"After your mother died?" He'd never said much about her death, except that she'd passed quickly when he was nine-years-old.

  Billy Bob shook his head. "He was always a hard man, even when my mom had been alive. When my grandfather invited me to learn the ways of the spirit, I'd jumped at the chance. It broke his heart when I'd joined the army, but still, I hadn't severed ties with our people, so I was allowed to return. My father blamed him for what he called my wandering soul. And they'd had a falling out when I was thirty, shortly before grandfather died, that made my dad turn away from our old ways. My dad wouldn't tell me what the fight had been about. Instead, he made the declaration that he was bringing the tribe into the modern century, and we would no longer follow the path of the spirit."

  "Wow, that's the most you've ever told me about your past." I wrapped my arms around his waist, keeping my greasy fingers off his turquoise shirt. "I'm sorry about your grandfather."

  "I'd planned to defy him. My dad, that is. I was going to continue my grandfather's work under the guise of providing only medical treatment."

  "Like you do for the folks here in Peculiar." I craned my head back, and he kissed me for the effort.

  "Yes, like I do here in Peculiar." He cupped my face. "My grandfather was more talented than me when it came to spirit talking. He could reach out with a few minutes of chants and reach Brother Wolf. It takes me hours to do the same. But you, my love, are a miracle. He comes to you when you need him without the need for ceremony."

  "I don't know about all that. Brother Wolf has been ignoring me since the confrontation with your dad yesterday. I feel more like his puppet most of the time." I sighed. "I'm not being fair. I wouldn't have made it out of some the darker times in my life the past couple of years if it hadn't been for Brother Wolf. But, man, he can be so frustrating."

  "And ambiguous," Billy Bob said. "Don't forget ambiguous."

  "That's the worst. I mean, how hard is it to be specific." The sizzle of bacon in the pan redirected my attention. I let go of Billy Bob and grabbed the spatula. "Are you going to go check on our guests?"

  "I supposed I should before my dad shows up."

  "If I was really a miracle I'd cast an invisibility cloak over the bunch of them until William came and went. I'm not looking forward to his reaction. Why didn't you give me a heads up not to act neighborly with your buddies."

  "It didn't occur to me that you would invite them to stay."

  "As guests," I said in my defense. "But Dale turned it into something that I hadn't intended."

  Billy Bob smiled, and I liked the way it lit his silver eyes. "Dale was always smart and quick. He's a lawyer. We haven't had one in town since..."

  "Since Neville Lutjen was dealt with for his crimes against therians." And my own kidnapping, I didn't add, because the doc knew all too well what had been done to me so that Neville could keep his secrets.

  "Yes, since then." He raised his brows at me. "They could be an asset to Peculiar."

  "You know as well as I do that the town is going to take some convincing if you intend to add thirty-six wolves to the mix. They like you. Hell, they love you. But I'm not sure they'd love a whole herd of you moving in."

  "Well, luckily, lycanthropes are just like anyone else. They are all unique with their own sets of skills, values, and personalities," he countered.

  "And their own sets of problems." I flipped over the bacon and mashed the curling edges. "If you are seriously thinking about taking them under your protection, it is going to be an uphill climb."

  "Under our protection," he said. He gave me a wry smile. "Remember, we're in this together."

  The knock at the door around eight-thirty put a knot in my belly. Even with the new information, I felt ill prepared for a confrontation with William Smith. The knot loosened when I peeked out the window to see, not William, but Sunny holding Baby Jude who was now a rambunctious toddler, and a jumbo-sized diaper bag, Willy with her infant daughter, Willow, and another huge diaper bag, and Ruth, holding Sunny's other baby, Dawn, standing on my stoop.

  I flung the door open. "What are you all doing here?"

  Willy, in fiery red-head style, said, "If you think we're going to let anyone fuck with you on the day before your wedding, especially, a dick-headed in-law, you got another thing coming."

  Both Ruth and Sunny, who had covered Jude's and Dawn's ears, nodded their agreement.

  "Sunny called us last night," Ruth said. "And we made an executive decision to show up as your support team."

  "Are the kiddos going to act as shields?"

  Sunny gave me a sheepish grin. "Dakota is covering the breakfast shift this morning at Sunny's Outlook. She's going to come get them around ten-thirty." Dakota, Ruth's oldest daughter and a jack of all trades, had turned out to be a complete blessing during this crazy time, by taking over my shifts at the restaurant, but it had left Sunny without her normal babysitter."

  Ruth blushed. "Michele would have taken them, but she had made a prior commitment."

  Since her on-again boyfriend Jo Jo was working, and I knew Michele didn't have a regular job, I wondered at her prior commitment. Willy, who was Jo Jo's stepmom, gave a quick roll of her eyes, so I didn't ask.

  "Well, come on in," I told them. "I'm happy for the support." Besides, I knew if William got too out of hand, all three of them were more than capable of showing him his place.

  Billy Bob came out of the kitchen, an apron tied around his waist, and his hair pulled back to keep strays from falling in the food. He grimaced when he saw the BFF brigade.

  "Ladies," he said.

  Sunny whistled and said to me. "I do love a man in an apron."

  "Does he do windows?" Willy asked. "Because he sure knows how to shine."

  Ruth giggled. "It's hard not to love a man who will bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan."

  "Chavvah fried the bacon," he said deadpan. "Speaking of bacon. Does this mean we're having three more guests for breakfast?"

  "This one can have my bacon." She gave Jude a poke in his belly and he laughed. "He can put away nearly as much as his father."

  Sunny was a vegetarian, but not for the normal reasons. Her affinity for animals extended to the dead ones, and, as she explained it, when you experience your meal being slaughtered before your eyes, it curbs the appetite. But she'd given birth to coyote shifters, and coyotes were carnivores.

  She set Jude down and he ran as fast as his little feet could take him right over to Billy Bob. "Uncle!" he said excitedly. "Rocket!"

  The ceiling in the living room was vaulted and Billy Bob picked up the boy and threw him several feet in the air before catching him and swinging him around. Jude squealed with delight.

  The doc beamed with joy. He'd taken on the roll as uncle to Babe and Sunny's children with relish. Again, I couldn't help but feel like I was depriving him of his own family. He caught my look and set Jude down.

  He took the boy's hand. "Want to help me in the kitchen?"

  Jude answered by bouncing on his toes and following Billy Bob out of the room.

  When we were alone, Willy blatantly asked, "So what's this I hear about the doc having a kid, and who the fuck are all those people in your pasture?"

  Chapter Six

  The conversation about Etta and our new lodgers was short, because no sooner did I give a brief breakdown to get my girls up to speed, William and Etta arrived.

  "Why are my people on your land?" William growled as he pushed his way inside the house. He spoke to Billy Bob, not me, treating me as inconsequential. "I guess you've made your choice, son."

  "I didn't make any decision," Billy Bob said as he walked out of the kitchen with Jude on his hip. "Your people walked away from you. The decision was theirs."

  "But it was your decision to accept them and take them under your protection." He stopped a few feet short of the doc, and I could see the relief on Sunny's face as I retrieved Jude from his favorite uncle.

  "No rough stuff in front of the kiddos," I said.

  Willow, only a few months old, flipped in her mom's arms, and turned into a werecougar. She let out an irritated hiss, and I nodded. Even a tiny baby could sense the tension in this room.

  That's when I noticed Etta expression. It wasn't hard and angry like the night before. She was staring at Jude, Dawn, and Willow, her eyes wide with something akin to awe.

  "Do you want to hold him?" I asked her.

  "How old is he?" she said.

  "He'll be three in February." I walked closer to Etta, holding tight to my squirmy nephew. "Here. He won't bite."

  Sunny chuckled. "That's a lie."

  "Don't mind Sunny. Jude is a friendly little cuss," Ruth said.

  Etta reluctantly held out her hands, and I handed Jude off.

  "Oh my gosh," she said. "He's so light."

  "Therianthrope babies mature more slowly than human children, but they catch up by the time they are in their late teens," Sunny said. "Or so I've been told. Is it different for lycanthropes?"

  Etta shrugged. "I don't know."

  "I'm sorry," Sunny said.

  "So, is he my brother?" Etta asked.

  "No," I told her with a gentle smile. "He's my brother and Sunny's son, so in a way that makes him your cousin."

  "Oh." She didn't try to hide her disappointment.

  "Is this the first time you've held a child?" I asked.

  Etta nodded. "I'm the youngest in our town." Jude pulled on her hair and said loudly, "Like Uncle!"

  "Yes," I told him. "Like Uncle's hair."

  The girl carefully put Jude down, her face unreadable. "Father, we should go."

  "Not until I get my people back," William said. He'd been quiet through the entire exchange between us, but it had only been a short pause in his agenda. "I claim the right of lupiduci."

  "Don't be ridiculous, Father," Billy Bob said.

  William's face flamed with color. "Ridiculous is letting you, a proditor," he spat the word. "A traitor, take what's mine."

  Billy Bob's back straightened as he leaned in toward his father and said with more menace than I'd ever heard from him, "Like you took what's mine when you deprived me of my child?"

  "Stop it," Etta said. "I am not your child. You gave up any rights to me when you left our tribe."

  "Is that what he told you?" Billy Bob asked. "I would have come back for you if I had known you existed."

  Etta hesitated then shook her head. "Father warned me not to trust you."

  The veins over Billy Bob's muscles popped out visibly as I watched him work to hold his temper in check. "He is a liar. The fact that you don't know that about him tells me you are either blind, or he has gotten better at acting over the years."

  The smoke alarm went off in the kitchen again. "We got it," Sunny said, corralling Ruth, Willy, and the kids.

  Willy stopped to give William a fierce stare, well, as fierce as a tiny woman could while carrying a cute little kitten in her arms. "We'll just be around the corner if you need us," she told me, and with that, they all went into the kitchen.

  I heard broomstick whack the fire alarm again. I'd have to buy a new one if this became a trend.

  "Fixed!" Sunny shouted triumphantly. "And only a couple of pieces of bacon are burnt! Breakfast salvaged."

  "Are we going to eat or fight?" I asked the warring wolves.

  "Pick your second," William said.

  "I'm not choosing someone to fight my battles. I will take on your champion myself."

  The barest hint of smile tugged at William's lips for a microsecond then it disappeared. "I choose Etta. She is my best warrior."

  Billy Bob looked as if he'd been struck. "No."

  Etta looked just as surprised.

  "You can't want this, Father," Billy Bob said.

  "Etta is proficient in all forms of combat, including swords. I have faith in her victory." He narrowed his gaze on the doc. "What I wanted was my people back, but I will take your defeat as a consolation prize."

  Billy Bob looked at his adult daughter and shook his head. "This isn't right. I refuse your challenge."

  "Lupiduci dictates the ritual. You can dictate the terms." William lifted his hands in an amiable gesture. "It doesn't have to be to the death. First person to draw blood wins."

  "No," he said. "I won't pick up a sword against her."

  William's face lit up with triumph. He knew Billy Bob would refuse to fight Etta, and he wasn't above using his own flesh and blood to get his way. "Then you lose, and by the rite of lupiduci, you must turn the tribe away."

  "You know that won't stop them from leaving you," Billy Bob said.

  "No, but it will make them lone wolves by all tribal standards. Outcasts. Like you, son. They will no longer have any standing in any lycanthropic community."

  The more William blathered, the more rage I felt for Billy Bob, the lycans out in our field, and even Etta. The elder Smith really was a master manipulator. He was still summarizing all that Billy Bob and the wayward members would be giving up, when Brother Wolf told me, this must not stand, little sister.

  I know, I thought back to him. But what can I do?

  You know.

  I don't, I told him. I need you to tell me. But Brother Wolf was silent once again.

  The bickering between father and son was escalating.

  You know. Thanks for the vague directions, Brother Wolf. I absolutely did not know the right thing to do, but impulsively, I said, "I'll do it. I'll be Doc's second."

  I heard plates clattering in the kitchen as they hit the floor, and my three besties hustled out to the living room.

  "No, no, no," Sunny said. "You are getting married tomorrow, Chav. Brides-to-be don't pick sword fights."

  "I won't let you fight my battle," Billy Bob said. "It's not your place."

  "My place is by your side. We're in this together. Remember? You are my first, so let me be your second." I eyeballed Etta who stood at least an inch taller than me, and she had well-defined muscles in her arms. "Besides, it's not to the death, right?"

  Etta snorted. "You think you can take me? I have bested all challengers since I was nineteen. You really don't want to mess with me, lady."

  "We'll see about that," I said. "How long do I have to prepare?"

  "We will fight on the solstice," Etta said, "as ritual dictates. Lucky us, we won't have to wait long. The next one is tomorrow."

  Sunny gasped. "That's your wedding night! I'll say it again, no, no, no."

  "It won't take long," Etta said, her voice brimming with confidence. "Once I make quick work of you, you'll have plenty of time to marry this traitor. As a bonus, I won't even mark your face. You'll still be pretty for your pictures."

  "Aww," Sunny said. "Your new stepdaughter thinks you're pretty."

  I couldn't think of an appropriate comeback, so I crossed my arms over my chest and gave her a come-at-me look.

  William cast his granddaughter a quick look and said, "Let's go, Etta. We must prepare for tomorrow.”

  After they left, Billy Bob stormed off to the clinic side of our place. I looked at my three girls, all of their expressions grim and worried. "What?" I asked. "I had to do something. I've met those people, and besides..." Could I really blame Brother Wolf? After all, he hadn't specifically told me to get into a fight with my new in-laws. "We have lots of food. Who's hungry?"

  "These days, I'm always hungry," Willy said. Her eyes widened as we all turned our gazes on her. "Oh, shit. I was going to wait until after the wedding to tell you all." She put her hand on her belly. "Preggers again."

  I joined the chorus of congratulations, wishing I could feel as happy for her as I sounded. I'd become a pretty good actor as well.

  When I hugged Willy, she whispered in my ear, "Don't worry. This little alien inside me won't stop me from teaching you some tricks that will turn you into an ass-kicker in no time. Just don't tell Brady. He's such a hoverer."

  "It'll be our secret." I added a grateful, "thank you," because I was currently as far away as a person could get from being an ass-kicker, and I needed all the help I could get.

  Then Sunny said, "Chav, I think we should pack a bag and get you out of town. Maybe you and the doc should just elope."

  "I'm doing this." The words came out more forcefully than I'd intended.

  "You remember I had a vision of Etta with blood all over her hands." She twirled her hand around for emphasis. "Like lots of it. What if I was seeing your blood?"

  Ruth worried her lower lip between her teeth. "Eloping is good. Ed and I could use a vacation, and since our Reno trip was such a dud, I wouldn't mind trying Vegas."

  "Same," said Willy. "Brady and I could use a little honeymoon time before the next baby comes."

  Everything they were saying sounded really tempting, but I couldn't. I barely knew the lycans who had arrived, but a part of me knew that I had to try whatever I could to protect them.

  "I appreciate the escape plan," I told my three worried pals, "but this is a story that will have to play out, regardless of the outcome." I couldn't lie to myself, though. Sunny's vision had me concerned. Why was all this happening now? My fantasy wedding was quickly turning into a nightmare.

  Ten minutes after William and Etta had made their dramatic exit, there was another knock at the front door. Considering Doc still hadn't come back from the clinic, and I'd spent those long minutes getting lectured by Sunny, Ruth, and Willy, I was glad for the reprieve.

  Dale, Joanna, and Cal Rivers stood just outside, their faces mirroring my own concern.

  "We saw William leave," Dale said. "We've come to ask if you are revoking your invitation."

  "No," I said. "Why don't you come in for some breakfast. I've got enough food to feed an army in here, and no army."

 

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