Page 11 of Fated to the Wolf Cowboy (Cowboys of Collier #1)

Brady

“Well, come on then,” Ollie said. “Let’s go meet your girl.”

“Really? You mean it?”

“Sam said you’re good to go, let’s get the hell out of here and see if we can figure out what’s going on, okay?”

I grabbed him and threw my arms around his neck.

“Thank you.”

“I’ve got your back.”

Oliver always had my back, no matter what. He could think I’ve absolutely lost my mind, and he’d follow me right down that rabbit hole anyway.

I was quiet as he checked me out of the clinic and then drove us over to the ranch. A part of me was relieved to know that he was right there by my side.

There was no reason to believe he’d be anywhere else.

My big brother had been my biggest champion my entire life.

Through thick or thin, no matter what, he was right there with me.

When our father took off his belt in a drunken rage, it was Oliver who had stepped between us every damn time.

He took the hits. He protected me. Even when no one else believed me, he always had.

He was the best brother in the entire world.

It had been a rough few days, but with Ollie by my side, everything was looking just a little better. He was going to make things right, just as he always had. He was going to make sure everything worked out just fine.

The relief that gave me was unspoken, but I knew he saw it too.

He pulled up to the stables and stopped. We sat there for a few minutes. I was nervous, but also anxious. I’ve been away from Clementine for too long. I needed her scent to help ground me and make everything make sense again.

“You ready?” my brother asked.

“Yeah. Come on.”

I was nervous to introduce them even though I felt like a fool. Part of me understood she was just a horse, but apparently, she was meant to be my horse.

Oliver followed behind as I walked into the stable and found her stall.

I breathed a sigh of relief that she was there and not stuck out on the range

“Hey sweet girl,” I told her as I approached.

Her head tilted to the side and for a moment I genuinely thought she understood me.

I let myself into her stall and wrapped my arms around her neck and gave her a quick peck on the nose before leaning in to breathe in her scent.

Then I froze.

“Is everything okay?” Oliver asked.

“No!”

I scruffed her mane—nothing.

I began sniffing her all over.

“Where the hell is it?”

“Where is what?”

“Her scent? It’s gone.”

My wolf remained annoyingly quiet, completely unaffected by the fact I’d just lost our mate’s scent.

“What do you mean?”

“Ollie, it’s gone. I can’t smell her anymore. She had a specific scent that I loved and now it’s just gone. How is that possible?”

“I don’t know. What’s your wolf telling you?”

I growled. “Absolutely nothing.” I searched for some sort of direction from within, but it was crickets. “My stupid wolf has gone silent on this issue.”

“So she’s not your true mate?” he asked.

“How the hell am I supposed to know?” I asked, throwing my arms up into the air.

He chuckled. “Is it possible your mate is around here somewhere and maybe her scent was on this horse?”

“Can that happen? Wait, no. Wyatt’s fat ass is who’s been assigned to Clementine. He for sure is not my mate. I was so certain the horse was. And now I don’t know what to think.”

“You’ve had a rough few days, Brady. Why don’t we head into town and grab a drink, then get you home for a nice hot shower, because you stink like horse, dude.”

I groaned but begrudgingly agreed. I certainly didn’t want to sleep in a barn again if I didn’t have to.

“Why am I not more disappointed by this? Why isn’t my wolf pissed? She’s supposed to be our goddam mate.”

“Maybe the wolf knows it’s not really the horse.”

He shrugged like it was no big deal, but it was a very big deal to me. Still, I followed him back to the car and got in.

“How about that drink?” Ollie asked.

“If you have a cold one at home, then fine.”

“Nope. I think you need stronger. Let’s go to the tavern.”

“So I can be the laughing stock of Collier? Everyone knows.”

“Not everyone.”

My jaw locked and I glared at him.

“Since when do we give a shit with others think? I didn’t raise you to care about stuff like that.”

I chuckled. “Well, that’s true.”

He found a rare parking spot right on the street in front of the tavern. That never happened.

“See, meant to be.”

I groaned. “You better keep those drinks coming.”

“Promise. Just remember to hold your head up high and stare down anyone who dares to say a word about it.”

“That’s the dumbest advice you ever gave us. You are aware of that, right?”

“What? It’s great advice.”

“Sure, if you want to issue a challenge and start a fight. I was damn near an adult before someone finally explained that to me.”

He laughed with a big shit-eating grin on his face.

I shoved him. “You suck.”

“Fifty-fifty chance they’ll back down.”

I shook my head. “You’re an ass.”

“Took you this long to figure that out? Come on.”

Begrudgingly I let him drag me into the bar only to find Kenneth and Tim waiting for us along with Cruz, Ridge, and Travis.

I shot Oliver a look.

He shrugged. “They’re worried about you.”

I groaned. “Keep those drinks coming.”

The guys were eyeing me closely.

“We didn’t let Wyatt ride her,” Travis blurted out.

Cruz rolled his eyes. “Took us two hours longer to get everything done today because we were down a man.”

“He couldn’t have ridden any other horse?”

I scowled. He was goading me and I knew it.

Someone nearby snickered and pointed.

“What’s your problem?” Ridge asked them.

“Yeah, mind your own business,” Travis added.

“Thanks guys.”

“It’s cool. And I’m really sorry about before,” Cruz said. “It wasn’t my place to doubt you.”

I sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe you were right.”

“So, she’s not your mate?”

“Hell if I know. Her scent has changed. I’m not going crazy. I swear, it changed. It’s different now and my wolf isn’t reacting the same, so I don’t really know what the hell is happening to me. I’m just gonna keep on drinking until something makes sense.”

The guys all raised their glasses as we clanked them together than slammed them back. I savored the heat that ran down my throat and warmed me from the inside.

These were my brothers, not just the ones I was born into but the ones I chose as well. They could ride my ass, poke fun all they wanted, but no way in hell would they let anyone else. I was damn lucky to have them.

I picked up another glass and slammed it back.

After two more, Ridge was starting to worry.

“Slow down there, killer. It’s still early.”

“I’m not going to last long,” I admitted.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he gets home safely,” Oliver said.

My head was already getting a little fuzzy, but that seemed like a good thing to me at the moment.

The longer we sat there drinking, the less attention we seemed to be drawing. I was finally starting to relax. Then all attention shifted as Lily walked in with some friends. I didn’t pay any attention to them, but it was clear others were. I made a mental note to thank her later.

A few drinks later and I was good and toasted.

“I think it’s about time we get you home,” Tim advised.

“No, no, no. One more round. Come on, Ollie’s paying.”

“I agree with Tim and so does my wallet. You’re done.”

“Boo! You’re no fun.”

“Yeah, Oliver, you’re no fun,” Ridge agreed.

He’d been the one in our group to keep up with me drink for drink.

“Finish your drink and then we’re leaving,” Tim told me.

“Party pooper.”

I was ready to get my jam on.

I stood up and looked around the room. Surely there was a woman here willing to take the itch off and help me forget all about that mating stuff.

There.

Across the room with Lily’s entourage

“Who the hell is that?”

I hadn’t meant to ask aloud, but my brothers quickly looked around.

“Who?” Kenneth asked. “Is she pretty?”

The fact that he thought I was talking about a woman bothered me. The fact that he was right just pissed me off.

She sat in the corner of the room appearing alone despite being with Lily and company.

I openly checked her out: long dark hair and breasts that I knew would fit perfectly in my hands.

She was beautiful, possibly the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in my entire life.

And I instantly wanted her on some primal, physical level.

She was exactly what I needed to take my mind off things.

Mine, my wolf growled possessively in my head.

I froze.

Not again? What the hell was going on? Despite what everyone thought about Clementine, I had been certain she was mine. Her scent called to me and my wolf had alerted me. I hadn’t imagined that. So why the hell was my wolf even sniffing around this mystery woman?

It wasn’t possible to have more than one true mate, right? Hell, wolves mated for life, so I didn’t think it was even possible to have more than one mate.

I shuddered remembering my life before I’d tucked my tail and run to Collier Pack demanding Peyton take me in when she first bought the house we now live in.

The place had been a complete dump and I’d told her I’d do the work if I could live there.

Oliver had been furious, but in the end he’d caved and we all had moved into the house.

At the time, I’d argued that the job would get completed faster with us staying there. In truth, I was removing myself from a bad situation involving me and two women who became very territorial and turned psycho when they realized I was fine with our threesome, but was not exclusive to it.

I shuddered at the memory. No way was I going back to a polygamous relationship after that experience.

I didn’t have any issue with it, it just wasn’t for me.

I was much more of a one woman at a time kind of man.

Not that I didn’t occasionally juggle more than one, as long as they didn’t know about each other.

Maybe it had just been a bad experience. It very well may have just been those two, but things had gotten so bad that I had uprooted my entire life and went celibate for quite some time after that. I preferred my relationships to be less complicated and drama-free.

Looking back at the beautiful stranger across the room I suspected she would be the kind of drama I ran from, too.

Kenneth craned his neck to look around me

“Whoa. Her? She’s gorgeous and definitely not from around here. I’d know.”

The edges of my vision turned red as a homed in on my baby brother. I could feel a growl bubbling through me. Before it escaped, I jumped up, knocking the table over in the process and drawing the attention of everyone in the tavern.

For a just a second, my eyes locked onto hers from across the room.

Large chocolate brown pools swirling with curiosity.

I could hear the quick intake of her breath.

Was her wolf telling her I was her mate too?

Or was mine the only confused one in the room.

Because clearly, mine couldn’t be trusted to know what or who he wanted.

There was no way she was my mate. And I couldn’t go through with this again.

Mine, my wolf argued.

“Not happening,” I muttered under my breath.

Feeling angry at my wolf, the situation, the girl, hell, the entire world, I turned to stomp out of the restaurant before I sat down at the bar and drank myself into a stupor.

This could not be happening. Fate may be mocking me, but that didn’t mean I had to just roll over and take it.

“I’m out of here,” I told the boys and left.

“What’s his problem?” I heard Kenneth ask Tim in my rush to get the hell out of there—away from her.

I didn’t wait around for Tim to respond.

At the door, I dared one last look. She was still watching me with big round eyes and her mouth slightly slack as if she was just as shocked as I was.

But I couldn’t go through this again. The incident with Clementine had made me feel as if I was going insane.

If that was what mating was like, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.