Page 41 of Crew

Colton snarled at Weston as he hurried into the truck after letting a handful of chickens free on the roadside. Peeling away with a squeal of tires, Colton didn’t even let Weston get a chance to buckle up before he gunned it.

“What’s your problem?” Weston demanded.

“Why the hell would you steal the chickens?”

“Because it’s funny.”

“It’s dumb,” he said, resisting the urge to punch him in the mouth.

“Come on,” Weston said. “It wasn’t dumb, it was funny. You said we should do a bunch of stuff to throw them off balance and see how they react, so what’s funnier than them seeing there are chickens missing?”

Colton grumbled to himself and then let out a sigh.

His brother wasn’t entirely wrong.

While it might have seemed to an outsider that they’d just done a bunch of random things to mess with the herd, what he’d wanted to do was see how they reacted to dangerous situations. When he’d messed with the vehicles, he’d done it out of spite. How the hell dare Crew kick him and his herd out of their territory?

But they’d had help and supplies from friends and gotten things back to working order far sooner than should have been possible, which had only fanned the flames of Colton’s anger.

The pitfall traps hadn’t worked as he’d hoped; that other female had gotten help too fast.

But this…using paintball guns to cover the lenses of the security cameras so they could get close, and then setting the corn on fire?

He’d seen exactly what he needed to see: when there was danger, the entire herd abandoned everything to help. No one stayed as security to keep an eye on things, no one was watching over the farmhouse and the female who’d been inside.

Chicken-stealing aside, he knew what he needed to do now.

“You’re mad at me,” Weston said. “I’m sorry. About the chickens.”

“I’m not mad at you, I just think it wasn’t worth the effort, plus there are fucking chicken feathers everywhere in here, so you’re going to have to clean it up.”

“Why me?”

“Why you? Do you want a punch in the mouth?”

Weston folded his arms with a huff. “I’m not a caretaker.”

“You are now. Until we get some females in the herd who can do the work, you’re it.”

“Just bring Zara back. You can break her spirit.”

As if he’d trust her with a sharp knife anywhere near his throat or balls.

“Zaraisthe key, just not to rejoin our herd.”

He reached their campsite with the rest of the herd, and they gathered around the unlit cooking fire.

“I’ve got a plan,” Colton said.

“Which one is this?” Levi asked. “C? Or D?”

“Don’t be a smartass,” Silas warned.

“Yeah, don’t,” Colton said. “But after witnessing everything today, I now know our next step. Go after Zara and take out herandCrew. Once their alphas are dead, the others will run and we’ll get control of the farm.”

“What about the older male and his son?” Asher asked.

“They’re not on the farm and the herd will be disbanded once the alphas are dead, so I’m not worried about them. They can try to come after us in retribution, but we’ll be victorious.”

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