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Chapter 1
Cooper
I closed my eyes and lowered my head as the spray of water flowed down my neck and over my back, the heat of it soothing my aching shoulder. An injury that was lasting a lot longer than it should.
“Don’t move or I’ll shoot!”
I frowned at the sound of a woman’s ballsy command. What the fuck?
I started to turn around to see who was giving this ridiculous order, but then I felt the pressure of the cold end of whatever kind of gun she held against my back.
“I said don’t move! And put your hands in the air.”
I did as I was told and raised my hands above my head, still facing the back side of the tiled shower wall. “Can’t a guy take a shower in private around here?”
“Not when you’re trespassing.”
“What?” I glanced over my shoulder, blinking at the pretty redhead standing in my grandfather’s bathroom. My gaze dropped to the weapon she held against my lower back. A rifle that looked a lot like the one my grandfather had used to teach me how to shoot when I was a kid. The same one he later gave to me. I glanced at her face and locked on some amazing green eyes that also looked familiar.
“Kassidy? Kassidy McQueen?”
“What of it?” she snapped back.
Lowering my hands, I began to turn toward her.
“What do you not understand about don’t move?”
I stiffened as the rifle pressed harder against my flesh. The idea of Kassidy McQueen holding the other end should have alarmed me, but come on, it was Kassy. Was I afraid she’d shoot me? Nah. Well, maybe. But what happened between us years ago should not have any bearing on this current situation. In fact, seeing her standing in the bathroom with me naked as a jaybird was stirring up some pretty fond memories.
“Dammit, Kassidy, it’s me. Can you please lower the gun? I’m not going to hurt you. And I’m not trespassing.”
“Cooper?”
“Yeah, it’s me. And this is my grandfather’s ranch, remember?”
“Was. Was your grandfather’s ranch.”
“Right. And now it’s mine. So lower the fucking gun.” I turned around, my cock slightly erect from thoughts of the two of us together years ago.
Her gaze dropped. “Oh.” She held on to that rifle like it was glued to her hands, and it was still pointed at me. My own rifle, I might add, and this time, it was aimed at my junk.
“Please lower the gun,” I reiterated softly.
She blinked, tearing her gaze away from my crotch and slowly traveling it up my torso to my face and then finally lowering the rifle.
“Sorry. I thought you were a burglar. I didn’t expect you to be here so soon. They said you wouldn’t be arriving until Saturday night.”
I turned the water off. “Since when do burglars take showers in the homes they are robbing?”
She ignored my question and set the rifle against the wall just outside the bathroom.
“Do you mind handing me that towel hanging on the door behind you?”
“Oh, yeah. Of course.” She grabbed said towel and held it out to me before rushing out of the bathroom. I wrapped it around my hips, covering my junk and rear, and followed her out into the bedroom.
“What are you doing here, Kassidy?”
She lowered her head and glanced nervously around the room, her long red curls swinging with the momentum. Those locks were longer than they’d been the last time I’d seen her, and damn, they were gorgeous. I knew I was going to see her during my time here, I just hadn’t been prepared for it to be so soon. Even though I’d had plenty of time, years in fact, to figure out what to say to her when I saw her, I still had no idea how to explain myself. At least not in a way she’d ever accept.
“I came in to get Cal’s good clothes for the ceremony.” She headed to my grandfather’s closet. “I hope your aim is as good as it used to be.”
I nodded, though she’d already gone inside the small room to hunt for the suit.
So, they were going to have the full-on service, the way he’d wanted. I’d wondered if the pack would honor my grandfather’s wishes. He’d always said he wanted the whole deal when he died. Complete with him in his best clothes, resting in a small boat heading out to sea. Someone, namely me, shooting a flaming arrow at the craft, which would ignite his cremation and therefore ascension into the afterlife.
“Why you?”
“Why me, what?” Her voice was muffled coming from inside the closet. I decided it was a good time to toss the towel and tug on my pants.
“Why send you for his clothes? Why didn’t they just ask me to bring them?”
“Well, like I said, no one expected you until Saturday. It’s only Thursday. And I was the next likely one to know where his suit was.”
“Why?”
“Why what, Cooper?” She sounded irritated with me, no doubt still angry with me, not that I could blame her.
“Why are you the next likely person to know where his suit is?”
“Because I … took care of him.” By the way she hesitated, it seemed there might be more to that statement then she was giving up.
“You took care of him?” I narrowed my eyes and felt my forehead scrunch up. “Why did he need to be taken care of?”
“Cooper, you’ve been gone a long time. What is it, eight years now? If you had bothered to call once in a while, you’d know that your grandfather had a difficult time cooking and cleaning the last couple of years.”
I cringed at her accusations. “I called. He always told me everything was great. And besides, he wasn’t that old.” Not by a wolf’s standard anyway. Most wolves lived well past a hundred.
“Nearly a hundred and twenty and, well, he had his pride, I guess. You should have called Elias to ask about him.”
Elias Grant was Kassidy’s Godfather as well as the pack Alpha and the last person I wanted to have a conversation with. Not that he was a bad leader or anything, but he was the reason I’d left Dark Moon Falls and joined the Army right out of high school. Granted, I’d asked for it. And I was young. And the Army had seemed like a great way to get out of this small town, so at his “suggestion,” I went.
I had every intention of explaining myself to Kassidy in a letter, but I could never figure out the right words. Then I got deployed to Afghanistan shortly after boot camp, and time went by, and, well, the life of an Army Ranger wasn’t exactly the life I thought someone like Kassidy would tolerate well, particularly since I wasn’t home much.
So, shit, calling Elias to ask about my grandfather would not have been an easy thing to do, plus it never occurred to me. But she was right. My grandfather was a prideful man and I should have been more in tune with his situation. He’d never sounded sick though, he was wolf and wolves didn’t get sick, so his sudden death had been a shock. When I got the call from Barnett, aka, Sheriff Templeton, telling me he’d passed away, I’d had to ask him if he was sure that it was Cal because I couldn’t remember a day in my life when my grandfather had been sick. He said Cal had a heart attack and his old body couldn’t heal fast enough for his wolf to recover from it. I supposed heart attacks could happen to anyone at any time. Healthy wolf or not.
“Cal needed someone to help him and I had time since running the library doesn’t take much effort. Not many people in this town use it.”
“You run the library?” That made sense. She’d always been a bookworm. But I’d never minded since she’d helped me study and cram for tests in high school. She was smart too. I guess that came from all the reading she did. So many times she’d be sitting there with her nose stuck in a book, usually some romance novel, while I was out on the football field at practice. I’d been the team quarterback. And a damn good one too.
“Yes. I also had this job with your grandfather. Though I refused to take his money.” Kassidy placed a dark gray suit on the bed and faced me.
My God, she was breathtaking. She’d really grown up to be a knockout. I loved the way she’d let her red curls grow so that they cascaded down her back. She’d always been a pretty girl, but man, now seeing her standing in front of me in those tight cutoff shorts and a pink T-shirt that hugged her breasts and tied in a knot at her waist, she looked like a sexy Daisy Duke with flip-flops instead of cowboy boots. Damn, she took my breath away.
When she was a teenager, she’d been a tomboy. I liked that she could actually keep up with me. She was smart too. And when she wasn’t running with me, I always knew where I could find her; sitting under the apple tree in her back yard reading some romance book.
How many times had I wondered what she was up to? I glanced at her left hand. No ring. Thought she’d be married with a couple of kids by now. Maybe she was. Not everyone wore jewelry. C’est la vie.
“That was very generous of you. Thank you for looking out for him. If I’d known …”
“No one thought you cared to know.”
Ouch. “Of course I cared. I told you, he always sounded great when I talked to him. I had no idea he needed help.”
“Yes, you said that.” Her tone was clipped.
I hated that she had such a tainted image of me. But I guess I deserved it.
Her gaze drifted to the suit on the bed before she glanced up at me. “I’m sorry about your grandfather.” The sentiment was nice, but her tone made me feel she was more sorry for her own loss than mine.
“Thanks.”
She headed back into the closet and I let out the breath I’d been holding.
“There you are, you silly kitty.” She came back out holding a gray, short-haired cat and stroking her hand over its head. “Such a little scaredy-cat, aren’t you? She must have been hiding from you,” she accused with a grin.
The cat hissed at me.
“Who’s cat?”
“She was Cal’s. Her name is Jezebel. She’s a little skittish. Cal found her under the front porch when she was a kitten, abandoned and half-starved. I think it was instant love because she’s still here.”
“Jezebel, huh? Figures.”
“What do you mean?”
“It sounds like a name Cal would give to a cat. Jezebel. You know, loose woman, lady of the night, trollop, hussy, need I go on?”
“No.” She frowned. “Don’t mind him, Jezzy. He’s most likely been hit on the head and doesn’t know when to shut up.”
I laughed and shook my head, turning to locate the rest of my clothes which seemed to be missing.
Kassidy put the cat down and it immediately ran to hide under the bed. “Give her time; she’ll warm up to you after a while.”
I wasn’t sure how a cat and a wolf managed to get along, but I supposed if Grandpa could handle it, I could give it a whirl. Not that I’d be here that long anyway. I suppose I needed to find it another home. Maybe Kassidy would take it. She seemed to like it.
She brushed her hands together and went back inside the closet. “Which tie do you think goes best?” She called out from inside.
I followed her into the small, crowded space. She had several ties placed side by side on top of his dresser. The closet wasn’t very large and standing next to her, smelling her sweet perfume, had me reminiscing again about those good times in high school and my wolf stirred inside of me.
I inched closer to her to get a better look at the ties and when she pivoted her body to make room for me her face smashed against my shirtless chest. Her mouth must have been open during the brief impact and I couldn’t contain the grin as I swiped at the spot of moisture coating my left nipple.
Cooper
I closed my eyes and lowered my head as the spray of water flowed down my neck and over my back, the heat of it soothing my aching shoulder. An injury that was lasting a lot longer than it should.
“Don’t move or I’ll shoot!”
I frowned at the sound of a woman’s ballsy command. What the fuck?
I started to turn around to see who was giving this ridiculous order, but then I felt the pressure of the cold end of whatever kind of gun she held against my back.
“I said don’t move! And put your hands in the air.”
I did as I was told and raised my hands above my head, still facing the back side of the tiled shower wall. “Can’t a guy take a shower in private around here?”
“Not when you’re trespassing.”
“What?” I glanced over my shoulder, blinking at the pretty redhead standing in my grandfather’s bathroom. My gaze dropped to the weapon she held against my lower back. A rifle that looked a lot like the one my grandfather had used to teach me how to shoot when I was a kid. The same one he later gave to me. I glanced at her face and locked on some amazing green eyes that also looked familiar.
“Kassidy? Kassidy McQueen?”
“What of it?” she snapped back.
Lowering my hands, I began to turn toward her.
“What do you not understand about don’t move?”
I stiffened as the rifle pressed harder against my flesh. The idea of Kassidy McQueen holding the other end should have alarmed me, but come on, it was Kassy. Was I afraid she’d shoot me? Nah. Well, maybe. But what happened between us years ago should not have any bearing on this current situation. In fact, seeing her standing in the bathroom with me naked as a jaybird was stirring up some pretty fond memories.
“Dammit, Kassidy, it’s me. Can you please lower the gun? I’m not going to hurt you. And I’m not trespassing.”
“Cooper?”
“Yeah, it’s me. And this is my grandfather’s ranch, remember?”
“Was. Was your grandfather’s ranch.”
“Right. And now it’s mine. So lower the fucking gun.” I turned around, my cock slightly erect from thoughts of the two of us together years ago.
Her gaze dropped. “Oh.” She held on to that rifle like it was glued to her hands, and it was still pointed at me. My own rifle, I might add, and this time, it was aimed at my junk.
“Please lower the gun,” I reiterated softly.
She blinked, tearing her gaze away from my crotch and slowly traveling it up my torso to my face and then finally lowering the rifle.
“Sorry. I thought you were a burglar. I didn’t expect you to be here so soon. They said you wouldn’t be arriving until Saturday night.”
I turned the water off. “Since when do burglars take showers in the homes they are robbing?”
She ignored my question and set the rifle against the wall just outside the bathroom.
“Do you mind handing me that towel hanging on the door behind you?”
“Oh, yeah. Of course.” She grabbed said towel and held it out to me before rushing out of the bathroom. I wrapped it around my hips, covering my junk and rear, and followed her out into the bedroom.
“What are you doing here, Kassidy?”
She lowered her head and glanced nervously around the room, her long red curls swinging with the momentum. Those locks were longer than they’d been the last time I’d seen her, and damn, they were gorgeous. I knew I was going to see her during my time here, I just hadn’t been prepared for it to be so soon. Even though I’d had plenty of time, years in fact, to figure out what to say to her when I saw her, I still had no idea how to explain myself. At least not in a way she’d ever accept.
“I came in to get Cal’s good clothes for the ceremony.” She headed to my grandfather’s closet. “I hope your aim is as good as it used to be.”
I nodded, though she’d already gone inside the small room to hunt for the suit.
So, they were going to have the full-on service, the way he’d wanted. I’d wondered if the pack would honor my grandfather’s wishes. He’d always said he wanted the whole deal when he died. Complete with him in his best clothes, resting in a small boat heading out to sea. Someone, namely me, shooting a flaming arrow at the craft, which would ignite his cremation and therefore ascension into the afterlife.
“Why you?”
“Why me, what?” Her voice was muffled coming from inside the closet. I decided it was a good time to toss the towel and tug on my pants.
“Why send you for his clothes? Why didn’t they just ask me to bring them?”
“Well, like I said, no one expected you until Saturday. It’s only Thursday. And I was the next likely one to know where his suit was.”
“Why?”
“Why what, Cooper?” She sounded irritated with me, no doubt still angry with me, not that I could blame her.
“Why are you the next likely person to know where his suit is?”
“Because I … took care of him.” By the way she hesitated, it seemed there might be more to that statement then she was giving up.
“You took care of him?” I narrowed my eyes and felt my forehead scrunch up. “Why did he need to be taken care of?”
“Cooper, you’ve been gone a long time. What is it, eight years now? If you had bothered to call once in a while, you’d know that your grandfather had a difficult time cooking and cleaning the last couple of years.”
I cringed at her accusations. “I called. He always told me everything was great. And besides, he wasn’t that old.” Not by a wolf’s standard anyway. Most wolves lived well past a hundred.
“Nearly a hundred and twenty and, well, he had his pride, I guess. You should have called Elias to ask about him.”
Elias Grant was Kassidy’s Godfather as well as the pack Alpha and the last person I wanted to have a conversation with. Not that he was a bad leader or anything, but he was the reason I’d left Dark Moon Falls and joined the Army right out of high school. Granted, I’d asked for it. And I was young. And the Army had seemed like a great way to get out of this small town, so at his “suggestion,” I went.
I had every intention of explaining myself to Kassidy in a letter, but I could never figure out the right words. Then I got deployed to Afghanistan shortly after boot camp, and time went by, and, well, the life of an Army Ranger wasn’t exactly the life I thought someone like Kassidy would tolerate well, particularly since I wasn’t home much.
So, shit, calling Elias to ask about my grandfather would not have been an easy thing to do, plus it never occurred to me. But she was right. My grandfather was a prideful man and I should have been more in tune with his situation. He’d never sounded sick though, he was wolf and wolves didn’t get sick, so his sudden death had been a shock. When I got the call from Barnett, aka, Sheriff Templeton, telling me he’d passed away, I’d had to ask him if he was sure that it was Cal because I couldn’t remember a day in my life when my grandfather had been sick. He said Cal had a heart attack and his old body couldn’t heal fast enough for his wolf to recover from it. I supposed heart attacks could happen to anyone at any time. Healthy wolf or not.
“Cal needed someone to help him and I had time since running the library doesn’t take much effort. Not many people in this town use it.”
“You run the library?” That made sense. She’d always been a bookworm. But I’d never minded since she’d helped me study and cram for tests in high school. She was smart too. I guess that came from all the reading she did. So many times she’d be sitting there with her nose stuck in a book, usually some romance novel, while I was out on the football field at practice. I’d been the team quarterback. And a damn good one too.
“Yes. I also had this job with your grandfather. Though I refused to take his money.” Kassidy placed a dark gray suit on the bed and faced me.
My God, she was breathtaking. She’d really grown up to be a knockout. I loved the way she’d let her red curls grow so that they cascaded down her back. She’d always been a pretty girl, but man, now seeing her standing in front of me in those tight cutoff shorts and a pink T-shirt that hugged her breasts and tied in a knot at her waist, she looked like a sexy Daisy Duke with flip-flops instead of cowboy boots. Damn, she took my breath away.
When she was a teenager, she’d been a tomboy. I liked that she could actually keep up with me. She was smart too. And when she wasn’t running with me, I always knew where I could find her; sitting under the apple tree in her back yard reading some romance book.
How many times had I wondered what she was up to? I glanced at her left hand. No ring. Thought she’d be married with a couple of kids by now. Maybe she was. Not everyone wore jewelry. C’est la vie.
“That was very generous of you. Thank you for looking out for him. If I’d known …”
“No one thought you cared to know.”
Ouch. “Of course I cared. I told you, he always sounded great when I talked to him. I had no idea he needed help.”
“Yes, you said that.” Her tone was clipped.
I hated that she had such a tainted image of me. But I guess I deserved it.
Her gaze drifted to the suit on the bed before she glanced up at me. “I’m sorry about your grandfather.” The sentiment was nice, but her tone made me feel she was more sorry for her own loss than mine.
“Thanks.”
She headed back into the closet and I let out the breath I’d been holding.
“There you are, you silly kitty.” She came back out holding a gray, short-haired cat and stroking her hand over its head. “Such a little scaredy-cat, aren’t you? She must have been hiding from you,” she accused with a grin.
The cat hissed at me.
“Who’s cat?”
“She was Cal’s. Her name is Jezebel. She’s a little skittish. Cal found her under the front porch when she was a kitten, abandoned and half-starved. I think it was instant love because she’s still here.”
“Jezebel, huh? Figures.”
“What do you mean?”
“It sounds like a name Cal would give to a cat. Jezebel. You know, loose woman, lady of the night, trollop, hussy, need I go on?”
“No.” She frowned. “Don’t mind him, Jezzy. He’s most likely been hit on the head and doesn’t know when to shut up.”
I laughed and shook my head, turning to locate the rest of my clothes which seemed to be missing.
Kassidy put the cat down and it immediately ran to hide under the bed. “Give her time; she’ll warm up to you after a while.”
I wasn’t sure how a cat and a wolf managed to get along, but I supposed if Grandpa could handle it, I could give it a whirl. Not that I’d be here that long anyway. I suppose I needed to find it another home. Maybe Kassidy would take it. She seemed to like it.
She brushed her hands together and went back inside the closet. “Which tie do you think goes best?” She called out from inside.
I followed her into the small, crowded space. She had several ties placed side by side on top of his dresser. The closet wasn’t very large and standing next to her, smelling her sweet perfume, had me reminiscing again about those good times in high school and my wolf stirred inside of me.
I inched closer to her to get a better look at the ties and when she pivoted her body to make room for me her face smashed against my shirtless chest. Her mouth must have been open during the brief impact and I couldn’t contain the grin as I swiped at the spot of moisture coating my left nipple.
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