Page 2 of Fated to the Wolf Cowboy (Cowboys of Collier #1)

Brady

“Brady! Breakfast,” Peyton yelled up the stairs.

“Mom, I’m going to be late,” Meg whined.

“Well, go wake up Uncle Brady so we can get moving.”

“He’s a grown man. Can’t he wake himself up?” Evie asked.

Peyton groaned. “Parker, stop playing with your food and eat.”

I heard it all as I got out of the shower.

Not for the first time, I longed for just a few moments entirely to myself. Being alone sounded heavenly.

Fat chance of that happening around here, though.

I loved my brother’s mate and their pups. Peyton took care of all of us, whether we wanted her to or not. But sometimes I longed for a life of my own.

“Brady!” she yelled again.

“Give me a minute. I just stepped out of the shower.”

I was still wringing water from my hair as I walked to my room. It had grown shaggy. I couldn’t decide if I liked it longer or was ready for a buzz cut. Shaking my head, water droplets shot all around me and I grinned.

Definitely more wolf-like in my human form this way. But out on the range I knew I was going to want to kick my own ass for not making time for a haircut. Though, I didn’t exactly spend much time out there anymore.

Knowing Peyton was getting impatient, I quickly dressed and jogged downstairs to the morning chaos of home.

I still lived with my oldest brother, Oliver, and his mate Peyton.

They had three ornery pups that I adored.

My baby brother Kenneth still lived at home too, but Tim had moved out into a home of his own with his mate, Jessie.

That had freed up a bedroom for Parker while the girls still shared a room, at least until Kenneth or I moved out.

Ollie and Peyton would never tell us to leave. They were more like parents than siblings. But I knew it would need to happen eventually. With the pressures of the new job, having been promoted to oversee the new garden center and greenhouse, I simply hadn’t had time to look for a place.

Hearing the rustle of morning activity in the kitchen put a smile on my face.

My brothers and I hadn’t had the best upbringing. After our mother left, Oliver, being the oldest, tried to shelter us from the abuse of our father. Kenneth was probably shielded the most from that, but even he still had his demons to battle. Being the second oldest, I remembered it all.

I shivered at the memories.

It was weird how those thoughts assaulted me at the oddest of times, like now.

Simply hearing my family fussing and squealing over something as simple as breakfast and getting ready for school and work was a stark reminder of the childhood I never had.

And I was beyond happy knowing that my nieces and nephew would never face the horrors my brothers and I had survived.

Seeing Ollie thriving as a father and mate gave me hope that just maybe I wasn’t as screwed up as my father had been.

I knew I had a bit of his temper, and I remembered how my mother had freaked out and left, calling us all monsters and abominations.

It made me hesitant to even date let alone take a mate for myself.

Yet, Oliver was making it work despite everything.

I just wasn’t certain that I could risk it.

I was happy with my life as it was, maybe not thrilled with my newest promotion, but I was trying to be optimistic that taking on this responsibility could prove to Thomas and the others that I was ready for more around Collier Ranch, Dairy, and Farm.

A farm was very different than a ranch, but Thomas Collier, our Alpha, had decided it was time to expand.

I hadn’t wanted the job, but I wasn’t turning down a chance for advancement.

Maybe if I showed Thomas I was a team player and could handle the responsibilities, then he’d consider me for a higher position on the range.

I knew Cruz had been promoted and was working closely with Emmett. I couldn’t complain about that one bit. He had seniority and everyone looked up to him. But the more we grew the ranch, the more opportunities would open.

“Brady!” Peyton yelled.

I groaned. “I’m right here, Pey.”

“You’re supposed to be dropping Parker off at preschool today,” she reminded me. “Please tell me you didn’t forget because the girls are already late for school.”

I kissed her cheek. “I didn’t forget. P-man and I are good.”

“He dribbled syrup all over his shirt so can you change him?”

“Get out of here. I’ve got this. You act like I’ve never done this before.”

She sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. Oliver’s finishing up that big project for Thomas and I’m kind of lost without him this morning.”

I grinned. I was damned proud of my big brother. Oliver had started his own woodworking business building beautiful furniture. Sometimes the boys and I helped out too, but none of us had his natural talent.

No one would ever have believed my big brother would someday be a thriving business owner, least of all us. He’d not only changed his own life, but all of ours too. What would I even be without him?

And now he was busy building all the raised beds and whatever else was needed to complete the greenhouse I was overseeing.

Peyton reminded me of the time and then kissed the top of Parker’s head before rushing the girls out of the house.

“Alright, buddy, it’s time to get you cleaned up.”

“Can I go to work with you today?”

“Nope. You have school.”

“But I don’t like preschool. I wanna be a cowboy like you.”

I felt like a goddamn hypocrite because lately I wasn’t anything close to a cowboy.

I hadn’t ridden a horse in weeks and some days it was torture looking out on the range while stuck overseeing the construction of the new greenhouse.

My brothers got excited about that sort of shit, but my heart belonged to the wide-open spaces on the back of a horse.

It won’t be forever, I silently reminded myself.

“You have to go through school before you can become a cowboy.”

“Did you go to school, Uncle Brady?”

“Of course I did, all the way through twelfth grade when I graduated and then started working at the ranch.”

That wasn’t exactly true, but mostly. I left out the in between when I’d gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd.

I’d have done almost anything for a bit of cash back then, including sleeping around for money or perks that helped me steal things I could pawn, and for a while I even stooped to dealing drugs for a quick buck.

I wasn’t proud of it, and I’d been damned lucky I was never arrested.

But Parker never needed to know about that time in my life.

“Oh,” he said sadly.

“Cheer up. School’s fun and you’ll learn a lot,” I lied with a smile on my face.

I had hated school, too. How I had managed to actually graduate was a true miracle. But Peyton would likely rip my throat out in my sleep if I admitted that to the kid. So I kept my mouth shut and tried to be encouraging.

And it wasn’t just for her. I’d cleaned up my act, walked away from a terrible situation, and worked hard every damn day to be a responsible and good role model for my nieces and nephew.

Some days I still didn’t think it was enough.

No amount of good could atone for all the bad things I’d done in my life.

I knew Oliver and Peyton would strongly disagree, but it was how I felt. Still, I couldn’t just erase my past. All I could do was move forward and try harder.

“Let’s get you cleaned up and out of here so you aren’t late to school.”

Parker groaned, then exaggerated every step as he stomped upstairs to his room. I followed since I didn’t trust what he would choose to wear.

After a bit of arguing, we finally agreed on a clean blue shirt. I picked him up and threw him over my shoulder as I ran down the stairs, out the door, and to the old minivan.

That van was sort of nostalgic for us all now, but I’d nearly pissed myself laughing the first time I saw Oliver drive up in that thing.

He’d made a sacrifice trading his most prized ride for a mom-van, but he’d done it for his daughter.

It had been the right thing to do. We all had our own vehicles now, but we kept that thing just for emergencies.

Or, since I still drove my motorcycle, I used it when at times like this when I had the kids.

Driving into Collier Pack territory occasionally felt a little strange, even after all these years.

It was hard to forget they had once been our enemies before Luke Larken had stepped down to merge Larken and Collier Packs.

It had been what was best for the Pack, but as an Alpha, it was difficult to imagine how he must struggle being a Beta to Thomas now.

I didn’t think about stuff like that often.

In truth, they were all just family now—Pack.

Peyton was Thomas’s sister, and Luke Larken was mated to my brother Tim’s mate’s sister.

It made my head hurt to try and think about it.

But as Oliver always said, you’re either family or not, and the Alpha and Beta were definitely family.

That didn’t mean it gave me any perks, though. I’d had to work hard to find my place in the Pack and I was still working hard to ensure a better place for myself at Collier Ranch, Dairy, and Farm.

By the time I finally arrived to work after dropping Parker off, Kenneth and Tim were already there.

It was a bit infuriating at times, knowing my little brothers were more equipped to manage the farm than I was. Someday I hoped they got that chance. I just prayed that would mean I was back on the range.

Pushing that thought aside I put on a smile and changed my attitude so I could do my job to the fullest. It might not be my dream, but it was a damn good job and I had an important role to fulfill.

“Brady! About time you got here,” Kenneth teased.

“Peyton put me on Parker duty this morning.”

“Well, that explains it,” Tim said. “We spoke to the foreman this morning and the exterior structure on the greenhouse should be completed today.”

“That’s wonderful news.”

“And the tomatoes are coming in, like big time. We’re going to have to start harvesting soon,” Kenneth informed me.

“We agreed we’ll get a team in to handpick this year, right?”

I wasn’t looking forward to that, but there wasn’t much of a budget left for me after investing in the greenhouse, plus updating the farm equipment.

There were still things I wanted, like some picker equipment I didn’t even know the name of, but Kenneth was still insisting we didn’t need it, that handpicking the vegetables we were growing was better anyway.

I hadn’t wanted to agree, but my budget told me I better.

Hell, I hadn’t even wanted to plant the damn tomatoes and, despite his arguments, put a stop to anything else until we had the greenhouse up and running. The rest would wait until spring planting when we were actually up and running and capable of supporting an agricultural line.

“Yes. That’s the best route to take,” he insisted again.

“I’ll talk with Luke, Emmett, and Cruz, maybe even Clay if the others couldn’t spare enough workers for harvesting.”

Luke oversaw all of Collier Ranch, Dairy, and Farm.

Emmett and Cruz managed the ranch. Clay and Ruby were in charge of the Dairy, and I got the Farm.

I’d been informed from the start that it wouldn’t be a forever thing unless I decided I wanted it to be.

That helped a lot, knowing I could someday return to life as a true cowboy.

When I’d first been brought on for this project, Luke and Thomas had a long, hard discussion with me.

It was universally agreed upon that my baby brother should oversee the farm operations, but he was still so young that they wanted me to step in for guidance and leadership.

Tim had more of an engineering mind. Setting up the infrastructure, plotting, greenhouse, and the hydroponics system inside the greenhouse were more of his expertise and he didn’t really need a management title for that.

Of course, I wasn’t dumb enough to actually tell Kenneth that I was grooming him to take over, but that was the plan.

“Are we on track for interior as soon as the exterior is done?” I asked, changing the subject and looping back to Tim.

“Ready. All parts have arrived and Oliver’s finishing up the raised beds. We should be able to start setup in the next few days.”

“I’m looking to you to manage that, Tim.”

“What about me?” Kenneth asked.

I knew how excited he was about the greenhouse. If it hadn’t been for him no one would have even considered it.

Kenneth had met Peyton first. I don’t even really understand how that happened, but before she even met Oliver she had already sort of adopted Kenneth, Evie, and Tim.

All they had talked about was Peyton this and Peyton that.

Well, I guess technically he had met her first, but it was brief, unforgettable, and that dumbass had walked away from her before he even got her name. What an idiot.

While I wasn’t big on the idea of taking a mate, if I ever crossed paths with my one true mate, I’d stop at nothing to make her mine, not if it meant a chance at the happiness my big brother had found with his.