Steal Her Heart (Kaid Ranch Shifters Book 1) Page 4

  “He don’t need it cleaned!” Hunter said.

  “Okay, you!” she said, jamming one finger behind her at the man taking up the entire doorway. “Out! You aren’t helping.”

  “Disagree! I brought the whiskey you’re wastin’.”

  “You also shot him in the first place.”

  Hunter opened his mouth to retort, but nothing came out. She had a point.

  “Fine. I’m leaving. Good luck, Bryson.” Now Maris with her human ears wouldn’t be able to hear what he was mumbling on his way out, but Bryson heard him just fine. “Have a lady on the ranch for fifteen minutes, and a cow is on the loose and someone’s leg is shot and the whiskey is wasted and now I can see why Wes says we don’t need no fuckin’ girls around here.”

  Bryson snorted.

  “What’s so funny?” she asked.

  He shook his head and did his best to look innocent. “Nothin’ at all. You’re doin’ real good mutilating my leg.”

  “Propose to me.”

  “What?” he said, yanking his leg away from her.

  “Business proposal. You said something about going into business.”

  “Oh. Shit. Oh, okay.” His heartrate was about ninety miles a minute right now. Propose to her. That woman didn’t have any idea what marriage to a man like him would be like. He’d break her in a year, tops. A growl rattled his throat so he coughed to cover it. Eaaaasy. “I’m gonna lease your pastures to feed my cows. You do the feeding, do everything you did before, take care of them, water, nutrients, take care of your pastures, all that. I’ll pay you fair to lease your land, and pay for the feed and vet bills, and your labor, and when it comes time for it, I’ll bring a bull out there of my choosing, breed the herd, and sell however and whenever I want.”

  “So…you’re going to pay me…to ranch. On my own ranch.”

  “When I sell, you have no say in the auction, and you won’t see any of that money, so stop thinking you’re some charity case. I don’t give a shit what you do in your spare time or with your pay. I give a shit that you take care of my cows.”

  She blinked slowly. “There’s still the problem of the wolves. You stuck them right back in danger.”

  This was the part that would be tricky. “I’ll handle the wolves.”

  Her dark, delicate eyebrows arched up. “You don’t understand, Bryson. Those animals are slaughterers. I can’t keep them safe. Neither can you.”

  “My job here is to keep the herds safe. I do it well.”

  “Yeah, but your job is here. You can’t manage herd protection on two separate ranches. It’s a miracle the wolves haven’t targeted this place yet.”

  Nah, it wasn’t a miracle. These kind of wolves hunted with an agenda. They probably weren’t even hungry. This was politics, but she didn’t need to know anything about the secret shifter society. All she needed to do was steer clear and let him work. And by work, he meant hunt and kill.

  “From here on, you stay inside at nights. No rifles, no horse, no four-wheeler, no flashlights, no sitting out there with them cows, Maris. That’s my big rule. That ain’t your job anymore.”

  “No, Bryson. None of this is my job. You’re taking over my ranch. You’re taking the heart out of it and turning it into just grass.” She stood and washed blood off her hands in the sink. “This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. I was supposed to work for myself on my terms. I don’t know you from Adam, and now you’ll have a huge say in how my ranch runs? I might as well sell if I’m gonna be a sellout anyway.”

  This woman had more pride in her little finger than most folks had in their entire being. He respected it. Hell, he would feel the exact same. But this wasn’t just him being a selfish asshole and becoming a parasite on her ranch. If she would just give him time, he could help.

  “I need to think about it.” Maris dried her hands and gestured to his leg. “It already stopped bleeding. You’re tough. Guess you have to be to live out here.”

  “You’re tough too, you know?” he said softly. God, he hated the defeat in her eyes. Just give me time.

  She forced a smile. “Sure, I am. I’ll let you know what I decide. Go easy on the leg today, okay?”

  She made her way to the door, but there was something inside of him that didn’t want her to go. He wanted her to stay. To take up more of his time, because this was the most he’d spoken in three years. He wanted her to make him laugh some more and get to know her, but he couldn’t get a single intelligent word out to make her turn around and stay.

  He just sat on that old rickety chair and watched her go.

  And he wasn’t the only one.

  The animal inside of him was watching her, too.

  Chapter Five

  She walked it.

  This is what Maris did when her world fell apart. She walked her property. All those acres, all those trees, the pond, the fences, the old rusty gates that led from one pasture to another. The cows followed her for a while but stopped at the first gate and went to eating their grass. There was a bite in the air, that chill that warned of the coming fall. The cold seasons were expensive on a rancher, especially in these parts where it snowed and the grass was hard to get to. She had to feed the cows through the winter.

  Well…she used to. These weren’t her cows anymore.

  And if Bryson leased the land, was it hers? The bank owned half this place, so really…was any of this hers? Had it ever really been?

  It felt like home. Felt like the place her heart had settled in, felt important…felt special. So whether she folded and got eaten up by the bank eventually or let another rancher take her property over for his benefit, was it really any different? Either way, she lost.

  Small-town ranchers were a dying breed. It wasn’t like before with the big cattle drives of the Old West. Now it was commercial, and big ranches thrived to feed the world beef, while the small-time ranchers like herself struggled to break even every year because they genuinely loved what they did. Loved the lifestyle, loved the culture, loved the work, loved the challenge.

  Loved the cattle.

  Maris sighed and set her rifle against the fence beside her. She leaned on the gate, staring at the biggest part of her property. It stretched as far as she could see from here. No one lived on it, and there was no civilization touching it. This place was just open, beautiful wilderness.

  Prettier sunsets didn’t exist. God was showing off when he set that sun on her ranch in the evenings. He painted the sky with oranges, pinks, and soft blues. She’d sworn to herself she wouldn’t give up one damn inch of this place…yet she was failing.

  She didn’t know how long she stood there, watching the sun lose ground to the horizon. Time didn’t mean as much at the end of a day. The work had been done, and this was her time to unwind. She hadn’t watched the sunsets as much since the wolves had been hunting her land. Tonight, she had her rifle and extra bullets in her jacket pocket, but the risk was necessary. Her heart was so heavy, and she just wanted to watch that sun sink to oblivion.

  When a twig snapped, she grabbed the rifle and yanked it up and into place before she registered the man leading a gritty lookin’ blue roan horse toward her.

  Bryson Locke held up a hand in surrender, his other hand on the reins. “Don’t want two shots in a day,” he said in a low voice.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, lowering her weapon.

  “Shhhh,” he said, pulling the horse right up to her. “Only a few minutes left.” He wrapped the reins around a fence post and came to stand beside her as she set the rifle back into place on her other side. Relaxing, he rested his arms on the gate and stared at the setting sun.

  They didn’t talk, she and this stranger she didn’t understand. This thief.

  In the last seconds of the very tip of the sun’s visibility, he broke the silence. “You don’t like me none-to-much, do you?”

  “I don’t have any feelings either way.”

  He pushed off the fence. “I understand.”

 
“Do you?” she asked coolly. “Do you understand loss? Not just of a person, but of a home? Of the place that keeps you steady?”

  “You see it that way, but you won’t forever. ’Bout time you get on inside.”

  “What?” she asked.

  “It’s the wolves land right now. Yours during the day, theirs at night. I can smell ’em.”

  A chill trembled up her spine. “You…you can smell them?”

  Bryson gestured to the nearest fence post. “They been marking your land all up. It’s a taunt. A dare.”

  “I don’t understand. A taunt at who?”

  He looked off toward the Kaid’s property line and narrowed his eyes. “I had a rule, and that was you stay in at nights. No questions asked, no coming out of that house no matter what you see or hear. You worry about this place during the day, and I’ll worry about it at night.”

  “No.”

  He dragged those strange brown eyes to her. “No, what?”

  “No, I don’t like you much.” She grabbed her gun and walked away. She meant to walk all the way back home without looking back, but she didn’t make it too far. Just to the first gate that led into the pasture where the cows were watching them. As she turned and opened the gate, he was swinging easily into his saddle. He spun his horse and headed her way, but his eyes were covered by the low rim of his cowboy hat.

  And she had this moment of worry. She didn’t see a gun on his saddle. No rifle, at least. He was one man, and he hadn’t seen the wolves yet. They were terrifying.

  Tearing her gaze away from the man who sat tall, strong, and confident in the saddle, she made her way toward the house and tossed up a little prayer to whatever power existed.

  Please let him be okay.

  ****

  It was a miracle Maris was still alive.

  This place reeked of dominant wolf piss. The thing about werewolves… Some packs were decent. They were steady and had good leadership and they hunted only when their wolves needed a hunt, maybe once a month. Twice if the pack was having a hard time.. And they didn’t hunt humans.

  These wolves had been tearing apart this herd. He snarled up his lip at another pile of bones. This pack wasn’t good. It wasn’t steady. It didn’t have good leadership.

  They would know who they were tormenting, who Maris was. They would know they were torturing a single woman out here alone. That said everything he needed to know about the kind of “men” they were.

  No, I don’t like you much.

  Bloodlust. Some packs got consumed by it. They killed too much, killed and killed just to sate their animals’ growing hunger for violence. It became an addiction, and sometimes the bloodlust wasn’t just for animals. That’s where the man-killers came from. The stories of old about horrific were-beasts slaughtering villages? Well, those monsters still existed. Shifters just usually put them down quietly before they got too much human attention. There were rules in the shifter community.

  This pack would graduate to humans if they hadn’t already, and that put Maris in danger. His blood boiled with a slow-simmering rage at that thought. They sure had some balls hunting this close to him. And the Kaids, for that matter. Hunter and Wes didn’t have a pack behind them, but they weren’t no pushovers. Especially Wes. If Bryson was a smaller shifter animal and not a damn grizzly bear, he wouldn’t want to Change anywhere near Wes. As it stood, though, he was top of the food chain in these parts.

  No, I don’t like you much.

  As he trolled the fence line, he found three more kill sites. Smelled like death all over in this pasture. Probably why the cows hadn’t followed Maris in here. They stuck to that front pasture closest to the house and barn. He wasn’t a fan of stress on the cattle. It released hormones in them and affected the way their meat tasted. This shit needed to stop now.

  No, I don’t like you much.

  Why was that replaying on a loop in his head? She had a right to her feelings. She saw him as an enemy, taking over her ranch. Her feelings were valid.

  But still…

  It was full-dark now, and he could see the warm glow of the house windows. He could see just fine in the dark, and across one window, Maris walked by. Kitchen maybe? Somethin’ smelled good. She must be a good cook. It wasn’t one of them frozen meals either. The smells of cooking meat and seasonings wafted his way slowly.

  He pulled out the sandwich he’d packed and ate it. And the stupid, sentimental man that he was apparently turning into, he felt a little better they were kind of eating dinner together, even if she was unaware.

  Seven wolves at least. A small pack. He could smell the difference in every place they marked. Whatever they said with their piss was like texting other wolves. Wes and Hunter would probably be able to tell him more about the wolves he was baiting, just from smell alone, but Bryson would saw his toes off with a spoon before he asked them for help on anything.

  A howl lifted in the air, long and low, rising in octave.

  He hadn’t heard them howl even once before tonight.

  He smiled.

  They knew he was here.

  Good.

  Bring it on, motherfuckers. Maris ain’t alone anymore.

  Chapter Six

  The howl filled the whole house, rising, rising, lifting the fine hairs on her arms right along with the tone.

  She yanked the pan off the hot burner, the metal clanging as it hit the back of the stove. She bolted for the front door, grabbed her gun and a jacket, and just as she was about to open the door, she remembered what he’d said.

  No matter what she heard, stay inside.

  The bawling of the cattle was so loud, though, and her instincts to protect them were too big to mind some stranger’s odd request.

  She rested her hand on the doorknob, heart pounding as she prepared to yank it open.

  But he’d said…he’d said…

  She bolted for the bedroom that faced the pastures and yanked the cord to the blinds. The floodlights from the house only reached the very edge of the first pasture, but it was enough she could see the cattle stampeding toward the fence. Shit.

  She’d tried. She’d tried! She’d tried to listen, but those fences were electric and topped with barbed wire. The barrel of the rifle was cold in her grip as she sprinted for the door. Outside, she blasted down the porch stairs and to the side yard, yelling, “Ayayayayay-AY!!” She was racing the cattle, racing time. She needed to get up beside them, fire off a shot, and scare them the other way, then pray to God they settled before they stampeded into the opposite side of the fencing across the pasture.

  Faster, legs! She pushed them so hard they burned. “Stop!” she screamed as she cut in toward the fence. They were getting too far ahead of her. She wasn’t fast enough!

  “Come on,” she growled, bare feet digging into the earth. Her feet were being shredded by the sharp twigs and weeds, but she didn’t care about that right now. That fence would rip up her herd. Bryson’s herd. Whatever!

  Huffing breath, she finally ran parallel to the leaders. She skidded to a stop and aimed the rifle into the air, undid the safety with a click, and pulled that trigger. Boom!

  The gun kicked bad because it wasn’t snug in her shoulder, but she didn’t care. All she cared about were the leaders panicking and curving to the left, dragging the herd toward open pasture.

  “Thank God that wor—ooof!”

  A cannonball slammed into her from the side. It had to be. She was hit with such force, she landed in the mud near the fence and slid right into it, nearly touching the bottom hot wire with her face. With a gasp, she scrambled to her hands and knees.

  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

  When she lifted her gaze, there was a wolf no more than ten yards away. His fur was the color of ashes, and his eyes glowed a strange green color. His lips were pulled back, and there was blood on his razor-sharp teeth. He was massive. She’d never been this close to one of them, but the tips of his ears came up to the top of the fence.

  Murderer. He’d killed
her cows. He’d nearly mutilated them tonight driving them into the fences.

  When the animal took a step toward her, she stood fast, pulled her rifle up to her shoulder in one smooth motion, and pulled the bolt. She ejected the empty, then slammed another bullet into the chamber.

  Voice shaking, she whispered, “I. Fuckin’. Dare you.”

  The tone of his snarl changed. Rage tainted it, and his body tensed in the split second before he leapt at her. She pulled the trigger, but he landed hard against her chest and knocked her back.

  Shit. She struggled, shoving the rifle upward in both hands, bracing it against his neck as his teeth snapped inches away from her face. She must’ve hit him since his head was streaming blood onto her. She gritted her teeth and screamed through it, fighting the burning in her arms from holding him back with the rifle. And just as she lost ground and her arms gave, she squeezed her eyes closed.

  The sharp cry of the wolf hurt her ears as his weight disappeared from her. The rifle slammed against her chest with the force of something monstrous, and her leg was crushed under a great weight for a split second. She cried out in pain and opened her eyes, but she didn’t understand what she saw. There was fur. So…much…fur.

  The growls of the attacking grizzly bear filled the night as the bruin ripped the wolf into pieces. Just…tore him limb from limb in a gory sight that dragged a sob from her lips. She staggered to her feet and then limped backward, grasped a wooden fence post.

  Move.

  But her legs weren’t responding. A bear. A grizzly bear. He was so close. Right there in front of her. She could walk over and touch his enormous back and feel the texture of his fur if she was so inclined and felt like dying. A howl lifted in the air. They were coming. On the edge of the light, she could see the wolves coming.

  “Oh my God, oh my God,” she chanted, shaking so bad as she inched down the fence line toward the house. She pulled the bolt back, and the empty shell ejected from the chamber, and sparked as it collided with the electric fence beside her. She slammed another bullet into the chamber and sidled down the fence line faster. Terror filled every cell, every vein, every thought she possessed. That bear was going to turn around at any second and attack her, and what chance did she have against a bruin like him? He was dark chocolate brown and bigger than she’d imagined bears could be. When he pulled off his kill and tossed a look back at her, she froze. His eyes were a gold color, full of bloodlust and intelligence.