“Yup.” Rory took a deep drink, looking completely unfazed by the amount of liquor he’d imbibed in the last two hours. “She said, ‘I love him.’”
“Did she mean it?”
“Well, she’s never said it before.”
“She’s never stopped us from putting a hurt on a male before either,” Reece Reed added. “Most of the time, she actually steers us over there. So she must like you some.”
She must like you some? Talk about vague.
The howling became louder and Brendon couldn’t stand it anymore. “Mitch! Would you stop making that annoying, goddamn sound!” The howling cut off abruptly, but now Brendon had the attention of every wolf in the room. Clearing his throat, he added, “It’s so annoying when a cat does it, don’t ya think?”
The wolves nodded and Rory held the jar out to him again.
“No, thanks. I really don’t—”
They all stared, and Brendon realized he didn’t have much of a choice. So he took the jar and gulped down more stuff he felt pretty confident could eat through titanium.
Man, he would so make Ronnie pay for this nightmare.
Chapter Sixteen
Ronnie went to knock on her brother’s door, but it already stood ajar. Kept that way by one long arm.
“Oh Lord.”
Ronnie pushed the door open and it slammed right into Ricky’s big head. She kept pushing until she could easily enter. Disgusted, she stepped over her brother and stormed into the middle of the room, staring down at all of them.
With an angry growl, she kicked Reece in the head. “Wake up!”
Still holding onto his bottle of ’shine, Reece grumbled and turned over. Then he started snoring again.
“Rory Lee Reed!”
Rory sat straight up. “What? What?”
“Where is he?”
“Um…?”
Ronnie waited for her brother to answer until she realized he’d passed out again while sitting up.
“Goddamnit.”
A toilet flushed and the bathroom door opened.
“Hey, sweetie.” Mitch walked by and gave Ronnie a friendly scratch on the head.
Well at least one of them had survived. “Are you okay?”
“I’m gonna hurt in the morning from all that liquor. But right now I feel very little pain.” Reaching down, Mitch grabbed Reece, lifted him, carried him to one of the two queen-sized beds, and carefully placed him on the mattress.
“Did you really drink Uncle Willy’s ’shine?”
“That stuff in the glass jar? Yup. Sure did. Hence the not feeling any pain.”
But he wasn’t slurring his words or walking funny or passing out midsentence. He looked sober as a judge.
“Where’s Shaw?”
“Bed, I think. He bailed when Rory dropped. And that was after those three guys over there dropped.”
“But he’s okay?”
“He’s fine. An asshole, but fine.” He flashed her a killer grin every Shaw male seemed to have, then he picked Ricky up and laid him out next to Reece.
Fascinated, Ronnie watched as Mitch did the same thing for Rory, carefully laying him on the bed. It was the nicest thing she’d ever seen a man do for another man.
Until Mitch started picking up the other wolves and placed them on top of each of the Reed boys in a lovely sixty-nine position. Thankfully they were all dressed, but she knew when her brothers woke up…
“That is wrong,” she finally gasped out, tears rolling down her face from laughing so hard.
“Yeah. I know.” Mitch grinned “But admit it. It’s so fuckin’ funny.”
Where she got an air horn from at two o’clock in the morning, he had no idea, but the damn thing blasted him right out of bed and halfway across the room.
“What in holy hell are you doing?” he roared while covering his ears. He knew they must be bleeding. He’d probably be deaf for life. Still, the crazy She-wolf he felt the need to mate with didn’t seem too concerned with the damage she may have caused.
“Mornin’, darlin’.”
Brendon glanced out his big windows facing the city. “It’s still dark out. So it’s not morning in my universe.”
“I know. You city people sure are used to being lazy and getting up when the day has just passed you by. But we have a few things to straighten out before you get to sleep.”
Uh-oh. “What kind of things?”
“First, never leave me alone with your sister again. She scares me, which isn’t easy.”
“What happened between you and—”
She hit the button on the air horn and he slammed back against the wall, his entire body shaking with rage. He’d bet hard money she got that damn thing from Timothy.
“Was I finished speaking?” she asked cheerfully. “Nope, sure wasn’t. Now where was I before I was so rudely interrupted? Oh, yes. Your sister is insane, and you’re not allowed to desert me if she’s around.”
“Fine,” he spit out. He might actually wear his teeth down into nubs at this rate. “Anything else?”
“Yeah. I want three pups, which you’ll clearly have to teach how to fight because a wolf with a mane…not a pretty idea. And our children’s misery will be all your fault.”
“Ronnie—” He quickly held his hands up when she pointed that stupid air horn at him again.
“Did I look done talkin’?”
He stared up at the ceiling, praying God would give him strength. “No.”
“Also, every once in a while, I may take off for places unknown. I will leave a note and call you regularly. I will return, but I have to feel I can leave whenever I want or I will go insane like your sister. And if I go insane I’ll make sure to take you with me.” She raised an eyebrow and again he held up his hands, letting her know the floor was still hers. “You will let me drive your cars…all of them.”
“Now wait one goddamn minute—” He slammed into the wall again, his hands over his ears. “Stop doing that!”
“Stop,” she replied calmly, “interrupting me.” She cleared her throat and continued. “You will no longer be a Breeding Male unless you’re breeding with me. You marked me, now you’re stuck with me. I don’t share cock, underwear, or toys. It’s that simple. Any female lions come sniffing around you, no one will find their remains for a very long time. You, of course, will not go sniffing around anyone else because you already know how mean I can be. Now, last, and this is most important. There will always be Oreos in the cupboard, and you will share, Brendon Shaw. With me and definitely with our children. You’ll eat first only if the rest of us aren’t in the room. Okay. Are we all clear?”
Brendon nodded and she smiled. “Good.”
He held his hand out. “Can I have that?”
“This?” She held up the air horn. “Sure.” With no effort, she snapped the cheap plastic part off the can and tossed the can to him. “You didn’t think I’d give you the thing whole, did you?”
“Doesn’t matter. I was only going to snap it in half anyway.” He tossed the can aside and stepped toward her. “Now you’re gonna say it.”
“Say what?”
“You know what.” He kept moving forward, and she started to stumble back. “You said it in front of your brothers, you can damn well say it to me.”
“Oh. That.” She rushed out of the bedroom, down the hallway, and into his living room. “I was just saying that so my brothers wouldn’t hurt you.” She stood on one side of a large couch. “I’d feel real bad if they did that.”