Wolf Ranch Series

BOYD

I blinked, looked around. Where the fuck was I? Sterile walls. Beeping monitors. Antiseptic scent. Shit. No.

I couldn’t be in a hospital. I’d barely gotten scratched when that bull nicked me with his horn. It had hurt like fucking hell, but it hadn’t been so bad. Just a little blood loss. A big hole in my chest. I’d seen Audrey in the stands—my wolf ready to show off for her—and was prepared to focus on the ride, all eight plus seconds, and then get back to her. Get in her. But then I’d seen Abe set his hand on her shoulder and I’d focused on that. The way his fingers lightly gripped her. Felt her heat, could breathe in her sweet scent. I’d thought of that, only that. Not the big ass bull I’d been riding on.

Was she interested in Abe? Had she liked his touch? I’d wondered about that, then I’d been pissed as hell. No fucking way. My wolf had screamed at me, “He’s touching her! Get his fucking hands off her. Now!”

Abe would’ve have more than a broken finger before the night was out, an entire hand, except the bull had kicked just right and I’d gone flying. I was used to falling off. Hell, I did it on purpose often enough so people wouldn’t wonder as to why I was so fucking daring. It was the fact I knew I’d never get hurt that made me champ. Even a horn in my torso couldn’t keep me down for long.

What was bad, and sad, was that I’d fucking passed out. I’d planned on jumping off that gurney before it ever made it into the ambulance, track down Abe and tell him he could fucking forget Audrey even existed.

Not that Doctor Blue-Eyes would’ve let that happen. She’d been there within seconds of me hitting the hard packed dirt and began to treat me as if I were human.

She’d touched me. I’d felt it through the pain. My wolf had, too.

Hell, if getting her to focus on me was to get gored by a fucking bull, I should have done it earlier in the night. I remembered her squeezing my hand as she jogged beside the board they’d strapped me to. Vaguely, I remembered her next to me in the ambulance, speaking in those low, clipped tones to the EMTs. Stern. Authoritative. Bossy as fuck. That little slip of a female had given orders like the most ruthless of alphas.

I was good at sensing people. It was the shifter in me. Audrey had been worried… about me. And I remembered liking how that felt. She cared and if that didn’t do something funny to my insides.

I fought the drugs pumping through my veins and opened my eyes once again. I had no idea how long I’d been out and that was bad. My body was healing wolf-quick and anyone could have noticed. I knew exactly nothing about hospitals since this was the first time I’d been in one, but it looked like they were going to do some kind of procedure, maybe even take me to the operating room. Watching doctor shows on TV clued me in to that possibility. A nurse in blue scrubs had her back to me, arranging instruments on a tray, then stepped out of the room. Like whatever was planned was going to happen.

I stifled a groan as I tugged the IV needle out of my arm and disconnected the monitoring equipment.

The last thing I needed was to expose my species to human doctors, especially the ones in my own home town. Revealing what we were was against pack rules. The easiest way to do that was to get them to cut me open.

My brother Rob—the pack alpha—would kill me. He’d do it in a more painful way than being gored, that was for fucking sure. He already thought I was a fuck-up and would probably swear up oneside of Sunday and back down the other for getting injured in front of an entire arena full of people and forced to have medical intervention.

If he were me, he would have gone off into the woods, shifted and licked his wounds until he was healed, which would have taken a few short hours.

Me? Yeah, I was in fucking trouble here.

As softly as I could, I rolled off the hospital bed to crouch on the floor. A hospital gown had been draped over my privates and fell to the floor. I had to assume they hadn’t put me in it so they could keep my chest exposed so they could treat it. I was bare-ass naked. Picking the gown up, I shoved my arms through the sleeves. My ass was hanging out and I was too weak and groggy to reach back and tie the tabs closed, probably more from the morphine than from the wound. I gave my head a shake to clear it.

I looked down and touched the place on my chest the bull had punctured. I couldn’t see it through the scratchy fabric, but I could feel that the flesh had closed. It was well on its way to healing, thank fuck. Even an injury as grave as a fucking bull horn through my chest knitted and fused fast. Quickly, before the nurse returned, I slipped out the door, the back of my gown flapping open in the back. I didn’t give a shit if someone saw my bare ass. I just wanted out.

I opened the cabinets outside my room until I found the plastic bag with my bloodied clothing and personal items and ducked into a bathroom to pull on the crusty clothing. They weren’t ideal, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. My hat sat on top and I set it upon my head. I didn’t like being without it. I felt more naked with my head bare than in the hospital gown with my butt hanging out.

I dipped my head as I slipped out, but I snapped it up the moment I stepped into the hall and caught her scent. I sniffed. Peaches and vanilla. Yeah, I’d recognize her anywhere. But where was—

I turned to search for her and she barreled into my arms. Well, my chest, really. That hurt like a bitch, but I caught her elbows to steady her as we collided, my wolf celebrating her nearness. Mine!

I smiled down at her, so caught off guard by the intense pleasure of touching her, I forgot my dilemma. I forgot that I was supposed to have a huge hole in my chest.

She gasped, then frowned, looked me over. Since she was a full head shorter, her gaze was right at chest level and my bloody, torn shirt. “Boyd! How are you—”

She pulled back to look at my wound and I dropped my arm from touching her to cover it, hunching a bit like it pained me. I was a bull rider, not an actor, but I was fucking this up more and more by the second.

“Listen, Doc,” I began. “I appreciate your help, but I’m more of a heal-at-home kind of guy. Nothing a little time on the couch can’t fix. I’m going to check myself out now.”

Horror flickered over her face. “You can’t!” She reached for the hem of my untucked shirt.

I shrank back. At least, I meant to shrink back. In actuality, something different happened. Her fingertips brushed the skin of my lower belly and every cell in my body reacted. My dick thickened in my jeans.

Shock flashed over her face when I kept her hand from drifting higher to the wound, her pupils narrowing to tiny points, then blowing wide. “But you… I mean—no way. You shouldn’t be standing, let alone leaving.”

Fuck.

My brain caught up with my dick as soon as it happened, but by then it was too late. I’d wanted to feel her touch, skin to skin. Wanted to feel her heat, to have her scent on me, permeating into me.

Dumb move. Another one.

I pushed her hand out from under my shirt and stumbled backward. Running into her was pretty much letting her in on a big fucking secret. A big shifter secret.

“I’m ah… not as hurt as you thought. Lots of blood for a little wound. I’m feeling better, but I’ll rest up. I promise.” I backed up. My wolf howled to stay near her. It didn’t understand why I was walking away. “I’m gonna head to my family’s ranch. You know, heal.”

I had her stunned surprise on my side. It took her seconds to process the unbelievable. At least unbelievable for humans.

“I’ll take good care of myself. As long as you promise me you won’t go out with Abe. He’s not the man for you.”

“Wait!” she called, but I’d already turned and started jogging as swiftly as I could down the hallway. As soon as I turned the corner, I broke into a run and got the fuck out of there as quickly as possible.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

What had I been thinking? Yeah, I wanted the hot little doc, but I couldn’t have her now. There was no fucking way I could even see her again. The secret would be out. I couldn’t expose what I was or the pack. Rob would be even more pissed.

All I could hope was that she didn’t realize the extent of healing that had taken place, that I was somehow just a hard-headed bull rider who hated hospitals and that she’d let me go without further inquiry. That I wanted just that. Except… that was a goddamn lie.

She knew who I was. Knew about Wolf Ranch. I’d mentioned where I was from earlier in the arena. I was far from anonymous. If she was as smart as I figured, there was no way she’d take what she’d seen as the end.

No fucking way. She’d come after me. My wolf howled at that. Perhaps that was the only reason why I wasn’t running back inside, finding the nearest empty hospital room and fucking her until she had no doubt she was mine and mine alone.

That was the stupidest thing of all. If she showed up at the ranch, I was going to have to explain to Rob—hell, not just Rob but the entire fucking pack—exactly how badly I fucked this up because my wolf was saying Dr. Audrey Ames was my mate.

Yeah, total fucking mess.

As usual.

The black sheep of the family returned.

And he was still the irresponsible playboy everyone thought he was. Plus, his wolf said his mate was human.