Page 16 of Coral Rustling

“How the hell should I know?”another man answered gruffly.

Ulkna didn’t recognize the voices, so he turned his attention to Trey and arched a brow in silent question.

“That’s Silas and Dwayne, two of the wranglers,” Trey told him, pulling away and starting to strip.“I don’t know why they’re here so early.”

Realizing their time was at an end, Ulkna placed the backpack on the ground and opened it.He took Trey’s clothes.As he shoved them into the pack, he listened to the guys’ continued conversation.

“I’ll call the cops,” the first man stated, his voice heavy.“Down four horses.Can we still accommodate our scheduled rides?Or do I need to run to the ranch?”

“Yeah, today’s scheduled rides are pretty light, but we probably won’t be able to accommodate any big walk-up groups,” the other man replied, sounding resigned.“Can’t believe this shit happened.I’ll pull the security footage.”

“Security footage?”Ulkna whispered, alarmed.

What if they’d seen Trey shift the night before?

“I know where the blind spots are.”Trey gave Ulkna’s hand a squeeze before lowering to a crouch.“No one ever sees.”

Ulkna nodded once, then frowned.“Someone stole some of your horses?”

Trey shrugged.“Guess so.”

Then his mate began to shift.Fur sprouted on his skin as his body expanded.The sounds of muscles popping, bones snapping, and tendons cracking filled the air, and Ulkna winced, hoping the wranglers wouldn’t hear it.Trey’s head reshaped as his tail and mane sprouted, and Ulkna admired his horse form.

He really is a handsome animal.

“Hey, what’s that noise?”one of the guys asked.

“Shit,” Ulkna mumbled.Whipping off his belt, he wrapped it around Trey’s newly formed neck.He slipped the tab into one of the holes so it wouldn’t tighten, then he hung onto the tail end as if it was a make-shift lead rope.When Trey’s big brown eye focused on him, Ulkna told him, “I think they’re coming this way.Let’s wing it.”

Trey gave him a horsey nod, then began following him docilly as Ulkna led him through the trees.

One way or another, Ulkna would see what was going on.

Exiting the trees, Ulkna began rounding the paddocks with Trey in tow.He spotted the pair of men.One of them was on the phone, and the other was frowning in his direction.His eyes widened when he saw them, and he smacked the other guy’s stomach before heading toward Ulkna and Trey.

“Morning, guys,” Ulkna greeted, heading their way.“Uh, I found this guy wandering the woods near where I was camping this morning.”Doing his best to smile harmlessly, Ulkna shrugged.“I remembered riding him yesterday.Must have an escape artist on your hands.”

Chapter Eight

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Trey was pretty surehe wasn’t the only one who spotted the way Dwayne narrowed his eyes in disbelief.

“Well, thank you.”The dark-haired wrangler stepped forward and held out his hand, obviously asking for the end of the belt.“Didn’t think there were any campgrounds in the area.”

Ulkna scoffed as he shook his head.“Naw, there aren’t,” he replied, grinning.Clearly unabashed, he claimed, “One of the guys’ motorcycles broke down, so we wheeled it into the woods.Then a few of us camped out to make certain nothing happened to it while the rest headed to town to source out parts.”Handing over his belt end, Ulkna indicated Trey.“He’s a friendly guy, so wasn’t too hard to catch.”

“So, uh, we’re only down three, officer,” Silas stated into the phone.“Yeah, one was just returned to us.”After a pause, he added, “By a guy who took a trail ride with us yesterday.Said he found him wandering and recognized him.”Silas listened to whatever the officer on the phone was saying to him before turning his attention to Ulkna.“The officer wants to know if you can stick around until they get someone out here, give a statement, then show us where you found our horse.”

“Yeah, sure,” Ulkna agreed, sounding amicable.“I’ll just need to phone my friends so they know what’s keeping me, but I’m happy to help.”His brows furrowed as he glanced around the group, feigning ignorance.“You’re missing more than just this handsome guy?”Ulkna rubbed a hand over Trey’s neck affectionately.

Trey didn’t want to be led away from his mate, yet, and balked.Turning, he nuzzled Ulkna’s shoulder.

Ulkna chuckled and rubbed his forehead.“Like I said.He’s a friendly fellow.”Then he furrowed his brows, and his expression turned thoughtful.“You know, I thought I heard a bit of a commotion down the road a piece from where me and the guys were camped out.”Crossing his arms, Ulkna hummed.“That was about...two AM.”

Trey wondered if that was true, but had no way to ask.At that moment, he suddenly had the odd wish that his mate was a vampire instead of a fellow shifter.If he had been, they would’ve ended up having a mind-link upon bonding, giving them the ability to speak telepathically with each other.

Immediately, a bit of guilt hit him.

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