The Mane Squeeze (33 page)

“I think you’re blaming the victim.”

“Shut up.” She pointed a finger. “And don’t laugh,” she added when she saw his lips tighten.

“Okay.” He gazed over at the bar and she knew he was holding it in. “I won’t laugh.” A few seconds later, he looked back to her. “Can’t I laugh a little?”

“No!”

She wasn’t surprised when her answer made him laugh anyway.

“I should have known you let Jess ‘Weepy Eyes’ Ward-Smith talk you into this.”

Lock reached up and tugged the ends of Gwen’s hair. “You cut it.”

“What?”

“Your hair.” He ran his hands through her hair. It was much shorter and she’d blown out the curls but…“I like it.”

“Thanks.”

He sighed. “And they ganged up on me.”

“Who?”

“The wild dogs. I didn’t stand a chance.”

“You’re so weak.”

“I know, I know.

“And something else—” Gwen began, but it wasn’t movement that snagged Lock’s attention away from her but a change in landscape from the corner of his eye. One second they had a nice ring of space around them, the next a She-wolf was standing beside them. Gwen hissed and bared her fangs, but unlike the others, canine or feline, this She-wolf didn’t run.

“That’s a very nice how-do-ya-do.” The She-wolf smiled at Lock. “Hey, MacRyrie.”

“Don’t sneak up on me, Dee.”

“Lord, when did you get so sloppy? There was a time nobody could sneak up on you. Now you’ve got your hippy hair—”

“Told you your hair is too long.”

“Let it go, Gwen.”

“—and your feline girlfriend and you have become one lazy bear.”

Chuckling, Lock introduced them. “Gwen O’Neill, this is Dee-Ann Smith. Dee-Ann, this is Gwen. Dee and I were in the Unit together.”

“This?” Gwen asked with a definite snarl. “
This
is your Marine buddy?”

“Why do you say it like that?”

“We both know why!”

“Hi, Dee-Ann.” Ric smoothly stepped in and smiled at Dee. And with his glass of wine and his Jane Austen-inspired costume, he couldn’t look more wrong for Dee-Ann Smith. Not that that particular fact, Lock knew, would stop a determined Van Holtz wolf. Especially such a wily one. “It’s good to see you again.”

“You, too.” She slapped him on the shoulder and Ric kept his smile until he turned his face away and then Lock saw the poor guy’s expression contort into one of surprised pain.

“What are you doing here, Dee?” Lock asked. “A wild dog party doesn’t seem like your speed.”

“Figured what the hell. They’re family now and all. Nice costume, by the way.”

“Don’t start.”

“Well…” Dee looked back and forth between Ric, Gwen, and Lock. “See ya.” Then she walked off.

“Friendly girl,” Gwen muttered.

“Leave her alone. She rescued me from a bear trap once.”

Gwen threw her hands up.
“How can I compete with that?”

“No one asked you to compete with anything—now let it go.” Lock glanced over at his friend and couldn’t help but smile. “And Ric, how’s that shoulder?”

Ric sat down at the table. “Fine. Fine.” He moved it around a bit. “And with some reconstructive surgery and ten to twelve months of physical therapy…I’m sure it will be perfect again.”

The two friends laughed while Gwen just rolled her eyes.

“She’s sitting on his lap,” Jess said, while spying through the partially opened door of their temporary Ye Ol’ Tailor Shoppe.

“Only so she can scare off other She-predators,” Sabina complained while trying to push Jess out of the way to get a better look. “It means nothing.”

“She’s not just sittin’ there,” May noted. “They’re talkin’. Looks deep.”

“It looks like arguing.” Sabina observed.

Blayne went up on her toes to see over all of them. “It is arguing, but that’s not bad.”

“It’s not?”

“Not with Gwen. She doesn’t argue unless she gives a shit about you.”

“I have to admit—” Jess went up on her toes, trying to get a better look “—I never thought your plan would work, Blayne, but it seems that it has.”

“Told you they were perfect together. All they needed was a little nudge in the right direction. And I have to say, ladies, excellent choice on Lock’s costume.”

“It wasn’t us.” Jess motioned behind them to their “Insider.” “That was her idea.”

“Lord knows,” their Insider said, “there’s something about a man in a kilt that just—”

“Ahhhhhh-Haaaaa!”

Screaming and slamming into the door, the wild dogs and hybrid spun around to see Mitch and Brendon Shaw standing behind them, having found the second doorway in the back of the room. Ronnie came in behind the two men and shrugged an apology. “Sorry, y’all. They got away from me.”

“You
traitor!
” Mitch said, pointing an accusatory finger at Sissy Mae, a.k.a. their “Insider.” “You’ve been helping them all this time! How could you?”

“Now, darlin’—”

“Don’t ‘darlin” me! You’re working with
her
.” That accusatory finger moved over to poor Blayne and Jess cringed. “She’s already tainted my innocent baby sister with her insanity, now she’s gotten you.”

Jess grabbed Blayne’s arm before the wolfdog could start swinging. “You’re being a drama king,” Jess sighed.

“I’m protecting my baby sister!”

Blayne crossed her arms over her chest. “You know, this is so typical of you, Mitch Shaw. You’re barely in Gwen’s life until you get your ass shot, and then, now that you’re no longer a cop and seem to have way too much time on your hands, you want to roar in and take over like you have a right.”

“And you,” Mitch snarled back, “wanna mind your own goddamn business!”

“I like to see you make me!”

“Y’all!” Sissy stepped between them. “I can’t handle another slap fight. And maybe, Mitch, it’s time you open your eyes and realize that the grizzly out there is perfect for a woman who does that freak thing with her neck. ’Cause let me tell ya, he doesn’t blink an eye when she does it, but it makes me want to call up an exorcist!”

“That’s my sister you’re talking about!”

“And we only want what’s best for her.” Jess stood next to Blayne now, both of them with their arms crossed over their chests. “I’m also telling you as your friend and worshipper of your karaoke skills that you need to give Lachlan MacRyrie a chance. It’s the fair thing to do.”

“Fair?” Mitch pointed at his face. “Lion male. Totally irrational, self-absorbed, all about me. There is no fair in my world. Wake up to the reality, ladies. This bullshit is
over
.”

Gwen crossed her arms under her chest and Lock looked to Ric for help. “Tell her, Ric. I told her about Dee, so I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Ric was still moving his shoulder, wincing from whatever that She-wolf had done to him. What Gwen found a little scary was that she doubted Dee tried to purposely hurt him. “Actually,” Ric admitted, “you do have a tendency to downplay things.”

“Ha!” Gwen crowed, triumphant.

“Dude! Where’s the Bro-love?”

“I’m not sure what that is…nor do I want to know. But remember in tenth grade, when I wanted to go out with that junior and you said, ‘Eh. I don’t think she’s the right girl for you’?”

“She wasn’t.”

“Because she was setting things on fire!” Ric announced loudly, making Gwen burst out laughing and Lock roll his eyes. “I’m serious, Gwen.” Ric went on. “And when I say setting things on fire, I mean entire buildings. Mostly schools. She’d been setting them on fire or trying to, for
weeks
. I didn’t find out until the cops came and arrested her during gym class. But does he say to me, ‘She’s setting things on fire! She’s crazy! Stay away from her!’ No. He says, ‘Eh. I don’t think she’s the right girl for you.’ And he’s all calm about it over our chocolate pudding in the cafeteria.”

“I don’t see the point of getting hysterical.”

“I didn’t need you to get hysterical. But a little more specificity when these types of issues arise would be greatly appreciated. I’m sure if you said to Gwen, ‘My old Marine buddy, the heavy-handed but statuesque beauty with’”—Ric sighed and stared off—“‘perfect breasts, soft pink lips, and silky-soft hair,’ Gwen would have been fine.”

“I’m doubting it.”

“You know,” Gwen admitted, “I’d have to go with Lock on this one.”

Smitty walked up to the coyote pair who headed security for the evening. He’d be the first to admit, he was never a fan of coyotes. Had no real reason for his dislike other than an instinctual need to wipe them off his territory, but when it came to business, Smitty put all that aside and even he had to admit that coyotes did a good job when it came to securing locations. He knew this when the male escorted him to the back room they held for any interlopers who may try and get into the party and found his cousin handcuffed to the table.

“We found her sneaking around the back of the building, trying to find a way in.”

Dee-Ann pursed her lips and sneered a bit.

“Is that right?” Smitty said. “I swear, just any ol’ raggedy thing can come wandering in here, huh?”

His cousin glared at him and he laughed. “Give us a minute, Chuck.”

“You sure? She’s mean. And was carrying this.” He held up the leather holder with the bowie knife inside it. Smitty took it and slid the blade out. At least eight inches and probably a gift from her daddy.

“I’ll take this,” Smitty said about the blade. “And I’ll be fine.”

“Okay. Howl if you need us.”

The coyote left and, rolling her eyes, Dee lifted up her foot and placed it on top of the opposite knee. She pulled a thin piece of metal from the heel of her boot and quickly removed the handcuff from her wrist.

“Damn cy-otes. Gettin’ in my way.”

“I can’t believe they caught you.”

She rubbed her newly freed wrist. “I was busy, didn’t notice them sniffin’ around.”

“You know you had an invitation, darlin’. You could have come in the normal way.”

“I
did
come in the normal way, and then I went back out again.”

“What for?” Dee opened her mouth and Smitty quickly added, “And don’t lie to me, Dee-Ann. I’m married to a woman who could convince Saint Michael himself that hell is heaven and heaven is Detroit if it would protect her Pack, so don’t think I won’t know if you’re lyin’. Now tell me plain why you’re at my mate’s party if it’s not to be social.”

Dee stood and they met eye to eye. She wasn’t the tallest of the Smith family females, but Lord knew she was the most dangerous.

“I’ve been followin’ somebody and they led me here.”

“Why?” When she only stared at him, he tossed in, “Tell me or I’m callin’ your momma and telling her you broke into the party like some common stray.”

“All right, all right.” She let out a breath. “I may have found a new job.”

“Is that right? A new job that has you huntin’ our kind?” And he couldn’t keep the snide tone out of his voice, which was something he should have thought about a little more so he didn’t get that fist to his face.

Smitty briefly closed his eyes and let out a breath as pain tore through his jaw and bells rang in his head. He’d almost forgotten the kind of strength his cousin had.

“
Ow,”
he snarled.

“Watch what you say to me, Robert Ray Smith. I don’t take shit from your daddy and ain’t gonna take none from you. I protect my kind. Always have, always will. Just like my daddy before me. But sometimes our kind needs to be protected from within as well as without. Sometimes, there are a few who don’t know what loyalty is.”

Realizing that Dee was the last being on the planet—full-human or wolf—who would ever betray their own, Smitty dropped his head and nodded. “You’re right. And I’m real sorry for what I said.”

That’s when Dee smiled a little and he wondered if she was going to kill him now. “You may look like your daddy, but you sure don’t act like him. Never known that man to apologize ’bout a damn thing, no matter how wrong he is.”

She patted Smitty’s arm, sending him stumbling into the table. He had to remember to brace himself better when dealing with Dee.

He turned and watched her head toward the door. “Where you goin’?”

“To find what I came for before your mate’s little party goes to shit.” She glanced back at him and shrugged nonchalantly. “Although…it may already be too late to bother.”

Mitch was trying his best to untangle the wild dog females and one wolfdog who’d wrapped themselves around him like boa constrictors—trying to prevent him from marching right outside and telling his sister that the whole thing with the bear had been a plot hatched by Blayne “I have no boundaries or sense” Thorpe—when his phone rang.

Snatching it off his sword belt, Mitch snapped, “What?”