The Guardian (The Wolfe Series) (2 page)

Jake’s senses suddenly shifter to high alert. 
What the hell?
  He didn’t know what had triggered the response, only that something strange was happening inside him, something that he didn’t understand.  He’d grown used to being alone, he and his brothers, so this sense of oneness he felt for an unknown someone coming into his life was foreign to him.  He could almost smell her on the wind, the woman who would be his. 
Mine!
  His mate, the only woman he would ever be able to accept as his life mate.  She wasn’t here yet, he knew, but she would be coming soon.  His every sense spoke of her eminent arrival in this harsh and seemingly endless desert that he loved so much.  He also sensed that her arrival wouldn’t be without hardship and peril.  But she would be worth it and his heart sang with a joy he hadn’t felt in many long years, not since his mother had been killed leaving him and his brothers alone.  His heart constricted even as he pushed that unpleasant memory to the back of his mind.

             
The great wolf shook its head and leapt up on one of the larger boulders.  He howled a warning to the four corners of his world, a warning for others to keep their distance, to stay out of his territory or face dire consequences.  His mate was coming and she would be protected at all costs, even at the cost of his own life.  When there was no answering challenge, the wolf jumped to the ground and started its run for home.  It was a great distance but its large paws ate up the ground, the whiskers on either side of its muzzle helping it to avoid cactus and other obstacles that its superior vision or lack of focus might have missed. 

It was a run for home, a mad dash that would take
Jake back to the ranch that he shared with his brothers, a mad dash that would take him back to home and safety.

C
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I
t was a beautiful day in Pelham Bay Park, the city’s largest park, three times larger than Manhattan’s Central Park, in fact.  Visitors enjoyed miles of bridle paths and hiking trails, and a breathtaking thirteen mile stretch of saltwater shoreline that hugged Long Island Sound.  Athletes enjoyed its many fields and courts while little ones romped in the playgrounds.  In the past the land had been home to the Siwanoy Indians and the Continental Army and supported a diverse range of plant and animal life. 

             
The Andalusian was beautiful and moved with fluid grace along one of the park’s bridle paths, it’s rider even more beautiful.  Both horse and rider turned the heads of those they met for a second and sometimes a third look at the pair. 

Laurie Kincaid sighed deeply and marveled at the fluidity of the animal beneath her. 
Tall and willowy, with long blonde hair and exotic green eyes, she could have been a model, or a movie star, and people starred at her accordingly.  Laurie didn’t seem to notice the attention she and her horse received as they made their way along the narrow trail.  She sighed, wishing that she could let Aragon run but hesitated to do so with so many adults and children nearby. 

She felt an affinity with the Andalusian, the one luxury she’d
allowed herself since she’d moved to New York a year earlier to pursue a writing career.  Throughout history, the Andalusian had been known for its prowess as a war horse and she could well imagine the majestic animal carrying a knight in shining armor into battle, the animal’s long black mane and tail flowing in the wind.  She’d known he was the one for her the moment she’d seen him.  She wondered, and not for the first time, if she would have that same kind of affinity with any other animals.  The foster home where she’d been raised had allowed no pets so she had no way of knowing.  Now that she was out on her own, though, she planned to test her theory.

Aragon tossed his head
as though in agreement.  Strongly built, compact and elegant, the Andalusian was extremely intelligent and when treated with respect sensitive to Laurie’s every command.  She had even started teaching Aragon tricks which he seemed to love.  People at the equestrian center near the park where she boarded the animal were astonished at the rapport between the two.  Often times they would see him following Laurie around like a very large puppy dog.

Laurie pulled Aragon to a halt when she heard the
scream of a large bird overhead.  She looked up into a crystal blue sky dotted with fleecy white clouds and watched in awe as a huge Osprey flew directly over her head.

“Oh, my, aren’
t you amazing?” she crooned to the large bird of prey. 

The raptor was huge
, well over two feet long with a six foot wing span.  One of nature’s most skillful hunters, the bird was brown and grey with a black eye patch and wings.  Laurie held her breath as the bird turned in mid air and flew back toward her, hovering ten feet over her head.

Aragon stamped his
front feet and tossed his head, not sure that he liked such a large bird of prey in such close proximity to him and his mistress.

“It’s okay, boy,” Laurie said and
gently patted Aragon’s arched neck.  “He’s not going to hurt us.”  She wasn’t certain why she knew that, she just did.

Laurie
reluctantly waved the bird away as Aragon continued to fidget nervously.  “You are beautiful and we’ve enjoyed meeting you but you need to go about your own business now.” 

The Osprey tilted it head, it’s unblinking amber eyes locked with Laurie’s for several long moments before it finally turned and flew out over the marsh.  Laurie watched the bird for several more minutes, a lethal hunter skimming the surface of the marsh, once again intent on hunting
its prey. 

“I wonder what that raptor would have done if I’d held out my arm and encouraged him to come to me?”

Laurie laughed when Aragon snorted and shook his head obviously wanting nothing to do with such a large bird. 

“Time to head for home,” Laurie said reluctantly as she nudged Aragon into a gentle lope.  Back to the city and the crime and the pollution.  She couldn’t wait to leave New York. 
Her writing was going well and she almost had enough money saved to purchase a place of her own in the country where she could write and have Aragon and as many other animals as she wished. 
A place of my own, a place no one can take away from me
. 
Imagine that, Aragon.

A reckless smile lit Laurie’s face as she kneed Aragon into a full gallop.

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M
i
st filled his vision when she came to him.  She was naked, her beautiful peaches and cream skin glistening in the moonlight.  She was proud and determined and she enticed him with a sultry smile curving her full lips.  She moved with fluid grace as she walked toward him with her arms outstretched in invitation.  His dream lover, his mate.

Jake’s eyes drank in the sight of her from the tip of her
turned-up nose to the tips of her toes, he breathed in the scent of her, filling his nostrils with her very own special fragrance.  He promised himself that he would find her in the real world, not in the fantasy world of his dreams.  He felt himself wanting to call out her name even though he didn’t yet know what it was.  She was his dream lover, this woman who would be his mate.  Moonlight shimmered across her body and her lips tilted up in a smile at his thorough perusal.  A light breeze ruffled her shoulder length blonde hair and Jake longed to run his fingers through its silken strands.  His dream lover smiled again when she saw him take a deep breath, inhaling her scent deep into his lungs.  Her eyebrows lifted slightly in question when she saw the erection he was no longer able to hide.

             
He thought his heart would burst from his chest when she lay down beside him.  Leaning over her he tasted her lips for the first time, licking her full lower lip and studying her, his hand caressing the full mound of her breast, brushing his fingers lightly over the nipple and feeling it harden beneath his touch.  He rubbed a strand of her hair between his fingertips, inhaling the fragrance of vanilla and spice.  His hand traced the curve of her hip, his touch creating a fire within her that only his touch could quench.

             
In a smooth motion he turned her onto her back and spread her knees apart, entering her in a single deep thrust.  She was quick to respond, her teeth nipping his shoulder as she matched his movements, her mouth on his, until he felt her surrender to the heat of desire, the flames nearly destroying them both as they sought oblivion in each other’s arms.

             
“Hell!’ Jake swore as he came slowly awake and his dream lover slipped away into the shadowed recesses of his mind.  He rose from his bed and stumbled toward the bathroom sink, splashing his face with cold water, as frustrated as any man who’d ever walked the earth.  “Hell,” Jake sighed and reached for a towel to dry his face. 

“The damned coyotes are getting bolder,” Jake groused as he stalked over to the kitchen counter and refilled his coffee cup before turning back toward his younger brother, Taggert.  His middle brother was the imp of the family, the tease, every woman’s dream with his chestnut brown hair, mustache and amber eyes flecked with green.  At two inches over six feet, he looked like the Marlborough Man leaning back in a kitchen chair, his long legs stretched out in front of him and his booted feet crossed at the ankles.

“
You look like hell, brother.  Having those dreams again, are ya?” Taggert Wolfe smiled that impish smile that had captured many a woman’s heart.  “Haven’t found her on any of your nightly prowls either, huh?”  He was secretly a little worried about Jake’s search for a mate, though he’d never admit that to his big brother.  He knew that all males searched for their mates when the “time” was upon them and he secretly hoped his own “time” was a long way in the future.  Having a woman around the ranch was going to change things.  She probably wouldn’t be wolf and that fact would present problems of its own.

Jake scowled, choosing to ignore his brother’s teasing tone.  He’d made the mistake of telling his
younger brother about the dreams he was having. 
Damned if I’ll make that mistake again!

“Give the guy a break, will you?” Rand Wolfe said as he
entered the kitchen and eased his six foot four inch frame onto a chair across the table from Taggert.  His hair was black as midnight, and his golden eyes reminded Jake of a predator.  As the youngest of the three Wolfe brothers he was also the quietest, and the most deadly.  He showed no mercy to the coyotes, and was a stone cold killer where they were concerned, which bothered Jake knowing that their mother’s death seemed to have affected Rand more than him and Taggert.

“As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted,”
Jake glared at Taggert before he continued, “the coyotes are getting bolder.  We’re going to have to be extra careful when we go out into the desert on one of our missions.  Something’s going on out there.  I’m not sure what it is yet, but I intend to find out.  There are some seriously nasty people lying to innocent wannabe workers and dumping them into an inferno.  They are murderers, plain and simple.” 

“
There’s so many of them,” Rand complained.  “There’s no way we can help them all.  Pretty damn frustrating if you ask me.”

“Way to look
on the bright side, brother,” Taggert teased and then sobered.  “Remember the seven severely dehydrated men and women we found walking in the desert after they were abandoned by their coyote?”

“
Yeah, they were real grateful when we turned em over to the Boarder Patrol.” Rand growled.

“Enough bickering,” Jake said
, running a hand through his wavy black hair. 

No one hated the coyotes more than Jake did. 
He was well aware that Mexican smugglers could make up to $2,500 per “crosser” and that they didn’t care if their “crossers” lived or died.  Those who were too infirm or weak to keep up were often left behind to die.  Smugglers were even known to threaten to hurt relatives if they didn’t come up with extra smuggling fees imposed upon them at the last minute.  Coyotes were professional smugglers, ranging from low-level mom-and-pop operations to more ruthless criminal organizations getting involved.  Jake was afraid the criminal element was what they had been seeing the past few months.

“
Make sure the radios that we keep in our stashes are charged so we can call for the helicopter if necessary.”  They had purchased a Bell 206B III Jet Ranger to use at the ranch for emergencies.  They all had taken flying lessons and were now experts in handling the machine, it’s black color making it almost undetectable at night when they ran their missions.  It had been a lifesaver on one occasion when Rand had been wounded.  He’d been attacked in his wolf form by a pack of coyotes, the animal variety, which was almost unheard of.  Coyotes usually gave the wolves a wide berth, seldom venturing into the wolves territory.  Jake sighed, knowing that something was going to have to be done about that as well.

“Enough of this,” he said as he placed his now empty coffee cup into the sink
and grabbed his Stetson from a rack by the door.  “We have a ranch to run.  Let’s get to it.”