Perfect Tales of the Were - Bianca D'Arc Page 0,17

both up for life.” Jones practically slobbered over his words, the greed was so thick in them.

It was clear. They were hunting shifters. They’d set the scene with that staged sacrifice site, and Cody easily put two and two together. They were hoping the supposed animal sacrifices would attract shifter interest. Perhaps they’d thought using the outward trappings of what they thought a magic rite might look like would attract the prey they were after.

It had. Their stupid plan had worked—up to a point.

But the pair was going to learn the hard way that shifters weren’t just dumb animals. The shifters of Big Wolf weren’t stupid in either form.

Cody called Joe as soon as the two ranch hands had left the building. He watched them get in a ranch truck and head out in the direction of the back forty while he was dialing the phone.

“What’s up?” Joe answered. His voice was a bit raspy, and Cody realized he’d probably woken the Alpha up, but this was too important to wait. The Pack had to be warned.

“Sorry it’s so early,” Cody apologized first, then went on to explain what he’d just heard. Joe seemed to come more awake as the conversation progressed.

“Someone knows there are shifters in the area,” Joe said, his voice grim. “This talk of a bounty means there’s someone else out there, looking to bag a shifter. Not good.”

“If we can question Jones and Pepe, we could maybe find out who put up the bounty. Trace it back that way,” Cody thought aloud.

“Yeah,” Joe agreed. “We’ll have to do it that way, and Shane is best suited to interrogation. He has professional training in the art, and he’s done it before, many times.”

Cody hadn’t realized that, but it explained at least some of why Joe had been willing to bring in an outsider to be one of the Pack’s highest ranking lieutenants. Cody was starting to really like Shane. They had worked well together yesterday, and the more he saw of the other man, the more he respected him.

“I’ll call Shane as soon as we hang up and tell him to be on standby. You watch those two hands as closely as you can,” Joe instructed. “You see anything going down, you call Shane first. He’s best equipped to get there fast and render aid. Plus, he has the authority as sheriff behind him, which always helps when dealing with humans. He can arrest those two and do this all nice and legal, in the eyes of the world.” Joe sounded satisfied at that idea. “It sounds like we have until tomorrow night, but keep an eye out. They might change their plans if the situation changes.”

“Will do.” Cody ended the call just as the sun’s rays started hitting the pasture to the east. There was plenty of work to do today, and he best get on with it.

*

Cassandra rose with the dawn, showering and dressing with care as she watched out her bedroom window to see where the hands were. One of the trucks was already gone, which boded well. She’d talked to Rich and Emma last night and was told the ranch hands would be busy mending fences in the southern pasture all day while Cody would be tasked to stay up by the stables near the bunkhouse to look after the horses and accept an early morning delivery. Emma and her crew of carpenters would be working on the farthest barn today, so they wouldn’t be underfoot, either.

It was perfect. Only Cody would be in the area near the house today. It was a perfect opportunity.

She watched out the windows as the expected delivery truck showed up not long after everyone had come out of the bunkhouse and piled into their trucks, heading out for their various tasks. All except for Cody. He’d walked over to the stable and begun working with the horses, turning them out into the fields nearest the stable.

Cody went back into the stable after seeing all the livestock out. She knew he was probably cleaning up in there and getting things set up for the animals. She couldn’t help but think about him in there, all by himself, for the rest of the day.

Well…not if she had anything to say about it. Cody was going to have some company in the form of one very determined ranch owner.

Cassandra made her move a half hour later. She wore a tank top with thin little spaghetti straps and her tightest pair