Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 55491 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 277(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55491 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 277(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
I was still trying to digest it all. The fact that my new neighbor–my new boyfriend–was actually a wolf. It didn’t make sense, but I’d seen it with my own eyes.
It was real.
Remy’d had her arms around the wolf one second–which was crazy enough in itself–and then he was suddenly Wes. Poof! Or pop! Or… groan? Remy wasn’t surprised at all by her father being a wolf, turning back to… human. She was calm because she knew. Four-year-olds were fine with crazy things if it was normal. They didn’t know it wasn’t normal.
Other clues I’d missed came rushing in. She’d said she wanted to go run with the wolves. That made much more sense when I understood her dad was one of the wolves. She’d also called her mom a wolf. What had she said when Soraya had come to the house? I don’t like her, even if she is a wolf.
I wondered how she’d known. She sure didn’t look like anything more than a bitch to me. Was there something in a… a shifter’s appearance I should look for? Like the way I’d seen Wes’ eyes glint green? I’d thought it had been a trick of the light.
There had to be more than an eye thing. Right?
As we headed back to Rob and Willow’s ranch house, I walked beside Wes, admiring what a beautiful animal he was–the thick, glossy black coat, the broad, muscled shoulders moving gracefully as he traveled on powerful legs. Damn, his wolf was actually big enough for a child to ride on his back like a horse!
My mind shifted to the ring of wolves standing along the edge of the gully. They’d showed up right after Wes.
God, were the guys on the ranch wolves, too? They had to be. Were they all out… running together?
And why?
The women had, well, lied and said the men were moving cattle. Cattle, my ass. That meant they knew. Of course, they did. They were either dating or married.
I’d lived in Cooper Valley my whole life, and I’d never realized Wolf Ranch was a literal ranch of wolves! They’d done a really good job keeping it a secret.
Everyone was out on the front porch waiting for us, going right to Remy and giving her hugs and lots of tons of attention as a no-longer-a-wolf-but-naked Wes disappeared to pull on his clothes, wherever he’d left them.
“I’ll bet you have questions,” Marina said to me, pulling me aside. “I’m sorry we lied, but it’s not a little secret.”
“The secret is out, and I’m gonna answer anything Joy can think of,” Wes growled, coming up behind us. He wrapped a strong arm around my waist and kissed my temple. “Are you okay?” he murmured. He was sweaty and streaked with dirt. There was even a twig in his hair. “Freaking out?”
“I’m…no, I’m okay.” I bobbed my head. I wasn’t freaking out. I was more fascinated. Curious. Dying to know more.
“Well, if you need to talk about it tomorrow, call me,” Marina offered. “It was a secret for me, too. I know what it’s like to find out your boyfriend is another species who wants to mark you as his forever mate.”
I blinked. “He what now?”
“You’re not helping,” Wes growled at Marina. His brows were down low, in his typical grouchy face, but I sensed it was because he was worried about how I was taking it. He kept shooting me searching looks.
“If it’s okay, I’m gonna give Remy a quick rinse since she’s filthy, and she’ll no doubt fall asleep on the way home,” Wes said.
“Of course,” Marina replied. “I’ll grab one of my shirts for her to wear like a nightgown.”
We didn’t talk as I helped Wes get a tired and now cranky Remy into the tub for the world’s fastest bath, and we put her in Marina’s shirt and climbed in the truck. As expected, she fell asleep even before Wes pulled onto the dirt road.
“Tell me.” I took his hand that rested on his thigh and moved our joined fingers to mine.
He sent me another one of those searching looks as he drove. “Well, you now know I’m a shifter.”
“So is everyone at Wolf Ranch?”
“Most everyone.” He squeezed my fingers. “Tonight was a full moon, and we have the need to run beneath it. It’s a pack tradition to get together every month for it. Everyone who stayed behind is human.”
I named everyone just to make sure. “Marina, Charlie, Natalie, Emma, Riley, and Audrey. Oh… and Becky.”
“That’s right. They’re all mated to shifters.”
“Mated. Like… married?”
“Like fate put them together. The guys knew their mate by scent.”
I gasped, having one more thing make sense. “That’s why Soraya sniffed me!”
Wes’ lips turned up for a second. “Yes. She was seeing if you were a wolf.”
“She’s a wolf–Remy had said that after Soraya came by that night, but I didn’t understand what she meant.”