“Sounds like a good plan to me. I'll have some deputies head your way, and some meet up with us. Mrs. Wilder, would you like to accompany me?” The Sheriff held his arm out for her to take.
“Oh, yes, we can talk on the way.” Gerri grabbed his arm, and they walked to his truck. TC heard her say as she climbed in, “Have you ever met a fox? I have someone I think you would be very interested in.”
“Come on, man. I don't think Gerri can stop matchmaking. Let’s go find your woman. I'm driving.”
They ran to TC’s truck and peeled out down the dirt road. After a few minutes, Graham cleared his throat. “Do you worry about Ryley not wanting to live on the ranch? I mean her job takes her all over the world. Do you think she will want to give that up?”
“Honestly, after this, I'll follow her anywhere. You can be my property manager, and I'll come back as often as needed, but I won't live without her.” Graham nodded and looked back at the road. “Is there something going on Graham?”
“It’s not a good time to tell you, but I have been thinking of trying to find out more about my past. Where I came from, who my parents are or were. Hell, why I have some shifter tendencies but not all. I need to know, and you have Ryley now, so I thought it might be a good time.”
TC was stunned but how could he tell his best friend to stay so he could follow his mate. No, he would work something out with Ryley. Graham needed to find himself and his family.
“I'll never hold you back. I'm here if you need me. You are always welcome back to the ranch, and a job will be waiting. You call, and I'll come at the drop of a hat. I love you, man.”
Graham smiled at TC. “I love you, too. Now shut up because the Granger place is just around the corner.”
They turned the corner and skidded to a stop. TC was speechless, and Graham just started laughing hysterically. Sitting on the porch swing, just relaxing were Ryley and Kat. On the ground in front of them were two men tied to the porch railing.
Twenty-Four
As Ryley walked out of the room with Filton, she tossed a look over her shoulder at Kat. Kat nodded her head slightly and started whispering to Rat. Ryley couldn’t hear what she said, but she saw the blush creep across his face.
“Okay, Mr. Monroe, where is our room? I'm ready to take a walk on the wild side with you. Are you excited to know you are my first rat shifter?”
Filton shuffled down the hall and gestured to a bedroom right next door to the one Kat was in. “You know they say once you go rat... You don’t go back. Are you ready for all of this, toots?”
Ryley followed Filton into the bedroom, shut the door and leaned back on it. “Have a seat on the bed, let me take care of you.”
Ryley barely managed to control the shudder as he sat down, then reclined on the bed.
“Let’s go, I'm ready for some loving, and you are one fine broad.”
She walked over to the bed and knelt down. “Let me take off your shoes first. Easier to pull your pants down right?”
As Ryley bent to untie his dress shoes, she heard him moaning. “Are you starting without me, sugar? That takes the fun out of this, how about I borrow these shoelaces and tie your hands to the bedpost? I do like a bit of kinky fun, and you look like you could use some adventure.”
Ryley held her breath hoping he fell for it.
“Oh, yeah, tie me up! I can’t wait to have you riding me. Take off my belt so you can pull my pants down easier first, toots.”
She stood up and undid his belt buckle, then slowly pulled it through the loops of his pants. The whole time biting her lip and looking at him with what she hoped was seductive eyes.
“Put your hands above your head and hold onto the headboard. I'm going to tie your right hand first.” Ryley straddled his chest to hold him down and let him think she was really into this. “Now for your left, almost ready for the real fun to begin.” Once she finished restraining him, she sat up and trailed her hand down his face and chest as she scooted off him. “Tug on the ties and see if it’s comfortable and if you can get out. No touching until I give you permission.”
Filton leered at Ryley. “Not too tight, and I can’t pull out... Speaking of, grab the condom out of my wallet. No offense and I know I can't get diseases, but I don't know you that well, toots.”
Ryley smothered a laugh. “No problem at all.”
Ryley smirked as she climbed off of Filton and stood beside the bed. “Yeah, toots! Take off them clothes, I can't wait to see your hot body.”
“I'm sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Monroe, but I'm not undressing for you. Nor am I having sex with you. Thank you for allowing me to tie you up so easily. Now I'm going to get my friend, and we are going to call the local sheriff.”
Ryley laughed as she walked to the door of the bedroom, Mr. Monroe swearing at her the whole time.
Kat was standing on the other side of the door. “Fancy meeting you here. Is Mr. Monroe successfully detained?”
“Of course, he is properly tied up. How about Rat?”
“Well, he got so excited when I started unbuttoning my shirt, he passed out and hit his head. I used his belt to tie his hands behind his back. He’s still out cold in there.” Kat had to pause when Ryley burst into laughter. “When I went to the bathroom earlier, guess what I found in the cabinet under the sink… Glue Traps. How about we put a few out in front of the doors? That way if they shift… they will get a nasty surprise. What did you use to tie up Filton?”
“Told him I was into kinky sex and used his shoelaces to tie him up. Great idea on the glue traps. Are there enough to cover the door frame? We don’t want them escaping.”
Kat handed five to Ryley and walked back to the other bedroom. “You are ingenious!” Ryley turned around and smiled at Filton. “Well, I'm sure you heard all that. Have you ever seen a rat pulled off a glue trap? Some lose feet, some lose hair, and some never get off. Don’t even think about shifting and running. These traps are huge, and you won't get by them!”
Kat came back down the hall and smiled at Ryley. “Ready to finish exploring the house?” Ryley nodded at Kat, and together they walked down the hall to explore the rest of the house they were in. Once they reached the living room, they looked around. “Ryley, I found a phone in the kitchen. I'm going to try and call 9-1-1.”
Ryley kept exploring but didn’t find anything else interesting. She went out the front door and saw the barn across the property. “Kat, I'm going to check the barn, maybe they have some rope or something to use to tie them up better.”
As she walked to the barn, she looked around the property. No neighbors close by. Hopefully, Kat got ahold of the Sheriff. Ryley stopped in front of the barn door and hesitated. Hopefully, there weren’t any animals using this barn as a shelter. She would lose brownie points for tying up Mr. Monroe if she shrieked now.
Ryley counted to three and pulled the door open. She took a deep breath when she didn't see anything except a bunch of rope and some old tools. She danced a jig in excitement and grabbed the rope.
When she got back to the house, Kat was just walking out of the kitchen. “I found rope!”
“I got you beat. I got ahold of the Sheriff’s office. He’s not far away, so they are notifying him and sending him our way. We are just to hold tight.”
“Should we go tie up the boys with the rope and have a seat on the porch. It is a gorgeous view out here.”
Fifteen minutes later and the rats were tied to the porch railing, and Ryley had just plopped in her chair when Kat perked up. “I see a cloud of dust coming down the road. Maybe the sheriff was closer than we thought.”
Ryley watched as a truck sped down the road and slammed to a stop in front of the house. TC and Graham jumped out of the cab and froze in place. “What took you so long?” Kat laughed at Ryley’s question to the boys.
Twenty-Five
TC started laughing, and Graham joined in. “Well, ladies, we are happy to see you are well and unharmed. Want to tell us what happened?” Graham asked betw
een chuckles.
Ryley shook her head. “Can it wait for the sheriff to get here? This way we can do it all at once.”
Graham walked over to the porch and stood staring down at the two men. “Who are you and why did you kidnap the women?”
Kat started laughing, and Ryley couldn’t help but join in. Neither wanted to break the news so they waited to see what the rats would say.
“I see the Sheriff’s truck. Gerri is with him by the way. She came back to help.” TC nodded down at the road.
At hearing this news, Filton Monroe decided to get chatty. “You mean that old matchmaker is here. Shit she can set us up, and we can find our own women. We don't need them anymore, so you can have them, friend.”
“You kidnapped them for sex? Are you out of your goddamn mind? How did you pick them? Are you even from around here?” TC looked ready to beat the shit out of the rats.
Ryley walked up to TC. “Honey, I'll explain everything in just a minute. This wasn’t random just stupidity.”
“Ryley, Kat, meet Sheriff Landry Brown. Sheriff, this is my mate Ryley and her friend Kat. As you can see they took care of rescuing themselves.”
“Ladies, it is a pleasure to meet you, but I wish it were under better circumstances. I'm told you know Mrs. Gerri here.”
Gerri hugged each woman and then looked at the men on the ground. “We found our rats it seems, though they are a long way from home.”
“Sheriff, can we talk inside? There is some living room furniture, so we can be more comfortable while we tell you what happened. Should we bring the rats in with us?” Ryley looked down at Filton as she spoke.
“No, ma’am, my deputies are pulling in now. They will take the rats to the station to get their statements. Inside is just fine with me. But first, tell me how you kept them from shifting?”
Kat laughed and held up the glue traps. “It only took a small threat, and they chickened out.”
TC grabbed Ryley's hand. “We will meet you inside in just a moment. I need to talk to my mate.” TC rubbed his thumb on the back of Ryley's hand, staring into her eyes while he waited for the others to leave.
As soon as they were inside, TC pulled Ryley into him for a hug. Ryley started to cry. “I'm not sure why I'm crying. I wasn’t really scared, and I knew you would come for me.”
“Adrenaline rush, most likely. I wanted to tell you I love you. I'm so sorry this happened, and I swear I'll spend the rest of my life taking care of you and making sure you are safe.”
“Now I'm crying because you said you love me. I love you, too, TC, more than I can ever say or express.”
“Well ain’t that sweet. Hey, toots, you got a good man there. I’m sorry I kidnapped you, but rats don’t get no respect. You understand, right?”
Ryley laughed and looked down at Filton. “No, I don’t understand. I don’t think you meant me any harm so that I appreciate, but you need therapy. Honest to god, get therapy. TC, let’s go inside.”
As they walked inside Filton Monroe started yelling, “Rats need love, too, we just wanted some female companionship. Why won't anyone give us some?”
TC slammed the door, and the whole living room burst into laughter. “I'm barely holding myself together. I want to kill him. How dare they touch my mate.”
“TC, come sit down. I for one would like to hear how the lovely ladies managed to tie up the rats. Besides, there will be no killing today, especially with the sheriff sitting right here.” Gerri smiled over at Sheriff Brown.
TC stalked over the open seats on the couch pulling Ryley behind him. “Okay, babe, tell us what happened, please.”
“Well when we got to the airport, we dropped Gerri off without any problems. We watched her take off, then we went to leave. When we pulled up at the gate, the guard asked us to step out of the truck. That is the last thing either of us remembers until we woke up here.” Ryley paused and glanced at TC. “When we woke up, we were in a bedroom here. We weren't tied up or anything, and neither of us was hurt. Filton came in shortly after that and explained he wanted me to interview him for the magazine. He said rodents get no respect and they wanted their share of women. It was pretty apparent it was not a well thought out plan, so Kat and I devised a plan of our own. They were looking for women… So we offered ourselves up.”
TC stood up and looked down at Ryley. “You did what?” He started walking out the front door with Graham hot on his heels. “I'll kill them.”
When he reached the porch, he saw the two men were already gone. He felt Ryley come up behind him. “Let me finish, he didn't touch me. he didn't hurt me. I'm fine. We are fine. Come back inside.”
TC took a moment to calm down. He needed to run, to work off the energy. His Stallion wanted out, and he wanted out now, but he would remain calm for his mate. “Fine let’s finish this story. I need to get away.” He stalked inside the house and sat back down on the couch.
Ryley sat down beside him, but he didn't look over at her. His thoughts were full of what ifs.
“I took Filton Monroe to the other room, and Kat kept Rat in the bedroom. From there it was easy to dupe them into submission. I asked Filton to let me tie him up, said I liked it kinky. And Rat… well, he was so nervous he knocked himself out.”
Kat laughed. “What can I say, I'm too hot for my own good.”
“It sounds like you had it handled. I'm glad neither of you were hurt. My deputies have the rats under control. We will find out how they tracked you here, found this place and what the master plan was. I'll contact you, TC, if we have any more questions.”
Twenty-Six
Ryley felt like her heart was torn in half when TC said he had to get away. She couldn’t understand why he was upset with her. She watched the Sheriff leave and stared at TC waiting for him to say something. The longer he went without saying anything the more her heart shattered.
“Graham, Kat, could you give me a lift back to the airport. I think I’m no longer needed here and it looks like someone needs a long, hard ride.” Ryley looked over to Gerri to see her smirking at TC.
With a chuckle, Graham stood up. “I would be happy to drive you back. Kat, will you come so we can pick up the truck you left at the airport, please?”
“Wait, I left it at the airport? Are you implying we left it on purpose?” Ryley shook her head as Kat and Graham walked out of the room arguing. Kat was not going to give him a break at all.
“Ryley, I'm happy you are both safe. Now I think you need to take this stallion for a ride. While you are at it... It might not be a bad idea to give the man the same.” Gerri hugged Ryley and walked out of the room laughing.
Ryley turned on the couch to face TC. “Honey, are you okay? I'm not sure why you are upset with me. What did I do?”
TC turned his head to Ryley. For a moment, he appeared confused. “Love, why would I be upset with you? I'm upset you got kidnapped on my watch. I’m upset those rats tried to touch you. I’m upset I couldn’t beat him. I’m not upset with you.”
“But you said you had to get away... So, I thought you meant from me.”
“Never. My stallion wants the freedom of a run. We both want you to come with us, would you go for a ride with me? I promise I won't let you fall, and I'll keep you safe.”
Ryley stood up and held her hand out for TC, “Please show him to me. I'm excited to meet your stallion, and I know you both will keep me safe.”
Ryley walked outside hand in hand with TC. In her excitement, her hands shook.
“Are you ready?” he asked. She nodded and watched TC walk to the barn. “I'm going to put my clothes in here. Less likely to get lost or ruined.”
A few minutes later an onyx stallion trotted out of the barn. Ryley couldn’t believe her eyes. TC’s stallion was stunning. TC came up to her and nudged her with his nose. “I have my very own Black Beauty!”
TC shook his head and turned to the side. “I guess you want me to mount you…” Ryley couldn’t help but think that was meant in a few ways.
> Thankfully, she was high up on the porch, she threw her leg over his back and used his mane to pull herself up. “I'm glad you couldn’t see that. It was not very ladylike at all. You know I'm going to call you my beauty now.”
Ryley was enjoying this, he couldn't talk back, and she could say whatever she wanted. She started to laugh, and TC took off running.
They didn't go far, around the pastures for a few minutes and TC trotted back to the porch for Ryley to climb down. As soon as her feet touched the ground, he shifted back.
“My eyes are up here love, and it’s my turn for a ride.” Ryley backed up towards the house as TC stalked closer to her. “Did you have fun?”
“Yes, TC, I loved that. Thank you for sharing him with me. As for the other ride… only if you make me your mate now.”
Ryley kicked off her shoes on the porch, then started unbuttoning her shirt, and walking backward into the house. She crooked her finger at TC, and he followed her in. Once they passed the doorway, she took off her shirt and dropped it on the floor.
She kept walking backward toward the bedroom and she popped the button on her jeans slowly. TC’s eyes were glued to her waistline. She slowly pulled down her zipper and stopped in front of the bedroom door. “Do you want me to take these off?”
TC stared at her. Ryley took that as a confirmation and slowly pushed the jeans down her legs and stepped out of them.
TC eyes devoured her from head to toe. His look made her feel like a goddess.
“TC do you want me? Should I continue?” Ryley laughed as he took two steps closer to her. She put her hands on his chest and pushed lightly. “I was promised a ride, go lay down on the bed and I'll finish undressing for you.”
TC walked up to her, brushed along her body as he moved into the doorway and Ryley couldn’t control the shudder that went through her body at the contact. She turned and watched TC walk to the bed. She moaned at the sight of his toned body, the muscles rippling up his back and his ass.
Save A Horse Page 9