“Smith?” the Pack leader of the young wolves snarled. “Egbert Ray Smith?”

Darla smiled and nodded. “It sure is.”

Eggie could be wrong, but it sounded like he heard pride in her response.

“Egbert Ray,” she went on, “this is Bruce Morrighan of the Magnus Pack.”

Eggie grunted at the wolf, staring until the rest of the wolf ’s Pack became antsy. But the wolf didn’t seem ready to move until his female tried to charge Eggie again. Good thing Morrighan was fast, though, or Eggie would have had no qualms about knocking this female out. He knew crazy when he saw it and that She-wolf was crazy.

“You’ll be all right?” Morrighan asked Darla while his Pack began to wander off.

“I’ll be just fine. Thanks, Bruce.”

“Howl if you need me,” he said before he walked away, dragging the She-wolf behind him.

Thorpe grinned and began to follow after the rest of his Pack.

“Hey. Thorpe.”

“Yeah?” he asked without turning around.

“You staying in Tennessee for a while?”

“Maybe.”

“Good.” And Eggie filed that away for later use.

When the Pack and the bikers were gone, Eggie faced Darla.

She smiled up at him. “Thanks, Eggie.”

He grunted and started walking, still holding Darla’s hand. As they moved through the crowd, Eggie said, “Found out why you were attacked in North Carolina.”

“Oh?”

“Uh-huh.”

Eggie stopped, pulling Darla up short. When she faced him, he asked, “Did you know you witnessed a murder in San Francisco two weeks ago?”

Darla blinked, frowned. “Huh?”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“This is crazy,” Darla said, stepping out of the car once Eggie had killed the motor. She closed the door. “Absolutely crazy. I think I’d notice if someone was killed right in front of me.”

She walked around the front of the car but Eggie was already there, stopping her from heading into his house.

“Maybe you blocked it out or something.”

“Eggie, I’m not some sensitive little flower that hasn’t been on a hunt before.”

“Hunting deer and seeing a man killed are two different things, darlin’.”

“I saw what you did on my father’s territory. Remember every bit of it, too.”

He winced and Darla shook her head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t . . .” She started to walk around him, but Eggie caught her hips and held her. Leaning his butt against the hood of his car, he pulled her closer, between his legs.

“Listen to me, Darla. No one is saying you did anything wrong.”

“But I’m such a girl I can’t handle thestress of seeing someone murdered? Eggie . . . do you really think if I’d seen something, I wouldn’t have gone to the police? That I wouldn’t have done something? Anything?”

He gazed at her, eventually shaking his head. “You would have done something. No matter how stupid doin’ something might have been.”

“Exactly.”

“That response does not make me feel better, Darla Mae.”

“I know.”

He tugged her closer until the grill of his car stopped her. Darla put her arms around his neck and he wrapped his around her waist.

“Look,” Eggie said, “I don’t want you to worry. My teammates are taking care of this for me.”

“Taking care of what? They don’t have any details yet. Who killed who or why. Just that the police are looking for me as a witness to a possible homicide.”

“And my team will find out all the details—and then deal with it.”

“You mean start killing people.”

“Well, someone already tried to kill you once, so I don’t see what the problem is.”

“I didn’t say I had a problem with it. I just wanted to see if you’d be honest with me.”

“I can’t promise I’ll volunteer information. And sometimes I won’t be able to tell you something because I just can’t.”

“Top secret military stuff?”

“Pretty much.” Eggie hugged her close and gazed into her face. “But I ain’t gonna outright lie to you. Mostly ’cause it would be wrong. But also ’cause you’re smart enough to see through my bullshit.”

“Only because you’re not a very good liar.”

“It’s a flaw.”

No. It really wasn’t.

Darla kissed him and Eggie immediately responded. His arms tightened around her waist, his growl easing into her mouth.

When they finally pulled away from each other, they both frowned and looked toward Eggie’s front porch. His brothers stood there, watching them and eating the pie she had left in the kitchen.

She heard him snarl and Darla immediately pressed her hand to his chest. “Eggie.”

When she was sure she had him calm, she focused on the scruffy wolves cluttering Eggie’s porch. “Something we can help y’all with?”

“She’s so much more polite than her sisters,” Nicky Ray remarked. “It’s such a nice change.”

Eggie snarled again.

“Gentlemen?” she pushed, not sure how long she could hold him back.

“Momma wants y’all at Sunday dinner tomorrow,” Bubba explained.

“Did you leave any pie that I could bring?”