Page 13 of Fated to the Wolf Cowboy (Cowboys of Collier #1)

Brady

My wolf was on edge most of the night. It was all because of that damn woman in the bar.

Clearly my wolf just wanted a mate, but I was done with it all.

He couldn’t make up his mind and I couldn’t take all the drama and madness.

So I decided I’m going to just swear off women for good.

I’d survived periods of celibacy before, and this would be no different.

Still, I was irritable as I got up to start my day. By the time I got out of the shower Kenneth’s door was still closed. I needed to get my head on straight and that meant starting with an update of all I’d missed at the farm.

I banged on his door. “Get your ass out of bed. We need to talk.”

My hair was wet from the shower, and a towel was around my waist. I figured if I woke him now, he’d be ready to talk by the time I finished getting ready for the day.

I tried the knob, but it was locked. That was weird. Kenneth never locked his door.

I banged again. “Don’t make me break down this door. Why the hell are you locking it anyway?”

Slowly, I heard the lock open and the door cracked just enough for me to see that was not my baby brother. It was her.

My wolf roared in my head.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I yelled, causing the rest of the house to stir.

The woman from the bar who had haunted my dreams last night was standing there in one of my brother’s tee-shirts and nothing else. I could make out the silhouette of her figure through the thin material. The hem of the shirt barely hit the top of her thighs.

I was going to be sick.

Mate, my wolf howled angrily.

I was going to kill him.

Kenneth came running from across the hall. It should have registered that he had been in Parker’s room, but at that moment it didn’t.

“Sorry about this, Tricia. I’ll handle it.”

She just stood there in shock staring back at me, but just before the door closed, I didn’t miss the way her eyes dipped to check me out. My wolf howled in pleasure and my body warmed from within making my cock grow instantly hard.

I willed my body to calm down. The last thing I needed when I turned on my brother was to be sporting a full tent.

“It’s not what you think,” Kenneth started. He wasn’t the type to just jump in and clear the air like that. So he was either guilty as sin or knew how pissed off I was.

“I was just as surprised as you are. Peyton brought her home last night.”

“She’s wearing your clothes.”

“I noticed. But she didn’t bring hardly anything with her, just a small backpack. She probably wasn’t comfortably sleeping naked or something. It’s no big deal. I swear.”

I stomped back to my room trying to calm down.

There was no reason for me to be so pissed. She was nothing to me.

The second that thought hit my mind, I knew it was a lie.

Even surrounded by Kenneth’s funk, I could smell her. It was the same scent I’d loved on Clementine, the scent of my mate. Whoever she was, that scent lingered, driving me insane. But I’d just gone through utter madness because of it and I wasn’t about to do it again. To hell with her.

Once dressed, I raced to the kitchen where I expected to find Peyton. We were going to have to have a serious talk.

Instead, the place was empty until Oliver walked in from the backyard, probably coming from his workshop.

“Hey. Pey called and said you might need to talk.”

“Did you know she brought some random bitch home last night to stay here?”

I heard the gasp from upstairs and realized Peyton was up there listening in. No doubt she was disappointed with my choice of words, but I was pissed. This was my home too and I shouldn’t have to be blindsided like this.

I hadn’t realized that she had been talking to the girl though until she loudly fired back.

“Last night you forgot to mention there was a certified asshole staying here too.”

I almost smirked.

Shots fired.

I guess she was a feisty one. I liked that, not that I’d ever admit that to her.

“Calm down. She’s just passing through and needed a place to crash. I didn’t know you two knew each other.”

“We don’t, and we never will,” I told him.

I could hear her stomping around upstairs and Peyton trying to calm her down.

“Thanks for your hospitality, Peyton but it’s time for me to leave and get the hell out of here. I’ve wasted too much time in this territory anyway. I need to move on.”

I didn’t want her to leave Collier. But my pride wouldn’t allow me to say as much which just pissed me off even further.

“He’s leaving for work anyway. Just stick around and let me feed you before you go, okay? That’s what I do. I feed people, especially in high stress situations.”

“What happened?” Oliver asked me.

“Nothing. And I’m not talking about it. Not with you or anyone.”

“Okay,” he said. “Do you want some breakfast before work?”

“I’ll grab something at Kate’s and I’ll talk to Luke about finding me a place in town. I think it’s time I got the hell out of here and find a place of my own.”

“Brady, this is your home. Don’t do this. Not like this.”

“It’s time,” I stubbornly told him, because I couldn’t handle waking up another day here knowing she was right there across the hall covered in my brother’s scent. It felt like the ultimate betrayal and I wasn’t strong enough to handle it.

A part of me wanted to go upstairs, rip that shirt off her body and cover her in my scent. But she’d somehow humiliated me in from of my entire Pack and I couldn’t just forget that.

I was furious and hurt all at the same time.

If this is what a mate could do to me, then I wanted nothing to do with it, nothing to do with her.

Peyton came running down the stairs like a banshee ready to light into me. Now was not the time for that.

I held my hand up to stop her.

“Don’t,” I warned.

I’d never seen her look so furious or disgusted with me.

“Don’t? Oh no you didn’t. You just humiliated me and this family. She’s a guest in our house and I won’t allow you to treat her this way. And for no apparent good reason either. What is wrong with you?”

Oliver walked over to his mate and ran his hands up and down her arms trying to calm her.

“He’s had a rough week, babe. Give him a little grace. I’ll apologize to your friend on his behalf.”

“No. He should apologize.”

“Like hell I will.”

She was the one who had betrayed me as far as I was concerned.

We were still arguing and in a standoff. Distracted, I didn’t hear the girl come downstairs.

“It isn’t necessary. I’m leaving,” she said.

Oliver, Peyton, and I stopped fighting and turned towards her.

My eyes locked with her big brown ones and I was instantly lost. It felt like the ground was unsteady beneath my feet.

Mate, my wolf confirmed.

It was everything I’d imagined finding my mate would feel like.

I should have been elated, but I was too embarrassed and upset to accept it. Even the hurt in her eyes couldn’t crack the shield around my heart.

She’d made me a fool, the laughingstock of the Pack. I couldn’t just forget about that.

“You don’t have to. I’m out of here.”

I turned and stormed out the door.

“I am so sorry,” I heard Peyton say the second the door slammed behind me.

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”

“But Tricia. . .”

I wanted to scream.

Tricia.

Now I had a name to the face.

My mate was called Tricia.

Why did knowing that suddenly make everything seem worse? Now I wasn’t just letting some stranger down, I was letting Tricia down. Tricia, my mate.

It took a lot not to run back into the house and beg her forgiveness, but I knew the second I smelled Kenneth on her that I was going to lose my shit all over again.

I drove straight to the farm. Tim was already there.

“Are you okay?” he asked me.

I snorted and shook my head. “They called you.”

“Of course they did. Peyton is both furious with you and terrified for you right now.”

“Don’t guilt me on this.”

“I’m not trying to guilt you. I’m not. They’re just worried about you.”

“And you’re not?”

He shrugged. “You’ll make it right.”

“How can you be so certain of that?”

“Because that girl, Tricia, right? She’s your true mate, isn’t she?”

“How can you possibly know that?”

“I know it because there’s only one woman in this entire world that would cause you to lose your shit like this.

And Pey told me she had been sleeping in Kenneth’s room.

I love that kid, but if Jessie woke up in one of his shirts smelling like him, I’d want to rip his throat out too, and we’ve been mated for years.

I can’t even imagine how much worse it would have been in early mating stages. ”

I didn’t confirm or deny it. I just grumbled under my breath and walked away. I needed to find Luke because there was no way I was going back home tonight and I for sure didn’t want to sleep in the goddam barn again.