Angie glanced at Sahara who shrugged in mutual surprise.

Kisa grabbed the woman by the throat, yanked her close, and then threw her. The hyena flew over several racks and into a few other hyena females. Racks hit the floor, glass broken, clothes damaged. Angie winced. Well this is gonna cost.

The hyenas picked up her challenger, not even stopping to brush the glass off, quickly moving off toward the escalators as Kisa walked back to Angie. “I think I’m going to get that blue dress I tried on.”

“You do that, Kisa. It looks really good on you.”

The tigress walked off. Angie glanced at Sahara. “Okay. She’s a little scary.”

“A little?”

***

Nik stood on Main Street next to his brothers. “When did you first see ‘em?”

“Just today.”

Male hyenas. Weak, subservient bastards. Probably from one of the Raleigh Clans.

Nik watched them skulking down the street. Trying to fit in. But every shifter in town watched them walk by. And smelled that they didn’t belong. Hyenas didn’t live this far away from a city. And that really wasn’t very surprising. One breed at a time they’d happily fuck with, which was easy enough to do in a town like New York or San Francisco. But two, three, six breeds all managing to live together in a small town in the middle of nowhere? No. Hyenas stayed near the big cities where they felt safer and could do more damage, steering clear of the small shifter-filled towns.

“What do you want us to do?”

“Do what the South is famous for. Run their asses out of town.”

His brothers grinned.

Chapter Thirteen

Nik threw open his front door. “Angie?”

“Kitchen.”

He froze. Kitchen?

He walked toward it with trepidation, but as he neared, he smelled food. And it smelled really good.

He walked in. Angie sat at the kitchen table, her feet up on the sturdy wood. The latest copy, he assumed, of Mademoiselle Magazine open on her lap. The relief he felt at seeing her safe practically knocked him back out the door. When his brothers pointed out the hyenas in town, he immediately thought the worst. And seeing female wolves and lions hanging out in front of Fallons Department Store just confused him.

“What’s that smell?” He liked that he didn’t have to start every conversation with the usual pleasantries. In fact, he got the feeling Angie hated pleasantries.

“My kick-ass spaghetti with meat sauce.”

“You can cook?”

She glared at him, “Yes. I can cook. I often choose not to, but I can cook.”

He folded his arms in front of his chest, “So why have you chosen to cook for me?”

“You know… to thank you for your wonderful hospital…”

“Angie…”

“All right, all right!” Wow, that didn’t take much turning of the screws to get her to break. “I went in to town with your sisters and there was a small problem with hyenas and Kisa. Then a fight with the lions and the bears, and then the cheetahs pissed off the wolves…anyway, Fallons will be charging about two grand to your account.”

Nik forced himself not to smile. “You rack up two grand on my account and all I get is your lousy spaghetti?”

He barely ducked that magazine in time. “My spaghetti is not lousy.” She swung her feet off the table. “And you’re going to eat it and you’re going to goddamn love it!” She pushed past him.

“Goddamn hillbilly.” She stomped to the stove. She had on shorts. Nice.

“Well sit your hillbilly ass down.”

He pulled his chair out and dropped into it. “It’s ready?”

“Nearly.” She dropped a plate in front of him. “But to get you started, here’s salad.”

She turned to walk away, but he grabbed her wrist and yanked her onto his lap.

“Where you goin’?” Somehow he knew there was more to this story.

“Get your cat paws off me,” she laughed as she struggled to pull away from him.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tight. “Now, what aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t lie to me, Angie.”

“I’m not.” He slid his hand between her legs, and she grabbed onto his wrist. “Don’t you dare!”

“Then tell me.”

“There’s nothing to tell.” He pushed his hand farther up her leg. “Okay! Okay!”

Angie took a deep breath, but still refused to release his wrist. “There was a slight fender bender with your daddy’s truck, but it was your sister’s fault.”

“How much is that going to cost me?”

“I don’t know.”

His hand moved up another inch.

“I don’t!” She pushed at his arm. “But your daddy said he’d let ya know.”

“Maybe,” he ran his tongue up around her ear, before pulling back. “You could work all that money off. Ya know. In trade.”

“Oh, get a grip, Hillbilly. You know I’ll pay you back for all of it.”

He licked her neck. She pinched his hand. He bit her neck. She punched his arm. He slid his hand up and down her calf, simply enjoying the feel of her soft flesh beneath his hand.

“Look, Hillbilly, unless you’re going to fuck me, stop freakin’ touching me.”

Nik stopped because he wasn’t sure he heard her correctly. “What?”