The Ultimate Colorado Shifters Bundle

Thirty
days. That was all The Real Werewives thought I needed to secure my
future. 

Thirty days to
find a mate, when I hadn't managed to accomplish that feat in forty-five years.
No fucking sweat, right? But soon after that, an obscure condition in our land
treaty would come to pass. If no heir was available to be named as our next
alpha, we’d lose everything we’d worked so hard for. I wondered if our
ancestors had the foresight to see this mess. That our mate matches would dry
up. That no babies would be born to mated members of this pack in two and a
half decades.

Some called it
a curse. I didn’t believe that.

The treaty
expiration was the fire under our asses we needed to take action. That was what
I kept telling myself, and everyone in the pack who thought I was crazy to turn
to a reality dating show to solve the problem. We’d grow old too fast with no
children, no fresh blood to reset our way of thinking. If we didn’t do
something, our pack would die out, or we’d have everything taken from us
because we were too weak and lonely to fight back.

Thirty days to
change everything.

I was wolf
enough to admit I’d watched every episode of The Real Werewives. At
first, I was looking for pointers, but when my right-hand man, Mason, joked
after one too many beers that maybe we should approach the producers of the
show about our predicament, I couldn’t get the idea out of my head.

I
looked out at my ranch from my office window. The sprawling view of the gently
rolling fields, framed by snowcapped mountains was never any less breathtaking,
even when it was at risk. Maybe it was even more beautiful now that I could
lose it. I owed it to my pack to take this chance.

Now there were
as many Real Werewives trailers as horse trailers, and the ranch was crawling
with crew members who said they wanted to get a feel for our land before we
started shooting.

Soon the ladies
who held our fate in their hands would arrive. They’d be staying at the ski
chalet we operated, located at the far edge of the ranch. We made sure to pull
out all the stops—keeping our award-winning chef and the spa staff on past the
end of the busy season to cater to their every need. No matter what happened,
these women were my guests, and I wanted to make sure everyone knew how good
life could be here.

The pack
thought I was crazy. They were in the denial stage of grief, that we couldn’t
possibly lose everything we’d worked so hard for. I’d moved into the bargaining
stage, and I’d put Stephanie Manada, the executive producer of The Real
Werewives of Colorado Ranch, into the driver’s seat.

She promised
results, but she warned me they might not happen as I expected.

A knock on my
office door startled me. “Come in.”

Stephanie poked
her head in and grinned. She was one of those rare humans who understood our
world.

“Ready to watch
the audition tapes?” she asked.

“Ready as I’ll
ever be.” I’d never let my guard down in front of anyone before, especially a
human. “This looked so easy on the other seasons.”

Her laugh ended
in a grunt as she hauled her equipment into the office. I rose to help her as
soon as I realized how much she had with her. The woman never went anywhere
without her camera.

“The pack is
here to help you with your equipment,” I reminded her as she waved me off.

“I’m used to
it. And when we’re out on dates, we can’t exactly bring an entourage. It would
kill the mood.” She cracked open the case that held her camera stand. “At this
point, I’ve done enough of these shows that I can tell you it’s never easy. No
matter what side of the camera you’re on.”

“I don’t want
easy. I want a mate. You can make it look like magic in editing.” I wouldn’t
admit how many times I’d watched the episodes, even after the rest of the pack
had gone home. I’d stop and rewind over and over again, savoring the moment
when the wolf knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the woman standing in front
of him was his mate. Fated to belong to him and only him.

My animal
rumbled inside me. He had his own doubts about this arrangement, but we were in
uncharted territory and we all had to operate on a hefty amount of faith to get
something we’d never had before.

She’s here, he insisted. Don’t
screw this up. Trust your instincts.

Another grunt
as she secured the camera on the stand. “It is magic, and a lot of soul
searching and heartache, too. We’re going way outside the playbook this season,
because we’ve never had anything like this at stake before. The mate pairings
have always been a fun bonus for packs that were already thriving. Not
necessary to their survival. To kick off a new season, we usually schedule a
party, have the Werewives meet the pack, and go with what happens naturally
from there. But we need results, fast. This time, we’ll intervene a little bit.
I’ve never let the wolves choose the ladies before they’ve had a chance to meet
them.”

I sensed her doubt.
“But they’ll still be our mates?”

She shook her head
and turned on one of her many laptops. “I think so. All the shifters in
previous seasons say they knew as soon as they found her. The method is unprecedented,
even for The Real Werewives. I haven’t decided yet how much of this part
viewers will see. They like to believe in the magic, like you do.”

An uneasy
feeling rolled through me. She’d promised results, but not that she could save
our pack.

“The network
has the final say, of course. Tonight, we’ll film the pack watching the
audition tapes,” she added.

“The guys will
be here soon.” I’d invited the guys closest to me to watch the auditions, hoping
they’d find their mates. These were the pack members I’d trusted to help me run
the ranch and the ski chalet, and any of their children could be considered
next in line for alpha. Running Colorado Ranch was a massive operation, and
we’d made our land invaluable. We’d invested carefully and made moves to grow
when it made sense. But if this show backfired, and there were no women able to
help us pass this down to the next generation, we’d put a giant bullseye on our
backs. Unclaimed land like this would cause a war. Humans and shifters alike
would fight and claw to the death over what should’ve been my birthright.

I refused to
lose it.

I heard the
guys coming before they got to the office. “All right, I was promised a mate.
Where the hell is she, Saint?” Mason grinned at us from the doorway.

“Sit your ass
down and let Stephanie work her magic. She’s getting the audition videos ready
now.”

He settled on
the couch, followed by Levi, Austin, Damon, and Sterling. The most powerful
wolves in my pack. The guys who’d worked by my side for years. If the Werewives
could give us the magic we needed, we’d bring in more contestants, and make
sure anyone in our pack who wanted a mate could have one.

“So what is
this, like home shopping for a mate?” Sterling grinned as he cracked open his
beer. Cans were passed around, but I shook my head when I was offered one. I
wouldn’t stop the guys from having fun with this, but I was their alpha.
Someone had to stay clearheaded.

“Something like
that.” Stephanie gave the crew a wary grin, aware of the fact she was about to
lose control over the situation. “I’m pretty sure I’ve met all of you, but this
has been a whirlwind for me, and I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of unfamiliar faces
this week too.”

“Yeah, no one’s
ever wanted to film me working with cattle before.” Austin waggled his eyebrows
at her.

“We’ll want to
film you doing a lot of things.” That got an ooh from the crowd. “I’m
Stephanie Manada, executive producer of this season of The Real Werewives.
You’ll come to know me as the one who’s always pointing a camera at you, and
the one who’s asking all the questions.”

“I’ve got a few
questions, too.” Sterling leaned forward, and the brim of his cowboy hat
obscured most of his face. But the camera would pick up his ever present,
shit-eating grin. He was my wildcard. But he had a good heart, and he’d do the
right thing, even if he’d give me a heart attack while doing it. “Do you film
everything? I mean…everything. We have to produce heirs. I’m not sure what
channel you show this on, but—”

“We know when
to leave,” Stephanie cut him off before he got into the details. “The signal is
to look directly into the camera. It’s the only time you should ever do that,
by the way.”

“Why?” Damon,
the quietest of all of us, asked.

“Looking
directly into the camera is jarring to the viewer, and it makes it look fake,
like you know there’s a camera there. A lot of contestants ask if we write
scripts for them. We don’t. All we do is provide you with potential Werewives,
and you take it from there. We can help set up dates, but we want her to fall
in love with your ideas, not ours.”

“Werewives.” Sterling
shook his head. “Maybe that’s where we got it wrong. We didn’t give them a
fancy name.”

“Are you gonna
take this seriously? Because there are a lot of guys in this pack who’d jump at
a chance like this.” I growled. The males in the pack had suffered the most.
Some of our she-wolves had successfully mated with members of other packs, but
then they went to live with their mates. Our pack had no claim to those heirs.
“And I can replace your asses with theirs at any time.”

He held his
hands up. “My only concern is we’re wasting time with humans. What if they
can’t deliver?”

“We opened the
auditions up to she-wolves, ” Stephanie said. “For some reason, male wolves are
more open to pledging allegiance to another alpha than she-wolves. Can’t lie,
that shocked me. There are a few that submitted videos. I assume you’ll know
them when you see them.”

“The only thing we haven’t tried is mating with humans,” I reminded them. “We’re
up against the clock, but Stephanie’s promised me she’ll keep searching for
willing she-wolves.”

I shifted a
hard gaze to her to guarantee she’d make good on that promise.

“We’re always
recruiting for the show. The highest percentage of mate matches has been with
humans, and they’ve been able to get pregnant. I planned to ease you into the
realities of welcoming the Werewives into your lives, but as you’ll come to
realize on this show, nothing ever goes according to plan. Have you considered
how your treaty will recognize a half-human heir? That’s the first question.”

Groans erupted
through the room as the guys considered her question.

“Have we,
Saint?” Austin asked. “What if we go through all this trouble and the treaty
doesn’t recognize our heirs?”

The treaty was
honored by pack leaders in the area, ones who breathed tradition like oxygen
and came from a long line of wolves and other shifters who’d succeeded by
keeping things the same for generations. I’d been humbled to be a part of such
an esteemed group.

“I haven’t
discussed it with them yet.” I expected those looks. No one had to say oh
shit to make it heard loud and clear. This treaty was messy, and I was
taking it one step at a time. The first thing I needed was a guarantee the
other packs would stand up for us. “They haven’t been willing to help us so far,
but once they see that we’ve made progress—"

“What if you
piss them off and they dissolve the treaty anyway?” Mason rose from the couch,
pacing the room. He was the only one who’d come to the last leadership meeting
with me, and he knew how deep the stick was lodged in their collective asses.
“They hate change, Saint.”

“Right. And our
pack losing this land is far more disruptive for them than us having half-human
children.” I was out of my chair too. This office was too small to contain our
energy. If I didn’t calm him down, he’d shift soon. A wolf without a mission in
these mountains was a magnet for trouble. “They’ll agree we’ve acted in the
best interest of the pack.”

Mason sighed. “We
hope. A half-human alpha will change everything.”

“Stephanie has
videos of women who want to meet us.” Levi broke the tension with his reminder.
“Don’t know about you, but even if this all goes to shit, it would be nice to
wake up with a gorgeous woman in my bed.”

A few grumbles
of agreement, and order was restored.

Stephanie
handed us all notebooks. “We’ve never done this any other season, and I want to
make sure we stay respectful to our Werewives. They’re brave to uproot their
lives and take a chance on a bunch of unknown wolves who needed them a hell of
a lot more than the ladies need the pack. As you watch each audition write down
your thoughts. Would you like to get to know her? It’s okay if you don’t see a
mate connection right away. Like I’ve said, this is a totally new way of doing
things, and we’re just gauging interest. We want to make the best possible
matches. I’m the only one who will ever see these notes.”

Tension filled
the room as all the guys got more serious than I’d ever seen them. They might
have busted my balls about my methods, but there was no doubt how badly they
wanted this to work.

“What if we
know one of them is our mate?” Sterling asked.

“Write it down,
and I’ll prioritize filming your episode.” Stephanie’s finger hovered over the
keyboard. “Ready?”

This moment
would change the course of our pack. “So ready.”

“These videos
are short introductions. The ladies will tell you a little about themselves,
and why they think they have what it takes to be a Real Werewife. If you have
any questions for her after watching her video, write those down too.”

She hit play.

Silence filled
the room before the video started. A pretty woman appeared on the screen,
telling us a little about her life and how she saw it as an adventure. The guys
stared at the screen, looking for a sign she was the one.

Stephanie
paused the video. “Would you rather I stop after each one so you can write your
notes that way?”

“Yeah. I don’t
want to miss anything,” Austin said.

My stomach
filled with dread, and my wolf grew restless inside me as we watched the
videos. After each woman’s name, I put a question mark. Maybe. No one struck me
as the one, and I glanced over at the guys, wondering if they had the
same feeling I did.

But my wolf
pushed doubt aside when the next woman appeared on the screen. She was
beautiful, with long dark shiny hair and green eyes that made me do a double
take. Was she a shifter? No matter who she was, she was wild.

“Hi. My name is
Gretta Goodson and I have a confession to make.”

“Her.” I broke Stephanie’s
rule, but my wolf was feeling a whole bunch of unfamiliar things and he was
twisting inside me, desperate to make himself heard. “Get her here. Now.”

“Don’t you want
to hear her confession?” Mason asked. “I’ve got to admit, I’m curious as hell.”

“Don’t need
to,” I growled. My wolf had already told me everything I needed to know about
Gretta Goodson.

Mate.