Elder Wolf (Wilde Brothers Ranch Book 1; Tate Rock Shifters) Read online

  She slipped into the diner and found her brothers already seated. They turned when they saw her, sneering when their eyes met.

  Cheyenne slipped into the booth. The pain she felt was raw and ripe. The look of hatred and fear and anger in her brothers’ eyes cut her to the core. There had been a time when she had looked up to them, trusted them, and loved them more than anyone else. Now that their parents were gone, they should be able to depend on each other. But instead, it had come to this: hatred, fear, and rage that she’d made her own life choices.

  “Brothers,” she said.

  They grunted in reply.

  “I know that this is not what any of us wanted.”

  “You’ve betrayed our family, Cheyenne. We can never forgive you for that.”

  “Do you really believe that we should be enemies now? Because I’ve found love and fulfillment in my life?”

  “You love a dirty shifter,” Fredric said.

  “Austin Wilde is the best man I’ve ever known. He is doing good for his community, his family, and his world. If anyone deserves your respect, it’s him.”

  “We’ll never respect a shifter, no matter what he pretends to be.”

  “Austin doesn’t need to pretend anything. He doesn’t hate anyone. He has none of that in his heart. What he has is strength of conviction and the love of his family.”

  “You betrayed your family.”

  “Do you think this is what Mom would have wanted? For you to abandon your sister because she knew who she was and who she wanted to be with?”

  “Don’t bring Mom into this. You made your choice. You turned your back on your family.”

  “No, boys. You turned your back on me. I am here, trying to show you that there’s another way. We are family, and we should stick together. Letting hatred destroy our family is not what Mom ever would have wanted. Mom had so many shifter friends. She didn’t hate anyone. In fact, she herself was good friends with the Wildes’ parents when they were still alive. She never would have supported what Dad did in response to her death. She never would’ve wanted that. Mom didn’t have the tiniest bit of hatred in her heart. She was full of love and compassion.

  “I know what happened was hard for all of us. I was only sixteen. I lost my mother. I was left with a distant father and angry brothers. Of all of us, I should have the most bitterness in my heart. But I don’t have any. I have so much love for Austin Wilde I can’t even articulate the depths of it.

  “Now that I am a wolf myself, I feel as if I have finally found my true purpose. I feel as if I have finally come to understand what I truly am. Don’t you want that for me? Don’t you want your only sister to be happy? Don’t you think that’s what Mom would have wanted?”

  She looked around the table at her brothers. Their faces were thoughtful, and their eyes were turned down. Randy wrung his hands. Her oldest brother, Chet, got up from the table and stormed away. Fredric sighed and followed him. But Randy remained, giving her hope that somehow, some way, they could come to some resolution without destroying the family.

  “I’ll go talk to them,” Randy said.

  She watched Randy stand and walk out of the restaurant. The waitress walked over and asked if she wanted to order. She asked for a coffee and sat there nursing it while she waited for her brothers to return. She waited for what felt like an eternity.

  While she was on her third cup of coffee, they walked back into the room. Randy was the first to sit down.

  She raised her eyebrow as they all slipped into the booth. She waited while they decided what to say. Randy looked at his brothers, gulped, and then opened his mouth to speak.

  “We had a long talk outside. And we decided that you’re right. Mom never would’ve wanted this. And now that you’re a shifter, we’ve realized that hating shifters all this time was never what she would’ve wanted either. She did have shifter friends. And she cared about Austin and the other Wilde boys when we were friends. But we listened to Dad, and we believed what he told us. That was wrong.”

  “You were just kids. He was your dad. What else were you going to do?”

  “It’s been a lot of years,” Randy said. “And we’ve all become set in our ways. But maybe, somehow, we can eventually learn to forgive and forget. We think it’s what Mom would’ve wanted.”

  Randy’s words were a balm to her soul. After all these years, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It was as if a miracle had occurred, and suddenly all the wrongs had been set right.

  She knew that it would take time and patience. But she was full of hope that eventually, her brothers would come to accept her new life and her new family.

  Chapter 19

  A month later, Cheyenne was sitting at the table as the warm spring sun glowed down on Austin while he flipped burgers and steaks on the grill. She had never felt so alive or full of energy. Turning into a wolf felt as if it had taken ten years off her life. She knew that in some ways, it had.

  She’d had a suspicion that something had changed in her, something exciting and special. Something she’d been longing for all her life. But she had been too afraid to hope that it could be true—until that morning when she’d driven into town to the drugstore and bought a pregnancy test.

  She still hadn’t taken it. The anticipation was too great. And although she knew that the test would be more accurate first thing in the morning, she just couldn’t bring herself to know for sure.

  The brothers had finished their farm chores and were gathering around the barbecue, waiting to be served. Cheyenne had never eaten better since she’d moved to the ranch.

  In the last month, she had genuinely started her artisanal jam business. It was no longer a joke. Cheyenne got to have what she wanted. As a wolf, she made things happen. She was the alpha female of the strongest wolf clan in Fate Rock and beyond. The woman who had let her life be dictated by others was gone. Cheyenne Wilde was strong and capable. She called the shots. She decided.

  She’d chosen a ribeye steak from the offerings and sat down at the picnic table beside Austin. She sliced into her steak and took her first bite, enjoying the perfect tenderness and rich flavor. She paired it with some of the huckleberry jam she’d made that day. It added just a bit of sweetness, making the meat that much more delicious.

  The brothers talked and joked and discussed the sheep-shearing season that was upon them.

  After they ate slices of her perfect boysenberry pie and broke out bottles of wine, she excused herself to use the restroom. She couldn’t chicken out any longer. She had to know for sure. She locked herself in the upstairs bathroom and pulled the paper bag from the drugstore out of the cabinet. With a deep sigh, she sat down and used the test. She set it on the bathtub and stared at it across the bathroom for the longest three minutes of her life.

  When the lines were fully visible on the screen, Cheyenne nearly fainted from shock and excitement. There before her was the unmistakable conclusion: the plus sign for pregnant. At forty years old, Cheyenne had become pregnant after spending only one month with her mate. It felt like such a profound miracle that she could barely believe it was true. But since the shift, she knew that her body was not what it once had been.

  She was stronger, braver, faster, and more resilient than she’d ever been before, and apparently that went for her womb as well. Austin had told her his own mother had given birth to children well into her forties.

  A tear of happiness and excitement slid down her cheek as she stared at the test. She had not been willing to believe that it could be true. She had come to accept that she would never have a family or children. Now that had changed, and the proof was staring her right in the face.

  She hurried downstairs to find Austin sitting in his father’s easy chair with a land management book. She had the pregnancy test behind her back, so giddy she could barely speak.

  “What’s that grin about?” He looked up at her with a sly smile.

  All she could do was squeal and thrust the positive test into his f
ace. He blinked and looked down, his eyes focusing on what she held in front of him.

  “Is this what I think it is?” He stood from his chair.

  “I’m pregnant, Austin. I’m really pregnant!”

  “Well, that didn’t take long.” He gathered her in his arms and crushed her to him.

  “I can’t believe it.”

  “Believe it, baby.” He kissed her full and hard on the mouth.

  “I had lost hope that it would be possible for me. I thought my chance was over.”

  “Not by a long shot, babe. You and I have all the time in the world.”

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