Free Allister, J. Rose - Disowned Cowboys [Lone Wolves of Shay Falls] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) by Rose J. Allister

peacefully.”
    Kyle snorted. “He wanted to dominate the territory. He all but waged war on the mountainside, poachin’ human cattle ranches and battlin’ other packs for huntin’ and matin’ rights. Deaths did happen. He even took the occasional human slave.”
    Her eyes widened and shifted back to Dillon. “ What ?”
    “It’s true,” he said. “Though our history ain’t quite as colorful as other packs like to make it sound.”
    “Colorful enough to give us reason to talk,” Kyle added.
    “It wasn’t a life I wanted. Most of us didn’t.”
    She blinked. “Were you ever, you know, with a slave?”
    He shook his head. “Wasn’t never my style. I helped one of the others free a slave once. Blaise didn’t like that at all. Lucky for me, he never found out I took part in it.”
    She sighed in relief. “So the pack broke up because you didn’t approve of Blaise’s actions?”
    Dillon shook his head. “Weres have to submit to their alpha for as long as they remain alpha.”
    She frowned. “So what happened?”
    Dillon paused, propping a booted foot on a low boulder. “An outsider named Kade Winchester challenged Blaise for alpha rights. He killed Blaise and won the right to take over. His first official command as our new leader was to punish us for Blaise’s crimes. Our crimes.”
    “How?” she asked in barely more than a whisper.
    “He disbursed the pack, prohibitin’ us to be together anymore. Doomed us to wander alone unless we could find other packs willin’ to take us in.” He let out a bitter snort. “But not only ain’t there enough packs in these parts to take in our strays one at a shot, there sure ain’t a one that would help one of Blaise’s weres. Not a snowball’s chance in the Sahara.”
    “They hated you that much?”
    Dillon looked to Kyle with a raised brow. “Our orders are to kill on sight,” Kyle said, and her eyes widened. “The first time I saw Dillon, that was an order I planned to carry out.” He pursed his lips. “Then I saw what he was tryin’ to do.”
    Dillon stopped short and growled. “Kyle, don’t.”
    Aimee turned to him. “Don’t what? I’d think you wouldn’t want us to have secrets. I’m supposed to be your mate and all.”
    His eyes flashed with a golden glimmer. “You’re supposed to be.” He flicked a glance down at her ring finger, then struck off up the hill again. She set her jaw and followed.
    The conversation halted abruptly as the incline grew steeper and more cragged with outcroppings of rock. Aimee used taller rocks to steady herself during the climb. She sniffed repeatedly to conquer her numb, runny nose, and her hands felt stiff and cramped from the cold. No doubt she looked a mess.
    An attempt to gain a foothold in what turned out to be a loose pile of leaves sent her off balance, and she slid backward with a shriek until Kyle’s hand shot out and grabbed her.
    “Thanks,” she said as he pulled her forward. He kept her hand in his as they continued on, even when the incline leveled off again. His grasp was so warm and familiar. So strong and secure.
    “Your hands are like ice,” he said gruffly, stopping to face her.
    “That’s early morning in the mountains for you,” she said, offering him a guilty smile. “I had gloves in the backpack that went over the cliff.”
    “Fuckin’ Caleb,” Dillon muttered.
    Watching her closely, Kyle clasped both her hands in his and raised them to his mouth. He breathed out forcefully and rubbed circulation back into her skin. It felt like heaven, but it wasn’t only her fingers that warmed to his touch. Her stomach began a slow, steady churn that kept a close pace to the golden magic shifting inside his blue eyes.
    “One other question,” she said to distract herself from the emotions spinning like a pinwheel in her chest. “If Dillon had an alpha that he had to obey—still has to, if he is forbidden to get his old gang back together—then how can you be his alpha, too? Can