Rebel Wolf (Wilde Brothers Ranch #5) - Scarlett Grove

1

Cassidy McCoy's stomach dropped as the plane landed and taxied toward the gate. She turned on her cell phone and cringed when the first text to come up was from her older brother demanding to know when she’d be home. He knew when her plane was landing. She'd told him a million times.

The idea of coming back to Fate Rock to stay was not something she had ever imagined, and just thinking about it made her want to cry.

She grabbed her carry-on bag and followed the rest of the passengers through business class and first class then off the plane. Out on the concourse, people hurried this way and that for their flights out of the Denver International Airport. Cassidy had avoided coming back to Colorado for years. Even during holidays, she'd stayed with her fashion-institute friends in New York. Now she feared she would never get the chance to go back. It had all fallen apart.

She tried to keep a positive attitude as she hurried toward baggage claim. She stood with the crowd, waiting for her bags to find their way down the carousel. When she spotted her big pink-and-gold luggage set, she let out a sigh of relief and grabbed them.

She rented a baggage cart and hurried outside. Her brothers and father kept bugging her about when she would be returning, but no one had offered to pick her up from the airport.

She took a bus to the Greyhound station, where she bought her ticket and waited to board. It was a three-hour ride back to Fate Rock, and it would give her plenty of time to think about the state of her life.

When it was time for her bus to board, she wheeled her bags out to the baggage check and stood in line. When the bus pulled out of the station, it was already late in the evening. They would be driving through the night toward their destination. She pushed her earbuds in her ears and turned on some music, snuggling up to her backpack, which she used as a pillow propped against the window. She wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes, trying to come to terms with what had happened.

Cassidy had won an incredible scholarship her senior year of high school and had gotten into the top fashion design school in the country. She'd graduated with honors and had wanted to go on to get an advanced degree, but the money wasn't there.

She could have taken out loans, but with only internships for job offers, she couldn't even continue to pay for the room she shared with other students in the cramped Brooklyn apartment.

She was already commuting on the subway for two hours a day, and even if she worked eighty hours a week at a minimum-wage job, she just couldn't afford to live in the city.

She'd considered her options for months after graduating but finally realized that the only smart thing to do would be to return home to Fate Rock, lick her wounds, and reassess her life. Her family had been more than willing to take her in. But Cassidy feared that once she got home, they would never let her leave again.

The McCoys were an old shifter ranching family that had lived in Fate Rock for generations. Most shifters preferred to stay close to nature and away from the hustle and bustle of busy urban environments.

Cassidy had struggled with her inner mountain lion the entire time she'd lived in New York. The only reprieve she'd had was spending time in Central Park or when she and some friends went camping upstate.

The last four years had been a struggle with her inner beast, but going home would be a struggle for her human mind. It wasn't that she didn't love the ranch or her hometown or her family. But there were things about their life that she simply didn't agree with.

The McCoys had been in a generations-long feud with their neighbors the Wildes, and at this point, no one even remembered why. Her older brothers were constantly in some tussle with the Wilde brothers.

When she was in her early teens, Cassidy had vowed that she would get away from the silliness of the feud and make a new life for herself.

The bus stopped at a rest stop halfway between Denver and Fate Rock. She climbed off the bus, used the restroom, and went into the little snack shop off the gas station. She grabbed some snacks and a bottle of water