Page 51 of Taken by Moonlight
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The silencein the limo felt deafening as I struggled to climb out of a sluggishnap.
Silence that was broken only the hum of tires against roadway, and the faint clicking of a keyboard. I opened one eye, saw Dante sitting kitty-corner to me, working on a steel gray laptop. It looked more expensive than the refurbished computer I’d bought second-hand.
Eyeing me, he closed the lid, set the computer into a side pocket by his seat. I had the feeling this was his mobile office, where he’d made million dollar deals and commanded his pack. There was much I didn’t know about Dante, or hispeople.
He regarded me with that dark, smoldering gaze of his. I’d seen his eyes turn to ice when I’d climbed inside this mobile wolf mobile. Not that I wanted to invite that kind of look again. I’d rather see him hot and hungry instead of cold andangry.
But his gaze turned mild. He bent over the mini bar, selected a cocktail glass. “Would you care for a drink? Whiskey?Champagne?”
I shook my head. Champagne or any kind of spirits wasn’t a good idea. I needed to stay sharp. The nap had not been refreshing. Instead it left me groggy and out ofsorts.
After being targeted by the Browns, I couldn’t afford to let my guard down. Not even around the three shifters who protected me. After all, they were wolvestoo.
“We have soda, tea and water aswell.”
“Water, please. Noice.”
Opening a small fridge, he selected a bottle of cold water. I thanked him and drankdeeply.
Tangling with a mad werewolf tended to make a girlthirsty.
I searched for a safe conversational topic. Home wouldsuffice.
“How long has the ranch been in yourfamily?”
Reflected in the limo’s dim light, his eyes glowed green, like an animal’s does when you shine a light into them at night. Another reminder that I did not ride in a fancy limousine with a billionaire, but a billionaire wolfshifter.
“My grandfather purchased the land years ago and put a small cabin there. The ranch came along later, when my father inherited. I merely added toit.”
I’d seen pictures of Dante’s ranch Gabriel had shown me one time when we talked about the monthly cage fighting nearCheyenne.
The main lodge was fashioned in a T shape, hewn from wood, with a balcony on the second floor. It overlooked a green pasture where horses grazed. Pine and oak trees flanked the lodge, giving it the feeling of being in the forest. That area of Wyoming wasn’t wide open grasslands like the areas north of Cheyenne. A river dissected the property, and provided plenty of irrigation and drinking water for thepack.
“And yet, unlike other shifter properties, you’ve never allowed humans to stay overnight.” I wondered about this. Did Dante and his pack disdain human company, associating with them only asnecessary?
“Untilnow.”
That news made me uneasy. Too many firsts tonight, but being the first human on his ranch was more dangerous than what had transpired back in theclub.
“Why? Don’t you likehumans?”
Dante leaned back, rubbed a hand across his lower face. Dark bristles shadowed his chiseled jawline. The beard hadn’t been there previously. Guess the fight with the Brown brothers triggered it. I’d seen similar beard bristle on shifters after they got aggressive and their testosterone shotup.
“I believe skins are fine,” he said, referring to humans with the term shifters used. “However, the rest of my family has held certain prejudices about them over the years. Grandfather handed down the property and holdings with the strict clause in his will that only creatures with four legs could be on ourland.”
“None? Not cowboys or repair people or evenvisitors?”
A brief smile touched his face. “My father amended the rule when he inherited. He allowed in skins on horses, so technically there were only creatures on four legs. I changed it further when we had trouble finding skilled workers to maintain the grounds. Ordinary skins are allowed as visitors, but they cannot stay more than eighthours.”
“Except forme.”
He reached over, placed a hand on my knee. “You’re psi, Peyton. Not an ordinaryskin.”
But a skin, nonetheless, with flesh that could be torn and ripped. “Do you have that rule because you’re wolves and can beviolent?”
Impossible for him to lie about this, for I witnessed firsthand the viciousness of the Browns, and Dante and Gabriel’s equally ferocious defense. Dante’s expression grewsolemn.
