Laurie's Wolves (35 page)

Lucky for Mary, she’d had more brains. She’d managed to get a college degree—or two—and got the hell out of Nowhere, Oklahoma. Unlucky for Mary—as far as Amanda saw it—she had left town only to go to Nowhere, Montana.

Why? Was she crazy? She said she like the small-town atmosphere, but she wanted to start fresh somewhere. And she’d chosen a place far enough from home that it kept their parents from visiting.

Molly and Ben Williams were not exactly the type for road trips. They lived a simple life in Oklahoma. As far as Amanda knew, they’d never left the state.

They spent the last twenty-five years making Amanda’s life a living hell also. All her mother cared about was the church she belonged to and making sure her daughters got a clean ticket to heaven.

Mary had suggested that Amanda come live with her over nine months ago.

Amanda had balked for every single one of those months, insisting she needed to finish the next semester of school and then deciding to complete her degree in summer school. A degree in anthropology she doubted she would ever use. It had taken her seven years to finish it, and she had no idea what she would do with it now that she had the diploma in her hands.

She’d run out of excuses. And frankly, her mother was driving her fucking bonkers with all her rules.

Nice girls don’t _____
. She could fill in that blank with any of about a dozen things without flinching, she’d heard it so many times.

One of the things nice girls didn’t do was move out of their parents’ home before marriage, which was why Amanda still lived under her father’s roof.

It seemed, however, that nice girls could move out to live with their sister. If only that move didn’t seem quite so lateral. Her biggest worry was that she was jumping out of one frying pan into another. There was always the possibility life with Mary would be every bit as stifling as life with her parents.

The town Mary lived in, Cambridge, Montana, didn’t seem to offer much more than the one Amanda was leaving.

It did have a ski resort, though. And she found the idea of learning to ski intriguing. She’d never even seen skis.

What she dreaded most was finding Mary to be as controlling and restrictive as Molly and Ben. Lately, though, she couldn’t imagine the evil being any worse. And she was finally willing to trade residences in hopes that the trade would prove to be up and not down.

Mary sounded excited enough. Amanda hadn’t seen her in over a year—not since Mary moved out of the family home to open her own daycare in Montana. At first, Amanda had been pissed at Mary for abandoning her. But soon she’d switched from angry to jealous. If Mary was having even an ounce of fun out on her own, it would be worth it.

Amanda decided to needle her sister a bit. “Any cute guys in that town?”

Mary hesitated. “Is that all you care about?”

“Yep.” She flopped down on her bed in her childhood room and stared at the ceiling. She was restless, like a caged tiger. She needed to get out of this house, this town, and this state, and live a little.

“Well, I’m sure there are. But they don’t work at my daycare, so I can’t say I’ve a chance to meet any of them.”

“So, you aren’t dating?”

There was another pause.

“Mary?” Did her sister have a secret? Amanda smiled. Oh yes. This was going to be great. If Mary had a boyfriend, the world would be a perfect place. No way would she hound Amanda about her extracurricular activities if she had her own.

“No. I’m too busy.”

“Uh-huh.” Amanda wasn’t buying it. Something was up with Mary. She knew it. And for the first time, she actually felt good about her decision to leave Oklahoma in hopes of greener pastures. She sat up and looked around her childhood room. She didn’t have much to pack really. Her clothes and a few trinkets. She could do that by noon. “On second thought, I think I’ll get there Friday.” She pushed off the bed and tugged her suitcase out from underneath.

“Really?”

“Why not? Tossing my stuff in boxes now. I’ll leave in the morning.” Tomorrow was Thursday. Ten hours each day and she’d be there.

“Are Mom and Dad okay with you driving by yourself this far?”

“They let you do it last year. I’m not really giving them an option. It’s not like I would want Mom to come with me. Gah. And Dad? Are you crazy? Besides, then they’d have to fly back. And you know that isn’t going to happen.”

“True. I’m sure you’ll be fine. Call along the way if you need me.”

“Will do.” Amanda ended the call and hustled around the room, stuffing her worldly belongings in her suitcase and then heading out to the garage to find a few boxes.

“Yep. Tomorrow. Excellent day to finally fly the coop. Why on Earth had she been dragging her feet for so long?”

»»•««

Sawyer Hamilton glanced at his GPS and took a deep breath. He hardly needed the device to get himself from Spokane, Washington, to Cambridge, Montana. He could probably make the drive blindfolded. But he liked the idea of knowing exactly what his arrival time would be as he cruised along.

He had his truck bed filled with everything he cared about. He’d only been in Spokane for five months. In that time he’d worked several odd construction jobs while training with the Bureau of Land Management to become a wildland firefighter. He was now a trained hotshot, but there were no openings in Spokane for someone with his skills. Sticking around waiting for a job to become available was growing old. And so was Sawyer. He was twenty-eight. Not getting any younger while he put off the inevitable.

Hanging out with his younger brother, Cooper, was also growing old. The man was a seismologist. At twenty-four, he worked long hours and made good money. He also made Sawyer feel like a freeloader lately.

Sawyer had fled their tiny hometown in Montana with Cooper to avoid their sister, Laurie. She was twenty-six now with a new baby and two mates. And she was pissed at him for not visiting the wailing little tyke he could hear on the phone every time he called.

Truth be told, Sawyer had avoided Cambridge, Montana, like the plague. As a wolf shifter, he knew Fate was drawing him toward the city. No matter how often he denied it, it was inevitable. In fact, it was undoubtedly the reason he’d been unable to find steady work in Spokane. Fate. She had her ways.

But Sawyer was stubborn. He wasn’t in the mood to find a mate and settle down.

And more importantly, he wasn’t in the mood to shack up with two mates. There was about a fifty-fifty chance of that happening, the way he saw it.

Coming from a family of wolf shifters with five total siblings, he knew the odds. Three of his siblings—Miles, Melinda, and Laurie—were all mated to someone from another family of five kids—the Masters. And that would probably be okay too, if it weren’t for the fact they were also mated to another person.

The Masters family had something weird in their line. All of the males on two sides of the family had mated with another male and a woman.

Sawyer shuddered for the thousandth time as he put the car in gear and backed out of the driveway. He could sit in front of the condo he shared with Cooper all day, but it wouldn’t change anything.

The only remaining question, as far as he could tell, was whether he would be fated to mate with the remaining Masters son and a random woman or—if he was lucky—the only Masters daughter, who would undoubtedly mate with just one man. The weird threesome gene apparently only extended to the men in the family.

Sawyer had never met either Sharon or Logan. He’d intentionally left the Cambridge/Sojourn area the second his third sibling mated a Masters. That had been too eerie. He wasn’t ready to face that destiny. The only way to avoid whatever Fate had in mind for him was to flee the state, so he had.

Cooper had run just as fast and hard. And he’d since made a name for himself in Spokane. Lucky bastard.

Sawyer pulled out onto the highway, gripping the steering wheel so tight, his fingers hurt.

His cell rang, and he hit the hands-free button on the steering wheel to take the call. “Hello.”

“Sawyer. You on your way?” Laurie’s voice was too cheery.

He narrowed his gaze. “Yes. Should I turn around and go back to my regularly scheduled life instead?”

“Nope. You’re meant to be right here.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

“You’ll love it here. They have hiking in the summer and skiing in the winter.”

“What makes you think I’m planning on staying?” He had only consented to a visit as far as Laurie knew. He grinned to himself as he pictured her reaction when he told her he was moving there for good.

“You will. I know you will.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve had some sort of premonition about it,” he teased.

Laurie was sensitive. She had feelings about things. And ever since she’d moved to the Native American reservation and reunited with the estranged half of their family, her powers had manifested in full swing.

No. That wasn’t exactly true. In reality, he realized it was Laurie, himself, and Cooper, along with their parents, who comprised the estranged side of the family. His mother, Joyce Hamilton, and her mate, Gene, were banished from tribal land twenty-eight years ago when his mother found herself mated to the Caucasian shifter and pregnant with Sawyer. She’d had to leave her three-year-old twins, Miles and Melinda with their grandmother and flee her land. For nearly three decades they waited for the old generation of tribal elders to die off so they could return to their homeland.

He shook the melancholy away. What’s done was done. It was time to move forward. His parents had moved back to the reservation, and it was time for Sawyer to join the family. The last remaining holdout was Cooper. And Sawyer knew it was only a matter of time before he followed also.

In any case, Sawyer had heard all the stories about Laurie’s bizarre experiences with Native American spirits. He knew better than to question her intuition.

“No. I haven’t had some sort of premonition, smart ass. Just being realistic. I promise you’ll love it here.”

He decided to keep up the banter. “As long as they have fires, I’ll be set. The only reason I have agreed to this crazy, hair-brained idea is because I can’t find work in Spokane.” What he didn’t tell her was that he’d already secured a job in Cambridge just north of where Laurie was living with her mates. He was keeping that as a surprise, especially because he knew she would go crazy with excitement as soon as she found out.

“So, you might stay?” She sounded so elated he almost chuckled. “I’m sure the local fire department will have openings. Shall I call them and ask?” She didn’t even know he’d been training to be a wildland firefighter.

“No. I’ll handle it when I get there.” He couldn’t help smiling. Laurie was nothing if not pushy. Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad after all. If he could somehow manage to get his feet under him and start working before he was forced to meet either of the leftover Masters kids, he’d be happy as a clam.

He ran a hand through his short-cropped hair and resumed his grip on the steering wheel. “What’s for dinner?”

“You crazy? I have a newborn baby here. I’m lucky if there’s even orange juice in the house. We’ll order pizza, or I’ll send Zach or Corbin out to get something.”

Sawyer chuckled. “If you even think of inviting anyone to join us, I will personally kill you. Could you please please, please let Nature take its proper course? Can’t I simply run into these Masters people on my own without your meddling help?”

“Of course. What kind of sister do you think I am?” Her voice was too cheery.

“Laurie…”

“I’ll be good. I promise. Just get yourself here and meet your niece. Fate will handle the rest.”

That’s what he was afraid of.