Puppy Problems: A Reverse Harem Werewolf Romance (Her Secret Menagerie Book 3)

by Katelyn Beckett

  All of this ran through my mind as I worked, my thoughts ticking away while I put together a plan. The dragons swooped again, getting terrified screams from my people. A part of my snarled to life and fur bristled along my arms. I shoved that part back down again and watched the fur melt away. My employees, my volunteers, had no idea that I was a werewolf. It was the Supernatural Secrecy Pact for a reason.

  If that dragon kept it up, they were about to find out.

  And then what? If I got plastered the same way that Hudson had, we'd just be down another pack member. It would mean more work for everyone involved. It would be better if Jeremiah and the rest of the unicorn herd got their asses in gear and got over there. High Branch wasn't far from their home territory, though I wasn't entirely certain where it was. I only knew they were near.

  The last load of pets left; the rabbit mounted high in its cage among the others. It was a cute little thing, with the giant fuzzy ears and fluffy coat of a Jersey Wooly. I had to admit, I was surprised to see an animal like that hanging around a rescue. They weren't very common in the area and-

  I shook the thoughts away and looked at the sky, wishing Jeremiah would hurry up and do whatever he was going to do. A dragon shot down toward the ground, roasting a patch of grass far too close to one of the cars for my taste. I ran toward them, yelling, "Get out of here! Go home! We'll be in touch with what to do next. The risk isn't worth it!"

  My volunteers agreed. They piled into their car and shot off, one of the dragons swooping after them. I held my breath as they revved their little Honda Pilot and zoomed under a number of trees, the dragon nearly catching one across the face. I wanted to help, but what could I do? I didn't have a tank or even a gun with me, and I didn't think my claws were going to do anything better than Hudson's had.

  The dragon, a sparkling silver beast that had the feminine look that Alashia did, landed on the road and took off after them on foot. It looked like a duck, as awkward as all get out. Without a second thought, I ran off after it as fast as I could go.

  Which, in my human body, wasn't very impressive. I tried, but I couldn't catch up. And I certainly wasn't about to shift in front of the humans watching their crazed supporter run off along the road, fearless of an animal that could scorch me to death in a second. Though, of all the people who could have seen me chasing a big lizard, I guess they were the ones who might have found some way to excuse it.

  If you're a rescue person and you haven't stopped on the side of an interstate to pick up a turtle and help it across, or you haven't stopped for a dog trembling away from the cars? Don't worry, you will eventually. And you'll do it because that's what needs to be done, because that animal needs help.

  The people being menaced were animals, of a sort, but more importantly? They were mine. And I needed to take care of what was mine.

  Silver turned on me, her eyes the dark red of blood as she flicked her tongue in my direction. I was insane. Was I going to put up my fists and punch her in the face? "I don't know who you are, but if you're part of Alashia's flight? You need to leave. I haven't done anything to her. I don't have any beef with her. We just had a mild disagreement on what should happen."

  "You know nothing of draconic justice, mongrel," purred the dragoness, her voice far higher pitched than I would have expected from a shifter her size. She sounded amused more than anything else. "Perhaps we should show you?"

  I held my hands out, trying to calm her down. "I'm not threatening you, either. Look, I just want a calm, rational, mature end to this whole thing. I want to go home and raise my kids and help some dogs."

  "And fuck your mates. Pollute the world with more ground pounding mutts that steal food from the mouths of dragon whelps."

  Were shifters even allowed to be racist? Speciest? I'd been a werewolf for a couple of years now, almost, and I still had so many questions. There just never seemed to be any damned time to ask them. "We're all just trying to live here, you big jerk. What's your problem?"

  "My problem, cur, is you and your kin." The dragoness sneered at me, showing me frighteningly large teeth, and slashed her wings through the air once more.

  She lifted beyond my reach, for all I wouldn't have been able to do anything other than slap her. At least I'd distracted her from chasing the car, which was so far down the road now that I couldn't see it, even with wolf eyes. I watched as she ascended to Alashia, the red dragoness easily seen against the blue of the sky. My walk back toward the others was slow, careful, and somewhat angry. Instead of leaving, they'd stood there watching the whole scene.

  "You stared down one of those monsters," Paulette choked.

  I scowled. "Don't worry about what I do or don't do. All of you need to leave. I'll get the Hummer out of here with the rest. Don't come back here until I tell you to. Y'all understand that?"

  Heat washed over my back and I know I screamed. The humans in front of me screamed just as loud. Panicked, I ran my hands over the top of my head to make sure I wasn't on fire; and I wasn't. That was always a good start.

  I turned to stare at the melting, bubbling cinders of the kennel side of the sanctuary. A knot formed in my stomach and I tried not to puke. Had we not gotten the dogs out of there; had I just assumed that the dragons would play nice, I would have never been able to stop myself from shifting and racing inside to save those animals.

  And I probably would have died doing it, too. Werewolves are pretty injury resistant. After all, look at Hudson. Running into a hot building full of pools of molten slag probably wouldn't be covered.

  "Get going!" I cried and, to my relief, the humans finally listened.

  Cars tore across the berm of grass, their wheels sending dirt flying everywhere. Landscaping was the least of my issues. Alashia landed in front of me, smoke curling from her nostrils. She put one big paw on top of the remaining roof and crushed it downward, her mouth spreading into a wide grin as she did it.

  Where the fuck was Jeremiah?

  "What is that poem about the piglets and the wolves?" Alashia asked.

  I took a step back to avoid the crumbling rubble of the sanctuary from smashing me into a puddle. Again, resistant isn't proof against death. We're basically immortal until we get killed, and a whole damned building dropping on me would certainly be enough. "Are you literally about to make a joke about little pig, little pig, let me in?"

  "Not by the hair upon your fair, werewolf chin," she purred, the slits of her eyes narrowing in delight. "Where are your mates, omega bitch? Have their abandoned you in your stupidity?"

  Rage poured into me like nothing I'd felt since the moment on the mountain. I shuddered, clenched my teeth, and held my bestial side back by the skin of my teeth. My jaw popped, lengthened a little, and I drew it back in. The dragon could demand a witnessed fight, the shifters called it a battle trial, if I changed in front of her and went for her. What had happened to Hudson had been very close to that same fate. I couldn't do that to my men. I couldn't do that to my kids. I had to stay safe for the sake of the pack, because no one else was going to step up and take care of them. "I'm not scared of you."

  "I could make that happen if I wanted," she promised, bearing down on me with all of her alpha will.

  My knees hit the ground and I hated myself for it. What if she realized the car was sitting there, packed with animals? What if she roasted it, next? Stupid omega alignment. Stupid alpha powers. Stupid-

  A bolt of power shot into her paw, drawing a shriek from her. Above the roar of the fire eating my sanctuary, hooves clattered against the asphalt.

  Jeremiah.

  The stallion stood tall and strong, his ears flat against his head. His midnight blue pelt didn't match the white mane and tail, but his eyes did. A silver horn and silver hooves marked him as something other than your typical horse. The tip of that horn still glowed from whatever spell he'd cast on her.

  "Go on, now," Jeremiah grumbled, jerking his head at the sky. "Git. Before I have to get mean with you."

  Another d
ragon keened in the sky, a sound of agony that made me cringe. I looked up to see a second unicorn in flight, wings beating its sides as it took off after the silver dragon. Alashia snorted at Jeremiah and whipped her tail around, crushing what remained of the High Branch sanctuary.

  Then she took to the sky, her business done, and flew off before she had to fight someone who knew what he was doing.

  I reached out for the unicorn as he lowered his snout toward me and fell into a black hole that consumed everything.

  Chapter Eight

  Xavion

  Leo's ringtone went off and I cocked my head at my phone.

  Uh oh.

  He wasn't the kind of guy who made phone calls unless something was wrong. He texted you dick pics and asked you if his shorts looked too loose. And you rolled your eyes and laughed because it was just who he was. But Leo didn't actually hit the call button unless he had to. He got phone anxiety.

  It was why I did most of the phone calls for the family. Everyone hated the damn things except for Sadie.

  "What'd you do?" I asked as I answered.

  There were too many people talking in the background. Leo's voice cut out a couple of times before he sighed across the line. "Kinda punched Sonnet in the face."

  "He needed it."

  Another sigh. "Yeah, but the cops don't like it when you deck people so I'm stuck down here in lockup. They won't let me bail myself out, which is some rotten bullshit, because they said there's been too much stuff happening down at the dig site. You wanna come get me or you gonna leave me to die?"

  He put such a dramatic twist on the last sentence, then sniffled as if he were about to cry. I rolled my eyes, hung up, and went out to the car. We'd replaced Sadie's old beater with one of those high-performance, intensely safe hatchbacks. It was perfect for taking animals to events or shoving all the kids in the back and heading off to go shopping.

  Which struck me as utter madness. No matter how much cash we had, no matter how often we offered to let someone else do the shopping, Sadie always wanted to go and do it herself. She used the excuse that she was trying to teach the kids how to pick the best foods off the shelves, but I figured it was probably more like she was trying to hold on to one facet of her old life.

  That didn't bother me so much. The chance that she could get hurt? That made my skin crawl. She was capable of standing up for herself; our omega was one of the toughest ones I'd ever met. But it was in an alpha's nature to want to shelter and protect. It often led to alphas being jackasses and really driving the point home with their omega to the point of abuse.

  It was something I constantly struggled with. I let Sadie call the shots as to how much we took care of her. It was the right thing to do.

  Unfortunately, my instincts disagreed.

  I drove down to the jail I assumed Leo would be at; then realized it'd been smashed to pieces when the dragons had broken Olivia out. Thankfully, there was a sign that directed me two blocks down to the new jail, a former indoor kid's play zone that had been commandeered by the cops as a temporary holding area.

  "Who are you here for?" the clerk asked as soon as I walked in.

  Were there that many people in a jail in this dead-end town? "Leo Fontaine. Seems he got into a scuffle with someone."

  "He hasn't been arraigned yet."

  My brows raised. When you get to a certain fiscal level in life, you forget what it's like to be told no. I turned on the charm and leaned across the desk. "Miss, it was just a scuffle. I can't imagine the judge can be bothered to deal with something like that when there's monsters in the skies. I just want my man home so he can hug our dogs."

  "The judge has little to do with the mess outside," she told me. "My name is Officer Cadway. Not miss. Not ma'am. And you'll wait to have your boyfriend home until we say otherwise."

  I nodded. "Officer Cadway, then. I'm sorry. Which judge is he lined up to see?"

  "Judge Harrison. She's on her lunch break across-"

  Officer Cadway glared at me and I grinned, then made an about-face and walked to the tiny diner I'd seen on my way in. It was directly across the street and a hell of a good guess, though I had to admit that I didn't expect a judge to be working so late. Weren't they 9-to-5 types?

  There was exactly one soul left in the ruins of the restaurant, her face pinched and tired. She had a mane of dark hair heavily threaded with silver and wore a judge's dress. Look, I don't know what they're called. Unlike some people, I've kept my nose clean. It was the dark thing that all of them wore with the little flippy part at the top.

  I wear jeans and a t-shirt. Sometimes Hudson forces me into a suit. Fashion can go fuck itself.

  "Judge Harrison?" I asked, sitting down across from her.

  She scowled and put her fork back into her salad. "Aren't you Xavion Fontaine?"

  "Yes ma'am, your honor," I said, tacking on the bit at the end in case she was as prickly as Officer Cadway was.

  "And you're here for the other Fontaine."

  I nodded happily. Oh, this was going much better.

  Her face wrinkled like she'd just sucked the lemon settled on the rim of her water glass. "Three thousand and I'll have him out in ten minutes."

  "What will you do for a solid grand?"

  She was just about to answer me, to praise my name and take my money I'm sure, when the dying analog television mounted on the ceiling cut on. The sound coughed and sputtered, but the image was clear enough to work with. The scrawl across the bottom said they were in High Branch, and I'd have known that pet sanctuary sign anywhere.

  Of course, the sign was just about all that was left of it. The building was in worse shape than the town jail down the road. Everything in me burned, caught between rage and terror. My mate was there and I was miles from it, unable to do anything other than watch. If Sadie was safe, and when she got home, I was going to tie her to a bed and leave her there for a week.

  I spun on the judge and reached for my phone. "I need your bank information. Five thousand and you leave your salad alone for a minute and go get him for me."

  Judge Harrison slid a hand into her pocket and gave me a business card. On the bottom was a line of numbers with a slash in the center of them. You had to love how corrupt small-town judges were, but even I thought it was ballsy to put her bank account down like that.

  She left and with the push of a button, I sent the money to her account. I didn't need to know why she was willing to deal with me. I figured she was probably too old to have a dying parent who needed medical cash, but maybe she had a kid who was in the same shape. Maybe she had a gambling addiction or she was up to her nose in blow. Fuck, who knows?

  What mattered was that Leo walked into the diner about three minutes later, followed by the judge who went straight back to her salad. I grabbed him by the elbow and hauled him out the door. "No time to explain. The sanctuary got shredded by one of the dragons."

  "Man, I get to kick a dragon's ass now?" Leo chirped, following me at a run.

  I didn't respond, only shoved him at the passenger-side door. We climbed in and off we went toward the sanctuary. I grabbed my phone as I drove, more worried about Sadie than I was about a fine, and hit her speed dial.

  Thank the stars she answered. "Hey. I'm okay. Everything's okay. You see the news?"

  "Yeah," I said, relief sending prickles of discomfort throughout me. My instincts wanted to grab her and protect her, not accept that she was okay. "Who was it? What went down? Do you need us?"

  "I'm heading home right now with a pile of kennels. I wouldn't mind some help with those," she said, her voice a little trembly. Who could blame her? "Alashia and her flight did it. Jeremiah showed up and got me pulled back together after I fainted. Elijah has the worst smelling salts I've ever dealt with."

  Alpha overload was pretty rare, but if she'd faced down Alashia in attack mode it may have been too much for her. I looked at Leo and tried to keep from grinding my teeth. My mate had passed out after an alpha had flexed her muscles at Sa
die. And I hadn't been there to do anything for her.

  Leo shrugged and leaned over to speak into the phone. "Listen. It's gonna be okay. We'll meet you back at the house and then we can settle in the hot tub, let you calm down a little bit. You took on a dragon. You did good."

  "I'm just tired, guys," she said, but I could hear the smile in her voice. "I'll be okay. See you at home. Love you."

  "Love you, too," we chorused and the call ended.

  I drummed my hands on the steering wheel. "This would have happened if Hudson had been here."

  "This would have happened no matter who was around. Hudson's not some kind of god, Xav. He's just one of us."