Chapter 21
Twenty-One
It takes a lot more than an alpha werewolf with an overblown sense of importance to scare me.
— KRISTEN PAINTER
Ilaid it all out for Ranger: Lucky Jansen’s unexpected visit, his demand that Atticus and I work for him, the leverage he had, our half-baked plan to convince Deelie Sue to secretly film Lucky doing something he wouldn’t want the world to see, and Maverick’s conviction that Ranger would have something up his sleeve that would fix the whole mess.
As I talked, Ranger worked his way through six biscuits and a corresponding amount of gravy, nodding at some points and frowning at others. When I mentioned calling on Deelie Sue for help, he glowered.
“Are you done?” he asked when I lapsed into silence, eyeing my untouched biscuits.
“With the situation or my breakfast?” There was no way I could eat now.
“Yes.”
I passed over my untouched food and scrubbed a hand down my face. It had been a long morning, and not just because I’d run down a mountain and into a fistfight with Maverick.
Ranger methodically cut up a biscuit, swiped it through the gravy, and chewed. It was agony. After he’d swallowed, he asked, “So why not come to me as soon as Lucky started making threats?”
Atticus spoke up for both of us. “We didn’t want you implicated if we had to give in to Lucky’s demands.”
“Your regard for my well-being is duly noted and appreciated,” he said, sounding like a nineteenth-century gentleman. “But I thought you were smarter than that. Plus, Maverick’s correct. I can be of assistance in this situation you find yourselves in.”
“Go ahead and tell us what to do, Ranger.” Maverick flashed his trademark charming smile at our brother, the effect only slightly dented by his split lip and the shiner now forming on his eye.
“There’s nothing to do.” Ranger drained his coffee mug and set it down.
Does he mean we have to go with the Deelie Sue plan? Atticus thought-beamed at me. I thought-answered back. It’s probably not too late for me to propose a wolf-mating of convenience with her. Atticus winced-thought, And barter off your virginity to the highest bidder.
We’re doomed, my wolf whined. Totally screwed in a non-erotic, highly disappointing way. I miss Alice.
I missed her too. A giant, Alice-sized, heart-shaped hole had opened in my life.
Ranger either intercepted our mental telepathy or spotted the despair on our faces because he leaned forward in his seat and added, “To be precise, there is nothing to do. It’s already been done as Maverick suspected. I have footage of our daddy driving away and ditching Moonlight Valley after his fight with Maverick.
“I wanted to be sure he’d really gone, so I followed him with a drone for a few miles. Tennessee law enforcement will have no reason to step in since Darrell obviously did not suffer an untimely and felonious demise.”
Ranger pulled out his phone and frowned, tapping away at the screen. Our phones all vibrated, buzzed, or made the sound of a lightsaber igniting as Ranger’s text reached out.
After a moment, Maverick looked up. “While I appreciate not being at risk of being charged with a Class C Felony and spending fifteen years in Tennessee state prison for voluntary manslaughter, I’m not looking forward to a lifetime in exile in Alaska for outing the werewolves, either.”
“I’m taking a class over at the local community college,” Ranger responded, as if Maverick had asked him about his summer plans or something equally unrelated to Maverick’s not-unfounded if newfound fear of going to prison.
“Great?” Maverick sounded almost sincere.
“It’s a film-making class,” Ranger continued. He tapped his phone. A swooshing sound followed a chime. “And you would not believe what I’ve learned about computer-generated imagery. It’s amazing what you can do with a laptop and some software these days. I’ve allocated part of our family budget to purchasing one of these fine tools so that I can enhance Mr. Jansen’s video.”
“Could we skip to the end? Or sum up?” Maverick inserted. “Because I’m about to pee myself from anxiety.”
“I’m going to make a second, deep-fake video of the alleged wolf fight where it looks like two humans fighting and post it alongside the first one that has a human and a wolf. We post them to TikTok—maybe to YouTube too—and then we invite everyone to look at our really cool special effects where we turned a human into a wolf.
“And if the Iron Wolves aren’t convinced after that, I have plenty of drone footage of them doing things their mommas would not approve of. The Iron Wolves will be in no position to harass you, me, Atticus, Ford, or any wolf, Boone or otherwise. If you felt so inclined, we could blackmail them back.”
Jesus H. Christ on a popsicle stick, Atticus thought at me.
Right?I sent back. Conversation with Ranger had more unexpected twists than a corn maze. I was speechless.
And in awe.
“That’s brilliant,” Atticus announced.
“No,” Ranger corrected. “I am brilliant. Also, you all will have to take over the house chores and the cooking while I make the deep fake. My creative process does not like to be rushed.”
“Thank you, Jesus.” Atticus leaned back in his chair. His face went from relieved to ecstatic to downright giddy.I knew exactly how he felt.
“Insofar as further action is required from us, the Boones, we should perhaps consider a visit to Mr. Jansen’s associates. Perhaps Piston would take a meeting with us, wherein we can explain that the Boone family is off-limits and cannot be recruited to join their pack, either by fair means or foul.”
“You want all of us to troop down there and confront Piston?” Maverick eyed Ranger as if he’d suggested we pay a visit to hell and take Satan some sweet tea.
Piston was Lucky’s second in his pack of wolfish misfits, although no one would have been surprised by a change in management. If I hadn’t known Piston was a wolf, I would have bet he turned into a piranha. Or a megalodon.
“Not all of us, no.” Ranger knighted me on the shoulder with his knife. “Ford here could go.”
I was not a fan of this plan and said so. Adamantly.
“Plus, we already have his ‘invitation’ to join him for his full moon party,” I pointed out.
“That makes you an excellent choice,” Atticus said cheerfully. “Seeing as how he’d invited you to drop by.”
I was not cheered.
Messengers get shot, my wolf declared.
He wasn’t wrong.
Ranger frowned at me. “Why are you looking as if someone pissed in your Cheerios, Ford?”
“I am fine,” I said. I had nothing more to contribute to this conversation, and I certainly wasn’t going to complain that I’d foolishly walked out on the woman I loved because there was no way both me and my pride could stand by her side.
I would get over her. Move on. Discover new joys in living. In another decade or so.
Unfortunately, Atticus gossiped worse than a church lady. “He’s upset because Ms. Sally Aymes left her niece, Alice, a fortune in silver and cryptocurrency. So Alice is now a wealthy woman and doesn’t need a business loan to start her pet T-shirt business in Nashville. She’s good to go, and Ford here has decided he shouldn’t be the one to hold her back.”
I glared at my twin, mentally threatening him with bodily harm.
“Miss Aymes is headed out of town?” Ranger looked genuinely upset.
I lifted a shoulder. “I don’t have a clue.”
Atticus looked incredulous. “How can you not? Alessandro the Ass pulled us over, shared all the dirty details with us last week. We were both there.”
“Alice Aymes…” Maverick looked like he was rummaging through his mental image gallery. “Didn’t she work at that pet store two towns over one summer? You’ve been pining for her since we were kids.”
“That’s not a happy memory, Mav.” I glared at him.
“Is she going or not?” Ranger pressed.
“I don’t know!” I shoved my hands into my pockets. All the better to resist the urge to throttle my brothers. “She said she wasn’t fixing to leave, but she has no reason to stay.”
“After all you’ve meant to each other? She is a heartless wench!” Ranger threw up his hands.
“She is not,” I snarled. “She asked me to go with her. She wants to chase her dreams, and I am being supportive. I refuse to drag her down, so I broke it off.”
Because you’re a fool.
Atticus and Ranger exchanged glances, then Atticus said, “Why not go with her? How is that a problem?”
Shocked, I stared first at my twin, then at my older brother. They looked back as if their questions were supremely logical. Which they weren’t. The reasons why Alice and I could never be together were perfectly, horribly clear. When I looked at Maverick, he looked like he didn’t get it either.
I was certainly related to fools. Growling, I turned away, planning on stomping to the exit. I needed to get out of here. Run in my wolf skin. Chop wood like a deranged serial killer. Something.
Live a long, sad, lonely life. All alone.
Did I mention alone?
Ranger blocked the exit. “Wait a second. Atticus asks a good question. You’ve been longing from afar for Miss Aymes for years, and it seemed as if things were going well. What went wrong? I can find a way to fix it.”
No. He couldn’t. “I’m part owner of All-Purpose Animal Services.”
Ranger shrugged. “And?”
“And you all need me to help out. I can’t do that from Nashville, and you can’t keep the business running when you’re down a wolf.”
Another shrug. “We could work eighty-hour weeks because we’re bachelors. Alternatively and more attractively, we could post on Craigslist for your replacement. Or find an intern.”
I had no idea what to say to that.
See? You’re replaceable, my wolf said smugly. Knowing that, you should hurry up and have make-up sex with our Alice before she figures that out.
“My savings are all tied up in the business. All my income comes from working here. What would I live on?”
“We could buy your share,” Atticus suggested. “Or you could get work in Nashville—plenty of animal problems there.”
“Or you could swallow your pride and be the best househusband-slash-boyfriend ever. Let her support you. Help out with her business.” Maverick gave me a shit-eating grin.
The urge to resume our fistfight was strong.
“You don’t have to stay here.” Ranger’s voice was soothing and pedantic and supremely irritating. He was such a know-it-all.
“I’m not Darrell,” I gritted out. “I have honor. I do not abandon my responsibilities.”
“To whom? Me? Atticus? Momma?” Ranger shook his head. “You have a chance at a woman like Miss Aymes, you take it. There’s nothing you can do for Momma that we can’t do. You stay here, you’ll grow grumpier by the day.”
Ranger finished his biscuit, wiped his mouth neatly on the cloth napkins he insisted we use, and then pointed at Maverick.
“You’re on dish duty. Consider it reparations for messing up the front yard.
“And you,” he said to me, “you call Deelie Sue and make it clear that we do not need her trying to record Lucky in a compromising position. We’ve got it covered, and her machinations will only make things more complicated.”
Reluctantly, I nodded.
Ranger was right about the Lucky Jansen plan.
And the Alice plan?My wolf asked eagerly.
I didn’t know, but Ranger had made me think. Was there a way to keep Alice in my life without demanding she give up hers?