Those thoughts on top of her leaving made me have to shift and run to let off some steam, or I wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink.
When Holt saw where I was headed, he silently joined me. We shifted and took off, through the wolf-door at the back of my house and into the woods.
The moon was half-full, a silvery glow filtering through the trees. We ran for hours, too keyed up to even hunt, and eventually found ourselves on the outskirts of Ali’s ranch.
It was a mistake to be so close—totally against pack rules. If Bob Jenkins saw us, he’d shoot us for sure. Yet I couldn’t seem to turn away, and Holt didn’t nip my flank or try to get me to leave, either. The two of us patrolled the edges of the ranch, not because we were searching for clues in the meth case, but to satisfy our wolves that our mate was indeed safe. And, my little sister was to ride with Ali in the morning. On the land that probably held a shit ton of trouble. I was torn because I was protective. I needed to let Ariel go, let her ride and make her little girl heart happy. She’d be with Ali. Safe. I trusted Ali. Trusted that, so far, we had no reason to keep Ariel or Ali from being there. Because if I was worried about Ariel going for a ride, then I had to be concerned for our mate as well.
Eventually, we crept close enough to make a horse whinny, and I finally came to my senses, turned, and loped back up the mountain. Holt followed, but instead of going inside, he stood on the back deck, the one that faced Ali’s ranch, and howled.
I dropped to my haunches and joined him in wolf song. A tribute to our beautiful mate.
The one we needed to claim if we were going to survive.
ALI
“—and Cassidy said that she braids the mane for better showmanship points, and there’s even a division for grooming. I want to do that but I don’t have a horse so I’ve been practicing on my own hair, and my sisters’.”
Ariel Decker, Theo’s precocious and adorable little sister, didn’t stop talking. I couldn’t help but smile at her excitement at riding, or the fact that she could say so much without taking a breath. Had I ever been like that?
“We can comb and try some braids when we get back to the stable,” I said, patting Daisy’s flank. I could sense she wanted to go a little faster, but I was keeping this ride in the slow lane.
“Really?” she squealed.
Ariel was twenty-some years younger than her brother, and yet they looked so remarkably alike. Same dark hair and blue eyes. Same dimple in her cheek. Being eleven was a great age. Big enough to go off on horseback rides without parents, but not old enough to deal with middle school and all the drama, heartache, and body changes that went with it. I wouldn’t want to go back to that time in my life for any amount of money.
Of course, I’d had horses to ride, and they’d been my way to escape. My father and brother had known nothing of girl-stuff so I’d been more tomboy than high-maintenance. I’d relied on Trina and her mother for shopping trips and makeup tips. Answering questions about boys.
After Theo had talked with Ariel and their mother about the ride, plans had been settled really quickly. Perhaps because Mrs. Decker didn’t want her ear chattered off about the topic, and had agreed for Theo to bring her this afternoon. As in: the day after our wild night of sex and… God. I shifted in my saddle, my pussy a little sore. And I was a little turned on because I’d had to see Theo again without kissing him or jumping him or sucking his cock, since Ariel had been with us.
After that, it had been hard to think about anything but the two guys and what we’d done together. They’d tied me up. Spanked me. Fucked me. Both of them!
Was I crazy? Yes, I definitely was. Did I care? Not at all.
Because Theo and Holt had been right there with me. Sure, they were guys, and a fantasy was fucking a woman with their best friend. Right?
But I felt like I was more than a kink they were crossing off the list. It felt… more.
“My brother likes you,” Ariel said, breaking me out of my thoughts.
I looked over at her in her pink t-shirt and jeans. She wore a riding helmet, and her dark hair was pulled back in a single braid, just like mine.
She was smiling at me and actually waggling her eyebrows. I’d been wrong. She was eleven going on seventeen, talking about boys.
“I thought sisters didn’t talk about a brother’s love life. They have cooties or something.” I adjusted the brim of my hat, hoping it hid my blush that was heating my cheeks more than the bright sunshine.
She rolled her eyes. “Theo’s different. He’s old enough to be my dad, and it’s past time he found someone. I mean, it’s a big deal when my people find the one.”
I frowned. “Your people?”
She stiffened for a second, but waved her hand in the air and laughed.
“Both hands on the reins,” I prompted, even though Patches was the most docile animal on the planet, and wasn’t going to bolt beneath her.
“I mean the Deckers. My parents are old, and have been together forever. Same with my oldest sister. Theo deserves to have love, and I like you. You have horses.”
It was my turn to laugh. “I don’t think love is based on having horses.”
“No, but it’s based on something deep inside. This… thing that draws people together. He has that with you.”
Huh. Eleven going on thirty. This kid was pretty darn wise.
“How much farther until the pond?” she asked, her thoughts quickly redirected back to our original plan to skip stones and have a snack.
I pointed just to the left. “Over that rise.”
Ariel clucked her tongue and prodded Patches with her heels, although the animal didn’t pick up her pace much. I let her get ahead of me slightly, taking the time to think about what she’d said.
Did Theo think he’d found The One in me? He and Holt had mentioned they were serious about me, about us. But we’d had a good time the night before. Play. The things we’d done hadn’t been signs of love, but desire. Arousal. Mutual kink. Fun. Yeah, I’d gotten off, and I definitely was ruined for other guys, but I didn’t consider it love.
Did I?
No.
And Ariel hadn’t mentioned a peep about Holt. Why would she? She—hopefully—didn’t know anything about sex, especially sex like I’d had with Holt and Theo. Of course it wasn’t love. She had fairytale fantasies because no one had forever with two men.
“Hey, there are people down there.” She pointed, and I moved Daisy faster to catch up.
We were on a slight rise and able to see the breadth of the valley. The pond I’d planned to stop at was just below us, a tributary of a creek feeding into it. Beyond that, the land was dotted with cottonwood trees, and cows were black dots in the distance.
There was also a single-wide trailer—one that I’d never seen before, and which hadn’t been there the last time I’d been out this way.
I grabbed Ariel’s reins and ensured Patches didn’t continue. If I could see them, then they could see us, if they were looking this way.
What was a trailer doing all the way out here? An ATV or some other all-terrain vehicle could cross the valley easily, but there wasn’t a service road. How had the trailer even been placed this far out? I didn’t recognize the trucks as being part of the ranch’s fleet. While my vision was good, I couldn’t make out much detail about the men.