized she was moving she was halfway across the square. Her skirts brushed back behind her, a trickle of sweat moving down her neck, the chill in the air doing little to cool the red heat in her cheeks.
“What’s going on?” Her voice was brittle and she felt her stomach clench.
The man with the gray eyes turned to lo
ok at her but the red-haired man didn’t even turn his head.
Emmie moved in front of the red-haired man and reached down for the boy’s arm.
“Come on,” It took every ounce of her energy for Emmie to smile. The boy's brow was furrowed and his eyes refused to meet Emmie's or anyone else's. He looked to the ground as Emmie's strong hands helped to lift him. When he was standing again Emmie shielded his body with her own, waiting for him to turn away from the group. The boy was shaking and Emmie's stomach turned sour at the thought of the man at her back.
The four men behind and even the boy in front of her were huge compared to her tiny frame. She was small but she was strong and every bit of her body wanted to turn and savagely attack the red-haired man. She moved the boy with her hands, unwilling to put him in the middle of another confrontation. Her face turned to the side and her eyes swept over the man’s face.
He was ugly, not like the grey-eyed man, this man had a cruel glint in his eye. His whole person seemed to glow red from his hair down. His face was puckered in disgust and Emmie felt every muscle in her body prepare to attack, but the arm she held in her hands demanded she walks on. Her utmost duty was to the boy whose arm shook under her hands.
“Let’s go,” She pulled her eyes away from the man who refused to look back at her. But as she moved across the square the hair on her arms prickled and she had the distinct feeling that someone else was watching her go.
Chapter Three
“Would you mind if I took a few things over to the McGillicuddy’s?” Emmie looked at Silas over dinner the next evening.
“A few things like what?” Silas looked over at his daughter.
“I don’t know,” Emmie pushed at a lump of stewed vegetables across her plate. “I thought I saw an extra apple custard pie in the larder.” Emmie looked away from her father. Silas might have been immune to Martha’s attentions but he was not immune to her apple custard pie, something she only made twice a year.
Sheltered by the Alpha Bear: Alpha Werebear BBW Interracial Shifter Paranormal Romance Page 18
