Read Desert Fate (The Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch Book 3) for Free Online

next best thing to running outside and gulping fresh air: looking into those baby blues.
    They can help. I can help.
    She concentrated there, watching the gold flicker like so many fireflies as she tried to regain her control. “Turn. Change. How?” she demanded.
    “The first bite turns,” Tina explained as calmly as if she were pouring tea at a ladies’ luncheon. “The second bite mates.”
    “Mates.” She parried the verb away, unwilling to accept it.
    “Wolves don’t marry. We mate. For life.”
    Okay, that part didn’t sound as twisted as the rest. Until Tina dropped the other shoe, that is.
    “Wolves don’t bite humans just to turn them. This Ron wanted you as his mate.”
    Stef pretended to keep her composure despite the ice sliding down her spine. “Well, too bad for him.”
    But Tina was shaking her head sadly. “Wolves don’t give up when it comes to mates.”
    She saw Ty’s eyes flick to Lana’s and fill with a fiery vow that promised death and destruction to anyone who tried to part them. Cody’s eyes were focused somewhere far out a window on the south side, while Tina seemed wistful.
    Kyle, on the other hand, looked straight at her with golden fireworks shooting around his eyes.
    She shook herself a little. Yes, she could believe in a special link between mates. Which was fine for two people who wanted each other—but she didn’t want anything to do with Ron.
    “I won’t go with him,” she said so loudly, it was nearly a shout.
    “It’s not that simple,” Cody said. “Technically, that bite puts you in his pack.”
    She gaped. “The North Ridge pack?”
    Tina nodded, looking grim. Clearly, they weren’t telling her everything about their Colorado brethren.
    “I won’t go.”
    “You belong to them,” Tina said.
    Kyle slid close enough that she could feel his body heat, but even that didn’t help.
    “I belong?” She was shouting now. What the hell was this? “I belong to no one. No pack.”
    Ty put up a hand, and everyone went still. “Listen, we’ll do what we can. But this is the way it is. His bite marked you as a member of his pack, and every wolf needs a pack.”
    Everyone in the room nodded except for her and Kyle. “I don’t need a pack! I don’t want a pack!”
    The outburst only earned her looks of sympathy or disbelief.
    “The need will start to pull you in after your first couple of changes,” Tina said. “Besides, a lone female wolf is an easy target. If you don’t belong to a pack, any male can claim you with a bite. That’s the second bite. Unclaimed females who belong to a pack are usually left alone, but lone wolves…” She trailed off, shaking her head.
    Stef paled, picturing Ron. What kind of crazy medieval world had she just stepped into? And where the hell was the way out?
    Ty and Cody were exchanging looks the way other people exchanged words, only no sound came out. Then Ty gave a curt nod and addressed everyone in the room—everyone but her. “Right now, we have to decide where to keep her.”
    “Keep me?” Her face went hot.
    “Safe,” Lana rushed to add, shooting Ty another look.
    “Keep you safe,” Kyle echoed, his eyes shining.
    She’d never feel safe among these people—these wolves. Her throat tightened as her hands twisted the fabric of her shirt.
    “Why don’t you show Stefanie around, Kyle?” Cody said, his voice like bottled calm, uncorked just for this occasion. “We can meet again after lunch.”
    She race-walked to the door and shot out into daylight with Kyle half a step behind and let the sun fill her with the warmth that had seeped away with every terrifying word. Words like shifter, werewolf, and mate. She paced away from the building, away from the central square, seeking the open desert and some sense of calm.
    Kyle stayed with her, silent and steady as a faithful dog, letting her determine the way. She found a dirt track and made for the top of a ridge where she sucked in the views and told herself not to