Page 38 of Destined Prey
Jack gasped. Rhett came at Aldan in a blur of fists and cuss words.
Aldan took it for about fifteen seconds, then cried out, “Stop!”
Rhett immediately pulled back, hands bloodied and fisted, chest heaving as he wiped at his mouth. “Now,” Rhett ground out. “You better fuckin’ talk, or I’m having you arrested for trespassing and assault.”
“Yeah, we saw him throw the first punch,” Javon added.
Aldan squatted and groaned. “Goddamn, I think you broke my ribs.”
“Well, you shouldn’t have swung at him, idiot,” Ernesto drawled. “And spitting at someone is nasty.”
“Why were you on the ranch?” Jack demanded, ready for this entire thing to be over. He wanted Aldan and his dog gone. “I get that you hate me because I’m gay, but whatever, man. Don’t be any more stupid than you already are.”
“This ain’t about you,” Aldan muttered. “Something’s fucked up about this place. All the wolves and coyotes and shit. It ain’t normal. Like that one that got away a few days ago, just seemed to disappear.”
“Wild animals trying to survive aren’t normal?” Jack asked, his heart racing as he tried to battle back fear.
Aldan glared at him through one badly swelling eye. “Y’all ain’t put out traps. I’d have heard about it. Why ain’t you tryin’ to catch and kill the animals killing off your herd? Why ain’t other ranchers talking about all the problems they’ve had with coywolves, especially? Ain’t anyone else seen ’em around except the people on this ranch?”
How could he know that?Jack wondered which of the current ranch hands were running their mouths. Suspicion made him look at each of them critically. Ernesto, Javon, and Phil… Javon was the newest hire, so he’d have no prior knowledge about the former attacks on the ranch.Unless Ernesto or Phil told him. Or Aldan or Vince could have done so. Damn, I just don’t know!
Ernesto seemed to catch on to Jack’s train of thought, because he shook his head. “Wasn’t me, Jack.”
“Who?” Jack demanded to Aldan. “Who is talking about any of this?”
Aldan laughed, then spat out blood from his busted lip. “You oughta know people got nothing better to do than talk. Especially men who were fired ’cause a queer wanted to come play cowboy.”
“Get him out of here,” Rhett snapped. “You show up here again, Aldan, you or anyone else who doesn’t work here or isn’t a guest, and we’ll do what the law allows when it comes to trespassers or cattle rustlers.”
“I’m not a rustler!” Aldan sounded truly offended by that.
Rhett leaned down close to his face. “Well now, we don’t know that, do we? If we come across someone skulking around the ranch when they shouldn’t be.” He straightened up and let the threat hang there as Aldan stumbled to his feet.
Jack wasn’t sure, but he thought Rhett had just threatened to shoot Aldan on the spot if he was caught on the ranch again. He wasn’t going to ask for clarification. Rhett’s voice had been too calm, too deliberate, and Jack recognized that edge in him—thesame one he used when putting down a sick calf or facing off against a predator. He waited until Javon and Phil had put Aldan and his dog in the bed of the truck and driven off.
“You think he’ll be back?”
“I hope not,” Rhett muttered. “Fucker has a powerful right.” He cupped his jaw. “I’m gonna be eating soup for a couple of days.”
“Ice and ibuprofen,” Ernesto advised. “I don’t know what Aldan thinks is going on out here. Does he believe we’re doing some kind of coywolf-whatever-other-wild-animal voodoo? That man isn’t right in the head. Though, maybe you knocked some sense into him.”
“Doubt it. So who’s been talking?” Rhett asked of Ernesto.
Ernesto shrugged. “Not me, and I bet not Phil or Javon, either. At least, not to Aldan directly. I can’t say as whether or not they haven’t said something to family or a friend about what happens here. People tend to talk about their jobs, but if they have, I don’t think they’ve done it to be malicious.”
“What about you?” Rhett nodded at Ernesto. “You talk to friends and family about your job?”
Ernesto’s grin conveyed no warmth at all. “Don’t have either. You could say I’m a lone wolf.” Then he tipped his hat at Rhett. “I better get back to work.”
Jack and Rhett exchanged glances as Ernesto walked off. When he was out of sight, Jack asked, “Do you think he meant…he’s an actualwolf?”
“Nah. I think he just used a common phrase is all.” Rhett groaned. “I could sure use that ibuprofen and an ice pack. I’ve got so much work to do today—”
“Let me do it. I’m sure with Javon, Ernesto, and Phil’s help, we can take care of things around here today. I’ll even go to town and pick up your favorite pizza for dinner if you’ll stay in and tryto give your body a break,” Jack offered, then walked over to the door and opened it.
“Do I look that bad?” Rhett touched his jaw, then his temple. “Shit. Probably. I sure feel like I’ve been in a fight.” He walked a little unsteadily into the house.
“I want to be a productive part of this ranch,” Jack said. “Let me try, okay? Tell me what you need done today, and I’ll see to it that everything is handled.”
