The Mane Attraction (12 page)

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Authors: Shelly Laurenston

BOOK: The Mane Attraction
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“Luckily, I already know how amazing I am, otherwise I would have been devastated.”
“And he’s just jealous.”
“Jealous? Of what?”
“He’s jealous of you.”
“Is that right?”
“Of course! Because no matter what he does, when he puts on your shorts and one of your bras, he never looks as cute in them as you do.”
And keeping her laughing for the next hour made
Mitch
feel amazing.
Chapter 6
S
issy woke up about one in the afternoon ... alone.
They’d gone from the porch to the family room and spent a good portion of the night watching late-night television and laughing. The last thing Sissy remembered was resting her head on Mitch’s shoulder while they discussed the benefits of doing an infomercial for Mace and Bobby Ray’s security business and how disgusted both former Navy SEALs would be if they even tried to suggest it—which meant they would.
And now she woke up on the same couch but with no Mitch. Maybe he’d gone back to bed. She hoped so. The man needed sleep. Real sleep, not simply unconsciousness from blood loss.
Sitting up, she rubbed her face and stretched until she heard all sorts of pops and snap noises that did nothing but make her worry about her general bone health. Then her stomach grumbled, and everything else took a backseat. Throwing off the blanket she had on her legs, she stumbled into the kitchen. She pulled open the refrigerator, determined to get to the food before Mitch had a chance to clean her out, and froze. There was nothing left but a carton of rancid Chinese food her parents had left behind. She went to the overhead cabinets and checked there, but all the cereal and Pop-Tarts that her parents kept for their grandkids were gone as well.
Selfish feline!
Annoyed beyond reason, Sissy stomped upstairs, hoping to wake his big cat ass up with the noise. She took a quick shower and went to her room to get clothes. Once she’d pulled on a pair of denim shorts, bra, and T-shirt, she stomped down to Bobby Ray’s room and threw the door open. But the bed was empty.
Sissy turned back toward the hallway. “Mitch?”
No answer, so she ran down the hallway and stairs, calling out for him.
As she slid into the kitchen, she noticed for the first time the folded notebook paper on the table.
Starving. Went into town for food. We need supplies, woman! You’re not caring for me properly.
Then an annoying smiley face.
Her eye twitched.
Went into town? By himself ? What is wrong with that man?
Sissy charged outside, running full speed toward town, her rental car completely forgotten since she walked most places when she visited anyway.
It had never occurred to her that he might wander off on his own, but she should have remembered that he’d never go hunting if he could help it. Male lions were scavengers at heart. Used to being taken care of by the females in their life. Since Mitch didn’t have his own Pride to feed him, he spent most of his time in restaurants or getting his food delivered.
Sissy cut through the woods far opposite from the part of the woods she’d traipsed into last night.
She cut through several of her relatives’ backyards, waving to the ones who yelled out greetings while she ignored the small deer that leaped into her path. Her stomach growled, but she kept going until she hit the main road that led into town. Of course, that’s when she slammed right into the side door of a bright red ’78 Camaro, the impact tossing her back into the woods.
Times like this, she was grateful to be a shifter.
She heard tires squeal when the person driving hit the brakes. A few seconds later, a door opened, and a gruff female voice called out, “Hello?” Then Sissy heard sniffing as the She-wolf tried to track her.
“I’m over here,” Sissy responded while pushing herself up until she was on her hands and knees.
Footsteps moved closer, and then she heard, “Hey. Sorry. Are you ... wait. Sissy Mae?”
Sissy lifted her head, and her gaze traveled up a long, powerful body wearing worn jeans, a worn T-shirt, and not much else. But when Sissy saw that face, she grinned. “Holy shit. Dee-Ann?”
“Figures,” Dee-Ann sighed. “I’ve killed my own damn cousin. Momma’s gonna have a fit.”
Laughing, Sissy grasped Dee’s hand and let her first cousin drag her to her feet. Dee-Ann was her cousin twice over. Her mother, Darla, was Janie Mae’s sister, and her father, the infamous Uncle Eggie, was the older brother of Bubba Smith. She was three years older than Sissy, but they’d had some very good times back in the day.
“Well, don’t get any ideas. You are not in my will.”
“Damn. I had it all planned out, too.”
The pair hugged, and Sissy let out a relieved breath. “Dee, I didn’t know you were home.”
“Only been back a couple of days. I’m out for good now, Sissy,” she finished on a murmur.
Sissy tamped down her desire to grill her cousin on how she felt and instead said, “Well, darlin’, you missed the wedding of the century.”
“So I heard. I am real sorry I missed it.”
“Don’t worry. Bobby Ray understands.”
Together they walked back to the main road, and Sissy glared at the still running Camaro. “And you have the nerve to be tooling around town in
my
car.”
“Oh, no, no, no.” Dee shook her head. “Don’t even try it. I won this car fair and square. Besides, I look much better in it than you ever did.”
“I still say that race wasn’t fair.”
“Ignoring you,” Dee stated flatly. Of course, she stated most things flatly.
Sissy laughed, giving her cousin another hug. “Take me into town, bitch,” she said as she walked around to the passenger side.
“All right. But you owe me from where your big, fat head dented my driver’s side door.”
“Maybe if you weren’t speeding.”
Hands slapping against the roof of the car, Dee stared at her. “You didn’t say that. Those words didn’t come out of
your
mouth.”
Sissy gave her most innocent expression. “Why, cousin, I don’t know what you mean.”
 
 
The waitress placed another hamburger with fries in front of him and stepped back.
“Anything else?”
His mouth filled with food, Mitch held up his empty glass.
“More milk,” she said. “Got it.” Grabbing several empty plates, the waitress let out a little sigh and gave a small shake of her head before she walked away.
Why everyone was staring at him, Mitch didn’t know. He was hungry, dammit; that didn’t make him a freak.
As he dove into his seventh Smithtown Diner’s Mighty Burger, the rumbling sound of a modified muffler caught his attention, and the sweetest cherry-red Camaro tore past the big front window of the restaurant. Tires squealed, and the car returned, practically diving into the empty space right in front.
He really shouldn’t have been surprised when Sissy laughingly stumbled out of the passenger side, nor when the waitress placed his milk-filled glass down and said, “Oh, Lord. Here comes trouble.”
“There you are!” Sissy said as she walked into the diner, another woman right behind her.
Mitch had to admit he liked how Sissy walked into a room. Every male became instantly aware of her. But Sissy either never noticed or she went out of her way to never notice. Mitch didn’t know, but he enjoyed how oblivious she seemed, annoying every male in a thirty-foot radius.
She pulled out a chair and dropped into it. “Next time when you leave the house, why don’t you just wear a big bull’s eye on your chest?”
“What does that mean?” he asked around his burger.
“I’m trying to protect your dumb ass, and you go wandering off.”
“You weren’t fulfilling my needs,” he said simply. “And I have big, demanding needs.”
“You’re a glutton,” she snapped and took a fry off his plate. He snarled at her, but she only snorted. “And stingy.”
“I don’t share.”
“Get over it.” Taking more fries—and risking her hand in the process—Sissy motioned to the woman who had come in with her and who now sat in the chair across from Mitch. “This is my cousin, Dee-Ann. Dee-Ann, this is Mitch Shaw. He’s a cat and my personal pain in the ass.”
“Hey,” Dee-Ann mumbled while she looked around the diner. Mitch immediately noticed that look. He used to have it himself until he learned to be more subtle about it. This was a wary, untrusting woman. With one look, she probably could tell him every exit in the room, who she thought would be the most trouble, and what her escape plan would be if someone who made her nervous came through the front door.
Dee-Ann’s hair was darker than Sissy’s and much shorter. Her eyes were a bright yellow, and her body made Sissy’s look almost petite. She was blatantly strong and sported scars that didn’t come from claws or fangs.
“She just got back from overseas,” Sissy told him, and her eyes made everything clear.
Sissy twisted in her chair and looked over at the counter. “Sammy ...
Sammy Ray!”
Mitch’s eyes crossed at her screams, and he glanced at her cousin only to see that Dee-Ann didn’t even seem to notice.
“What?”
Sammy Ray yelled back. It was like the Smith family had only one volume level.
“I want the burgers deluxe.” She looked at her cousin. “What you want?”
“Same.”
Sissy nodded and looked back at the counter.
“Make it two!”
she screamed. She turned back around and shrugged at Mitch. “What?”
 
 
Ronnie hadn’t slept well during the night and had overslept the morning straight into the afternoon, so she wasn’t surprised to wake up and find her mate gone. Nor was she shocked to find him pacing his office.
Shaw thought he could hide his feelings from her. But they were mates. She felt what he felt. Not on some wacky metaphysical level either. Simply the way one who loves another does. And all heaven knew she loved Brendon Shaw.
“You’re gonna wear a hole through that carpet, darlin’.”
He stopped and immediately glared at her. Then he closed his eyes and pulled the simmering rage back. She’d rarely seen Shaw this angry. He had a wonderful nature and made being with him easier than she could have imagined. But his love for his brother was deep and abiding and tinged with guilt over the way Shaw’s father had seemed to forget Mitch’s existence for fourteen years.
Shaw had tried so hard to protect Mitch, but after what Dez had told her yesterday, they needed to take different precautions to protect Mitch. But Ronnie still had a hard time wrapping her mind around what Dez had told her. Even when she knew it was true.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“And stop apologizing. You haven’t done anything wrong.” She walked over to him, put her arms around his waist. “None of this is your fault.”
“Then why do I feel like it is?”
“Because it’s in your nature. Protecting everyone around you is what you do.”
“We need to make sure Sissy knows what she’s dealing with now. How everything has changed.”
“She will.”
“And then we need to make sure—”
Ronnie put her hand over his mouth. “Stop.” She moved her arms until they were around Shaw’s neck and pulled him in until his face pressed against the side of her neck and his arms tightened around her back.
He held her so tight that a lesser woman would have had broken ribs.
“Do you trust me, Brendon?”
He nodded, and she knew he couldn’t speak at the moment. That was okay. She didn’t need him to.
“Then leave this to me, baby.”
 
 
Finally,
Mitch seemed to have finished feeding that fat face of his and leaned back in his chair with a sigh. “Now that was good.”
“And hopefully, you left enough food for the rest of the town,” she sniped.
“Someone’s testy,” Mitch replied, following that with a mocking hissing sound and a flash of slashing claws. “Saucer of milk for dessert, dear?”
Rude son of a—
“Thank you,” Mitch told the waitress as he took the check from her. He glanced at it and handed it to Sissy.
She pointedly looked at the piece of paper in his hand and then back at him, one eyebrow raised. “And you’re giving me this why?”
“Ain’t got no money, sweet cheeks.”
Her eye twitched. She hated when he called her that. “Well,
Mitchy
”—and she truly enjoyed that glare she got in return—“who the hell told you to inhale half my brother’s food supply?”
“Your brother owns this place?”
“Yeah.”
Mitch snorted, balled up the bill, and chucked it at Sissy, hitting her in the head. “We both know you don’t have to pay to eat at your brother’s if you ask him nice. Now go ask him nice.”
Snarling and glaring, Sissy reached for the knife on the table, but Dee moved it first.
“Lord.” Dee grabbed the balled up bill and stood, taking it to the counter.
“You’re gonna make your cousin pay?”

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