I’d found my mate. She knew the truth, and despite the beating with a branch and the hot coffee in to the head, seemed cool with it. She had definitely settled into my life and my bedroom, and I desperately hoped I could convince her to stay.
Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the key ring and dangled it for Brandy. “Miss Yéil, your new keys.”
“Eee!” she squealed and took the ring far more gracefully than I thought she would.
“Only time Brandy wants a ring from a man,” Delia teased, looking around in mock innocence.
Brandy punched her, while raising her middle finger at her. She headed off to the front of the house, walked up the new stairs I had Patrick install, and unlocked the front door.
She giggled inanely. “Mine! I own a full functional house!”
All the women walked into the house to take a final full walk through. They still had furniture to buy and a few other details, but the house was completely livable. Even in the crazy, cold winters we had here.
Fergus grinned and slapped me on the back. “I hear she’s a good woman.”
“She’s amazing.” I sighed. The pining in my voice was ridiculous.
“Think she’ll stay?”
“No idea. None at all. She wants that master’s and she wants to travel. I can get behind both. I just don’t know if she wants to settle here.”
“You’ll work it out.” He cleared his throat. “I heard Wendell spoke to you.”
I glanced at him. “Yes, he did. We’ve stepped up our sentries, but there’s no guarantee they aren’t going to come hunting one day down the road.”
“I’ve sent a few myself to patrol the outer area. I wish Harrington hadn’t exiled them. I wish he’d had them executed. This shit has been haunting us for fifty years.”
Nodding, I folded my arms. I knew we couldn’t keep patrolling this cabin. I’d even taken a few nights myself, but it was unfair to ask my pack to guard these girls. Why did they merit so much protection, and the rest of Mendenhall didn’t?
Wasn’t going to fly much longer.
Fergus cleared his throat. “So, about Wendell.”
“Yes.”
“He did come here and he did speak to you?”
“Yes, with extreme reverence. How long has he been out of the pack?”
“Five years, and again, I wish Uncle Daniel had picked a different punishment. I don’t like exile. Because then we get these assholes threatening everyone.”
“Agreed on that,” I answered. I glanced into the woods, knowing that my patrol and those mangy exiles were both out there. “Perhaps it’s time to get the Alphas together, find a real solution to this.” I turned back to him. “Invite the Alphas and their Betas to your compound for a discussion. Maybe mates, too. We can’t let this go on anymore.”
“Any word on the Yéil woman?”
I shook my head. “No. They have their own problems right now. Let them enjoy this place for two weeks, then we’ll approach that problem.”
Fergus gave me a curt, polite nod. “Fair deal. And you’ll be sending payments?”
Tipping my head, I gave him a sidelong glance. “Really, Ferg?”
“Hey, just making sure you don’t forget. That mate of your is distracting to a fault.”
I cuffed him on the shoulder and let out a nonthreatening growl. “Get out of here. I’ll send payment tomorrow.”
He waved and headed down to his truck. I headed into the house, where I found all the women clustered in the kitchen, looking at catalogs and chittering. From the dissention and anger Jess had told me about—and I smelled on Zanna—something had to have happened recently to get them all back together.
I didn’t understand female friendships. I did know that if I could convince Jess to stay, and be my mate, I was going to have these five women in my life forever. Best to get along with them at the outset.
“So, ladies. What do you think?”
Brandy grinned. “I’m sending my asshole cousin as many pictures as I can of this place and telling him he’s never welcome here.”
The women chuckled.
Zanna nodded. “It’s really a one-eighty from what was here six weeks ago. We could barely get in the door. Now we have a working fridge and four awesome bedrooms and a gorgeous new fireplace.”
I nodded, satisfied. “I’ll give you all a day to settle in and relax. There’s some basic maintenance the batteries need, as well as the panels and turbine. Anything more than what I show you, you call me and I’ll set it to rights.”
Jess blinked her big brown eyes at me. “I’m going to crash here tonight, Garrett. We need a girls’ night with popcorn and gossip and stupid movies.”
“You got it, gorgeous. I’ll miss you, though.”
Zanna rubbed up against me. “Miss me too?”
“Just that snore of yours.”
She punched me. Hard.
Then, she turned upset. “But this also means no perfect bacon. Can you come up tomorrow morning and cook for us?”
“I’m coming up here, there’s gonna be heat but not in the kitchen.”
They all burst out laughing. It felt good to make them all laugh, especially my Jess.
“So no boys tonight,” Brandy cut in and walked over to me. She playfully shoved me toward the door. “So long, thanks for all your help. Private party, bye-bye.”
I chuckled and let her push me out. Jess was on the porch with me a moment later and the others stacked themselves in the windows on either side, smiling at us.
“They’re all trouble, you know.”
Jess giggled lightly. “I do know. I wouldn’t have it any other way. At all. Miss me tonight?”
“Mm. Yes. Very much.” Knowing they were all watching us, I pulled her in close and gave her a hell of a kiss that had her popping up on her toes and threading her fingers through my hair.
“Jesus Christ…” she whispered. “I’m almost ready to say screw the sleepover.”
I caught the sound of the women inside wolf-whistling and whooping it up at my possession of her. “Almost. But you need this time with them.”
“I do. I do.” She nodded and touched her lips where I had been a moment before. “Promise me there’s lots of those tomorrow?”
“For every day you stay with me.” I saw her open her mouth to protest, but I put a finger over her lips. “I didn’t say anything else. But every day you are with me, I will kiss you like it’s the only thing keeping me alive. Because that’s not far from the truth.”
I stepped away from her and quickly headed for my truck.
I just hoped I’d turned away fast enough to hide the erection from the other women.
* * *
Garrett was going to be the death of me.
I watched his taut ass in those skin-tight jeans walk toward his truck.
I’d felt that hard-on. I wanted to do something about it.
But, alas, girls’ night.
I turned and just caught the four of them ducking out of the windows, and I laughed hard. I banged the door open like I was actually mad and pointed at them.
“You nosey bitches!”
“Please.” Delia flipped her hair. “As if. He might be yours, but that is one fine, fine specimen. I don’t blame you at all for getting laid by that hours after meeting him.”
I smirked. “He’s so much more than a hot ass, too.”
Zanna clapped me on the back. “You all have no idea. He treats this woman like royalty. Coffee is always available, he cooks, he cleans, he builds, he snuggles. Snuggles, you guys. Cozied right up to her during the movie. He just likes to be near her.”
“We noticed.” Addi winked.
Leveling an accusing finger at her, I narrowed my eyes. “You’ve got no place to talk, missy. Is there any room in this cabin you and Patrick haven’t defiled?”
She put a thoughtful hand to her chin. “No…no, I don’t think so. If you think of one we can take care of that when he comes to pick me up tomorrow.”
; Brandy rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Come on. Let’s get this show on the road. We have an inaugural meal to prepare and beds to break in. Sleeping. No sneaking in your respective penises.”
“Wait.” Delia turned to Zanna. “Do you have a respective penis?”
Clearing her throat, she looked down and sniffled. “So that rando I had my way with didn’t exactly remain a rando. I might have seen him again. Once. A day.”
“So your attitude last week was mostly because you needed to get laid?” Delia asked.
Zanna sobered. “No. I was an inappropriate bitch to you all because I slept with Brandy and I was a mess over it. I’m sorry. Brandy, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make it a mess.”
Brandy folded her arms and just stared, emotionless.
“I am. Really. I’m sorry.”
“Did your rando set you straight?”
“No. I’m still confused. But I don’t need to take that out on you or anyone else. That’s all on me.”
“Why are you confused?”
I cleared my throat. “Should we all let you two talk alone?”
Zanna sighed. “No, it’s fine. You all know what’s going on anyway. None of us can keep our mouths shut to each other.”
Brandy unfolded her arms. “So, why are you confused?”
“Because I liked it.” The words were out of Zanna’s mouth in a rush. “I could have told you no, stop anytime. I didn’t want to. I liked it. But that’s not on you. None of my confusion is on any of you.”
“Fuck.” Brandy walked out of the room on the swear word.
Delia and I slapped our hands on our foreheads. Zanna looked between us.
“What did I do now?”
“Are you really that dense?” Addi asked. “She’s held a torch for you for years. And you just admitted that you liked having sex with her. You made it worse.”
“Go talk to her,” I said. “Go. And if you have no intention of every pursuing anything with her ever again, make sure you tell her that, and she can move on.”
“Fuck,” Zanna said and ran after Brandy.
Addi looked at me and Delia, then marched over to the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of red wine, uncorked it, and pulled down five glasses. She filled each halfway, grabbed one, and turned back to where Delia and I were still standing.
“Well. I never thought Zanna would fuck her, did you?”
Delia and I burst out laughing, breaking the spell. We walked over to the counter and grabbed a glass each.
“Not in a million years,” Delia said, toasting the words with the wine.
“Nope.”
Addi held up her glass. “To Zanna and Brandy. Surprising the hell out of us for the past four years.”
We rang our glasses against each other as we chuckled, then took a sip. I glanced at the other glasses on the counter.
“Should you have done that?”
“Now, or later, it’s red. It’s fine.” She cocked her head. “Why do you think I picked red? They’re either going to be out in ten minutes or they are going to be out in an hour.”
Brandy’s voice snapped down the hall. “We can hear you!”
Addi snapped back, “I know!”
Dinner was almost ready when the two of them reappeared. They both looked tired and emotionally exhausted, but they were also tousled and Zanna’s short hair was styled in the current ‘sex-do’ fashion.
The three of us had agreed while making dinner that we would say nothing. Not even tease them. It was better that we just let them deal with it.
Halfway through our intense game of Clue, a sound from right outside the door startled me so much I sent my wine glass flying.
Slowly, we all turned our heads to the door and heard the sound of a paw scratching on the wood.
“No…” Brandy whispered.
Zanna ran for the closet near the kitchen. Garrett had installed a gun safe there and two more rifles. Addi and I raced behind her to grab the other two—Tati had shown us how to use them and insisted that we take them out to practice no less than once a week.
I was grateful for that.
Brandy and Delia scooted behind the three of us, as we all stood staring at the door.
Addi cleared her throat, and after drawing in a long, slow breath, I saw her face turn to mine.
“Who was on patrol tonight?”
Holy fucking shit. Patrick had told her.
What a damn relief. He and I had had a long talk about Addi and her past, but to know he took my words to heart and trust her with the secret…
“I don’t know,” I said.
Delia cleared her throat. “Pretty sure it was Bart.”
Addi and I swiveled to look at her. “What?”
She looked around. “What? You asked.”
“Patrols?” Brandy asked. “What’s going on?”
Delia looked over at her. “The pa—” She coughed. “The guys at the compound set up routine patrols around the cabin. Every night, someone watches the woods around here. They don’t like the ex—coyotes.”
Delia freakin’ knew, too. Holy crap.
“If it’s Bart, he’s not out there,” I said. “This was Martin and Garrett setting up the patrols. Bart is pissed at Martin and I can see him not patrolling for the simple act of spite.”
“What’s going on?” Zanna asked.
Before we could answer, the scratching was overtaken by a hard bang against the door.
Brandy’s voice wavered. “Are they trying to break in?”
“Call Garrett,” Addi said. “Call him. We need them up here.”
I yanked the phone off the wall, and it was dead. I stared at it. “That’s funny. They cut the line.”
There were suddenly four cell phones held out for me to choose from. I laughed and grabbed my own. “Thanks, I have one with his number programmed in.”
There was another thump of a body against the door, and I quickly hit the call button for Garrett.
He picked up after only a ring. “Hey, sexy.”
“Bart was supposed to patrol tonight, wasn’t he?”
I could almost see him sit up straight on the couch. “What? What do you mean supposed to?”
“We think the coyotes are trying to bust in the front door.”
I heard the rustling of papers and a solid swear after it stopped. “Yes. It was supposed to be Bart. Shit. We’re on our way.”
I didn’t have a chance to say goodbye before the line went dead in my ear.
Zanna grimaced as a body hit the door again. “They’re not going to be able to get here in less than ten minutes.”
Brandy grabbed Addi’s and my elbow. “Upstairs. Get upstairs. There’s only one staircase and they can’t come up there but two at a time. You can pick them off if you have to.”
I certainly didn’t want to pick them off—they were shifters even if they were exiles. I moved back with her, not really feeling this plan.
Halfway to the stairs, there was a knock at the front door.
We all froze.
“Brandy. Brandy Yéil. Come out here and face us. Come out here and face the challenge for this land. You’re challenged, Yéil. You have to answer.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Zanna asked.
“Someone wants my land,” she answered. “But why aren’t they just serving me a subpoena? Why are they banging on my door in the middle of the night?”
“Upstairs,” I said. “Come on, your idea is sound. Let’s go.” I really hoped Garrett was almost there. I didn’t want to shoot anyone. I just wanted to drink wine with my friends and forget all the decisions I was going to have to make in the next six weeks.
As the five of us scrambled up the stairs, the banging on the door got worse. It got louder and more demanding, and as we reached the top of the stairs, it grew steady. We couldn’t hear the shouting anymore, but they were pounding.
In the distance, I heard a howl. A wolf’s howl, followed by another.
Garrett—and Patrick. T
hey were on their way.
I could even recognize his howl now.
The look on Addi’s face said the same thing—she knew their howl, and they were on the way.
“Oh, good,” Zanna said. “Wolves. Great.”
But instead of being able to take comfort in that, the yips of the coyotes were all around the house in the next moment, making us all a little hysterical.
One of them howled outside the front door.
We heard the doorknob rattling, and I gasped. Shifters in human form were insanely strong, as witnessed by the way Garrett could pick me up and toss me around like a ragdoll.
I looked at Addi and Delia and was about to mention something about it to them when the sound of crunching and grinding metal could be heard from the door.
Plunk.
The inner knob hit the floor.
“Holy shit, they snapped the doorknob off?” Zanna whispered.
“Window. Go out the window. We can’t stay in here at all,” I said. “The coyotes aren’t going to be alone. They’re going to have humans with them, and we can’t hide here.”
Delia and Brandy nodded and headed for the back bedroom that had a roof outside the window. Addi and I pushed Zanna with them and we held the stairs.
I heard the door slam back against the wall behind it.
“They’re inside.” Addi was quiet.
“They snapped the knob.”
“You know as well as I do, they’re strong.”
I glanced at her while I reshouldered my rifle. “Patrick told you?”
“Showed me. Thank you for talking to him.”
Tipping an invisible hat, I kept myself trained on the bottom of the stairs.
“Naked?” she whispered.
“Of course. They want to swing their dicks in our faces. They’re not going to stash pants in the woods just in case they come across a human.”
“Did you know Delia knew?”
I snorted. “I didn’t even know you knew.”
“That was Patrick’s job.”
“If this wasn’t a life or death kind of thing, I’d find him and cuff him.”
A smirk curled up the corner of Addi’s mouth. “Keep your hands off my mate, sister.”
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