He laughed, and damn, did it feel good. So good, it was pretty much the highlight of his day. But then again, that wouldn’t be hard.

  Carly’s gaze strayed over his bare, sweaty chest before she yanked it back to his face, and his mind flashed back to their night together. Clearly, she hadn’t purged the memories either, no matter how she pretended not to care. So, yeah. That was definitely the highlight of his day. His week. His month. Hell, maybe even his whole year.

  She’s the highlight of my life, his wolf whispered.

  “Wallowing? I guess I am. Miserable? A little,” he admitted. “But lonely? No. Not any more.”

  He locked his eyes on hers and took a deep breath, inhaling her sweet scent.

  Sparks bubbled in Carly’s eyes. Her lower lip trembled a tiny little bit, telling him he wasn’t the only one wishing for another night. Maybe even more than one night. Maybe even—

  He scowled and looked at his boots. Sure. Right. She was a member of the pack’s ruling family, and he was…standing in a pit of petrified shit.

  Carly motioned around. “Are you saying this is worth it?”

  It wasn’t a tease this time. Her breath caught as she awaited his answer, as if she really, really had to know. As if she was considering reinventing herself, too.

  “Seriously,” she said. “Is it worth it?”

  He contemplated the edge of his shovel. He could escape this ranch in a heartbeat if he set his mind to it. And yet, he hadn’t done that. Instead, he was up to his waist in muck and planning the long road ahead. Was it worth it?

  He nodded slowly. “Yeah. It is.”

  She cocked her head, looking for some sign of a lie. Her lips pursed, and she grew serious, even contemplative. A different Carly. A quieter, more earnest one.

  His wolf hummed inside, and the whole desert seemed to lean closer, listening in. A fresh breeze tickled the air with the scent of flowers, making it feel as if he’d taken Carly’s hand and walked her to the shade of a cool stream. The earth heated, and his cheeks flushed. Hers, too.

  Kiss her, the desert whispered. Kiss your mate.

  He ran his tongue over his cracked lips. When another whisper reached into his mind, he clutched the shovel harder.

  Kiss him. Was that Carly’s wolf, urging her on?

  The blue of her eyes was brighter than ever when her gaze dropped to his lips. She leaned closer, and he did, too, holding his breath. Waiting. Wishing. Dreaming. The kind of dream that had been getting him through the roughest moments of the past few days.

  A dream of Carly Daredevil Hawthorne, kissing him.

  He could picture it so easily. He’d rock to the balls of his feet and let his lips close over hers to savor the taste of the world’s most delicious she-wolf. Her silky hair would cascade over his hands, and the sun would illuminate it in a heavenly glow. Her body would heat against his, and she’d slide closer, inviting him to touch and explore.

  Just one kiss, his wolf begged. Just one.

  Her eyes went a little glassy, asking for the same thing. I need you like you need me.

  Which was crazy. What would a woman like Carly need from a man like him?

  The breeze wafted through the cottonwoods, making the leaves dance, and the whisper worked its way to his soul. Peace. The sound carried like the voice of a wise old man. She needs peace.

  He pondered that one. Wasn’t he the one with an ugly past to come to terms with?

  Kiss her, the desert said. Or maybe that wasn’t the desert. Maybe it was destiny.

  Kiss me, her quivering lip agreed.

  Carly rocked forward at exactly the same time that he did, and their lips brushed. But then a horse whinnied in the distance, and Carly broke away, blinking wildly.

  Luke sucked in a deep breath. Whoa. What had he been thinking?

  Footsteps sounded, not too far away, and a big man — the local blacksmith, a boar shifter — waved to Carly and continued on his way.

  She cleared her throat and tossed her hair, pulling herself together far more quickly than Luke did.

  “Well, keep at it, then, Hot Stuff,” she said, morphing from needy she-wolf to brassy, confident Carly with every word. “Keep at it.”

  When she walked away, his eyes trailed after her. Part of his soul did, too, dragging along like a puppy who didn’t want to be left behind.

  You can’t change who you really are, deep down inside, she’d said to him in the bar, in a way that suggested she’d tried for herself.

  He wondered how hard she’d tried and why. Wondered who she was inside.

  The shirt she wore was emblazoned with a bungee jumping logo — another clue in the riddle that was Carly. What was she out to prove, taking all those risks? That she was invincible? Was she trying to punish someone — and if so, whom? Herself or her loved ones?

  His wolf perked up at the thought. Loved ones. If I love her…

  He shook the thought away and ordered himself back to work. One shovelful, then another. A third.

  No more dreaming, he told his wolf with every heave.

  But when he heard Carly’s step again, he turned around eagerly.

  “Hi, Car—”

  The smile froze on his face because it wasn’t Carly, after all. It was whatshername — Audrey — the she-wolf who’d ferreted him out on his first day and refused to leave him alone.

  “Luke. Honey,” she purred in a voice that dripped saccharine as she leaned over to greet him. So far over, her low-cut top left nothing to the imagination.

  “Hi,” he said, averting his eyes.

  If he were still a horny teenager, the sight of her fleshy tits tussling with each other under that thin top might have turned him on, but not any more. If anything, the sight had the opposite effect.

  “How’s it going, sugar?” she cooed.

  It had been going a hell of a lot better a few minutes ago.

  “Fine, I guess.” He couldn’t throw a shovel full of dirt up with her right there, so he transferred it from the left corner of the pit to the right. Anything to keep his eyes off what he really didn’t want to see.

  Audrey wore her hair in a big, poofy style, bleached so often all the life had gone out of it. She leaned so far over, he was afraid she’d stage a fall and launch herself right into his arms. As it was, he was amazed Audrey didn’t keel over from the weight of the long, fake eyelashes she kept batting at him.

  “I run a styling salon, you know,” she whispered seductively.

  Luke blinked, wondering if she had a room in the back for “entertaining” certain customers. The second Audrey had found him on the ranch, she’d introduced herself and offered him a free cut and shave — a very close shave, as she’d put it. Her eyes had danced over his body.

  A cut, he didn’t need. A shave, yes, but not by her. No way.

  “And I was thinking—” she started.

  “Audrey!” Cody yelled, giving Luke the evil eye. As if Luke was the one cornering Audrey and not the other way around.

  Audrey straightened quickly, but the gleam didn’t go out of her eye. It just shifted over to Cody.

  “Why, hello, cowboy.” She faced Cody with a deft wiggle that made the right sleeve of her shirt slip off her shoulder. “What can I do for you?”

  She licked her lips, communicating a dozen options to Cody, who pursed his lips and jabbed a thumb over his shoulder.

  “Um…Ty wants to see you.”

  Luke arched his left eyebrow. He’d bet a hundred bucks Ty didn’t want to see any more of Audrey than he had to.

  But, hell, it worked, because Audrey’s eyes sparkled and she immediately strutted off. “Bye-bye, boys. Bye-bye.”

  Luke leaned on his shovel and watched her go with a sick kind of fascination. Were women like her real?

  You ought to know, his wolf grumbled. You fooled around with a few in your time.

  That was before I found my mate— he started, then stopped himself a little too late.

  Told you. His wolf grinned. Told you Carly is our mate.

  Cody sighed and turned to Luke, offering a hand to pull him out of the pit.

  “Quick break.”

  It was more order than offer, and Cody underscored it by throwing a heavy arm over Luke’s shoulders the second he was upright. He steered Luke to a tree stump where a water bottle stood in the shade.

  “You might have figured out what Audrey is interested in,” Cody said.

  Luke figured a nod wasn’t required.

  “But Carly…” Cody trailed off, fishing for words. “In case you didn’t know, she’s my baby sister.” Cody jerked a thumb in the direction Carly had gone.

  She’s my mate, Luke’s wolf growled quietly.

  Cody went on as casually as if talking about the weather or the crops.

  “I’m not sure why she keeps stopping around here…”

  Luke’s wolf growled. Because deep down, she knows we’re mates, too.

  “…but if you touch my baby sister, I will rip you limb from limb.” Cody flashed a broad grin that said, Yes, I am a nice guy. And no, I am not kidding. I will happily rip you limb from limb.

  Luke studied Cody, sizing him up as his wolf urged him to respond to that challenge with his own.

  We can take this guy. We can fight any wolf in this pack. We can earn our mate!

  He took a deep breath, fighting back the urge to act. He wasn’t here to challenge the local wolves or fight for a girl. He was here to prove himself. Could he really clean up his act? Was there any good left under all the bad?

  He gulped enough water to drown a camel, hoping to wash thoughts of Carly away, and went back to work. Well, he tried to, anyway. But every shovelful of dirt, every drop of sweat that poured down his face only seemed to reinforce the image of her in his mind. And no matter what he did, the dry wind teased him with her scent.

  Mate, the desert whispered insistently. Get out there and win her before…

  He stopped abruptly and sniffed the wind. Before what?

  Dark images swirled through his mind, all blurry and monochrome. Was there trouble afoot? Was Carly in danger?

  Before what? He wanted to hiss back as he eyed the clouds over the hills.

  Before it’s too late, the wind whispered. Before it’s too late.

  Chapter Eight

  “How’s it going, sweetheart?” a shrill voice cackled over Carly’s phone.

  Carly took a deep breath, telling herself to be patient. “Fine, Mom. How are you?”

  “Oh, fine, sweetie. Do you have a minute to talk?”

  “I have a minute.” She checked her watch. “I promised the kids I’d go for a walk with them. I’m just about to pick them up.”

  She was just about to kill Audrey, too, after seeing the hairdresser saunter over to Luke with lust in her eyes. The thought made her nauseous. That was Carly’s man, not Audrey’s.

  But, oops. He wasn’t her man. She didn’t want him, right?

  Wrong, her wolf sulked.

  “So, how was the drive to Arizona?” her mother asked.

  “Fine,” Carly said, letting her gaze stray over the ranch. The sky went on forever, just like the pastures seemed to. Copper bells hung around the necks of the sheep clanged at intervals as the flock rooted through the scrub. It was all so timeless. So peaceful. So harsh yet so fragile.

  A little like your heart, her wolf murmured.

  She ignored it and forced on a cheery tone. “The trip was fine. Easy. No problem.”

  Okay, so that wasn’t entirely true. She left out the part about the SUV that had nearly run her off the road by Indio. She also left out that eerie feeling of having been followed all the way from Palm Springs to the Arizona border. She hadn’t been driving as fast as usual on that stretch of highway because the cops were out in droves, and some sixth sense had her looking over her shoulder every few seconds. She’d only shaken the feeling when she opened up the throttle at the Arizona border.

  She scowled. She’d been so obsessed with Luke lately that she’d pushed that episode completely out of her mind. Maybe she’d been imagining things. Anyway, she was on the ranch now, so it didn’t matter, right?

  “Did you get in before dark?” her mother asked.

  “Um, I stopped for the night,” Carly said. The cleaned-up version of I stopped for a wild night of screwing a wolf I barely know, and now I can’t get him out of my mind.

  “Thank goodness,” her mother said. “It’s so much safer than driving through the night.”

  Carly kept her lips sealed. If only her mother knew.

  “How’s everyone?”

  “Everyone is doing just fine,” Carly sighed as she walked up to Ty’s house. Her brother was sitting on the patio, holding an impossibly tiny bundle on his shoulder. Both of them looked firmly asleep.

  “Hi, Ty,” she called.

  Ty’s right eye cracked open with a look that said, If you wake this child, I will kill you.

  She covered the phone with her hand, coming closer. “Get much sleep last night?”

  Ty shifted slightly so she could see a tiny little nose and two dark splashes of eyes.

  Her heart skipped a beat, and something in her soul moved. The child was that gorgeous. That much of a miracle. That amazing—

  She cleared her throat and leaned away before her wolf got carried away.

  “I’ve forgotten what sleep is,” Ty grumbled, though his lips quirked at the same time and a massive hand stroked the tiny back with a soft touch she’d never have thought her brother capable of.

  Her siblings were all in baby heaven — even though they liked to pretend it was hell. Little Tyson was Ty and Lana’s third. Meanwhile, her older sister, Tina, was pregnant, and Cody doted on his daughters so much, it seemed only a matter of time before he and Heather had another. They all loved joking that Carly would be the next to take a mate.

  As if.

  “Is Tana ready to go?” Carly asked.

  Soon, Ty said, shooting the words into her mind so as not to disturb the baby.

  “How’s your father?” her mother’s voice rose, pulling Carly back to the phone.

  She made a face and moved off a short distance. She could hear the wistfulness in her mother’s words. All the crushed hopes of a love that had blossomed then crashed and burned decades ago. Would her mother ever get over her first love?

  “Dad’s not here. He’s in Colorado, remember?”

  “Oh, now I remember,” her mother said. Which was about as truthful as Carly saying her trip was fine. Her mother had lost part of her mind when Carly’s father rejected her, despite the fact that he was a powerful, self-centered alpha who didn’t know the meaning of love.

  And you do? her wolf snorted.

  Sure, she did. She loved her mother, regardless of how batty the woman was. She loved her siblings. She’d even fallen in love with a few men in her time, too. It was just that she fell back out of love.

  Not with Luke, her wolf insisted. He’s the one.

  “Craig was asking about you,” her mother went on.

  Carly made a face and crinkled her nose. Craig wasn’t the first unwanted suitor she’d had, and he probably wouldn’t be the last. But he was so damned persistent. Persistent and powerful — a bad combination.

  We ought to get him together with Audrey, her wolf grumbled. That tramp.

  “Brad says Craig is perfect for you.” Her mother’s voice rose in glee.

  “What do you think?” Carly shot back. Not that she wanted her mother’s opinion. She just wanted the woman to think for herself instead of parroting her mate.

  “Well, Brad is usually right.”

  Carly rolled her eyes. “Well, tell Brad I’m not interested in Craig. Tell Craig I’m not interested, either. Oh, wait. I already told both of them to their faces, didn’t I?”

  Carly caught her voice rising and forced herself to slow down. Okay, so her mother was weak and dependent. The important thing was not to become like that herself. To stay strong. To avoid men like Craig and Luke and live her own life.

  Luke is nothing like Craig, her wolf snarled.

  “I just think you ought to consider settling down, honey.”

  “With Craig? Never.”

  Her mother let out a loud, martyred sigh. “Well, he’s gone now, anyway. I hope you won’t regret missing your chance.”

  Alarm bells went off in her mind. The leading alpha of Arroyo Hills had offered Craig a job — one with a clear path to eventual pack leadership if Craig was willing to put in the years of hard work as a worthy alpha would.

  Obviously, Craig was looking for a faster track to the top. An easier way. But where?

  “Where did Craig go?”

  Her mother made a vague sound. “He said something about hooking up with some friends and checking out a new pack to lead. That man’s moving up in the world, I tell you.”

  Carly’s mind spun. “New pack? What new pack?”

  She’d seen the greed in Craig’s eyes the last time they’d met. He wasn’t a man on the lookout for a pack to serve — he wanted a pack to lord over, just like he’d wanted to lord over her. And young bucks didn’t exactly get voted into power — not in the shifter world. If Craig had turned down the offer at Arroyo Hills, he was probably plotting to overthrow an alpha somewhere. Some packs were ruled by family dynasties, like Twin Moon Ranch. Others saw leaders come and go in a series of violent takeovers — including packs like North Ridge.

  “He didn’t mention.” Her mother’s voice was so vague and disinterested, Carly wanted to scream.

  What if Craig had his eye on North Ridge? And, shit. Maybe that was the root of Craig’s quest to take her as his mate. He certainly hadn’t shown genuine interest in her when he’d turned up out of the blue.

  Not like Luke, her wolf whispered.

  And there it was again — the memory of Luke brushing a finger over her eyebrow then tucking her hair behind her ear. When he’d lain face-to-face with her after they’d made love, his eyes had sparked with wonder, just as they had when she visited him before walking to Ty’s house.

  Not lonely, he’d said. Not any more.

  She closed her eyes, trying desperately to keep her armor in place.