Desert Wolf (The Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch) (3 page)

Her heart lurched at the realization of the risk Ty had taken. Enemy sasquatch had been known to hurl full-grown wolves into trees, inflicting the kinds of injuries even quick-healing shifters couldn’t recover from. And though Harrison was a friend of her home pack, everyone knew to stay clear of his reach, just in case. Ty had risked everything for her and the kids.

“Ty, my love, back down.” She slid a hand down his back. Harrison looked well and truly beat, but she wanted her mate away from those powerful arms.

Ty didn’t back off an inch, though. The only thing that changed was the sound of thumping feet as Lana’s brothers arrived on the scene.

“What’s going on?” Neal came skidding halt beside her.

“We were walking along when Harrison here decided to play boo,” Lana said, shaking her head. “It’s okay, Ty. You can let him go.”

Lachlan pulled up short beside Neal. “Fuck me, look at that.”

Nala slapped his arm. “Watch your language.”

“Sorry. But I mean, look at that. He’s got Harrison pinned.”

Lana rubbed the length of Ty’s back until she reached the thick ruff of his neck. A collar would be handy at a time like this.

Then it hit her. Her mate had managed to pin the sasquatch. No wolf in the Berkshires had ever managed that feat. Not in a hundred friendly wrestling matches, not in a dozen hard-fought battles against others of Harrison’s kind. Never. A spike of pride pushed itself into her heart alongside the awful fear of losing her mate.

“Ty, please back off.”

“Whoa. What happened?” That was Len, her younger brother, joining the crowd.

Fucking Chewbacca here jumped Lana and the kids
, Ty grumbled right into everyone’s mind.

For all the force in those words, Lana caught a little warble, too. One that told her how scared he’d been for her and the kids.

“It’s okay, Ty,” she whispered, stroking his ears in the spot where all his aggression and tension tended to collect. “Let him go.”

Ty eased back but kept his lips pulled high in a menacing snarl, his body braced like a brick wall between Lana and the enemy.

Harrison waved his hands in self-defense. “I wasn’t attacking! It was a joke!”

Some fucking joke
, Ty scowled.

Len was laughing, but Neal was red in the face. He pushed past Ty, hauled Harrison up, and shook him, hard—or as hard as a six-foot man could shake an eight-foot sasquatch, anyway.

“You do that again…” Neal trailed off.

Harrison’s yellow-tinted eyes went to Ty, and he gulped. “I won’t! I promise!”

Ty, still in wolf form, gave Harrison a spiteful look-over as the chagrined sasquatch shrank back into his human form.

He’s a shifter? A Bigfoot shifter?

From the tone of Ty’s voice, Lana knew those words were only for her, and she answered in kind.
Yes. He goes from Bigfoot to…this.

This
meant a lanky, seven-foot man with a beard halfway down his chest and long locks of hair that dangled in his eyes. In human form, Harrison looked like a mountain hermit who’d stayed too long in the woods. Which was pretty much what a sasquatch was.

You got other shifters out here I need to know about?
Ty asked, his wolf still showing his teeth.

It’s the Berkshires, Ty. We have lots of shifters. Wolves, bears… There used to be a cougar shifter too, but I think she’s moved on.

And vampires? What about them?
The way Ty said it implied bone-deep hate.

No, they’re all down in Boston. Cambridge is full of them. But not here.

Ty snorted.

“Come on, Ty,” Lana said, tugging at the nape of his neck. “Let’s go.”

“Yes, let’s,” Neal added in an icy tone that said just how angry he was. He herded Nala and the kids ahead of him, leaving Harrison behind.

“But I didn’t mean it!” Harrison cried, so broken and lonely Lana almost felt sorry for him. Almost. The man had screwed up royally, that was for sure. Thank God no one had been hurt.

Thank God Ty hadn’t been hurt. That refrain played in her mind, over and over.

Ty stayed in wolf form all the way back to the village, and she stroked his back the whole time, trying to settle her nerves, as well as her mate’s. With Ty as big as he was, she didn’t have to bend over to reach him.
Thank God you’re OK. Thank God you’re OK.

They’d gone the last two years in a sort of happy haze, she realized, losing sight of reality. In the shifter world, there was danger everywhere. It could come anywhere, anytime, in any form. Even this close to home.

Lana, my love
, Ty’s voice drifted to her mind, quieter than before.
It’s okay.

Now he was the one comforting her. Lana forced her fingers to release the fur she’d been clutching. She could have pulled out a handful, and Ty wouldn’t have uttered a word. The part of her that ceased trembling in fear started quivering with other emotions: love, of course, and appreciation for the luck she’d had in meeting him. Humility, too, because shifters weren’t immortal, not by a long shot.

The kids ran ahead, spreading news of the encounter to the curious faces gathering in the street.

“Ty floored Harrison!” her nephew called, enthralled.

“Ty almost killed Harrison!” her niece squeaked, hero-worship filling her voice.

Ty scowled harder.
What are they on about?

Lana cocked her head at him. Hadn’t he figured it out?

Ty, Harrison is the biggest shifter in this part of the state. He’s never been knocked off his feet, let alone floored. Never.

Ty scoffed.

“Ty beat Harrison!” the kids sang on.

A crowd was gathering, but Ty obviously wanted out. Way out. He whisked straight past the whispers and the wide-eyed looks, right to the guesthouse at the far end of the street. Lana pushed the door open for him without a word, letting her mate step into their private sanctuary. For all the alpha in her mate, she knew he wasn’t one for the limelight. All he knew was to protect, to provide, to defend.

She gave him his peace, going back to the others to quiet them and play down the encounter as she knew Ty would prefer.

“He had Harrison by the throat!” Len was saying as Lana walked up.

“He what?” That was her father, throwing an appreciative look in the direction of the guesthouse.

Lana couldn’t help but swell with pride. Her mate—the big, bad wolf of the desert—was no longer a stranger. He’d earned the respect of the Berkshires pack.

“You should have seen it!” Neal added.

A legend is born
, Lana thought, watching the slack-jawed faces.

Five minutes was all she managed; then she made for the cabin, eager to check on her mate. A minute later, she was over the three creaky steps and at the front door. It was still ajar from when she’d let Ty in. She pushed it a little wider and leaned inside. Would she find a glowering wolf, tail whisking in anger, or a thunderous man, ready to damn the Berkshires forever?

CHAPTER FIVE

“Ty?” she called.

The house was silent but for the sound of flowing water. She shut the front door and stepped toward the bathroom, where she could make out her mate’s outline through the opaque glass of the shower door. His head and hands were leaning against the opposite wall as water cascaded down his broad back.

“Ty,” she whispered, aching at the sight. She stripped and stepped into the stall behind him, letting her hands soothe his back.

Mate. Mine
, her inner wolf sighed.

“You okay?” she whispered, tucking her body around his. His skin was warm to the touch, warm as the water flowing over the both of them now. The man had been pushed right to the edge, scared as much as she’d been, though not for himself.

Bit by bit, some of the rigidity went out of his back, and a whisper reached her ears. “Sorry.”

She tightened her embrace. “Nothing to be sorry about. Harrison deserved a good scare.”

He turned to face her, tilting his head right, then left, as if he weren’t so sure.

“I mean, sorry if I scared you. Or the kids.”

So that was it, what had been eating at him. “Never be sorry about defending your family.” She turned him around to look up into his eyes. “Never.”

His jaw was working back and forth like it did when he couldn’t find the right words. Words had never been his thing, but who needed them when his eyes were saying it all?
I will never let anyone harm you
, they said.
I will fight to the death for you.

She leaned into his chest and sent out a little prayer as his arms tightened around her.
Let it never come to that. Please, let it never come to that.

They stood caught up in each other’s arms as the hot shower steamed into a fog. She felt Ty’s tension ebb with the steady rub of her chin over his chest. She kept her eyes shut and let her mate fill her senses. The dry, honest scent was something he carried with him, no matter how far he ventured from the desert. The taste of clear forest water played over his lips as she kissed him softly, then harder. Heat pooled in her body as her nipples peaked and her hips snuggled ever closer to his. She let out a sigh. This was good. Sinfully good. Just her and her mate in a cloud of steam that veiled them from the outside world.

Ty’s hands went from being determined clamps to pliant sponges, tracing her curves, chasing the water along her body. They slid down her rear then scooped her closer so she could feel the hard length of his cock against her stomach.

“Ty,” she murmured without knowing what she wanted to say. Something about love and faith and forever, but it was all muddled in her head. His responding growl churned her emotions into an even more potent cocktail until all she could do was whimper with the growing ache to join with her mate.

Ty lifted her so effortlessly she didn’t realize her legs had left the floor until they were wrapped around his waist. The shower wall was cool at her back and his body hot in front. A combination that made the ache in her throb harder. The growl went deeper, and Ty lifted her higher, then looked into her eyes as he lowered her onto his cock. A flash of heat shook her when he slid in, and the hand she threw out to brace herself left a wide smudge on the steamed-over glass stall.

She moaned his name, clutched her legs tighter, and begged for more. Her mate was not only the biggest, baddest wolf in town but also the most tender and sincere. What had she done to deserve this moment and so many others like it, when passion flowed free as a river over both of them?

She shook her head. Destiny had smiled on her and delivered her mate. She’d never deny him anything. She’d never doubt, never stray.

So what are you waiting for?
her wolf piped up.

Nothing, she decided. Not anymore. At that moment, everything seemed clear. She was ready for the next chapter in an already amazing life.

“Enjoy this, alpha, while you can,” she said, her voice rising as he caressed her breast.

He lifted his head from her shoulder, breaking off a sucking kiss, eyes showing confusion. “What do you mean, while I can?”

“Last sex,” she grunted, working herself against him until his cock was seated even deeper inside. So deep, she lost track of her thought.

“Last sex?” he grunted, punctuating his displeasure with a forceful thrust that sent a tidal wave through her core.

She gasped, and then hurried to correct herself. “Last regular sex, I mean.”

He ground his hips against hers, working himself in to the hilt. “Define regular.”

It took her a second to get her bearings back. What had she been trying to say? Right, the long-delayed subject of cubs.

“I’m thinking it’s time we got to work on something bigger.”

He stopped, absolutely still, and for a moment, the only movement was the flare of his nostrils, the stream of water over their bodies.

“Work?” he asked, so low and lusty it registered in her bones.

Lana almost repeated herself in hopes that he’d do it again. “The best kind of work. I’m thinking it’s time I go off the pill. You wanted three cubs, right?”

His teeth nipped her lower lip and held on. “Right.”

The lusty Rrrrr echoed through her body. Oh, he could utter that sound into her mouth anytime. All the time.

“So let’s get started,” she said, ending on a whimper at his next thrust. Her fingers threaded through his hair as he started rocking against her. The motion grew hotter, harder until he’d worked her so close to the wall, the full force of his thrusts rocketed through her body. The pleasure-pain swelled within her, taking her higher and higher.

“God, I hope this is as good for you as it is for me,” she mumbled between gasping breaths.

“Good doesn’t describe what this is for me. What you are for me.”

For a man who wasn’t good with words, the man was a born poet. Like the desert, his words created beauty in their simplicity, their openness.

What you are to me
, she echoed. She timed her next breath to coincide with his thrust and clenched down around his length.

Ty thumped his forehead on the wall next to hers with a deep, lusty groan. When he exhaled into her neck, the heat of his breath went right to her core.

“Do that again.”

“You do it again.” She puffed in his ear.

And he did, and she did, over and over until the glass stall was covered with a dozen smudged handprints that documented their desire. The feeling bubbled and took over until the two of them were clinging to each other, panting to keep up as the pace sped out of control. She was lost in the grip of it, lost in pleasure, her body shaking and her voice scratching at the air as she cried out. Ty grunted as the hot wave of his release filled her, his body going hard as steel.

Lana shuddered with her climax, clutching him through every wave until she went limp and boneless in his arms.

“Mate. My mate,” she sighed.

Love, my love
, Ty replied. He held her against his body for a long time, as if she were the most precious thing in his world.

When he lowered her, the motion was slow and reluctant. Her senses dawdled before pulling their focus back into the space around them. She blinked away the water, willing her runaway heartbeat to calm down. The shower—that’s where she was. She and her mate were making love in the shower in a cozy cabin in the Berkshires. She traced Ty’s chin in long, languid strokes.