Page 35 of Destined Predator
“How many you got in there?” Casey inquired.
“Stopped counting years back,” Rhett replied. “But they’re all in working order.”
“Gentlemen, you are drawing down on federal officers,” Rand said.
“We’re standing our ground on someone who drew onusonourproperty,” Rhett replied, tilting his chin toward his brother.
The agents gave each other a glance, then, as one, laid their weapons down. Doing the same, Casey pushed Robin into a seatand jerked his head for Ben to sit on one side of him, with him taking the other.
“Ernesto?” Robin demanded.
“Was being taken to a…facility but didn’t arrive. He’s on the loose,” Rand admitted.
“We believe he brought himself to this area because he knew he would be needed here. That there would be some kind of outbreak here. He has other means of knowing stuff.” Perez took up the narrative. “Means we’d like to understand.”
“But the existence of shifters is still being concealed.” Rand stared at them all.
“Wait. Paranormal…does this mean there’s reallyaliens? Like Roswell?” Emil demanded.
“Do you really want me to answer that?” Rand poured himself more cold water and indicated them with the glass. “Whatever it was occurred here, your pack was careless, and that can’t be tolerated. Society cannot learn of the existence of therians.”
“This is extremely serious.” Perez perhaps sensed that they weren’t receptive to the reprimand. “A pack that’s so careless in its behavior as to alert the outside world to it will be disbanded, its members relocated. Separately.”
“What?” Ben shook his head. “We’re afamily!”
The wordfamilyhit like a prayer and a curse. Every promise Casey had ever made to their parents burned behind his ribs. He’d already lost too much to humans with rules and clipboards.
“Refusal to comply would mean incarceration. So you would be separated in that way.”
“Never gonna happen,” Casey told him, menace lacing his words. “I promised our parents I’d keep our family together.”
“Look, everybody calm down.” Rhett drummed his fingers on the table. “What happened…happened and it’s all taken care of.”
Casey felt the horror Rhett had at the slaughter, the carcasses.
“So it’s over,” Rhett insisted.
“Is it?” Perez leaned forward. “So you can guarantee no one outside the Akers family and you two men here present knows this family are coywolf shifters?”
The traps. The vandalism.That photo of me shifting to coywolf form…
The family separated. Broken up.
Shaking his head, Casey shoved back his chair and stumbled from the room. The screen door banged behind him, and the open air hit like ice. He drew it in slow, trying to smother the panic clawing up his throat. If the Feds thought they could tear his pack apart, they hadn’t seen what a coywolf would do to protect his own.
Chapter Fifteen
“Casey.” He was barely outside, on the back porch, and Rhett was after him. “I reckon we can stonewall ’em,” he said.
“I ain’t so sure.” Casey checked no one was around and jerked his head to get Rhett under a wall light with him. Dusk was threatening to creep in. Coyotes were already calling from the far hills, their cries slicing through the coming dark. Casey’s instincts twitched—too many sounds, too much stillness underneath them. “These came earlier.” He pulled the photos from his pocket and handed them over.
“Is that—? That’syou!” Rhett touched the coywolf in the picture. “And these bits are the others? Who took these?”
“Same bastard who sent ’em, I guess. I don’t know.”
“Think it’sthem?” Rhett nodded toward the house. “They’re trying to say you’re exposed, so they can get you to leave?”
“I don’t know!” None of it made sense to Casey. “Why did you let the feds on your land?”
