Page 1 of Lost Mate

Chapter One

Orange and pink streaks crisscrossed the deepening blue sky over Sapphire Ranch. Duncan Ross —no one called him Duncan and lived to tell the tale except his mother—paused for a moment to enjoy the sunset before he rejoined the pack inside the ranch house. Inside, there would be loved-up gay couples, shifters and humans, and ongoing discussions about the human hunters trying to kill them. Sometimes a single man just had to appreciate the quiet of the evening, the endless sky, and the critters settling down for the night before walking into a world that had turned his life upside down. Except Ross wasn’t truly a part of this strange world…yet. He was still waiting.

He opened the kitchen door, expecting a wall of sound. Instead, he was greeted by tension he could cut with a knife. What had happened now? Was more trouble heading their way? Ross hoped the hell not. The local hunters were dead or in jail and they weren’t expecting trouble from outsiders yet. His pack was exhausted and needed time to decompress from the past few months.

Into the silence, he said, “The horses are all settled, but we’re low on feed for the cows. I’ll get supplies tomorrow.”

Then he realized all eyes were on a slim, lithe man with light brown hair tied back in a ponytail by the door. Ross glanced at him curiously to discover the stranger gazing at him, his face going ashen, as he made a choking noise. What was wrong with this guy? He was a shifter. Ross was sure of that, but he hadn’t met him before. “Oh hey, sorry, I didn’t know we had a visitor.”

“Oh, shit,” Eli, his boss and the leader of the Cavalry security firm, said. “Not another one.” He knocked his head against the large kitchen table.

Then the guy turned Ross’s world upside down. “I came to find you. I just don’t know how I got here.”

Ross furrowed his brow. “I don’t understand.” At Owen’s snort, Ross glanced at him, then back to the young man. “Are you all gonna be cryptic and shit?”

Well, this is a clusterfuck.

You’re telling me.

“Wait, I heard that in my head.” Ross furrowed his brow, confused, then he went pale. He didn’t need someone waving a sign to tell him what a voice in his head meant. “You’re my mate.”

“Give the guy a gold star,” Owen muttered.

“But how?” The shifter stared at Ross, his light green eyes wide and shocked and looking as if he were about to faceplant on the kitchen floor. “You’re a…human.”

Joe, whose family owned the ranch, grinned at him. “Welcome to the Sapphire Ranch pack, Dylan. Sit down next to Ross.”

Eli held up his hand. “Before you put your feet under the pack table or get jiggy with my operative, Anderson, let’s start with the basics. What the hell happened to you?”

Ross turned to his mate. Your name is Dylan Anderson?

I don’t know. The grumpy guy seems to think so.

Ross grinned at the accurate description of his boss. He’s always grumpy. Just ignore him.

Then Dylan looked between them all. “I’ve got no clue. I don’t know who you are. I just knew I had to find him.” He waved at Ross who took his hand.

“We’ll find out,” Ross assured him. “That’s what we do.”

He had ultimate faith in his new pack and the security agency he worked for. “Eli?”

“He’s Dylan Anderson,” Eli growled. “He was one of us. I can provide his personal information…once we find out where he’s been.”

Dylan flinched and Ross gathered him closer, glaring at his boss for scaring his mate.

“He had long, black hair in the photo you showed me,” Owen said to Zeke.

Zeke shrugged. “Maybe he dyed it for an assignment.”

Ross glowered at them. “He is sitting right here.”

Both apologized to Dylan, but his mate was ready to bolt. Ross held him close, not about to let him get away that easily. He’d been waiting for his mate since he’d discovered the existence of shifters. A naked man changing into a wolf was damn convincing. That naked man was now Eli’s mate, Sheriff Milo, sitting next to Eli.

Ross wasn’t stupid. He understood Eli’s reservations about welcoming Dylan Anderson into the pack. He’d heard the name before, and a Cavalry operative gone dark was a danger to the whole pack. As they’d been betrayed by a shifter operative recently it was no wonder his boss didn’t trust Dylan.

Betrayal hit him like a strong wave in his head, and Ross realized it came from his mate. He could hear everything Ross had just thought.

“I’m sorry,” Ross said immediately, turning to hold Dylan’s hands and gaze into his light green eyes. Ross had never seen eyes like his. They were the deepest spring green with gold lines. He could drown in Dylan’s eyes. Ross pushed Dylan’s hair back from his face, noticing a small scar edging his left cheek. “This is all new for me.”

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