by Anna Lowe
She nodded firmly. Leaving quickly made everything easier. After all, they’d only shared one little night of fun. No more, no less.
But looking at him now, feeling her heart do flips all over again, she wasn’t so sure.
His lip was bleeding and his shirt was covered in dust, but he still looked like a million bucks. Even with Ty looming nearby — Ty, exuding raw alpha power like Zeus about to throw a thunderbolt — Luke didn’t blink an eye. He just stood there with eyes that sparkled and spat, saying nothing, accepting a guilty sentence before being charged.
Maybe he really meant it about turning over a new leaf, her wolf murmured, impressed.
“Wait a minute. You know this guy?” Cody asked, turning to her.
Her sister, Tina, had hurried into the room along with the others, and she stared, too.
Ty’s laser gaze bored into Carly, and the whole room went quiet. Deadly quiet.
Carly folded her arms over her chest and tipped her chin up. “None of your business.” A second ticked by, and she glared at Luke. If he’d been any closer, she would have grabbed him by the shirt and given him a good shake. “What the hell are you doing here? You said you were just passing through.”
“You told me you were just visiting.”
Well, yes. She had the right to visit her family. But who the hell had invited him?
“Whoa. Wait,” Tina said. “You really know each other? How?”
Carly shut her mouth and glared at Luke. How would she answer that question? Barely? Biblically?
She expected Luke to show a flicker of apology. A little humility. But what did the bastard do?
He grinned. Grinned, damn it! Just a tiny, hidden flash of a grin, but she caught it, all right. And boy, did it make her blood boil. She had enough problems getting her family to accept that she was all grown up. The last thing she needed was a passing fling to show up at the ranch.
A passing fling, you got that? She glared some more.
He tipped his head one way then the other, as if to say, Maybe. Maybe not.
Footsteps scuffed at the entrance as Stef and a very angry Kyle appeared. The scent of wolf clung to his shoulders, and his hair was disheveled as if he’d only just shifted forms. What was going on?
Kyle jabbed a finger toward Luke. “How many men have you killed? How many have you turned?”
Luke pursed his lips. His eyes flashed, and Carly wondered if he was counting bodies in his head.
How many of them had it coming? her wolf growled, supporting Luke.
She shook her head. She barely knew Luke, but she knew he was no more a cold-blooded murderer than either of her brothers. They’d both killed in their time, but only in defense of their families.
Luke looked a decade older as he considered the question. “I honestly came here to thank Kyle.”
Thank Kyle for what? she nearly asked, but Luke was already going on.
“I didn’t come to stir up trouble.” Luke looked from Kyle to Ty and Cody. Then his eyes swung to hers and sparked. And I sure as hell didn’t expect you here.
He was glad, though. She could see that in his eyes, too. Glad and confused, just as she was.
“What’s this about you and North Ridge pack?” Ty barked.
Carly sucked in a deep breath, as did most everyone in the room. Stefanie went white, and Kyle growled audibly.
Carly had heard the stories about North Ridge. How Greer, a brute of an alpha, had come to Arizona, demanding that Stefanie be given up to his pack. A pack Greer had ruled with an iron fist, keeping all privileges for himself — including the privilege of taking any woman he desired, anytime. Kyle and Stef had nearly died fighting off that monster, but in the end, they’d done it. They’d killed Greer. It was Kyle’s right to take over the leadership of North Ridge pack, but he’d chosen to stay at Twin Moon.
Carly stood a little stiffer. Her father was up at North Ridge now, acting as temporary alpha until a suitable leader could be found to continue cleaning up Greer’s messy legacy.
She looked at Luke. Was he really part of that awful pack?
Luke’s face fell. “I was born at North Ridge. My whole family is there. What’s left of it, anyway.”
When he trailed off, she couldn’t help but fill in the blanks. Who had he lost? When? How?
“Why did you leave?” Ty demanded.
Luke pursed his lips, making Carly’s wolf wag its tail. I love it when he does that.
“I was forced to leave when I was a kid. When Greer just started abusing his power.” His voice grew bitter and cold. Distant.
More blanks to fill in. Carly wondered what abuses had touched upon Luke’s family.
No reason to trust Luke, she reminded herself. No reason to feel sorry for him.
But she couldn’t help it. Yes, he’d come from a corrupt pack, but he’d left as a kid. And she knew how hard the life of an outcast could be. Female shifters usually stayed with their home packs or transferred from one to another without trouble. But many alphas followed the tradition of ejecting powerful young males before they could challenge the leader’s supremacy — a practice that created packs of wandering outcasts. Some were rogues who caused trouble wherever they went. Others formed drifter packs that weren’t nearly as violent or untrustworthy as rogues.
Was Luke a rogue or a drifter? She remembered the scars amidst his tattoos and wondered if it mattered. What would she have done if she’d had to hit the road at fourteen?
Let’s not even think about that, her wolf decided. And for once, she agreed.
“So you joined a rogue pack?” Kyle hurled the words at Luke. “How many humans did you attack? How many did you turn?”
Luke pursed his lips before speaking. “I was trying to break up that brawl. I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone.”
“How many humans did you turn shifter?” Kyle demanded.
Luke let out a long, slow breath before answering. “None. None survived.”
“I survived,” Kyle spat back.
Stefanie put a hand on Kyle’s arm. Carly knew that neither Stef nor Kyle had a choice about being turned shifter, and it had been an agonizing process for both. They’d found their peace on Twin Moon Ranch, but that wouldn’t make them less wary of a man like Luke.
A man trying hard to make a new start. She saw the truth in his eyes. The regret. The determination. But he’d been living on the edge for so long. Could he really reform? Did she really want him to? He had that edgy power to him, that restless gaze.
That gentle touch, her wolf added in a dreamy voice.
Gentle wasn’t what she’d call a typical rogue, that was for sure.
That’s what I love about him. Her wolf nodded. The contrasts. The inconsistencies.
I don’t love him, she reminded herself. I can’t.
Yes, you can.
Luke looked at Kyle. “Like I said, I just wanted to thank the man who killed Greer Steton. I came to tell him I wish I’d done it myself. That’s all.” Luke put his hands up. “I didn’t come to make trouble or to scare anyone, especially not a kid.”
The words came out all ragged, and for a split second, Carly saw past the hardened man and down to the boy he must have once been. A boy on the run.
Then Luke blinked, and the man was back again. A man who wore pride on one sleeve and regret on the other.
Kyle scowled. Ty ran a hand over his chin. Tina tapped her fingers on her jeans.
Carly didn’t trust herself to speak. Not with a thousand emotions running around her soul — like sorrow for that young boy or anger for the way the male-dominated shifter world ran.
He needs us. We can help him, her wolf pleaded.
She huffed quietly. Luke didn’t want or need help. She had to watch out for herself, not for him, or she’d end up like her mother — a weak, needy woman who’d let herself be ruled by one powerful man after another. A woman who even seemed relieved to give up control.
Did Luke look like he wanted to steal our soul? her wolf deman
ded.
Carly remembered Luke caressing her face with a look of wonder after they’d bonded for the first time. Luke shifting sideways in the bed afterward, asking if she had enough space.
You were the one snuggling against him, the beast pointed out. Claiming that space.
Well, she’d had to, hadn’t she? The second you gave a man an inch, he would take a yard.
Not all men are like that.
She scoffed, thinking of her mother’s infatuation first with her father and then with Brad, the wolf she’d hooked up with after Carly’s father became too overbearing to endure.
She narrowed her eyes on Luke. Sooner or later, he was bound to show his dark side, right?
“That’s all I wanted,” Luke said quietly, and he sounded so sure — until he looked at her. Then he didn’t look sure at all.
Maybe he wants more, Carly’s wolf purred.
Luke gave a weary sigh and looked at the door. “Okay, so this was a mistake. I’m sorry, all right? I’ll just head back on my way.”
“What’s the hurry to get to North Ridge?” Ty asked, blocking the way.
“What’s it to you?”
“Our father is the acting alpha, running North Ridge pack until it gets back on its feet,” Ty growled.
Luke’s jaw swung open, and a second later, he murmured, “Like I said, I don’t want to make trouble. I just want to help.”
“Right. Help,” Kyle muttered from the side of the room.
“Help? Why?” Tina asked at the same time.
“I have to get to North Ridge before—” Luke started, then snapped his mouth shut as if he’d said too much.
“Before what?” Ty demanded.
Luke looked from one face to another until his eyes locked on Carly’s. His jaw locked as if holding back a secret.
She tilted her head at him. Why did this feel like such a make-or-break moment? Why was her heart beating so fast?
“Before North Ridge is attacked,” Luke said in a low, gritty voice.
The room went silent for a minute, then everyone spoke up at the same time.
“Attacked?”
“Who’s planning to attack?”
Carly balled her hands into fists. Twin Moon pack had grown so powerful, they rarely feared intruders anymore. But North Ridge was vulnerable, and that was her father up there.
“I said, who’s planning an attack?” Ty snarled.
Any other man would have trembled, but Luke leveled his gaze on Ty. His fingers scratched at his jeans, though, as if he was measuring how much to reveal.
The clock ticked in the silence that ensued, and suddenly, Carly understood. If Luke was serious about a fresh start, his best chance to win her father’s trust lay in warning him of the impending attack. If Luke told Ty, however, he relinquished that ace — and with it, his best chance to be accepted at North Ridge.
A selfish man, she figured, would guard the information with his life or sell it at a high price. A good man, on the other hand, would share the knowledge so that the families at North Ridge could be safe.
Carly stared at Luke, holding her breath.
He hesitated one second longer, then spoke quietly. “A rogue named Steen van Kleij.”
There, his stony expression said. I did it. I did the right thing, even though I just screwed myself.
Carly let out the breath she’d been holding.
“Steen van who?” Cody asked.
“Steen van Kleij,” Carly said, ignoring her brothers’ stares. Of course she knew the name. “Second-in-command to one of the more notorious rogue gangs that cruise the West Coast.” The kind Arroyo Hills pack made sure to guard against.
“How many? When? Where?” Ty demanded, looking ready to barrel out the door and hunt them down.
“Wait. How do you know this?” Cody asked, and all eyes jumped to Luke again.
His eyes flickered to Carly’s, and she gulped. Her brothers were good, fair men, but they’d stop at nothing to protect family and friends. Did Luke know how dangerous a position he was in? And whoa, why had he even come to Twin Moon Ranch?
To do the right thing, her wolf whispered. To start again.
Luke took a deep breath, then looked at Ty again. “Let’s just say I’ve had some run-ins with Steen’s gang. A week ago, I got word they were looking to take over a pack of their own.”
A little like Craig, Carly thought in disgust. Men who looked for the easy way to the top. Except that Craig came from a privileged family, unlike the rogues.
“A rogue pack is planning to take over North Ridge?” Cody scowled.
Luke’s eyes flashed, making it clear he was as enraged as anyone else. “Not if I can help it.”
Ty scowled and corrected him. “Not if I can help it.” He looked to Tina, who nodded back. “We’ll let Dad know and send a team of our best men to help him repel any attack.”
Luke closed his eyes, and Carly’s heart ached for him. Had he just given away his best hope of rejoining North Ridge pack? Of settling down and living a normal life?
Carly caught Tina studying Luke, too, as if she understood what he’d just done.
“Tell me again why you left North Ridge,” Tina said.
Carly glared at her sister. Hadn’t Luke already explained? Why was Tina pushing him so much?
Because some men aren’t very good at voicing what needs to be said, her sister told her in a private aside.
Luke’s face went rock hard. His hands clenched at his sides, and it was a long time before he spoke. When he did, it was in a low, hushed voice.
“It started with just the single women. He’d butter them up and play with one after another.”
The words took a minute to click in Carly’s mind. Luke meant Greer. That awful Greer.
“But it went from games with single women to not-games with women who didn’t want him. Greer didn’t give them a choice, and he was too powerful to stop. Too powerful for anyone to intervene when he started on the mated women and the younger girls. Anyone he decided he wanted. Anytime.”
Carly cringed, imagining life under an alpha like that.
His look became a glare, but it wasn’t aimed at anyone in the room. It was unfocused, targeted at something in the past.
“My father tried to stop Greer. I wanted to help him, but my mother wouldn’t let me. I was fourteen. Fucking fourteen. What could I do?”
Carly’s wolf whimpered, and it took everything she had to resist the urge to reach out and touch him.
“My father challenged Greer the honorable way — one-on-one, but Greer called out all his men and outnumbered my dad and the others. Of course, Greer didn’t have them killed outright. They were strung up, one by one, as an example to everyone else.”
She gulped.
“We had to watch them kick and gasp and…” Luke trailed off, but his nails made scratching noises against his jeans.
She felt sick, just imagining the scene.
Luke opened his mouth then closed it again, giving her the impression he was leaving something out. Then his jaw hardened. “My mother brought me to the edge of pack territory and told me to run and run and never look back. So I did.”
It was hard picturing Luke as a kid — and even harder to picture him running away from trouble instead of charging straight into it. But the hard edge in his voice spoke of trials and tribulations. He rubbed a scar on his hand absently and clenched his hands into tight fists.
The council house went quiet as everyone processed his words. Even Kyle, who’d had a rough childhood, didn’t glare quite as ferociously any more.
Finally, Ty snapped his fingers, signaling for two lower-ranking wolves to escort Luke out of the council house. Luke followed them after a quick glance in her direction.
A glance that said, I wish…
Carly held her breath, wrestling back her own wishes.
“Get moving,” the wolf at Luke’s side grunted, pushing him toward the door.
Carly’s wolf whimpered, seeing him go
.
“So what do we do?” Tina asked when the door closed.
“We send the guy packing,” Ty growled.
Carly’s wolf whimpered.
“He could make trouble for North Ridge,” Kyle pointed out.
“Maybe not,” Cody said. “Maybe he means what he says.”
Ty ground his teeth. “Are we really going to trust this guy? This rogue?”
“I’m not saying we trust him,” Cody replied. “I’m saying we let him prove himself.”
Carly felt her hopes swell, which was crazy, because she didn’t need to take Luke’s side, right?
“Maybe Cody’s right. Maybe we should give him a chance,” Tina said.
Ty folded his arms. “How?”
Everyone seemed at a loss for words, until one voice spoke up.
“Keep him here a while. Put him to work. Hard work.”
Carly blinked, because whoa — was that her doing the suggesting? The last thing she wanted was for Luke to stay. One-night stands were supposed to disappear, not stick around. But, damn. Her sneaky wolf had gotten the words past the conscious part of her mind.
“Not a bad idea,” Tina said.
Wait, Carly wanted to blurt. It’s a terrible idea! But it was too late.
“That way, we can judge if he’s really willing to help,” Tina continued. “We can see whether Dad can trust him at North Ridge.”
Of course he can’t be trusted, Carly wanted to say. He was a man.
“Dad has had enough problems getting that pack back on its feet,” Cody added. “Maybe this guy can actually help.”
Carly scratched her head. Her father had invited her to North Ridge several times. Maybe he needed more help than his pride allowed him to admit. Maybe he really could use someone like Luke.
Dad can use us, too, her wolf murmured.
Tina had encouraged Carly to join their father at North Ridge, too. God knows the women of that pack have been through hell. What they need is a few strong women to help them balance things out. Women like you.
She’d been tempted, for sure. At North Ridge, she could make a difference to a pack’s future the way she never could in her California pack or at Twin Moon Ranch.
But, shit. If Luke was headed to Colorado, she sure as hell couldn’t go.
