Wolfe Ranch

OWEN

My mate already had kids without me. The knowledge of that was like a knife to my gut, having it twisted while inside me, and a huge blow to my heart.

Jet was in my head, whining and howling loudly. I knew that I would need to let him out tonight so he could run this off. He was hurt, and I could feel it deep in my bones.

We went to the stables to finish working after lunch. Cat came in and got her horse not long after that.

I kept my head down and kept working, trying my best to ignore her. I heard her tell us which horses we would be using while we were here, but I said nothing.

Once she left the stables and rode off, I left the stall I had been working on and leaned against the wall to think and process everything.

Preston finished with his stall and leaned against the wall on the other side of the walkway.

“Are you okay?” he asked after a while.

“Honestly, no. I’m not. I know that with her being a human there’s no way for her to know that I’m her mate and that having children is something that should have been for the two of us. This whole situation is fucked.”

He nodded his head then said, “It is, but we need to find out what’s going on. We will figure all of this out. Don’t worry.”

I nodded my head and took a deep breath to calm down. I pushed off the wall and got back to work, trying to put the thoughts out of my head, but I was stuck with them for now.

We worked on the last of the stalls, and I looked around, realizing that there were a lot of horses in there, at least ten, and each of them had their own space with their own nameplate.

When we were done cleaning the stalls, we took time to mess with Annie and Bolt. Bolt seemed to like me more than Preston, but Annie was sweet to us both.

We stayed in the stalls and gave the horses attention until Hank came in. He tied his horse up and started taking the gear off it while looking around the stalls.

“The two of you did a good job in here,” he told us.

“Thank you,” Preston said.

He nodded his head and told us, “When you two are done bonding with your horses, get the goats in the barn for the night.”

“How do we do that?” Preston asked.

“The best way to get them in is with feed in a bucket. Lead them in, and then you can dump the bucket in the feed trough when they are all where they need to be.”

“Sounds easy,” Preston said, and Hank laughed at him.

“It can be. Oh, you will need to gather eggs and close up the chicken coop. We don’t need coyotes eating more chickens,” he told us.

I kept petting Bolt while watching Hank finish with his horse, then put her up. He left the stables afterward without saying anything else.

Preston and I left the horses and went to the barn. He got a bucket of feed to get the goats in the barn with.

There was a large pen in the back of the barn to close them in with hay, water, and a feeding trough. Preston led them inside while I walked behind them and closed them in.

“With two people, that is pretty easy,” Preston said.

“Yeah,” I agreed, though I didn’t really care.

After that, the two of us went to the chicken coop with a basket and gathered eggs while the chickens were getting ready to settle in for the night.

One hen thought that my hand was something to peck at, and I got pecked the crap out of me a few times. Those chickens were mean!

Once we had all the eggs, we left the coop and closed the chickens in. We left the barn area with the egg basket and walked toward the main house.

As we were walking, I heard a horse’s hooves beating the ground as it trotted toward us.

I looked up to find Cat on her horse with both of her kids riding with her. Scratch that. Not kids, pups. Her twins are wolf pups. What wolf would dare get a human pregnant that wasn’t his mate?

Without thinking, as I exhaled, I let out a low growl of irritation. Preston hit my arm, drawing my attention to him. I tore my eyes from her and her pups and looked over to Preston.

He was shaking his head while frowning at me. I took a deep breath to calm down and walked with him to the house.

We stepped inside and found Hank getting something to drink then walking out to the porch to sit down.

I set the basket of eggs down on the counter and placed my hands against the edges while looking at the ground. I took another deep breath. I could feel Jet, now hurt and angry, clawing to get out.

I had to try my best to fight him back. I felt Preston’s hand on my shoulder to give me some strength and comfort.

This was a fucking nightmare. I had no idea what to think. I had so many questions and wanted answers now.

I got myself together and stood upright. We both got a drink from the refrigerator and went to join Hank on the porch. We sat down and enjoyed the night air and the peace and quiet. It was quiet there compared to the pack.

Moments later, both of the pups came running up to the porch. The little girl was talking away as loudly as she could and the boy seemed to be brooding over something.

Right away, they stopped running while sniffing the air and turned to Preston and me. They could tell what we were. Preston and I shared a look then looked back at the twins.

They obviously had their dad’s black hair and blue eyes, since Cat had blonde hair and green eyes. I wanted to know the story behind all of this. I wanted to know who their dad was and why this had even happened.

Cat walked up and both pups looked back at her. Other than the hair and eyes, they looked like her and even if I didn’t want to care, it tugged at me. Part of me didn’t want her as my mate, but a large part of me did.

“Jacob and Ivy, I would like you to meet Preston and Owen. They’re our new ranch hands,” Cat said.

“Hi,” Ivy said with a smile and a wave.

“Hi,” I said with a smile and a nod.

“Hello,” Preston told her.

Ivy seemed sweet like her mother. Jacob, on the other hand, stood there watching the two of us closely. He was calculating, and I could tell he was protective.

All things a male wolf possessed, but there was something more about the pup. He seemed aggressive already at his age, meaning he was a higher-ranking wolf than an omega.

Someone in leadership had been with Cat and got her pregnant. I wasn’t impressed by this and wanted to know who it was.

In our world, the highest-ranking wolves are alphas with their large black wolves, betas come next with a smaller gray wolf, then the gammas with their white wolves.

At the bottom were the omegas, but it was only because they had small wolves with any color pelt. The omegas outnumbered alphas, betas, and gammas massively.

“Let’s go in and get homework done while I make everyone dinner. Can you three gentlemen hunt down the table leaf and extra chairs when you’re done?” Cat asked.

“Sure,” I told her without thinking.

“Where will we find them?” Preston asked.

“In the basement somewhere,” she said.

I involuntarily grimaced and the pups laughed before Ivy said, “See? Even they don’t like it.”

Cat shook her head and led them inside. I sat there blinking and took a sip of my drink.

We stayed out there on the porch and finished our drinks before Preston and I stood up to find the basement and get the items that Cat needed.

The basement door was inside the house. We opened it and turned the light on from the top of the stairs that led down into the darkness.

I’m glad I have night vision, but I still think basements are creepy as hell, along with attics.

The two of us went down the stairs and looked around. I spotted the chairs right away, so I walked up to them.

Right behind the chairs was the table leaf propped up against the wall. Easy enough. We gathered the items and went back up.

Walking into the kitchen, I could smell the food cooking, and it was delightful. I could hear Cat talking and helping her pups with their homework.

I placed the chairs down and helped Preston with the table while the pups finished their work. When they were done, they set the table then headed up the stairs to the second floor of the house.

“They are getting ready to wash up for dinner. I suggest the two of you do the same and someone get Hank to come in for dinner,” Cat said.

“Yes, ma’am,” Preston said.

She would make a good luna with the way she was organized and ordered people around.

Preston rushed off to get Hank from the porch as I stepped up to the sink and started washing my hands.

As I finished, Preston came back with Hank, and they washed up also. We sat down at the table while Cat worked in the kitchen to finish up the food.

The twins came running back downstairs and sat down with us. I sat there watching both of them. Ivy was sitting there smiling at both Preston and me while Jacob was quietly observing and judging us.

Cat got our attention by placing food on the table for us to put on our plates. She’d made steaks, mashed potatoes, and a salad.

We sat there and ate the meal in comfortable silence until little Ivy started talking about her day at school. I barely listened to the happy little girl as I forced my food down my throat.

When we were done with dinner, we helped clean up. The pups ran into the living room, and I heard the TV turn on while Hank told everyone goodnight and headed for his home, right next door to the foreman’s house.

“You two can follow me. I’ll show you to the guesthouse,” Cat told us when we were done.

We followed her out the back door and up to the third house on her property. It was smaller than the main house, but would be big enough for Preston and me while we were here.

The three of us went inside, and Cat showed us around. It was a three-bedroom guesthouse that she used for ranch hands instead of guests.

She got ready to leave us and go back to the main house, but stopped at the front door, turned to us, and said, “I make breakfast every morning at six. The two of you are more than welcome to join the four of us.”

Preston jumped in and said, “We’ll be there.”

She smiled and left us in the guesthouse. When she was gone, I sighed loudly and flopped down on a chair in the living room. Preston joined me in a chair across from me and waited for me to speak first.

“I want to know who the twins’ father is,” I told him.

“Agreed. All wolves know we are supposed to wait for our mates to have pups. This is a bad indiscretion.”

I nodded my head and said, “I wonder if she even knows what they are or what their father is.”

“I had the same thought.”

“We need to share this with Easton and see if he can help us figure this out from home.”

“That’s a good idea. What do you plan to do tonight?” he asked me.

“I need to go out to the woods late tonight and let Jet out. He’s pissed.”

“I’m sure he is. Another wolf got to his mate before he could.”

I nodded my head and pulled my phone from my pocket to call Easton. I needed answers, but I wasn’t sure what all Cat even knew. I would figure all of this out, no matter how long it took me.

CAT

When the night was calling for sleep, I had the kids bathe and get ready for bed. They were busy messing around upstairs while they waited for me to come tuck them in.

I turned the TV off, knowing I needed to call it a night, and climbed the stairs to the second floor of the house.

I went down the hall and found both of the kids in Ivy’s room talking. I stood at the door of her room and leaned on the frame.

“What are you two up to?” I asked.

They both turned to me and waved me into the room frantically. I looked at them suspiciously but stepped into the room and grabbed the chair at Ivy’s little desk.

I sat down on it beside her bed facing them, wondering what story they would tell me.

“Mama, they’re both wolves,” Ivy said.

I looked at her, wondering what she was talking about, and that’s when it hit me. She was talking about Owen and Preston.

Honestly, I wasn’t surprised by the way they were built. Normal men aren’t built like that. Why am I always attracted to wolves?

“Then what are they doing here?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Ivy shrugged.

Jacob spoke up with, “One is a beta like Dad and the other is an alpha.”

What the fuck? Why were a beta and an alpha here? What could they possibly want? I didn’t need to voice any concern because it was written all over my face with what Jacob told me next.

“I don’t think they are a threat.”

I nodded my head and asked, “They know what you two are, don’t they?”

“Yeah,” they said at the same time.

I sat there thinking for a moment. They had no idea that I knew about that world or they would have called me and the kids out earlier.

They said nothing. I want them to both think that I know nothing. It might be best that way. I didn’t need more problems.

“We won’t open that conversation with them about the wolf world. Let them think that I know nothing about any of it.”

Both the kids nod their heads in agreement. What would an alpha and a beta be doing here acting like they wanted to know anything about ranching? What did I just get us into?