Chapter 8

His kiss is soft, gentle, his tongue begging my mouth to open and give him access. And I do. It's the best kiss I have ever had in my life. Every part of my body is lit up with electricity. My body is not listening to my brain, my arms wrap around his neck, pulling him closer as I kiss him back. It's so intense, I can hardly breath. When we pull apart, he's smiling at me, searching my eyes for something. Dawson takes a step back,"see you in a few hours Ashlynn." He winks and walks out the door. I'm standing there, speechless, my hand touching my mouth in shock. I don't know what that was, but I want more.

Dawson

I'm standing in the arena, leading one of the colts around. I'm trying to get him to learn not to be spooked by random noises. This is how I start out with every horse, teach them not to get spooked. It's barely seven in the morning. Ashlynn hasn't come out of the clinic yet, but I see her through the glass. She must have realized the time, I see her glance at the clock and then at the door. Garrett should be coming in for his shift any minute. A few minutes later, Ashlynn walks out with her mother in tow. It's only the second time since they have arrived that I have actually seen her mother. Ashlynn looks like a younger version of her mother, only taller. Ashlynn clearly has more defined muscles, from years of riding horses.

I see them walk up the steps to Ashlynn's apartment. The curtains to the big picture window are opened. Ashlynn walks through the living room, I can see her lips moving, I'm pretty good at reading lips. She's telling her mom to go to bed and pointing at a door. I then see Ashlynn turn towards the other bedroom, clearly forgetting the curtains are open and it's daylight, she slips out of her shirt. I stop moving the horse around the arena, I think he's more confused by my lack of movement, as he snorts at me. That snaps me out of it and I turn back to business.

All I can think about is her. Her story has me thinking of the pain and heartbreak they have had to endure. A mate dying is a difficult thing to endure, although I have a feeling her mother isn't going to be missing him much. He sounds horrible. I just can't believe someone would do that to their mate and their child. I look up again at the window, but I can no longer see her and the bedroom door is shut. I can guess she has decided to get some shut eye before her ten o'clock with Cody. I can't blame her, it was a long night. A smile forms on my lips, thinking about that kiss. I knew I shouldn't have done it, but I couldn't help myself. I feel drawn to her. I feel the need to take away her heartache.

Cody ambles up, stopping in front of me. I didn't even hear him approach. "Hey man, didn't you hear me calling to you? You lost in space or something?" He asks me with a knowing grin on his face. He glances up to Ashlynn's window and back to me. Shit, I think he caught me acting like a damn peeping Tom.

"Oh hey, sorry. I was thinking about getting this colt ready, that's all," I lie. I know he knows I'm lying, but he says nothing, just keeps grinning at me like an idiot.

"Sure thing Dawson." He walks towards the gate now, motioning me to follow. "We need to talk about how we are going to handle breeding these horses. I'm meeting with Ashlynn later this morning. We have to get our schedule lined up. So let's figure this out," he nods towards the barn where both our offices are.

"Ok sure, let me put this colt away and I will be right there." I go to lead the colt back to the pasture, throwing over my shoulder, "and make coffee." It just hit me, I'm tired as hell. I didn't sleep much. When Ashlynn fell asleep in my lap, I didn't dare move. I just held her. I felt like she needed rest far more than I did. It actually gave me the chance to really study her. Honestly, I was kicking myself. I'm thinking that Alpha Gabe is probably going to kill me if I get involved with his niece, but I'm willing to risk it, now that I know what even a kiss does to me. She's intoxicating, and my wolf goes crazy in my head whenever I'm near her. He's never done that before, and I can't help to think what that means. I smile to myself as I make my way back to the barn. This woman is probably going to be the death of me.

Cody

I'm no idiot, and I pay attention to things around the ranch. My house faces the stable where Ashlynn's horses are. I saw her go in there around midnight. I also saw Dawson come down the steps from his loft last night, since it is on the same side of the stable as my front window. All the motion sensor lights make it hard for people to sneak around this place.

I was up before Dawn. The lights were still on in the clinic and I could clearly see Ashlynn still inside, same clothes as the day before. She looked exhausted and I was going to make it my mission to find out what's going. I saw her come out of the clinic just shy of seven this morning, with what I can only assume is her mother, as they look so much alike, although Ashlynn is taller. Her mother looks tired too, but not as tired as Ashlynn. They make their way up to Ashlynn's loft, and I see Dawson also watching them with careful eyes. He's got a stupid grin on his face. I figured he'd be interested in the new Veterinarian, who wouldn't be? If I were twenty years younger, I might be as well. I'm old enough to be her father though, so that isn't happening.

Once I see her mother, I'm kind of baffled. She's beautiful, albeit petite for a werewolf. I have to wonder where is her mate? What brought them here. Alpha didn't tell me much, said it was personal, that his sister needed a fresh start. That was all he was willing to give and I wasn't going to push him. I may be his Beta but if he said that was all he was telling, I wasn't inclined to piss him off.

I decide I need to pull Dawson out of his dead head space, he's not doing that colt any good staring off distracted. After I walk up to him in the arena, I've no doubt now what he is distracted by. In spite of it, we have work to do. We are about to go into one of the busiest times of the year for the ranch. I need his head in the game. So I make my way to my office and throw on a pot of coffee. I've three hours to figure this out before I meet with Ashlynn, and I will be sure to try and fish around hopefully without her being suspicious about my questions. I'd like to know more about why they came here, and how long they are planning to stay.