Chapter 11

Chapter

Eleven

T he rising temperature caused the swirling heat waves to waft up from the horizon. Piper knew they were just a distortion of her true vision. Nevertheless, the phenomenon had always fascinated her. She knew the movement was created by the density in the air decreasing while simultaneously heated air expanded. The change in density distorted the refractive angle of the light, producing what appeared to the naked eye to be a wave.

She made it to the foothills when she heard the sound of a small jet plane flying overhead. She tilted the brim of her Stetson and looked up. It was about the right size for the Gautier jet, but they were too late. By the time her father could get a group of men together to come after her, she'd be up in her little hidey hole. It was the place she'd always gone to get away when she needed to be alone. More than once she'd been grounded for going there on her own, but no threatened punishment could ever make her give up its location.

A tiny box canyon tucked behind an undiscovered—well, to everyone but her—waterfall had become her retreat. She'd first found it as a small child. Piper was fairly certain it had been some bandit's hideout, as the small shack was complete with working fireplace and a hand-pumped water well. Over the years she'd improved on it, ensuring the chimney was safe, hauling various supplies up to it that she either purchased surreptitiously or found around the ranch. Then she would install items and renovate others. She'd even taught herself how to put in a subfloor and flooring to keep it cleaner and give her a safer space in which to walk barefoot. Piper had also built a sturdy lean-to and corral for her horse and a place she could safely and securely store feed and gear.

The end of the tunnel that ran from behind the waterfall opened up into a canyon that was hidden from prying eyes. She'd installed a sturdy gate with an alarmed locking mechanism as a first line of defense. If not disarmed properly it would give her enough time to react and either make her escape or allow her the time to mount an armed response. It was a first line of defense that would deter most people from disturbing her space when she wasn't there.

The gate wasn't the only thing that had an alarm. She had installed a security system on the door and windows of the house as well as those on the shack where she kept her gear. The improvements in solar batteries meant her alarms had become more sophisticated—what had started out as a bell on the front door and pots and pans hanging on the ceiling graduated to an actual alarm system. Not only were all entrances alarmed, but Piper had also installed windows and shored up and improved a secondary means of escape.

When she arrived, Piper keyed in the alarm code on the hidden keypad and dismounted to unlock the gate—closing, locking and rearming it behind her. Once inside the canyon she stopped and listened. Being a wolf-shifter meant her hearing was more acute than that of a human. Nothing sounded amiss so she rode quietly around the perimeter of the canyon, glad that the temperature was always lower there than out on the rolling plains.

Finally she walked around the outside of the shack. It didn't appear as if anything was amiss, so she keyed in the alarm code and entered the shack, her rifle at the ready. She expelled a sigh of relief as she assured herself no one had breached her defense systems. Piper went outside to her horse and unhooked the saddle bags, tossing them onto the bed, her prized possession in the space. She grinned as she looked at it. Getting a queen-sized bed up to the shack, even though the mattress had been compressed in a box, had taken some doing but it was worth it.

Back at the ranch, Piper's bedroom was all working cowgirl—southwest decor, with sturdy furniture and no feminine doodads. But up here in her safe place, it was all softness. She indulged her love of beautiful soft fabrics and lace. She'd built a comfortable reading nook and an outside shower and put in a soaking tub. The colors were those of a Texas sunrise—purples, magentas, and soft golds. No one at Wolf Meadow would ever have guessed at her love for such feminine things.

She returned to her horse and led him into his paddock, which boasted a large shade tree and a small creek running through the center. She used the hand pump that drew from the creek to fill the trough in his stall and filled his manger with hay. The big dun loved this place as much as she did and immediately found the perfect place to roll in the dirt. When he was done, she gave him a quick grooming and misted him with fly spray.

Ensuring he was set for the night, Piper walked back to her cozy little one-room cabin and put away the things she'd brought. The stream was usually filled with fish this time of year and she'd brought enough other food so that she'd have plenty for her stay. She knew she couldn't stay long this time but making the point to her father and Rémy that she wouldn't be dictated to was important. She would return to Rivière Du Loup before the full moon, but she needed to find clarity for herself. She set the interior alarm and crawled into bed.

A s the jet took off from Wolf Meadow, the pilot watched Rémy, who was double-checking the straps of his parachute. "You sure you want to do this?"

" Oui . Piper is playing to her strengths, and I will play to mine. I found it curious that while they knew she had a secret place to be, no one had ever bothered to find it."

"Perhaps they wanted to give her some privacy."

"There is privacy and there is foolhardiness. This hide away is a bit of both… everyone is entitled to a place where they can take a moment and breathe but refusing to disclose the location to anyone is reckless. Be sure to relay the coordinates to Gabe at Wolf Meadow. Ask him to have a horse delivered in two days' time."

"You think you can take your mate in hand that quickly?"

"It took my father less time and in his case, my dear mama would not admit she was his fated mate. At least Piper knows her place is with me, and she responded so beautifully last night."

The pilot snorted. "Yeah, so beautifully that she abandoned you up by the pond and then high-tailed it off the plantation."

"My mate is beautiful, intelligent, and proud. I hurt her heart and her pride when I left to attend the Naval Academy. Once she's assured that I am truly repentant and that she'll never have cause to doubt my love and devotion again, everything will be fine. You'll see."

"I'll give you this Rémy—you're the one who inherited your father's charm and arrogance."

"Perhaps. But don't discount Jean-Edouard. He may be more like mama in how he approaches things, but my older brother is all alpha. There is no one I'd rather have at my side in a fight."

"I meant no disrespect. I think your father must have found it difficult to choose between the two of you. I know that the wolves who are up on the other plantation say Jean-Edouard is nothing short of brilliant and they'd follow him through the gates of hell if that's where he decided he wanted to go. And they're all crazy about Bre."

Rémy nodded. "They are well-suited. As are my beloved Piper and I." He stood up and eased on his parachute, ensuring the harness was secure.

"You tell me when, and I'll slow my airspeed and set the autopilot to circle. When you give me the word, I'll open the cargo door and let you out. Are you sure this is safe?"

"Thirty years ago, parachuting out of a jet was dangerous, as it was too easy to get sucked up into one of the engines. But there have been a lot of improvements to safety since then. It takes some skill, but it has become something of an extreme sport. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"If you say so."

"I do. Go back up front and get us in position."

Twenty minutes later, the jet was circling without its lights on and Rémy jumped out into the darkness. It never failed to amaze him that some people found parachuting to be such a rush of adrenaline. He saved his adrenaline for fighting and fucking. Floating down from an inky, starlit sky was peaceful. He had on night goggles and watched her shack at the far end of the canyon to ensure she hadn't detected the plane. So far so good, he thought as the plane began to gain altitude and head back to the plantation. He idly wondered if Piper had ridden up in her chaps.

He floated to the ground and literally hit the ground running so that he could keep his feet moving and lessen his downward momentum. Once he was in control, he drew in his parachute, wadded it up, and wrapped the straps around it. He found a large rock under which he dug a small hole and wedged the chute into it, covering it back up with the rock.

Slowly but surely, he made his approach. From what he could see in the dark with his night vision goggles, it was obvious Piper had done a lot of work to this place to upgrade it from what once had to have been a fairly simple structure. This was her place—not the beautiful hacienda where she had been raised. The idea of it becoming their private little love nest now and into the future had great appeal. He would make sure Cody knew where it was and that the pack would have some way to communicate with them and vice versa, but he liked the idea of having Piper all to himself up here.

In the paddock, her big dun lifted his head and watched him approach. Gabe had given him some horse cookies, assuring him the gelding's silence could be bought with a few goodies. He extended his hand with his palm flat and offered the horse the treats. Approaching cautiously, the animal stretched his neck and grabbed the first two with his velvety lips. Once assured they were a favorite snack, he walked closer and took the rest from Rémy without hesitation or question.

"Wish me luck, big guy. Let's hope that my reunion with your mistress goes even half as well as this one."

He spotted the solar battery cluster tucked behind the shack and followed the connecting wires to the alarms on the windows and door. Perhaps his mate was not as foolish about her safety as he'd originally thought. That was one less thing he needed to take her to task for, but there were so many others, and he was looking forward to getting his hands on Piper's ass to give her the first spanking of her life. The idea of being the only man who would ever spank or knot her made his already uncomfortably hard cock even harder.

His cock was in favor of fucking her first, spanking her second, and then knotting and tying her to him. Rémy had to admit it wasn't a bad plan as plans went. One thing was for sure—he needed to establish his authority over her from the get-go. He had four days to ensure they became a bonded pair, and that meant Piper would have to submit to his authority. He planned to give her more freedom than most she-wolves, but he needed to know she would obey when the shit hit the fan. More importantly, she needed to know there were consequences when she didn't heed him.

Rémy disarmed the front door and slipped inside, closing it and then rearming the system. He held his breath and stood perfectly still. She was snuggled up in what looked to be a queen-sized bed with what he hoped would be an incredibly comfortable mattress. He grinned. This would do for now, but they'd need a bigger bed wherever they ended up living. There was no box spring, only a sturdy wooden platform. When Piper rolled over to her other side, she exposed her back to him. Piper was naked.