Page 112 of His True Mate

“Look, if you take away the weeks that I took off, then it still equals a month. Just admit it,” Winnie argued with Dalton.

“I still do not trust that beast.”

“Well I do,” she insisted.

I hated her being anywhere near that horse. A wild bronco with an evil temper. It set my wolf on edge every time I even thought about Winnie being anywhere near that animal.

One thing I’ve learned about my mate, though—I couldn’t clip her wings.

She was stubborn and independent so there was no getting her to see logic. But I also knew I had to give her space to be free and spread her wings. Within reason… my wolf may have calmed significantly after we bonded, but we were in total agreement when it came to Winnie’s safety.

All week we’d been arguing about this moment.

It wasn’t a fight I was going to win.

I felt helpless standing there just watching her walk into the corral with that thing,

“That girl’s going to get herself killed. Mark my word,” Dalton said.

I knew the story of how his mate had died. I suspected Winnie reminded him a lot of her, which explained why he was so quick to take her in and show her the ropes when he had previously turned down everyone that had applied for the job he’d handed to her.

“No,” I said. “She’s got this. If she says she’s ready, then she’s ready.”

Winnie’s jaw dropped and then then quickly closed it and smiled.

“I’m ready.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t stand by and watch this again.”

I nodded. “I’ll let you know how it goes.”

The disappointment was evident on Winnie’s face.

“Let him be. I can’t even imagine the demons still haunting him. And don’t you dare leave me like that. Are we clear?”

“Yes,” she confessed giving me a quick kiss.

“You’re really sure about this?”

“He’s ready. I promise.”

I nodded solemnly, knowing she needed me to trust her in this moment, even though every pore in my body screamed to stop her.

Four trucks pulled up and soon Thomas, Wyatt, Austin, James, and Emmett were there to support my girl. Cruz and Brady even came to cheer her on. Those two had been hanging around a lot lately, like pesky gnats I couldn’t get away from. Still, I appreciated them coming out to support her too.

“What did you name him?” Brady asked.

She grinned proudly. “Indie. He’s an independent one for sure. I don’t want to crush that spirit, just calm him down.”

“Indie. I like that,” I admitted.

“Okay, here it goes.”

She took a rope and jumped the fence into the corral.

The horse jumped just a little.

Winnie stayed calm and confident as she approached Indie.