Page 15 of Coyote

I crossed my arms.

"The Javelinas will come after him. They'll come after the motorcycle. Mostly, they'll come because you embarrassed Zaroff in front of his people, and a man like that will put every one of us in the ground before he admits somebody made him look small."

"Let him come."

"No." Rafe's voice didn't rise. It didn't need to. "You don't go looking for him. You don't slip off after dark and decide to settle this yourself. You stay on Pae Saco land until we know what he plans to do."

"I can watch the fence."

"No, you can't. Not while you're watching John."

I huffed and looked away.

"John doesn't leave this land without two of ours beside him," Rafe said. "And that's for his protection. Not for the river, not for the road, not for anything. The motorcycle goes into the far equipment shed under a tarp until we check it over."

"It's mine."

"It is evidence with tusks wired to the handlebars."

"It can be both."

Rafe closed his eyes briefly.

Ransom covered a laugh with his fist.

John ran his thumb up the back of my neck, one pass over the top of my spine. "I don't want to bring this down on anybody here," he said.

"Little late for that," Ransom said.

I glared at him. "You're one to talk. It hasn't been a year since you flipped the whole ranch over for Winston. At least I didn't fall into bed with a sheriff I should've shot."

"That sheriff is half the reason no deputy came asking about four dead Javelinas last night."

Rafe lifted a hand. "Enough." He looked at John. "The Javelinas know your face. Until this dies down, you stay close. If anything feels wrong, you tell one of us. You don't handle it alone."

"I understand."

"You hear that?" Rafe asked me.

"I heard it."

"Hearing me and listening to me aren't the same thing."

"I said I heard."

Rafe sighed through his nose.

I leaned into John's arm and pressed my face against the thick muscle there. He smelled like sweat, river water, and clean gauze. Underneath it was the warm scent of him.

I wanted my teeth in him again.

"He's mine," I said. "I'm not asking if I can keep him. I'm telling everybody now so nobody acts surprised later. Anybody comes for him, they come through me."

Ransom made a small sound into his fist.

I showed him my teeth.

Rafe pushed his chair back. "Then it's settled. John stays. Coyote behaves."