Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 25072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 125(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 125(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
I swallow hard as I raise my chin, not breaking eye contact with him. He may have my family under his spell, but I’m not fooled. And I’m not intimidated.
“I work my ass off on this farm and you don’t pay me a cent.”
He grins as he shifts his bottom jaw from side to side, clearly amused with me. I don’t think he’s had a lot of people stand up to him in his life.
“Fine. Then you’re going to do it because I’m ordering you to do it you little cunt.”
I look over at my mother to see if she’s hearing this, but she’s suddenly busy and extremely focused on filling her bucket with more feed. Typical.
I squeeze the shovel, wanting so badly to hit him across the face with it.
He seems to read it on my face because he grins as he looks down at the shovel. “Don’t be stupid. This is important.”
This is the first time Rhys has needed something from me and I’m definitely going to take advantage of it.
“Leave Oliver out of whatever you’re planning with that bear shifter and I’ll do it,” I say, staring up at him with defiance.
He slowly crosses his arms over his chest as he looks down at me with narrowed eyes. “You bargaining with me?”
“Yes.”
We stare at each other for a long tense moment and then he rolls his eyes. “Fine. He’ll probably just get in the way and fuck it up anyway. Come with me. Now.”
He steps over the fence and I glance at my mother as I follow him out. She’s on her knees in the mud, opening a bag of feed and I shake my head as I wonder how she let herself get to this point.
We head outside and I have to jog to keep up with his long quick strides.
“What do you need me to do?”
He grabs a paper out of his pocket and hands it to me.
“Bowen Ranch?” I say as I read it. There’s an address too. “What’s this?”
“That’s where you’re going,” he says. “Go there and act like you’re applying for a job.”
“What job?”
He stops with a frustrated huff of breath. “It doesn’t matter what job! There’s no job. I need you to look around and see how many shifters live on the ranch. What kind of animals we’re dealing with.”
I suck in a breath when I look at the parking lot and see three new pickup trucks parked there. It’s not the trucks that are surprising, it’s the number of tigers prowling around them. There are seven or eight huge tigers, most I’ve never seen before, snarling and snapping at each other as they lurk around the trucks.
“Who are those shifters?” I ask as a horrible feeling sinks into my gut.
“Friends from upstate,” he says as he glances over his shoulder. “Don’t worry about them.”
My mother and my brother are on this ranch and those vicious cats look like they’re up to no good. Of course, I’m worried about them.
“Go to that ranch,” he says as he closes my hand over the paper. “And don’t mention anything about me or those guys. Ask for a job. Get a count on the number of grizzly bears that are there.”
“Grizzly bears?”
“Shifters,” he says with a roll of his eyes. “Can you tell the difference between a man and a shifter?”
“Yeah. If the dude is enormous, he’s a shifter. Obviously.”
He steps forward as his eyes darken. “Don’t get smart with me.”
I lean back as he gets in my face. He’s terrifying when he’s like this.
“Numbers, names, and general layout of the place,” he says in a fierce tone. “Now go, or I’ll feed your brother to those predators over there.”
I gulp as I watch one enormous tiger swipe another one.
Rhys steps back and looks me up and down, giving me cold shivers all over. “Go inside and try to make yourself look decent for once. You have ten minutes before I want that big ass off this ranch and on the road.”
He storms off toward the trucks as I grit my teeth and crumple the paper in my fist, seething.
“See?” my mother says as she walks out of the barn and stands beside me. “He’s not so bad.”
I can’t even.
I have to get out of here for good.
Chapter Two
Logan
“Come on,” I grunt as I slap Zeus’ ass, making him run faster than I’ve ever seen him run before. He flies down the hill, hooves slamming into the ground as I bounce on his back, gripping the reins with one hand and holding my black cowboy hat down with the other.
“Get ‘em,” I grit through clenched teeth as the pack of wolves flee before us. They separate like a river running around rocks as they sprint in different directions. Some disappear into the forest to the left, others run down the hill to the right.