Vanessa Davis never imagined her life would lead to Dusty Creek, Texas. A city girl scarred by her mother’s abandonment, she buried the pain—until a letter from the woman who vanished begs for a second chance. Reluctantly, Vanessa heads to the small town, only to find herself stranded on a desolate road. Enter Colton Hayes—rancher, alpha wolf, and everything she’s tried to avoid. With a piercing gaze that sees through her, he offers her a place at Silver Ridge Ranch while her car is repaired. As Vanessa adjusts to life in Dusty Creek, she discovers her mother’s plea hides a darker secret—her new family desperately needs something only she can provide. Hurt and angry, Vanessa plans to leave, but uncovering the town’s poisoned water supply reignites her investigative instincts. Determined to find the truth, she digs deeper, realizing the corruption runs further than expected—and Silver Ridge Ranch may hold the key to saving the town. Colton has his own battles, torn between protecting his pack and keeping his heart guarded. Trusting Vanessa could destroy everything he’s worked to protect. Yet, under the Texas moon, their connection sparks with undeniable energy, pulling them closer despite the dangers. Vanessa must decide: will she risk everything for a future in Dusty Creek, or will the secrets they uncover tear them apart before they have a chance?
Lihat lebih banyak★。\|/。★VANESSA DAVIS★。/|\。★I should have said something. Anything.But I didn’t.Instead, I kissed him like a coward—soft, slow, and silent. I gave him tenderness when he offered me something raw and real, something I wasn’t ready to touch. Because the truth is, I wanted to say yes.God, I wanted to say yes.Yes, I’ll stay.Yes, I want this.Yes, I want you.But that yes felt like betrayal. Of who I was. Of everything I told myself I’d never do. Because girls like me didn’t uproot their lives for a man, especially not for a man in a town like Dusty Creek. I wasn’t built for this place. I didn’t belong in second living rooms or in tight-knit packs where secrets wrapped themselves in family drama and storm winds.This was Laia’s story. She chose love and ended up with heartbreak and death. And I wasn’t about to follow in those same footsteps, no matter how safe Colton’s arms felt. But was it right to judge Colton based on the mistakes of others?No, right?So I lay beside him in the
▄︻デ══━一 COLTON HAYES💥Her skin was soft against mine, damp and warm. Her arms wrapped around my torso like she wasn’t afraid to hold a man broken in too many places. The steam clouded the bathroom, wrapping us in our own quiet world—like maybe if we stayed in here long enough, the pain wouldn’t be able to find us.Vanessa held me while the water washed over us, my body weak and trembling from everything it had endured today—physically and emotionally. But somehow, with her here, I didn’t feel like I was sinking anymore. I felt tethered.Her lips pressed softly to my temple, lingering. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to. Her presence alone steadied the storm inside me more than any words ever could.I leaned back just enough to look into her eyes. There was something in her expression—something kind and complicated. A sadness I understood too well.My thumb brushed her cheek, her wet hair sticking to her skin. “I like to pretend I’m some emotionally grown man who can say what
▄︻デ══━一 COLTON HAYES💥 The house was too quiet.Even with the storm raging outside, it still felt like everything inside had gone still—like time had frozen in grief. No one was speaking. No one was eating. Dad was seated in the corner chair with his head in his hands, Curtis silently pacing near the window, eyes locked on the rain. Ross was curled up on the stairs with Catia who had returned back after Curtis took her up, holding her as she slept in exhaustion. Ashley hadn’t spoken since Laia was carried in, and Samson… no one even knew where he went.Laia was gone.And with her, something in all of us had gone too.I was soaked through, my clothes clinging to my body, my hands still trembling from how tightly I’d held her. I couldn’t feel the chill of the house, not really. Not with the way my chest ached, my head pounded, and every breath felt like I was inhaling splinters.I sat there beside her body on the couch, unmoving. I hadn’t spoken since they pulled me away from her body.
▄︻デ══━一 COLTON HAYES💥There’s nothing more heartbreaking than losing a close friend.I didn’t let myself process Darcy’s murder. Not really. I locked that part of myself up because I thought I had to. I was sick so it made it quite easy for me to ignore most of it. Then I found out Reeves was dead too—killed alongside Darcy like they were nothing but pawns in someone else's sick game. And something in my head just… stopped working right. Like grief jammed the gears, all I could do was focus on the next step, the next threat.The next phase was to hear her plans out. This singular was proving to be the worst possible day. When the door was thrown open, I was appalled. I thought for a second, with my heart jammed into my throat that Vanessa was going to leave in this horrendous storm and get herself hurt so I yanked her back and into me. Then when I turned her around to berate her for being reckless her expression filled me with fear.“I saw her,” she whispered. “Laia. She’s on the ca
★。\|/。★VANESSA DAVIS★。/|\。★Abel and his family… well, Colton’s entire family ended up settling into the house by nightfall. The rain hadn’t let up, in fact, it had gotten worse—loud sheets of it slapping against the windows, wind howling like it had its own voice, and thunder rolling in like a warning drum. We were all grateful the bodies had already been sent out to the city; the last thing we needed was death sitting with us inside the house.It was clear we weren’t going anywhere tonight. We were trapped. And it wasn’t just the weather that had everyone uneasy—it was each other.With everyone scattered around the house, the air had that heavy feel. Everyone was present, but no one felt here. I could tell—everyone was dealing with their own mess.Samson looked hollow, like his mind was a thousand miles away as he sank into the second living room couch—yeah, Colton had a second living room. This house kept revealing itself in new corners and corridors I hadn’t noticed before. Did
★。\|/。★VANESSA DAVIS★。/|\。★I stayed on Colton’s lap, his hands still resting on my thighs, grounding me while my world tilted dangerously out of balance. The screen of my phone glowed in the dim room, his father’s name taking up the whole display. My heart stuttered. This was it. The call we’d been waiting for all day.I took a breath, one that felt like it had to fill more than just my lungs—it had to brace my soul. Then I hit answer.“Abel, give it to me straight.”The sound that met me was heavy. Abel’s sigh carried so much weight, I felt it settle in my bones before he even spoke.“Reeves is dead too. Him and Darcy.” His voice was low, grim. “We’ll need a coroner to confirm, but my instincts are screaming they died at the same time. Whoever called you wasn’t Reeves.”My stomach sank violently. Like someone had just cut a rope and I was plummeting down a dark well. Cold crept over my skin.“You can’t be serious?” My voice cracked. A whisper, hoarse and too small to match the sto
★。\|/。★VANESSA DAVIS★。/|\。★I was disappointed by the news I’d gotten. Frustrated. Drained. It was like every lead we chased only circled us right back to the starting line, like some cruel loop we couldn’t escape. The more we uncovered, the more tangled everything became. And now, with Oliver’s call settling heavily on my chest and Abel still silent, I couldn’t stop thinking about Darcy’s blood staining the floor, about the message she died trying to deliver.It was all too much.I glanced over at Colton. He was lying back, his head tilted toward the ceiling, one arm draped lazily over his stomach. His eyes were half-closed, fever still riding him, but he looked better—less pale than this morning. There was a softness to his expression now, a certain peace he only seemed to wear when he wasn’t trying to carry the weight of the entire world on his shoulders.Maybe I could give him something else to focus on. Maybe I could give myself a break from everything, too. Just for a few minu
▄︻デ══━一 COLTON HAYES💥 Vanessa was absolutely determined to keep me here. She guarded me like a hawk, like she had been assigned the role of my personal bodyguard and took it way too seriously. Every time I so much as shifted in my seat or tried to act like I wasn’t completely wrecked from this illness, her eyes would snap to me like twin laser beams.And when the power finally shut off—just a soft click and hum followed by an eerie silence—I let out a groan loud enough to shake the windows. Okay, maybe not that loud, but loud enough to get her attention.She looked over her shoulder at me and lifted her hand... flipping me off.Charming.At this point, she’d checked my temperature twice, handed me three different types of water (tap, filtered, and one from her own bag that she swore “had vitamins”), and followed me upstairs just to make sure I wasn’t sneaking off to do something suspicious—like, oh, I don’t know, use my phone without her noticing. She didn’t say anything about it di
▄︻デ══━一 COLTON HAYES💥 I woke up again to the sound of rain—still pouring, steady and relentless like the weight pressing down on my chest. Being sick just isn’t for me. I feel like I’ve been run over by a damn truck. Everything hurts. My head, my limbs, even the inside of my eyes when I blink too fast. I’m exhausted just existing. Just being. Laying here and doing nothing is supposed to be restful, right? But it’s not. Not when I’m used to motion. Not when I’m used to moving until my muscles scream for me to stop.The dull throb in my temple pulses with the storm, and when I sit up, I hear it more clearly—the rain smacking the windows, the occasional gust of wind rattling the old wooden frames, and voices. Not loud. Just enough for my brain to register that I wasn’t alone.I scanned the room slowly, and there she was—Vanessa—sitting on the floor with her back pressed against the couch I’d been knocked out on. Her legs stretched in front of her, one bent lazily at the knee. She was w
★。\|/。★VANESSA DAVIS★。/|\。★The engine sputtered, letting out a high-pitched whine before descending into a series of jarring clunks, each one louder and more ominous than the last. A metallic scraping sound joined the cacophony, like nails on a chalkboard, before the car gave one final, wheezing groan. The momentum ebbed, and with a reluctant shudder, it jerked to a halt, silence settling like a heavy curtain in the aftermath of the mechanical chaos.“HOLY FUCKING SHIT! WHY NOW? WHY THE FUCK NOW?!” I yelled, banging my head on the steering wheel over and over again. The honking sound didn’t even stop me from freaking out. I’m not even near this stupid godforsaken town. And this piece of crap has given up on me. I hate THIS!Okay, you might need some backstory to understand why I’m freaking out. This is all the fault of my estranged mother. Two days ago she sent me a letter. In these modern times, she sent me a fucking letter. After twenty years of pure silence, after running out on...
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