Page 14 of Fated to the Wolf Cowboy (Cowboys of Collier #1)

Tricia

I stared out the door watching him slide onto a bike, fire up the engine, and ride away. I should have been furious, but I couldn’t stop wiping the drool from my chin. He had to be the sexiest man I’d ever seen—all fire and ice and I was here for it.

I still didn’t really understand what had set him off this morning, but hot damn he was sexy when he was angry.

Thing was, I didn’t think it was really me he was angry at. I could be wrong. I didn’t know him at all. I knew his name was Brady from all the yelling, but that was the extent of my knowledge. Well, that and I knew without a doubt that he was my one true mate.

Maybe I was just in shock. But nothing he had yelled or said made me want to turn tail and run. Actually, it had the exact opposite effect.

Logically I knew I should get as far away from here as possible. But my body wasn’t thinking logically. I was on fire with desire. I wanted to test the limits and push him to his break point. And there was no doubt in my mind that it would be worth the ride.

I’d already told them I was leaving. Maybe Peyton would try to change my mind.

I watched until the bike disappeared.

If she wanted to change my mind, I was going to let her, because I really wanted to see this thing through. He was my true mate. Of course I was curious. How could I not be?

“I am so sorry, Tricia. He’s been going through some stuff, but I am horrified by his behavior. He’s never lashed out like that before.”

“Mama, is everything okay?” a little girl asked.

“It’s fine, sweetie,” Peyton’s mate said, sweeping the girl up in his arms. “Uncle Brady is just in a mood.”

“A mood?” Peyton asked. “He’s losing it, Oliver.”

“Can we talk about this later?” His eyes cut towards me as he silently begged her to stop talking.

They were cute. I hadn’t spent a lot of time around happily mated couples before, but something told me they had their shit together. Healthy relationships weren’t something I knew much about. Perhaps that was why Brady intrigued me so much.

“I’m just really sorry about this, Tricia. There’s no excuse for his behavior.”

There definitely was, but I didn’t think I should be the one to share that.

I may have been confused in the moment, but I think I understood what happened.

I had hated being surrounded by his brother’s scent.

It had been a restless night because of it.

But how much worse would it have been if the rolls were reserved and I woke up to him sleeping in some other woman’s bed, wearing her clothes, and covered in her scent.

My wolf growled in my head at the thought.

Yeah, the more I thought about it, the more I felt like he had shown remarkable strength in not killing his brother.

“You’re still welcome here as long as you’d like,” Peyton insisted.

“Is that a good idea?” Oliver asked.

Peyton shot him a look. “He said he wasn’t coming back.”

“And you believed him?”

“I’m taking him at his word. Tricia, are you really leaving or would you like to stick around? I promise we aren’t this bad as hosts.”

“Are you sure about this?” Oliver asked her.

“I am. But call Luke and make sure he actually gets in touch with him.”

I tried to bite back my smile.

“Kenneth can go back to his room, and we’ll move Tricia into Brady’s. And he’ll just have to find somewhere else to stay for now. And if Luke doesn’t have anything right now, then maybe sleeping in the barn a few nights will fix his attitude.”

Kenneth had joined us at some point. He leaned in and whispered. “Remind me not to piss her off. She’s scary.”

I chuckled. But I couldn’t agree with him more. And while I was more than ready to leave Collier Pack and finally feel safe in Westin territory, I couldn’t help but be too curious about Brady to run.

“So it’s settled then,” Peyton decided when I didn’t respond.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Oliver said giving her a quick peck on her cheek.

It was clear that he was going to support her decision no matter what. I’d never seen anything like it before. It made me curious about them as much as my mate.

My mate.

That didn’t even seem real, which was probably why I was just as curious about them as I was him.

“I know it’s the weekend, but I’m going to head into work anyway,” Kenneth said.

“Check on your brother,” Peyton said.

“Of course.”

“This is crazy,” I finally said as reality started sinking in. “I can’t disrupt your family like this.”

“Yes, you can. Look, I don’t know what all that mess was this morning.

I’m just really sorry you had to witness it.

Brady’s a good guy. Really, he is. He’s just been going through some stuff lately.

We’ve all been worried about him, but maybe some tough love is exactly what he needs.

So stay. Please. With you in his room he certainly won’t be coming around to disrupt everything and hopefully in a few days what it is will pass. ”

I still felt guilty about kicking him out of his own house, but the thought of sleeping in his room, surrounded by his scent, well, it might just be more than I can handle. Tingles of anticipation pricked my skin just thinking about it.

I might regret sticking around, but I was certain I would regret not staying because I’d be wondering every day for the rest of my life if I’d made a mistake by not giving him a chance.

A mate.

I almost squealed with excitement.

I had a mate.

Never in my life had I allowed myself to dream that he might exist out there somewhere—somewhere like Collier, Wyoming.

*****

“He did what ?” Lily shrieked.

“He is losing it, Lil. I’m so worried about him.”

“But you kicked him out of the house?” Ruby asked.

“Sort of. More like he voluntarily left.”

I wouldn’t have called it that, but I thought it best if I kept my mouth shut about it.

“Are you okay, Tricia?” Lily surprised me by asking.

“Me? I’m fine.”

“Well, that had to be scary,” Ruby said.

“Not really.”

I was from the city, something I suspected none of them could even comprehend.

I’d awoken to drug addicts more terrifying looking for a high in some of the sketchy places I’d lived.

And there was that time I was living on the streets and the lady a few yards down went into labor in the middle of the night.

You would have thought someone was slicing that baby right out of her stomach.

And then there was the time I witnessed someone getting shot right beneath the window of the hotel we’d been staying at while my dad was on a gambling roll.

I’d witnessed plenty of scary things in my life. Brady was not one of them.

But I didn’t share any of that with them.

They all stared at me like they were waiting for me.

I sighed. “New Yorker here. I’ve dealt with much worse.”

I decided to leave it at that. Short and sweet. They could fill in the rest with their own imaginations.

“Huh, well, okay then,” Lily said. “So you’re sticking around for a bit.”

“I don’t know. I’m just sort of taking it day by day right now.”

“Fair enough. You’ll stay,” she decided.

“Don’t bother arguing. She always gets her way.”

“Always?”

“Always.” Ruby confirmed.

“Good to know.”

“So, tell us all about you and New York City. I’ve been there with my parents several times, but it was more the touristy stuff, rides through Central Park, and stuff like that,” Lily said. “I’m sure our little town must be a bit of a culture shock for you.

“You could definitely say that, but in a good way.”

I wasn’t ready to share my life with them. It was none of their business. They were nice and all, but it had been a big leap of faith for me to stay with Peyton last night. In some way I felt like it had been predestined or something because it had led me to Brady.

Staying was probably the dumbest thing I’d ever done, but a part of me just felt like I had to see this through.

Ruby and Peyton had to leave. They had things to do, but not before pawning me off on Lily.

“You don’t have to babysit me,” I assured her.

“Are you kidding? It’s not every day someone stumbles into our Pack. How are you feeling?”

“Great. No issues. I really can move on now.”

That was a lie. Physically, sure I could. But knowing my mate was here, I couldn’t force myself to leave.

“Do you want to talk about what happened this morning?”

“What do you mean?”

“Brady. I know him, Tricia. Sure, he has his faults, but that was not normal behavior for him. Want to tell me why he reacted so strongly?”

“I don’t know him. How the hell should I know?”

She studied me for a minute.

“Did you know that Brady is mating?”

I willed my cheeks not to change color.

“Is he?”

“Sort of. It’s been kind of weird, if I’m being honest. And I’m only telling you this because of the outburst you happened to witness this morning.

Thomas had to reach out to my brother Kyle to discuss it.

Something’s not right. I’m not telling you to be afraid of him, just give him a little grace because something is going on with that boy. ”

Guilt weighed heavily on me. I’d seen Clementine’s memories. He thought she was his mate, but really it was me.

A part of me wanted to jump up and scream, “I’m sorry. It’s me!” But there was no way I could explain everything to them.

It wasn’t safe to be a witch right now. I couldn’t trust anyone with knowledge.

My life was at stake, and I didn’t care what sort of connections Lily had to Westin Pack.

Until I saw a thriving group of witches with my own eyes, there was no way in hell I was voluntarily putting my secrets out there.