The Beast in Him Read online

  Mitch pushed his still-shifted sister into the men’s bathroom across the tiny hallway since he knew better than to put her in an enclosed space with the Starks. The other two lionesses followed Marissa in, and as soon as the door closed Mitch had to walk away, laughing before he even got five feet.

  Smitty glanced around. The reason he found this little fight before it got truly ugly was because he saw Jessie Ann head down this hallway to the bathroom and the Starks follow her. Now he had no idea where she’d gone.

  He knocked on the men’s bathroom door. “Y’all seen Jessie Ann?”

  “Who?” a trio of voices answered back.

  He rolled his eyes. “Jessica Ward?”

  “She was here a few minutes ago,” Marissa answered.

  Dammit. Where did she go? He needed to find her. Now.

  He simply couldn’t get that vision out of his mind of that runt dog practically salivating all over her. At least the males in Jessie’s Pack had some wiry strength to them. Landry could get his ass kicked by one of Smitty’s three-year-old nephews.

  Well, she couldn’t have gone far.

  He stroked his chin and glanced around until his gaze finally settled on the back exit door. The one that locked automatically.

  Smitty grinned. He sure did love his job.

  Jess stood at the end of the alley, her gaze locked on the two females. One of them with a horrible red dye job snarled and advanced. Jess snarled back, unleashing her claws and bracing her stance. If this got ugly, she’d kick off the shoes. If it got really ugly, she’d shift. That was always a last resort, though, when out in the open like this.

  But before the female could get close, the other She-wolf grabbed her arm and yanked her back, shoving her toward the car.

  “Not yet and not her,” she heard her whisper. Jess had wild-dog hearing. She could hear a pin drop a mile away if she needed to. “Get in,” the She-wolf ordered. The redhead started to argue, but the other one slapped her and pushed her toward the car.

  Gee, as difficult as her Pack could be, Jess never had to bitch slap one to get her way. Even the Smith females didn’t slap. You either complied or they mauled. There was no in between in the Smith universe.

  The two females got in the car and pulled away from the curb; Jess let out a relieved breath.

  “Jessie Ann?”

  Jess screamed and turned swinging. Unfortunately, it was much more of a flailing than any kind of actual fighting moves and Smitty easily caught her arms.

  “What are you doing?” he demanded calmly.

  “Beating you senseless?”

  He let out that annoyed sigh she remembered so well. The same one he gave her when she fell out of a tree after Sissy and her She-wolves chased Jess up there in the first place.

  She glanced down at the big hands gripping her biceps to hold her steady. “Do you mind letting me go?”

  “Sure you can handle the basics of walking and talking at the same time, darlin’?” She bared fangs and he quickly pushed her away. “A simple yes would have gotten the same sentiment across, ya know?”

  “Why are you here?”

  “My team’s here for additional security coverage for the museum. Good thing, too, with lions and hyenas fighting in the hallway.”

  Jess chuckled. “Good point.” She motioned to the door. “Since you’re security, can you let me back in?”

  Smitty stared at her. “Do you have a ticket?”

  She blinked. “It’s inside with my coat.”

  “Sorry, darlin’, I’m not really authorized to let you in if you don’t have a ticket.”

  Jess took a steadying step. “I’m sorry. What?”

  “We’re only letting in people who have their tickets. You don’t. Sorry.”

  Jess’s teeth began to chatter and she desperately rubbed her arms. What exactly was wrong with this man? Yesterday all he’d wanted to do was “help” her. Now she couldn’t get him to open the goddamn door when she was freezing to death. “Tell me you’re joking.”

  “Jessie Ann, you know how serious I take my job. I can’t let anyone into the party without a ticket.”

  “You son of a—”

  “Now, now, Jessie Ann. No call for that kind of language.”

  She threw her hands up. “Fine. I’ll just go walk around the entire goddamn building and go in through the front. Hopefully I won’t die from exposure on the way.”

  “Nah, you know our kind don’t die that easy from the cold.” She ignored him and turned to walk away. “They won’t let you in either,” he said to her back.

  She stopped. “Why not?”

  “You don’t have a ticket.”

  She spun on her heel, shocked she didn’t fall on her ass in these goddamn shoes. “Bobby Ray Smith, I swear to God—”

  Still calm, he cut in and said, “Don’t blaspheme at me, Jessie Ann.”

  “It’s Jess-i-ca!” she nearly screamed. “Not Jessie. Definitely not Jessie Ann.”

  He shrugged. “I like Jessie Ann.” It was his calmness that had her crazed. That calm, in-control Smitty air. His brothers didn’t have it. His father definitely didn’t have it. So Smitty must have gotten it from his mother. But right now it made Jess want to take off her shoe and stab him in the eye with the five-inch heel.

  He glanced at her hand. “You can use your phone. Call one of those friends of yours to bring your ticket.”

  “They’re not carrying their phones. Their phones are in their coats.”

  “Why wouldn’t they have their phones?”

  She held up hers, gripping the small device so tightly she had the feeling she’d crush it. “Because I’m carrying mine!”

  “No need to yell, Jessie Ann.”

  “I can’t talk to you.” She spun around yet again and started to walk away.

  “Of course,” he said behind her, “maybe there’s something we can work out.”

  “And what would that be?” she bit out even as she kept walking.

  “You go out with me tomorrow.”

  Again, Jess stopped in her tracks. To her utter disgust and self-loathing, her heart leaped in her chest. “A date? You’re having me freeze my ass off because you want a date.”

  “Not a date,” he said right by her ear and she nearly jumped ten feet straight up.

  How does he do that?

  “Just two friends hanging out.”

  Of course. Because why would Bobby Ray Smith go out with “little” Jessie Ann Ward? Her leaping heart tripped and took a nice plunge off Depression Mountain. This had all to do with his ego and nothing to do with her. Sixteen years and she still wasn’t worth…Oh, forget it.

  “My friends don’t let me freeze to death.”

  “I’m sure you’re not as difficult with your friends as you are with me. Just say the word yes and I’ll get you right inside, darlin’.”

  “You’re a bastard.”

  “I’m a Smith,” he said simply.

  “What’s the difference?”

  “To many there is none.” His grin was slow and so damn charming she wanted to slap it right off his face. “One word, Jessie Ann. Yes. And I’ll take you inside.”

  “That’s blackmail.”

  “That’s an ugly word. I prefer extortion.”

  She couldn’t even feel her toes. The thought of walking around the entire goddamn building to get back inside made her cringe. Especially in these stupid shoes. Never again would Phil get her in shoes like these.

  “I’ll never forgive you for this.”

  “Doesn’t sound like a yes to me.”

  “Fine. Yes.”

  Smitty immediately took off his jacket and put it around her shoulders. It smelled like him, and she kind of wanted to growl and rub it all over her body.

  He walked her back to the door, and as he opened it May nearly tumbled out since she had her hand wrapped around the inside handle.

  “Jess! There you are. We’ve been lookin’ everywhere for you, girl.”

  “I had
to take a call,” she growled.

  May looked between her and Smitty. “All right,” she said before scampering away like the weak-willed mutt she was.

  As Jess stepped into the warmth of the museum, Smitty said in her ear, “I’ll pick you up tomorrow at your office. Around six.” Smiths didn’t do specific time. What did “around six” even mean? “So make sure to add me to that little office list of yours.”

  She snatched off his jacket and threw it at his head.

  “Asshole!” she raged before she stormed off to gather up her Pack and go home.

  Smitty pulled his jacket back on.

  Ha! Got her. Did she really think she could outmaneuver him? Hello? Military training. Smith training. Those two things alone made him the most wily and vicious of the predators.

  He’d take her out to dinner and they’d have a nice long discussion about where she’d been for the past sixteen years…and about how to properly dress for these sorts of events. Then he’d find out what the hell she was hiding from him. Yup. That worked as a plan. He’d get his old friend back if he had to drag her kicking and screaming into his life.

  To Smitty, this did not seem pathetic.

  A strong hand landed on his shoulder as Marissa leaned on him for balance so she could slip on her pumps. She started to say something when Jessie Ann charged back into the hallway. She threw herself into Smitty, pressing her back into his chest. She wrapped his arms around her waist and snarled, “Now look pretty.”

  Five seconds later, Sherman Landry appeared at the end of the hallway. His smile faded as soon as he saw Smitty. And he looked downright terrified of Marissa.

  With a despondent sigh, he gave a half-hearted wave. “Bye, Jessica.”

  “Bye,” Jess said with an over-the-top glee. When Sherman walked off, she spit out between her teeth, “Asshole.”

  A good minute passed before Jess realized she still had Smitty’s arms around her. Slowly, her face lifted and she looked up at him. Unable to help himself, Smitty let that smile come in all its glory. His daddy had the same one and it had caused his mother to go after the old bastard with the ax they kept in the backyard more than once.

  Thankfully, Jessie didn’t have an ax on her.

  “Get off me!” She pulled out of his arms. “Bastard.”

  “See ya tomorrow!” he said with the same cheer she’d told Landry good-bye.

  She stormed off, spinning on those deadly heels to give him the finger with both hands, before disappearing altogether.

  Marissa rested her chin on Smitty’s shoulder. “I must say, Smitty, you do have an interesting way with women.”

  “Self-taught,” he said with pride, grinning when Marissa laughed.

  Chapter 8

  It took Jess the rest of the night and most of the day to remember the Buick. The Buick those two She-wolves outside the museum had driven away in. It struck her as strange when she saw it; now she remembered why. All those long discussions when she’d just met a still-sobbing May about her boyfriend’s Buick and all the “making out” that went on in that backseat. Could the guy still be driving around in the same car? And if it was his car, who were the She-wolves? They worried Jess but didn’t scare her. Not after living among the Smith wolves for two years.

  Her big problem was whether to tell the rest of the Pack. When she had a few minutes, she’d grabbed Phil, but that quickly degenerated into one of their arguments where they kept saying the same thing but continued to argue anyway.

  Unfortunately, Jess and Phil didn’t know Sabina stood in the doorway until she barked. And she had one of those annoying, high-pitched yelping barks too.

  Jess and Phil cringed, knowing Sabina had busted them royally.

  Watching them closely, she shrewdly sized them up like she did everyone else. “What are you two so heatedly discussing?”

  Jess faced her friend and answered, “Our torrid affair?” That probably would have been more believable if she hadn’t phrased it as a question.

  “Your torrid affair?”

  “Yeah, me and Phil. For years now. Hot and heavy. Right, Phil?”

  He stared blindly at his wife and Jess had to hit him in the chest to prompt a response. “Right. Sure. Hot and heavy.”

  Sabina folded her arms over her chest. “You two are pathetic. Pathetic liars. Now tell me the truth.” When they remained silent, she added, “Tell me. Or I shift and so begins the peeing.”

  A female dog who lifted her hind leg on a whim—this was not an idle threat.

  Jess held up her hands. “Okay! Okay!” Might as well just deal with it. “Let’s grab the others and get this over with.”

  “You’ve gotta tell her.”

  “Why can’t it wait? Until she gets home?”

  Kristan rolled her eyes. “Honestly! You’d think I was dragging your dumb ass to the gas chamber.” And she was dragging him because he refused to go on his own.

  Pulling Johnny into the building, she smiled at the woman behind the front desk. “Hiya, Paula. Are my parents and Jess upstairs?”

  “They sure are. Go on up, hon.”

  “Thanks.” The big goofus started to slow up, but she yanked harder and pulled him all the way to the elevator doors. “I swear! You’re being such a drama king about this.”

  She glanced at the man waiting for the elevators while keeping a firm grip on Johnny’s arm. His scent reminded her of Johnny’s, and based on his size, she realized they were the same breed. And, man, was he way cute!

  The doors opened and the wolf stepped inside. She followed but had to keep dragging Johnny. The wolf pushed the top-floor button and the doors closed.

  “So who are you going to see?” she asked, knowing he’d only be allowed to head upstairs if the Pack wanted him up there.

  “Jessie Ann.”

  She snorted and got a raised eyebrow for her trouble. “We all call her Jess,” she explained.

  “I knew her a long time ago when she was just Jessie Ann.”

  “I’m Kristan. This is Johnny.”

  “Nice to meet y’all. I’m Bobby Ray Smith, but y’all can call me Smitty.”

  She laughed a bit. “You sound just like my mom. The accent.”

  “So you’re May and Danny’s daughter.”

  She liked that he didn’t assume because she was Asian she was automatically Maylin’s daughter. “Yup.”

  Kristan glanced up at Johnny, surprised he hadn’t said anything yet. But she had no idea she’d find him glaring at the wolf—the much bigger wolf—like he really believed he could take him on. Just great. Now his testosterone decided to kick in?

  Smitty stared back at Johnny; although his body lounged casually against the wall, his eyes let her know he was feeling anything but casual. “Is there a problem, hoss?”

  It was a low growl, but one from Johnny’s gut. Startled into action, Kristan stepped between the two, her hand against Johnny’s chest.

  “So,” she said way too eagerly, “what was Jess like back then? Did she always have her nose in a book? I bet she did. She has like a ton of books. Stuff you couldn’t pay me enough to read. Boring, boring, boring. But I do like—”

  “Christ,” Johnny snapped, “stop babbling.”

  She knew that would work. Johnny hated when she rambled. But most important, she’d defused a situation she wasn’t really in the mood to deal with.

  She briefly wondered if the skill was built into her DNA. Her mom could do the same thing.

  Smitty stepped out of the elevator, working hard not to smile. The kid wouldn’t appreciate it much if he did. Smitty wasn’t mad. He had no reason to be. At that age, challenging adult wolves was normal. A rite of passage. It was also a right of passage to get your ass kicked by adult wolves. Of course, being around a Pack of dogs, this might have been the first time the kid had felt the desire to take on a male he didn’t even know. Obviously it was the first time little Kristan had witnessed it.

  Together, the three of them walked into the office.

&n
bsp; Pairs of desks facing each other ran down the middle of the room. Only one office sat tucked away in a corner. Although it had a door, you couldn’t call it private since it was made completely of glass. The door, the windows looking in…all of it glass.

  Toys and games littered the floor. He could see paused computer games on some terminals, and there were several televisions set up with the high-end game consoles attached. Posters for the Stars Wars trilogy, Lord of the Rings trilogy, Logan’s Run, Raiders of the Lost Ark—every geek movie ever made—decorated the walls. They also had full-size standing displays from Star Wars, Xena: Warrior Princess, and Star Trek.

  And Smitty’d thought Mace had gone overboard by investing in those quiet eight-by-ten pencil drawings of the seaside for their front office. How these wild dogs got anything done, Smitty would never know.

  “That’s weird,” Kristan said softly. “Where is everybody?”

  It did seem strange, with it not even being six yet, that no one would be around.

  Smitty wouldn’t put it past Jessie Ann to run out on him, but he didn’t see the rest of her Pack running with her. Of course, he’d always heard that wild-dog Packs were uncommonly close.

  He scented the air and walked to the back of the office, the two pups trailing behind. The back door led to a long hallway that appeared to still be under construction. Jessie’s scent went down the hall, past bathrooms and storage rooms, until he hit another doorway. Smitty pushed through and walked down the ten flights of stairs.

  One door led out. A fire exit, he would guess. He could hear their lowered voices stop abruptly when they sensed someone on the other side of the door.

  Smitty went right up against it and he could hear whispering from the other side—and sniffing. Grinning at the pups, Smitty loudly barked, “What are y’all doin’?”