Howl for It (11 page)

Authors: Cynthia Shelly; Eden Laurenston

BOOK: Howl for It

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“I know you don’t, but that’s what I have to do. That’s the right thing to do. If Mr. Kozlow’s sons killed him, they have to pay for it.” She stood but Van Holtz caught her hand, keeping her from walking away.

“Don’t do anything yet.” He released her. “Please. Give me and my Pack a few more days to see if we can . . . fix this somehow.” When she hesitated, he pushed, “Please, Darla.”

She let out a sigh. “All right.”

“Thanks, Darla.”

“Thank you.” She gave a small shrug. “I’ll walk you back.”

“That’s all right. I can make my own way.” He led her back to the boulder. “Why don’t you sit here for a while? Try to relax.”

“Thanks, Mr. Van Holtz.”

He smiled, patted her shoulder, and walked off.

Darla pulled her legs up onto the rock and rested her chin on her knees. She wrapped her arms around her calves and let out a sigh. She had no idea what she was going to do next and for the first time that realization bothered her.

Eggie trotted through his backdoor and into his kitchen. Once there, he shifted to human and pulled on his jeans. He was reaching for his T-shirt when he caught a scent and picked up the gun he’d left sitting on his kitchen table, pointing it at the foreign wolf on his territory.

Van Holtz didn’t move and he didn’t panic.

“I’ve heard so much about the infamous Egbert Ray Smith over the last few years.” He nodded. “Believe it or not, I hope what they say about you is all true. Because you’re exactly what Darla needs right now.”

By the time Darla made it back to the house, Mr. Van Holtz was gone and so was Eggie. She decided to believe Eggie had gone hunting for deer rather than hunting for Mr. Van Holtz.

Not knowing what else to do, she sat down at the kitchen table and wrote up the list of supplies she’d need if she was going to make all these pies to compete with her sisters. She knew those heifers would be bringing their best work and Darla wasn’t about to let them win at this. Besides, it was easier to focus on something so ridiculous than it was to think about poor Mr. Kozlow stuffed in a duffel bag . . .
several
duffel bags.

She shuddered and finished her list. Once done, she ran upstairs and changed out of her dress and into more comfortable cutoff shorts and a T-shirt, then sat in the kitchen a bit longer. She didn’t know how long Eggie was going to be. The man did like getting his hunting time in and he might need more of it today before they headed over to his momma’s house and dealt with his family.

She glanced over at the counter where Eggie had left the keys to his car last night. She looked away, bit her lip, and looked back.

“Oh, what would it hurt?” she asked the air when she stood up and rushed over to the counter, snatching up his keys. She also went into the kitchen drawer where she’d found a box with several thousand dollars, a gun, and passports for several different people who looked just like Eggie but didn’t have the same name. She took out a hundred dollars, more than what she needed but she erred on the side of caution, and put a note in the box informing Eggie of her I.O.U.

Once done, she headed outside and got into Eggie’s car.

She started up the Plymouth and smiled as it purred to life. Darla didn’t have a car of her own because she didn’t like having the extra baggage in her life, but like her sisters, she did love really nice cars. Especially well-maintained ones.

Easing onto the road, Darla glanced around, saw that no one was nearby, and stepped on the gas.

By the time she hit a hundred and five miles per hour, she was having a hell of a time.

C
HAPTER
T
HIRTEEN

D
arla was no more than half a mile from the Collinstown neutral territory shifter grocery store Eggie had told her about when she came to a stop at a light. Letting out a breath, she sat back in the seat. Now that had felt wonderful.

To her left, she heard males yelling at her, and she looked over at a gold Mercury Cougar XR7 convertible filled with four male lions.

“Hey, beautiful!” one of them yelled over the Black Sabbath playing on their car radio. “That was some damn fine driving there, darlin’. You been runnin’ ’shine?”

She laughed and gave them a little wave. The light changed and they pulled off, gold and brown lion’s manes whipping in the wind.

Darla made it to the store and was just turning into the parking lot when a Chevrolet Nova SS cut her off, the back end of the Nova hitting the bumper of Eggie’s car.

Darla hit the brakes and let out a whimper. Eggie’s car.
Eggie’s car!

She was so mortified, she didn’t notice who was driving until the driver’s side door of the Nova opened and she saw a tall, blonde female step out. She looked at Darla, smirked, and said, “Sorry about that, sweetie pie. I just didn’t see you.”

The She-lions in the car laughed and Darla knew that these females were connected with the lion males who’d been talking to her at the light.

“Ridiculous, jealous crap,” she snarled, watching as the She-lion got back into her own vehicle. Darla wasn’t about to let them go, though. They were at least going to pay to fix Eggie’s car!

But before Darla could do anything, a bright red Dodge Challenger rammed straight into the cats’ car with so much force that it shoved their vehicle into Darla’s. She squeaked and cringed.

“He’s gonna kill me.” Yet she didn’t have time to worry about that when Darla saw Janie Mae and Francine get out of that Dodge. And Janie was definitely in a mood based on the way she slammed her driver’s side door.

Darla quickly got out and ran over, getting between Janie and the She-lions before Janie could throw the first punch.

“Janie, stop!”

“Well, well, well,” the She-lion sneered as the other cats got out of the car. “If it isn’t Janie Mae Trash Heap. I see you’re planning to bring another ass licker into the world.”

Darla turned on the She-lion. “Shut up!”

The She-lion eyed Darla. “Who are you?”

“None of your business.”

One of the other cats whispered in the She-lion’s ear and she eyed Darla again.

“You? And that freak of nature Eggie Smith?”

And before Darla could stop herself, she’d slapped the little sow across the face. Unlike Janie Mae, though, this sow slapped her back.

Of course that only unleashed the wrath of Janie and Francine. And by now, Roberta and Janette had also shown up. They scrambled out of the Pontiac GTO they were driving and came at the rest of the She-lions like the wrath of God.

It was not pretty.

Darla did try her best to get them all to stop but none of it did any good or mattered once the Collinstown Sheriff ’s Deputies showed up. And those bears were none too happy about any of it.

Eggie’s father put a beer in his hand and sat down in the chair beside him. They sat in the front yard while Eggie’s mother and aunts arranged furniture in the backyard for dinner later that evening.

“She really wants to testify?”

“I don’t think she wants to, Daddy. But she will. I know her.”

“She’s one of them moral types?”

“Yep.”

“Then you know what you gotta do, boy.”

“She won’t want me to.”

His father frowned at him. “Why do you have to tell her anything?”

“She’ll know. She always knows.”

Daddy chuckled. “Yeah. Your mother’s got that skill, too. Only woman alive who’s ever caught me in a lie.” He glanced at Eggie. “You love this one, boy?”

“I do.”

“Even though your momma says she’s a little frail?”

“Daddy.”

“I’m just saying . . . it’s something to be aware of.”

“I’m fully aware, and she’s not frail.”

“All right, all right. If it’ll make you feel better, your brothers are jealous.”

“No, they ain’t. They love their mates.”

“Sure they do. But your mate is actually nice to you.”

“She’s not my mate, Daddy.”

“Don’t know what you’re waitin’ for, boy. I marked your momma the first weekend we were together. Knew I had to hold onto her or I would lose her.”

“I can’t worry about that right now. My first concern is keeping her safe.”

“So she can’t take care of herself?”

“Daddy, you’re making me crazy. One second you’re asking me why I haven’t marked her yet and the next, you’re talking about how weak she is.”

“Just making sure you’re thinking with the head on your shoulders.”

Why did Eggie bother? Some days he really didn’t know.

“Maybe I should look into it,” his father suggested.

“No, Daddy,” Eggie quickly said.

“But I just want to—”

“No.” Because Eggie knew his daddy would only make everything worse. “I don’t want you to do anything.”

“Then what did you come to me for?”

“I don’t know. Talk to my father, maybe?” His father frowned. “You know . . . father-son chats.” The frown got worse, and Eggie sighed. “Forget it.”

“I will.”

Eggie was about to get up and head home when his brothers came charging out of their parents’ house.

“What the hell’s going on?” Daddy demanded.

“The girls are in Collinstown jail again,” Bubba told them while he headed for his truck.

Eggie and his father laughed until Benji walked by and said, “Don’t know what you’re laughin’ about, Egbert Ray. Your girl is there, too.”

Darla rubbed her head in a desperate attempt to make her headache go away, but it wasn’t working.

Although that probably had a lot to do with the arguing going on between the bars. The bears had put Darla and her sisters in one cell and the She-lions—sisters from the local Barron Pride—in the other. And none of them had shut up since.

“What did you do to my car?”

Darla opened her eyes and let out a huge sigh. She was so relieved to see Eggie. Then she pointed an accusing finger at the other cell. “That heifer hit your car!”

“Your whore was hittin’ on our males!”

Eggie looked at Darla, raised a brow. “Really?”

“I was not!”

The deputies walked in and began to open the cells. “Y’all can pay your fines out front.”

“The usual?” Bubba asked as he waited for Janie to come out. He didn’t look happy and Darla didn’t blame him. She was five-months pregnant with his child but she was still getting into fistfights with cats. Just . . . no.

“What’s the usual?” Eggie asked as he took Darla’s hand when she stepped out of the cell.

“This one’s not in here for the fight,” the deputy explained.

“She’s not?”

“She was trying to stop it.”

“Then why—”

“She’s in here for doing a hundred and ten in a thirty mile per hour zone.”

The entire jail fell silent, all eyes focusing on Darla.

“I was just . . .” She cleared her throat, tried again. “Seeing what your car could do.”

“And it can do a hundred and ten?” Eggie asked.

“Apparently.”

“Our deputies lost her on Miller’s Road but they’d logged the make and model. Then they got to the fight and saw the vehicle there.”

“Right,” Eggie said. “Got it.”