Page 20 of Rough

Markle glanced down at the twenty-year old and spluttered in anger. “I saw prints on my ride over here.”

“Onyourproperty?” Levi asked in disbelief because none of us would’ve run on a human’s land.

Rob shot Levi a look because his question was the wrong one to ask. Our story was that there were no wolves not that wolves hadn’t been on Markle’s property.

“Probably a dog’s,” I offered, to cover the mistake. “Our border collie might have ventured over your way. I think there’s a bitch in heat down the road he’s been howling to get at.”

Markle shook his head. “It’s a wolf. I came here to let you know because you have cattle, too. We need to organize a party and hunt the thing, or he’s going to cull both our herds.”

Levi let out a low growl beside me. I elbowed him in the ribs.

“I don’t think that’s necessary.” I jumped off the fence and sauntered over to the asshole, turning on my charm. I tipped my hat back and looked up at him, absently patting his animal’s sweaty neck. “But we’ll keep an eye out. If we see any signs of wolf, we’ll let you know.”

Markle frowned at me. “Who are you?”

“That’s Boyd, my younger brother,” Rob said, stalking over to stand beside me. Even though I’d grown up and left the ranch, stood shoulder to shoulder in height, he still thought he needed to protect me.

“The rodeo champ,” Markle commented, studying me in a different light. It was as if I had value, if only for being famous. “I’ve heard of you.”

I wasn’t surprised. It was a small town, and there wasn't much to talk about. The fact that the nation’s champion bull rider came from Cooper Valley was a source of pride for the human locals. The ones who didn’t know there was no real reason to be impressed because I had nothing to fear from a pissed off bull. I actually had to hold myself back, or I’d give away that there was something very different about me. I’d been fine with it for a while, back when I was young and cocky. Well, cockier than I was now. It lost its appeal pretty fast when there was no goal besides having fun. Sure, the money was great, but my life had been… shallow. Just like the women I’d fucked.

I had a different goal now, and she wasn’t shallow at all.

I tipped my hat. “Nice to meet you.”

He scowled like the feeling wasn’t mutual. Which was fine since I’d lied through my teeth, anyway. He turned his attention back to Rob. “We need to hunt this wolf. Now. I’m about to double the size of my ranch and—”

“What do you mean double?” Rob interrupted.

“I’ve got an offer in on the Shefield property. Old Shefield left it to a young niece who has no interest in ranching. From what the Realtor said, she’s still in college and most likely won’t be able to cover the cost of the taxes to keep the place. She’ll take my offer. And then I’m going to double my herd.”

I detected another growl from one of the guys behind us.

If I weren’t standing so close, I’d be growling too. I hadn’t taken much interest in Wolf Ranch since I’d been gone, but I sure as hell felt strongly about this. No fucking way we wanted Markle to be our next-door neighbor. Having one property between us was going to be bad enough, especially not with his stance on wolves.

We had to make sure that deal fell through.

“Well, if you guys won’t track some wolves with me, I’ll rustle up some hunters at Cody’s tonight,” Markle said, scanning all of us. We weren’t all here, but there were six of us, and we were all big. None of us liked him. He had to sense that, or he was as dumb as a nail in a fence post.

“Keep off this property, or we’re going to have a problem,” Rob growled. Yeah, Markle’d be pretty dumb to not miss his lack of welcome either.

Markle tensed, his lower jaw jutting out. “If I track the wolf over here, you’re damn right I’m going to follow it to your property.”

A low, collective growl rippled through the pack, every shifter suddenly stepping forward to flank their alpha and form a united front. This was the Wolf pack. No one fucked with us. We could take this one guy out, finish him and bury him in the back forty for no one to find for fifty years. Sadly, he’d probably be missed, maybe by his mother, and we didn’t need anyone else snooping around.

“No. You won’t.” There was no mistaking the menace in Rob’s voice.

Markle glared at Rob for a long moment, but there was nothing he could do. With an angry scoff, he yanked the reins to turn his horse around, then kicked its ribs and rode off without another word.

“Fucking dick,” I muttered as soon as I deemed him out of earshot.

“You boys see what you can find out about those prints,” Rob ordered.

“I’ll bet they don’t exist,” Levi said. “You think it’s true about Shefield’s place? We can’t have that asshole next door.” He took his hat off, scratched the back of his neck, then settled it back in place.

Rob shook his head. “I sure as fuck hope not.” He looked at me. “You see if you can find anything out about it. Go to Cody’s tonight, too. He seemed to like you the best.”

I huffed at that. Totally doubtful, but I could use my fame to my advantage, at least with Markle.