“Hey, Uncle Eggie.” Two of his brother’s older sons walked through the kitchen, patting Eggie’s side as they did. He gave them a welcoming bark and went back to finding something to eat. There was a raw roast, so he pulled that out and went to work on devouring it.
“Does your female not feed you, little brother?” Benji asked from the doorway. “And make sure you clean up when you’re done. I don’t want to hear from Francine about it.”
Yawning, Benji made his way into the kitchen and hauled himself up on the counter. “Hand me the milk, would you?”
Eggie stared at his brother.
Benji rolled his eyes. “You can’t just shift to human for two seconds? You ain’t no full wolf, Egbert Ray.” Benji wiped the piece of raw roast from his face that Eggie had tossed at him. “Bastard.”
Eggie had just finished the rest of the roast when Bubba Ray walked in. “You cooling off the whole neighborhood, Egbert Ray?”
“Don’t start with him,” Benji warned. “He’s in a mood and throwin’ meat.”
“I think that’s him being playful, big brother. Word on Main is that Egbert Ray marked little Darla Mae as his own last night.”
“She agreed to that?”
Eggie growled and bared his fangs and Benji quickly held his hands up. “It was just a question, no need to get nasty. She just seemed a little . . . hippy-dippy to be comfortable as the mate of the most—what was that word Aunt Ju-Ju used?” he asked Bubba.
“Reviled.”
“Yeah. The most reviled Smith in the Northern Hemisphere since our ancestor Milton ‘Gut Eater’ Smith was terrorizing England.”
“Boiling all those pretty little girls.”
“I thought he liked ’em raw.”
“No, no. He liked ’em boiled up in stew or barbequed over an open spit for the fine flavor and tenderness of the meat.”
Eggie shifted and bellowed, “All right, that is enough!”
His brothers burst out laughing and Eggie stormed over to the sink so he could wash the blood off his face.
“Every last one of you are bastards,” he muttered around the running water.
“Look,” Bubba pointed out. “Darla marked him back. How cute.”
Normally Eggie didn’t get involved in this kind of verbal sibling squabbles, but for once . . . he actually had a little ammunition.
“At least mine let me mark her.” He slowly faced his brother, saw Bubba’s eyes narrow while Benji snorted. “Didn’t even have to argue with her. She just told me she loved me and offered the back of her neck.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “How many pups you got with Janie Mae now, Bubba Ray . . . and still she’s as unmarked as a newborn babe. So which Smith has control of his female now, boy?”
His younger brother’s nostrils flared out, a sure sign that he was pissed off. Good. But before Eggie could really revel in his moment of triumph a soft, “Eggie?” from the backdoor had him cringing.
Darla walked in, her gaze glancing at the three males before she walked over to Eggie. She gazed up at him and he waited for it. Lord, she must be mad. Her being a feminist and all. Not that he blamed her. He deserved it.
“Why are you standing here naked, with your brothers, and smelling like blood?”
“I’m not sure explaining it would make it any better.”
“Okay. I need your car,” she said, surprising him.
“Sure. Told you to take it whenever you need it.”
“Yeah, I know. But I thought I should let you know I’m not just taking it out. I need to race it.”
“Race it? Against who?”
“Cats.”
“You need to race cats?”
“Yeah. I don’t have a choice. Janie Mae bet on us winning and if we lose, we can’t get what we need to make the pies we promised everyone because that’s the money she used. So we race the cats, we win, we make pie.”
“You live a complicated life, Darla Mae.”
“I know. Anyway, you know how races go. Your car might get damaged and—”
“Frankie can fix it. He works the mechanic shop with our uncles. Now give me a couple of minutes to get dressed and I’ll go with—”
“Lord, no,” she quickly cut in. “That cats will have a fit if you come. Your name was mentioned specifically as a do not attend.” She glanced at Bubba. “And Janie Mae doesn’t want you there at all.”
“What did I do now?”
“Breathe?” Eggie asked, grinning when Bubba snarled at him.
Darla started to move away, but she stopped, looked back at him. Eggie girded his loins, preparing for what she was about to say to him.
“So it’s okay then, Eggie?” she asked sweetly, fluttering her eyes up at him. “If I take your car? I didn’t want to do it without your permission.”
Eggie twisted his mouth to look like he was thinking about it, but it was really so he didn’t laugh. “I give you permission.” He nodded. “Take the car. Enjoy yourself. But be careful. Can’t trust cats.”
“I know. Thank you, Eggie.” She winked at him and walked out.
Bubba, his mouth open, stared at him, and Eggie shrugged. “What?”
Darla got into Eggie’s car.
“What took you so long?” Janie Mae asked as Darla closed the door.
“I was torturing your mate.” She grinned at her sister. “It was surprisingly fun!”
“It is, isn’t it?”
“Although I can see why you’re waiting to let him mark you.”
“Yeah. I love him but he needs to realize I’m his partner, not his Beta.” Janie studied her for a moment, then asked, “Are you going to stay here, Darla Mae?”
“Mostly.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means when I’m home, so to speak, I’ll be here. But if I need to go, I’ll go.”
“This is a Pack town, Darla.”
“Meaning?”
“There’s a way things are done here—”
“You mean when you’re Alpha. When you run the Smithtown Pack by Bubba’s side.”
“Maybe I do.”
“Well, if you need me, I’ll be there. But if you’re asking me if I’m going to be one of your Beta females, following you around town every day, then the answer is no.”
“Still think you’re a lone wolf?”
“I never thought that. I know I’m not. I need my friends, my family, my Pack, Eggie. But I do need my freedom. I need to be able to roam free. For Eggie that means spending hours exploring the hills and forests of this entire town. For me that means exploring everything whenever I feel like it.”
“You think you’ll feel that way forever?”
“I know if I stop feeling that way it’ll be because of me. Not you. Not Eggie. Not anyone.” Darla started the car. “Can I suggest something to you, Janie?”
“I guess.”
“Eggie’s daddy could have put his foot down and told Eggie he had to stay here, that he couldn’t be a Marine, he couldn’t leave town, he had to stay and be part of the Pack. But he let his son go and be what he wanted. And now Eggie always comes home, and he’s always here for his family. You gotta know when to let go, big sister, and when to hold on. You learn that . . . you’ll be an amazing Alpha.”
Janie Mae smiled at her. “Look at you, teaching your big sister something.” But unable to let that sweet moment just be, Janie added, “Did you learn that from Charlie Manson, too?”
Darla growled. “I can’t believe you heifers keep bringing that up! I went one time and didn’t even stay!”
“Look, Patty Hearst—”
“Stop calling me that!”
“—you’re the one who keeps involving herself with these cult types.”
“Gee, I wonder what in my background”—Darla hit the gas and tore away from Francine’s house—“would attract me to large groups who have nothing in common but hanging around each other constantly, sleeping on the floor in large people piles, and hunting innocent strangers? Really, I have
no idea how I could be comfortable around that sort of thing!”
Eggie waited on top of the hill while his brothers stripped off their clothes. They were going hunting on orders from their daddy. He wanted venison for dinner. Fresh venison, not a frozen slab from the shifter-friendly grocery store. It had been a while since he’d sent them out to do that for him, but it gave the brothers something to do while their females were out racing and baking.
If they could get the venison quick enough, then Eggie could track down some wild boar for Darla. She’d told him she loved fresh boar. He could barbeque it for her the way he’d learned when he was in Korea for a while.
He snapped at his brothers, trying to get them to hurry up rather than stand around chatting like a bunch of old She-wolves.
His brothers shifted to wolf and ran off down the hill. Eggie looked out over Smithtown territory—the one place on earth he loved more than any other.
Truly happy, Eggie charged after his brothers.
The rules had been set when they’d first arrived. A clean, fair race in this open land where wolf, bear, cat, and hyena territories all butted up against each other.
It was a Monday so most folks were at work or being responsible in some other way. Plus, this was Lewis sisters against cats in this race, not Smith She-wolves, so there’d be no audience for this event because no one really cared beyond whether they won money or not. In the end, it was just the Barron sisters, the Lewis sisters, and two grizzlies from Collinstown who would be the refs. They’d decide who was the winner if it was a tight race and they’d be able to keep the maulings down to a minimum if it came to that—which it probably would.
Now here Darla was, making a tight turn, far ahead of the pack. The Barron sisters were getting cranky about her lead, too. Getting more and more aggressive as the number of laps wound down.
When they hit the last two laps, Darla knew that the Barrons were gunning for her. Since any of the three Lewis sisters winning meant they all won, Darla made a split-second decision to pull back and let Roberta fly past her. She did. Of course, it was just as one of the Barrons shot across the makeshift track—and took out the tail end of Roberta’s car.
Darla watched her sister’s car spin toward the center of the track, almost taking out one of the grizzlies, who dived for cover.
Janette, the family hot head, rocketed past Darla and rammed into the side of one of the other Barron sisters, sending that one airborne.
“Shit!” Darla burst out, not caring she was cussing because she knew this was about to get damn ugly. She downshifted and quickly pulled up next to Roberta’s wreck. Lord, Frankie Ray was going to lose his mind when he saw his car.
Darla jumped out of Eggie’s car and ran over to her sister’s. She went to pull the driver’s side door open but the handle was missing. So she ran around the other side just as Janie Mae got there. She pulled open the door and reached in, dragging her sister out. When she had most of her head and shoulders free, Janie Mae grabbed hold too and together they laid Roberta out on the grass.
“Those bitches,” Roberta snarled from her spot on the ground. “What happened to clean and fair?”
Darla put her hands on her sister’s shoulders to stop her from getting up. “Just rest a minute, darlin’.”
Janette drove her car up and jumped out. “Are you all right?” she asked two seconds before one of the Barron sisters tackled her to the ground.
Janie Mae started to go over there, but Darla grabbed her arm and yanked her back. “Don’t you dare, Janie Mae.”
“She’s outnumbered!”
“You’re pregnant!” Darla took a breath. “Just stay here. I’ll deal with it.”
Darla rushed over to the three She-lions on one wolf fight. She tried to pull one of the She-lions off but they were on her sister like ticks on a hound dog.
As she tried to reach in again to get a good grip, one of the grizzlies was there. He caught Darla’s arm. As he lifted her up and away, Darla heard a popping sound and the grizzly stumbled back. He dropped her and Darla landed hard on her knees.
“What the hell . . .” she heard the grizzly gasp.
Darla looked up and saw blood pouring from two holes in the bear’s shoulder. He’d been shot.
Moving fast, she caught hold of his arm and using all her strength, yanked him down just as seven or eight more shots rang out.
“Down!” Janie Mae screamed out. “Now!”
Everyone who wasn’t already down, dove to the ground.
Eggie and three of his brothers had a good grip on the buck’s body while Bubba Ray had him by the throat. Bubba pushed the animal to the ground, trying to suffocate him before the rest of them lost their grip.
But instead of finishing him off, Bubba suddenly stopped, his head lifting, his nose casting for a scent.
Since Bubba was never one to go off a kill, Eggie released the buck and backed away. He turned, lifted his head. That’s when he heard it. Rapid-fire shots. No one used automatic weapons inside Smith territory or in any of the nearby shifter towns. Not even the hyenas used them.
Which meant only one thing . . .
Eggie took off, instinctually knowing that his brothers were right behind him.
Darla hid behind Janette’s car with the bear as more shots hit the vehicle.
“What’s going on?” the bear demanded.
Darla lifted up his T-shirt, trying to see the wound. “They’re here for me,” she admitted. “They’re trying to kill me.”
“Using guns?” It was the unspoken rule among their kind that in a physical fight, shifter challenged shifter with claws and fangs only.
“They’re full-human,” Darla admitted.
The bear chuffed and Darla stared down at him.
“Move,” he told her.
Still crouching and keeping her head down, Darla moved back and he shifted to his bear form. Roaring, he turned, slipped his front paws under the car and tossed it like a toy.
Darla charged back over to Janie and Roberta, hiding behind Roberta’s car. “You two, shift and go.”
“Are you kidding?”
“Janie, you’ve gotta protect your baby. Go.”
“She’s right.” This came from one of the Barron sisters. “Protect your pup and get help. We’ll handle—”
Shots from another part of the nearby woods came at them, Darla barely moving in time as bullets riddled the ground.
At that point, they all shifted. Janie and Roberta charged off and Darla ran after the wounded grizzly. Bears had the best noses and he was so pissed off, she knew he’d go right to one of the shooters.
Eggie heard more shots and changed his direction, heading straight for Darla. But Bubba ran into his side, pushing him off course. Eggie snarled, snapped at his kin, but Bubba didn’t back down. While they all kept running, Bubba kept pushing.
Thankfully during that little bit of time, Eggie’s years of military training kicked in. Although he wanted to run right to Darla’s side and swoop her up, his battle-ready side knew he couldn’t. He had to be smart; Darla was depending on that. So Eggie ran beside his brother, quickly figuring out that Bubba was going wide around to where the shots were coming from.
The firing continued but now they were hearing screams. Eggie decided to believe all that noise was from the full-humans. It made it easier to keep doing what he needed to do.
Suddenly Bubba made a hard left and charged forward. He was fast and Eggie had to race to catch up. His brother leaped onto a big rock and launched himself off. He caught hold of the leg dangling from a tree branch and yanked. The full-human flipped forward, landing hard on the ground. An M-16 flew out of his hands, but he was already reaching for another weapon attached to his ankle. Frankie ran up, opened his muzzle, and wrapped his jaws around the man’s throat. Ignoring the screaming, Frankie snapped the full-human’s neck and went off looking for more.
Eggie was about to follow when bullets riddled the ground at his feet and he took three steps back. When
Eggie stopped, he looked up into the face of a human male—and the automatic weapon he held locked on him.
Darla followed the bear to one of the big trees. The shooter sat on a branch, busy reloading his gun while he made a panicked whimpering sound, his eyes constantly straying to the grizzly charging toward him. The full-human hadn’t been expecting shifters. Then how the hell had he found them? Smithtown, like most shifter-only locations, wasn’t on any maps and was protected by shifters involved in different divisions of the government, military, and National Guard. So the attackers hadn’t just tracked Darla down here.
The grizzly went up on his hind legs and pressed his front paws against the tree trunk. At his full shifted height, this bear was ten feet long but he still couldn’t quite reach the human on the branch. So Darla ran up the bear’s back, launched herself from his hump, and crashed into the human as he was raising the gun to shoot her. She hit him with her full weight, knocking him backward off the branch. He screamed, the rifle knocked from his hand and his arms pinwheeling. Darla went down with him, the ground rushing up. She waited until the last second to jump from his chest and flip forward. She rolled across the forest floor until she landed flat on her stomach, her front and hind legs spread out. She knew she looked ridiculous but she was alive and unhurt. That’s all she cared about.
Darla heard more shots, more screams, and she knew this had to be stopped. She got to her feet and shifted back to her human form. The bear was busy tearing the now-dead full-human to pieces, which seemed kind of a waste.
She rushed up to him. “Hey. Hey!” Unfortunately the bear was still focused on the man at his feet. So Darla tapped the bear on his shoulder.
As grizzlies were wont to do, he was startled and swung his big forearm at her. Darla squealed and ducked, her arms over her head. Her shifter body could withstand a lot, but she’d rather not spend the next week recovering from a bear mauling.
Like a Wolf with a Bone Page 13