Alphas of Red Moon Ranch Complete Series (20 page)

The problem with ousting your backstabbing brother, Jacob thought, was that he was—after all—
your brother
and, sooner or later, you were going to run into him.

Brent, thankfully, had left with a whimper instead of a bang. After an uncomfortable clan meeting during which Jacob had informed everyone that Brent was banned from the ranch, Brent had packed his things and, days later, his place was empty. Still a shit heap; Jacob half-wondered if they’d have to get men in hazmat suits to come clean the empty beer bottles and dirty dishes and yellow cigarette-stained wallpaper, but Brent was gone. The rest of the clan had to pick up the slack to cover his duties (which were extensive), Jacob’s house calls were quiet, and family gatherings were just a little less fun.

But he’d made the right choice, Jacob told himself. Brent had thrown him into a setup and left him to fend for himself against a couple of cougars. He’d nearly killed Jacob. And he had to be punished for it.

Of course, it was only a matter of time before Brent showed up again. Jacob had returned from his job with Cassidy (Holly wasn’t home yet—strange) and was washing the day off of him when his phone buzzed with a text, vibrating loudly on the fiberglass sink.

[SMS: Cassidy] Lighting the fire pit up 2nite, u in?

Towel loose around his hips, Jacob poked out the words (
I’ll be there
) into his phone and sent the message. He felt a little better with the dirt and grime of his work day
off of him
, felt a little more human.

(
Human
. That was the important part.)

And where was Holly—?

He’d feel it if she were in trouble, he reasoned with himself. The mark worked both ways. Her scar would burn if something was wrong with him, and he would feel it, instinctually, in the pit of his stomach, if something was wrong with her. That was the bond that connected them, invisible but, in a very real way,
there
. Internally, he felt quiet, no warning beacons going off with regard to Holly. She wasn’t in trouble; she was just
late
.

Of course, it’d been a long time since he’d transformed. A long time since he’d gotten in touch with the animal side of him. His instincts were rusty, underused. It was possible that side of him was closing over, healing like an old wound. And—if he was being honest with himself—there was a part of him that missed the
simplicity
of the animal, part of him that
wanted
to scratch it open again and release the Beast.

No
. He knew better than that. That was just an old nagging. Like quitting smoking. He needed a bear-patch. Jacob dressed, casual slacks, comfortable cotton shirt that felt soft against his skin, and his well-loved denim jacket.
Worn out
, Cassidy called it. As far as Jacob was concerned, clothes didn’t feel right until you’d bruised them up a little. Once dressed, he pushed out the front door. A red moon peaked out from behind the mountain before it disappeared completely and Jacob stuck an e-cig between his teeth. He followed the electronic light in front of his nose and walked towards Cassidy’s place.

Holly would meet him there, he figured. Couldn’t miss the blazing bonfire outside, surrounded by family, fellow ranch hands, and a couple honeypots.

Sure enough, as soon as he got close enough, he heard the familiar purr of her little Buggy bumping up the road. It grew louder and he waved it down. The Buggy came to a glugging stop outside of Cassidy’s place and Jacob caught up with it just in time to open up the passenger side. Trish spilled out and chirped a
thank you
before scampering off. Jacob just managed to grab a strand of her long hair and gave it a little tug as she zipped off (sure, maybe she was eighteen on paper, but to him, she’d always be somewhere around eight or nine). Trish let out a small yap of surprise, then shot him a
quit it
look, which just made him chuckle. “Hello to you too,” he said.

She flattened her hair back and said, “Hey, boss. How’re you?”

Now
it was Jacob’s turn to look amused. “Just fine. Thanks for asking. Go on, now.”

Relieved, Trish ran off to join her brother beside the campfire. Jacob shook her head, small smirk playing on his lips.
Kids
. Didn’t know a thing about manners these days, it seemed.

Holly stepped out of the car and Jacob’s heart warmed at the sight of her. His day felt
long
, suddenly, and he felt all the empty spaces without her finally catch up with him. He hooked his hand around her side, pulling her in, and murmured, “Hey.”

“Hey,” she said right back. Her lips were full, red, and he felt hypnotized by their softness when he went in for a kiss. There was some distance between them—he could
feel
it, as though it were a physical thing—but in that moment she whimpered quietly into his mouth and her fingers curled around his shoulders, clinging to him, and,
yeah
. That was good.

“You want to skip the fire and head home?” Holly said, her fingers still locked on the lapels of his jacket. Even in her sweet, innocent face, there was this hint of wickedness that danced in her eyes and that made his pulse throb just a little south. “We could light up our own fireplace…
talk
…” The word dropped from her tongue like it was heavy. It was
tempting
; he had to give her that.

“We’re already here. One drink,” he said, tilting his head back at the bonfire.

Holly bit her lip briefly as though buttoning back a protest, but then she nodded. “Okay.”
Hell
, those lips, so plump and kissable, his Beast roared in his belly. He had half a mind to push her up against the hood of her car and kiss her and kiss her and never leave her lips, not until dawn blushed over the mountaintops.

Instead, he took her hand. Wrapped her fingers up in his and led her to the bonfire. As they got closer, he could smell the musky burned wood, sticky sweet marshmallows, and…another scent. Sharp whiskey and hand-rolled cigarettes.

The hair on the back of his neck went on end.

“He’s my guest,” Cassidy said defensively before Jacob could so much as open his mouth. “So don’t even think about kicking him out.”

Brent sat on one of the horizontal logs. Stetson hat all but covering his face. The tip of his cigarette lit up briefly from under the rim.

Jacob shot Cassidy a stern,
we’ll talk about this later
look. “Mmhm,” was all he said, and then he turned his back on Brent—hangdog in the red glow of the fire—and warmly greeted the rest of the clan. Jacob and Holly settled down and a honeypot came around with beers for them. Jacob cracked open his. He made note of the fact that everyone was giving Brent a wide berth. Even the honeypots stayed away (good girls). Cassidy was the only one side-by-side with him…
why did she have to make everything difficult?

“No, thank you,” Holly said, waving away her beer as she turned back to the fire instead.

“You want me to get you some wine?” Jacob asked her. Holly smiled nicely and shook her head. She’d been distant lately, he could feel it, but he decided not to push it. She’d bounce back like a rubber band. He moved his hand to the small of her back and stroked anyway; she leaned into it. That was a good sign, he decided.

“We were just taking mountain gossip,” Cassidy said, breaking the blanket of silence that came with the Alpha’s presence. “Brent says it smells like the Davos clan might be using our territory again.”

Our territory
. Jacob gritted his teeth.
Westmore territory
. Not Brent’s. Not anymore. He had no one but himself to blame for that.

Jacob flicked his beer cap to the ground. “Sounds like a lot of hearsay to me.”

“You wouldn’t know,” Brent broke in boldly. He flicked his cigarette into the fire and it swallowed the butt whole. He gesticulated instead with what was probably his fifth or sixth beer, which dangled from his long fingers. “You haven’t been up there.”

“I’ve had my share of the mountain lately,” Jacob growled pointedly, reminding Brent that the last time they were up there, Brent had walked him into an ambush.

“He has a point, Jacob,” Cassidy said. “You can’t shift, not in your condition. I’ll go up there tomorrow and sniff it out.”

“No one’s going up the mountain,” Jacob said. “Don’t want you walking into a cougar nest too.”

“Goddammit, Jacob!” Brent snapped. “If you think I’d hurt Cassidy, you’ve really lost it now.”

“I don’t gotta tell you a damn thing,” Jacob said lowly.

“You know why I did what I did,” Brent said firmly. Like his voice was straining to push the words through Jacob’s stubborn skull.

“You wanna be Alpha, you can rip my crown from my dead hands,” Jacob said and took another swig of beer.

“Someone’s gonna! That’s the problem! It’s killing you, brother.”

Jacob stood suddenly. The fire shuddered as embers scattered under his boots. “You challenging me?” he asked. His voice was cold as black ice.

A hush fell over the pit. Even the crickets seemed to lower their wings.

“C’mon, now,” Cassidy murmured softly. “The cubs are here.”

“Dave, take the kids inside,” Brent said and he got to his feet, level with Jacob now. His stare locked on Jacob’s. The Alpha didn’t bat an eye.

Cassidy and Holly rushed to their feet.

“Jacob…what’s going on?” Holly whispered.

Cassidy got her hands on Brent’s chest and said firmly, “Stand down, you’ve got nothing to prove, don’t you dare—”

“Jacob!” Brent roared, “I’m calling a challenge. We settle this. Right here, right now.”

“You got it,” Jacob said and peeled his shirt over his head.

Oh no
, Holly thought.

Oh no, no, no. He wasn’t going to fight. He couldn’t.

One more transformation. That was what he’d told her. One more shift into his bear form and he wasn’t coming back. And Holly couldn’t think of a time more likely for him to spontaneously change than locked in a bare fistfight with his brother.

“Jacob,” she hissed. “Don’t do this. You can’t change. You’ll—”

“I’m not gonna change,” he said, then shot her that damn cocky smile. “I’ve got you here. You’re my rock.”

Like she was some lucky rabbit’s foot. Holly felt like he’d tied rocks around her ankles and tossed her into the deepest part of the ocean.

“You don’t know that,” she said under her breath. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Dave ushering the children away from the fire pit, back home. This was quickly tumbling into a disaster. All because of a couple overgrown boys and their egos. “Jacob,” Holly said and slipped her hand over her shoulder. Trying to calm him. Tame him. Like petting a jumpy stallion. “Please don’t do this.”

Look at me
, Holly tried to scream through her eyes. She wanted to yell at him telepathically, where no one else could hear:
I’m pregnant! We’re having a baby!

But now was not the time. Or place. She didn’t want to tell him
here
of all places. In front of the entire clan. Not when she was trying
so hard
to fit into his family and prove herself as a good little Alpha’s mate. Holly felt tears spring her eyes and her face flushed hotly. On top of everything, her hormones were going haywire.
Of course
. Because Holly Westmore could not catch a break. “Let’s just go home,” she tried finally, pawing at him. “Remember that…
thing
…I had to tell you about…”

He shrugged her off abruptly. Like she were some irritating horsefly. His eyes were trained on Brent. “Later, Holly.”

And that’s what it was always going to be.
Later, Holly
.
I’ve got to take care of some “Alpha business.”
But this wasn’t Alpha business. This was a pissing contest that was going to put both of them in jeopardy.

Holly heard Cassidy shout out Brent’s name, just as the younger brother charged and swung a wide arc at Jacob. Jacob ducked, narrowly missing the hit, and socked Brent once in the stomach, then in the face when the other doubled over.

Everyone backed off, even Cassidy. Like they were
afraid
to take a stand. Jacob paced, snarling, and his eyes flashed that animal copper. Finally, it wasn’t Jacob, but
Holly
, who was seeing red. She got right between them, shoved Jacob back with all of her strength, and—

She slapped him. Across the face. Holly had never slapped anyone before,
never
in her life, and the force behind it surprised her. Even in the dim firelight, she could see the angry red mark across his cheek. Jacob grabbed her wrist reflexively and turned on her. There was raw irritation in his eyes, but now he was looking at her,
really looking at her
, and she saw some of the steam go out of him. The gold glow in his eyes shimmered and quieted. “Have you lost your mind?” he said, his voice low. Brent, Cassidy, and the rest of the clan all went quiet as well, staring at Holly as though she’d reinvented the wheel.

“You’re always blaming your
Beast
on everything, but it’s not the bear, Jacob,” Holly said, her words sharp and cutting, flying out of her mouth like razor blades. “It’s you! You’re stubborn and proud and if you’re not honest with yourself, you’re going to tear your family apart.”

Jacob stared at her. The mark on his cheek had faded into a soft human warmth. All the fight had gone out of his voice now, the gravelly Alpha growl depleted, and he sounded concerned when he asked, “Holly, what’re you—?”

“I’m pregnant,” she blurted out. Two words, and it should’ve felt like a relief unloading them from her chest. Instead, Holly felt raw, exhausted, forced into a corner she didn’t want to be in. She’d been pushed to use her last card and now that she had, she just wanted to curl up and sleep and forget this terrible, terrible night. Eyes brimming with tears, but determined not to let them fall, determined not to look
weak
in front of him right now, she said, calmly, through her teeth, “So maybe think about that next time you sign yourself up for something you might not come back from.”

Holly turned and walked away from Jacob. Away from the fire pit. Away from the clan of bears. She was just
tired
of this, tired of having to play peacekeeper. She left her heels in the dirt and walked barefoot up the hill, determined not to stop for anything. The dark of the night swallowed her vision, stars sprinkled before her, and Holly couldn’t stop the tears that slipped down her cheeks and she choked on them as she climbed to the top of the hill, towards their house. No way was she going to wait to get a ride from him. She didn’t want to be in the same car—heck, on the same
planet—
as Jacob right now.

She heard silence behind her (at least they weren’t fighting anymore). Then she heard feet pattering up to follow her. The hairs on the back of Holly’s neck rose; she didn’t want to even
look
at Jacob right now for fear of what else she might say, things she didn’t mean. Instead, she saw Cassidy beside her, catching up with her quickly. “Let me walk you home, sweetheart,” Cassidy said. There was something warm in Cassidy’s tone, something Holly hadn’t heard from Jacob’s sister before.

“I know, I know,” Holly said, and now she couldn’t hide the shake in her voice. “I emasculated him in front of the clan, I made the clan look weak, I
know.”
Any other day, Holly would be able to hide the bitterness in her voice, but now…it all came out. Cassidy was the
last
person Holly wanted to appear weak around. She didn’t want to give the other woman even more ammunition to use against her, proof that she wasn’t a true
Alpha’s mate
.

Instead of a tongue-lashing, Holly felt Cassidy’s arm wrap around her shoulders, snuggly. “No one stands up to my brother,” Cassidy said. “You’re one tough chickadee, you know that, girl?”

That broke Holly. Fear from earlier, embarrassment, hurt—and now, on top of it, gratitude,
relief
,
Cassidy respected her
. That meant more to Holly than she thought it would and, before she knew it, she collapsed into Cassidy’s arms and broke down, crying.

“Shhh, mama,” Cassidy murmured, rubbing the other woman’s back. “It’s okay. We’re family here.”