Ruthless (Wolf Ranch #6) - Renee Rose Page 0,63
and his shit once and for all tomorrow. Move.”
I doubted drill sergeants could do it any better. Rob had a way of issuing commands that made someone want to get up and move even before deciding to obey.
At least that was how it felt to me. I scrambled up from the ground, and so did Rand. Rob led us to the horse trail that went between our properties.
All the women—Willow, Marina, Audrey, and Charlie—came along. When we were far enough away, Rand shifted from his wolf and wrapped the sheet around his waist then picked me up in a honeymoon carry.
“What are you doing?” I yelped. I set my hands on his shoulders, but I was afraid to touch a burn. “You’re the one who’s hurt. I’m fine.”
His eyes met mine, and he wasn’t watching where he was going. Even so, he didn’t trip, didn’t falter at all. “I don’t fucking care. I thought you were in that house. I thought you were dead, Red, and it nearly killed me.”
Tears filled my eyes again. I leaned my forehead down against his. “Same,” I whispered. “How did you get out?”
“I was searching for you, and it was too hot. I couldn’t get out and found the stairwell to the basement, but knew it would all collapse on me. Then I remembered the coal chute from when I fixed the fuse box.”
What he’d gone through. God, it had been close. Too close. “I love you, Rand Tucker.”
I felt the rumble of a growl from his chest.
“I love you, Natalie Shefield. Now and forever. Human love. Wolf love. Every fucking kind of love there is, I’m in it with you. You’re mine, and nothing’s going to change that.”
I let out a happy sob. “No, nothing will change it for me, either. I’m sorry it took me so long to figure it out.”
“Darlin’, I know these ladies are going to want to do their doctor-veterinarian shit to me when we get back, but can we please just sneak away to my place and skip all that?”
I groaned with a smile. I wanted that so much, for us to be together. Alone. But… “No. You’ve got burns all over. I would really feel better if they looked at you.”
He grumbled. “I’m fine. But whatever you want, Red. You’re the boss of me.”
I cleared my throat. “Except when I’m not,” I murmured, remembering how much I liked when he took charge.
Rand stopped walking for a moment. “Aw, darlin’. Now is not the time for me to get a hard on for you. I’m wearing a fucking sheet around my waist.”
I giggled. He was all right. Injured, but he’d heal. “Right. Later.”
“Later, yes. Later I am going to boss the hell out of you, and you are going to scream my name until you’re hoarse.”
“I already did that tonight,” I reminded him, sobering.
His eager expression slipped. “Scream in the good way,” he amended. “Don’t think about that again tonight. We can’t. Nathan Brown is lucky he’s spending the night in a jail cell, or I would rip him to shreds.”
“I don’t want to think about it, either,” I said, resting my head on his shoulder.
The warmth in my chest, having his arms around me, savoring the words of love we finally shared… the sense of rightness that flowed through me was undeniable. How could I have ever doubted that what we had was real?
27
RAND
I let Audrey look me over, flushing out some of the worst burns with water, but there wasn’t more she could do. I was fucking lucky my lungs were clear, and my skin was healing quickly. It still hurt. Fuck, did it sting, but I knew it was temporary. But Natalie was with me.
She loved me.
She was mine.
That would last forever.
Even though Audrey was a doctor who treated humans, she agreed the best thing for me was to shift to my wolf and stay that way until the worst of the damage had been repaired.
“I agree with the doc. Based on the way those blisters are healing—” Rob said, leaning against the kitchen island. “—a few hours in wolf form, and they’ll be mostly gone.”
I didn’t want to wait a few hours to make Natalie mine, but I wasn’t going to be able to claim her like this. The burns were all over my body, and there was no way I could fuck her now. I wanted to focus on her. Her silky soft skin. Her cries of pleasure. I still hurt, and she’d