Page 4 of Fated to the Wolf Cowboy (Cowboys of Collier #1)

I had always been able to talk to animals, but I’d never had one tell me no before. When I asked an animal to do something, they did it. Sometimes I didn’t even have to ask. Like those rats in the subway station. They’d know what I needed and wanted before I even formed the thought.

That was my power. I was the weird freak that talked to animals.

Not only that, but I could command them, well usually I could.

I didn’t quite know how to explain it, but it was like I could send a part of me with them, too.

And when they returned to me, I could see and experience everything they had seen and done.

I had flown high in the sky as a bird and terrorized unsuspecting tourists as a squirrel.

Once I explored a whole unseen world below the city as a rat.

It was magical. As a child I hadn’t realized it wasn’t normal.

Many called me a daydreamer as I laid there on the grass in Central Park with my eyes closed as I relived my little friends’ adventures.

Somewhere along the way I realized it wasn’t normal to talk to animals. And I also discovered that these adventures I loved were all because I commanded them to show me. Most of the time I didn’t even realize what was happening until after the fact. Again, like the rats in the subway.

One day when I was taking a short cut from my house to school through one of the back alleys, a man tried to attack me.

I’d felt all alone and so scared. “Please, help me!” I’d cried out and suddenly there was like an army of rats, stray cats, and a few dogs that surrounded us.

They didn’t touch me, but they took care of the man.

I had run away and never asked them to show me what happened.

I didn’t want to know. That was the day I realized I could control animals in all ways.

After that I’d experimented in various ways to test my powers. I’d had the animals steal for me, pickpocket, and even stop drug dealers after a friend of mine OD’d in high school. No one ever knew, or at least that’s what I thought.

The Pack gave each of us a small stipend each month, but it wasn’t enough to live on, especially in the Big Apple.

My father had a gambling problem, and squandered all the money away the second it hit his pocket.

My mother had died when I was young, so it was just me and him, which meant mostly just me, myself, and I.

And we were always broke—like ketchup packs watered down and called tomato soup broke.

I supposed I shouldn’t have been surprised when people took notice that I suddenly had more food and no longer looked as thin.

At first people seemed to think Dad had finally hit a small windfall, but as time went on, questions arose.

I’d had to stop using my little animal friends to help me like that.

As I thought about it, I realized I’d never commanded anything larger than a mid-sized dog before. Maybe that was why the cow had so easily ignored me. Could I not manipulate big animals, just the smaller ones?

“What are you doing?”

I looked up to see an opossum hanging from the tree limb above me.

I sighed. “Hurt myself, or so it would seem. Could you help me?”

“I could, but you’d likely be dead before I returned.”

“Civilization is that far away?

“Yup.”

“Could you get me some food at least?”

My stomach was growling, and I was exhausted now that some of the adrenaline had worn off. It also meant my pain was worsening.

“Sure.”

The opossum climbed down, and I noticed she was carrying four babies on her back.

“Awe, they’re so cute.”

“Thanks.”

I watched as she walked away.

It felt like hours before she returned with a twig of berries in her mouth.

I sighed. “That’s it?”

I hadn’t meant to snap at her, and I really did appreciate her help, but I was so hungry I could have eaten that entire damn cow.

She shrunk away from me, just out of reach and dropped the twig.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized. “I’m just so hungry and scared.”

“That’s all I could carry,” she admitted, sadly.

“It’s okay. It looks wonderful.”

She picked the twig up and brought it closer to me.

I grabbed it from her with my teeth and quickly devoured the berries.

They were sour and not very good. They could have been poisonous for all I knew, but I had always believed animals couldn’t hurt me.

Not that they wouldn’t, but they couldn’t, at least not when I was commanding them to do my bidding.

The mama opossum didn’t wait around for another order. She simply walked away with her babies, and I was left all alone once more.

Time passed and the sun set high in the sky.

I’d gone hungry before, but not like this. I suspected being in my fur was burning more calories and I was in a major caloric deficit.

I tried to stand again, but it was no use. Seering pain shot up my leg and resonated through my body.

I laid on the ground with the realization that I was never going to get out of here. No one was coming to rescue me. I would starve to death before my injury healed enough to walk on it again.

Looking around, I knew this was where I was going to die.

Lost in my misery and grief, I didn’t hear the cowboy ride up on me until it was almost too late.

Overwhelmed, I sniffed the air and froze.

Shifter.

I had nearly forgotten I was squatting on Pack land. I knew nothing about this territory. Would they help me or kill me onsite?

That thought caused a shiver to run through my body.

It was best if I didn’t take that chance.

Crouching low, I tried to remain as still and silent as possible. That was no easy feat as I battled against the pain and swallowed back a groan.

The cowboy was no more than a hundred yards away as he dismounted and sniffed the air around him.

“Do you smell that?” he asked.

It was only then that I realized there was more than one of them. As I scanned the area, I saw four in total.

Shit!

I willed myself not to move. I barely breathed, fearing I’d been caught.

As they all dismounted, two of them pulled out binoculars and scouted ahead. I just prayed they moved on quickly.

They looked like cowboys to me, hats and boots and all, but what if I was wrong? What if these were trackers hunting me?

“I see part of the herd over there,” one of them said. “Maybe a couple miles out.”

Another guy took the binoculars from him and checked for himself.

“Good job, Will. I’m not even sure I would have spotted that.”

“Thanks, Cruz.”

Cowboys. They definitely had to be cowboys, right?

While the men seemed to be settling in, they let their horses roam free, though none of them were leaving the immediate area.

“Psst.” I risked trying to get one of the horse’s attentions. I wasn’t sure why I was bothering. After the cow incident I was pretty convinced I couldn’t control such a large animal. Torn between survival and fear, I knew I had to at least try.

One of the four horses wandered over.

“The rest of you, cover me,” I whispered.

Much to my surprise, they listened. It felt like a wall was put up between me and the cowboys as the horses shielded me from their sight and the one wandered over closer.

“Hello,” the horse said.

“Hi. I seem to have found myself in a bit of a predicament. Could you help me?”

“You’re injured.”

“I am. I can’t shift back into my skin, but I shouldn’t be here.”

“It’s okay,” she assured me.

“No, it’s not. Pack rules and all. I can’t risk anyone finding me in this territory, but I’m injured and hungry. I’ll starve to death before the wound heals. A sweet opossum tried to help, but all she could carry was a twig of berries.”

“I have food in my pouch, but I’m afraid I can’t reach it.”

“I can,” a small field mouse said.

The horse started to back up uncomfortably.

“Please don’t go. This mouse can climb up and get the food for me. If that’s okay with you.”

“Absolutely not. No rodent is going to climb on me.”

My heart sank.

“But,” she continued. “I can lie down, and he can retrieve the food—as long as he doesn’t touch me. I hate rats.”

Forgetting how it would look in my wolf form, I smiled causing the horse to shutter.

“I won’t hurt you,” I promised as I sensed her unease.

She dropped to the ground and rolled to her side while the mouse quickly got into her sack and pulled out a huge bag of sandwiches.

“Oh, thank you so much, horse.”

“Clementine,” she corrected. “Every proper horse has a name.”

There was an air of sophistication and a bit of snobbery about her, but I could look beyond that, seeing how she was my savior.

The mouse dragged the bag over to me as Clementine rose.

“I have to get back now.”

“Will you visit me again?”

I could feel the authority flow through my veins. My witch powers had activated. I wasn’t asking, I was demanding. She knew it too.

Her eyes widened and she snorted.

“Please?” I tried again, but in desperation, a small part of me fixed upon her.

“I need food and I need information. I don’t know where I’m at or who I’m dealing with.

You will go into town and look around. You don’t have to do anything, just look and then return here.

I’ll be able to see everything you saw when you return. ”

I still wasn’t certain I could control such a large creature, but I had to try.

It was clear she was not happy about it, but reluctantly she relented. “I’ll be back.”

As she walked away, I sighed with relief. There was no way for me to know for certain that she would return, but I had hope again.

She walked over to the cowboys as I strained my ears to listen in.

“Clementine, get over here. We’re starving,” Cruz said. I peeked my head up to see him open her saddle bag and then curse. “Who the hell was in charge of lunch?”

“I was,” the biggest of the men said.

“Then where the hell is it, Wyatt”

“It’s right here. . .” he checked and then looked perplexed. “Where the hell did it go? I swear Kate sent a whole big bag of sandwiches for us and I put it right here.”

Feeling uncertain, he walked around and checked the other bag before scratching his head. “I know I put them in here,” he mumbled to himself.

“I have extra granola bars,” Will said, causing them all to grown.

I should have felt bad about stealing from them, but I knew they could go home and get more food while I was stuck here. Sucked to be them, but out here on the range I supposed it really was every wolf for herself, just like the streets back home.