The Mane Event

by Shelly Laurenston

  “Hhhmm,” Sissy Mae mused. “I wonder where those two have been together for such a long time.”

  A small, rational part of him knew Sissy was merely fucking with his head; based on stories from Ronnie, he knew that’s what she did for amusement, like some people knit or play video games. That didn’t stop the jealousy from coming up and choking him.

  Brendon stalked over to the pair, ignoring the smile Ronnie Lee gave him that quickly turned into a dark frown.

  “What the hell is going on?” He didn’t even look at Ronnie, he only focused on Mitch.

  “Nothing, big bruh. Just…ya know…” Mitch placed his hands on Ronnie’s shoulders and smoothed them down her arms. “Trying to make Ronnie feel better.”

  In that instant, everything melted into this one moment. The attack, the truth about Mitch, Ronnie running out on him—all of it slammed right into Brendon at that moment, leaving him filled with a rage he hadn’t experienced since his wild days running the South Philly streets with his twin.

  Carefully, Brendon lifted Ronnie up and out of the way, not even hearing her warning growls or the words she said to calm him down. Then he slammed his hands into Mitch’s chest, sending the little shit back five feet.

  “Maybe you’re an idiot,” Brendon snarled. “Maybe slightly brain damaged.” He shoved his brother again. “Whatever the fuck is going on with you, you need to remember she’s mine.”

  Mitch lowered his head and glowered at Brendon, lips pulling back over bright, white fangs. “Then, maybe, big bruh, you should learn how to keep your female without needing me to do it for you.”

  Brendon’s rage centered and narrowed to a fine, honed point and, like the lion he was, he went for his brother’s throat, not really caring about all the snarling and growling in the middle of his five-star hotel.

  “What did you say to him?”

  Sissy gave her that innocent look. “Me? I didn’t say anything, darlin’.”

  “You’re lying to me, Sissy Mae.”

  “Lying is such a strong word.”

  The scent hit her first and Ronnie spun around, coming nose to chest with Rory Lee Reed.

  “Baby sister,” her brother’s deep voice greeted her. “Typical. We just get into town and we find you and Sissy Mae dead center of a shit storm.”

  “What’s going on anyway?” Ricky Lee Reed asked, curious as always.

  “Nothin’,” Ronnie choked out, grabbing hold of Rory’s arm and trying to drag him away, hoping Ricky Lee and Reece would automatically follow like they always did. But apparently Sissy Mae had other ideas.

  “Those two lions are fightin’ over Ronnie Lee.”

  Slowly her brother looked at Sissy Mae. “Excuse me?” Rory asked.

  “See the bigger one?” She helpfully pointed out Shaw. “That’s Brendon Shaw. He marked your sister tonight. If you take a good sniff you can catch his scent all over her. And the slightly smaller one…that’s his baby brother, Mitch.” She grinned. “I think he’s mighty cute. Now see, Brendon is all jealous because he saw Ronnie Lee and Mitch walking together. Poor baby, I don’t think he’s used to being possessive over a female.”

  Ronnie Lee turned on her friend. “Have you lost your goddamn mind?”

  Rory nudged his sister. “Watch your mouth, Ronnie Lee.”

  “How long has this been going on?” Ricky asked, his big hands shoved into the front pockets of his jeans.

  “Just a few days. But your sister moves fast as y’all know.”

  She’d kill her. She’d absolutely kill her best friend.

  Reece glanced around at the growing number of observers. “Think we better deal with this. Can’t let some cats embarrass the Reed name.”

  “Wait.” Ronnie jumped in front of her three brothers before they could move. “Don’t hurt him.”

  “At the very least don’t hurt his face,” Sissy piped in helpfully, but she slapped her hand over her mouth when Ronnie gave her a withering glare.

  “Why shouldn’t we?” Rory demanded in that calm, low voice of his. “That bastard’s been messing with our baby sister to hear Sissy Mae tell it.” Rory’s hazel eyes stared down into hers. “You gonna give me a reason why I shouldn’t tear him apart, Rhonda Lee?”

  Ronnie cleared her throat and looked around. A few of the Pack males had wandered over, always lured by the sound of a good fight. Now they stood behind her brothers, staring at her and waiting. Unfortunately, Smitty was out with Mace. The one rational wolf among a bunch of junkyard dogs. Dammit!

  “Answer me, Rhonda Lee,” Rory pushed. “Answer me or move out of my way.”

  She couldn’t answer. She couldn’t. Until Rory shrugged and tried to go around her.

  “I love him!”

  Rory stopped, his eyes again focusing on her. Reece and Ricky Lee stepped closer, watching her but saying nothing.

  “What did you say, baby sister?”

  “I…I said I love him.” Ronnie’s cheeks burned with embarrassment. She suddenly felt like that high school virgin she’d played with Shaw the other day. Sure, she’d told her friends and family she loved them. But she’d never said it about a male before. A male she had regular sex with. And Lord help her, but it was true.

  “You sure about that, baby sister?”

  “Yes. I’m sure.”

  The three brothers passed glances and then pushed her back, advancing on the fighting Shaws. Apparently they didn’t care that she loved him.

  “Just remember…not his face!” she called after them in a last-ditch effort to save something.

  Rory reached down and grabbed the back of Shaw’s neck, yanking him up, but Shaw had his claws dug into his brother’s shoulders, so Reece grabbed Mitch, pulling him the opposite direction, and Ricky Lee went about pulling claws out of important body parts.

  “Y’all need to simmer down now,” Rory warned softly. “A lot of full-humans around and they’re watching.”

  Shaw closed his eyes and took deep breaths. Mitch shook his head, trying to get the hair out of his eyes. Unfortunately, he sent some blood flying in the process.

  Rory grabbed Shaw by the hair and pulled his head around. He squinted into his face. “You’ll heal.”

  “We should clean up this one, though.”

  “Yup. Come on.”

  The Reed brothers pushed the Shaw brothers ahead of them toward the elevator.

  “Where the hell are you going?”

  “Don’t you never mind, Ronnie Lee. We’ll send him back in one piece.”

  Rory winked at her and ambled off, the rest of the Pack males following behind.

  Once the elevator doors closed, Ronnie turned to Sissy Mae. “What the hell was that?”

  “That, my friend, was male business.”

  “Male business?”

  “Yeah. Shit too stupid for a female to ever think about getting in the middle of.”

  “Ahh.”

  “Come on, darlin’. Let’s get you into some clothes before you freeze to death. And a nice big vat of tequila.”

  “Good plan.”

  But before either could take a step, Marissa Shaw exited one of the other elevators. Her gold eyes searched the lobby, and when she locked onto Ronnie, she marched right over to her.

  Ronnie grimaced. “Aww, shit.” She’d really hoped her night of excitement was over. Apparently not.

  “Don’t fret none, darlin’. I got your back.”

  “You said that in Budapest. I still have the scars, too.”

  “You are such a whiner.”

  Marissa Shaw stepped in front of them, her eyes locked on Ronnie.

  “Uh…hi, Marissa.”

  “After a delightful fight with that idiot baby brother of mine,” she launched with absolutely no preamble, “Brendon’s phone rang. It was Missy Llewellyn.”

  Ronnie frowned. “Missy?”

  “Yes. Missy. Apparently her sisters had just told her about you and Brendon.” Uh-oh.

  Marissa’s arms crossed in front of her chest
and she braced her feet apart. The woman was definitely sturdy and powerful. A typical predator.

  “Look, Marissa—”

  The lioness held her hand up, silencing Ronnie. “When she asked me what was going on, I was forced to tell her about you and Brendon. About how Brendon told me he loved you and how I was almost positive he was going to mark you as his own.”

  Sissy Mae opened her mouth, probably to confirm that, but Ronnie slammed her foot into the woman’s instep. Sissy’s mouth opened in a silent scream, but she kept her pain to herself.

  “Maybe you should talk to Bren—”

  “I had to tell her that a She-wolf would be helping to raise the Llewellyn Pride’s cubs. And that they would have little half-wolf sisters and brothers one day. Plus there was nothing she could do about it because of the contract. I also had to tell her that every Pride on the East Coast would know she lost one of her favored Breeding Males, not to some rich Pack from Boston or Connecticut but to a Smith Pack She-wolf from the backwoods of Tennessee.”

  Ronnie would have probably been good and angry if tears hadn’t started to slide down Marissa’s face. Oh good Lord in heaven, she’s sobbing.

  “I had to tell her all those things and I have to say that nothing, absolutely nothing, has ever made me happier.”

  Ronnie blinked. “What?”

  “You, my She-wolf friend, have given me hope when I only saw darkness. You’ve given me joy, when I’ve only known misery. You, Ronnie Lee Reed, have made me happier than I’ve ever been before.”

  Then Marissa wrapped her arms around Ronnie and held her in a tight bear hug. Eyes wide, Ronnie looked over at Sissy who, also wide-eyed, stared right back at her.

  Wow. And she thought her family was weird.

  “That’s…uh…really great, Marissa.” Ronnie awkwardly patted Marissa on the back. “I’m glad I could be of help.”

  “Oh, you were. I haven’t had that kind of fun since I stopped stealing cars.”

  That’s when Sissy Mae covered her mouth and turned away, her shoulders shaking.

  Ronnie carefully pushed Marissa off her. “I am so happy I could bring you this kind of joy.”

  Marissa stood straight and wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. “Why don’t we get some dinner and champagne to celebrate this auspicious event of making Missy Llewellyn the most miserable bitch on the planet?”

  Ronnie glanced down at Mitch’s jacket that she still wore and her bare legs peeking out from under it. “I’m not exactly dressed for most of the restaurants in the hotel.”

  Slinging her arms around both Ronnie and Sissy’s shoulders, Marissa reminded them, “Hello? Own the joint. We can go into any damn restaurant we please, wearing any damn outfit we want to.” She started walking, both She-wolves trapped in her iron grip, unable to escape. “I’m in the mood for steak. How about you ladies?”

  What could Ronnie say? She’d never be able to outrun a lioness. “Sure. Sounds great.”

  Boy, would she make Shaw pay for this little nightmare.

  How could Ronnie desert him like this? For two hours he’d been trapped with her brothers, five other wolves who he didn’t bother to learn the names of, and his idiot baby brother. Who, at this moment, stood on the balcony with Ricky Lee and howled at a nonexistent moon.

  Rubbing his eyes in the hopes of stopping the unbearable pounding in his head, Brendon asked again, “Are you sure?”

  “I was standing right there. I ain’t deaf.” Rory Reed forced the Mason jar back into Brendon’s hand. When he started to pass it off to another wolf, Rory gave him that glare again.

  With a sigh, he took a long swig of the clear liquid and grimaced as it burned a hole in his esophagus. After a few moments, he cleared his throat and handed the jar back to Rory. “She actually said those words?”

  “Yup.” Rory took a deep drink, looking completely unfazed by the amount of liquor he’d imbibed in the last two hours. “She said, ‘I love him.’”

  “Did she mean it?”

  “Well, she’s never said it before.”

  “She’s never stopped us from putting a hurt on a male before either,” Reece Reed added. “Most of the time, she actually steers us over there. So she must like you some.”

  She must like you some? Talk about vague.

  The howling became louder and Brendon couldn’t stand it anymore. “Mitch! Would you stop making that annoying, goddamn sound!” The howling cut off abruptly, but now Brendon had the attention of every wolf in the room. Clearing his throat, he added, “It’s so annoying when a cat does it, don’t ya think?”

  The wolves nodded and Rory held the jar out to him again.

  “No, thanks. I really don’t—”

  They all stared, and Brendon realized he didn’t have much of a choice. So he took the jar and gulped down more stuff he felt pretty confident could eat through titanium.

  Man, he would so make Ronnie pay for this nightmare.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Ronnie went to knock on her brother’s door, but it already stood ajar. Kept that way by one long arm.

  “Oh Lord.”

  Ronnie pushed the door open and it slammed right into Ricky’s big head. She kept pushing until she could easily enter. Disgusted, she stepped over her brother and stormed into the middle of the room, staring down at all of them.

  With an angry growl, she kicked Reece in the head. “Wake up!”

  Still holding onto his bottle of ’shine, Reece grumbled and turned over. Then he started snoring again.

  “Rory Lee Reed!”

  Rory sat straight up. “What? What?”

  “Where is he?”

  “Um…?”

  Ronnie waited for her brother to answer until she realized he’d passed out again while sitting up.

  “Goddamnit.”

  A toilet flushed and the bathroom door opened.

  “Hey, sweetie.” Mitch walked by and gave Ronnie a friendly scratch on the head.

  Well at least one of them had survived. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m gonna hurt in the morning from all that liquor. But right now I feel very little pain.” Reaching down, Mitch grabbed Reece, lifted him, carried him to one of the two queen-sized beds, and carefully placed him on the mattress.

  “Did you really drink Uncle Willy’s ’shine?”

  “That stuff in the glass jar? Yup. Sure did. Hence the not feeling any pain.”

  But he wasn’t slurring his words or walking funny or passing out midsentence. He looked sober as a judge.

  “Where’s Shaw?”

  “Bed, I think. He bailed when Rory dropped. And that was after those three guys over there dropped.”

  “But he’s okay?”

  “He’s fine. An asshole, but fine.” He flashed her a killer grin every Shaw male seemed to have, then he picked Ricky up and laid him out next to Reece.

  Fascinated, Ronnie watched as Mitch did the same thing for Rory, carefully laying him on the bed. It was the nicest thing she’d ever seen a man do for another man.

  Until Mitch started picking up the other wolves and placed them on top of each of the Reed boys in a lovely sixty-nine position. Thankfully they were all dressed, but she knew when her brothers woke up…

  “That is wrong,” she finally gasped out, tears rolling down her face from laughing so hard.

  “Yeah. I know.” Mitch grinned “But admit it. It’s so fuckin’ funny.”

  Where she got an air horn from at two o’clock in the morning, he had no idea, but the damn thing blasted him right out of bed and halfway across the room.

  “What in holy hell are you doing?” he roared while covering his ears. He knew they must be bleeding. He’d probably be deaf for life. Still, the crazy She-wolf he felt the need to mate with didn’t seem too concerned with the damage she may have caused.

  “Mornin’, darlin’.”

  Brendon glanced out his big windows facing the city. “It’s still dark out. So it’s not morning in my universe.”

&
nbsp; “I know. You city people sure are used to being lazy and getting up when the day has just passed you by. But we have a few things to straighten out before you get to sleep.”

  Uh-oh. “What kind of things?”

  “First, never leave me alone with your sister again. She scares me, which isn’t easy.”

  “What happened between you and—”

  She hit the button on the air horn and he slammed back against the wall, his entire body shaking with rage. He’d bet hard money she got that damn thing from Timothy.

  “Was I finished speaking?” she asked cheerfully. “Nope, sure wasn’t. Now where was I before I was so rudely interrupted? Oh, yes. Your sister is insane, and you’re not allowed to desert me if she’s around.”

  “Fine,” he spit out. He might actually wear his teeth down into nubs at this rate. “Anything else?”

  “Yeah. I want three pups, which you’ll clearly have to teach how to fight because a wolf with a mane…not a pretty idea. And our children’s misery will be all your fault.”

  “Ronnie—” He quickly held his hands up when she pointed that stupid air horn at him again.

  “Did I look done talkin’?”

  He stared up at the ceiling, praying God would give him strength. “No.”

  “Also, every once in a while, I may take off for places unknown. I will leave a note and call you regularly. I will return, but I have to feel I can leave whenever I want or I will go insane like your sister. And if I go insane I’ll make sure to take you with me.” She raised an eyebrow and again he held up his hands, letting her know the floor was still hers. “You will let me drive your cars…all of them.”

  “Now wait one goddamn minute—” He slammed into the wall again, his hands over his ears. “Stop doing that!”

  “Stop,” she replied calmly, “interrupting me.” She cleared her throat and continued. “You will no longer be a Breeding Male unless you’re breeding with me. You marked me, now you’re stuck with me. I don’t share cock, underwear, or toys. It’s that simple. Any female lions come sniffing around you, no one will find their remains for a very long time. You, of course, will not go sniffing around anyone else because you already know how mean I can be. Now, last, and this is most important. There will always be Oreos in the cupboard, and you will share, Brendon Shaw. With me and definitely with our children. You’ll eat first only if the rest of us aren’t in the room. Okay. Are we all clear?”