Page 17 of Destined Predator
“Loved it.” No point playing coy. Not now when this man’s teeth had nipped Rhett’s nipple, making him writhe, and his hand had been wrapped around Rhett’s cock, making him come hard.
“Then you’re gonna love getting it fucked right. Oh, you’re gonna holler for me, cowboy.” There wasn’t a scrap of mockery left in him—just certainty, dark and steady. Casey stopped and kneeled up, listening.
It didn’t take coywolf senses to hear the car approaching. It could have been heard for miles, the way its engine was clanking. “What?” he asked—Casey was on his feet and grabbing his clothes. “What is it?”
“Trouble,” came the succinct answer. “I know that engine. It’s Emil.” Even before the car rattled into view, the air had shifted, thin and metallic.
“Your brother?” Rhett was talking to the empty air—Casey, still dressing, was hurrying to the front of the house. Rhett shoved his jeans on and followed.
“Casey!” Emil yelled, tumbling from the beater car. “Casey!”
“Calm down.” Casey, clothes abandoned, grabbed his kid brother by the forearms and spoke right into his face. “What’s happened?”
“Robin.” The kid swallowed. “He’s caught in a trap.”
“The hell?” Casey howled. “Where?”
“On—” Emil broke off, his gaze going from his brother to Rhett. “On Double T land.”
Rhett’s stomach went ice-cold. Traps on his property? After the attack on Greg? The ranch under his boots didn’t feel steady anymore.
Chapter Eight
Only four words registered with Casey. Caught in a trap.Like Mom.Memory slammed him so hard he almost dropped. Rust. Blood. The sound she’d made. The scream that never stopped echoing. He hadn’t thought anything could drag that night back out of the dark. He was wrong. “He’s…alive? Robin, he’s—”Not crushed to death by jagged metal and—
“He’s caught by the leg. It ain’t pretty.” Emil paled as he spoke.
The rest of his words sank in. “Double T?” Casey repeated, his gaze zeroing in on his brother’s nod. He twisted from Emil to Rhett. “You laidtrapson your land? When? Why? Oh, let me guess. After last night, in revenge for Greg.” Even as the words tore out of him, Casey half-hated them. He wanted someone to blame, someone to hit, and Rhett was standing right there—solid, maddening, impossible not to look at.
“You better watch who you’re accusing,” Rhett snapped.
“What do they call it in this county? Frontier justice? An eye for an eye? A trap for a mauling?” Casey stalked to Rhett, who looked ready to fight again, the easy languor of moments ago gone. Casey sniffed, but couldn’t scent if the rancher was lying or telling the truth. It didn’t matter, not right now, when he had a brother to rescue.
“Rob’s still there?” he demanded of Emil. “Let’s go!”
“I’m coming with you.” Rhett stepped forward. “My land—allegedly—my business.”
“Er…” Emil pointed at first to Casey then Rhett. “Shouldn’t you get dressed first?”
Rhett looked like he hadn’t realized he was half-naked until then. “It’s not what it looks like,” he muttered.
Emil’s one-shoulder shrug reminded Casey of Anne. “What’s the saying? If it looks like a penis, walks like a penis, smells like—”
“We don’t have time for you to be a smartass,” Casey cut in, pulling his boots on. “Go. I’ll follow.” He leapt onto his bike.
“And I’ll be right behind you,” Rhett said. His hands were full of the clothes he hadn’t pulled on, and he threw them into the passenger seat of his truck and jumped in.
Casey didn’t have time to argue about that either. Besides, he wanted Rhett there. If Emil said the trap was on Tucker land, and it was, then Rhett had to be held to account for this atrocity. Casey would make sure of that.
They weren’t the only three in the remote pasture which must have been near the edge of the Tucker spread. Lacey and Anne were with Robin, not doing a very good job of keeping things calm.
“How did y’all know to gather?” Rhett asked, slamming the door of his Silverado. “Is it a shifter thing?”
“A cell phone thing. Group text,” Anne replied, her eyes asking questions of Casey, who said nothing. “If y’all had your phone on, you would’ve gotten the message, too.”
“Robin?” Casey ignored the pangs of guilt as best he could. His attention was all for his little brother, who was imprisoned in a steel-jawed leg-hold trap. Blood soaked through his jeans, which had big rips in them, probably from where he’d struggled. Casey was surprised he hadn’t passed out from the pain, which must have been horrendous. “You holding up?”
“I’m sorry,” Robin said, gritting his teeth.
