Desert Wolf (The Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch) Read Free Page B

fighting, it would take more than one wolf to beat.
    Nala screamed across the clearing. “Stop! Harrison, stop! Lana, stop Ty!”
    Lana lurched at the words. Why should she stop Ty at a moment like this? It was life or death.
    “Harrison, stop!” Nala yelled.
    Lana peered at the flailing, snarling figure, and realization dawned. Harrison?
    “Ty! Stop!” She jumped forward, joining in Nala’s refrain. “Don’t kill him!”
    But Ty already had the beast pinned on its back and his jaws poised over the exposed neck, a line of saliva dripping from his muzzle. The tall creature was prone and frozen in surrender.
    “Ty! Stop!” Lana inched closer. A wolf in full battle mode was no laughing matter, even if it was her own mate.
    Ty growled right into her mind.
I don’t know who this is. I don’t know what this is, but it dies. Now.
    “No! Don’t! Ty! We know him!” Lana stepped forward, but Ty shifted his haunches to block her, keeping his body between her and what he assumed was an enemy. “Ty, stop!” How to explain that Harrison was a fellow shifter, an ally?
    He snarled so deeply, it vibrated in her bones.
You know this thing?
    “Ty! Please!” Lana cried. “Jesus, Harrison, what the hell were you thinking?”
    Ty froze at the beast’s throat.
Who the hell is Harrison?
    “Him! The sasquatch! Ty, he’s a friend of my brother’s. Tell him, Harrison.”
    The furry humanoid under Ty’s paws gave a meek wave, prompting Ty to lean deeper and snarl louder as a second thread of saliva dripped from his jaws.
    “Please call off your dog, Lana,” the sasquatch groaned under his breath.
    Lana stiffened and put her hands on her hips. “He’s my mate, you idiot.”
    You know this ass?
Ty muttered, jaws still poised to deliver the death blow.
    “Uncle Ty! Uncle Ty!” the kids chimed in, recovered from their shock. “It’s Harrison.”
    I don’t care who it is. He threatened the cubs. He dies.
    Lana eased in closer and stretched a hand to Ty’s haunches, trying to settle him. Harrison had been known to pull stupid stunts in his time, but rushing out of the woods to play-scare a couple of kids—with Ty around? That was suicide, even for a sasquatch.
    Her heart lurched at the realization of the risk Ty had taken. Enemy sasquatch had been known to hurl full-grown wolves into trees, inflicting the kinds of injuries even quick-healing shifters couldn’t recover from. And though Harrison was a friend of her home pack, everyone knew to stay clear of his reach, just in case. Ty had risked everything for her and the kids.
    “Ty, my love, back down.” She slid a hand down his back. Harrison looked well and truly beat, but she wanted her mate away from those powerful arms.
    Ty didn’t back off an inch, though. The only thing that changed was the sound of thumping feet as Lana’s brothers arrived on the scene.
    “What’s going on?” Neal came skidding halt beside her.
    “We were walking along when Harrison here decided to play boo,” Lana said, shaking her head. “It’s okay, Ty. You can let him go.”
    Lachlan pulled up short beside Neal. “Fuck me, look at that.”
    Nala slapped his arm. “Watch your language.”
    “Sorry. But I mean, look at that. He’s got Harrison pinned.”
    Lana rubbed the length of Ty’s back until she reached the thick ruff of his neck. A collar would be handy at a time like this.
    Then it hit her. Her mate had managed to pin the sasquatch. No wolf in the Berkshires had ever managed that feat. Not in a hundred friendly wrestling matches, not in a dozen hard-fought battles against others of Harrison’s kind. Never. A spike of pride pushed itself into her heart alongside the awful fear of losing her mate.
    “Ty, please back off.”
    “Whoa. What happened?” That was Len, her younger brother, joining the crowd.
    Fucking Chewbacca here jumped Lana and the kids
, Ty grumbled right into everyone’s mind.
    For all the force in those words, Lana caught a little warble, too. One that