The Beast in Him (30 page)

Now, after talking to these females for over an hour, it seemed like there was only one option at this point. An option Ronnie Lee Reed kept trying to talk her friend out of.

Most things people stressed over Sabina didn’t understand. But this, this she understood. It was something she’d never do. Not for all the dark chocolate in the world.

“Phone, Ronnie Lee.”

The She-wolf dug the phone out of her small backpack, then stopped and asked again, “Are you sure you want to do this? Are you really sure, Sissy Mae?”

“Do I have a choice? Do any of us?”

To Sabina’s surprise, she actually didn’t despise Sissy or her pouty-lipped friend. They both cared about Smitty the way she and May cared about Jess. They were family and they were willing to do anything to make these two assholes happy even if it killed them all!

“Give me the phone.”

Ronnie slapped the small cell phone in her hand. “I sure hope you know what you’re doin’.”

Sissy chuckled and dialed. “When have I ever?”

First they sang “Happy Birthday to You,” as they were traditionalists. Then they sang, “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want,” which made Johnny laugh out loud.

He did seem overwhelmed by his gifts and, okay, maybe the dirt bike and new violin based on his teacher’s recommendations—and which he could return if he wanted a different one—was spoiling him a little, but she knew what it was like to be spoiled and then not to be. Johnny was a good kid. He deserved a little spoiling now and again. Although she didn’t agree with the dirt bike. Why would you give someone with hands blessed with musical talent a goddamn dirt bike? But when she argued the point, Phil shoved a piece of chocolate cake in her mouth.

Jess knew when Johnny suddenly hugged her while she poured glasses of milk for the kids that she’d made him happy.

Now, while her Pack danced to old seventies and eighties music in the living room, Jess wandered out to the back porch and sat on the steps. She’d brought with her a piece of May’s dark chocolate cake and a glass of milk. She wasn’t really hungry, especially not after all that food, but having it would keep everyone off her back about “sulking.”

Really, there was nothing like having forty wild dogs asking you if you’re “okay”—constantly.

Jess wasn’t surprised when she saw Smitty walk out of the dark woods toward her. She’d known he’d been in the woods earlier in the day, only as wolf. If she hadn’t been able to scent him or hear his breathing—she had—she would have simply known. She felt his presence like a warm blanket around her shoulders. Protecting her, soothing her.

Now, as a fully dressed human, he sat between her legs on the lower step. She handed him the slice of cake and then the milk.

They sat like that for a long while, not saying anything, simply enjoying the land they felt a part of.

When Jess heard her Pack in the kitchen, putting food away and cleaning up, she took the empty plate and glass and stood. By the time she walked to the back door, Smitty had walked off. But she knew he’d be back. When she went to bed, she’d find him in her room, waiting for her.

And, again, she’d let him snuggle up to her, snoring lightly in her ear. Why? Because she loved him and didn’t want to sleep away from him.

Unfortunately, none of that changed a goddamn thing.

She knew Smitty; he was still floundering. Still trying to figure out what she wanted. It would take something extreme to get him to wake up. Something he’d never see coming.

She simply prayed it was before she gave up hope entirely. She had only so much.

CHAPTER 26

Smitty climbed down the tree that he’d been using to get in and out of Jessie’s room. Once he figured out how to make her his for good, he’d cut down this goddamn tree. Too easy for scumbags to get in and out of her room. But it definitely served its purpose this weekend.

As he dropped to the ground, he scented a wolf and quickly turned to find Johnny leaning against the trunk of another tree, watching him.

“Boy.”

“Loser.”

Smitty’s eyes narrowed. No, no. Not a good idea to kick the shit out of the kid yet. No matter how much he deserved it.

They stared at each other, and Smitty was impressed the kid didn’t look away. But he did speak first.

“Don’t hurt her.”

“I’m trying not to.”

“Well, you’re doing a shitty job.”

“Maybe you should stay out of this, son. Until you actually have some fangs.”

Johnny glanced at Jessie’s window. “That woman means the world to me. Fuck her life up at your own peril, hillbilly.”

He walked off and Smitty gave a little smile. That kid would be dangerous once he grew into his paws.

Jess sat on the front porch, her feet up on the railing and a mug of May’s hot and delicious coffee gripped between her hands. They were heading home today. Back to work. Back to her life. What she still didn’t know—whether her life included Smitty. They’d slept together again the night before. Literally. Fully clothed. Simply holding on to each other. To be honest, Jess slept like a baby, feeling safe and loved in Smitty’s arms.

Clearly, she’d have to help this idiot out. If she waited for him, she’d be old and gray by the time he bought a goddamn clue.

So annoyed by the whole thing, Jess answered her phone without even checking caller ID.

“This is Jess.”

“Yes, it is.”

Jess’s feet dropped to the ground and she frowned, the southern accent that slithered through the phone making her hackles rise.

When she didn’t speak, the male voice continued, “I thought about calling Maylin directly, but she couldn’t decide her way out of a wet paper bag. And I need decisions.”

Jess slowly stood and walked down the porch steps. “Decisions about what?”

“About how my daughter will spend the next two years of her life. With y’all? Or with me and mine?”

Jess continued to walk away from the house, a potent rage singing through her veins. “You don’t want her.”

“No, but I’ll take her. The courts are real kind about that sort of thing. Especially when a father’s been kept from his child.”

She didn’t bother to argue the point with him. They both knew it was a lie, arguing would waste her breath.

“So what do you want?”

“A lot. I want a lot.”

“That’s awfully vague.”

“I can be much more specific... in person.”

She stopped walking. “I’m sure you can.”

“We can keep this nice and simple, you and me. Just between us.”

Jess gave a short snort.

“What’s so funny?”

Turning, she faced the Pack house. Not surprisingly, a good majority of the adults stood there, listening. Their wild-dog hearing clueing them in, their loyalty to each other leading them.

“You really don’t know what you’ve done, do you?”

He laughed. “Ain’t no little runt dogs gonna scare me.”

“I know,” Jess sighed out. “But that’s because you’re stupid.”

She hung up before he could say anything else, her gaze focusing on her Pack. She had one shot to fix this before all hell broke loose. Then it wouldn’t matter who Wilson’s Pack was tied to, who his kin was.

None of it would matter once the damage was done.

“Move that ass, Sissy Mae.”

“Hold your damn horses, Bobby Ray.”

Sissy Mae ran down the stairs, her traveling bag slung over her shoulder. “I don’t see what the big rush is.”

“It’s a rush when I say it’s rush. Now move!”

She muttered something mighty offensive and stormed out of the house. Smitty started to follow when his phone rang.

“Yeah?”

“Hi. It’s Jess.”

His very soul immediately soothed just from the sound of her voice, Smitty smiled. “Hey, darlin’. What’s up?”

“I hate to bother you and you can say no—”

“What do you need, Jessie Ann?”

“Wilson contacted me.”

Smitty let out a breath. “And?”

“And we either pay him or he’s going to try and take Kristan. That can’t happen.”

No, it couldn’t. He’d met the Wilsons and he’d met Kristan. No way would he let that sweet little gal spend ten seconds in Wilson territory.

“Background noise when he called makes me think he’s in New York.”

“But Mitch has had a hell of a time finding him.”

“I know. So has Phil. But if our best trackers can’t find him... ” He could hear her pacing, sense her anxiety through the phone. “And it worries me that we can’t find him. It means he’s hiding. Why?”

“We both know why, Jessie Ann.”

“Yeah,” she said with deep resignation. “We both know why.”

“Tell me what you need, Jessie.”

“Look, I wouldn’t bug you about this—”

“You’re not bugging me, Jessie.”

“—but my Pack is about three minutes from doing something really... not good. Something I think the Smiths will never be able to forgive us for. Either I stop this now or I let them off-leash.”

“Don’t do that. I can help.” He just didn’t know how. But knowing her Pack as he now did, he had no doubts they could and would do some serious damage that would and could cause a Pack war between the Smiths and the Kuznetsovs. He couldn’t let that happen. He had to come up with something fast or...

Ronnie Lee rushed back into the living room. “Would you stop barking at me!” she yelled toward the front door. “I’ll be right out!” She smiled at Smitty before digging through the couch cushions. In a few seconds she found her MP3 player and headed back the way she came.

“Hey, Ronnie Lee?”

She stopped, staring at him expectantly.

“Your aunt still live out here?”

“Yeah, but she’s in Nassau County.”

“Think she’d mind if I dropped by?”

“Of course not! She’s always loved her some Smiths, Bobby Ray.” Ronnie grinned and grabbed a pen and piece of paper.

“Jessie Ann?”

“Yeah?”

“Wanna go for a ride, darlin’?”

“Bobby Ray Smith!”

Jess stepped out of the way as the forty-something woman threw herself into Smitty’s big arms.

“Morning, Annie Jo.”

The infamous Annie Jo Lucas. Jess remembered her fondly. Why? Because the other females hated the She-wolf. She’d worked her way through every Smith male in at least four counties in three states. She took what she wanted, and she always walked away without looking back. A few males tried to get her, but none of them could handle her. And once their mates found out they’d been with Annie Jo at one time or another, jealousy made for a few nights in a cold bed.

On the drive over, Smitty had explained how a nasty argument between Annie Jo and her older half-sister and Ronnie Lee’s mother, Tala Lee Evans, had led to Annie Jo’s break from the Pack and her move to Long Island, of all places. But Annie Jo never forgot family or the Pack she left behind. Except for her sister, all Smith Pack members had open invites to stop on in and say “Hey.” But you couldn’t stay. Not for longer than a night. As always, Annie Jo remained the classic lone wolf.

“I should have thought about talking to her in the first place,” Smitty had said as they’d sped down the Southern State Parkway, “but I had this hot little wild dog on my mind. So I was distracted.”

For a long second she wondered what “hot little wild dog” he was talking about and how long before she could track the bitch down and tear out her long intestine. Then he smiled at her and she realized he was talking about her.

Duh.

Now they stood on the doorstep of Annie Jo’s house and the She-wolf didn’t seem to be in any great hurry to let Smitty go. Jess normally wouldn’t mind all the hugging if the woman wasn’t still unreasonably hot.

“Look at you,” Annie Jo finally said, leaning back to get a good look at Smitty but not actually releasing him. “Don’t you look good? Remind me of your Uncle Eustice. Handsome, handsome, handsome. How is handsome Eustice?”

“Doing twenty-five to life in West Tennessee State Penitentiary.”

Annie Jo blinked. “Oh. Well. Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.” She finally released him and stepped back. “Now y’all come right on in this second. Come on.”

They walked into a small but tidy house with comfortable, well-worn furniture and lots of pictures on the mantels and bookshelves. A small piano filled one corner of the living room and Jess remembered how Annie Jo used to give lessons. Once she left town, the number of boys taking piano lessons dropped dramatically.

“Annie Jo, this is—”

“Jessica Ann Ward. How could I forget such a pretty face?” Annie Jo hugged her and Jess grudgingly let her. “I see you’ve grown up even prettier.”

“Thank you.”

“Y’all want some coffee or hot chocolate?”

“Love some.”

Annie Jo led them to her kitchen and sat them down at the breakfast table. She put out fresh cinnamon rolls while she brewed up some coffee and made Jess hot chocolate from scratch.

When Jess took that first sip all she could think was, Marry me.

“So what can I do you for, my darlin’ Bobby Ray?”

Smitty put down his coffee. He’d already devoured three sweet rolls in the time it took her to brew the pot. Now he was reaching for a fourth.

God, the man is a bottomless pit.

“I need your help,” he said.

“Help with what?”

“I’m trying to track someone down.”

Amber eyes that were so light they looked more yellow and doglike than Jess remembered watched Smitty closely. “You mean Walt Wilson?”

Smitty stopped in the middle of licking icing off his fingers, which did nothing but drive Jess crazy. How was she supposed to focus when he insisted on doing that? “You’ve heard from him?”

With a sigh, Annie Jo got up and went to her refrigerator, pulling out cream and sugar from her cupboard. She offered some to Smitty, who passed, and put a small amount in hers before she spoke again. “About four weeks ago he and that mate of his showed up here looking like they’ve seen better days. I know he was hoping I’d let him stay, but I got one rule. You can spend one night and one night only. Otherwise, I’d never get rid of any of ’em. I’d have Smiths acting like this was a bed and breakfast while they were visiting New York.” She returned the cream to the refrigerator before dropping back into her chair and focusing on Jess. “I know his daddy, you see? Took a turn with him when I was eighteen or nineteen.” She shrugged. “It wasn’t the best ride I had, but it wasn’t the worst. At least Walt Junior is smarter than his daddy. But not by much. Anyway, the next morning, about three She-wolves and a male showed up and off they went.”