1
“Okay, guys. And girl. You’ve been training for this your entire lives. Today is the day that changes everything.”
“Heehaw,” the leading member of his team said.
Asher sighed and scratched between her eyes. “Or just do exactly what I trained you to do because you’re an ass.”
The donkey bobbed her head up and down as if she agreed with him, but Asher knew she was trying to readjust her mane.
He took a deep breath and surveyed his little herd. He’d started with horses, but then his wolf ate one of them, and he decided to switch to a cheaper animal. The only condition his alpha had for letting him flee the pack was that he had to pick a few animals to care for. A werewolf alone did not do well.
He knew that better than anyone.
He turned his attention inward to the wild beast and grabbed the paperclip on the bit of braided leather around his neck, an old reminder of his humanity.
Unlike his alpha had hoped, the beast had never taken to the animals Asher tried to raise. Even now, his wolf was looking at the four donkeys in front of him with a low level of hunger.
Never mind.
He turned his attention away, gripping until the paperclip dented his skin. The only reason he hadn’t eaten the entire herd was that the beast felt a small measure of respect for the hearty, stubborn creatures.
The West Virginia Scott Stables were famous for fabulous rodeo workers and racers in the quarter horse world. They were gorgeous thoroughbreds. His new Scott Stables comprised two piebald burros of indifferent line, a jack and a jenny, plus one neutered jack with black and brown markings, and one black mini donkey. It was the only creature in the world his wolf liked because the miniature ass wanted to do as much damage as his wolf did.
The mini one was technically a mistake. He’d thought it was a baby donkey when he’d bought it, only to panic when it didn’t get any bigger. He looked it up and realized there were two versions of donkeys. Well, there were a lot more than two, but mostly you couldn’t tell the difference.
As if it knew Asher was thinking about it, the mini started banging and ramming the horse trailer until Asher growled. It subsided with a murderous look in its eye that promised future retribution. From long experience, Asher knew they’d reached detente for another fifteen minutes.
“How do you get yours to do that?” a voice asked, and Asher spun, hauling on the reins so his wolf didn’t attack what turned out to be a young girl.
He was not good at guessing children’s ages. He was not good at children, but she couldn’t have been out of elementary school. She had light hair in a low ponytail and was wearing a long beige dress that reached the cuffs of battered leather boots. It was made of rough-spun wool. In the high summer heat, he could smell the sheep it came from. She looked like something out of a previous century.
Did this crazy race also involve cosplaying as pioneers or something?
“Well?” she demanded.
He glanced into improbably blue eyes and shook his head. “Um, what?”
“How do you get him to come out without shifting?”
His heart froze. His lungs froze. His brain froze. Even the wolf froze.
“How do you… I mean, what are you talking about?” he finally said after a full minute had gone by.
“Your wolf! He can come out without you changing!”
Asher’s heart restarted at double speed. She’d heard his wolf. She knew about wolves. There was a pack in Leadville. Dear god, how stupid could he get?
He’d tracked the covens and packs in his area to avoid both. There was a gaggle of witches in Silver Spring, but they hadn’t tried to protect their land with wards, so he wasn’t sure how much territory they could claim. He had smelled no wolves nearby, probably because of said witches. Like an idiotic amateur wolf, he hadn’t thought to check the next big town over. Of course, there were wolves in Colorado. This was their natural habitat.
“I mean you no harm,” Asher said quietly as he scanned for the rest of her pack.
The girl just cocked her head.
“I’m not here to challenge. I can go,” he insisted.
Her head nearly hit her opposite shoulder, the look of confusion deepening on her face.
“Brigit!” a rough voice shouted, and the girl whipped around.
