Shopping Showdown

Shopping Showdown

By

Buffi BeCraft

(c)
Copyright by Buffi BeCraft, January 2012

Smashwords Edition

Published by new Concepts
Publishing

Lake Park, GA 31636

www.newconceptspublishing.com

This is a work of fiction. All
characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and
not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or
events is merely coincidence.

Dedication and Forward

This story is dedicated to all the fans
of the Blue-Collar Werewolves.

Finding this stuck in an old file was a
fun surprise. This piece was written just after Weremones came out.
I wrote several scenes with the intention of a book about Diana’s
adventures as she establishes herself as the alpha female of the
Anderson County Pack.

I’ve edited it up just for you
guys.

Enjoy!

- Buffi BeCraft

“Adam!”

The furry jerk was in the house
somewhere. Diana Ridley knew it. A combination of her empathic
abilities and the new metaphysical connection she now possessed,
gave her a lot of insight to the local werewolf pack. That and the
scent of coffee she had not brewed wafted from the
kitchen.

Besides, where else would a werewolf
pack hang out, but at her house? Never mind that they hated to be
referred to as werewolves. They were wolven, more powerful and
among and socially superior to their were-cousins. At least, that
was Adam Weis’s stand on the matter. Furry elitist jerk.

Diana stormed down the hallway leading
to the kitchen. Her bare feet slapped against the hardwood floor,
announcing her entry and her churning emotions. Her scent probably
preceded her. By whatever means, the three men, muscled prime
beefcake material were forwarned and watched her entrance in
various states of wariness. Ha! She thought. They should be more
than wary. Letting themselves into her house. Sucking down her good
mail-order coffee.

Diana ignored the golden blond god and
the African-American version of Adonis and slapped the crumbled
letter in front of the alpha leader of the pack, the Canis Pater,
Adam Weis. A sexy dimple emerged with his killer smile and Adam
held out a mug. His pale blue, husky colored eyes met hers with a
special warmth reserved especially for her. Her fingers itched to
touch the white blond strands of hair that escaped the tie at the
back of his neck and fell across a high cheekbone. Oooo. He was
good and he knew it. The man was sexy. Diana tried unsuccessfully
to smother the heat that unfurled in her belly. She narrowed her
gaze and met his without flinching.

“Coffee, my sweet?”

“Don’t try to butter me up.” Adam
grinned at her comeback, full of suggestion. Amusement danced in
his eyes. She knew exactly where his male, one track mind was
heading and headed him off before he tried to weasel his way out of
this mess. “I mean it buster. You knew everyone thought we’d done
that mate thing.”

Diana slapped a hand on the paper and
glared harder at him. He grasped her wrist and slid the paper away
from her abuse. Gently he smoothed the sheet with both hands,
glancing over the formal gold lettering. His expression was
inscrutable while he considered the contents. When he looked up all
trace of amusement was gone. In its place was a look of profound
patience. That irritated her more. Her sound of frustration was not
a growl. Humans didn’t growl at their boyfriends. Still the other
two slouched into their seats with the most non-threatening
posture, bordering on sloppy, that they’d ever had and buried their
noses in their coffee cups.

“Sweetheart, you are the Matra Canis.
Pack Mother.” Adam practically sighed. “We’re dating. Of course the
other packs are going to think you are my mate. Usually, the two go
hand in hand.”

“Or paw in paw.” Chase was the only one
laughing at his humor. He cleared his throat and slunk to the
coffee pot to suck down more of her gourmet beans.

Diana crossed her hands under her
breasts and tried not to feel defensive because she’d refused him.
She had become Pack Mother, not because she wanted to, or because
Adam had wanted her to, but because the pack chose her. Her sweet,
needy boys.

The pack originally consisted of five
teenagers that Adam had rescued from abuse. For some reason the
boys had latched on to her. The other two sexy men at the table
were Adam’s new wardens and pack members. As wardens, golden Chase
and dark elegant Tank, were like the pack bodyguards. Adam had even
defied convention and made Karen, Diana’s daughter and another
male, both human psychics like Diana official members of the pack.
Then, there was Tamara, the bubbly wolven female that Diana never
quite knew what to say around. If Tamara wasn’t so freaking nice
and blond, Diana might have had a reason to dislike her. As it was,
the other woman had latched on to her just like one of the
boys.

And she was going out with Adam. Dating
and the best sex she’d ever had in her life. But she hadn’t made
the last commitment he’d been pushing for the last several months.
It was a decision she planned to make very carefully. Mating was
serious magical ju-ju with no back-out clause. There could be no
divorce to save her from a second marital mistake.

Adam folded the paper with neat,
precise creases and laid it down on her worn kitchen table. A lot
more worn and scratched with the pack’s regular use. He pinned her
with a steady gaze.

“Look honey, Even without taking the
mate’s bond, you are still alpha female. It’s only an invitation to
a baby shower. You don’t have to go.” He was as clueless as the
rest of the male species. Diana wanted to slap the long-suffering
attitude right out of his chauvinistic werewolf mug.

“Nooo,” She drew the word out. Two
could play at this game. “It’s not just a baby shower. I have to
go. It’s your nephew. In your old pack.”

The idiot just blinked. Diana growled
at him and snatched the invitation back. “I am not going to blow
off an invitation from your parents. Who just happen to run one of
the biggest packs in Texas.”

“Mara’s more like a stepmother and
there’s only about ten territories in the state.” Adam calmly held
out his cup for a refill.

“Arrggh!” Diana stormed off. Let his
lackeys refill his cup. She wasn’t going to let him get to her, or
guilt her into making a commitment she wasn’t ready to make. And
someone owed her some freaking expensive coffee.

Adam sighed and took a swig of the
coffee refill. God, the woman had some amazing coffee. He could
never find stuff like it on the store shelf. On either side of him,
the tension began to slide from Chase and Tank. He gave his wardens
a faint smile and a shrug.

What was a guy to do when his woman
kept saying no?

“Don’t worry boss. She’ll come around.”
Chase stood up and slugged down the rest of his coffee. The extra
long braid slapped at his tee shirt covered back, telling Adam that
his new wardens planned to ride their bikes in today. “C’mon Tank.
Time to hit the road if we’re going to keep working.” The blond
wolven male stretched, cup hanging from his fingertip. Adam
snatched the mug before it dropped. There were enough broken things
around this house and his own with the boys running
around.

“
Where are you guys crashing
tonight?”

“Here.” Tank, the larger of the two,
gathered up breakfast dishes and carried them to the sink with the
ease of someone who felt right at home. Within moments, he had the
dishwasher loaded and humming through its first cycle.

It was a valid question. The two
wardens may have found a job at a local bike shop, motorcycles not
bicycles, but they hadn’t settled yet in any one place. Adam’s
house was full to bursting with the most of the boys and Tamara
staying there until she found a place. Some nights ,Chase and Tank
settled on Diana’s living room floor, content as two pups. No,
three. Adam spied the wolf slinking into the kitchen for a drink
out of bowls sitting in the raised trays by the sliding glass door.
Brandon rarely took human form or left his Alpha Matra’s residence.
Adam shook off his would-be mate’s commitment issues and his pack’s
nomadic tendencies and got to his feet. He had a plan to fix the
last issue at least and a lot of work yet to finish.

“Hey buddy.”

The wolf’s feet skittered in four
different directions. The ripe smell of fear spiked in the room as
Brandon nearly knocked over his water bowl. Head ducked, the wolf
glanced up at Adam. His tail was so low, that it might have been
tucked underneath. Serious and solemn, his eyes were more animal
than human in the brown and gray patterned face. Adam detested his
failure to stop the boy’s regression. He didn’t know how to get
through to the boy inside the animal, but kept trying. “I’m heading
out to a job site. You want to ride along? Your tools are in the
back of the truck.”

The wolf cocked his head to the side.
He considered Adam’s offer. As the Pater Canis, Adam’s link to the
pack allowed him to feel some of the turmoil inside the wolf. The
boy, buried inside the wolf, was tempted. Brandon liked working on
the construction site, working with his hands and body, the feeling
of accomplishment in a job well done. The wolf was afraid. The wolf
won. He whined and slunk back out of the room.

Adam sighed. It was shaping up to be
another perfect day.

Diana felt horrible. She’d behaved like
a harpy, thrown a tantrum and retreated back to her room. The large
oval standing mirror in the corner drew her. Diana stared at her
reflection and wondered at the woman staring back at her. She
hardly recognized herself anymore. She didn’t know what was eating
at her, but she’d better figure it out soon and stop snapping at
everyone around her.

She looked back down at the expensive
vellum invitation and opened it so that the gold lettering was
visible. It was Saturday and she had eight hours to find a gift for
a brand new baby werewolf, er wolven, and find the right attitude
to meet her boyfriend’s family. No problem.

Diana jumped and jerked around at a
thump on her bedroom door. She winced at a crash in the hallway.
The door opened and two furry figures tumbled into her bedroom.
Ferocious growls and snarls came from the combatants. There was no
blood…yet.

“Mark. Seth. Stop it.”

Diana punctuated her words with a hot
flash of her psychic abilities. A neat little trick she had
recently figured out how to do, either because her own abilities
were growing or because of her new status as the female pack alpha,
she didn’t know. Whatever the reason, the heat and sting had he
desired result. The fur separated into two distinct boy sized
colors. Tan, covered in a bright red tee shirt bearing the words,
SKATE OR DIE and a dark brown form in a plain green tee. Their
jeans were ripped and stained though their high dollar tennis shoes
were in pristine condition. Their eyes were wide in fuzzy faces.
Both fang filled mouths, designed for ripping and tearing, were
dropped in surprise. Sharp claws tipped their hands and probably
their toes too. Diana couldn’t imagine ever being frightened of the
boys. To her they were more cuddly than fearsome. She dropped her
hands to her hips.

“What do you two think you’re
doing?”

Mark’s pronounced muzzle stretched into
a half-boy half wolf grin. He leaned heavily on his darker colored
pack brother. Seth didn’t seem to mind. His body went slack,
signaling his surrender and let the more dominant boy take the
lead. Mark absently scratched at Seth’s back with his sharp
claws.

“Adam said we’re supposed to stay with
you today.”

Diana turned a hard eye on the boys.
“Uh-huh. Why is that? What happened?” It was Saturday, supposedly
chore day at the Weis household.

Mark shrugged. “Stupid lawnmower broke
and he’s got to go to work. He didn’t have time to look at it.”
Diana crossed her arms and stared down hard until Mark began to
fidget. That didn’t take much. The boy was always on the move. She
didn’t blame Adam for not wanting to leave them alone. Mark and
Seth were the youngest of the pack and Mark was very
accident-prone. Not to himself, but to everything around them. “It
wasn’t me.” The bright blue eyes blinked in introspection, then
Mark shrugged. “But the oil could have been supposed to go in the
other hole.”