Page 18 of Destined Prey (Wild Ones #1)

Ben pulled into the parking lot, taking up his usual place around the back.

Inside, his coywolf clamored to be out, to run and sniff and lick Jack, to mark him with scent—which made Ben recoil until he realized what his coywolf meant by that last one, rubbing his muzzle all over Jack’s face and neck to spread Ben’s scent and make Jack as his own.

“Not a good idea, killer,” he muttered to his beast. “You freaked me out, and you’re a part of me.” Jack would likely run for the hills if Ben shifted and tried to rub on him. And then there would be Rhett to deal with.

Ben shut the truck off and pulled his key from the ignition. He told himself to grow a pair, then unbuckled his seatbelt, and got out. He’d just slammed the door when Jack and Rhett appeared, walking around to the back of the shop.

Rhett looked angry and worried. Jack’s expression matched his brother’s, except, there in Jack’s eyes, Ben saw a glimmer of the same need he felt.

Already, Ben’s body was humming with arousal, his cock doing its best to rise.

He dragged in a breath through his nose, forcing the heat to settle lower, quieter.

Not here. Not with Rhett’s stare like a loaded gun.

Ben was glad he hadn’t tucked his T-shirt in, though it wasn’t long enough to cover his crotch.

Unless he tugged on the hem, which he promptly did.

He heard something rip but didn’t check to see what had happened.

“Jack,” Ben said, “Rhett.” He nodded in greeting.

Rhett narrowed his eyes at Ben. “What the fuck kind of bullshit lies are you telling my brother?” he snapped.

Ben heard Casey approaching from behind before Rhett and Jack glanced past Ben. He must have parked down the street or had Lacey or one of the others drop him off. Ben turned enough to see Casey strolling out of the alley.

Casey didn’t smile, and Ben could feel that subtle shift of power that Casey held, the one that declared him to be an alpha.

When it appeared around humans, it tended to make them uncomfortable, as prey would be around a predator.

It rolled off his brother like weather. Humans felt it as threat; shifters felt it as gravity.

Ben’s shoulders eased a fraction under the familiar pull.

Casey looked big and bad and every inch the alpha, at least to Ben. Automatically, Ben dipped his head, bowing it for his alpha, but watching him approach.

Casey walked up to him and brushed his fingertips over Ben’s nape. “It’s okay. I’m not mad at you.”

Ben raised his head. “Thanks.”

Casey smiled slightly, then it fell away as he looked toward Jack and Rhett. “Let’s take this discussion inside.”

It wasn’t a request, and Rhett bristled, scowling deeply. “Look here, I don’t—”

“Inside,” Casey repeated with more force. “Or you can both leave.”

Ben caught Jack’s scent as they moved—soap, coffee, a thread of adrenaline—and the edge of his panic smoothed like a hand over ruffled fur.

“Rhett,” Jack whispered. “Please?” Rhett growled wordlessly.

Casey tensed. Ben caught a whiff of something unfamiliar from his brother, a spicy, burnt scent he didn’t recognize.

Then Casey walked past him. “I have my keys.” All of Ben’s siblings had keys to the shop, just in case.

In case of what, he wasn’t certain, but it had seemed like a good idea when he had the keys made.

Ben followed Casey, casting a worried look at Jack. When he heard Jack and Rhett’s footsteps behind him, some of the tension eased in Ben. Jack wasn’t going to leave without giving them a chance. That was what it meant to Ben, at least. Jack had no reason to show up or to stay unless he wanted Ben.

Casey unlocked the door, opened it, then held it, gesturing for everyone else to enter.

Ben went inside and flipped the switch for the lights, then disengaged the alarm. “There’s a small waiting area, kind of a lounge or lobby area, I guess, if you would like to go in there?” he asked, glancing back at Jack.

Jack smiled just a bit, but it made Ben’s heart race to see it.

“Just tell me what the hell—” Rhett began, only to stop when Casey slammed the door.

Casey locked it, then strode past them. “The office will do.”

The office was smaller, but it did have a nice little sofa in it, for when one of them wanted to nap or relax.

The silence as they all made their way to the office was getting on Ben’s nerves. He wanted to slow down and walk with Jack. He’d thought they needed time apart to think. Now he just wanted to touch Jack, to be assured that they would give whatever it was between them a chance.

Once again, Casey held the door open for everyone, then walked over to the desk and leaned a hip against the front of it. Ben joined him, though the inner tug to go to Jack was almost irresistible.

“What kind of bullshit games are you two playing?” Rhett demanded right off the bat. “I’ve seen you around,” he added, pointing to Casey. “Do you know what kind of crazy shit he”—Rhett jabbed his finger in Ben’s direction—“is spewing?”

Casey placed one hand on Ben’s shoulder. “He’s my brother, and a pack member.”

“Oh Jesus fucking Christ, you too?” Rhett exclaimed, sounding exasperated. “Are you both just fucking crazy?”

Casey looked Rhett up and down, a slow, bold perusal that was all but telling Rhett that Casey wanted to fuck him.

“I don’t know about crazy, but we are shifters, and before you ask, we’ve never harmed any cattle, sheep, or any other rancher’s herd, ever.

You don’t shit where you eat, and we aren’t wild animals.

We hunt deer and rabbits, but lately, there’s been problems.”

Rhett had begun shaking his head halfway through that. “I don’t believe this. I can’t—”

Casey stood up straight and began to unbutton his shirt. “Fine. So if you’re wrong, and I shift, what do I get? I don’t show myself for free.”

“You’re fucking insane,” Rhett snapped.

“And you cuss too much.” Casey parted his shirt, then slid it off. He had on a white tank top. “I don’t like it.”

Jack snorted, then covered his mouth with his hands when Rhett glared at him.

Rhett turned that angry look back to Casey. “I don’t give a flying fuck what you like! What is wrong with you?”

Casey’s lips quirked. “I want to fuck you.” Then he took his tank top off and dropped it on the desk. “That’s what’s wrong with me. It’d figure I’d be turned on by a foul-mouthed, short-tempered, narrow-minded hick.”

“Hey!” Rhett fisted his hands, then he took a deep breath and unclenched them. “You’re trying to piss me off. I’m already mad, asshole.”

Casey glanced at Ben. “Aren’t you going to shift?

” Ben quickly began taking off his clothes.

Rhett didn’t say another word. Jack’s attention was solely on Ben, and it was turning Ben on despite his attempts to get his cock under control.

When he removed his pants and boxers, Casey laughed.

Embarrassment flickered, gone just as quick when Jack’s gaze darkened.

The wanting in those green eyes steadied Ben more than pride ever could.

“That’s not going to be comfortable to shift with.”

Ben flipped Casey off. Casey had reined in the alpha mode and was now simply his brother.

Ben was nude first. He kept his focus on Jack, who was visually devouring him. Ben liked that, a lot.

Casey chuckled, then someone gasped. Ben was too entranced by his mate—his mate—to care who it was.

“Mate?” he heard Jack ask in his head.

Ben let the wall drop the rest of the way, not pushing, just opening, and the relief of being known washed through him, clean and terrifying.

He didn’t let that wall he’d put up earlier fall back into place. He’d had it destroyed by Jack’s earlier pleas to him, and he was done trying to hide from him.

“Yes.” And he opened up, let Jack see what Casey had told him. It wasn’t as frightening as he had thought such a thing would be, letting Jack in. Jack didn’t pry, didn’t push. He took only what Ben offered.

“We’re supposed to be together?” Jack asked out loud.

“What?” Rhett asked.

Casey called Rhett’s name. “Pay attention, boy.”

Rhett started to lunge at Casey. Jack caught him, wrapping both arms around Rhett. “Don’t,” Jack said.

Casey smirked. “Better listen to your brother.”

Ben had no idea why Casey was goading Rhett, but he most definitely was. And Rhett was falling for it, reacting to Casey’s pokes and prods.

Casey kept staring at Rhett, even when he declared, “Now.”

Ben shifted on command. One second he was a man, then he wasn’t, though he was still cognizant of everything in the way a human would be.

Sometimes he gave his beast full rein, but usually he was more human than not in any form.

It was one of the abilities that kept shifters alive and hidden from human society.

Casey was right beside him, bigger, scarier, his black fur streaked with silver and brown. The shift left Ben thrumming—scents bright, sounds crisp, Jack’s heartbeat distinct even over Rhett’s noise. He planted his paws and held his ground.

Rhett was cussing steadily as he stumbled back toward the door. Casey growled and trotted over to stand against the door, blocking Rhett’s escape.

“No. This isn’t fucking possible,” Rhett mumbled, scampering away from Casey. “No fucking way.”

Jack tried to touch Rhett, but Rhett jerked away. “Rhett, I’m not going to hurt you.”

Rhett shook his head. “You brought this crazy shit into my life.”

Ben’s hackles twitched, but Jack’s look cut him off at the root. Protect, don’t provoke. He swallowed the growl.

Jack recoiled. Ben growled, but one disapproving look from Jack and he shut up.

Casey shook out his coat and yipped, which was as close to a laugh as he could clearly make in his current form.

Rhett stopped backing away and reached for Jack. “I’m sorry. That was a shitty thing for me to say. I…I just…I—”

Jack put his arms around Rhett, this time in a gentle hug. “I know. I still can’t grasp it, but it’s true. They’re real. And Ben is… Ben is my mate. I’m his mate. Something, somehow, we belong together.”

Rhett nudged Jack back a few inches. “You can’t know that. You just met him a few days ago.”

Ben shifted back into his human form.

Rhett swayed, then slapped a hand to the wall closest to him. “That’s so fucked up.”

“How?” Ben asked him. “Maybe you’re the fucked-up one.”

Casey slowly began to approach Rhett. Rhett pushed Jack behind him.

“I’m not scared of you.” Casey could have bared his teeth or snarled, done something to add to his already intimidating presence.

He didn’t. Instead, he kept moving at what was, for him, a snail’s pace, until he was only inches away from Rhett.

Then he moved suddenly, shoving his nose right against Rhett’s crotch.

Rhett yelped and shoved his hand between Casey’s nose and his groin. “Stop it! Bad dog! Coywolf! Whatever, you asshole, you suck!”

Casey snuffled and shifted, then he had his face right where his muzzle had been. He glanced up at Rhett. “As it happens, I do suck.”

Rhett shoved Casey back, slapping a hand to Casey’s forehead and sending him sprawling on his ass. “Get the fuck away from me. I wouldn’t let you touch me.”

Casey looked more amused than anything else, which surprised the hell out of Ben.

“You would, and you will.” Casey stood, then walked back to his clothes. “So now you know our secret. Are you going to expose us, and see to it that we’re killed?”

“Rhett,” Jack whispered. “No.”

Rhett looked from Casey to Ben, then to Jack. “You want him? Really?”

“I think it’s more than want, Rhett,” Jack explained. “There’s this thing called mates, and…”

Ben listened while Jack explained, though Ben did get dressed. He stood by Casey as Jack and Rhett spoke in low, urgent tones. Ben heard every word. He thought most of Rhett’s problem with them was that he thought Casey was an asshole. And he hated predators, threats to his herd.

“We can protect them,” Ben pointed out when he heard Rhett reiterate that concern.

Rhett huffed and looked at him. “We were having a private conversation.”

“No such thing with two shifters in the room,” Casey said. “Our senses are much better, more acute, than any human’s ever will be. Anyway, Ben’s right. We won’t let anyone hurt our pack.”

“I’m not your pack,” Rhett all but snarled. “I’m no one’s property.”

Casey gave a one-shouldered shrug. “Whatever, but Jack is one of us now, because Ben is pack, so our protection extends to him, of course. Though I suppose he could move into our home.”

“This is moving really fast,” Jack said, holding up one hand. “I don’t think we need to be deciding anything about us living together yet.”

“No shit. Stop pushing him.” Rhett pointed at Ben. “You better not hurt him.”

Ben couldn’t begrudge Rhett that protectiveness. “I won’t.”

“I’m standing right here, and I’m an adult.” Jack waved. “Don’t talk about me like I’m three.”

Ben held out his hand to Jack. “I’m sorry. I understand older brothers, though. Imagine living with mine.”

Humor softened the raw edge in him. He needed Jack to see the man, not just the beast or the mistake.

“No fucking way,” Rhett muttered.

Jack slipped his hand into Ben’s. Ben could get lost staring into Jack’s pretty green eyes. Would have, if Rhett and Casey hadn’t started bickering.

“Come with me?” Ben asked, not wanting to be pushy, but he really needed some alone time with Jack.

“Yes.” He gestured to Rhett and Casey. “Are they safe to leave alone?”

“Casey won’t hurt him,” Ben assured Jack. “Rhett can’t really hurt Casey, either.”

“Go,” Rhett said, folding his arms over his chest. “I’m not scared of this asshole.”

Casey’s smile was purely predatory.

Ben led Jack from the office. “Can we go back to the ranch?” Home wasn’t a place right now; it was wherever Jack would still meet his hand halfway. When Jack’s fingers tightened, Ben finally took a full breath.

Jack squeezed his hand. “Definitely.”