Desert Moon (The Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

to edge away from her fleshy breasts. The bleached blonde turned to give Lana a predatory smile. “Aren’t you going to introduce us, Ty?”
    He cast a desperate eye around the dining hall. Where was Cody when he needed him? “Audrey, meet Lana,” he murmured, searching for a way out.
    “Hmpf,” Audrey said by way of greeting. “You’ll get fat eating all that pie.”
    He could tell a retort was trying to itch its way out of Lana, but she swallowed it along with another bite of the pie. He needed to brush Audrey off, pronto. What if Lana thought he actually went for Audrey’s type? He shot a mental command across the room. Cody, get your ass back here now!
    “Staying long?” Audrey asked of Lana. His ears leaped to attention.
    “Just a few days.”
    Why the rush?
    “Will we see you later?” Audrey asked. “It’s movie night, you know.” She nestled closer and gave him a bedroom look, like she couldn’t wait for the lights to go down. “You’re coming, aren’t you, Ty?”
    He shook his head. “Work.” Thank God.
    “We have our own little theater, you know,” Audrey boasted to Lana. “The boys converted the old barn.”
    “Nice.” Lana nodded. “But I prefer open space.”
    His wolf perked up his ears, liking what he heard.
    “So you won’t be coming?” Audrey didn’t sound disappointed. “Too bad. You could stuff your face with all the popcorn you like.”
    Lana sidestepped the jab. “I need to run.”
    God, I could use a run, too.
    “Are you sure that’s safe?” Audrey asked, looking hopeful that it wasn’t. “Just keep to the property.”
    Lana nodded, venturing the slightest smile. Ty itched to reach out and coax the rest out of her, but his fists stayed clenched by his sides.
    “Audrey!” Cody appeared, flashing a Broadway grin. The cavalry had finally arrived. “How’s my girl?” he said, stooping to give Audrey a peck on the cheek.
    She gave him a halfhearted kiss. “One of your girls, you mean.”
    “Life is short, sweetheart.” With a wink that could have been aimed at Ty, Lana, or Hollywood, Cody danced Audrey away, murmuring about back row seats in the theater.
    They slipped out of the periphery of his vision and immediately ceased to exist, at least as far as he was concerned. The room began to hum and throb, and his vision narrowed to a tunnel that pushed out everything but Lana. Her eyes pulled him in and made his heart thump low and hard. Or was that her heart? They were only inches apart now. The air shimmered around them like noontime heat over the desert. When she leaned closer, his wolf whined. What he wouldn’t give to circle her now, rub along her side—
    “Ty!” A cacophony of voices and clinking tableware suddenly filled his ears. Kyle was approaching him, and the room was pulling back into focus. “Ty, about the patrols…”
    In his haze, he felt Lana press the dessert plate into his hands and slip away. He reached for her too late, his hand clutching air, then balling into a fist. His body ached with every step she took, and he willed her eyes to touch him one more time. He wished for it the way he’d once yearned for the freedom to be his own person, to choose his own destiny.
    Destiny, however, had just turned its back and was walking away.
    Just as he was about to give up hope and tune in to Kyle, though, Lana turned and pinned him with a steady gaze.
    A shot of warmth flooded through him and without thinking, he put the fork into his mouth, licking past the key lime pie to the last hint of Lana. She turned away then, and he spent the next half hour buzzing from the high.
    She’d felt the pull, too. Which could only mean one thing.
    Trouble. Pure trouble.

 
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER FIVE
     
     
    The desert was dark and inviting, the perfect night to run. Lana stripped, then shifted just outside the guest house, needing the run badly. Anything to escape the feeling that heartbreak lurked behind every corner.
    Little bits of cottonwood fluff