Lana wasn’t an outsider. She belonged here, with him.
He was consumed with the need to possess her. Nothing but the mating call could do this to a wolf. But then again, he thought he’d heard the call once before. Long ago, when he’d caught that phantom scent on the wind.
The voice of doubt returned. Maybe he was kidding himself, letting one hot night carry him away. He’d go crazy trying to figure it all out in one night, though, and there was more pressing business right now. He set off up the gully, Cody and Lana following close behind. They climbed one hundred yards, scraping along the loose dirt and picking their way around wait-a-whiles. He stopped and cast his eyes around as Lana scrambled higher. Cody was right; there was nothing.
“Up here,” Lana called.
He swung up in six long strides, Cody’s skeptical step a tick slower behind him.
“There,” she pointed.
How she’d caught the glint of broken glass from way down on the road, he couldn’t tell. But a wave of silent pride swelled in him as Cody did a double take. Man, she’s good.
Mine, he growled back.
Cody put his hands up. All right already!
The ground was littered with shattered beer bottles. Lana edged around the shards on nimble, bare feet and craned her head toward a spot higher up. Mumbling, she set off up the steep slope. Doubled over the way she was, the flannel shirt barely covered her glorious ass. He shot a mental bark at his brother, and Cody averted his eyes.
“Here,” Lana called.
He scaled the slope, catching the scent of ashes before his eyes found a burned-out campfire. The ashy smell covered the scent of dried blood, and he studied the hollow until his eyes confirmed what his nose had already registered. There was a desiccated pile of sheep bones stuck with bits of matted wool. The place had been used as a temporary camp.
He exchanged looks with Cody. The rogue coyotes. It had to be.
Lana’s nose crinkled, probably as much from the fight that had scarred her as the smell. “Three days old, maybe?”
Close. More like two. The desert worked that fast.
“What do you think?” Cody asked. “Four of them? Five?”
He only nodded vaguely. “Enough to make trouble.”
Big trouble, Cody agreed.
“About as old as the dead sheep back there, right?” Lana waved toward where they’d met the Seymour ranchers, and a second stab of pride registered in him. He watched as Lana pointed around the campsite, reconstructing the scene. “So they stopped here and ate their fill. And then?” She looked from him to Cody, then back.
Exactly the question he was asking himself. Where were they now? Where would they strike next?
Lana kicked the dirt. “Fresh enough trail,” she murmured, sniffing the air like she was considering going after it herself. “You got a good tracker?”
He nodded. They had a few. Kyle, for one. Zack was another, but he was still off hunting with his mate. For an instant, Ty wished he could follow the rogue trail himself. He was a good tracker—a damn good one. But as alpha, he didn’t get to do that any more. He had to delegate, even when he wished he could do it all himself. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to follow the trail and rip the rogues to shreds. For trespassing on pack territory, not to mention interrupting his night with Lana.
Lana. He wanted her again. But he had duties to fulfill…
Something his sister Tina had been saying for years echoed in his mind. Give Cody more responsibility. We lead as a family. He studied his brother in the moonlight. Had he finally matured enough to be trusted?
Lana paced, looking for more clues, bare legs poking a long way out from under the flannel shirt. Ty caught himself looking a little too long, a little too closely and gave himself an inner pinch. Now he was the one who was dazed to distraction by a female, while Cody, of all people, was on track.
So let Cody handle it.
The rogues would strike again, but not tonight. He could feel that much in the air. He could afford to take the rest of the night off.
“Cody will take care of it,” he announced.
Cody went wide-eyed. I will?
He made his instructions quick and clear, so that even his little brother couldn’t mess them up. “Get back home and double the night watch. Assemble the trackers by first light. Got it?”
“Got it, got it,” Cody echoed, double timing it back to his truck.
He could feel the heat rise in his cheeks as he gave the orders. The very thought of trespassers on ranch land, even here on the periphery, pissed him off. But when Lana pressed to his side, his heat slid from anger over to desire. They weren’t finished for the night. Not by a long shot.
Chapter Nine
The world was tipping sideways and Ty wasn’t even trying to hang on.
He watched Cody leave in a plume of pale dust. Anticipation and the glorious sense of letting duty go, if only for one night, danced inside him as he and Lana climbed back in the truck and resumed their drive. A few minutes later, he turned off the main track, putting the truck in low gear to grind up the rough, serpentine path. Would she like his cabin in the hills? Would she feel at home there?
The thought brought a hail of laughter from his wolf. Something about the bachelor falling hard.
Whose side was the animal on, anyway? If you want to share, play nice.
The wolf promptly shut up.
Lana stroked his arm, sending little ripples of soothing heat through his body. He hadn’t even realized he’d tensed up until her touch eased it out of him. So much that his mind slid back off track with renewed lust.
“Keep touching me and you’ll find yourself in the back of the truck again.” His voice was all gravel, swirling at the bottom of a mountain stream, but Lana only smiled. “That or right here,” he finished, shaking his head at himself, his hands searching for a dry grip on the steering wheel.
Lana tilted her head back in silent amusement. Is that a promise?
Yeah, she knew right where she had him, and she liked it, too. The funny thing was, his wolf didn’t protest her power over him.
He tried not to dissect the thought too much as he drove on. When they finally reached the end of the track, he brought the truck to a halt with its bumper pushing against the bushes. He sighed, thinking how long it had been since he’d been up there. There’d been too many fires to put out down at the ranch lately. The sooner he erased the rogue problem, the sooner he and Lana would have time for more nights up here. More time for each other.
The truck was still swinging gently on its chassis when she turned to face him, a question in her eyes.
“We have to walk the rest of the way,” he said. “It’s not very far.” Still not close enough for his appetite, though.
Damn, he gulped, she really must be reading my mind. Because Lana’s hand went to the top button of her shirt—his shirt—in a move that was anything but innocent. She slipped the button open, then the next. His lips ticked with desire as his eyes followed along. She slipped out of the passenger door and stood outside, the wide V at her neck hinting at the swell of her breast. In one smooth move, she tugged the shirt off and tossed it into the cab.
Thump, went his heart, and the heavy sensation echoed in his groin. Lana stood as naked as she’d been at the beginning of this crazy night, waiting for him. He yanked his T-shirt over his head and swung his door open.
“Beat you to the top,” she called with a grin.
His jaw dropped as her finely coiled ass raced into the bush. He could already hear the pattern of her footsteps change from two to four. Ty dropped his pants in record time and shifted, following her cue.
Brush and brambles dragged along his thick fur, but all he felt was the rush of the chase. He bared his teeth in excitement. Damn, but the she-wolf could run. He thundered after her but only came within reach of her taupe rump on the last bend. He closed in, lust pulsing through his body. But Lana just flipped her
tail and leaped away, teasing him again. His blood pressure rose a notch as he kicked into high gear. He was beginning to think she might actually beat him to the front step when he knocked into her from behind.
Gotcha. He grinned in triumph, even though he suspected it was the other way around. Lana had a way of turning everything upside down. Yep, there it was, a triumphant look in her flashing eyes. She’d slowed at the last minute to let him catch up. His masculine pride would have been a lot more hurt if not for the fact that he was halfway up her back. The tufts of her ears were within snapping distance of his muzzle and for a moment, he was tempted to take her the wolf way. It would be so easy, so good.
Yet he hesitated. This woman was so different than any he’d ever met. Didn’t she deserve better than a hot, hard screw in the dark?
He rubbed his muzzle against the ruff of her neck. The tips of her ears were silk against the coarse stubble of his chin, and she gave a light growl of pleasure, coaxing him in with a brush of her hips.
Tempted. He was sorely tempted. But he wavered. He wanted to offer her something more than quick fuck. A lot better, and not just in terms of physical pleasure.
He stepped back and shifted, pulling himself to his full human height. The transformation was smooth and effortless, a sign that his wolf agreed. The question was, would Lana’s wolf agree?
He waited with baited breath. Her long-legged wolf was as seductive as her human one was, in that same spitfire way. Absolutely perfect, from the sheen of her brown coat to the bright blue of her eyes. Was he nuts for restraining himself?
But the fact was, he wanted all of her—the woman and the wolf. The latter harbored her instincts and passions. Her human side, though, was the seat of her mind, her heart, her principles. If he wanted to win this woman over, it was that side he would have to prove himself to.
The fact that he even wanted to win her over, that he even cared, struck him with its novelty. There were a hundred reasons they ought to stay apart, yet all he wanted was for them to be together. Together for good.
For good, his wolf echoed.
He squatted and reached a cautious hand toward her wolf, palm up. There was a time to be alpha, and a time to be an equal. Ty prayed he would remember how.
Lana’s eyes flashed, then softened, and she let out a slow breath. Slowly, her canine features blurred and gave way to her human shape in a rolling motion that left her seated on the ground before him. She leaned back on her elbows and considered him as her hair flowed over a shoulder, exposing her bare breasts.
“Alpha,” she growled in a low voice that said her inner beast was barely leashed, “You better not be turning me down again.” It was a warning, a protest. Her pose, however, was all tease. Her bent knees spread slightly apart, inviting him in.
God, he loved her pluck. He leaned into her space, pulse hammering. “She-wolf,” he rumbled, “you will never doubt me again.”
A ripple of laughter went through her naked body, and her breasts—the only soft flesh amidst lean muscle and taut skin—quaked with it. The movement sent an answering twitch through his cock.
“Oh, no?” she teased, leaning back farther and making space for him to kneel between her legs.
He sank an arm on either side of her body and came to within a hair’s breadth of her lips. “No.”
“Never?” she asked, eyes sparkling as her legs squeezed along his sides.
“Never.” He managed those two syllables, then fell into a hungry kiss. It was bold, possessive, demanding, but he couldn’t hold back. The wolf was close to taking over now. When Lana gave back in kind, the thin line between man and wolf merged and he eased her to the ground, locking her body beneath his and tugging her arms up over her head.
“You sure you want this?” he asked when he came up for air. Yeah, he was a little late in asking, but he had to be sure.
Her body was tight and hard, yet it wasn’t fighting his weight. On the contrary, she was pushing herself closer. “Don’t you dare stop, wolf,” she said then devoured his mouth with hers.
He clamped both her hands in one of his and let the other sweep along her body until it found the warm swell of her breast. He lowered his chin and let his lips follow the same path until they tightened over her right nipple. Her scent, taste, feel—he chased after each in turn, his mind jumping wildly from one to the other and back again. He switched from one nipple to the other and nipped just hard enough for her to cry out, even as the arch of her back demanded more. He wondered how long he could hold out this time.
Whether it was him or her who initiated the turn, he didn’t know. All he knew was that a minute later, she was on her hands and knees and he was bent over her from behind, running his hands over smooth feminine flesh that begged for instant gratification. He skimmed his palms over her shoulder blades, then followed the line of her ribs around and up, until he had her breasts cupped in two perfect handfuls. They were the only thing about Lana that might be called small or delicate—but they were perfect, just like the rest of her.
That was about as far as the man’s mind got before the wolf took command of his human body. He growled right into Lana’s ear—Mine! Mate!—pulled her hips close, and let his cock slide home.
Part of him wanted to pound his chest and roar as he sank in to her then pulled back and hammered home again. Mine! Another withdrawal, another powerful thrust. Mate!
He found a better grip on her waist, and pushed in again, sliding hot and deliciously deep. His wolf was pushing Lana hard, but she didn’t give any sign of protest. On the contrary, she rammed her hips back to meet each push with a moan.
Yes, she grunted in his mind. There’ll be time for gentle later. I want this now. Exactly this.
He pulled back until the very tip of his cock played at her entrance, torturing himself as much as her before plunging back in. She was slick and yielding and hot, and when he paused to relish the moment, her inner muscles squeezed hard, bringing him right to the edge of climax.
She released, letting him retreat, then return so she could do it again. He sank into her over and over, swimming in the glory of the sensation. Each time, she cried out her approval, her voice high and sweet in the dry desert air. “Ty!”
He kept his mouth shut, afraid of what he might say. Lana would be all right, but what if he blurted out something like Love or Mate? Was he ready for that?
Yes! his wolf sang. Yes!
They repeated the move again and again until they were both humming with the pleasure of it. A moment later, the steady metronome went wild, tipping from perfectly timed pleasure to sheer overpowering need. When his final thrust hit deep, he exploded inside and took Lana with him into a hot, screaming free fall he never wanted to end.
They sank to the earth and lay clasped tight, panting. Time became a blur, as if the laws of physics were trying to catch up with what they’d just done. His body blurred, too, going from warm and languid to increasingly heated, until his the wolf sprang out, finally freed for his turn. Lana shifted, too, and they hit a second wind, taking off on another wild chase that brought them in on a wide arc of the hill until they came in sight of the cabin where he caught her at last.
When they paired as wolves, every cell of his body howled with the thrill. Never, ever, had he been with a woman in both human and wolf form, let alone in the same night. As a wolf, he could unleash his animal side without fear, but it felt right that they’d let their human bodies unite first. Because this was more than a moonlit romp. It was a prelude to something bigger and better. The desert, the night, the stars—all of them leaned in and smiled with that same promise.
Then he and Lana were curled together on the ground, nuzzling their thick necks in a lazy, intimate dance. He lost himself in her, letting the line between their bodies blur. Wolves weren’t big on pillow talk—thank God—but they were masters of the post-coital nuzzle.
Lana’s tongue caressed his ear for long, languid minutes, melting his insides.
She was incredible. And she was his. The realization should have ripped through him like a bullet, but it spread slowly, like an oil lamp gradually illuminating the truth. As if it were inevitable, and he’d known all along.
Because everything was clear to him now.
May, all those years ago. The year the pump house burned down. She’d visited the ranch back then. How, why, he didn’t know. The critical thing was the date. That was the first time his father had taken him along to answer a call for help from another wolf pack. Twelve years ago.
He’d come home and caught the faint hint of a scent carried by the wind. He’d lost his heart to a phantom—the one wolf whose scent promised the kind of bond only possible with a destined mate.
Twelve years ago, Lana had visited the ranch, but she’d left before he returned.
The phantom and Lana were one and the same.
He buried his face in her neck, trying to hide the tremble inside.
Chapter Ten
Ty sucked in a long, deep breath. All those years ago, he’d fallen for Lana, even without having a face to put with the scent. These last few days, he’d done it all over again. And now he knew. It had been her all along. Her, only her.
Maybe he wasn’t a faithless bastard like his father, after all.
He could have beat his head against the ground at his own thick-headedness. How could he not have recognized it sooner? Maybe because Lana’s scent had been so faint back then, masked by a thousand desert flowers. And her scent would also have matured over time.
Matured. His mind grabbed at the word. That was it. Lana would have been very young back then; him, too. He had to marvel at it all. Fate had hidden them from each other until they were both ready.
Ready to stand up to the wrath of his father? He wrapped his body tighter around Lana’s. Yes, even that. Just a few years ago, he stood up to his father to refuse an arranged mate. Getting his father to accept a sworn enemy into the pack would be even harder, but the reward would be forever. He’d never let Lana slip away again. Never.
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