So much green. So many trees. Kate Quade couldn’t help but feel excited to be in Somewhere. Not that she was staying. Her sights were set on joining the Trewitt pack as a new hire. She’d been told Oklahoma was flatter. Fewer trees. More grass and dirt. Still, it would be better than going back to El Paso. Going back is not an option. It wasn’t the arid landscape she was trying to escape. Hell, she’d move to Alaska if that’s what it took to get her ass safely away from El Paso. She could do snow. She had fur. When she was a wolf.

Kate punched the call button beside the large iron gate leading to the VonBrandt ranch and settled her truck into park.

“Name?” The gruff male voice on the other end of the speaker sounded like he’d woken up on the wrong side of the dog bed this morning.

“Hi, this is Kate Quade,” she said, her voice bright and excited. She couldn’t help it. She’d landed an interview with the Trewitt alpha via the Shifter Wanted ads. They were hiring a ranch manager and she was just the girl they needed. This would change her life.

“You’re not on the list,” the deep male voice grumped back.

“I’m a Quade. Isn’t that good enough?” Kate asked, trying to put a little extra flirt in her voice. “We’re all coming for the summit, I’m just a bit early.”

“I really don’t have time to argue. Come back later. Your alpha was given a code.”

Kate’s face heated. She climbed out of the car to face the speaker. “Now you look here, mister,” she said, shaking a finger at the black box. “I was supposed to meet Bracken Trewitt ten minutes ago. So I’m going to need you to open this gate, or I’ll find another way in, do you get me?”

At least she’d already texted Bracken to let him know she’d be late.

“Hold your horses, woman. I’ll be there in five minutes.” The gruff voice was more than annoyed, but at least he wasn’t telling her to get lost. Unless he was? Did he plan to come out to the gate and chase her off?

Kate tapped her booted foot on the ground and stared through the bars of the VonBrandt gate. The house wasn’t visible. Nothing was. Not even a barn. Just a winding, gravely, red-dirt road. Tall pines and an open pasture filled with some rodeo horses impressive enough to satisfy even her grandfather’s elite tastes. Strong and sleek. Muscles that went on for days. Gorgeous coats too. She’d always had a thing for pretty horses. Her grandfather said it was what lay beneath the coat that mattered. Which was definitely true. In more ways than one. But she’d always be a sucker for a pretty horse over one with a dozen blue ribbons.

She pulled her phone from her back pocket and dialed Bracken’s number. At least she could tell him she was here, trying to get in. The phone rang and rang and rang, before finally going to voicemail. She didn’t bother to leave a message. Something as dumb as a gate was not going to keep her from getting to that interview. Kate shoved the phone into the back pocket of her jeans.

The growl of a truck motor caught her ear and she glanced up to see a big black pickup coming toward the gate. She crossed her arms and waited. The big man who climbed out had a frown on his tanned face, and irritation flashed in his blue eyes. “Why can’t you people just follow the instructions? You’re supposed to come with your family.”

“Like I said, I have a meeting with the Trewitt alpha before the summit starts.”

“Why’s a little bit like you got business with the Trewitt alpha?”

“It’s horse business. Look, I know you’re just doing your job, but I promise I won’t cause any trouble. I would hate to keep an alpha waiting. I told him I would be there.” She forced a smile onto her face. If there was one thing Kate could do, it was charm cantankerous men—it was one benefit from being constantly surrounded by them. Whatever it took, she had to have this meeting finished before the rest of her family arrived.

He sighed and shook his head.

“You don’t like to keep your alpha waiting, either, do you?” she said, sweetly.

“No.”

“There. I knew you were a good guy. You don’t like to disappoint your alpha.”

He blew out a long breath from the other side of the bars, looking her over and down and up.

“I’ll leave after the interview if you’d like,” she offered, making her eyes widen. “I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

“Fine. I need to see your ID, then you’re free to go in.”

“Oh, thank you.” Kate opened the door of her truck and pulled her wallet from the console. “Here,” she said, jabbing her driver’s license through the bars and into his hand.

Her phone howled from her back pocket—literally—and the cowboy enforcer raised an amused eyebrow. He took the license, snapped a picture with his cell and handed it back to her. She glanced at the screen of her phone as she stowed the license. Helena.

Her cousin would be calling with a status update. Kate could only hope they weren’t anywhere near Somewhere, Texas. Kate threw her phone and wallet back into the console. She needed to get through the interview before she talked to anyone in her pack.

The man punched a code into the black box on his side of the gate and the big iron barrier began to slide open. “Well, come in, then. The first car of Trewitts already arrived.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m pretty sure you already know my name, since you just wrote it down, but I’d like to introduce myself, anyway. You can call me Kate.”

The big wolf shifter shrugged and turned back to his truck. “Well, I have my alpha’s orders and I follow them. See you later, Kate Quade.”

Kate cringed at his first few words. Her grandfather—also her alpha—had given her orders and she was doing everything in her power to avoid following them. Some alphas were better than others, though. They had to be, right? They couldn’t all be as chauvinistic and heartless as her grandfather.

Once the VonBrandt dude had driven off, she climbed back into her truck and followed him down the gravel road. Her mouth dropped just a bit when the VonBrandt place finally came into view. Massive, sprawling redbrick home. Huge barn. Corrals with horses everywhere, framed by evergreen pines in the distance. If Oklahoma didn’t work out, maybe she could get a job here. She was flexible.

She pulled in next to a black truck—probably the one belonging to the dude at the gate—and made a beeline for the front door, ignoring the people crisscrossing her path. Apparently she wasn’t the only one who’d shown up to the summit early.

Kate paused in front of the massive oak door. Knock? Or just walk in? The VonBrandts were expecting dozens of wolves from all over. Surely they didn’t expect to open the front door for every single one of them. Plus, she didn’t really want any more attention drawn to her interview than absolutely necessary. She put a hand on the long handle and depressed the lever at the top. The door heaved and pushed inward without a sound.

She poked her head inside and then entered the large wood-paneled foyer, closing the door softly behind her. Hardwood floors. Polished paneling on the walls. Paintings bigger than a person—at least, a person of her size. Someone liked landscapes and was partial to the color blue. The paintings on her left and right were both of large fields of bluebonnets. The one straight ahead of her at the end of the foyer was of a gorgeous willow tree beside a blue lake.

Walking forward, she peered down one hallway and then another. Voices echoed from her right and the scent of dinner cooking wasn’t far behind. Probably not the way to the library. She turned to the left instead and wandered a few steps, checking each door as she passed.

Something prickled her skin—magick—pulling her toward the next door. She opened it and stepped inside. Books lined every wall from floor to ceiling. Jackpot. Two couches faced each other, a massive glass-topped coffee table between them. A desk sat in one corner and a man stood staring out one of the large picture windows on the outside wall.

He had a nice ass wrapped in tight Wranglers. And his upper body was clad in a customary Chaps button-up shirt. The white and blue and green plaid complemented his tanned features. He didn’t have on a Stetson at the moment, but she’d wager the big white one on the couch cushion was his. Plus, his dark hair had the telltale crease of a hat-wearing cowboy.

She knew two things in an instant: this was not Bracken and whoever he was, he was her Fated mate.

He turned to face her and she smiled. She did recognize him, after all. “Ryan Travis. I knew I recognized those bulldogger bowlegs,” she said, throwing him a flirtatious smile. Leave it to Fate to match her up with someone from the very pack she’d hoped to join anyway. She said a silent thank you and sidled forward, pulled by attraction and Fate herself. The pull of a Fated mate wasn’t something to be ignored, especially when the compass pointed straight at a sexy cowboy from a pack that was a full two days’ drive from El Paso. She’d always dreamed of finding a Fated mate. Someone who would love and cherish her, but being a girl in the Quade pack didn’t lend itself to dreams come true. Quades were married off to create rodeo bloodlines. Period. End of story.

She glanced up at the handsome cowboy again. She’d never officially met Ryan before, but she’d seen him on the big screen at more than one rodeo. The man was nearly a legend in his event. Then something must have happened, no one knew what, because he’d abruptly stopped competing. It was a bit of a mystery, really.

Holding out her hand, she approached with a wide smile. “I’m Kate Quade. It’s so nice to meet you. You probably know all my cousins. I’m pretty sure I’ve got at least one in every event at every rodeo.” Instead of taking her hand and giving it a customary shake, he just stared at her like she’d grown a third eye. “If I’ve got something in my teeth, you’d tell me right? You seem like a nice guy.”

Kate flashed another grin and stepped a little closer. Surely he felt the magick thrumming between them. He’d have to be stone cold drunk not to. And she didn’t smell any liquor on his breath.

She kept talking, hoping to get a response. Anything would do. “I’d hate to walk around all afternoon like that. Plus, now that I’ve found you—”

“Save the act.” His jaw tightened. “This isn’t a rodeo. I’m not a bulldogger anymore, and you can hold all the sweet talk, buckle bunny. I’m not here to have my dick sucked.”

Ouch. All of Kate’s instincts told her to laugh at his pathetic attempt to deny their mate pull. As if he could wrestle his way out of it. But she enjoyed verbal sparring too much to end it by flat out laughing at him. So she smiled and dropped her voice into a register that left no doubt she felt the connection, too. “Why, I’m happy to leave you alone with your dick, honey. I’m not hungry right now, anyhow. If you’ll just point me in the direction of Bracken Trewitt? He asked me to meet him in the library at five for an interview.”

“You’re the interview for the ranch manager?” Ryan’s blue eyes darkened.

She smiled. “Why, yes, I am.”

He growled and crossed his arms over his broad chest.

Even angry, the man was sex on a stick and she had a quick daydream that included her licking an awful lot of him. He needed to unwind in a bad way, and for a man, there was nothing better for that than a blow job. From her, of course.

A growl from his chest had her wolf perking up possessively. Mine.

Kate quirked an eyebrow and tilted her head to look up at Ryan. “Ooh, are you impersonating the big bad wolf? I’ll tell you what, big guy, this buckle bunny is a bit more useful than your average rabbit.” She was miffed about the insult and blow off, but this man was her mate and there wasn’t a single person on the entire planet she couldn’t eventually charm. Even grumpy-mcgrumper-pants standing in front of her with his mouth hanging wide open. Score.

Now she just had to get that job.