Steal Her Heart (Kaid Ranch Shifters #1)(13)

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.