Page 36 of Destined Predator
“I thought they were friends of Jack’s from the city, thinking about using the ranch in some TV show or something. How could I know?”
“I felt the second I saw them they were official, or government, or whatever.” Casey blew out a breath. “If we had a stronger link, I could have sensed them from you.” And there it was. The whole circus in the house, never mind the elephant in the room. He studied Rhett’s face, from his brown-green eyes down to his firm jaw, and ran his thumb over his bottom lip. He could almost taste the electricity between them—want tangled with worry, the mate bond humming like a live wire under his skin. For a heartbeat, it felt like the whole world had narrowed to the space between Rhett’s breath and his own. “We could communicate so no one knew what we were planning.”
Rhett didn’t speak.
“I know you felt what I did earlier.” Casey’s lips curled in a slow smile. “But before that. The past couple of days have been hell, being apart. Admit that.”
“I guess. Yes. I know. Which doesn’t seem fair, does it? More like an ultimatum. I do what you want or I get sick?”
“It ain’t like that, and you know it.” Casey caught himself clenching his fists to keep his own control from slipping. If Rhett’s fear was a storm, his own anger was the lightning in it, flashing, gone, then back again before he could stop it. The damn bond made it impossible to keep his emotions separate anymore. Casey took a deep breath and tried to tamp down his irritation. It wasn’t helping his frustration, but Rhett’s emotions were all over the place, with fear the strongest of them. Casey had been patient with Rhett so far and would continue to be. “It’s not just whatIwant.”
He waited for the stubborn rancher to acknowledge that, but Rhett just tipped his head back, so he could look down his eyelashes at him. Trying to hit the right note, Casey changed the tune slightly. “You like what we have together.”
“It’s a little…well alot, zero to sixty, you know? I’m just a slow plodding rancher who needs to take his time. I’m not like you.”
“Care to explain a little more?” Casey felt mean that putting Rhett on the spot went a little way toward soothing the annoyance trying to bubble up inside him.
“What’s to explain? That this between us is too soon? That there’s a lot to take in, to accept? All the…unusual stuff?”
“Say it. The words you’re really thinking. Mumbo jumbo. Hoo-doo. Mystical. Supernatural.”
“Paranormal.” Rhett raised his chin, indicating the ranch house and the two federal agents.
“If we stand together, we can take them on. Take on anything.” Casey took a couple steps away and back, running his hands through his hair. “But that’s just it, ain’t it? You’re afraid. Afraid of saying what you want, of doing what you want, ’specially if it’s new and unknown. And that applies to the kind of sex you want and the relationship you wanna be in. Everything. You’re scared to acknowledge it, much less accept it! You know what you are, Rhett Tucker? For a big strong silent rancher, you’re an awful coward.”
His words weren’t meant to wound, but the truth cut sharper than claws. He’d watched Rhett fight everything—the supernatural, his own body’s pull, the idea that surrender could be strength—and Casey was done pretending patience didn’t hurt.
“You take that back.” Rhett stepped toward him, slow and menacing.
“No. You take it and shove it. I’d say shove it up your ass, ’cept there’d be no room, not when you already got your head shoved up there.”
Casey swung around, then was off, breaking into a jog, then a run, and, as soon as he was clear of the ranch buildings, out of sight of any possible watchers, shifting into his coywolf form.
Now he could really run, out in the twilight, his strong, sinewy legs pounding, his speed and stamina making the miles, the terrain nothing. The rawness, the realness of being out in nature, a part of it, connected to the earth, was what he needed. He could manage the discomfort that came with being apart from Rhett better in his animal form, and the drumming of his four paws hitting the ground helped him think. But not much. Even with the night wind in his fur, the emptiness in his chest howled louder than the coyotes. The tether between them still burned faintly and that ache kept his stride relentless. And he had a lot of actual problems to think about, to stop him going over his one big dilemma—him and Rhett.
He raced, shaking his muzzle at the sagebrush, getting the incidents and events straight in his mind. Someone taking photos of him shifting. The attack on Greg Manning. The traps. The auto business vandalized. Someone sending him the photos. The feds arriving. Someone was out to get him. Them—his family. And not just them—the Tuckers, too. The same person or people? Or different ones teaming up?
He slowed a little, wishing he’d gone round this patch of saltbush shrubs. It dulled his sense of smell. But not his hearing. He caught something up on the east ridge. It was faint, a wrong kind of silence. The kind predators made when they were already watching. Every hair along his spine lifted before his brain even caught up.
Casey sat back and stared, and yellow eyes gleamed back at him, half-hidden by the juniper. It made great ground coverand was concealing whatever crouched in it. Was it the other predator he’d seen, a few nights ago…when someone had taken photos of his pack shifting? Could this be a part of that?
He charged, bounding up the ridge. There was nothing there, where the animal had been, but a snarl at his flank had him whipping his head around to see it there. He registered another to the left of him and risked taking his eyes off the first to check. Yeah, a pair of them, penning him in. A pair of jackals, one black-backed, both lean, mean and dangerous.
They didn’t look right to Casey, and not just because he was used to coywolves, and not smaller, thinner animals with pointed ears and teeth and narrowed eyes. No, it was more they didn’t smell right, either. But he didn’t have time to think about that before the first one snapped at his side.
Instinct set in, and Casey was ready to fight. Even if these creatures were sick or diseased and their bite could bring problems, he was an alpha, and didn’t back down. He lifted his head to howl a challenge, but the second his muzzle was in the air, both jackals charged him, bowling him over and down the other side of the ridge.
The drop was steep, and Casey tumbled over and over once more, trying to get his legs under him. He let his momentum carry him downward—any animal on higher ground had the advantage. There was no point him bounding up to them. He’d decide what to do once he was on level terrain once more. Like now. The hill finished in a patch of green vegetation, providing a soft landing.
The plants had purple flowers and rounded leaves, and weren’t any he was immediately familiar with, and yet he’d run all over the county. He stuck his face in and sniffed, then shivered, clawing at his muzzle when he felt nauseous.Wolfsbane.He’d only seen pictures or video images of theplant so it wasn’t surprising he hadn’t recognized it right away, especially as it wasn’t native here.Wolfsbane and I’m a wolf.
He choked, his airway closing. The plant was deadly to his species and the jackals racing down from the ridge to him, who avoided it, keeping to its outsides and penning him in its midst. No, they weren’t jackals, he sensed. Jackalshifters. And chasing him. He ran, prey for once, weak and reactive, not strong, proactive predator. Was this what they’d done to Greg, chased him to get him where they wanted him? In that case, where did they want Casey? He tried to shift and couldn’t, the toxin preventing him. The jackals swerved, making him change course but remain inside the deadly plants.
He didn’t get far from the ridge when the ground gave way and he fell, scrambling and clawing at the air, then the sides, but it didn’t stop his descent into the pit that had been dug…A trap.
The impact slammed the air from his lungs. Pain rippled outward, sparking through the bond, and for one desperate second he clung to the thread that tied him to Rhett—sent one word through it like a flare:help.
“Casey!” Rhett hissed again, after his hurrying figure. “You say I’m a coward, and you’re the one high-tailin’ it outta here!Casey!”
