ARINA'S MATE (Shifters of the Bulgarian Bloodline Book 2)

by Dalia Wright

  Jasmine’s little Jetta speed down the dirt road, probably faster than it should have. But hey, it was a nice summer day. The sun was beating down on the road, the sky was clear except for a few well-placed clouds that seemed almost close enough to reach out and touch. Hey, guess that’s why Land of the Living Skies is on the license plates around here- right?

  Jasmine grinned widely as she passed a small town- the first she had seen in an hour or so. Her music loud and all four windows rolled down as she cruised along the road. Right now, she couldn't be happier.

  An hour later, as Jasmine made her way closer to her destination she could have been much happier. She could have been there. Only a little longer left. She told herself as she turned down the dirt road that promised to take her there- in 31 K.

  It didn’t take long to get there, or maybe she just wasn’t paying as much attention as she should have been but Jasmine slowed as she saw the sign advertising the guest ranch and turned down the long winding road.

  As she came to a stop in front of a row of buildings she looked around shutting the engine off and slipped out of the car, her Vera Wang purse in her hands. Jasmine heard the crunch of gravel behind her.

  “Hi, ma’am.”

  His voice sounded like silk as he spoke. Jasmine took a deep breath. Cowboys. The real reason she’d made the trip all the way out here. Her heart skipped a beat as she turned to see who stood behind her. From the ground up, Jasmine took everything in.

  Work boots, jeans, a T-shirt, tanned muscles, green eyes that sparkled; and thick brown hair. He gave her a smile.

  No, no, no. No cowboy boots. No cowboy hat- hell, the shirt wasn’t even plaid!

  All he had going for his cowboy vibe was the tanned muscles. Jasmine eyed them for a fraction of a second. Okay, those are nice. She admitted to herself.

  A flush touched her cheeks, realizing she hadn’t said anything yet. “Hi.” She smiled widely. “I um, I’m here to check in.”

  His eyes roamed over her body, and Jasmine was utterly aware of it. His left cheek curved up as he smiled.

  “My name’s Ben, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Come on in. We’ll get ya’ all settled.” Jasmine took a deep breath and followed the man into a building. Out here there was actually fresh air- something she wasn’t used to. “You’re lucky, you’ve got the ranch all to yourself.” He smiled as he circled around the counter. “Except me, of course.”

  “You run it?” She asked, trying to get a feel for the place- and the man in front of her.

  He nodded. “My daddy ran the place growing up, left it in my hands when he passed four years ago.” He looked around the small building he’d taken me into. It was old and run down. Sadness touched his eyes.

  There was a fraction of a second where neither of them spoke. Then, the man shook his head and smiled widely before looking down at a black binder.

  “I’m gonna’ guess your name is Jasmine, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “We’ve got ya booked to stay the weekend.”

  “Yup.” She nodded.

  “Alrighty,” He pulled out a set of keys. “Room number 8.”

  “Thank you.” She took the keys from him. His rough fingers brushed against her for a fraction of a second. Jasmine’s heart skipped a beat, blood rushing through her body as his green eyes locked on hers. A smile touched his lips.

  For a split second Jasmine got a better chance to give him a once over- his face at least. Scars. Small ones, but they were there. His green eyes never seemed to stop sparkling, and when he smiled he revealed a row of perfectly white teeth.

  Her heart skipped a couple of beats.

  Then it was all over.

  He pulled his hand back, stuffing it in his pocket and circled around the desk. “Let me help you with your bag.” He padded towards the door.

  “Oh no, it’s fine.” He grabbed the handle and pulled it open for her. “Thank you,” She said without realizing if she was talking about the door or the bags. “But really, I’ve got them. I don’t have much.”

  After all, it was just a weekend away. A small suitcase was more than enough.

  “Now ma’am,” Her heart skipped a beat again. Being called ma’am was something she could get used to. “It’s my job to make sure your stay here is as pleasant as it can be-”

  Before he could finish his sentence gravel crunched along the driveway. The man turned to see who it was. His eyes widened slightly. He cleared his throat and turned back to her. “If there is anything you need, anything at all, please let me know.”

  “Of course.” Jasmine tried not to sound surprised. What’s with the sudden shift? She wondered. Despite the urge to stay and see who stepped out of that black truck, Jasmine forced herself to turn her attention to her Jetta and grabbed her bags from the trunk.

  She could hear them talking. It was him, another man and a woman. Jasmine’s brow furrowed trying to make out what they were saying while still making it look like she wasn’t trying to.

  Don’t be nosey. She scolded herself as she unlocked the door to her room and stepped inside.

  It was the last room on the line of buildings, which meant it had more windows than the rest of them.

  Hardwood floors, with a large bed. It wasn’t anything fancy, but with a dresser and a mirror on the other side of the room, a door leading to a bathroom and an oversized quilt on the bed Jasmine thought it would be perfect for the weekend.

  This weekend wasn’t about getting away and pampering herself. If she’d wanted that she could have stayed back home. No, this weekend was about getting away from her normal life, and the people in it. It was about getting outside and getting some fresh air. It was about changing things up. And maybe finding me a cute cowboy.

  They must be around the ranch somewhere. The man who had checked her in, although very cute, looked nothing like a cowboy. I mean come on, what kind of cowboy doesn’t even wear a cowboy hat? There had to be some around here helping out- after all, she knew there were horses here.

  After freshening up and checking her email Jasmine headed back out of the room, tucking her key into her pocket and determined to explore. She’d come out here to get away from being in the city, and she was going to take advantage of it.

  A walk proved to be just what she needed. A chance to stretch her legs after having been in a car for the past two days. The summer heat was comforting, as opposed to an over air-conditioned office that she was used to.

  She didn’t walk along before she saw someone off in the distance with a horse. It wasn’t until she got a little closer that she realized it was Ben.

  She watched him work with the creature in front of him. His eyes never leaving it. They were in a small pen. I wonder if that actually keeps the horse in. There was something off about it. The horse looked frail.

  Jasmine’s head tilted to the left as she watched him work with the horse. She padded over to a hay bale and sat down, just taking everything in.

  His hands worked over the creature softly, but still it looked like the horse might break under his touch. The thing was frail. Jasmine could count every one of his ribs. Her heart ached as she stared at it.

  Ben stepped away. Turning towards her.

  His eyes locked on hers.

  Jasmine’s heart skipped a beat. She hadn’t been expecting him to catch her. She was going to keep walking after a quick break and he’d seemed so into what he was doing with the horse.

  He leaned towards the creature, whispered something and then headed towards her.

  Crap. She thought.

  It was too late to just get up and leave. She’d been caught. If she ran she would look like she was guilty of something.

  “I didn’t see you come up.”

  Jasmine could feel the heat on her cheeks. “I went for a quick walk… I um, thought I’d take a break when I saw you working with that horse.”

  “Julia.” He nodded looking over his shoulder at the creature as she munched on some hay he’d left. “She�
��s been quite the challenge. I don’t blame her, though. She came to us looking ten times worse than that. Can you believe it?”

  Jasmine’s stomach turned. She couldn’t. How could the creator look worse?

  “What happened to her?”

  “I’m not sure.” He confessed sitting down beside her. Ben stared out at the horse. “I never know what happens to em’ before they come here.”

  Jasmine raised an eyebrow. He made it sound like there were a lot of them before Julia. Ben caught the way she was staring at him. A soft smile touched his lips.

  “A friend of mine’s got a place that rescues horses from bad situations. She gives me a call every now and then when she needs a place to keep em’. Normally she says someone else will come out and do the rehabilitation, but by now we both know that’s a load’a crap.” He stared off, his mind lost in thought. “I treat the horses when they get here. I normally end out having to feed them often because I’m the only one here. I… grow attached to them. I keep them all.” He almost sounded ashamed.

  “All of them?”

  “We’re supposed to be a ranch; I figure why part with them. My daddy thought it was a great idea, giving the poor creatures a new home where they could be loved, but the truth is- we just don’t get enough traffic for it to make sense. We’ve got 14 horses and no one to ride em’ except me.”

  “Well, you’ve got someone here now.”

  Ben turned to her, a grin spread over his face. “Have you ever ridden a horse?”

  “Nope,” Jasmine admitted. She couldn't say she’d ridden anything- except a couple ex-boyfriends. But she wasn’t going to say that.

  His grin widened. “Well, I guess I could teach ya.” His green eyes sparkled, despite the fact they still looked sad.

  “So it really is just you here.”

  “Yup. I have a little help on the weekends, but the truth is, not a lot of people are willing to come all the way out here for the work. There are a few farms along the way, but most of them don’t have kids- and if they do the kids gotta work on the farm.”

  “It must get lonely out here all alone.”

  “I try to keep myself too busy to feel alone.”

  He said it like he actually did. And it was the truth, it’s not like he was lying to her. He did try to keep himself busy enough that he didn’t feel lonely. But when all was said and done there was still time between when his head hit the pillow and his body went to sleep that he could only focus on the fact that he was here. Utterly alone.

  He’d tried having some help around the place but it didn’t stay often. And girlfriends were out of the question. Between Kerry and the horses, he thought there wasn’t anything that he had that could keep a girl- unless she was into guys who had too many horses, most of which were too damaged to be ridden. On the surface, most girls would go for that until he skipped meeting their friends for dinner because he’d have to feed the horse.

  But it was fine. He’d come to accept that relationships probably weren’t going to be his strong suit- just like his daddy he would live on this ranch and run it until the day he died, or at least until he went into too much debt.

  Ben mentally shook himself. It didn’t make sense to fuss over it.

  He stood and turned to the woman beside him. Her short red hair was pinned back, and she still had red lipstick on from when I’d first seen her. Her dark skin stood out against her green tank top and jeans.

  He held my hand out to her.

  She took it with a wide smile and he pulled her to her feet without an effort. She grinned widely and let him lead her over to Julia. He didn’t let go of her hand as he walked- it wasn’t until they came to a stop that he realized he was still holding it. Ben felt the blush cover his entire face as he turned away, hoping she hadn’t seen it.

  Jasmine let a deep breath as Ben let go of her hand. In truth, she hadn’t minded him holding her hand, but she wasn’t going to reach out and try to take it back. It was probably just a mistake. She reminded herself. Like that time back in fourth grade where she had held Johnson’s hand for a half hour before she realized she hadn’t let go. She’d been so engrossed in what was going on around her as they learned about science that she hadn’t paid attention to anything else.

  Ben reached out towards the horse, who turned its attention to him. After a couple seconds of staring, the creature came towards them. Jasmine’s heart skipped a beat. She’d never actually been close to a horse before.

  “She’s….” The horse stopped in front of them. She was taller than Jasmine had realized, with brown fur and a small white patch on her head. Up close Jasmine realized just how skinny she was. It made her stomach turn. “She’s so small.”

  “It’s sad, eh? She was smaller when she came here. We’ve been working with her for a couple months now. The first week or two I wasn’t even sure if she would make it or not.” He turned to Jasmine and gave her a smile. “Go on, give her a pet.”

  Tentatively Jasmine reached out and touched the horse. She had to struggle to keep her hands steady as her hand rested on the horse's nose. The horse stared at her with wide eyes. The soft fuzz almost tickled under Jasmine’s skin. She pat Julia, the feeling under her hand becoming almost addicting.

  The creature closed its eyes, pressing itself against Jasmine’s hand harder.

  Jasmine caught Ben’s eye. He grinned widely.

  He mentioned someone giving him all these horses. I wonder if that is who was in the truck earlier.

  She didn’t dare ask, after all it wasn’t any of her business, was it? I mean, as far as I should be concerned it doesn’t matter what he does.

  But she couldn’t help thinking about what he had said. There were too many horses and not enough people around to ride them- or pay to ride them.

  “It must be taxing,” She said, picking her words carefully. “I mean, all the horses and no one to help. It must be a lot on you.”

  “I’ve gotten used to it.” He shrugged. “It’s the paperwork that kicks my ass.” He grinned, but his tone told her it was the truth.

  Jasmine’s head tilted to the left. “Really? You know… I might be able to help with that. I worked bookkeeping for half a dozen years.” Up until a year and a half ago it had been what she did for a living. She’d love it, and had been very good at it but when her and her boyfriend split up she left the business they started together. After that, with enough money to live modestly, she decided to give her dream a shot- She was going to become a successful blogger. Er, I’m going to try at least. She reminded herself.

  “I thought you were on a vacation.” He raised an eyebrow.

  Jasmine’s hand still moved up and down the horse. “You can knock a night off my stay.” She shrugged. “Or include a free riding lesson.” It didn’t matter to her. She was happy to help out. “Really, give me an hour with what you have and I could probably work through most of it.”

  She wasn’t being cocky, she’d come to find that she easily worked through numbers a lot faster than most people seemed to.

  She enjoyed it, and that was part of why she worked so quickly. Hell, sometimes she even missed it a little.

  Ben regarded her for a couple of seconds closely.

  The idea was beyond appealing. Ben couldn’t really afford to hire someone to do it for him, and he was still trying to make heads and tails out of most of it. But… if he let her help that would be admitting he couldn’t do it. Right?

  That wasn’t his style. He wasn’t the type to give up on something so easily. He would have to push through and figure it out. After all, he’d gotten a book from the library about bookkeeping. An Idiot's Guide or For Dummies type book. He wasn’t sure what it was exactly.

  “Thanks for the offer.” He forced himself to smile. “I’ll keep it in mind.” He lied.

  He was sure by the look on her face she knew he was lying. But at least he had tried to handle it politely, right? And you never know, maybe he would have to ask her. No point in burning bridges if they
didn’t need to be burnt.

  A smile spread across her face. “Good. You do that.”

  “Now, how about that riding lesson?”

  Jasmine’s hazel eyes widened as she stared at him. “Are… a…” She stared at him, then turned to Julia. “Not on her, right?”

  “Oh no, Julia isn’t strong enough to carry a baby, let alone a fully grown human.” Ben paused. I didn’t just suggest she was fat, right? God he hoped not. “We’ll take Tanner and Frodo for a ride.”

  “Frodo?” She raised an eyebrow at him.

  “You’ll see.” His eyes sparkled as he motioned for her to follow him.

  Jasmine was happy to walk alongside Ben. She was still figuring him out, but he was kind that much she was sure of. And stubborn. He wasn’t going to accept her help and she knew that. Which just made her want to help more.

  He’s not the only one at this ranch who is stubborn. She thought.

  Ben padded along as they made their way to a stable. Neither of them said anything but it wasn’t like an awkward silence as they walked. It felt better than that, it felt almost natural.

  “This is Frodo,” Ben said as they neared the stable, the horses weren’t in it. They were outside of it, in a fenced off area.

  Jasmine instantly saw why he was named after a Hobbit in Lord of the Rings. He had furry feet.

  “He’s great for beginners. You’ve never ridden a horse before- right?” Jasmine nodded. “Come on, I’ll help you get him set up.”

  Chapter 2

  It didn’t take as long as she thought it would to get the horses set up. The entire time Ben talked. Jasmine could tell how passionate he was about the horses. He spoke about them close to the way someone would about their kids. Jasmine had never had pets growing up, but the way Ben talked about his horses, like they were more than just a pet, made her want to have one.

  Finally, she mounted the horse and he his own. He gave her a once over.

  “You look good up there.”

  Jasmine wasn’t sure if he was trying to be flirty with her, or if he was just being nice. Maybe it’s something he says to everyone. Still, she felt the butterflies in the pit of her stomach, and they liked it when he told her that she looked good.