Page 21 of Destined Prey (Wild Ones #1)

Chapter Seventeen

When Ben went home, he was not surprised in the least to find all his siblings in the living room, staring at him.

They were a nosy bunch, and he’d spent two days away from them, hardly ever leaving Jack’s bedroom.

Two days, and his place still smelled like them—coffee, motor oil, old leather—home pressing in around the new thing in his chest that answered only to Jack.

Casey stood. “I was hoping you were coming home sometime soon. You do have a business to run.”

Ben almost said I ran, just not from what mattered, but he swallowed it. No use sharpening edges that would cut the wrong people.

“No one called to tell me we had any vehicles in to work on.” The economy might have been picking up, but business at the shop had been slow for a while. If Ben hadn’t owned the shop outright, he’d have gone under a year and a half ago, not long after opening up his business.

“Well, Mrs. Lewis is coming in tomorrow for an oil change and tire rotation,” Casey said. “And yeah, we can take care of that, but…” He looked at Lacey, Emil, Robin and Anne. “Really? I’m gonna be the one that has to say it?”

“You’re the alpha, as you like to remind us every chance you get,” Robin snarked. “Have at it.”

The air shifted a notch, that quiet pressure Casey carried without trying. Ben’s muscles eased despite himself; gravity recognized gravity.

Casey sent Robin a stern look. “You need to work on that attitude.”

Robin rolled his eyes. “Yes, sir.”

“Don’t call me sir,” Casey began before waving Robin off. “Never mind. I’m not doing this with you. You, however,” he said to Ben. “We missed you, okay?”

Ben’s heart swelled with love for his family. “Aw, I’m glad I’m loved.”

“We have questions, too,” Lacey said. “Tell us about finding your destined mate. Alpha-doofus didn’t think that was something any of us needed to know was possible up until you got walloped by the Destinies. Or whatever makes that happen.”

Mate. The word still felt too big for his mouth and exactly right under his skin.

“The Destinies?” Anne laughed. “God, stop talking, Lacey. You’re gonna make me pee myself laughing.”

“Well, at least then you’d have an excuse for pissing yourself, unlike the other times,” Lacey retorted.

“I haven’t ever—”

“Twelve years old, and you dreamt you were on the toilet,” Lacey interrupted. “And we all remember that.”

“Can you two not start bickering so we can grill Ben?” Emil asked. “And Lacey, a lot of people piss the bed when they have dreams like that. Just watch it, because what goes around comes around.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lacey replied. “So, spill, Ben. What’s it like?”

Ben strode to the recliner and sat. There was no way they’d leave him alone until he answered at least a few questions. “It’s incredible. There’s this bond that’s almost instant, and you know that person is it, the One.”

Casey winced and wandered into the kitchen. “I’m going to see what we have for dinner.”

“Did he get hurt?” Ben asked the others.

“I’m fine,” Casey called back over his shoulder. “Just hungry.”

“We could go run and hunt tonight,” Robin suggested. “We haven’t since the fight.”

Ben caught the micro-winces Casey tried to hide; the alpha was running hot and frayed at the edges. It made Ben itch to get everyone under the trees, let the moon pull the poison out.

“We’ll see,” Casey replied.

Ben wondered if Casey was telling the truth, or if he was hiding something.

He wondered what had happened after he and Jack left the shop, leaving Rhett and Casey there together.

Ben hadn’t seen Rhett for more than a few minutes over the past two days.

He’d seemed surly, but as far as Ben knew, that was just Rhett being himself.

Maybe Casey needed a good run.

“What’s the bond like?” That question came from Robin. For once, he didn’t sound sullen or bitchy.

“It’s amazing, like nothing I could have imagined.

Scary, too, because you feel someone else in your head.

You feel their thoughts and hopes and emotions, and at first, maybe you can’t tell that’s what it is.

I didn’t know. There was just this buzzing, bits of gibberish stuff happening.

We’re working on being open to each other. ”

“Can you shut it off?” Anne asked. “Because frankly, that seems intrusive and not something I’d ever want to have happen. The idea of someone else being in my head—just, no.”

Ben didn’t argue with her. He supposed there were plenty of people who wouldn’t want such a bond.

“I was able to block him, yes. I don’t think it’s necessary, though.

Jack isn’t going to go prying around in my head.

Maybe it’s a mate thing, a compulsion not to violate one’s mate.

” Which made sense, if mates were to cherish one another.

A mental violation would be as bad, at least, as a physical one.

“It’s about respect, and trust. That’s my take on it, anyway.

I wish there was someone else I could ask about it, someone else who had found their destined mate. ”

Robin’s features pinched into one of irritation. “Well, I guess as rare as it is, we’ll all have to just watch you with your destined mate and wonder why it didn’t happen to any of us.”

“Geez, Rob, could you be any more of a selfish asshole?” Lacey asked, swatting his arm.

Robin yelped and swatted her back. “Stop hitting me! And I never said I wouldn’t be happy for them, for fuck’s sake!”

“Language!” Casey called from the kitchen.

Robin gave another eye roll. “Anyway. I am glad Ben found his destined mate. I’m just jealous because I’ll never find mine. And who else would put up with my moody ass?”

“Robin,” Casey snapped, still in the other room.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. You sure are being picky about us cussing lately,” Robin said. “What gives?”

Casey didn’t answer, but Ben was reminded of Casey and Rhett’s taut confrontation in the auto shop.

He didn’t dwell on it, however, since his brothers and sisters kept asking him questions, then pushing him to invite Jack and Rhett to dinner the coming weekend. Since it was Monday, Ben thought he could swing an invite.

“I don’t think Rhett will come. Him and Casey hate each other.”

A loud clang came from the kitchen.

“Oh, tell us what happened!” Lacey leaned forward, rubbing her hands together, a devious look on her face.

“Gimme all the dirt so I can harass Casey about it. I just knew something went down between them. He was angrier than a wolf with a thorn in its paw when he came home that night he met you at the shop.”

Casey had come home at night? Ben tried to think of when he and Jack had seen Rhett that night, but they’d been too tied up in each other to pay attention to anything else. Besides, Casey could have gone any number of places after leaving the shop.

“Nothing much to tell—they just didn’t like each other,” Ben explained, even though there had been more to it than that.

“Eh. What would you expect from getting two older brothers together, each protective and snarly over their little bros?” Anne stood, then stretched until her back popped.

“Ah, God, that felt good! We really need to shift and run soon. Staying in my human skin for more than a few days at a time makes my bones ache.” His beast bumped the back of his ribs in agreement, impatient and pleased at the promise.

“Tonight, maybe,” Ben said, his coywolf excited about the opportunity just as the human part of him was.

“We can go check out the Double T, make sure the other shifters are staying away.” Emil stood as well. “Maybe they’ve finally decided to quit screwing with ranchers’ herds around here. We should check the ranch beside it, too.”

“We do it clean,” Ben said. “No spooking stock, no sign left behind.” Pack rules said don’t shit where you eat; Ben added don’t scare the people you’re trying to protect.

“Edward Johnson’s ranch, you mean,” Lacey clarified. “Or were you talking about the Lone Pine, to the west of the Double T?”

“Yes.” Emil grinned. “We need a really good run. Think we can cover all three ranches in one night?”

“Easy-peasy,” Anne claimed while Robin groaned. She ignored him. “We’re coywolves, after all, not puny wolves or coyotes. I bet the other shifters have backed down. They had no call to show up here anyway.”

Ben didn’t rise to the bait. Pride got animals killed; discipline kept families breathing.

He agreed with that, but with Anne’s claim, the same question that always bothered him came right back into the forefront of his mind—why had the wolf and coyote shifters started causing trouble in the area in the past year or so?

Territory didn’t just heat up for no reason.

Either someone new was calling shots… or someone old had decided coywolves weren’t allowed to exist here anymore.

It shouldn’t have been possible to miss someone he barely knew, yet Jack did, very much.

He supposed it was the whole being-destined-mates thing.

Ben had only been gone for a few hours, and Jack was itching to see him again.

It wasn’t a hollow ache. More like a tug at the sternum, gentle but insistent, that said you’re oriented this way now.

Considering that Jack was pleasantly sore all over, having had more sex in the past two days than he’d had in months combined, he really did need to relax and take a break. Ben had family—pack—to tend to or check in with. Jack was curious about Ben’s family and how a pack worked.

And if he could become a shifter, though whether or not he’d want to was an entirely different issue.

When it came down to it, he and Ben had a lot of things to discuss still. He supposed, like all couples, they had to learn about each other, and even with the bond, that would take time. A lifetime, since people grew and changed as they aged.

“You day-dreaming again?”