February’s Bad Boy: Aiden (Bad Boys of Mustang Mountain #2)

10. Aiden

CHAPTER 10

AIDEN

I crept along the back of the big house, using a pine branch to sweep my footprints away behind me. As far as anyone knew, I was having dinner with Shane, Caitlin, and Paisley at the Flathead Ski Resort. In reality, Priest had picked me up at the employee entrance of the building and the two of us had driven back toward the ranch.

He’d passed the place and parked his truck on a dead end trail. Then we’d climbed through the woods to reach the big house where we’d wait to see if anyone would show up. According to Shane, a few more guys would cover the other sides of the property. If anything was going to happen tonight, we’d be prepared.

“We can wait here,” Priest whispered.

He was one of the Mustang Mountain Riders and also managed a tattoo shop in town. He was also ex-military and knew what the fuck he was doing. I nodded in agreement and lowered myself into a squat just as the rumble of a snowmobile came from down by the bunkhouse. Dammit. We’d counted on them driving up, not coming in over the snow. The engine cut off and two figures climbed off the back.

Low voices mumbled, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. With their thick snowmobile suits and tinted goggles, it would be impossible to confirm whether I’d seen either one of them before. Priest and I stood by while they scrambled up the path toward the big house.

“I don’t know what it’s going to take for them to get the message,” the taller one said.

The other one had a stockier build and stood about five inches shorter. “You sure we can’t just burn the whole place down, Seth?”

“How could we frame him for that?” Seth pushed his buddy hard enough for him to stumble in the snow.

My stomach rolled. Now they were trying to pin something on Shane? Fuck that. I would have rounded the corner and ripped the goggles off both of them if Priest hadn’t grabbed onto my jacket and held me back. He shook his head and mouthed, “Not yet.”

He was right. We needed to see them actually commit a crime before we let them know they were under surveillance. So I sat back on my heels and quietly seethed.

“What do you think?” the short one asked. “Break a few windows and make it look like a burglary, or should we take out one of those stupid horses?”

My hands curled into fists. Not one of Paisley’s horses. She’d be devastated.

“You really think he’d kill one of his own horses?” Seth stopped less than ten feet away. Close enough to see the reflection of the house in his damn golden goggles. “We’re just supposed to plant something in his stuff. No breaking windows. No killing anything.”

If they’d just take off their goggles…

“I thought this job was supposed to be fun.” The short one continued on to the porch.

He had a fucked up vision of fun, that was for sure. So they wanted to frame Shane for something? First, they’d tried to turn me. Now, they were talking about planting something in his stuff. The realization of their wicked game dawned on me. If Shane got caught with stolen property, he’d be heading back to prison. They wanted to frame him and have him sent away.

“You getting all of this?” I whispered to Priest. He’d set up a few cameras around the property to try to capture anything that went down.

“Yeah. So far, they haven’t committed a crime. Let them break in, and we’ll confront them on the way out.” He pulled out his phone and typed something onto the screen.

I shifted my attention back to the two fuckheads who were crouched by the front door and working on the lock.

“It can’t look like a break-in,” Seth said..

His buddy grumbled. “I know, dipshit.”

Movement to my right snagged my attention. A huge dog raced over the snow. No, not a dog. Hell, it was a wolf. I’d heard they weren’t uncommon around here, but I’d never seen one this close.

“Shit,” Priest whispered. He fumbled in his pocket and pulled out his keys.

“What the hell is that?” I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the wolf. He was headed toward the porch, straight at the two dickheads who were still fumbling with the lock.

Priest shoved a small silver whistle in his mouth.

“What are you doing?” He was about to ruin everything. If we scared these guys away, there was no telling when they’d make another attempt.

He blew into the whistle but there was no sound. The wolf stopped dead in his tracks and swiveled his head in our direction. Shifting course, he trotted toward us, looking more and more massive with every step that brought him closer.

“What the fuck, man?” Priest must have lost his mind. That was the only reasonable explanation. I’d never backed down from a fight, but the odds were clearly stacked in the wolf’s favor. I shrank back, wondering if it was too late to try to make a run for it.

“Come here, Hades.” Priest reached out and motioned for the wolf to join us. “He won’t hurt us. He’s like the town mascot, or sometimes like the town’s vigilante.”

The wolf shoved his giant muzzle into my gut, his nose working overtime.

Priest let out a soft chuckle. “What’s in your pocket, dude?”

I pulled out half of a protein bar.

“Give it to him,” Priest said.

Before I could unwrap it, the front door creaked open. The two men entered the house. Hades cocked his head and looked at Priest like he was waiting for some sort of direction.

“Patience,” Priest whispered. “Bear ought to be here in just a few. He’ll be able to get them to talk.”

We stayed low and made our way over to the front porch. I could hear the two idiots walking around inside, talking about options for hiding whatever it was they planned on leaving behind.

“You sure they don’t have any cameras around here?” the short guy asked as they neared the door.

Seth laughed. “He can barely afford gas for his work truck. You think he’s invested in some high-dollar security system?”

They stepped out of the house and started shoving their feet back into their boots. At least they were bright enough not to trail snow and slush across the floor. Hades let out a low growl from where he’d been sitting between me and Priest. The two men turned toward us at the exact same time.

“They might not have an expensive security system,” Priest said. “But they do have us.”

The short one clenched his jaw. They must have taken off their goggles inside, because I recognized him as the guy who’d approached me at the Merc.

“Fuck.” Seth scowled as he reached into his snowmobile suit.

Hades leapt, knocking Seth off the porch.

The man let out a high-pitched shriek like a bobcat in heat. “Get it off me!”

“Hades, let him go.” Priest patted his thigh. Hades laid down on top of Seth and looked up at us like he was waiting for further instruction. Priest turned to the other man. “You want to tell us what the hell you were doing breaking and entering our buddy’s house?”

“It’s not wha-wha-what it looks like,” he tried to explain as he struggled to tear his gaze away from Hades.

“Hold that thought.” Priest pulled his phone out of his pocket and held it to his ear. “We caught two of them breaking into the house. What do you want us to do with them?”

I assumed he was on the phone with Shane. While I waited to find out what we needed to do next, a couple of the Mustang Mountain Riders pulled into the drive. I didn’t doubt that Priest, Hades, and I could contain both of them, but it was always good to have backup.

“Do we need to get information out of them?” A massive man stopped by the edge of the porch. He cracked his knuckles like he couldn’t wait to get his hands on the two intruders.

“Sorry, Bear.” Priest had wrapped up his call, but was already dialing another number. “Shane wants to turn things over to the sheriff.”

So this was Bear… I’d heard his name mentioned, but hadn’t had the honor of meeting him before.

“It’ll probably take him at least fifteen minutes to get here,” Bear said.

Priest shrugged. “Just don’t mess them up too much. I don’t want to have to explain an excess of blood.”

“We’re not going to tell you shit,” the shorter one spat out. Then he backed up, pressing himself against the house.

“Careful, Bear’s never backed down from a challenge,” Priest warned.

I wanted to laugh at the fear in his eyes, but I understood where it was coming from. I’d been on the receiving end of beatings from guys bigger than Bear while I was in prison. But I’d also learned how to fight back and how to tell when it was time to shut the fuck up.

Flashing lights bounced off the trees on the way up the drive. A sheriff’s department truck stopped in front of the house, and Bear let out a frustrated sigh.

Priest lifted a shoulder. “I guess he was closer than we thought.”

The sheriff got out of the truck as another vehicle pulled in behind him. “Want to fill us in on what’s going on?”