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Chapter Six
Tadeo
“What a beautiful night.” Sawyer paced at my side as we strolled under the full moon, enjoying the evening and making sure all was well with our pack. “Maybe the storm will die out before it gets to this side of the Sierra.”
I considered the possibility. “It would be nice. Especially if it leaves us a nice half inch of rain along the way. It’s already adding to the snowpack.” Studying the clouds, I noted something odd. “Does that storm appear oddly…narrow?”
“What?” Sawyer followed my gaze. “Have you ever seen one that focused that way? There’s hardly any snow on the peaks on either side, but the pass looks almost winter full. Like when it shuts down to any travel in late December or early January.”
“That’s what I mean. Strange.” We’d walked longer than I planned, but the cattle and that fence were seriously on my mind. “I thought we had time before the storm, but if it does pick up and roll in tonight, I’m going to regret not being better prepared. I’d like to go to the western pasture and walk that section of fence.”
“Tonight?” He looked surprised, and I didn’t blame him. “Did you plan to bring a crew out now?”
“No, at least probably not. I don’t think it’s a big problem, but I’ll sleep better if I check it out. You can head home, if you like. It’s getting late.”
Sawyer linked his arm through mine. “And miss a romantic hike in the moonlight to see what a bunch of cows are up to? It’s a dream date.” He leaned close. “Besides, you and I have plans after we get home. I’m staying close until you make good on that promise to ream my ass.”
I shuddered. “Business then pleasure, mate, but if you keep talking like that, I’ll bend you over the nearest boulder and give the cattle a show.” I might do it even if he didn’t go on. We hadn’t had an al fresco lovemaking session in a long time.
“Not unless you’ve got lube in your jacket pocket.” He laughed then stopped. “You don’t, do you?”
“Unfortunately, no, but I’ll have to make sure I do in the future.” We were both chuckling when we arrived in the general area where I expected to find the cattle. But they were all standing close together on one side of the field. And it didn’t take long to see why. “What the—”
“Is that one of us?” Sawyer murmured, gaze fixed on the fluffy white wolf standing a dozen yards from the herd. “Or is it a wolf wolf?”
“I’m not sure.” If we were closer, I’d have been more confident in my answer. “If she’s a natural wolf, she’s on the large side, but she doesn’t look familiar to me.”
“A visitor?” He lifted a hand as if to wave then let it drop. “From another pack?”
If she turned around, if I could get a peek at her muzzle, at her eyes, even from this distance I might know. “A visitor wouldn’t wander out here, would they? Not on purpose unless she’s got a thing for cows. Or she’s lost.”
“Let’s get closer if we can.” Sawyer let go of my arm and took a couple of steps. “If it’s an animal, you can always fire a shot and…wait. You don’t have your rifle.”
“No. I hadn’t planned on coming out here, or I would.” More the fool me. “But I have the real weapon if she wants a fight. Both of us in fur should scare her off.”
Together, we cut the distance between us and the strange wolf in half before she seemed to notice us and turned. I just had time to notice her bloody paws and tangled gray fur on her chest and back before she dropped to her belly, head on her paws.
“Shift,” we both said and continued toward her.
She was not of our pack, and did not have to obey, but it was the easiest resolution to the situation. If she accepted our authority and shed her fur.
Which she did not. She retained her fur as well as the submissive posture.
If we got much closer, in two-legged form, we’d be at a disadvantage should she choose to attack. And I’d be damned if I’d lose my mate to a female with bramble-snarled fur and a scratch on her nose.
“We know you’re a shifter,” Sawyer said, his voice low and soothing, moving closer to her than I was comfortable with. “And we know you’re hurt. But we don’t know anything more, and if you don’t shift, we’ll have to.”
She lifted her eyes to him, to us because I had joined my mate in front of the female. Despite the injuries, she was a gorgeous wolf, with a shimmering gaze unlike anything I’d seen in a wolf. Or a person. Sadness and pain rolled off her in waves, and before I could act, my big-hearted mate was on his knees at her side.
“Come on, girl,” he spoke close to her ear. “Shift, and we’ll take you where your hurts can be treated. I don’t know what’s happened or where you came from, but you can’t tell us like this. It’s getting late and cold and you’re upsetting the stock. So, I’m going to tell you just one more time.” He waited a moment, let his words sink in. In wolf form, some shifters didn’t have a clear understanding of human speech. But from the intelligence in those sad eyes, I’d say it wasn’t a problem for this female. “Shift.”
I watched carefully, prepared to act if she should attack, knowing we’d been foolish to get so close, but Sawyer was empathetic in the extreme, and sometimes one of the traits I loved most about him could put him at risk. Just when I was prepared to take my fur and end this, she arched her neck and her outline blurred.
He’d taken a chance, in both our names, and it paid off.
Before us on the ground lay a scratched-up woman with her hair in tangles and those same limpid eyes whose deep emotion belied the defiant set of her lips.
Sawyer stripped off his jacket and laid it over her shoulders. “Come on. Let’s get you indoors before it rains or snows. Are you hungry?”
