Page 10 of Fated to the Wolf Cowboy (Cowboys of Collier #1)

Tricia

“You don’t have to be so nice and accommodating. I’m okay now. I can take my things and get the hell out of here.”

“Don’t be silly. I like getting to know you.”

For the last hour as we drove around Collier, Wyoming, Lily had been telling me all about the Pack, the area, her and her life, but she hadn’t once asked me anything about me. Yet, somehow, I knew she was dying to know everything.

“And this is Collier Ranch, Dairy, and now Farm. We’re really close to being fully sustainable now and sell off the excess to fund the Pack.

It’s been quite profitable for us. A lot of the Pack work out here.

Not to mention the perks have having miles and miles of open range for us to run. It’s magical.”

I’d already experienced life out there on that range and I had no desire to do that ever again.

“Uh, have you always lived here in Collier?” I asked her instead.

“Oh, Lord no. I’m not a city girl next to you, but by their standards around here, I still am.”

I couldn’t help but smile. With her designer clothes and pink streaked hair, I could see it. She didn’t exactly look like the others I’d seen during this tour, but she also didn’t look like a New York City girl either. Somewhere in the middle and somehow that just seemed to suit her.

“So what brought you here then?”

“Thomas. Or actually, I should blame Maddie. That’s his sister.

He has a lot of sisters. Six of them to be exact.

But MC and I were always the closest. We grew up together at Alpha Camp and Thomas was always her pesky little brother.

Then Mad went missing for many years and I didn’t like how Thomas handled things.

Turned out to be a total misunderstanding, and clearly we’ve worked through all of that stuff, but basically Maddie mated my twin brother and I came here with them for her first homecoming after her disappearance only to discover my true mate was none other than Thomas.

” She rolled her eyes dramatically. “I love that man, but I’ll admit, stubborn pride almost kept us apart. ”

“Where are you from then?”

She looked at me like that was a silly question to ask.

“Sorry, I’m not used to being asked that. My father was Alpha of Westin Pack. Now my brother is.”

“Westin Pack?” I asked, trying to stay cool and not show my excitement. There were a million questions I wanted to ask her. “So Maddie mated the Westin Alpha and you mated the Collier Alpha?”

“No, different brother. I have three of them and a sister.”

“Wow. That’s crazy. I didn’t think shifters had so many pups. Or maybe just not in the city.”

“Probably can’t afford them in the city.”

We both laughed.

“True.”

“Many believe the two Packs are just abundantly blessed. Thomas and I have five pups.”

“Five?”

“They are my world. Maybe you’ll get to meet them some day.”

I didn’t know what to think or how to feel about that. Fortunately, she didn’t wait for my response before diving back into the role of tour guide.

“This is our stables.” She droned on about all the details of the ranch as I halfway listened in. “Come on. I’ll show the horses.”

The first one we came to was the one horse I already knew—Clementine.

“Hi Clementine,” I said before realizing I was even talking out loud.

“You know Clementine?” Lily asked.

Of course, she didn’t miss a beat.

I looked around and then grinned with relief as I played it off and pointed to the name engraved over her stall.

“Oh.” She laughed. “I’m an idiot.”

“Lily, is that you?”

“Over here, Ruby.”

A stunning woman walked over to us. She had red curly hair flowing out from under a cowboy hat and was dressed like a cowgirl model in tight jeans, plaid shirt, and cowgirl boots.

It looked as if she’d just walked off some Hollywood Cowgirl reality show or something.

I didn’t think real women like this even existed.

“Who are you?” she asked me.

“Tricia.”

“Tricia, this is Thomas’s sister, Ruby.”

“It’s nice to meet you.”

I offered her my hand because it seemed like the right thing to do. I did not expect her to take it with such a strong grip and actually shake it.

“Nice to meet ya. Can I borrow Lily for a moment?”

She was already escorting my tour guide away before I had time to respond.

“Hey Clementine. You never returned.”

“I’m sorry, Tricia. I tried. Everything’s been crazy here.”

“Can I see?” I asked, holding out my hand for her to come to me.

I doubted she understood what I was asking, but I she didn’t hesitate to walk over to me. I let my fingers comb through her mane and then held her face in my hands as our spirits connected.

Suddenly it was like I was transported to a whole other world.

I smiled. “You made a friend.”

Clementine snorted, but didn’t move away from my touch.

I watched as she and a raccoon raided a sub shop in town. While Clementine kept watch outside, the creature picked a lock and then scurried inside to return with arms loaded of chips, cookies, and bread.

The two of them didn’t exactly talk, yet they seem to be communicating in their own way. I couldn’t help but wonder if that had something to do with me.

I felt a little guilty putting the sweet horse in such a predicament.

It wasn’t long before they were off and on their way to raid the next store, and then the next.

“Is that a bra?”

“We thought you might need clothes,” Clementine admitted.

I chuckled seeing the over the shoulder boulder holder they decided I might need. You could have fit two of my heads in that thing. I’d never seen such a huge bra before.

One store after another they filled the saddle with the most random shit ever.

It was probably a good thing she hadn’t made it back to me before I was rescued because very little of what I was seeing was going to help.

And then came the moment someone noticed a horse walking around town. You’d think that wouldn’t be quite so uncommon in a town like this, but apparently it was. I chuckled as image after image flashed before me.

Clementine raced down an alley and out onto the main road.

People were shouting from all directions and I could sense how scared she was.

The raccoon rode on her back right into the local saloon, or whatever they called it. The writing on the door flashed too quickly for me to read it. But a raccoon, riding a horse into a bar was not likely something people around here would forget anytime soon.

I cringed feeling how trapped and helpless she felt as she trampled tables and scattered chairs. Fortunately, she never got too close to the bar. What a nightmare to clean up that could have been.

Her new little friend had no issues jumping from her back to the bar as she got close to it, though. He seemed to know exactly how to work the fountains and helped himself to whatever was on tap.

I giggled, even knowing I shouldn’t.

When the men came in trying to surround Clementine, they apparently hadn’t noticed the raccoon at the bar until it started throwing bottles of alcohol at their heads.

It didn’t look like they appreciated that gesture. But as the cowboys moved in to stop the raccoon, Clementine got away.

The whole time I was watching her adventures, it felt as if someone was watching me. I kept stopping and looking around, but there was nothing.

My wolf was on edge and that made me anxious.

I tried to push the thought from my mine and pay attention to what she was showing me.

Behind her was a cowboy on a horse racing to catch up to her. His hair was wildly blowing in the wind, not long, but just long enough to be unruly. There was something so captivating about him.

And next it jumped back to the scene in the bar. Then on to her hiding in a coat rack. Everything was moving quickly and disjointed, but between nearly every scene replaying: the chase, the bar, the clothing store, the subs, even an ice cream shop, there was also a vision of the man on the horse.

“I don’t understand,” I told her. “You aren’t showing me the whole story.”

The images picked up as they flashed through my mind even more quickly and then suddenly it stopped, frozen on the shaggy haired cowboy.

He was so real standing there looking at me like he was staring straight into my soul. I wanted to reach out and touch him.

The scene flipped to him sleeping here on a bale of hay, blocking the exit. It was no wonder Clementine hadn’t made it back to me.

Next came a fight. A tear ran down my cheek as he yelled, “She’s mine!” Then he shifted and he continued to fight in his wolf form. He was the most handsome man I’d ever seen. I was transfixed by his image.

A tear trickled down my cheek as I heard his ribs crack and watched as they carried him away.

“No, come back,” I whispered.

The scene abruptly changed once more.

And there he was standing outside in the fresh air. He took a deep breath, and it made me physically shiver as I watched.

“ What’s happening? Who is this, Clementine? I don’t understand what I’m looking at.”

Mate, I heard deep in the back of my mind.

“Mate,” the vision of the man said, and it felt as if he spoke straight into my soul.

The whole world moved beneath my feet, but I held on to the connection.

“Who is he? Show me,” I demanded.

The horse obeyed and a new scene played.

“Don’t laugh. She’s my mate. I know it’s weird because she’s a horse, but she’s mine. I know her scent as clearly as my own,” the man said as goosebumps pricked my skin.

I leaned in and sniffed Clementine.

“That’s not your scent, it’s mine.”

“Exactly,” the horse told me.

I looked up into her eyes.

“My mate? That can’t be.”

“Well he’s not mine,” she assured me. “Horse don’t do that sort of thing.”

“My mate. He’s right here in Collier? What am I going to do?”

She flashed the vision back to me one final time.

“She’s mine,” I heard him say as clearly as if he were standing before me.

Mine, my wolf confirmed.

I stumbled backwards and sat down hard on the bale I’d just witnessed him sleeping on. My powers left the horse and retreated back into me. I shivered at the sensation.

“I’m sorry I put you through all that,” I told the horse. “But thank you.”

Mate? What the hell was I supposed to do now?

I hadn’t officially met him yet. Our bond was still hypothetical at most. And he apparently thought he was mated to a damn horse. My heart felt that betrayal as if it were real.

No, no, no, this cannot be happening.

I could still leave. Run far from here and never look back. Our wolves had not crossed paths. There was still time to get away and forget all about this.

But even though I’d never actually seen the man, I knew that every time I closed my eyes, I would see his face. He would stand there, piercing my soul with his steel gray eyes and whisper, “Mine.”

I was so screwed.