Zane pricked his ears and lifted his nose. Another light went on inside. He strained his hearing and fancied he could hear footsteps on the creaking wood floors inside the home. Another light. This one was in the kitchen. And then suddenly the back sliding door opened and Zane held his breath as Landry Fisher stepped outside with a bag of garbage hanging from her hands.
Here it was practically the middle of the night and Landry was still up and still busy. It didn’t really surprise him. That was just the way Landry operated. Sometimes, though, Zane felt as though the girl deserved far better. She hadn’t started out in these circumstances after all.
Her long red hair was pulled into a ponytail on top of her head. It stuck out at all angles. Her pale freckled face was narrow and at the moment it looked pinched with worry. Zane wasn’t entirely sure what was happening with Landry lately. He hadn’t spent much time with her. They didn’t exactly run in the same circles anymore. She was tall and thin and not at all like the usual voluptuous women that Zane went for. He had never understood why, but this never mattered to him. Not where Landry was involved. Perhaps because he knew what her personality was like and it overshadowed everything else.
The garbage can lid slammed closed and shattered Zane’s private reverie. He stirred on the ground and his tail accidentally slapped the wood fence. Landry looked up toward Zane’s corner of the yard.
“Who’s there?” Landry called out. There was a long pause in which Zane froze absolutely solid and silent like a big sphinx. “You’d better get out of my yard before I call the cops! I’m not dealing with anymore vandalism! Zero tolerance! You got it?”
It was almost as though she were talking to an actual person. Or rather it was like she assumed that a certain individual—probably a young one—was hiding in her yard. Interesting. Zane did not move. He had years of practice at this. One night he had even stayed frozen with some redneck pointing a shotgun in his direction. Not that the shotgun would have been fatal. They did hurt like hell though.
Landry stayed like that too. She stared intently into that dark corner of the yard where Zane lay for some time. But her vision was human and it could not penetrate the pitch black. Finally she pursed her lips and chuffed out a little sigh of frustration before disappearing back inside the house.
Zane relaxed so quickly that he almost felt as though he deflated. It was past time to get home. He would have to sneak back into the house in order to avoid a lecture from his mother. Or maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe he should just go traipsing back into the house bold as brass and let her see him in his full wolf form. That would rattle Tisha Olivares-King. It would also piss her off. And that definitely wasn’t in Zane’s long-term plan right now.
He took a flying leap back over the fence and retraced his earlier steps. This time he did not fall into the pool. Although he did note with satisfaction that the teen-aged lovers had vacated the pool deck for some other location. Hopefully they wouldn’t do anything they’d regret later. Not that Zane could talk.
As he sprinted from one yard to another Zane could not help but replay a whole host of his could-haves and should-haves. There were far too many. There were five sons in the King family. No. Strike that. There were apparently six sons in the King family. Their father was dead. The oldest son was a bastard. The matriarch of Clan King hated shifters and desired nothing more than to have normal human sons. The game was divide and conquer and everyone was a pawn until they chose otherwise. And that was Zane’s life.
He returned to the corner near the King family home where it was peacefully dark. The rain began quite suddenly. Huge drops fell from the sky and landed in his drying fur. Instead of running for the house, Zane sat there on the street corner and let the water soak him slowly to the skin. He lifted his muzzle to the sky and laid his ears flat to keep them from filling with water.
The smell of rain was intoxicating. It drifted on the breeze and reminded Zane of night runs with his father, Mac King. Those had been the good days. That had been the time when it was good to be a shifter. His father had always made Zane feel as though his personal love of his wolf form was a good thing. But that sentiment had died right along with Mac King in a bullshit hunting accident that involved no witnesses and a preposterous story.
Standing up, Zane shook off and then trotted toward the King family home. He wasn’t sure what made him think it was a good idea to trot right up to the kitchen door, but that’s what he did. There was a light on. Zane could see his older brother Devon standing at the kitchen sink as though he were rinsing out a dish or something.
Zane whined and scratched at the door. His attention was focused on Devon. He was totally unprepared for the door to fly open right in his face. Practically falling into the kitchen, he noticed that his paws made wet muddy marks on the pristine tile floor. Devon turned toward Zane, but it was Tisha Olivares-King who was glaring down at the big wolf with fire in her eyes.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Tisha snarled. She slammed the door closed and grabbed hold of Zane’s thick ruff with both hands. She began dragging him into the kitchen. “You idiot! You’re going to be discovered! You’re going to be seen! Don’t you have any respect for this family? Do you know what it would do to our reputation if someone found out that we’re secretly nothing but a pack of dogs?!”
Zane could not have this conversation while he was still in his wolf form. It just didn’t work. But it was a bit difficult to shift while his mother was attempting to shake him while ripping out the fur from the thick ruff around his neck.
“Mother,” Devon said sharply. “Let go of him. He could knock you across the room, but he’s not because he’s not going to shift until you move out of the way.”
“He’s not going to shift at all!” Tisha shouted the words with such force that Zane felt as though they had just pierced his eardrums. “Ever! Do you understand me? You are done, Zane King! You will stay in your human form if you want to stay in this house.” She looked up and pegged Devon with a hot glare. “And that goes for you too. And your idiot older brother!”
“Hang on a second, Mother.” Devon pulled a long frown. “You’re saying you refuse to allow us to shift in the house? Or that none of us are allowed to shift at all?”
“At. All!”
She fumbled about on the kitchen counter and finally came up with a huge bamboo spoon that someone had been using to stir with. The spoon still had some kind of food clinging to it. Zane smelled tomato or perhaps parmesan. And then it didn’t matter because his mother was attempting to beat him with the wooden spoon like some recalcitrant child.
“Hey!” Devon started toward them, but Zane knew that his brother would pay a steep price for interfering.
This was Zane’s problem and Zane’s alone. He sucked in a deep breath and then ducked backwards so quickly that he basically ducked underneath the trajectory of Tisha’s spoon. Unfortunately he moved too quickly to afford her any time to check her intended blow. Her momentum carried her almost to the ground. She stumbled and nearly fell face first onto the tile. At the last second Devon was able to grab her to keep Tisha from winding up in a heap on the kitchen floor. But there was no doubt in Zane’s mind that she was pissed as hell and likely to stay that way.
There was not a moment to waste. Zane bolted from the kitchen past his mother and his second oldest brother Devon to the stairs. Still in his wolf form he carefully climbed to the second floor of their house and did not shift back to his human form until he was safely behind his own closed door.
Chapter Three
Landry puttered around her house. Her gaze kept returning to the clock hanging on the kitchen wall. Six o’clock. Six-fifteen. Six-thirty. Good gracious, she was going to drive herself absolutely nuts trying to wait for seven o’clock to get there. Food. That was certainly one of the first things on her mind. She’d had nothing but an apple pilfered from the school cafeteria and a protein bar from the carefully-stored cache in her desk drawer. Now she was trying desperately not to di
p into the limited supply of canned and boxed goods in her house. She was going to have to ration everything very carefully if she was going to make it to her next paycheck.
Scrubbing the floor took her mind off the hunger pangs in her belly. The old vinyl floor had once been some random shade of ivory with little mint green diamonds worked into the pattern. Now it was a random shade of dingy gray with dingy green diamonds in the pattern. It was fairly disgusting and badly needed replacing. But that wasn’t in the budget for this year. Neither was the roof, which leaked pretty badly when it rained. She’d had to work on the crawl space earlier this year because of a sewer leak and that had eaten up every bit of savings that she’d had left after purchasing the house nearly three years ago.
Landry stood and looked up at the stained ceiling. Home ownership. That had been her ultimate goal. Now she wasn’t so sure that had been the best idea. At least a landlord had to fix things for you. Or at least they were supposed to. It did not always mean that they did fix things as she daily learned from listening to her coworkers talk about their apartments and houses that had leaking faucets, air conditioners that didn’t work, and sometimes pest control issues that suggested everything was bigger in Texas.
Scrub. Scrub. Scrub. Tick. Tick. Tock. The day was inching toward seven o’clock and Landry was still wearing her work clothes. Khaki pants and a school T-shirt. The front of the shirt was emblazoned with their tiger mascot and the name Washington Middle School. At some point in her life she might have been afraid of what a date would think if she went out to dinner in clothing like this. At this point a trip to the fast food joint around the corner was probably all the date she needed.
At about six fifty-five she was beginning to have doubts about her date. Her belly clenched into an angry knot and she wondered if she was going to have to find something to eat in her own freezer or pantry. She set the mop aside and washed her hands at the sink. The water was sluggish. But that was mostly because the pipes were ancient and cranky.
She had just opened up the freezer to see if she had any more fish sticks when there was a knock on the front door. Landry closed the freezer and stood for a moment trying to catch her breath. This was going to be all right. It would be fine. It was just Zane King. She had known him almost all her life. He was a player. There was no reason to get excited about a date with Zane because it wasn’t a date. He would want it to be a little more than she did and that was okay. Landry wanted food and Zane had money to buy it.
Swallowing back her nerves, Landry answered the front door with what she hoped was a measured smile. It felt sort of hollow. Or maybe that was the wrong word. Her face felt uncomfortable smiling like this. It was a teacher smile. One of those things you used on parent night or at conferences when you were trying to be really nice without being too nice.
“Wow, right on time.” Landry could not resist the teasing tone or the words. “That’s a big change from the old Zane. I figured for sure that you were going to be late and I’d be heading out to get a burger by myself.” Not that she could, but there was no reason to let him know that.
Zane sighed and put his hand over his heart. “That wounds me, Landry. It really does.” Then he cocked his head and gazed at her with a very curious expression. “I see you dressed up for me to be on time.”
“Let’s just say that I consider this going out with an old friend and not the beginning of some torrid romance.” Landry had to be careful. She didn’t want him to think that it was one of those things where she was going to insist on paying for herself.
Fortunately Zane wasn’t wired like that. “Then I suppose I’ll have to change your mind.”
Why did he have to be so good looking? It was absolute insanity the way he could make her stomach do flip-flops. His smile was almost impossible to resist and he had one of those laughs that was so very good natured that it made you want to laugh along with him.
Landry grabbed her hooded sweatshirt off the hook by the door. “So basically your plan is to make it so I’m begging you to drive me home so that I can change into a dress and heels? Is that it?”
“Nah.” He stepped back out the door and down off the front stoop. “I wouldn’t want to put you through that kind of trouble. Besides darlin’, every guy wants a woman to feel the need to strip naked when he’s around not put on more clothes!”
“Zane!” Landry could have pretended to be scandalized, but this was classic Zane King and she didn’t really mind. “You still act like a high school boy. You know that?”
His truck was still idling down on the curb in front of her house. Her sad little car was sitting by itself in her driveway. Landry tried not to look at it. She didn’t want him to ask the question she knew was probably on his mind.
Zane opened the passenger door of his big truck and held out his hand. “My lady? Please let me help you so you don’t accidentally fall flat on your face.” Then he leaned in closer. “This is actually my excuse to touch my dates. You know? Like I had the truck lifted just so they’d have to take my hand and let me help them up.”
She accepted his hand. “At least you’re honest about it.”
Landry tried to ignore the tingles in her palm from the soft brush of his fingers against her hand, but it was difficult. Somehow all of that was getting twisted up into the old feelings that she’d had for Zane that had never quite been resolved. Now she felt the strength of his hand and the fierceness of his grip and all she could think about was how much she absolutely needed someone like him in her life. But not him. Not Zane King.
He carefully closed the door and ran around the hood of his vehicle. She could feel the soft rumble of the truck beneath her. The whole interior smelled of his spicy cologne and the wonderful masculine scent of him. Zane was a guy. A real man’s man. His truck definitely reflected that. The cup holders were full of spare change and mints. There was a pair of discarded and somewhat muddy boots sitting on the floor of the backseat. A toolbox was tucked into the back and Landry could easily imagine Zane out somewhere with tools hanging out of his hand and maybe—well, maybe shirtless while the sun bathed his naked skin and tanned him a warm brown color…
“Ready to go?”
Landry pressed her palms to her cheeks. Zane had bounded into the truck and was now staring at her with a perfectly normal expression. He had no idea that she’d been having totally inappropriate thoughts about his pectoral muscles. Nope. He was just wondering if she was ready to go to dinner.
Dinner. Yum. Landry bobbed her head. “Where did you want to go? There are a couple of fast food places here pretty close. I think there might be a chicken place too.”
Zane tilted his head to one side and sighed. “Really, darlin’? You’re asking me if I want to go grab a fast food burger? I’d say not. Definitely not. I have something else in mind.”
Of course. She should have known. Had it been that long? Landry should have been able to predict this. Zane never did anything small or low key. That just wasn’t his style. She reached for her seatbelt and carefully clicked it into place as Zane put the truck in gear.
“I’m thinking,” he began, “that we’re close enough to Tucker’s to just go and get some ribs. When was the last time you had any of Tucker’s ribs?”
“I couldn’t say.” Landry hadn’t been out to eat in what felt like ages. She certainly wasn’t going to turn down Tucker’s barbeque. The place was legendary. “But if you insist, I suppose we can go there.”
He snorted and shook his head. The smile on his face was pure devil, and for just a moment Landry felt as though the years had rolled back and they were once again in high school talking about what kind of food they might want to grab after a school football game.
“Do you still play football?” Landry asked him suddenly. “I always remember you having so much fun on the football field. Sometimes when I watch the middle school boys practicing out behind the gym it reminds me of you and the rest of the guys from our grade playing during lunch period.”
“Touch tackle football.” Zane was nodding and chuckling to himself. His hands were light and secure on the steering wheel and he almost looked as though he wasn’t paying any attention at all to where he was going. “I remember those days well. It was touch football when a teacher was watching and whenever they went back inside we started tackling each other. That was fun. And of course there was always more than a time or two when we would forget that someone was watching and start a dogpile down on the field that would instantly land us in the principal’s office.”
“But you never got in trouble.” Landry grinned and shook her head. She well recalled Zane’s legendary charm. “Nobody could ever get mad at you for long. You just smiled at them and they instantly forgave you.”
“Can I smile at you and get instant forgiveness?” he wanted to know.
The way he was looking at her right now made Landry want to tell him yes. She would never be able to tell him no or hold a grudge against him. He was just too genuine in his happiness and the totally carefree way he went through his life. It was like there was never anything really wrong. Nothing went wrong. Nothing even dared to step a toe out of line. That was just the way it went.
It didn’t take long to get to Tucker’s. The low slung building sat in an older neighborhood in Dallas. It was on the fringe of the downtown area and the parking lot was about as long and narrow as the building. Landry cringed as they pulled off the busy street and into the lot.
“Maybe we should park in the next county and walk,” Landry suggested. “You know, in a place where you can straddle like four spots.”
“What?” He gave her a frown and then he winked again. It was a disarming thing to be winked at by this man. It sent a riot of chills and thrills all through her body. Then he found a single spot that appeared to be wedged between two compact cars. “Are you doubting my skill, woman? I’m insulted!”
Billion Dollar Wolves: Boxset Bks 1-5 Page 50