Page 13 of Sweet Whiskey

COLT

Pitching my fingers between my lips, I let out a low whistle, letting the horses know to come back to me.

The chilly morning nips at my cheeks as I scour the horizon for the rising sun.

Dew feathers the ground, and I can smell a storm coming.

We’ve been too busy preparing the ranch to go back into town the past few days, and I’m itching to see Kinsey again.

I almost wish I had gone with Dallas to pick up the extra hay bales a few towns over just to put some distance between us.

My attention drifts over to the cattle grazing on the next field over, watching a few of the ranch hands corral them away from the weakening fence. We’ll have to fix it soon enough. I don’t look up as Maverick saddles up next to me.

“Coop is getting ready to leave for Fort Worth. Who can we spare?”

My eyes raise, glancing at him curiously. It’s unlike him to refer to me, even if I’m the manager of this ranch. He hadn’t needed to be reminded that my brother brought a lot of money into this ranch. “From our boys? Duke. Maybe Brooks, but I’m not sure he’ll want to go. Any of the seasonals.”

Maverick frowns. “Why not?”

“Why not what?”

“Why won’t Brooks want to go? He usually keeps an eye on the ones for roping.”

I stand taller, shuffling my boots on the frozen ground.

We don’t have that type of relationship where we share our lives with each other.

When Levi hired me at sixteen, Maverick was only nine.

Back then, I knew he looked up to me like a brother.

But I’d been a right bastard, not looking for a family.

Years passed, and I never bothered attempting to repair the tension between us .

Clearing my throat, I blow out a breath. “We’re thinking of courting the new omega from the bar.”

Fury rolls over his face, a growl vibrating in his throat. My shoulders stiffen and I face him fully, narrowing my stare at him.

“Settle down.” The alpha bark in my voice has his hands trembling as he tries to disobey.

There’s a reason Levi gave the ranch over to me with a bunch of other alphas working for us, and it’s not one I let out often, preferring to talk it out.

Something triggered Maverick’s anger. I could smell his pheromones instantaneously.

He shakes his head, walking a few steps away and leaning over, holding onto his thighs as he takes deep breaths. I wait for him to face me again after a few minutes. The embarrassment in his eyes is the only apology I need.

“I-I don’t know,” Maverick says, but cuts off with a swallow.

“Would it help if I specified it’s the redhead?”

Maverick’s chest caves and his eyes squeeze shut before a laugh escapes his throat. “Fuck. What’s fucking wrong with me?”

A smile quirks at the corner of my mouth. “I think you may be feeling her friend.”

Mavericks grimaces, rubbing at his jaw. “She’s kind of a bitch.”

My eyebrow raises and my grin spreads. “You’ve always liked them a little mean. I think it’s your mommy issues.”

He glares at me before shaking his head with a smile, adjusting his hat and moving back to stand next to me at the truck. “I’m fucked already, aren’t I?”

“Probably,” I mutter, watching the horses as they trot closer. “The real problem is that we feel this way and we have no idea what their business in town is. Them getting jobs means they’re not looking to leave anytime soon.”

“Brooks said the redhead was asking about my dad?” Maverick frowns, clicking his tongue to get one of the younger mares to come closer to him. He reaches down to check her hoof before letting it drop down and patting her hind to get moving inside the barn.

“Her name is Kinsey, but yeah. Marley didn’t get a chance to tell me why when I tried to ask for more information.”

Maverick stretches his arm out. “Marley probably wouldn’t tell you even if you bribed her anyway.”

We may share a brother, but Marley doesn’t like me any more than the next person.

Cooper is the only one who seems to see the softer side of her.

What else he sees in her, I’ll never know.

Though I never knew what my father saw in her mother either.

Never got a chance to learn, considering my mom packed us up and moved us across the county line the minute the affair was exposed.

Didn’t even know about Coop until the twelve-year-old came knocking looking for his father, and only found me instead.

“I’m thinking about putting in a bid for that house down the street.”

Maverick slowly raises from the next horse he’d been checking, looking at me with a more calculated gaze. “You think it’s going to get that serious?”

“It’s better to be prepared,” I say with a shrug, even if I know it will be.

Brooks’s reaction the other night is the last confirmation.

I’ve never seen Dallas react the way he has.

Brooks is a bit of a loose cannon, but out of everyone else on the ranch, he bothers me the least. Even with the acres of land, it’s a small place for a whole lot of alphas.

I know Dallas is the one who left the book near my bedside in the work cabin.

None of the other men would be caught dead in the library.

Plus, he’s the one who has been pushing the most to make us a pack officially.

It doesn’t matter to me; whatever Kinsey wants or needs, she’ll get.

The problem is keeping her here. We still haven’t figured out why she’s searching for Levi, but it could jeopardize all our jobs if we make waves with Maverick over it.

Speaking of the devil, he clears his throat, giving me an odd look.

“What?” I grunt .

“How do you know…she’s the one?” he asks, scratching at the back of his neck as his cheeks flush red. He turns away from me, checking something on the fence as we wait for the straggling horses walking toward us.

Sometimes I forget that Mav is quite a few years younger than me, with a beta father who spent more time teaching him how to handle a business than be a man who presented as an alpha.

“It feels right. Like something settled in my soul just by being in her presence. I think about her all the time,” I struggle to explain.

“With Kinsey, just hints of her scent have me seeking it out like an addict. I won’t know if we’re scent matches until she gets off the suppressants, but I don’t think I’m dumb to imagine we are. ”

Mav looks at me over his shoulder. “And her scent, you’ve never experienced that before with anyone else?”

I shake my head. “Obviously some women have smelled good, but not memorable. Not ingrained into my mind from the first whiff.”

He swallows, nodding slowly and turning to find the last horse trotting closer to the barn.

I watch him for a moment, letting the moment sit between us tensely before he finally asks, “Why?”

Mav stiffens, standing up and patting the mare on her butt to get her going inside. “Just curious.”

My eyebrow raises. “You ain’t one for chitchat.”

His tongue sticks into his cheek as he glares at me. “The little blonde. She’s got my attention, alright?”

I hold up my hands in surrender, smirking. “Was just curious. It’s your business.”

He nods. “Sorry, just not sure how I’m feeling about it. Dad has been pushing for me to settle down, and now it seems too convenient.”

Shrugging, I close the fence as the last horses strut through.

Maverick sighs. “And you’re okay with Brooks and Dallas circling around her too?”

Unease settles in my stomach, knowing what he’s hinting at. “Yeah, for some reason those two I don’t mind.”

“I don’t know if I’d be like that. The thought of you being interested in her almost made me feral.”

My lips pull into a smirk, then I think about Maverick touching Kinsey and my hackles rise. I rub the back of my neck. “Yeah, I don’t like the idea of you touching Kinsey. Maybe it would be the same for you with a few others.”

He grunts. “I can’t imagine who.”

We both follow the horses into the barn, needing to lock them up for the remainder of the morning until the crew can shuffle through the chores and let them out in the afternoon.

Brooks is waiting for me by my truck when I finish helping Maverick in the barn. I glance at him with raised eyebrows.

“Can I help you?”

He shrugs. “Heard you were looking at a pack house.”

I scowl. “It’s not a pack house. ”

“Will it have Kinsey’s nest in it?” he asks, tilting his head to the side as if daring me to deny it. My heart twists at the thought of building her perfect nest, and I flip him off, unlocking my door and waiting for him to climb in on the other side.

“Too bad Dallas isn’t back in town yet. I’m sure he’d like to pick out his room,” Brooks says after we settle in and I start up the truck.

My knuckles curl around the steering wheel, but I keep my eyes on the road as I head down the long driveway of the ranch. “Do you enjoy antagonizing me, Brooks?”

He laughs, but it’s lacking humor. “Yes, but I think you’re the one being stubborn.

We’re a pack. We always have been. The three of us have always been drawn to each other more than any of the other alphas.

It’s platonic, but it’s still a pack. Did you know there’s a homebuyer’s program for packs?

Restoration loans for packs? It would be easier to qualify for a bank loan, especially if we have an omega.

Everyone knows how expensive nest building can get.

It’s like we get the benefits of being married, but for all of us. ”

My tongue plays with my back molar as I think over what he said, and I blow out a breath.

“I didn’t know that,” I admit reluctantly.

Everything I’ve been taught about packs came from my mother, who ran from the alphas who forced her into a bond and then dumped her to the side when they got an omega.

Even years later when the alphas came crawling back, she felt the tug of their bond.

They nearly bankrupted her by preying on her past feelings.

Brooks nods slowly. “I—uh. I started looking into it the day we saw Kinsey. I have a cousin in the city who can probably help us with the paperwork.”

I swallow, blowing out a deep breath. “We don’t have to bond to be a pack, right? I briefly remember that law being passed.”

“Yup. No need to bite. Though if we all bond Kinsey, we may still feel one another.”

My heart skips; nerves flutter in my chest at the thought of bonding Kinsey. I hadn’t given much thought about bonding with someone, other than I never wanted to do it. But suddenly, my teeth ache with the need to pierce her skin. “Alright, let’s look into it. ”

Brooks smirks. “But you’d bite me if it came down to it, wouldn’t you?”

My eyes flit to his, narrowing. “You’d like it too much.”

He bursts out in laughter, rubbing his jaw. “Yeah, probably.”