Page 19 of Coral Rustling

The human in question grinned broadly and, after pecking a kiss to Lamar’s lips, began shoveling his breakfast into his mouth.

Chapter Nine

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Between Payson’s noseand the tracks in the dirt, it didn’t take them long to locate where the horses had been loaded into a trailer.The ballsy thieves were only a couple of miles away from where the gang had camped.

If Ulkna hadn’t been so exhausted from making love and bonding with Trey, he figured he would’ve heard them, too.

The problem was, with it having been done hours before in the middle of the night, Ulkna was sort of in Dwayne’s corner.Just what the hell were they supposed to do with the information?While Ulkna could guess that the truck and trailer had been pointed in the direction they were headed, there was no guarantee they hadn’t turned around.Plus, how could they locate their destination beyond that?

“Now what?”Trey asked softly, clearly wondering the same thing.

Payson tipped his head back and inhaled deeply.“They used a stock trailer,” he declared, shoving his hands into his jeans pockets.“No storm or breeze last night.The air’s pretty stagnant.”The hyena shifter focused on Sam.“The smell of horse hide’s still pretty heavy in the air.”

“Can you track them?”the big beta asked.

Grinning broadly, Payson waggled his brows.“Does a bear fuck in the woods?”

Sam rolled his eyes.“Not how the expression goes,” he grumbled, turning back toward where a few of them had parked their bikes.“Let’s go.”

Ulkna led the way to Lamar’s borrowedGoldwing.The peacock shifter had stayed behind with Yuma and Land.The trio were finishing packing up their stuff.Ryan swung up behind Sam, having left his motorcycle behind so they would have transportation to take their supplies to the rest of Kontra’s gang in town.

Since Ulkna was the smaller of the pair, he swung up behind Trey.He was more than happy to hang onto his handsome horse shifter as they cruised down the road.They followed behind the others, Payson in the lead sans helmet, with his head tilted, obviously tracking.

Honestly, it was the slowest Ulkna had ever seen the speed-loving hyena shifter ride his bullet bike.

They’d been traveling along the windy road for nearly an hour when Payson slowed to a stop...right in the middle of the road.Lifting his nose, he inhaled deeply.A frown creased his features.

“Lose the trail?”Sam asked, sounding concerned.“Maybe a crosswind took it out?”

Obviously, the beta was trying to be understanding.

Huffing in annoyance, Payson grumbled, “Stay here, guys.”He growled under his breath as he declared with a snarl, “I’ll find it again.”

Ulkna relaxed on the backrest as Trey followed the other guys’ lead and wheeled them to the side of the road.He watched Payson gun his bike’s engine and streak down the road for a couple of hundred feet.Then the hyena shifter tipped his bike left, stuck out a foot, and swept his rear end around in a one-eighty before racing back toward them, his engine roaring uncomfortably in Ulkna’s ears.

“How is that shifter not deaf?”Trey muttered, tugging his helmet off to rub his ears.

“Not a clue,” Ulkna replied, peering over his shoulder to watch Payson.

The hyena shifter slowed and began weaving all over the two-lane road.He swerved from one side to the other.It was a damn good thing there wasn’t any traffic so early in the morning.

Finally, Payson stopped nearly a hundred yards behind them and got off his bike.He stalked toward a closed yellow gate—the kind parks and recreation employees used to access federal land not open to the public for one reason or another.Standing before it, Payson took a deep breath.With a clearly pleased grin, he looked back toward them and pointed down the narrow gravel road.

The group U-turned and drove to the closed gate.

“Any idea where this leads?”Sam asked, turning to glance between Trey and Reagan.

Trey shook his head.“No, sorry.”His mate looked at Reagan, who was seated behind Hunter.“Any ideas?”

Reagan opened his mouth, then closed it again.Furrowing his brows, he cocked his head, clearly thinking.Finally, he stated hesitantly, “If this is the access road I think it is, then there’s nowhere for them to go down there.”Reagan scowled as he rubbed the back of his neck.“This accesses a staging area that’s used by maintenance crews to keep a section of hiking trails cleared.”

“Why would it be closed?”Sam asked what Ulkna was wondering.“You sure there’s no other outlet?”

“Well, they closed all those hiking trails due to the archaeological dig.”Reagan pointed further down the road.“That’s accessed by a road five miles up that way.”Shaking his head, Reagan confirmed, “And nope.One way in and out.”

“Could they access the archaeological dig by horseback from here?”Hunter asked, peering over his shoulder at Reagan.

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