So they felt much annoyance when Reece Lee came busting into their home at all hours—actually ten p.m.—and went through the boxes she had stored in her closet. Her momma had sent them to her from her room after one of their fights. The note that accompanied those boxes had said it all: “Here’s your stuff.”

Shaw let out a big sigh, his whole body going rigid when he saw her idiot brother opening closet doors and pulling out all those boxes she’d unceremoniously shoved away.

“Reece Lee Reed, what the holy hell are you doing?” Ronnie demanded.

“Don’t mind me. Just looking for something.” He began pulling the top off the boxes and digging through them like a rabid chipmunk.

“Reece.”

“The more you bother me, the longer this will take.”

“Maybe if you told me what you were looking for . . .”

“I doubt you remember it, but you always had one.”

Ronnie and Shaw looked at each other, then shook their heads. Of her three brothers, Reece was definitely the most . . . difficult.

Ronnie offered Shaw more popcorn, and when he began to eat again, she felt better. She really only worried when the man stopped eating. Then hell was about to break loose.

After thirty minutes or so of her brother digging away, Ronnie asked, “Any word from Ricky?”

“He’s still in Russia. Not sure when he’ll be back. Apparently the bears aren’t playing nice.”

“They never will,” Shaw mumbled around a mouthful of popcorn.

“Why do you say that?” Ronnie asked.

“Russian bears are notoriously difficult to negotiate with. I still don’t have a hotel in that country because Russian bears are so damn difficult.”

“Well, I hope my brother’s being safe.”

Reece shrugged, now going through a box of old children’s books. “He always is. You’d only have to worry if it was me going over there.”

At least Reece was self-aware of his limitations.

“Hey,” Ronnie asked, “who the hell was that girl you were talking to today?”

“You’ll have to be much more specific than that.”

“The one who cut the tar out of that bitch Laura Jane.”

“Someone cut up Laura Jane?” Shaw asked, grinning.

“I couldn’t do it, of course,” Ronnie reminded him. “I am part of the same Pack and she hasn’t done anything to me. But this girl went after her with a blade and her claws. It may take her, like, two whole days before her wounds heal.”

“That’s why I’m here,” Reece said. “I can’t figure out what she is.”

Ronnie blinked. “What she is?”

“Yeah. She won’t tell me. It’s drivingme nuts!”

“Oh, Lord, Reece. You’re not interested in this one, are you?”

“Nah. She’s way too terrifying. I’ve seen Laura Jane in a fight and that small female didn’t even give that She-wolf a chance to be her dishonorable fighting self. She beat Laura Jane to being dishonorable. I can’t date anyone like that. But I do enjoy that in a friend. She’ll make a good friend.”

“You’re such an odd boy.”

“Here it is!” Reece exclaimed, holding up a very old book.

“What is that?”

“Don’t you remember? This is The Infamous Book of Smells.”

Shaw’s head snapped around. “The what?”

Surprised, the siblings looked at the lion.

“You never had The Infamous Book of Smells?” Reece asked.

“Was I supposed to?”

“How were you able to tell the difference between grizzlies and black bears?” Ronnie wanted to know. “Or mountain lions, cheetahs, and leopards?”

“I learned as I went. Isn’t that how you guys did it?”

“Eventually, but every Pack pup starts out with—”

“The Infamous Book of Smells?”

“Exactly.”

“Which is what exactly?”

Reece brought the book over to the table. “It’s scratch and sniff for kids. With the scent of different breeds and species. I learned so much before I even cut my first fangs.”

“Yeah, but that’s an old copy,” Ronnie reminded him.

“You think the scents have faded?”

“No. But it’s not the most updated.”

“I know. That’s what I want.”

Sitting on the chair closest to Shaw, Reece began on the first page and went through each. Scratching and sniffing. Scratching and sniffing.

Fascinated, Ronnie watched her brother until he suddenly stopped at a page. Scratched. Sniffed. Scratched. Sniffed. Studied the page. Scratched. Sniffed.

“This is it. This is the one.” He looked at the page again, his brow pulling down.

“What is she, Reece?”

He looked up at her, still frowning.

“Show me,” she pushed, now completely curious. She had to know!

With a shrug, Reece turned the book around and held it up the way their pre-school teacher used to when she would read a page, then show the class the accompanying picture.

Ronnie’s mouth dropped open before she demanded, “Good Lord, Reece Lee Reed! This is the woman you want to be friends with?”

“Now more than ever!”

Shaw threw up his hands and Ronnie just sighed. Her brother . . . some days . . . honestly, some days.