up.”
Kellan couldn’t argue with that logic. He and Molly had gotten married that morning. Owen and Erin had acted as their witnesses. He had already sent Janice a plane ticket and she’d be out at the end of the month. Kellan didn’t want to be away from Molly so soon after they were married, but he had to finish this. With the help of the three men they would have no problem.
Matt and Mark were even taller than Kellan, and Mark was even more deadly. He and his brother looked so similar to Kellan they could have been brothers. He always loved going in to visit them at the restaurant. He was glad Molly had mentioned the coyote problem when they’d gone in earlier. Matt and Mark had jumped at the chance to help.
Both of Owen’s pack brothers had wanted to come but he’d made Steven stay home to guard the pride. It was just a precaution, but better safe than sorry.
“Listen, these are just kids,” Kellan reminded everyone. “We need to get the leader, not hurt the kids. This is a stupid prank to them. I don’t think they wanted to kill any animals at all.”
“Kellan’s right.” Owen looked at Rusty. “Be careful with these kids. We don’t need any dead teenagers on our hands right now.”
“You can count on me, brother,” Rusty said gravely.
The five men shifted to their animal forms and set out. It was easy to find the teens. They were still hanging out in the same area where Kellan and Owen had seen them last. Everyone but Kellan surrounded the coyotes. Kellan ran to the center of the group and shifted back to his human form. “I thought I told you to stay out of our city grounds.”
The pack didn’t scatter since they weren’t shifted. Some of them stood up but no one said anything. They all looked at their mangy leader.
The older man sneered at Kellan. “What are you going to do if we don’t? This is a free country. We can hang out where we want to.”
“It’s a free country, but you’re on our land. This property belongs to Sunset Falls.”
“We can just leave.” One of the teens spoke up. “It’s no big deal, mister. We can ride somewhere else. Come on, Grey Eyes. Let’s get out of here.”
“We aren’t going anywhere,” Grey Eyes said. He snarled at Kellan. “If you want us to leave, you can make us.”
He shifted to his animal form and circled, waiting for his gang to change too.
Kellan waited and stood tall. His cousins howled and the lions roared just outside the light of the fire. That got the boys’ attention.
“You can attack me with your idiot leader here, or you can go home. I can see that you kids are from Prairie Sands. I have friends from Sunset Falls out here with me. It would be a shame to have to go back to your home town and tell all your parents that we had to kill you over a stupid prank.”
Kellan let the implication of his words sink in before he too shifted to his animal. The gang leader shifted back to human form as the boys were scrambling for their bikes. “Come on! We took this geezer last time and we can take him again. I’m sure he’s got senior citizens out there waiting for us. Don’t run!”
Rusty came into the light and dove at the leader. He took the man down hard and put his teeth around the man’s neck. He shook Grey Eyes viciously. The man’s screams rang across the desert. He tried to pry the lion’s teeth off his neck but only ended up breaking his finger in the process.
“Oh, shit.” One of the kids had stayed while his friends were speeding away. “Hey, don’t kill him. Please. He’s just a high school burnout who buys us beer. I swear to God he’ll leave you guys alone. We’ll make sure of it. Please don’t kill him.”
Kellan and Owen both shifted back to human form. Kellan crouched next to Rusty and Grey Eyes. “Are you going to behave?”
The man nodded frantically.
“If you’re lying, we won’t be so kind next time,” Owen warned. “I’ll snap your neck myself and I’ll leave you out here in the