does it work? My mom was kidnapped and my little sister was abandoned on the side of a fucking highway. She’s lucky someone didn’t snatch her or run her down. Tell me, Reno, how does it work that I can’t get more people helping out since you guys won’t call the cops?”
“Human cops aren’t going to solve your problem,” he replied in a
“Well, he’ll have to get on the payment plan because I’m flat broke.”
Reno blocked me from going into the living room and poked my shoulder with his finger. “The plan is you.”
Denver shot me a judgmental glare when I strolled into the living room. Maizy rolled around on the floor while cartoon animals on the big TV paddled across a river.
“Did she take her nap?” I asked.
“She’s not tired. Are you, Peanut?”
I looked down at her restless legs and back at him. “Of course she’s not tired. How much sugar did you give her? Maizy isn’t used to eating sweets all the time; she gets hyper and then throws fits because she can’t sleep.”
He leaned back in his chair, crossed his ankles, and laced his fingers together across his stomach. “I’m not apologizing for giving her candy,” he replied in a smartass tone.
“Ooo, Lexi!” Maizy squealed, whirling around. “Denny has a biiiiig yellow candy jar with lots of different kinds of candy. There were worms and bears and chocolate and—”
While Maizy listed off what she had for lunch, I smiled. “Uncle Denny is going to watch you all day, would you like that?”
She squealed a yes.
Punishment served. Once Maizy got wired and tired, Denver was never going to give her sugar again. Especially when her magic wand made an appearance and she started whacking him on the head to transform him into a prince.
He acted nonchalant, so I hauled my bag I’d brought with me into Jericho’s bedroom. Austin had a point. Staying in the same room with Maizy was too risky. Even though I had no recollection of turning into a wolf, I knew I must have been dangerous by the scrapes I’d put on Austin.
“Well, well,” a familiar voice said from behind me as I was bending over and making up the bed. The door clicked shut and I peered over my shoulder. “That’s the position I like the
“Long night?” I asked, noticing the hickeys on his neck. I tried to avoid looking at the shiner on his eye because I felt responsible. On the other hand, it didn’t appear to have been of any hindrance to him getting laid.
He stripped away his graffiti T-shirt and tossed it onto a pile of clothes on the floor. There were more hickeys, and mostly around his navel area. I guessed groupies liked staking their claim on a rocker with their mouths.
“You sleepin’ in my bed, Goldilocks?”
“I can’t stay with Maizy for obvious reasons. Austin told me you guys have more control over your wolf and I’m new to all of this.”
He moved his mouth around as if he were sucking on a piece of candy. “You’re taking it pretty well.”
I shrugged. “I’ve always had to be the rock in my family; I guess it’s not in my nature to go apeshit over finding out I have paws and a tail. I’m handling it the best way I know how.”
“Denial?” Jericho snorted and tossed a set of keys on his dresser. “I can say this because I’m his brother, but maybe you should stay away from Austin.”
“Why?”
His eyes hooded behind the long strands of loose hair that had fallen free from the band he’d used to tie it back. “A girl like you wants a man who can control his temper. Austin’s not quite there yet. He’s good, real good. We’ve watched him grow up and become alpha material, but he has a switch in there and if you flip it the wrong way, then look out.”
“Everyone has that switch,” I argued.
“When Wes died, that switch stayed flipped for a long time.”
Then I got it. Jericho thought I was going to push Austin over the edge again and tear apart the pack—that I’d hurt him the way Wes did by dying.
“We’re not tight like that, so you don’t have to worry.”
He glanced down at the floor. “My brother’s socks are lying on top of your lacey bra. That’s pretty fucking tight.”
A sudden knock rapped on the door and it cracked open. Jericho anchored his feet to the ground and pushed it closed with his back.
“Let me the fuck in,” Austin growled.
When the door opened, Austin looked between us. He gripped Jericho by the back of the neck and guided him out into the hall before shutting the door behind him.
“What’s this about you seeing Lorenzo?”
I stayed quiet. It seemed like the best way to avoid a fight and Austin had an agitated look on his face.
“Well?” he pressed, looming above me and closing the tiny gap of air between us.
I placed my hands behind me on the bed and gave him the “so what?” silent look.
“Always so difficult,” he finally said in a softened voice. “Even when you were a kid.”
“You were mean to me.”
He tilted his head, rubbing that thick jaw of his. “When I was eight or twelve I might have been a jerk, but after puberty…”
Austin actually blushed and when I smiled, he turned around and stared at a Led Zeppelin poster.
“Lorenzo is searching for my mom. He doesn’t seem like a bad guy, Austin. I don’t have any reason not to go out with him, and no one else is calling on me.”
He rocked on his heels and I stood up, unzipping my bag and grabbing my purple hairbrush. I stood in front of a dirty mirror and combed my hair, which hung just past my breasts. Guys liked my straight hair and invariably commented on it, so I usually wore it down. Otherwise, I didn’t think there was anything remarkable about me. My eyes were the color of bourbon, my cheekbones high, and I had a few faded freckles on the bridge of my nose. My slim figure received a number of compliments, but I wasn’t ample in either department. I worked what I had (my legs being my best asset), but always wished I had larger breasts or curvier hips.
“You don’t trust that I can handle this and find your mom?”
“The more help I can get, the better, is all I’m saying, Austin.”
He spun around, arms folded. “I have to take a trip tonight and I want you to come with me.”
“I can’t leave Maze.”
“Denver and the boys got it taken care of. Shifters are protective of kids, even if they aren’t our own. It’s why Prince stopped his car for Maizy and didn’t keep driving. You can trust my pack. They’re older and have their wolves under control. They’ll fight to the death to protect her, if that gives you any comfort.”
And it kind of did. “Why do you want me to go with you?”
He flexed his jaw, staring at me in the mirror. Then his eyes slid down and I knew it was that
“Okay, so where are we going?”
The “we” in my question satisfied him immensely. “Oklahoma. It’s about a six-hour drive and we’re staying overnight,” he said, looking at his watch. “We should be back tomorrow before dark.”
“What do you have to do?”
“Talk to someone” was all he’d tell me.
