“Mostly just the questions. One or two were a little…aggressive, but the ones who were sympathetic were worse.” She shifted slightly on the truck seat and leveled a flat look at him. “You should go back, Joe.
You said this stuff was important. I’m a little shaken up, but I’m fine.”
“This is Keith’s baby,” he reasoned. “They don’t need me.”
“Oh, bullshit. They need you, and you need to know what’s going on.”
He tapped the top of the truck and pulled his keys from his pocket. “Can you make it to Keith and Abby’s all right?”
She rewarded him with a relieved smile as she slipped from the truck. “Is it okay if I just walk? It’s not that far, and I could use the fresh air.”
He hesitated. “Brynn, if there are people coming into town, into Keith’s house, then I don’t know if you should be walking around alone.”
“Okay.” She didn’t argue, just smiled at him and reached out to take the keys from his hand. “If anyone jumps out at me, I’ll run them over.”
It was a better idea than walking. “Too bad I traded the armored tank.” He wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and kissed her quickly. “I’ll be back later. Be safe.”
“I will be.”
He watched as she slid into the driver’s seat, started the truck, and lifted her hand to wave. A crunch of gravel sounded behind him as Brynn backed the truck up slowly, and he heard Keith’s quiet voice.
“She’ll be okay.”
Joe blinked, cursing the setting sun as it stung his eyes. “What’s it like in there? Anyone thrown anything yet?”
“Anna’s going to knock Mary’s teeth down her throat in about twenty seconds, and I didn’t want you to miss that.”
“Well, hell. Let’s get in there before we miss the show.”
It was after midnight when they climbed into Keith’s Jeep. “I feel like I just babysat a bunch of kids,”
Joe grumbled.
“Half of those kids are over a century old.”
“Doesn’t matter. They still bicker like they’re all in grammar school.”
Keith laughed as he shifted the Jeep into gear. “Yeah, but it was sort of worth it to see cute little Anna almost punch Mary.”
“Highlight of the evening.” Joe rubbed the side of his face wearily. “Brynn’s going to be disappointed.”
“I don’t know. You saw her face when she came out. I think maybe she already knows.”
“Maybe.” He stared out the window, his mood blackening. “It sets us back. Makes it harder to fight.”
“We’ve got a few more days. People will talk tonight, and tomorrow before the moon rises. Maybe Bobby and Anna and Paul will be persuasive enough.”
Joe didn’t speak again until they stopped in front of Keith’s house. “Do you ever wish you’d been born human?”
Keith turned off the Jeep and pulled the keys from the ignition. He stared at them, turning them absently in his hand. “I don’t know. Sometimes it makes it harder. I’ll never understand what you went through, much less what Abby went through. But I don’t hate the human world like some wolves who are born to it. I went out and tried to become a part of it.”
Joe closed his hand around the door handle. “I don’t want Brynn to regret any of the choices she makes.” Not the way he had.
“I’m sorry, Joe.” Keith’s voice was quiet and filled with regret. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this life to begin with.”
“You didn’t. I dragged myself into it because I couldn’t keep my brain out of my pants.” Even as he spoke the words, Joe knew they were unfair. Good or bad, he’d loved Tamara. For all her faults, he was pretty sure she’d loved him, too. “Anyway, I made my own choices, and they’re on me. Couldn’t blame anyone else, even if I wanted. Which I don’t, because it’s a pretty good life.”
“Except for times like this.” Keith scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed. “You know what visiting alphas means. Formal introductions and the whole full moon shebang. Sometimes I hate the old ways.”
It would keep him away from Brynn longer than strictly necessary, but it had to be done. “It’s been a while since we had a really good howl. Besides, you’d better get used to it. You’ll be hosting things like this yourself soon enough.”
If anything, Keith looked more miserable. “Thanks. That makes it all better.”
“It’s not so bad. Usually.”
“Yeah. Talk to me again when Gavin puts me in charge and you have to do all the second-in-command shit.”
Joe snorted. “If I weren’t helping you with it already, I’d stay with Brynn tomorrow night.”
“Traitor.”
“We’ll both help Gavin,” Joe reminded him. “We’ll do it because he’s the alpha and it’s our job, but also because he needs us, especially with all the visitors. So quit your bitching. They’ll be gone soon enough.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Keith climbed out of the truck. “You want me to tell Brynn?”
“I think I’d better handle this one. Thanks, though.”
“Fair enough. Why don’t you two come over for lunch tomorrow? I want Brynn to meet Sasha.
Figured maybe they could spend tomorrow night together until we get back.”
“I think she’d like that.”
Joe watched as Keith jogged up the steps to his house. A few minutes later, Brynn stepped out onto the porch, looking sleepy and disheveled. She pulled Joe’s truck keys out of her pocket and smiled at him.
“Hey. Guess they had a lot of talking to do.”
“Quite a bit.” His stomach clenched at her apparent exhaustion. “Lot of yelling, actually.”
She rested her forehead on his shoulder and sighed quietly. “I figured there would be.”
He listened to her heartbeat for several moments. “Let’s go home.”
They could have reached his cabin in minutes through the woods, but driving took them over a more circuitous route. When they stopped in the gravel drive, he opened the truck door for Brynn and kicked it shut behind her. “You did everything you could. They’re just a bunch of old coots. Set in their ways.”
She didn’t argue as they walked up the steps and to the door. They were almost to the bedroom when she finally spoke. “Cameron disagreed with me. So did Hazel. But Mary will be trouble. She wants you.”
“You’re not going to get Hazel,” Joe told her. “Her parents were killed by a rogue wizard. Who knows about Cameron?” When Brynn lay on the bed, he sat at the end to pull off her shoes. “Mary is…a long story. A long, unrequited story.”
Brynn frowned slightly, her eyes still fixed on the ceiling. “Her…partner, Albert. He’ll do whatever she says. I think Paul and Hazel will fight over it, but he loves her too much. He’ll give in. Evelyn thinks I’m a poor traumatized child who doesn’t understand what she’s saying, and Cameron…” The bed creaked as she moved, and Brynn tugged his shirt from his pants. “I’m sorry I couldn’t convince them. I thought if I tried hard enough…”
“It wasn’t your job to convince them. Just to tell your story. The rest is out of our hands.” He dropped a kiss to her forehead. “You did a damn good job.”
“I guess so.” She dragged his shirt up and stared expectantly until he let her pull it over his head. Then she dropped her hands to his belt. “Now get in this bed and cuddle with me. I earned it.”
“Yes, you did.” He nudged off his shoes and dropped his jeans. The bed was cool, so he curled around Brynn. “Want to meet Sasha tomorrow?”
“She’s the witch, right?”
“Right. We figured you two could hang out while the rest of us are howling at the moon.”
He heard her quiet laugh as she wiggled closer to his chest. “Is that what you do?”
“Sometimes,” he admitted. “What did you think we did?”
“I don’t know. I’m not up on my werewolf lore. My roommate made me watch the Underworld movies, though, so if I were going off of that, I’d say you fight vampires or have dirty sex with them.
Possibly both. Concurrently.”
Joe laughed. “Sorry, but it’s been a while since I saw a vampire.”
“Good. All that tight leather is hard for us normal girls to compete with.”
He didn’t have the heart to tell her the last vampire he’d met had been unfashionably stuck in the seventies. “Get some rest, honey. Tomorrow is going to be one damn long day.”
Chapter Seven
Sasha was a pretty redhead who looked traumatized in all the ways people expected Brynn to be. A livid claw mark on Sasha’s cheek made it clear that her run-in with angry werewolves had been far more violent than Brynn’s, even if it had been blessedly shorter in duration.
Of course, Abby had already won the girl over. Maybe having someone who would submit to her need to protect was good for her sister, because she seemed steadier today. Brynn found her in the kitchen with Sasha, rolling out pastry dough.
Abby inspected the flattened slab of dough. “Just a little thinner. Then I’ll show you how to roll it onto the pin.”
Sasha bit her lip in concentration. “All right.”
Abby looked up and beckoned to Brynn. “We’re making pie.”
She moved to the sink to wash her hands. “So I see. Do you have anything for me to help with that I won’t ruin?”
Her sister waved a hand toward the backyard. “Keith’s grilling.”
Which would usually be her preference, but the whole point of coming over had been to get to know Sasha. Brynn smiled and slid into the chair across from the witch. “Nah, I’ll stay in here with you guys. Joe said Sasha and I get to hold down the non-werewolf fort tonight.”