The Mane Attraction

by Shelly Laurenston

  Bobby Ray stared at his sister, and Sissy, not really in the mood for this particular conversation, turned and trotted back to her parent’s house and her aunts’ banana cream pie—which she’d hidden from Mitch only that morning—Ronnie, Dee, and the New York Smith She-wolves right behind her.

  Chapter 26

  “Well, I always knew that boy had no sense.” Francine placed a slice of pie down in front of Sissy. “But I never knew he was that stupid.”

  Sissy nodded in agreement and dug into the pie, more intent on feeding than discussing Gil Warren. Dee had headed back to her parents and told her mother everything. That led to a call to her sisters, and they’d rushed right over. By the time Sissy realized Mitch had tracked down the hidden pie and devoured it, the other aunts had shown up. With more pies in hand.

  “He figured Sissy would eventually accept it.” Ronnie pulled her legs up, resting her bare feet on the seat, her arms around her calves. “He had the nerve to bring up her daddy and Miss Janie.”

  Francine opened another cardboard box and pulled out one of her chocolate cream pies. “That was Bubba’s fault. He let that rumor grow ’cause he and his damn brothers are so competitive. The way they describe it, they were Vikings descending on Smithville to take the Lewis females by force.”

  Sissy and Ronnie laughed at that until Francine placed that chocolate pie in front of an empty chair and put a fork next to it. They glanced at each other, then around. When they’d first gotten home, they’d spent most of their time cleaning blood and dirt off their faces and arms while the other She-wolves were cluttering up chairs and couches or laying on the living room floor. To be honest, they hadn’t bothered to check the house to see who else was there. Besides Mitch and Brendon, who would warrant a whole pie to themselves ... ?

  “Is that for me?” Jessie Ann raced down the stairs like an overeager puppy and threw herself into the chair, the pie in front of her. She looked at Francine with undisguised adoration. “I have so missed your chocolate cream pie, Miss Francine.”

  “Then you dig right in there, darlin’. Can’t have that baby starvin’ to death now, can we?”

  Sissy sipped from her glass of milk before saying to Jessie, “I’m real sorry about your honeymoon, Jessie.”

  “Don’t be,” she said good-naturedly, the fork poised in front of her mouth. “I love your brother, but I was starting to crawl the walls. Besides”—she gestured to the feast in front of her—“pie.”

  Without another word, she took her first bite of pie. Jessie’s eyes rolled back in her head, and she fell back in her chair.

  For the first time in hours, Sissy smiled. The girl did have something about her. Goofy in that mixed breed way. And not surprisingly, she wore the ID bracelet Sissy had given Bobby Ray at the wedding. She knew for a fact that Jessie Ann had a diamond bracelet that had probably cost Bobby Ray a small fortune. But it was that silver-plated ID bracelet purchased years ago by a teen Bobby Ray that meant the most to her. And that made Jessie Ann cooler than most people Sissy knew—although she’d never admit that out loud.

  After several more bites and rapturous responses, Jessie asked, “Have you guys thought about opening a shop in Manhattan?”

  Francine shook her head. “Not really. Think we’d sell well there?”

  “I’m relatively certain the wild dogs will keep you in business until the end of time.”

  “That’s real sweet of you, darlin’—”

  “Really, Miss Francine, I’m not just being sweet. Our Pack is always looking for new investments, and you and your sisters could start a pie chain. Kind of like the Van Holtz steak house, only not as snobby.” The Van Holtz Pack was the wealthiest Pack in the States and Europe, and that was due to their family-owned and -run steak houses.

  “You really think so?” And Francine actually sounded intrigued rather than just humoring.

  “Absolutely. Of course, your flagship store will have to be near our Pack house.”

  Momentarily forgetting this wasn’t one of her She-wolves, Sissy automatically teased, “Good thing my brother likes women with meat on their bones ’cause your ass is gonna be gettin’ wide.”

  As soon as the words left her mouth, she wished she could take them back.

  But without missing a beat, Jessie shot back, “Cool. Now I can start wearing your jeans. I thought that was only going to be possible during the late stages of the pregnancy.”

  The milk Ronnie had just taken a big gulp of sprayed across the table, and Sissy almost choked on the piece of pie she’d just swallowed. As Francine clucked her tongue and cleaned up the mess, Sissy and Ronnie howled in laughter, and Jessie grinned around her pie.

  It was decided while the males sat out on the porch and drank beer that Gil Warren and his tiny Pack would be pushed out of town as soon as Gil could wheel himself out. It was obvious that the reasons behind the decision varied between brothers. Smitty and Sammy Ray felt Gil had crossed a line with their baby sister, and there would be no coming back from that. He didn’t belong on Smith territory, end of story. For Travis Ray, Jackie Ray, and ... uh ... the other Ray—Mitch could never remember the man’s name—the reasoning was much more wolflike. Gil Warren had proven he was weak and a bloodline they didn’t want polluting their town’s gene pool. The fact that their sister had almost been forced into a mating she didn’t want didn’t seem to faze them at all, and Mitch easily realized why Sissy stuck with Smitty. He’d ended his honeymoon early and had traveled from New York to Tennessee to check on her. When he’d realized she was in trouble, he’d gone to her aid the same way Mitch would have if it had been either of his sisters.

  Travis had gone to Sissy’s aid because he didn’t want Mitch too upset to play tomorrow’s game.

  “We’ll deal with all this after the game tomorrow.” Travis looked at Smitty. “You playing tomorrow?”

  “Since you actually came to help our baby sister for once, yeah, I’ll play.”

  “Good.” Travis didn’t say anything else—like “Congrats on your marriage” or “Sorry I missed your wedding, bruh”—and walked back into the house, his Pack of wolves following.

  “Sorry about your honeymoon, Smitty.”

  Smitty waved off Mitch’s apology. “Don’t sweat it, son. Sissy did the right thing. She brought both of you some place safe.”

  “Yeah.” Mitch smiled, thinking about Sissy. “I wasn’t too happy about it at first, but I’m glad she brought me here.”

  “I bet you are.” Then Smitty hit him. Hard.

  Mitch stumbled back, trying to keep himself from blacking out.

  “My sister? My baby sister?”

  Brendon stepped between Mitch and Smitty. “Whoa!”

  “It’s not what you think,” Mitch said, shaking his head and trying to keep the blackness at bay.

  “Is that right? Then what is it?”

  Mitch didn’t answer right away, and Smitty snarled. “I trusted you, boy. And I come here and find out you’re just using—”

  “I love her.” Mitch said it quietly, but it might have been screamed the way everything went quiet. Even the night animals stopped whatever they were doing.

  Smitty folded his arms across his chest, his sudden rage disappearing as quickly as it had come. “Is that right?”

  “Yeah, that’s right. I love your sister.”

  Smitty watched Mitch for several seconds, then he pulled his fist back again. Bren tried to block him, but Mitch just sort of waited for the hit.

  “You’re just gonna let me hit you, aren’t you?”

  Mitch shrugged. “She cares about you, so I’d rather not start a caged deathmatch with you, if that’s possible.” He raised his hands. “You know how mighty my fists of fury are.”

  Smitty sized him up again, and Mitch could see him trying not to laugh. “You better keep her happy, feline, or I’m gonna let Sabina use her knives to cut your balls off.” The males winced. Mostly because they all knew it wouldn’t take much to talk Sabina into using her kniv
es on anyone. Of Jessie’s wild dog Pack, she was the most ... rabid.

  “I won’t be here after the trial.” And suddenly, he again had the attention of the entire New York Pack.

  “Come again?”

  He cleared his throat, and Bren stared at him like he’d lost his mind. But he didn’t want Smitty thinking he’d lied to him. “I go into Witness Protection after the trial. I won’t be back for Sissy. I won’t be back here.” And it was killing him.

  But before Smitty could say anything, Travis burst back out onto the porch. “What the hell are you talking about? ”

  “I thought you guys knew this.”

  “What about my sister?” Smitty growled.

  “What about next year’s game?” Travis snarled.

  Smitty looked at his brother. “Game? You’re talking about your goddamn game when this is about Sissy’s future?”

  “Let’s be realistic, Bobby Ray. It ain’t like Sissy won’t jump on the next steed that comes along. This boy’s just a waystation.”

  “Hey!” the Shaw brothers said in unison.

  “No offense, hoss, but you can’t really think my sister has serious feelings for you, or any man.”

  “You got something to say to me, Travis?”

  They’d been so wrapped up in their own bullshit, none of them had realized the New York Smith Pack She-wolves stood in front of the house. The men looked down at them from the porch. Jessie Ann, the cute little one in the middle, waved her hand at Smitty. She looked lost in the mass of all those much taller and bigger angry She-wolves.

  “Well?” Sissy demanded, walking up the stairs with Ronnie right behind her. “Say whatever you’re gonna say, Travis. To my face.”

  Travis glanced at Mitch and shook his head. “No. That’s okay. Maybe another time.”

  “Don’t worry. Mitch will play. And he’ll play well. I’ll make sure of it. So just say it.”

  “You don’t want me to do this here, Sissy Mae.”

  “No,” Sammy cut in. “I don’t want you doing this here.”

  “It’s all right, Sammy. Really. I’d like to hear what he has to say. Go on, Travis. Say it.”

  “Fine. We all know that you couldn’t care less about this boy other than the fuck he can give you at the moment. When he’s gone, there’ll be another and another and another. Just like always. Ain’t nothin’ changed. Although I was praying you’d keep this one for a few years since he does play some mean ball. But you’re the same whore—”

  It was the word whore that seemed to tip him over the edge, his fist slamming into Travis’s face, knocking the bigger man to the ground. And as they stood around, stunned, Sammy grabbed his older brother by the T-shirt, lifted him up, and slammed his fist into Travis’s face again ... and again ... and a few more times for good measure.

  Finally, Bobby Ray and Sissy had to grab him and pull him back. Sissy had her arm around his shoulders, and she kept telling him, “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

  But good-natured Sammy apparently had his own boundaries, and Travis had just crossed them.

  “I warned you what I’d do if you called her that again! I warned you!”

  Travis sat up, his back against the porch railing. Blood covered a good portion of his face from his shattered nose down.

  “You act like she hasn’t been called that before,” Travis snapped, trying to maintain some of his dignity.

  Sammy went for him again, but Bobby Ray held him back, although Mitch had a feeling he wanted to beat the hell out of Travis himself.

  Travis gave a small, taunting smile. “And Lord knows, she’ll be called that again.”

  It was something in her eyes that Mitch caught. That split second of getting fully fed up. He reached for her, but she grabbed hold of the football helmet that one of the players had dumped by the front door. She brought it up over her head, and then as she went down on one knee, Sissy brought it back down.

  The helmet connected with Travis’s knee, and they all jumped and winced at the same time as they heard that bone shatter. Then that wolf howled in pure agony.

  Panting, anger coming off her in waves, Sissy stood back up. “I promised Mitch would play for you tomorrow. Never said nothing about you getting to play. Good thing Bobby Ray is here to help out.” She tossed the helmet to Donnie, who grabbed it but smartly kept his distance.

  Sissy brushed her hand across Mitch’s arm before she walked off, her She-wolves following behind her.

  Brendon stared down at the crying, screaming wolf at his feet. “We better get him to the hospital. They’re gonna have to set that.” He looked at Smitty. “But we better get your wife out of the tree first.”

  “Out of the ...” Smitty looked at the big tree closest to the railing. “Jessica Ann!”

  “Don’t yell at me,” she snapped. “It was instinctual!” She leaned down a bit so they could see just her head, the rest of her still buried in that tree. “Angry-Sissy means I run for the hills, but I wasn’t in the mood to run. Did the next best thing.”

  Mitch smiled. “I’m impressed a dog can climb trees.”

  That, of course, earned him a glare from Smitty. “Is this you helping me? I don’t think this is you helping me.”

  Chapter 27

  At three A.M., Mitch called to let Sissy know a bunch of them, including Brendon and Bobby Ray, had taken Travis to the hospital to get his leg set. The break was apparently so bad it would take more than a week to heal.

  Sissy would have felt awful if Mitch hadn’t sounded so proud over the phone. At one point, he even told her, “I figured I had to go with him since my girlfriend was the one who beat the crap out of him.”

  It had been the first time anyone had ever called her that where she hadn’t automatically responded, “Who the hell are you talking about?”

  Instead, she curled up on the couch, Ronnie asleep with the other She-wolves on the floor, and said, “He made me mad.”

  “He made me mad, too. But I’m glad you’re the one who kicked his ass.”

  They talked for nearly an hour until Mitch told her, “It looks like we’re taking him back. I’ll stay with Smitty’s Pack tonight. See you before the game?”

  “Of course. In fact, I was thinking that ... um ... when you go back to Philly, I can go with you. Just until you testify,” she rushed to explain.

  He was silent for a long time, until he finally asked, “Why?”

  “Because I don’t want you to be alone.”

  “Sissy ... that would mean a lot to me. You’ll be like my sexy bodyguard.”

  She laughed. “Well, somebody’s gotta watch your back.”

  “I have to go. I’ll talk to you in a few hours.”

  “Okay.” The words she really wanted to say were right there. Right on the tip of her tongue. But she’d never said them to anyone who was not a blood relative or her best girlfriends. “Um ...”

  “Sissy?”

  “Uh-huh?”

  “I love you.”

  Sissy let out a breath, her hand gripping the phone tighter. “Me, too. I mean ... I love you, too.”

  “That wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

  She rolled her eyes and smiled at the humor in his voice. “Shut up.”

  “Talk to you later, baby.”

  “Yeah.” She disconnected the call.

  Sissy was in love, and it wasn’t nearly as appalling as she had thought it would be.

  “I love you, Mitchy!”

  “And I love you, Sissy!”

  Then Ronnie and one of Sissy’s cousins began to make kissing noises while the rest of the She-wolves fell out laughing.

  “To the devil with all y’all!”

  Mitch had only been asleep a few hours when he felt the couch he was stretched out on dip and someone slapped him in the back of the head.

  Growling, he looked over his shoulder and glared. “Desiree.”

  “Mitchell.” She grinned. “Glad to see you’re breathing.”

  “I was sleeping.”
<
br />   “Yes. But I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  “I’m playing ball in a few hours, so ...” He motioned her away with a wave of his hand.

  “Oh, that’s nice. I come out to Hicksville to track down your little murderer, and you brush me off.”

  “You’re not letting me sleep, are you?”

  Her grin grew. “Actually, Smitty sent me up here to get you. He said I should awaken you with my dulcet tones.”

  Dulcet tones? The woman had a voice like sandpaper over gravel. And Smitty knew that.

  “Thanks.” Yawning and rubbing his eyes, he pulled himself up. “Any leads?”

  Dez shrugged. “We’re pretty sure she’s headed this way. Your head is worth a lot right now. Maybe they’ll mount it on the wall.”

  “Shut up.”

  “Or they’ll stuff your entire body, and you can be put next to someone’s stuffed armadillo and their tiger skin rug.”

  “I hate you.”

  She laughed. “I know. Mace hates when I wake him up like that. Although, he hates it worse when it’s the dogs.”

  “I don’t know how you got him to live with those dogs.”

  “Love me ... love my dogs.”

  “You got a car?” Mitch abruptly asked her.

  “Yup. A lovely beige rental.”

  “Give me a ride when I get dressed?”

  “Sure,” she answered simply as Brendon walked by on the way to the bathroom.

  He stopped and stared at Dez and Mitch. “Dez ... what is your deal with cats?”

  They’d only gotten a few hours sleep and couldn’t find any food left in the entire house. Damn cat. Now the Smith Pack She-wolves had finished eating their breakfast at the diner and were headed back out to the streets they’d grown up on but had left behind for the fast city life of New York.

  Ronnie glanced down at Sissy’s feet. “Maybe we should get those hooves of yours done at a nail salon. A little polish wouldn’t hurt.”