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His father’s sage words rang through him, and he knew that he was reaching the end of his patience, but what else was there to do? The idea of giving up the search for his mate was inconceivable. He let out a sigh and grasped his father’s hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze to let him know that he understood.

  Returning to his desk, he was about to ask his father for the disk containing Mrs O’Neily’s spreadsheets when his cell phone went off. He kept two with him at all times. His private phone, which only his parents and Betas had access to, and one the rest of the clan was directed to use to contact him. The caller ID on his private line identified Nick, his Beta and long-time friend, and he answered it immediately, knowing the man only used this line for business.

  “Nick, what’s up?”

  “I was just out here surveying Mrs O’Neily’s lands for you and got pulled into a conversation with Wiley and Buckland and they’ve all expressed concern over the whereabouts of Stephen McCain. You remember him?”

  Michael knew instantly the man he was referring to. Stephen had been caught a few times transporting illegal drugs to other clans but they had never been able to convict him of selling them. Most clans tended to live on the outskirts of human society, if not completely away from it. Some members saw this as an opportunity to take advantage of the privacy and land to grow drugs and sell them to humans or other clan members to make a profit.

  Michael was far from fond of Stephen, but the man was still a member of his community, and he was therefore responsible for his wellbeing.

  “Yeah, I remember him. What has he gotten himself into this time?”

  Nick grunted. “Well, that’s just it. No one knows. Buckland and Wiley remarked that they haven’t seen him in almost a week, and Mrs O’Neily is telling me that he seemed pretty scared the last time she saw him. Thought someone might be after him or something.”

  Michael barely sucked in the sarcastic remark dancing on the tip of his tongue before taking a breath and saying, “Fine. Have you checked out his place yet?”

  “Yeah. No forced entries and nothing out of the ordinary inside, if you take into account the man’s disgusting living habits. Do you know I had to walk through weeks-old, half-filled pizza boxes and underwear? Seriously, man, if you don’t enforce a law against that kind of nasty, sick, disgusting…”

  “I get the picture,” Michael cut him off before he could actually get the full picture from Nick’s descriptions.

  Nick grunted again and grudgingly continued with his report. “Well, anyway, it looks like the guy took off. I don’t think this is one of his usual drug-run attempts, though, because his cell phone, stash, and car are still there. Much as I hate to admit it, I think our little criminal might have finally gotten into more trouble than he could handle.”

  Michael glanced over at his father, knowing he had heard every word of the conversation. His dad had a tight-lipped, grim expression on his face and nodded, telling Michael that this situation did indeed call for a search party. He squeezed his eyes shut, knowing that he couldn’t put off this search. He’d already been neglecting some of his duties as Alpha in his search for his mate. He had to take care of the business at hand first.

  “Call Joseph. We’ll meet in one hour at Stephen’s apartment to pick up his trail. Have Dennis question anyone else Stephen might have talked to or been around before he left. See if he can’t dig up anything on our favourite criminal.” Michael hung up the phone after getting Nick’s customary grunt of assent, then turned back to his dad. There was a look of apprehension on his face that made Michael nervous. “What are you thinking?”

  “I’ve just got a strange feeling about this hunt.” Sam lived by his instincts, just as he had taught him to do, so if his father was having misgivings about the situation, Michael wasn’t about to ignore them. “Do what you have to do, but I want you to be careful on this one.” He dropped the CD on his desk and stood up.

  Sam made sure to catch his son’s gaze to emphasise his point. “Contact me in no more than two days. After that, I’ll send out my own search party.”

  His father was out of his office and closing the front door to his house before he could question his cryptic warning. Michael was a seasoned tracker and fighter, as were all three of his Betas. They had learnt from the best, having had all of their fathers as trainers and Sam’s personal Betas as instructors as well, so for his father to warn him about a simple find-and-recovery mission didn’t bode well for him or his men.

  * * * *

  “Jade! You done with them horses yet?”

  Kaden had long since become used to responding to the name Jade, which he had given himself in order to keep his identity hidden. He cringed at the rough, Texan accent of Jim, one of the seasonal stable hands.

  He leaned in to the firm flank of Mockingbird, wanting to disappear into her strong muscles and absorb some of the mare’s strength into his own body, but he knew that was impossible. Just as he knew that Jim wouldn’t stop harassing him until he was acknowledged.

  Kaden pushed away from Mockingbird’s quivering flesh, not wanting more of his nervousness to be projected into the horse’s gentle being, and filled her bail with oats before exiting her stall.

  He kept his head lowered, hoping that by some miracle Jim wouldn’t notice him, and continued on to the front of the stable house to oil the harnesses and saddles. By this time, the rest of the workers had gathered in the main house for the evening meal.

  The swagger of Jim’s footsteps behind him was unmistakable and he tensed his body against the unwanted advances he knew were coming.

  Without fail, he felt Jim’s body crash into his from behind, forcing him against the hardwood planks lining the tack room of the stable. The acceleration of his breathing threatened hyperventilation, but he kept that in check the way he always did, reminding himself that this was nowhere near the worst of his experiences.

  The hard length of Jim’s cock pressed against his buttocks, ratcheting his fear up another notch.

  “I asked you a question, boy.”

  Kaden felt bile rise as Jim’s chew-laced breath fanned over his neck. The man had never been so bold before, keeping his innuendos and advances to gropes and lewd comments in the past.

  Kaden let his body go pliant and looked to his right, searching for some object he could use in his defence, thankful that none of the man’s bare skin was touching his, yet.

  Jim pressed his body closer, swivelling his hips and massaging his cock against Kaden’s backside in anticipation of his plans, which Kaden had no delusions about. The man had been threatening to take him since Kaden had first arrived at the ranch almost a year ago, but Jim was only seasonal whereas Kaden was a full-time employee. The season was about to end, which meant that this was probably Jim’s last opportunity to make good on his promises.

  Kaden seized what little courage he had and veered to his left. Grabbing the nearest harness hanging from the hooks on the wall he was pressed against, he used his momentum to swing it towards the face of his assailant. Jim, however, was surprisingly more agile than he had given the man credit for, and dodged the makeshift weapon, reciprocating with a vicious strike to Kaden’s temple. A sea of stars swam into Kaden’s vision and he landed in a heap on the hard-packed earthen floor.

  For a few terrifying moments, he could only register the callused hands fumbling at the buttons of his pants and wrenching them down, along with his underwear, to expose his ass. He twisted onto his back and curled his hands into fists before swinging them at any part of the man straddling him that he could come into contact with.

  Another bash to the same side of his head momentarily ended his defence and he squeezed his eyes shut against the spinning of the room. Those grasping hands flipped him back over and the blunt tip of Jim’s cock pressed against his crack.

  Suddenly, Kaden felt the air shift behind him and heard sounds of fighting, but this time they didn’t involve him. He rolled to his side and quickly pulled up his pants, blinking away tears.
Jim might try to attack him again, but he couldn’t keep lying there in such a vulnerable state.

  He kept his eyes closed against the merciless pounding in his head, wondering if it would fall off if he moved too fast, and curled into himself on the ground. After a minute, he became aware of the silence ringing in his ears and a figure kneeling over him. When he felt the cool touch of fingers at the lump on the side of his head, he couldn’t keep a small whimper from escaping.

  “It’s okay, son. He won’t be laying a hand on you ever again. Let me see your face.”

  He knew that voice. It was gentle yet gravelly and held a wealth of authority he’d come to admire during his time on the ranch.

  Oh no. Anyone but him. Kaden cracked open his lids and peered up at the face looming over his, lined with concern.

  Sure enough, Henry Connel, his boss, stared down at him, or rather at the damage done to his head near his right eye. His temple throbbed with his heartbeat, and judging by the frown that now creased the older man’s brow, it probably looked as bad as it felt.

  If he’d been able to, he would have kicked himself for letting this happen. This was the best job he’d ever had and he had to go and ruin it by getting into trouble. It seemed inevitable with him, and usually he learnt to accept it as his fate, but this time, he truly regretted failing the older man. Henry had been nothing but kind and honest with him since taking him on.

  “Come on. Let’s get some ice on that shiner before it swells up any more.” Henry extended his hand to help Kaden up, but he flinched away from it out of reaction. The frown on the cowboy’s face deepened, and he mentally cursed himself for making the situation worse than it already was.

  “That’s okay, sir,” he whispered, then cleared his throat. “I can manage. I’m sorry about the trouble. I can leave by tomorrow if that’s…” Kaden slowly raised himself onto his hands and knees, the pounding in his head threatening to cause his stomach to retch. Fortunately, there wasn’t any food in it. There normally wasn’t.

  “Leave! What the hell for, that piece of shit?” Henry pointed to an area of the floor just out of Kaden’s sight, and he carefully swivelled his head in the direction of his boss’s finger. Lying unconscious on the ground with more bruises on his face than Kaden could count was Jim. The man looked like he’d gone a round with a professional boxer.

  A small smile broke out on Kaden’s face and he turned back to look at his boss with a whole new level of respect. The guy may look old, with his sun-tanned, leathery face and greying hair, but damn he could pack a punch! Kaden started to laugh despite the gravity of the situation but the pain in his head quickly ended that idea.

  He gradually got to his feet, using the wall for support, while Henry kept an arm out to steady him if he needed it. He refused to look again at his attacker, but the feelings of shame over what had almost happened and the anger at himself for getting into trouble again settled in his chest like stones. This wasn’t the first time he’d caused ‘distraction’ in some of the other workers Henry employed.

  “I don’t want to cause you any more trouble, sir. I’ll be out of your hair…”

  “Boy, you didn’t start any trouble. There will always be jackasses like him,” he nodded to the still unconscious form of Jim lying some distance away, “thinking that they can get away with anything they want. Fortunately, there will also always be bulldogs like me to put them in their place. Besides, you’re a true horse whisperer. Men like him are a dime a dozen. You, my boy, are more valuable than anyone on this ranch, my wife excluded of course.”

  Henry flashed him a toothy grin. “You leave now and I’ll have to tan your hide, too.” That managed to bring a full smile to Kaden’s lips. “Besides, there’s no way Cheryl would give up her little protégé. Missy’s as good as the daughter she never had.”

  Kaden let out a breath of laughter, but when he pushed himself away from the wall, he would have toppled over again but for the swiftness of the arm rounding his waist to steady him. This time, he let his boss keep hold of him and steer him slowly out of the barn.

  Henry took him up the path to the main house, bypassing the little bungalow he shared with his sister at the back, for which he was grateful. He didn’t want Missy to see him like this. Before they reached the back door, though, he glanced up at his employer’s grim face and said, “Sir?”

  “Yeah, son?”

  “Remind me never to get on your bad side.”

  Henry let out a deep roar of laughter and simply shook his head.

  * * * *

  Kaden woke up the next morning nervous, unsure of whether his boss still thought the trouble he seemed to constantly cause was worth the effort of keeping him on. Missy had seen the large bruises on the side of his face and started in with a barrage of questions he didn’t know how to answer. Mrs Connel, being the saint that she was, had come to his rescue by distracting the girl with a new recipe for breakfast. They both shared a passion for cooking that went well beyond his or Henry’s understanding.

  His doubts were quickly squelched, however, when Jim walked into the large dining room in the main house where the farm hands and Henry were eating breakfast at the long table. Silence descended upon the room as every man there took in the colourful bruises marking Jim’s face.

  Kaden watched from the kitchen, where he always took his meals with Missy and Cheryl. Henry stood up and glared at the other man with a look that had everyone in the room suddenly gazing down at their plates as if they contained the seven wonders of the world.

  “Pack your shit and get the hell off my ranch. I ever see you on my land again, I’ll shoot you on sight,” Henry said in a low, almost amiable voice that fooled no one.

  Jim sputtered in indignation, then turned his head to see Kaden standing to the side of the doorway leading into the kitchen. “Boss, I didn’t do nothin’ wrong. You can’t honestly be taking the word of a little whore who was begging me to…”

  “Out!” Henry yelled. The other men sitting around the table finally looked up to take in the large bruises covering a good half of Kaden’s face, to the bruising on Jim’s face, then finally to the red, swollen knuckles of Henry’s fists clenched at his sides.

  It didn’t take them long to figure out what had happened, and Kaden felt a furious blush scald his cheeks at the humiliation of seeing the realisation dawn in every man’s eyes as they looked at him. He wanted to crawl into a corner and hide from the scrutiny of those he worked with, when one of the men raked his chair back against the hardwood floor to stand up.

  “You sick son of a…” The man strode straight over to Jim, reared back his fist and slammed it square in the centre of Jim’s nose. The sickening crack of his nose breaking filled the room, but soon after, more chairs were scraped back as more men stood.

  Kaden stared, wide-eyed, as at least three other men joined the first to crowd around Jim’s now hunched-over form, pushing him towards the door with the mass of their bodies. Threats rang out from the circle of men and one of them even booted Jim’s ass out of the front door they had so graciously opened for him.

  Kaden continued to stand, dumbfounded, in the doorway of the kitchen as the small group of men came back into the dining room and nodded to him as they sat down again to finish their meal. Henry nodded to him also, and Kaden didn’t miss the look of pride in his eyes as Henry turned to look at the men who had stood up for Kaden. It had all happened so quickly that Kaden was barely able to register the intense gratitude he felt towards these men before his boss boomed out the required chores and assignments for the day.

  His appetite lost, but for a good reason this time, Kaden helped Cheryl and Missy gather the dishes to be washed and put away once the men had vacated the dining room. Again, his sister tried to question him about what had happened, and again, he was saved by the careful interruptions of Mrs Connel.

  Once he finished his part in assisting them, he went out to the stables to grab a saddle and harness for Mockingbird. He’d been working on her prog
ression in high jumps and manoeuvrability for the past few weeks and she was coming along really well. Most of the horses Henry kept were for breeding and racing, but a few he wanted trained for shows and contests.

  Due to her skittishness around people, Mockingbird had been slotted for breeding when Henry had bought her a month ago. Her former owner had abused her badly and she had constantly reared back at the slightest shadow or sudden movement. After days of constant gentling and soothing, Kaden had discovered a spirit in her that would have died had she not been given the chance to explore her talents with a kind hand.

  Henry had been extremely reluctant to let him try to train the frightened mare, calling it a waste of valuable time. Within a week, however, Mockingbird had improved so greatly that the older man had grudgingly given his consent to allow Kaden to continue to work with her along with the other horses he trained.

  Kaden knew he wasn’t a real horse whisperer, and felt guilty for fooling his boss every time he received a compliment on his work. But after finding a job that enabled him to use his gift for good instead of evil, he was opposed to giving it up.

  Kaden laid the mare’s harness and saddle over the top of her stall wall and walked over to Mockingbird, feeling along her beautiful, sleek lines as he began to project his calming feelings into her.

  After he had escaped, he’d refused to use his gift in any capacity, not even sure he could without someone touching him. It had taken him several months to discover that his mom had died shortly after his kidnapping. The solitary mage his mom had appointed to care for Missy just before her death had refused to relinquish guardianship of his sister unless Kaden could support her.

  His body no longer fit for viewing, he’d remained homeless, doing everything but selling his ass to stay alive. Being out in public was out of the question. He couldn’t risk being found again.

  A wild dog had crept up to him one night while he was sleeping against the side of a building hidden behind a pile of wooden crates. The animal smelt the refuse rotting in a trash can a few feet from him and sniffed him out to make sure he wasn’t a threat. Kaden had awakened with a start to a cold nose pressed into his hand, but as soon as the dog realised he was awake, it had crouched down into a defensive position and let out a low, menacing growl.