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Chapter Seven
Analise
Two alphas. One with dark hair and eyes, which he currently turned on me in a distrustful stare. I didn’t blame him. If I’d found a strange wolf around my cattle, I’d think the worst, too. But the other one, with the lighter skin and eyes, had thrown me off my game with his kindness.
How had I happened to have them find me out in the pasturelands this late in the evening? If I’d seen them coming or anyone at all, I’d have loped off into the wilderness, no matter my hunger or exhaustion.
“I wasn’t going to hurt your stock.” I slipped my arms into the sleeves of the lighter alpha’s jacket and fastened it to my chin. I rarely cared about nudity—what shifter did? So why did I feel so vulnerable in front of these two? Maybe because I was. “Are you both alphas here?”
“Yes.” The darker one answered me, but the other nodded as well. I hoped he’d keep the one who looked like he thought me a cattle rustler, or a wolf looking for a leg of beef, from doing anything I’d regret.
I cast my gaze down in a gesture of respect. “I’m just passing through. In fact, I’d be glad to keep on going, if you will forgive me for trespassing on your land.”
“We need more of an explanation than that. Sawyer, I still need to check that fence. If you take the female to the cabin, I’ll follow shortly.” The dark one, who was not named Sawyer, turned away as if I was beneath his notice, which I felt like I was anyway. A runaway with not even one possession to her name?
“This way…” Sawyer said. “Your name, please?”
Telling him might be dangerous. He might use that information to find where I belonged and return me home. But lying to an alpha, even one not my own, was awfully difficult, and without my intent, my name spilled from my lips. “Analise. I’m Analise. And I have been too much trouble already. I prevail upon you to let me leave.”
“I’m afraid we can’t do that. It would be irresponsible for us to have trespassers come and go at will. After we’ve had a chance to investigate your presence, we will decide if you can go.”
Maybe he wasn’t the nice one after all. My limited experience with alphas had not prepared me for this team of two. My father, who had allowed his wife’s influence to reduce him to someone who would sell his own daughter, did not make me respect him. The good memories from before Cyndra came along and the fact my mother had once loved him would not allow me to hate him. Then there was the man who would have been my father-in-law and who had already tried to take advantage of me.
I would have to watch my step around these two; power didn’t always bring out the best in men, and alphas possessed a great deal of power over their packs. Wary, I followed the alpha, Sawyer, from the field. When we were among the trees, I stepped up my pace to come alongside him. “Again, I’m sorry to trespass. I am not familiar with this side of the mountains.”
“We’ll speak when we get home,” he said. “When Tadeo returns.” He was serious, too. We moved through the trees, every now and then seeing a house in the distance, some lit and some darkened. It must be getting late. The other members of whatever pack this was would be going to bed, never knowing they’d been invaded by a terrifying fleeing bride.
Our destination was a little cabin set off by itself on a hillside, a building no bigger or grander than any other. And so different from the home I’d been raised in. If, as I thought I understood, both alphas lived here, they were not into using their pack’s assets for their own personal enrichment. How refreshing. If I hadn’t seen the herd of healthy cattle and the many tidy homes along the route, I might have thought a pack whose alphas lived so simply had few assets. Were the cattle their only assets? Just that one herd?
We’d hiked through the pass that one time but never come as far as this, and I hoped the alphas were not acquainted with my father or at least not well-acquainted. Elder Ridge, Rod’s pack, lay even farther west than ours, so I could hold a bit more hope that they didn’t associate with that group. If they did, and if they liked them…and if they had heard what happened, I was royally screwed.
Sawyer led the way up the steps to the house and opened the door. “Come in and I’ll find you something to wear. You don’t have any kind of luggage out in the pasture, do you? I should have asked while we were there.”
“I don’t. I’ve been traveling in wolf form and I left my previous home rather suddenly.” And while I didn’t think I’d be able to lie, I hoped they would leave it at that. But I’d appreciate the loan of some sweats.”
“And how about a hot shower? Then some food.”
I looked down at my scratched legs and feet and the dirt clinging to them. The rest of me probably looked just as bad. The shift had helped some, but I’d had a rough day, and exhaustion weighted my limbs. “That would be nice.” Considering I’d anticipated curling up under a bush after a dinner of gamey raw squirrel or rabbit or nothing at all, nice was an understatement. Fear still tightened my muscles, and uncertainty held my mind hostage, but at least I’d face whatever came next clean and fed.
Fresh is best.My wolf never understood why I wanted to cook everything.
We’ll have fresh another day. Probably tomorrow.Because tomorrow I’d need to be on my way, provided these alphas didn’t decide to return me to my father.
We will run far and fast.
I didn’t answer. Together, we made a good team, and her unswerving loyalty was never in doubt, but our strength had limits. And we were currently in the home of a pair of alpha wolves who could, if they chose, end our plans for escape and freedom.
The cabin had looked pretty bad from the outside, kid of old with faded boards and a porch that creaked under Sawyer’s weight when we walked in, but the living room was nice enough. At least the furnishings were much newer than the house, a cozy sofa and two chairs as well as a coffee table were arranged to face the fireplace over which hung a flat-screen TV. The floors were scuffed but solid hardwood; the walls could use a coat of paint. The kitchen, what I could see of it via a pass-through, looked as if it last had any updates in the 1970s. If the avocado-green fridge offered any indication. A trio of stools were lined up in front of the counter between living room and kitchen, and it looked like they’d been eating dinner and decided not to do dishes until later. Bachelors. If they had any household help, they probably were not live-in.
But when I turned my back on the rest of the place and stepped inside the bathroom, my jaw dropped. The magnificent space stood in direct counterpoint to what I’d seen of their home so far. The designer had employed local materials like river rock and slate as well as finishing the walls with an adobe texture in a soft cream. After a longing look at the jetted tub, large enough for at least two people to share, I reached into the huge stall and tried to figure out how to operate the complex mechanism. Several showerheads at different angles promised a deluxe experience—for those who could operate it.
A tap came on the door. “Analise? I just want to give you the sweats. They’re going to be big for you. I’ll just leave them outside here.”
“No, wait.” I opened the door. “I don’t know how to turn on the water.”
“Oh, yeah. I should have warned you. It’s tricky. I can show you if you like?”
“Yes, thank you.” Self-consciously tugging down the hem of the borrowed jacket, I chided myself. It came to my knees, without pulling on it. And he’d seen me naked already. Nothing he said or did implied he wanted to take advantage of the situation. If anything, I was the perv, ogling his ass when he bent over to get some towels from a cabinet. Exhaustion must be making me weird because this was not the time!
