Knowing Dominick, shifting for cookies probably seemed like an easy price. The man would sell his soul for Mom’s cooking.
“If you have him helping, then why do you need me?” Stefan knew why, but he felt like whining.
“Because it would be good to know the similarities and differences in the experience. Like, how much does it take before the animal side emerges? How long does it last? Is the dried variety better than liquid, or should you stick to fresh?”
Stefan actually knew the answers to a few. Smoking gave a quicker high. Eating it made it last longer. The liquid stuff gave him the shits.
Rather than tell Raymond, he stuck to, “Find someone else.”
“I need a comparison point. Mom won’t let me use Tyson. Pammy says she’s not in the right place to be fucking with her body right now and, if I asked again, she’d ram my mouse somewhere the sun don’t shine.” Pammy being one of their sisters. Then there was Maeve, Jessie—who was currently out of town—and Daphne, the youngest. Nine kids in all with the boys, Dominick, Stefan, Raymond, Daeve, and Tyson.
“Tell you what, keep asking and I’ll do one better than Pammy and shove your keyboard so far up your ass, you’ll burp out the letters,” Stefan growled. He knew his brother was purposely trying to agitate him. He actually had a good reason to be asking, Raymond just didn’t understand the battle Stefan had waged with the beast. Not the one inside his own body but that of addiction.
“Be nice,” Mom admonished. “No fighting amongst each other, not now with the wolves circling.” And she meant that quite literally.
“Not with this again.” Stefan sighed. Ever since his older brother had a run-in with some local werewolves—because those fuckers actually existed!—she’d been worried the cats and dogs would erupt into an all-out turf war just like one of her biker shows.
“Wolf packs are territorial,” she insisted. “I’ve been reading up on them.”
“They can’t be that anal about it, or they’d have known we were here already,” he pointed out, despite the fact that in a big city, most people never ran into a fraction of the inhabitants.
“Be that as it may, they know now about us, which means that invitation we received can’t be ignored.”
Actually, he’d not just ignored it; he’d set the party invitation on fire a few weeks ago.
“I really don’t give a flying rat’s ass who they think they are. They keep to themselves. We’ll keep to ourselves.” To Stefan, it seemed simple. The fewer people that knew about them, the safer they remained.
“I don’t think that plan is going to work. This was the reminder I got on my phone today.” Mom held up the screen.
Stefan already knew what it would say. Don’t forget the party this Saturday, with a barbecue emoji. He’d gotten the same message. He imagined they all had.
His advice? “It’s an intimidation tactic. Don’t reply.”
“You want us to ignore the people who had no problem kidnapping Anika?” His mom made it sound like a question and a statement at once.
Anika was his brother’s girlfriend, abducted by this so-called wolf pack in order to make Dominick reveal the fact he wasn’t human. There’d been much surprise in the family when they realized werewolves existed. Hell, they were still dealing with the aftershocks of their mom’s admission all of her kids were actually made in a lab. It explained his intense dislike of needles.
“Would you feel better if I said I’m going to handle it?” Stefan offered.
“How?” she asked.
“Don’t worry about it.” Try and scare his mom? Two could play that game.
2
Coming out of yoga class, Nimway noticed she was being followed. To give them credit, they were good, and any other girl wouldn’t have thought twice about the two seemingly random people shadowing her to her car.
Nimway wasn’t just any other girl. As they got near, she whirled. “Can I help you?”
The Girl Scouts looked angelic in their uniforms and perfect smiles, until one saw the evil cookies in their grip. “Would you like to support our troop?” the freckled one lisped. “We have chocolate mint.”
“Only the mint?”
“We have more flavors.” Out came the catalogue. The girl flipped open to a page where the words coconut and caramel jumped out.
Say no to the cookies. No to doing your civic duty. No to deliciousness.
Nimway bought what they held in their sly arms and put in an order for delivery large enough that her credit card company sent her a text to verify she’d made the purchase.
Yes, goddammit, I bought all the cookies.
Maybe next time she’d be stronger.
Doubtful.
As she headed for her car, she noticed a motorcycle parked alongside it, its driver perched on the metal bumper separating the vehicles from the attempt at greenery in the asphalt parking lot. The visor hid their features, but the leather jacket molded broad shoulders. This close, he smelled faintly of exhaust, a crisp cologne that didn’t annoy, and something else.
Yummy.
It perked her interest, which meant she kept a cautious ear on him, listening for movement as she reached for the handle on her car. The fob in her purse unlocked it automatically.
Not that she worried about handling one guy.
As she pulled the door open, he stood and pulled off his helmet. “Hello, Nimway Pendraggun of the Valley Pack.”
She really needed to do something about the name. Her parents had a fetish for all things Arthurian. It didn’t extend to research or spelling.
She turned to face the tall fellow with the red hair pulled back from his face and a rather splendid beard. “Do you really want to do this here and now, Stefan Hubbard?” She’d seen his file and his picture. She knew all about him and his odd family. Nine plus mom. At least two of them confirmed shifters. Hmmm, make that three.
This close, the scent was distinctive. Not human. Not wolf either. His brother was a cat. She’d wager Stefan Hubbard was as well. Never mind the fact only werewolves were supposed to exist. It had recently been brought to her attention that some people had been dabbling in human experiments. Was it any wonder the pack was in an up-growl, demanding their alpha do something about it?
His brow arched. “Should I be flattered you know who I am?”
“Actually, you should be concerned. It’s not every day we discover a family of potential rivals under our very noses.” In her mind, the Hubbards posed a threat. First and foremost because one sloppy move on their part could expose everyone. And second, they were cats in wolf territory.
The only good news? Even if the entire family could shift, they lacked the numbers to rival the pack. Despite that, their existence in the valley proved problematic.
The packs scattered around the world had rules about borders and who could live within them. To keep authority, and power, one had to enforce the rules, which meant a pretty final destination. Which was why the pack had been debating what to do with the Hubbard family. Most wanted to run them out of town.
She didn’t get the feeling Stefan would like that option.
He held his helmet in one hand, dangling down by his leg. His jeans molded his slim physique. His height came from his long legs. His expression held a firmness to it as he snapped, “What the fuck are you yapping about? Despite my ride, we’re not some kind of gang looking to move into your territory.”