Page 25 of Feral

I heardthe clank of metal hitting metal as I crept through the dark and a blast of satisfaction ran through me. My instincts had been right to come out here at night. They never failed me.

Night goggles in place to help me see in the moonless sky—thanks to the DEAs fancy supply closet—I moved forward in a crouch, dressed in black with black smudges on my face to mute the glow of my pale skin. I had my Glock with me this time. And a large hunting knife. And an infrared camera to get evidence.

Markle was moving something.

At night.

In the dark.

And somehow, I seriously doubted it was just cattle although that was what I was seeing through the goggles being loaded into a truck.

This was my favorite part of the job—the solo surveillance work. I liked it far better than using my femininity to milk a guy for information. Or boring desk research. I enjoyed the risk of it. The skill and physical prowess required to stay quiet, blend in. While I’d never hunted animals, there was definitely a hunter in me. Stalking my prey out here in the dark, while breathing the cool mountain air, made me feel alive.

I slipped forward, through the fence and onto Markle’s property. I stayed low, near the telephone line. There wasn’t much to hide behind, but I could always drop to my belly in the tall grass if I needed to.

There. I heard the clank again and the soft low of a cow. When I got close enough to see better, I crouched and took out the camera, adjusting the telescope lens to use it like binoculars.

It was a cattle trailer, and indeed, the cattle were in the chute ready to be loaded, but Markle was loading a few crates into the back. I snapped a dozen photos, switched to the non-infrared setting and clicked some more. My pulse raced. I had to get down there and find out what was in those crates. I crouch-ran forward, squatted, took some more photos.

A man started loading the cattle. By the time I got close enough, he’d shut the back gate on the trailer and climbed in the driver’s seat. The engine of the truck rumbled to life and pulled away from the cattle chute and down the dirt drive.

Shit!

I took a risk and darted forward faster, as if I might miraculously catch sight of something else before it left. It was a typical livestock hauler. An eighteen wheeler with a metal slatted cargo area that I guessed by weight, not number of animals. I guessed Markle had loaded about five cows after I put on my goggles, the cover he needed to keep from being looked at too closely.

Realizing it was pointless to follow, I squatted again and took pictures of it leaving, getting a close up of the plate, the driver and each open window of the trailer.

He had to be moving drugs. Why else would he load up at night? Sure, it was hot, but I lived in Phoenix.Thatwas hot.

I’d just expected more—a larger shipment, multiple trucks. Something obvious.

Maybe this was part of the genius of the operation—just one cow trailer at a time across the border to Canada. Nothing big enough to raise suspicion. I’d have to call my boss to have the plate checked at the border, to confirm that was the true destination. It wouldn’t be stopped. We needed to arrest the source, not the specific driver.

I’d have to come back every night to see how often this happened. Fortunately, I hadn’t had to kick Rob out of my bed to come here tonight. That would’ve been hard to explain away. He’d been pissed I’d gone out with Markle. I could only imagine what he’d do if he found out anything else.

I needed to figure this out. It was my job, and that was why I was here.

I wanted to get inside that barn and other outbuildings to search for drugs or evidence of drugs. But that was highly risky, and if Rob got a whiff of it, not only would he learn the truth, but he’d be pissed as hell. I sighed, realized I was thinking about the hot neighbor too much, worried about his reaction to my job and the case. My body heated at what I’d done earlier with him. I clenched my bottom, remembering how big he’d been, how he’d actually fit. That was why I was sore, even now hours later.

But I had to focus on my reason for being in Cooper Valley. I’d seen the cases, the animal hauler. I knew how they were leaving, but how were they arriving at Markle’s property? The same way? Were the cows grazing his pasture rotating cattle, brought in to hide the incoming drugs and shipped out to do the same?

I didn’t want to blow my cover by pushing things. I’d only had one date with Markle, and if I moved too fast, I’d end up in his bed or possibly dead. I wasn’t sure which was worse. I had to have patience until I had real evidence that could be used against Markle and Murrieta. To put them away for life.

I lay down in the long prairie grass to see if anything else happened, but it went dark and quiet. With my goggles, I watched a few of the guys head in the direction of the barn where I assumed there was some kind of bunk house. Markle headed to his fancy ranch house. I took off the goggles and watched lights go on and off in the house, following his path to bed. After an hour of waiting, the light in—I assumed—his bedroom went out. I gave up the watch and went back to report to Vaughn.

He’d appreciate the photos, but that wasn’t enough to bring in a team to make an arrest. I’d need more evidence than that to crack this case. When I did, I’d see Markle and Murrieta behind bars. I’d get that promotion and a new case, far from Cooper Valley, Montana. Two days ago, that was what I wanted. Now? I had no idea why I was questioning the plan.

Yeah, I did. It was a brawny cowboy with a big dick who’d proved he knew how to use it.

13

ROB

Growing up,having a wolf inside me had never been an issue. It was like having a weird friend always with you, whether it was to get you in trouble or to pull you from it. For me and Boyd and Colton, even Clint, too, it had been both. We’d also helped each other along with the good and the bad. Then we’d learned how to shift, to let our wolves out. To run.

Then our wolves had started to prod us toward finding our mate, letting it be known as a sadness, a frustration, aneed.I knew how that felt. I probably had the crankiest wolf out of the four of us. Clint was now in second place. As for Boyd and Colton, they’d found their mates, and their wolves were calm. Happy. Settled. Hell, sated.

I tested the water in the shower, then stepped under the spray. I was sated. What guy wouldn’t be after what Natalie and I did the day before. I’d found my mate. My wolf had scented her and let it be known no one else would do. Then I’d gotten her beneath me. Naked. I’d gotten in her as she submitted. The only thing I hadn’t done was bite her.