Alpha of the Ranch

The Question

Oliver decided to take his mother's advice and change his approach to the situation. The next morning, after training and a shower, he picked up his phone and pulled up her contact. After showing up unannounced for the fourth time at the ranch, Victoria had suggested he take her personal number.

“The ranch phone gets passed from person to person,” she had said while putting the animals away that particular evening. Oliver had come up with some lame excuse about reviewing the contact, again, as the reason he was there. “It might just be, umm, easier if you have my personal number. I have it on me all the time in case one of the guys needs me.” She closed the barn door behind the calves that were now settling in to rest.

“Speaking of….” Victoria said thoughtfully, looking around. “Where are the guys? They can’t be done already.” She moved around Oliver to look out of the barn.

Oliver was also curious about “the guys”, but not in the way Victoria was. When he first arrived, he was surprised and concerned to smell a few wolves on the property. When they got back to the pack house, he had Lucas look into it. They were rogues who had informed the pack they were around when they had first arrived. The liaison in charge of tracking them had checked in from time to time, but noted they were no threat to the pack and had assimilated as humans in the town, so they were forgotten.

“Oh well.” Victoria turned back and gave Oliver a sweet smile. It wasn’t a full one yet, like she was holding herself back. “Anyway, yeah. You can just give me a call or text me if you need something. I know we are still a few weeks away from your event and things could change between now and then, so I get it. But like, if you want to talk about stuff, Like the event. Or whatever.” she gave a shrug and looked completely adorable and awkward standing there. It took Oliver a while to shake himself from staring at her and finally leave, a new number now secured.

And now, he was just staring at it. Again. He knew he wanted to move things forward in the human way, which meant asking her out on an official date. He just wasn’t sure what that would entail. With the she-wolves that he dated after he came of age, it was pretty straight forward. They knew beforehand what they were getting into since the mate pull wasn’t there. Some fun, but low key restaurant or even just a movie before the s*x. Then, off they went.

But this? It would ideally be the first of many dates. And Oliver didn’t want her to think he expected s*x after either. He planned to take his time and have her fall in love with him, the romantic way, as his mother said.

Grunting in frustration, he finally just pressed the button and listened to the line ring. After the third ring, even his wolf was becoming anxious and he had started pacing his room.

“Hello?” came a grunt from the other end of the line after the fifth ring.

Oliver signed in relief. He didn’t know why, but his mind had turned dark with images of her hurt and unable to answer, plaguing him.

“Son of a b***h! Hello?!” She said again, a bit angry. Oliver realized he hadn’t actually responded.

“Sorry! Hey Victoria. It’s Oliver.”

“Oh hey Oliver. Whats–” Oliver heard a thud and Victoria’s voice from a little further away “Can you be anymore of a turd right now?!?” He just managed to hold in his laugh as she came back. “Oliver, I’m so sorry. We’re doing chores this morning and someone is being a literal ass.” There was some braying in the background and Oliver guessed she was talking about a donkey. This time, he laughed out loud.

“It’s okay. I am calling a bit early. I’ll make it quick so you don’t have to multitask much longer. I was just wondering if you’d like to go out on a date? With me?” He mentally smacked himself for the last part.

There was a long pause on the other end. “Oh wow. Oliver, that's so sweet. I just…”

Oliver felt his heart squeeze in his chest before she even finished. “I don’t know if that’s the best idea. You’re a client and it would be very unprofessional of me. I’m sure you understand, right?”

Oliver took in a gasping breath. He started to say he did understand, but his wolf wouldn’t let him. He insisted on fighting.

“I don’t think it would be a bad idea at all. I think there’s something between us worth exploring. Don’t you feel it?” He whispered into the phone.

“I umm…” There was suddenly more braying and lots of cursing. “Can I call you back later Oliver?”

“Can we keep discussing this?” His wolf didn’t relent and Oliver was thankful for once.

Victoria sighed. “Yes. I just need to go right now. But yes, we can keep discussing this later.”

Oliver grunted out a “Fine” before the call ended. He flopped down on his bed and buried his face into his pillow, letting out a frustrated growl. That did not go how he expected.

****

Victoria stood stunned, staring out without actually seeing anything. A date? The idea made her shiver suddenly as she remembered the last date she went on. Micah’s sweet golden brown eyes, wrinkled at the corners as he laughed with his full body. Victoria had taken him up on a dare to stick a whole spoonful of wasabi in her mouth and immediately regretted it. She started coughing uncontrollably and crying! And Micah? He had doubled over with laughter and couldn’t seem to stop for a full two minutes. Victoria wanted to be mad at him, but she just couldn’t. Once she could breathe again, she found herself laughing with him, as he held her close in his strong arms. He stroked her hair and relented to her demands that he acknowledge that she was the greatest ever. He easily had and later that night, snuggled on the couch, he had said how grateful he was to be married to the greatest woman ever.

“Ms. Vicky?” Suddenly, Neil was in front of her and the chaos of the situation came into full view. A donkey was running, being followed by Chris, Max was holding his arm with a grimace of pain painted on his face, tools had been upturned and tossed, and, to top it all off, Victoria realized she was crying.

“Sorry. I uhhh…I just…” a sob wrenched its way from her throat and Victoria covered her mouth with her hand. This wasn’t happening. “I just…” she sobbed again and didn’t know what to do. What was happening? How had one question reduced her to this?

“Now now Mrs. Monroe. Why don’t you go on up to the house? The boys and I have this.”

Victoria whipped around to see Joe walking towards her. He wore an easy but sad smile on his face. She wasn’t sure where he came from, but god was she grateful he had come.

“Yeah.” she cried, unable to stop her tears. “I just need a minute. Can you-” her question died on her lips as more tears fell, blurring her vision.

Joe’s strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her into a tight hug. She buried her face in his chest and sobbed more, thankful for the fatherly presence he had.

“Just go on up to the house, Mrs. Monroe. It’ll be okay.”

Victoria nodded as she wiped her tears. “You’ve seen me cry. Now you have to call me Vicky.” she laughed at herself as Joe gave her a sad smile. “I’ll think about it.”

Victoria made her way up to the house and into her shower. The warm water mixed with her tears and muffled her cries a little. She couldn’t go on a date with Oliver. What she had said was true; he was her client. But more than that, how could she date someone after Micah? The idea had never crossed her mind. She had resolved herself to be a fairly young widow and work on the ranch until the end.

But along comes this jade-eyed man who shook her world. He made her laugh, took over her dreams, and suddenly made her want more from life than just being on the ranch. She didn’t know how to process it and now? He wanted to get to know her more. She turned off the water and wrapped herself in a towel. This was not how she expected the day to go. And as she crawled into her sheets to deal with her thoughts, she realized it wasn’t over yet. Oliver expected a conversation later today. She groaned. This was not how she expected the day to go.