Maverick I was sitting at the table in the dining room of the fully furnished house we rented. It was dark outside but the house was busy with movement. I was drinking some water because I knew I needed it and couldn't live on just beer and coffee. Damn shame though, because those were my favorite things to drink. Last night we were successful at Wolfe Ranch with our little heist. We had taken six really good cows that we could tell were bred and a breeding stud that was probably worth a little money. I would probably keep him since he had a gentle temperament and knew how to cut cattle. With that knowledge, why would I sell him for a little money when I could use him to get more cattle? As I sat in the dining room thinking, I listened to Klassen making dinner for us all. It was a rare treat when one of the guys wanted to cook. Most of the time, we ate out because cooking wasn’t our strong suit. I would never turn down a homemade meal. I couldn’t cook for a damn so I nev
Jacob It was the weekend and we had no answers to the whirlwind of questions we had about the recent thefts. No one had come forward with any new information, and no one had been caught, but we were told about someone else's ranch missing cattle not that far from us. Whoever this was, they were hitting all the ranches close by. I just needed some type of break or a lead to catch them. To get everyone's mind off all the bullshit, we decided to have a family cookout today. Dad would be smoking a brisket while mom handled all the side dishes in the house. Ivy invited Torin over and I invited Maggie to sneak onto Medicine Rock. The thrill of sneaking around with her behind Bennett’s back was amazing, but not nearly as amazing as being with her. It was mid-morning and Maggie messaged me while she was at work. She had a short shift at the diner in town today and would be off by lunch. She would be headed here instead of going home to Sandstone, and I had to keep myself from ge
Ivy I went to my house on Medicine Rock with Torin, Briar, and Jacob after the cookout with my parents. I packed my clothes, the things that I wanted, and the things that I needed with the guys. We had everything packed and in my truck in a flash because I had already been packing for the past two days. When everything was done, I handed the house key over to Briar. “I don’t need anything else from here, so the next pack member that turns eighteen can have it,” I told him. “Sounds good,” he told me with a sweet smile. Torin shook Briar and Jacob’s hands as he said, “don’t worry about her too much. I’ll keep an eye on her.” Jacob smiled and nodded his head before telling him, “keep yourself out of trouble.” Torin said, “of course.” Torin turned to me and kissed my lips before he got into his truck. I hugged both of my brothers before talking to them in private. “I’ll still be working at the ranch every day,” I told them, so they knew they could come s
Jacob It was three o'clock in the afternoon and I was at home waiting for Maggie to get off work. After she was done at the diner, it would be another twenty minutes before she was here at Medicine Rock. I couldn't wait to see her again. With all my nervous yet excited energy, I got up off the couch and started cleaning the damn kitchen to distract myself. I had already cleaned the dining area and the rest of the house. This was the last place I still needed to clean. My laundry will be done in the dryer soon. I didn't realize I had accumulated so many dirty clothes in a week. Or was it two? As I cleaned, my phone went off on the bar counter and I grabbed it to see what she said. I read the message and she told me that she was on her way. I smiled like a love-struck fool as I looked at my phone before setting it back down. I kept cleaning the house until I saw her car pull up next to my truck. I left the house and walked out to meet her. Maggie greeted me with a br
Maverick It was dinner time and tonight we decided to switch it up and go to Silver Dollar for dinner instead of Windy’s. The five of us went inside and greeted everyone as usual. We had been here a few times before, so we knew the people that frequented here. Right when I walked in, I could smell pack wolves. I didn’t freak out or let on that I knew they were here. I acted as I always did. All of us had a seat at the bar and ordered beers. We told Cammy, the bartender, our food order and told her we would take it to-go this time. I didn’t want to stay here longer than necessary. Pack wolves would start fights with rogues like Oliver and me for no reason. Then again, we weren’t the best guys anyway. As I sat there drinking my beer, I listened to the restaurant and everyone in it. I listened to the locals in their normal conversation and tried to find voices that I didn't know. Off somewhere behind me to the right was a couple on a date. I had never heard their voices bef
Jacob It was Monday and I didn’t have any of my usual Monday work to do thanks to Briar. He wanted me on the cattle theft trail instead of my normal work, so that’s what I was doing. I got into my truck at the house and sniffed it. It still smelled like Maggie’s scent of wisteria. I smiled thinking about yesterday and hoped that I would see her again soon. Today was her day off from the diner, so she was stuck at Sandstone. Since I was sitting here thinking about her, I decided to text her again after our initial good morning texts. “Hey, gorgeous. I’m headed to the ranch for the day.” “Ok. We will see if I can sneak out to see you again. Though, I doubt that will be possible.” “Why is that?” “Bennett and Danny increased the patrol around the whole pack territory for some reason.” “Oh! If you don’t feel confident in sneaking over today, don’t worry about it.” “I will worry about it because I want to see you!” I smiled at her text and messaged her back
Maggie It was my day off work and I wasn’t spending it with the person that I wanted to. Instead, I was sitting in my room in the nook with the window open as I watched the dark gray clouds move in. Rain was on its way to feed the grass which fed the cattle and horses of the area. I read about three chapters in my book this morning, but I really wasn’t interested in reading at the moment. I was more interested in making my own story happen. I wanted to live out what I wanted and be reckless like all the girls I read about. It was time to be brave and really think about myself and what I wanted. The clouds were getting closer, so I knew the rain was about to start. I closed my window and put my book down before walking through the house to get my boots on and my cowboy hat. “Are we going to him?” Dutchess asked happily. “Yes. If I time this right, we will miss the guards in enough time to get through the fence and then the rain will dampen my scent so they won't n
Jacob Claiming Maggie and her claiming me was the best thing to have ever happened to me. Even though it happened in the tack room, it was still special as hell. I wouldn’t have traded this for anything in the world. We lay there on the saddle blankets for about an hour as we kissed and felt each other’s skin. I was eating up the feeling of being naked with her and what our completed mate bond felt like. We were connected and whole for the first time in our lives. Nothing was going to take this away from us, and no one. She was mine and she would stay that way. The rain was still coming down on the roof and I knew mom and dad weren’t back from town yet. I had reached out to try and find dad several times through the pack link but I couldn’t find him. I knew we needed to get up and get dressed before they got back though. It would be embarrassing if we were found like this. After a little while longer, the rain started to let up and I knew we needed to think about
Jasper It’s been a few months since we took over the Winnipeg Pack. Things were moving along faster than I originally thought, and the people were flourishing. Most of the homes and buildings have been repaired with all of us working together to get this place back on track. The guards were in better shape thanks to Luis, but we still had a ways to go before they could really protect us. After we arrived here to stay, I started digging through Alpha Kevin’s office as Luis dug through Beta Gabriel’s. We wanted answers as to what was going on here and what went wrong. We all met in my new office and asked Nathan what he knew about all of this. He gave us a lot of disturbing information. ~Flashback “Has this always been the pack’s home?” I asked. “No, we moved out here a few years ago. Though we haven’t had enough food to sustain us in ten years.” “Damn. So, why didn’t Kevin have an heir?” I asked. “He died of malnutrition from not eating. Kevin’s mate died i
Lacy I arrived at the South Sand Pack in South Dakota to help Aspen pack up the last of her things to move her in with me. Both of us were so excited to finally be in the same place and call it home. Our adventure was about to begin. I drove from the gates up to Aspen’s parents’ house and parked my Jeep before getting out. I walked on the sidewalk through the yard toward the front door. I watched it as it was ripped open and Aspen came running out of the house toward me with a giant smile on her face. I smiled back and started walking faster to meet her. We both held our arms out to one another and collided in a happy hug. We held each other for a long time as we indulged in our bond and being close. “I’m so happy you're here. I can’t wait to start this life with you,” Aspen said. “Same!” I said happily. We slightly released each other from the hug before we kissed. The kiss was meaningful and deep but didn’t ignite any passion. When we pulled back from the kiss
Briar It was a few days since the attacks and when Jasper took over the Winnipeg Pack. Everything was back to a new normal as everyone was finding their footing. Jasper, Lianna, and Luis were already in Canada setting up a new life for the pack members they now had. I’d never seen people so happy to see food before and I knew that my brother was about to give them a better life. Yesterday morning, Sloan got one of the worst phone calls anyone could possibly get. It was from the police in Boulder, Colorado informing her that they did a wellness check on her parents after complaints by the neighbors. They found both of them dead in their home with gunshot wounds. Sloan cried for hours while blaming herself for what happened to them. All I could do was hold her in my arms and tell her that it wasn’t on her. She couldn’t control other people's actions. I felt horrible for her and I wished I knew how to help her better. Last night she got a second phone call from the poli
Jasper All of us went back to Briar’s house and walked inside with shorts on. Everyone looked up at us and sighed in relief. I grinned at Lianna and pulled her close for a hug and kiss. “Were you worried?” I asked in a teasing voice. “Yes. What happened out there?” “Rogues were trying to take the cattle and horses,” I told her. “They were paid by Alpha Kevin to do it,” Briar said. “With everything that he’s done to us today, what are we going to do?” mom asked Briar. “I’m going to go pay him a visit. I’m taking Briar and Luis with me and no one else," I said firmly. “Why can’t I go with you?” Lianna asked. “I want you to stay here where it’s safe and help my mom with the livestock.” She nodded her head and asked, “What are you going to do?” I looked her in the eyes and took a deep breath. Last night, as she slept next to me, I searched through companies that I could start and looked at the investments that I had. Mom and dad made sure
Briar I woke up in the comfortable darkness of my room with Sloan tucked up against me as she slept soundly. I could hear her soft breathing as I smelled her scent of yarrow in my face. Her back was tucked up against my front as she was curled into a ball like she needed to protect herself. Last night when we came to our room, Sloan told me about everything at the Winnipeg Pack, including what Lianna had said about taking it over. If Kevin went down for what he was doing to his members, which I’m pretty sure he would, that would leave the pack without leadership. Jasper was a leader with a Luna and a Beta. It seemed that he might be just the person to take over and help those wolves out of this mess. Though he didn’t say anything at dinner, I’m sure he is either trying to figure out how to help them or he’s worried about not being the right person to lead them. I’m sure he will figure it out. If he didn’t want to lead them, then I would move the members that Kevin had to M
Lianna We followed the guy from the restaurant for an hour until he turned off the highway onto a dusty dirt road. Jasper drove past the turn-off slowly so we could look down it. It was a very long dirt road with no buildings in sight, but we had no idea what this place was. There were thick woods of paper birch and sugar maple on both sides of the dirt road. There was a lot of thick cover for wolves and a community. “Where are we?” I asked. “An area called Notre Dame de Lourdes,” Jasper answered. “So we aren’t even close to Winnipeg?” I asked. “Nope. It’s possible that the pack moved or that this place is a hideout of some kind for this guy,” he said. “What do you want to do?” Luis asked. “I want to see what’s down that road.” “Why don’t you park off the road and the four of us can go for a walk? Your truck is loud, so if there are multiple wolves in the area, they will hear it turn onto the dirt road,” Sloan said. “That’s what I was thin
Jasper I had been horribly wrong about Sloan. I felt awful for her and the way her dad treated her during that phone call. All of this with her and Briar was a huge coincidence. We are really given the things that we need when we need them the most. Lianna and Sloan stayed up pretty late last night while drinking spiked hot chocolate and talking shit about their dads. I’m sure for them it was therapeutic, but for me and Briar it was horrifying to know the things they had to deal with. My heart was heavy for them. We had the best parents in the world compared to them. Briar and I were up early this morning while our mates slept in. Luis met us down in the kitchen and the three of us started making breakfast for the house. We had biscuits going in the oven, Briar was scrambling a bunch of eggs, I had coffee going, and Luis was prepping small steaks to fry. We had everything done before the she-wolves were even moving. I looked at Briar as he stared at his bedroom doo
Sloan When everyone was finished with dessert and several of us were still standing around talking, Jacob said, “Briar, I have a question for you.” “What’s up?” he asked from beside me. “Why haven’t you made this girl part of our pack yet?” “I offered…” Briar started to explain in an uncomfortable tone. I cut in to explain my reasoning and said, “And I’m thinking about it.” “What’s there to think about?” Jacob asked me in curiosity. I took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes before saying, “I’m not sure that I'm the right person to be the Luna. I don’t know the first thing about being part of a pack or really what it means to be a Luna. I just need to make sure I’m needed here.” “The fact that you're thinking of others and not yourself says you're the right person for the pack and your mate. Not a lot of she-wolves would do that,” Lianna told me. I took her words into account and nodded my head. Maybe she was right. Maybe I was the right
Sloan Meeting Jasper was different than what I figured it would be. For one, Briar never said that they were identical twins. If Jasper shaved his beard off, I wouldn’t be able to tell the two of them apart by looks, only by smell. I was stunned that he had such a full beard at his age, but he looked good with it. By no means is that me wanting Briar to grow a beard though. I liked his clean-shaven face. I desperately wanted that smooth face between my legs earlier, but that was interrupted for the second time today. Oh well, we will get there. After meeting Jasper, Lianna, and Luis, we ate lunch at the packhouse, then got them settled in the rooms upstairs in Briar’s home. We would have a full house for a while, which was different for me. From everything I was told, Jasper didn’t really have a home of his own. It was from the uncertainty of his destiny, but I’m sure he would figure it out. Jasper and Lianna got their horses out of the trailer and we set up a bigger