Free Desert Fate (The Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch Book 3) by Anna Lowe Page A

furnished rental apartment in Colorado, but she couldn’t go there. She doubted the neighbors even noticed her absence. And anyway, the North Ridge wolves would find her there.
    Wolves don’t give up on mates,
Tina had said.
    She watched the prickly pear and cactus blur past for a few minutes, wondering whether the North Ridge wolves could find her here. The open desert wasn’t like the woods when it came to places to hide.
    What had Ty and Cody promised?
    We’ll help to whatever degree we can.
    She had to wonder what degree that might be.
    Kyle might have been thinking the same thing, the way he was flexing and re-flexing his fingers around the steering wheel. If push did come to shove, where would he stand? More importantly, could she even ask him—or any of them—to take a stand? After all, the mess she was in was all her fault.
    She tilted her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes, listening to the steady roll of the tires, searching for some source of comfort. Kyle’s hug had been more than just a hug of reassurance, and the scent slowly tickling her nose now was about more than a place to crash for a couple of nights. That much was clear, even to her untrained sense of smell. She drifted off, wondering why she welcomed the possibilities so keenly.
    Then there was a lurch, and she snapped her chin up, suddenly awake. Her lips parted in an instinctive smile at the sight of his house, the shed out back, the creaky old windmill up on a rise. Somehow, it felt more right than anything on the ranch. More like home.
    But when her eyes found Kyle’s, expecting to find a similar kind of relief, there was only the cold touch of steel.
    “I have to go,” he grunted.
    Go? Where? She blinked as his gaze slid to the car door, hinting that she should get out. He’d left the engine running, too.
    A sticky lump formed in her throat. Her friend was gone, replaced by a stranger with cool, military eyes. Eyes that reminded her of her father’s or brother’s when they were getting ready to ship out.
    “Where are you going?” she squeaked.
    “Work.”
    The man whose eyes had promised her the world suddenly couldn’t do better than four letters, one curt syllable, and a kick out the door. What happened? Had she done something wrong?
    She found the door handle more by touch than sight, her vision blurred by tears she fought to hold back. She slid out of the truck, swayed a little when she touched down, then pushed the truck door closed.
    Before she even made it to the porch, Kyle drove off, leaving a plume of dust and a rutted wake of gravel. She sank down on the top step and watched him go. The hard-to-read kid had become a walking hieroglyph. Earlier in the day, he’d been her shining knight, her savior. Now, he couldn’t seem to get away from her fast enough.
    She sat there a long time, clasping and unclasping her hands until something niggled at her senses. She stood and walked to a corner of the porch. A nearly full moon was rapidly clawing its way from behind the hills, swinging on a seesaw with the sun. The minute the sun set, the moon would take over and fill the sky with its pale light.
    The hair on the back of her neck shivered, and Stef hugged herself tightly.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER THIRTEEN
     
    Kyle had to admit that work was a lame excuse. But a minute longer in Stef’s company and he might have done something he’d regret, like following that enticing scent straight to her neck. The way she’d tipped her head back in the truck had pulled every trigger in his body. She was so innocent. So trusting.
    So sweet.
    Yeah, that was the wolf again, and the beast was getting harder and harder to control.
    He’d been tracing her slight curves with this eyes, studying the athletic figure. The tomboy had filled out in all the right places without overflowing awkwardly into a body that didn’t match her soul. He wanted to reach out and feel her heat—a heat that pulsed and flared whenever they got