Desert Wolf (The Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch) by Anna Lowe Page A

again, and to in-laws, no less. He’d been fidgety ever since they left Arizona, scratching at his ear like he hadn’t done in a long time. She wondered if it hadn’t been a mistake, dragging him here. He would be out of his element, dealing with different customs, a different landscape. Even the shifters were different here: not only wolves but beaver, elk, and wolverines. There even used to be a clan of sasquatch shifters somewhere north of pack territory. New England was a whole different world.
    The first handshake between Nate Dixon and Ty Hawthorne had all the warmth and sincerity of two tree trunks forced into a huddle by hurricane-force winds. You could have heard a pin drop the moment she introduced Ty to her parents in front of their house. Not so much because of the feud between Ty’s father and Lana’s—though it seemed everyone knew that story by now, or at least some version of it—but because the first meeting of two alphas was always tense. Especially when the younger man wore the scent of the older alpha’s daughter like a provocative cologne. It didn’t help to have dozens of curious packmates around either, all of them taking stock of Ty like he was some strange new breed of stud bull. A wary silence had fallen over the males, though the sound coming from the younger females was more of a dreamy sigh.
    A stiff handshake, a few uncertain words, and the heavy silence in between. And that was just one of the trials Ty would have to endure. The second came right on the heels of the first.
    “Let the game begin!” her brother Lachlan announced with a mischievous grin.
    Lacrosse was her home pack’s sport of choice; they’d all grown up on a rough-and-tumble version of the game that suited the wolf side of their personalities. It quickly became obvious that her four brothers thought they could put the desert wolf in his place. Lana took up her position at right midfield, anxious about how the game might go. Men and sticks were a dangerous combination, and ultraterritorial alpha males could be downright lethal when they got riled up.
    And they were most definitely riled up.
    The first quarter hadn’t gone well for Ty, even with Lana running interference. He’d taken a stick to the ribs, an elbow to the jaw, and a knee to his kidneys. By the time their team was down zero to two, he was smoldering like a volcano and holding his stick like he wished it were a rifle loaded with silver bullets.
    By the second quarter, though, Ty had gotten the hang of things. His stickwork was a little sloppy, but he had an inborn talent for vicious body checks. Lana’s brother Lachlan had gone flying over the end line, and Neal had limped off the field at halftime, all but waving a white banner.
    “Get back here, sissy!” Len and Lachlan called after him.
    “No way, man. My mate likes me in one piece,” Neal replied.
    Lana shot a sidelong glance at Ty. His lips were still pulled into a snarl, but she could read the chuckle in his mind.
    I think I like this game.
    Told you you would
. She smiled.
Just remember they’re my brothers and packmates. Try not to maim anyone.
    I’ll try
, he grumbled without conviction.
    “Ty!” she said that part out loud.
    They’re shifters. He shrugged. They’ll heal.
    The game ended with Ty and Lana’s team on top, three to two, and everyone more or less in one piece. Rough as it was, the game turned out to be a good tension-breaker. Dinner at her aunt’s house went well after that, with the women keeping neutral conversation flowing while the men refrained—mostly—from staring daggers at each other. Lana’s mother Laura, though, had stared at Ty the whole time with a mixture of fear and wonder. He was the spitting image of his father—Laura’s ex-lover. She’d left him for true love and a better life on the East Coast. Knowing Ty’s father, Lana understood why her mother was so tense. Her father was too, with his stiff posture and blazing eyes. Getting her parents to