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“Damn fool!” Logan hissed, cursing himself and the woman in the same breath.
CHAPTER 21
Shannon’s heart was in her throat as she spurred Stormy into a gallop. She was riding bareback, without even a bridle or reins for steering. They’d untacked all the horses shortly after arriving at the spring a few hours before, and there’d been no way for her to tack Stormy up again without Logan noticing, so she’d just unfastened the horse from the picket line, jumped on, and started riding.
It wasn’t Shannon’s first time riding tackless. Stormy was well trained, and Shannon knew how to steer her with leg pressure alone. Only she’d never attempted it at this speed. Or at night. It was harder than she’d expected, and she’d expected it to be hard.
This was, without a doubt, the most foolish thing she’d ever done.
But what other option did she have?
If she’d stayed back there with Logan, all hell would have broken loose. She’d hoped she might be able to make it through the night without her elixir and return to the canyon first thing in the morning, but that plan had quickly proven to be untenable. Even before the sun had gone down, Shannon had felt that old familiar tingle creeping through her body. By the time the stars had come out, the urges had been nearly unbearable.
She’d tried to just stare into the fire and not think about the alphas and all the things she wanted them to do to her. That had worked for a little while.
Then Logan had come over and spoken to her.
It had been all she could do to keep herself from pouncing on him, ripping off all his clothes, and riding him like a rodeo bull. That’s when she knew she would have to make a run for it.
It wasn’t just her inner omega that wanted Logan Summerhill. Her heart wanted him too, had wanted him right from the moment she’d first seen him riding up on that beautiful paint horse with his dark hair tied in a blood-colored bandana and his golden sign flashing out from the open collar of his tunic. The same went for Tanner McBain, with his deadly gray eyes and even deadlier smile. But she could never have them, for having them would mean revealing her true nature, and that would mean losing the ranch. She couldn’t allow that to happen. She had a responsibility to her hucows, a responsibility she’d inherited from her father.
The desert rushed past her in the night, ghostly in the dim starlight. It was difficult to navigate in all that darkness, and she wasn’t even sure whether she was going in the right direction anymore.
She didn’t have to find the canyon, though. If she could just get away, get enough distance between herself and the alphas, she could ride out her heat alone in the desert, and then, come morning…
Shannon felt Stormy tense up beneath her. A moment later, she understood the reason for that tension.
Something was chasing them.
There was a snorting breath somewhere behind them in the darkness, followed by a growl.The wolf, Shannon thought.The red wolf. It’s come back to kill me.She remembered her dream from that morning, the pain of fangs stabbing into her flesh, rending muscle and cracking bone. She didn’t dare look back.
Please don’t let me die,she thought.Please…
Then, as the beast closed in behind her, Shannon could hear its footfalls drumming against the desert floor, and she knew from the cadence that her pursuer ran not on four feet but on two.
A second later, those footfalls silenced, and Shannon understood that her pursuer had jumped. She braced for impact.
A pair of enormous hands seized her, and her stomach did a somersault as she was lifted from her horse and spun around in the darkness. She tried to cry out, but the only sound that slipped past her tightened throat was a tiny, pathetic squeak.
Another second, and all was still again. Shannon could hear Stormy’s hooves galloping away before slowing to a halt. Powerful arms cradled her above the ground. She tried to push away from her captor, and her hand met an unyielding wall of muscle. The scent of Logan Summerhill invaded her lungs like a drug, and her blood rushed to all the places she didn’t want it to go.
The alpha didn’t say anything at first, he just growled threateningly. Then he lifted her up and flung her over his shoulder like she was a sack of grain he was carrying home from the market.
“Call your horse,” he said.
“What are you—”
“Call your damned horse, or I’ll leave it in the desert.”
The iron in his voice raised goosebumps all over Shannon’s skin. Her blood was beating hard and quick in her veins. She lifted her fingers to her mouth and whistled. After a moment, she heard Stormy’s hooves trotting toward them.
The horse stopped a few yards shy. She was understandably nervous around the alpha, and for a second Shannon feared the animal might bolt away from them again. Then something strange happened.
The alpha purred.
It was the second time that day Shannon had heard him make an inhuman sound. The first time had been when he snarled at her. She liked the purring more.
The sound instantly calmed the skittish horse. It had a different effect on Shannon. She didn’t just hear it, she felt it, rumbling up through the alpha’s big shoulder and vibrating deep into her aching core. All of her insides seemed to melt like butter, and a moment later she could feel the warm, slippery arousal leaking from between her legs.
