Besides, Eggie knew if he hurried, he could reach the nearby Marine base and get the She-wolf ’s wounds tended by a proper shifter doctor and then possibly catch one of his team’s standby transports back home. That way he wouldn’t have to worry about driving the nine to ten hours or so back to Tennessee.

Yep. That sounded like a good plan. So he carefully placed the She-wolf into the backseat of his car and covered her with a blanket from the trunk. She was still in her wolf form and that was probably for the best. She’d most likely heal faster that way.

Once he had her all set, Eggie got into the driver’s seat and started the car. It rumbled to life; his brothers made sure to maintain his vehicle, no matter how long he might be away from home. He really appreciated that as he pulled out of the woods and onto the road with a wounded wolf in his backseat and the blood of human men still on his hands.

That last part was a little unfortunate, though . . . he hated when his hands felt sticky.

CHAPTER TWO

“Smith!” a voice bellowed behind Eggie. “What the hell are you doing here? Why aren’t you somewhere other than here like you’ve been ordered?”

Grudgingly, Eggie looked away from his wounded charge and over his shoulder at the lion male standing behind him—and he stared until the Major cleared his throat and snapped, “Well . . . make it fast and leave. Understand?”

Looking away, the lion quickly walked off and Eggie refocused his attention on the She-wolf and the medical team taking care of her.

The doctor, a hyena, giggled a little and said, “We’ll need to stitch this wound up and give her some antibiotics to stave off infection.” He glanced at the jackal standing next to him. “Get her some clothes. I’ll need to force a shift when I’m done.”

The hyena straightened up. “Are you going to stand there and stare at me with those freaky eyes of yours?”

“Born with fangs, giggle like my youngest niece, but I’m the freak?”

The pair glared at each other until a black bear lumbered to the table. “Smith. Got you transport.”

“Good.” Eggie pointed at the She-wolf. “Fix her fast, giggler.”

The hyena folded his arms over his chest. “Maybe I’m too busy. I do have other duties.”

Eggie lowered his head, looking up at the hyena while he let his fangs ease out of his gums along with his signature growl.

“Okay, okay.” The hyena held his hands up. “Back off, Rin Tin Tin. I said I’d take care of her.”

To make sure the bastard understood that Eggie wasn’t joking around, he barked once, enjoying the way the hyena stumbled back, before he turned away and stalked off. The black bear, his team leader named McMartin, followed him.

Eggie didn’t like bears, but he tolerated McMartinwell enough. Probably because he was a black bear and black bears were quiet like grizzlies but not as easily startled and definitely not as ludicrously large as polars.

“What else do you need me to do?” McMartin asked.

“Find out who wants her dead.”

“You sure they were targeting her?”

“Yeah. I’m sure.”

“Shouldn’t her Pack handle this? Isn’t that what wolves do for each other?”

Eggie stopped, faced the bear, and didn’t say a word.

“Fine,” McMartin sighed after a full minute of that. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Good.”

“And the pilot needs to know where you’re go—”

“Tennessee.”

Then, without another word, Eggie walked off to get what weapons he needed.

Darla opened her eyes but immediately closed them again. The motion of the car and the bright light coming through the window made her feel a little queasy.

“What’s going on?” she asked. “Where am I?”

“My car,” a voice growled at her.

She forced one eye open to peek at the male driving the car. She remembered him now. The Smith male from last night. That had been last night, right? She hadn’t been dreaming?

Darla cleared her throat and closed her eye again when even that small action caused quite a bit of pain. “Why am I in your car, uh . . . ?”

“Eggie.”

“Eggie?” She opened that one eye again. “Your name is Eggie?”

“Egbert Ray. Everybody calls me Eggie.”

“Oh.” Well, there were some unique nicknames in her family, too, so who was she to . . . to . . .

“Wait. Egbert Ray?” Now she had both eyes open, her gaze locked on the big wolf in the driver’s seat beside her. “You’re . . . Egbert Ray Smith?”

“Yep.”

“The Egbert Ray Smith?”

“Only know one.” He glanced at her with eyes still shifted to wolf. “And that’s me.”

Darla let out a breath and she knew it was more of a shudder.

Don’t panic, she told herself. Don’t panic.

She was sure that everything was fine. That everything was just . . . fine. There was probably a very logical reason she was in a car with Egbert Ray Smith. A very logical reason.

But remembering what he’d done last night to those human men reminded Darla of all that she’d heard about Egbert Smith—Eggie—over the years. Not even thirty and the wolf was one of the most feared killers in the Smith Pack world-wide. She clearly remembered the relieved sighs of her neighbor Smiths when they’d found out, “That boy has become a Marine.”