The Werewolf Cowboy (Moonbound Book 1) (3 page)

A
llan had to admit
, Reyna was right. The check had worked a miracle. Joe Walker had taken one look at all those zeroes, and all talk of who threw whom over the mechanical bull went by the way.

No more calls for Reyna in the clink. No more who-does-this-girl-think-she-is. And blessedly, no one asking how a small woman in heels and a strapless top had managed to bruise up three cowboys.

He was pretty sure one of the second group of noble fight-stoppers had been Joe’s own little brother, and he was a bull rider. At least the wolf secret was safe another day, and Aaron would live to boss the world around a little longer. Maybe.

The office was dark by the time Allan got there, and only the two deputies on call remained. They sat behind Eli’s desk pretending to be engrossed in a file of some sort.

Allan didn’t make eye contact. He made a quick salute as he passed and threw his cowboy hat on a random desk. “Y’all get that Joe’s Bar stuff cleared up?”

Jeff snorted. “Aside from the seven different stories?”

“Did Joe decide to press charges?” Eli asked.

Allan shook his head. “The wo…” he stopped himself. He’d almost said the word.
Wolf
. No. Not wolf. “The woman decided to pay for the damages. Just dropped off a check.”

Dammit.
He pressed his fist into the jamb of his office door. The wolves were in his brain now. This was why he ran alone at the full moons, and hadn’t wanted to attend the summit meeting. He needed to keep his humanness at the front of his mind if he was really going to be of service to their world.

“Joe will be happy.” Eli walked up to Edna’s desk and set another folder on top of the stack. “He was pretty pissed when he showed up.”

“Joe wanted restitution. He got it. Now, we can put this mess behind us and get some real work done.” Allan bounced his fist on the wood, wishing it were a punching bag. “Finish logging the evidence from the Townsend case, then I want you to do weapon inventory.”

“Sure, boss. Whatever you say.” Wally pushed in his chair and leaned on the back. “You headed home?”

“I need to make a quick phone call.” Allan glanced at the clock over his head. 9:30 pm. Would Laurel still be up? He’d have to take a chance.

Jeff and Eli shuffled slowly toward the back room, trading looks and snickering. “Enjoy your phone call,” Eli said.

“Get to work, jackasses,” Allan yelled around the corner after them as he opened the door to his office. Damn the scent of Reyna was all over his clothes, still. He needed to get out of his uniform and into a hot—no, make that
cold
—shower back at home, but calling Laurel couldn’t wait. He needed to confirm tomorrow.

He flipped on the light, digging for his cell phone. But when he looked up, his eyes settled on the creamy white cleavage and large erect nipples of Reyna Dubois. Holy damn fuck.

Allan couldn’t move for a long breath.

Her legs were spread, wide, where she sat on the edge of his desk. She could not possibly have been more naked. Even her pussy was naked. Shaved smooth. Inflamed. Wet.

Ripe
. That was the word he couldn’t find.

Allan breathed in her scent. That was what he’d been smelling. Not her scent on him, but her scent around him. Everywhere. Saturating him.

Her hands rested back on his desk, thrusting her breasts out so that her nipples were icicle points in the air in front of her, begging for his tongue.

He shook himself out of his panting, flushing, swelling stupor and slammed the door behind him.

Reyna’s eyes flashed. “That’s what I’m talking about, cowboy.” She opened her legs wider and closed her eyes. “I know you can feel it.”

He breathed in time with his heartbeat, which was speeding up, the more of her flesh he covered with his eyes. He took a step toward her and felt his erection straining against his pants.

“What I feel isn’t important.” He peeled his gaze away from every perfect exposed inch of her skin and looked for something to cover her with. Her discarded clothes were neatly laid across the chair behind her. At least she’d come in here with some clothing like a human. Wolves liked to be naked too much.

“Oh, but it is important.” She hopped off the desk and her breasts bounced as she landed on the balls of her feet. She padded toward him, taking each step achingly slow. “Can you feel that electric rope around you, pulling you toward me? That’s the magick saying…” She pressed herself against his chest and leaned up to whisper in his ear. “This one is yours.”

Allan couldn’t breathe with her this close.

Her hand snaked down and rubbed the underside of his dick with tender strokes through his pants. “And this one is mine,” she hissed into his ear.

The crude anticipation of a building orgasm began to tingle low in his belly. Not far from where her hand was stroking him.

He blinked and looked up at the ceiling, trying to think of anything other than how good her body felt pressed against his or how good her hand felt on his dick. Or how much he felt the magick too.

But feeling the magick didn’t matter. If he gave in to her, he would lose all of this. A wolf mate would mean disappearing into the wolf world. Gathering all of his strength, Allan took a step back from her.

Reyna’s eyes opened with sleepy leisure. “What’s wrong?” Her words had the same lethargic ease, as though they were sprawled out in some love nest in the middle of the woods, and not standing up in his office in the middle of a public work place.

“Just wondering.” He flexed his muscles and thought of babies and his grandmother and tried to calm his raging hard-on.

“Mmmm.” She stepped forward, but he waltzed back in tandem. “What are you wondering?”

“I’m wondering what you would’ve done if Eli had come in here instead of me?” Allan pointed back at the office. “Just fucked the first person who walked through the door?”

A flash of anger crossed her aroused features. She cocked her head. “You really think I would’ve done that? You think I’m some kind of slut that any dick will do?”

He gave her a wide berth and stalked around his desk, picked up her clothes, and plopped them onto the desk. “You are a wolf, and a Louisiana wolf, at that. I expect you to want to fuck and run in the moon and give in to your carnal nature, because that’s what Louisiana wolves do.”

Her icy eyes narrowed. “You feel the mate pull. I know you do. It’s all I can think about when I’m around you.”

“Well, I’ve never felt it before. I wouldn’t know what it feels like.” He moved a few papers around on his desk, expecting that enraged female flounce to kick in at any moment, but Reyna just crossed her arms under her breasts and regarded him.

“I know enough about my wolf to know when she’s found her other half.”

“My wolf isn’t a half of anything.” Allan pressed his knuckles into his desk. “I’m not into all this pack and mate bullshit like you are. Can’t you just take your wild bunch act somewhere else? I have work to do. Real world, human work. Work that means something.”

She chuckled and picked up her clothes. She pulled her panties on, exquisitely slow, so he could smell every inch of the arousal that remained until she covered it with her jeans. “You think our work doesn’t mean something?”

“Do you know how infinitesimal the wolf population of the world is, compared with the human population? Because, I do.” Allan drilled her with all the force he could muster in his stare. “That’s the important work. Helping the humans. It’s why we’re here.”

She wrapped the corset around her, pulling her breasts into its confines. “All work is important. That’s not what this is about.” Reyna leaned on his desk and in the middle, their faces were only inches apart. She hovered in front of him, looking over each of his features in turn with open curiosity. “What is this about?”

He chewed at his response, not wanting to engage her. “I told you. I don’t do wolf stuff. I have an important job to do here—a job that only I can do. I don’t want to be a part of the politics and drama and shit that Aaron carries around. This is where I belong.”

Reyna nodded. “So you’re repressing your wolf?”

“I shift every month. And when Aaron makes me, I run with the pack.”

“That’s the part I don’t get. You make all this
wolf-in-a-human-world
noise, but you’re obedient to your alpha. You won’t take a wolf mate, but I know…” She put her hand over his heart and Allan couldn’t help flinching. “I know you feel this.”

He did feel it. The burning cord that pulled at him. The way her scent set his blood to running like a special fuel meant only for him. He hated that he felt it. But once Reyna went back to Louisiana with her father, he wouldn’t feel it any more, and he could have his human life and be done with her.

Allan would never be able to go to New Orleans again, but shit. He didn’t like it there anyway. He backed into the bookshelves behind his desk and crossed his arms. “I don’t feel it.”

“Don’t lie to me.” She turned on her heel and walked toward the door. “You’re not a good liar.”

He shook his head. “This isn’t happening. The sooner you get that through your head, the sooner you can get on back to the bayou.”

A flicker of concern crossed her features. “You’d do that? You’d send your mate away, just because you don’t want to live in the wolf world?”

Allan pulled out his desk chair with a sharp scrape. “I don’t have a mate.” He picked up the phone and flicked his hand. “You’d better head back to the ranch. I’m sure they’re doing some wolfy council or some shit that will make you forget all about whatever you think you’re feeling.”

He dialed a few numbers, but didn’t connect the call with the final one. When he looked up, she had hooded her eyes and fixed them on him.

She opened her mouth, but didn’t speak.

Reyna obviously understood she couldn’t argue with his logic. When she closed the door on her way out, Allan could almost feel every step she took, as though the distance would snap the cord that had wound its way around him.

He punched the last number and waited for Laurel to pick up. It was more imperative than ever that he meet with her. He needed to find the person who would ground him to this world. And make him forget about Reyna Dubois.

I
t was well past midnight
, but the VonBrandt mansion was still very much awake. Reyna breezed through the unlocked front door and down the main hallway, passing several wolves from out of town. She recognized the enforcer from Oklahoma and nodded to her as she walked by.

“Seen any VonBrandts?” Reyna asked.

“The study. The big meeting has broken for the night, but the groups have formed throughout the house. The moon tomorrow night has everyone antsy. Several went for run tonight.”

A run. That would be nice, but she really needed to grill someone about Allan’s reasoning for denying a mate. It wasn’t wolf-like. No wolf on earth would run from a Fated match, but that’s exactly what the big sheriff was doing.

“Thanks,” she said, and pushed open the large door barring the entrance to the VonBrandt study.

Allan’s scent was strong in the room and she breathed deeply, taking in as much as she could. This was the last placed she’d expected him to turn up after their encounter at his office. But there he was, standing at the back of the room, staring out the window. All tall and handsome and hers…eventually. He was a lock and she just needed to keep trying keys until she landed on the right one.

For the moment, she wanted to relieve some pent up frustration.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Allan?” Reyna surged into the room, her quick strides eating up the distance between them.

He turned just as she was about to grab his arm. The eyes were the same. The hair was the same. Even a similar face stared down at her, but it wasn’t Allan.

Air whooshed from her lungs and she halted her approach, stopping cold. Allan’s scent was on the man. Recently too.

“You must be Reyna.”

Her eyebrows raised and she narrowed her gaze. “Adam?” she asked, searching her memory for relevant information about the VonBrandt alpha’s youngest brother. The man in front of her was dressed like a farmhand—flannel shirt, tight wranglers, and ropers—and besides smelling like he’d recently met with Allan, the man was covered head to foot in horse dander and hay dust.

“That’s me. What can I help you with?”

Reyna crossed her arms. “Maybe you can tell me why your brother won’t have sex with me.”

Adam coughed and put his glass of scotch down on the windowsill.

“Not that I’m a nympho, but sex between mates is about the bond. I’m his mate and he’s being a jackass.”

“You’re sure?”

Reyna nodded. “Positive. No doubt.”

“Allan is stubborn. Even as a kid, if something bothered him, he would disappear to think about it. I remember this one time he spend the night up at the high school football field because he and dad were arguing.”

So he’s hiding from me?
“Why doesn’t he want a mate? I’ve never met a wolf that was so against it. It’s not like Fate comes knocking on our doors every other week.”

“Allan likes his life the way it is. Just give him time to adjust to the idea. He’s really hooked on his human life and friends.”

“He’s a wolf. Not a human. He may have a human job, but he’s still a wolf.”

Adam nodded, picked up his glass, and took another sip. “And that right there is the problem. He’s technically a wolf, but his entire life revolves around humans. Sure, he cares about us and follows pack orders when necessary…but his life is this town.”

“So you’re telling me, he doesn’t want me because I’m a wolf.”

“Probably.”

Fucking hell. He was more messed up than she’d thought.
“So he’s hiding, trying to convince himself that he doesn’t want me as a mate?”

Adam opened his mouth to speak and then snapped it shut again.

“What?” Reyna asked. “Spit it out.”

“It’s not like you made a great first impression. What with the bar fight and him having to cover for you with his office. I’m sure that’s part of it, too. Just give him some space. With Allan, that’s always best.”

“Yeah,” Reyna sighed. “That’s not my style.”

A
llan threw
his truck into park in front of his house and swiped open his phone. Laurel’s text had come through while he was driving back from the office, and he wasn’t about to look at his phone until his vehicle had come to a complete stop.

9am at the All-Nighter works for me. See you there
.

He turned off the engine and stuck the phone in his pocket. He wasn’t much of a texter, but that had been Laurel’s preference. He could be flexible.

The air outside was almost what you might call cold. Not quite the bite that it would get by December, but not warm anymore. He preferred the cold, rainy winter, anyhow. Keep everyone indoors.

Hell, it would be great if it would snow. Cut down on crime for a day or two at least. But that likely wasn’t in the cards for Somewhere. He couldn’t remember the last time it had really snowed.

Still, there was something in the air that he couldn’t place. It wasn’t cold, or the promise of rain. He walked up the sidewalk toward his front door and paused on the stoop.

Allan scanned the street. Dark. Deserted. Then what the hell had his hackles up? He put his hand on the door, but the nagging feeling wouldn’t let him relax.

Reyna
.

Of course, it was Reyna. She was probably laying in wait somewhere inside. No doubt his chat with Adam had produced the opposite results. His fucking brothers. Meddlers, all.

Allan could just guess what had happened. Either Adam had gone to Aaron, or had found Reyna himself. They were all fucking up in arms about Fate. His brother’s sympathetic ear had been a ruse.

His house, of all fucking places. A man’s home should be his fortress. Like fucking Superman. He shouldn’t be able to smell aroused she-wolf all over his door. His door should be his. It should be safe.

And it was open! What the hell? Had Adam made her a key or something? Shit.

Allan stepped backwards, his own momentum propelling him off the steps and into the wet grass. He shifted his weight back and forth, swearing to himself.

The last thing he needed was Reyna rubbing her scent all over his bed, or his couch, or his fucking letter openers or whatever she was touching. Fuck. The woman didn’t listen. His brothers didn’t listen. No one understood.

He stomped back to his truck and opened the door, glancing back at the house. Dammit. All he wanted was to be able to come home at night and have a woman there to share his life with. That had been the whole reason for calling Laurel in the first place.

But not a wolf. He did not need one more reason to be tied to his secretive family and their pack life. If he married a human, he would finally be fulfilling the purpose of the Moonbound curse, and the wolfy meddling of the VonBrandt brothers would be limited to orders from the alpha only.

Besides, Reyna was too much a wolf. Her sexuality, her wanting to be naked, her wanting him to fuck her in public. That was how wolves were. All about the sex and the shifting. He didn’t want that.

Although someone should’ve told that to his dick. Just smelling her had made his heart speed and his blood race and thicken and harden. Damn.

He couldn’t deny they had magick between them. Whichever Fate had decided there was a wolf out there he should be with, it had definitely chosen. He just wasn’t in the habit of listening to Fate. He made his own fate.

The bright swath of his headlights flooded the front of his modest little house, and a smile curled across his lips. This was home now. He liked being home. Not tonight, of course, but he could be home again soon.

Once the summit was done and all the wolves retreated to their territories, and life could go back to being normal again. Then, he could go home.

For the time being, he’d have to be content with hunkering down somewhere. If Reyna was going to be this persistent—showing up at his house and picking his locks—then she wasn’t to be trifled with. She wasn’t the slutty Oklahoma wolf who had thrown herself at him a few years ago when he’d been transporting a fugitive. That girl had given up on the first rebuff.

Reyna was committed, he had to give her that. She was also damn hot, but he would eventually forget about how good she’d looked naked. His dick would forget as soon as she was back in New Orleans. Life would settle down and normalize. Coffee with Laurel the next morning would open up a whole new world for him, and after the moon, Reyna would be gone and Allan would get some fucking sleep.

The ride out to Adam’s ranch gave him a chance to ice his erection into compliance and by the time he pulled up behind his brother’s barn, he was flaccid and calm, just the way he preferred. Controlled, peaceful.

He grabbed a wool blanket out of his travel kit and looked around for somewhere to bunk down. The hay would be itchy, and would get stuck in his clothes, but it would be preferable to getting a crick in his neck in the cab of the truck. He’d parked far enough behind the barn so that he was out of sight from the road. There wasn’t room in the barn to park the whole thing, but he just needed to keep Adam from coming out, thinking there was an intruder. If it hadn’t been almost two in the morning, he would’ve knocked and slept in the house.

He rolled out the blanket and laid down between the big tires of Adam’s tractor. That way, if he got cold, he could always jump up the stairs and sleep in the cab.

The barn was dark, and the horses moved uneasily around him—this interloper in their space. He knew what they felt like and cooed at them, poor beasts. He was unexpected, and that would unnerve them. Allan stretched his arms behind his head and gazed up at the ceiling, talking out loud to the horses and trying to calm them.

“It’s just Allan, you know me. Bess, Kip, Arrow. You’ve smelled me before. I won’t hurt you.” He settled his shoulders down into the blanket, and the hay underneath. “I get it, I promise. Having something loose in your barn while y’all are trapped in here, ripe for the picking. Trust me, I feel you. But I promise, my intentions are honorable.”

He cracked his neck first one way, then the other, and tried to relax. “I promise, all I want is a good night’s sleep.”

But that wasn’t all he wanted. The dark and the wild, it got to him. This was the danger of Adam’s ranch, or Aaron’s. The wildness out here got under his skin and then he felt like scratching the itch.

Hopefully Reyna would go home right away. He needed his four walls back. And his cold shower.