Poor Aunt Ju-ju. She’d lost her mind a long time ago, but Sissy had never found her roaming by herself. Someone in the family was always watching her.
Since her family’s mental health had always been in question, everyone simply assumed Aunt Ju-ju had slipped her bolt as other Smiths had over the years. But Sissy had also heard the rumor that Aunt Ju-ju hadn’t lost her mind until she went up against Grandma Smith, challenging her years and years before Sissy or her brothers were even born.
Perhaps that was why Sissy felt a kinship to Aunt Ju-ju even though she didn’t think the woman could tell Sissy from any of her other grandnieces.
“Let’s get you home, sweetheart.”
She reached for her aunt, but hands stronger than she expected gripped her shoulders and eyes that rarely shifted from wolf locked on to her.
“It’s Sissy I come to find. I need to see her.”
“I’m right here, darlin’. I am Sissy.” But she knew her aunt would never see past her madness.
“You need to tell her to watch herself. That old bitch on the hill wants her. She wants her ’cause she fears her so. I hear them calling to her.”
Sissy doubted Grandma Smith or the Smith aunts feared her at all. But she didn’t see a point in arguing it with her Aunt Ju-ju in a back alley.
Helping her aunt to her feet, Sissy promised her, “I’ll tell her. I promise.”
“That bitch hates that little girl like she hates that girl’s momma. Hates ’em both equal.”
There was definite truth in those words but nothing Sissy could do about it. Instead, she led her aunt out of the alley. As they stepped out onto the sidewalk, Sissy looked around for someone to watch her aunt while she went back to the sheriff’s office to let them know where she’d be so they could tell Mitch.
As she looked down the street, she saw Patty Rose walk out of a small gift shop on the corner.
“Hey, Patty Rose!”
Her brother’s mate froze, her entire body rigid.
She slowly turned to face Sissy, her smile bright. “Sissy Mae? Whatever are you doin’ out here?”
“Just waiting on Mitch. Look, could you watch Aunt Ju-ju for a second? I want to run in and let Mitch know where I’m going before I take her home.”
“Oh, I’ll take her.” She took hold of Aunt Ju-ju.
“Are you sure? It’s no problem.”
“No, no. Really, it’s fine. I’d love to.”
Since she seemed so eager ... “All right then.” Sissy smiled down at her aunt. At one time, she’d been tall and powerful like all Smith females. But whatever had eaten at her mind seemed to have done the same to her body. “You take care of yourself, Aunt Ju-ju.” Sissy leaned down a bit and kissed her aunt on the forehead. Ju-ju usually didn’t like anyone touching her, and it had been nothing but an impulsive move since her aunt was standing still for once.
Instead of pushing Sissy away like she did with most anyone else who tried to get too close, Aunt Ju-ju blinked, and her eyes went from wolf to human.
“Sweet girl,” she said, patting Sissy’s shoulder. “Sweet, sweet girl. No wonder they’re afraid. You use that gift, Sissy, when you need to. It may be the only thing that saves your heart.”
She walked off, Patty Rose following after her. When Patty tried to put her arms around Ju-ju again, the old She-wolf batted her away.
Sissy shook off the strangeness of the moment and turned right into him.
“Hey, Sissy.”
Sissy let out a sigh. She’d already been distracted anyway, plus the bastard had stayed downwind. He’d crept right up on her.
“Gil.” She looked up at him. She didn’t have to look up as far as she did with Mitch, which suddenly made Gil seem real small. “Why are you always lurking around? Don’t you have something to do? Don’t you work?”
“Sure do. Own my own business now. A garage not far from here.”
Folding her arms over her chest, Sissy snapped, “A garage? Like my brother’s garage?”
“Don’t go gettin’ all upset. I’m clear across town. Not even near your brother’s place.”
If Smithtown was a thousand miles long, this information would soothe her. But Smithtown was small, and this was her kin they were talking about. Even if it was that asshole Travis. “You really think you can get away with this, don’t you?”
“Get away with what?”
“Taking over Smithtown. Becoming Alpha Male.”
“That’s—”
“Don’t you lie to me, Gil Warren.”
Gil stepped close to her, his eyes intent on her face. “And what if that is what I want, Sissy Mae? Imagine what we could do together.”
She snorted. Then she sniffed. Her eyes narrowed. “Were you just talkin’ to Patty Rose?”
“Saw her in the gift shop.”
“Oh. Did ya? And what were you gettin’ in the gift shop? ’Cause if I remember correctly, you ain’t big on giving gifts, you cheap bastard.”
“I was just—” Gil’s words were brutally cut off when he was shoved face-first into the brick wall next to them. The worst part wasn’t that Mitch had been the one to shove him, but Sissy had the feeling Mitch hadn’t really noticed Gil. Instead, he was simply moving Gil out of his way by grabbing the back of his head and slamming his face into brick.
“You ready?” Mitch asked casually.
Sissy glanced around, not exactly surprised to see they had everyone’s attention. They had probably been waiting for Sissy to wipe the floor with Gil, but for once, she didn’t have to.
“Yeah, I’m ready. You all done?”
“Yeah. But I could go for a sandwich ... or two.”
“You can’t be hungry.”
“You keep saying that like you expect my answer to change.”
She grabbed his hand and headed down the street. She had no idea what happened to Gil after they walked away, and to be honest, she’d already forgotten about him.
Chapter 18
The coffee was hot and tasty, the sandwiches good and plentiful. But the company was what made Mitch smile. Sissy had already eaten her one sandwich—how did she survive on only one?—and now she put her feet up in the plush leather chair and sipped her coffee from the sturdy paper cup.
“And before you ask, they still don’t know who she is.” Mitch bit into his sandwich. “It’s a mystery.”
“Thank you for that lovely view of your chicken salad.”
“Sorry, baby.”
She blinked, and those brown eyes locked on him. “When did you start calling me that?”
“Uh ... this second?”
“I’m not your baby.” Then she made that little square with her fingers and mouthed, “Boundaries.”
“Sissy—”
The bell above the door jangled, and a familiar She-wolf walked in.
“Miss Janette.” After wiping his mouth, Mitch stood and kissed her cheek. “It’s so good to see you again.”
“It’s good to see you at all, darlin’.” She motioned Mitch back into his chair before smiling at her niece. “Sissy Mae.”
“Aunt Janette. What do you want?”
“What makes you think I want something?”
“Aunt Janette!”
“Sh-sh-sh,” she motioned to Mitch’s right side. “Mind if I look?”
Mitch shrugged, and she pulled his T-shirt away to examine his wounds. Long fingers pressed against his skin, and she nodded. “Healing up just right. Your momma did a good job.” She sat down at the table, and the server placed a big mug of coffee in front of her. “Of course, those love bites make it a little hard to see.”
He’d just bitten into his sandwich, but luckily hadn’t swallowed yet. Otherwise, he’d be choking it all back up.
Aunt and niece grinned at each other. “I knew I saw something when I watched you two at the wedding. These eyes miss nothing. I’ve got the eyes of a ... a ... wolf, even.”
Mitch ended up choking on his food anyway, but this time, for a laugh.
/> Sissy smiled. “We’re still just friends. And that’s all.”
Janette looked at Mitch. “She gave you the boundaries speech, didn’t she?”
“Complete with visual,” Mitch laughed.
“Men need visuals,” Sissy snapped. “And try chewing with your mouth closed.”
“Are you going to tame our little Sissy, Mitchell?”
Sissy rubbed her face, annoyed, and Mitch answered honestly, “I’m really too lazy to try and tame anybody. If I had my way, I’d spend all day sleeping under a tree, maybe rolling out occasionally to sun my belly, and then I expect someone to bring me food. I could live like that forever.”
Janette threw her head back and laughed. “I do like you, Mitchell Shaw. You’re funny.”
He magnanimously offered her some of his potato chips, which she wisely declined.
“Have you two had dessert yet?”
“Forget it,” Sissy stated with way more vehemence than seemed necessary.
“Oh, come on, Sissy Mae. He’s just so dang cute.” She reached over and pinched Mitch’s cheek. “Wouldn’t you like some pie, Mitchell Shaw?”
“No. He would not.”
“What kind of pie?” Mitch figured Sissy didn’t want to go to her aunt’s house—not that he blamed her. Sometimes getting stuck with relatives was the absolute worst.
“All sorts. Sissy didn’t tell you about our pie shop?”
And Mitch froze. “Pie shop? You have a pie shop?”
“The best pies you’ll find this side of the Mason-Dixon, darlin’.”
“How could you not tell me they had a pie shop?”
Sissy shook her head. “You will regret this, Aunt Janette.”
Really, Mitch Shaw had absolutely no shame. Sissy knew this when he walked into the Lewis Sisters’ Pie Shop and dropped to his knees in front of the cold case. His hands rested on the glass, and he looked at each pie like a small child would.
“I ... I can’t make up my mind,” he gasped. Like Mitch needed to make up his mind. He could finish everything in that case and still be hungry less than an hour from now.
“Y’all are gonna regret this,” she reiterated to her aunts, and they all laughed.
“Where should I start?” Mitch finally asked. He looked at Sissy. “Which is your favorite?”
Lord, that was a hard question. If there was one thing her aunts could do, it was bake a pie. Even pies she’d never eat from anyone else, she’d scarf down from her aunts. Their pies had become so popular locally, they’d eventually had to open up another store in a neutral part of the region so other breeds and full-humans could go without starting those ugly fights involving everyone in town.
“Cherry.”
“The cherry?”
“Trust me.”
“I do,” he answered simply, and she saw her aunts pass glances. She hated when they did that—it meant they were thinking up something. She hated when they started all that damn thinking. It led to trouble.
“Slice of cherry, please.”
Sissy walked up beside Mitch, who’d finally gotten to his feet. “So polite.”
“I’m always polite to those who deserve it.”
“Mitch, darlin’, you sit on down over there, and we’ll bring you a slice with some milk. How that be?”
“That be perfect.” He looked down at Sissy. “See what polite gets ya?”
“So, Sissy?” And her Aunt Darla dropped her elbows down on the counter in front of Sissy, her body leaning toward her niece’s.
“Yes, Aunt Darla?”
“Heard you’ve been driving around town in Clyde.”
“Mitch wanted to check him out.”
“You miss it, don’t you? Getting to drive as fast as you can without anyone stopping you.”
Sissy’s smile faded away, realizing that her aunts hadn’t wanted to see her simply because they loved her. They’d trapped her! “No.”
“No what?”
“Don’t pretend innocence with me. I know what y’all want, and you can forget it.”
Francine pushed a slice of lemon meringue across the counter to Sissy. “Now, darlin’ girl—”
“Don’t darlin’ girl me. I’m not doing it. Forget it. And you’re only asking me to do this after all these years because Momma’s not here to tell you to back off.”
“Because your momma has no faith in your skills. Not like we do.”
Sissy shook her head. “Now that was just shameless.”
Francine slammed her hands against the counter. “Oh, come on, Sissy Mae! Do it for us.”
“No.” Sissy picked up her slice of pie and the glass of milk Roberta handed her.
“Come on, Sissy. Do it for the town.”
“Isn’t it enough you have poor Mitch here playing against bears?”
They all looked at “poor Mitch,” who seemed to be having the equivalent of an orgasm eating that slice of cherry pie.
“Mitch doesn’t mind. He understands loyalty.”
Sissy glared at Francine. “That was just plain mean. And I can’t do it unless Ronnie—”
“She already said yes. As did Dee.”
Sissy placed her food on the table and sat down. By the time her butt was in the seat, she had an empty plate with cherry residue and an empty milk glass in front of her.
“That was mine,” she snarled.
Mitch grunted and kept eating.
“Well, with both Ronnie and Dee, you don’t really need me.”
“You know we do.” Francine sat across from Sissy. “It ain’t just speed we need when dealing with the Barron Pride.”
Sissy nudged Mitch’s arm. “Do you care that they have me going up against one of your precious Prides?”
Mitch held a forkful of pie inches from his mouth. “Do any of the Prides around here make pies like this?”
Francine grinned. “Not even close.”
“Then, no, I don’t care. Now don’t bother me.”
Darla walked up and placed three more slices of pie in front of Mitch. “This is our chocolate cream, our Boston cream, and our pecan. And anything else you want to try or a pie or two you want to take home, you just tell us.”
Roberta placed a gallon of milk in front of him. “So we don’t have to keep running back and forth.”
Mitch looked at Sissy. “You do whatever these lovely goddesses tell you to do, and you be damn happy about it!”
Sissy rubbed her eyes, if for no other reason than to block out the smug smiles of her aunts.
Bribing heifers.
“Next time, don’t agree to anything without talking to me first,” Sissy snapped early the next morning, while trudging through Travis’s backyard to one of the two enormous barns he had on his property. Since no Smith could own animals without the animals panicking every time one of them came around, there was only one reason there were so many barns around here. To hide shit.
Only a few of them made ’shine now, and most of them stuck with legal jobs ... most of them. But they still kept their barns because to quote Bubba Smith, “You just never know, do ya?”
“It’s not my fault. It’s Shaw’s. They bribed him with pie!”
“They have to be the weakest siblings,” Sissy muttered. She looked at Dee. “And what’s your excuse?”
She shrugged. “Momma asked.”
Sissy let out a long-suffering sigh and pulled open the big doors of Travis’s barn. They were still there. Three racing cars that would make any NASCAR racer drool. And clearly, her brother had been maintaining and even updating them. They positively shined, and when Sissy popped the hoods on all of them, the engines looked perfect.
“Think we should amp ’em up a bit?” Ronnie asked, her hand sliding across the roof.
“Couldn’t hurt.” Sissy definitely didn’t mind tinkering with cars. She didn’t get much of a chance now that she lived in New York, and Bobby Ray wouldn’t let her anywhere near his truck. Not because he didn’t trust her to fix it, but he got real panicky when she
mentioned taking it for a test drive.
Sissy glanced at her watch before putting her hair in a ponytail. “We’ve got three days to make these babies sing. So let’s get to work.”
Mitch woke up when a weight dropped onto the bed next to him. He turned over and smiled at Sissy. He glanced at the clock on the bedside table. It was nearly two in the morning. He hadn’t seen her all day and he’d missed her—a lot.
“Hey, ba—”
“Touch me, and I’ll rip your arms off.” It took him a moment to realize she hadn’t changed out of her clothes or showered. And before he could find out what was wrong, she was snoring.
Frowning, Mitch glanced down at the erection that had been waiting hours for her to get home. “Don’t look at me. It’s not my fault. It’s those evil women and their pies.” Then he remembered there were pies they’d left him in the refrigerator. Well, if he couldn’t fuck ...
Chapter 19
Brendon looked at his brother while they waited for practice to start. Mitch was looking really good these days. Healthier. Stronger. Happier ... except at this moment. He looked unusually cranky. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing.” Mitch cracked his neck. “But let me tell you, food is not a substitute for sex. At least not good sex.”
Ahhhh. Now Brendon got it.
“Yeah, I know what you mean. Ronnie was exhausted when she got home last night. She only had energy for one round.”
Mitch slowly turned toward his brother, and Brendon took a step back. “But it was barely even once. I mean, by the time we were done, she was out cold, and ... uh ... I’m gonna stop talking now.”
Travis jogged up to them, a ball in his hand. “You guys ready?”
“Don’t I look ready?” Mitch grabbed the ball from Travis. “Let’s get this fuckin’ thing started.”
A shocked Travis—and Brendon had never seen the man show anything but cool indifference—watched Mitch storm away.
“Everything all right?” he asked.
“Yeah. Everything is fine.” Brendon shrugged. “But ya know what would be a good idea? Playing in our gear. Pads, helmet ... all of it. Just to be ... uh ... safe.”