Page 35 of Destined Prey
A loud clang came from the kitchen.
“Oh, tell us what happened!” Lacey leaned forward, rubbing her hands together, a devious look on her face. “Gimme all the dirt so I can harass Casey about it. I justknewsomething went down between them. He was angrier than a wolf with a thorn in its paw when he came home that night he met you at the shop.”
Casey had come home at night?Ben tried to think of when he and Jack had seen Rhett that night, but they’d been too tied up in each other to pay attention to anything else. Besides, Casey could have gone any number of places after leaving the shop.
“Nothing much to tell—they just didn’t like each other,” Ben explained, even though there had been more to it than that.
“Eh. What would you expect from getting two older brothers together, each protective and snarly over their little bros?” Anne stood, then stretched until her back popped. “Ah, God, that felt good! We really need to shift and run soon. Staying in my human skin for more than a few days at a time makes my bones ache.” His beast bumped the back of his ribs in agreement, impatient and pleased at the promise.
“Tonight, maybe,” Ben said, his coywolf excited about the opportunity just as the human part of him was.
“We can go check out the Double T, make sure the other shifters are staying away.” Emil stood as well. “Maybe they’ve finally decided to quit screwing with ranchers’ herds around here. We should check the ranch beside it, too.”
“We do it clean,” Ben said. “No spooking stock, no sign left behind.” Pack rules said don’t shit where you eat; Ben added don’t scare the people you’re trying to protect.
“Edward Johnson’s ranch, you mean,” Lacey clarified. “Or were you talking about the Lone Pine, to the west of the Double T?”
“Yes.” Emil grinned. “We need a really good run. Think we can cover all three ranches in one night?”
“Easy-peasy,” Anne claimed while Robin groaned. She ignored him. “We’re coywolves, after all, not puny wolves or coyotes. I bet the other shifters have backed down. They had no call to show up here anyway.”
Ben didn’t rise to the bait. Pride got animals killed; discipline kept families breathing.
He agreed with that, but with Anne’s claim, the same question that always bothered him came right back into the forefront of his mind—whyhadthe wolf and coyote shifters started causing trouble in the area in the past year or so? Territory didn’t just heat up for no reason. Either someone new was calling shots… or someone old had decided coywolves weren’t allowed to exist here anymore.
It shouldn’t have been possible to miss someone he barely knew, yet Jack did, very much. He supposed it was the whole being-destined-mates thing. Ben had only been gone for a few hours, and Jack was itching to see him again. It wasn’t a hollow ache. More like a tug at the sternum, gentle but insistent, that said you’re oriented this way now.
Considering that Jack was pleasantly sore all over, having had more sex in the past two days than he’d had in months combined, he really did need to relax and take a break. Ben had family—pack—to tend to or check in with. Jack was curious about Ben’s family and how a pack worked.
And if he could become a shifter, though whether or not he’d want to was an entirely different issue.
When it came down to it, he and Ben had a lot of things to discuss still. He supposed, like all couples, they had to learn about each other, and even with the bond, that would take time. A lifetime, since people grew and changed as they aged.
“You day-dreaming again?”
Jack jolted and spun around in the kitchen. Rhett stood in the doorway, studying him. Jack couldn’t tell if Rhett was angry or what. His expression was completely blank. “Are you okay?”
Jack studied the set of Rhett’s jaw, the tired at the corners of his eyes. Not anger exactly—strain. The kind that came from trying to hold ten things steady with two hands.
“Are you?” Rhett retorted.
“Can we not be weird with each other?” Jack asked. “We just got to a point where we were getting close again, like when we were kids. Let’s not lose that.”
He offered the truce with empty hands—no defenses, no jokes—because that was how you made it stick with family.
Rhett folded his arms over his chest. “You’re the one consorting with…with…”
“People,” Jack said softly, before Rhett could fill the word with something worse. “You mean I’m with people.”
He shook his head. “No, wait. I don’t mean that.”
“Are you sure?” Jack snapped, standing up and debating whether to try to smack some sense into Rhett. “Because you really sounded like a total judgmental asshole.”
Rhett seemed to sag against the doorframe, and his blank expression turned to one of displeasure as he frowned. “God, I know, right? My head’s fucked up, but it’s not your fault. Just, like you said. I guess I’m worried and maybe a little jealous, because you just came back here, and now you’ll probably want to leave again.”
“I’m not leaving,” Jack said, closing the distance between them. “Rhett, I’m right here, and I know me and Ben were wrapped up in each other for a few days, but that’s the newness of finding each other. I’m still here for you.”
Rhett wouldn’t look him in the eyes. “Are you gonna turn into one of them?”
