Tully was here. Austin was here. They were the two strongest wolves in the pack.
Tully’s pack had some badasses, for sure, but Jason’s pack was twenty times their size, and if Jason wanted to wipe them out down to the last cub, he could, and he could say that it had been justified because they had let a rogue run free.
Austin’s lip curled back. “You want to threaten Tully’s pack? Let’s throw down, shitbag. I will make sure that you fucking die before you walk back to your car.” His voice slurred as his fangs descended. “You may think that your men can get me first, but I’m very hard to kill. Want to test me?”
Jason’s men fingered their weapons and glanced at him for direction.
Jason flicked a quick glance at the convenience store. His eyes narrowed, brows pinching together. There were easily fifteen people standing outside now, watching, as was the family who had been eating at the picnic table. Too many witnesses if he just tried to have his men mow Austin down. It would make him look weak, undermine his authority. An Alpha who relied on a squad of armed men to take down a rival was an Alpha who was begging for a true, official Challenge. He’d lose the respect of his people, pack members would start migrating to other packs, and sooner or later somebody bigger and badder would come along.
And also, for all his bluster, it was clear that he knew that Austin was right. Even if he did order his men to kill Austin, he knew the chances of him surviving such an attempt were slim.
He sucked in an angry breath and let it out slowly, shaking his shoulders and jogging in place. Then he grimaced and shook himself hard, and his jaw receded. His pointy ears rounded themselves off.
He held up his hand in a commanding gesture. “I have every right to take out Tully’s pack, but I am a reasonable wolf.”
Austin choked on a scornful laugh, earning him a glare from Jason and his men.
Jason cleared his throat and started again. “I have a different proposition for you. You’ve all heard of the rogue shifter, Roy? Former Alpha from some little pack near the coast, who flipped his shit and went on a killing spree?”
Austin made a gesture of impatience. “Yeah, yeah. Fled the state a week ago after he killed a family of hikers. He’s supposed to be somewhere in Montana now. As of today, the bounty to bring him in is a million dollars, but nobody will go after him because it’s a guaranteed death sentence. What the fuck does this have to do with me?”
“I’m the reason Roy’s bounty is up to a million dollars.” Jason shifted where he stood, meeting Austin’s gaze and then dropping it. “I donated half of that amount this morning. I want to see this situation resolved. I want you to capture Roy and bring him back to my pack. Alive. I can even tell you where he was last seen. I’ll text you the GPS coordinates.”
Austin stared at Justin suspiciously. “Say what, now?” This made no sense. Roy had never been part of Justin’s pack, and he’d never been part of one of his tribute packs, those smaller groups who paid for protection from a larger pack.
“You hard of hearing all of a sudden?” Jason snapped. “If you bring Roy in, I will let Tully and his pack off the hook, and I will remove the kill order on you. However, you have to bring Roy back to my property within ten days, and you have to agree that after you deliver him, you will leave the state of Washington for good.”
“Why do you want him alive?” Tully spoke up suddenly, scowling suspiciously at Jason. “Roy’s a full-blown psycho who killed at least two groups of humans. He killed hunters. He killed a family of hikers. Austin hasn’t done a damn thing to anyone, and you put a kill order on him, but you want Roy alive?”
Jason favored him with a smirk. “Well, now, we don’t have actual proof of what Roy’s done. We want our Truthmaker here to interview him to ensure that he’s actually guilty before we kill him.”
“No,” Austin drawled. “That’s bullshit. You don’t want me to kill him because you think he’s one of the few wolves alive who could actually kill me. And it would take me a few days to get him from Montana back to your property, and that gives him a few days to escape from his handcuffs and rip my throat out.”
Jason smiled, baring his teeth. “That would be tragic.”
Austin glared at him. “Why bring him to your pack? Why not have me take him to his former pack so they can take care of him?”
“Well, he was the Alpha, and after his mate died and Roy lost his fucking mind, his former pack fell apart and scattered.”
Jason gestured at his Truthmaker, a man named Orville.
“Orville. Compel me.”
Orville trained his gaze on Jason, his brow wrinkling in concentration. “If Austin agrees right now that he will bring Roy to your pack, alive, in ten days or sooner, will you contact Harris immediately and lift the kill order on him?”
Power flowed and crackled through the air. Austin could feel it, taste it, like smoke from a lightning strike. There was no doubt that Orville was genuinely compelling Jason, and Jason would have to answer truthfully.
“Yes, I will.”
“If Austin brings Roy to your pack, alive, in ten days, will you let Tully’s pack live?”
Sweat trickled down the side of his face. “Yes, I will.”
Orville nodded and stepped back.
“I’ll go with you,” Tully said to Austin. “You’re not going to be able to get him alone. Roy is the Dominus to end all Dominuses. Literally.”
“Only him,” Jason snapped. “He delivers him to us alone. That’s the deal.”
Tully stared at him in shock, jaw hanging open. “That’s bullshit!”
Jason’s eyes glowed with rage. “No, think of it as your punishment for lying to me, chief Alpha of the region. I hired you to take Austin out, and you went behind my back and tried to sneak him away. You showed me extreme disrespect. I should wipe out every male in your pack as punishment and take your females and cubs to do with as I will. And if Austin doesn’t bring Roy back, that’s exactly what will happen. There will be nowhere you can hide from me.”
Tully’s face flushed with fury.
He had a wife and five cubs.
His face went hairy and his claws shot out. He didn’t challenge Jason, though. It would be the end of his pack and his family. He just stood there, trembling with fury.
“You knew all along that Tully wouldn’t kill me,” Austin said, ice dripping from every word. “You forced his pack to take the kill order so that he’d lead you to me.”
“Is that so?” Jason’s eyes glinted with malicious glee. “Doesn’t really matter much, though, does it? Because you’re still a fucking nut job and the law is still on my side.”
“I’ll get Roy and bring him in,” Austin said coldly. “See you in ten days.”
And if he survived, so help him, he’d find a way to fucking end Jason Washborn.
Chapter Four
The Haymarch family were back for their handout again, and Anthony was tromping up the steps of To Dine For, while Herbert was sitting at a picnic table eating his free lunch, but none of that was enough to dent Savannah’s sudden surge of optimism.
That morning, she and Niall had gone to town to buy supplies for a fundraising barbecue dinner that the restaurant was having that evening. She’d gotten a text from Harris, but she’d ignored it. What difference did one job more or less make at this point? Jobs paid a few thousand dollars. Not enough to pay off their debt.
Or rather, most jobs did.
But when she’d pulled in to the parking lot in front of the restaurant and decided to check the text, her heart had stuttered in her chest.
Now she sat cross-legged next to Niall on one of the picnic tables on the front lawn, and shook her head in wonder as she stared at the screen of her phone.
“A million-dollar mark,” she said to Niall. “One million dollars. That’s a one with six zeros after it. Also a couple of commas.”
“There’s a reason the bounty is so high,” Niall said uneasily.
Savannah waved away his objections w
ith a flip of her hand. “That’s the highest bounty ever. We’d be set for life. Pay off the land, spit directly in that fucktard Algernon’s face, put money in the bank, invest in the town and try to get some more businesses here…”
“But there is no way,” Niall protested. “You can’t catch him. You’ll die trying.” Niall was notoriously pessimistic. He hadn’t been that way before their father’s accident. Now, though, he’d look at a sunny sky and predict thunderstorms.
“I’ve got two words for you. Somnorus darts,” Savannah said cheerfully.
Somnorus was the name of a wild herb that was distilled to use as a sedative for shifters. Normal tranquilizers didn’t affect shifter metabolism.
She and her family had a secret patch of it in the woods that they cultivated for her to use on her bounty hunting jobs, whenever she had to go up against someone who was too big for her to handle on her own. Because her mother was an excellent gardener with a touch of earth magic, their Somnorus herbs were at least ten times the potency of anyone else’s. That was the only reason Savannah’s mother had agreed to let her start bounty hunting.
Niall was staring at her as if she’d sprouted a second head. “I’ve got two words for you. He will end you.”
“That’s actually four—”
“Shut up!” Niall snapped, leaping to his feet in agitation. “You know you can’t do this. You’ve never gone after anyone like him. He’ll tear you in half.”
“I can handle it,” Savannah said firmly. Inside, she felt a roiling in her stomach and her heart was racing, but she kept a confident smile plastered on her face. “I’m headed out first thing in the morning. After the barbecue tonight.”
She wasn’t an idiot, and she wasn’t suicidal. She knew it would be dangerous, but the rewards would be more than worth it. There was a strong fox shifter community in Montana, and she could turn to them for help. They’d know where Roy was.
“Fine, you moron. I’m coming with you.” Niall bit the words out.
“Of course you are.” Of course he wasn’t. She would risk her own life, but she wasn’t going to risk her sixteen-year-old brother’s. “And you’re not going to breathe a word of this to Mom.”
Her mother would undoubtedly unleash the wrath of a thousand Genghis Khans on Savannah when she came back with that bounty – if she came back with it – but she’d deal with that when the time came. Maybe she could use some of the million dollars to hire bodyguards.
Nah, her mother would just charm them with chocolate cookies or something, and lace the cookies with Somnorus, then storm right over their unconscious bodies.
“Well, this is just great. I always wanted to die horribly. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go make out my will,” Niall grumbled, hopping off the table.
“You already have one.” She arched an eyebrow. “Which is not normal for a sixteen-year-old, by the way.”
“I’m revising it. In case you survive, you get nothing.” And he stalked off, shoulders hunched.
She slid off the table, tucked her phone in her pocket, and strolled towards the restaurant. As she did, an odd sensation of excitement swept over. She was tingling from head to toe.
What the heck was happening? Was she suddenly possessed by some oddly erotic ghost? Why was she pulsing between her legs with every step she took?
As soon as she walked through the door, she saw why.
Austin.
In her mother’s restaurant.
Sitting at a four-top with her mother. As ever, just looking at him made her treacherous heart do a little happy skip.
Stop that at once, she sternly told her heart. And not for the first time.
He was wearing a black leather jacket and jeans and motorcycle boots, and he gazed at her with eyes the color of whiskey.
No wolf should ever be that handsome. It was just wrong. It was distracting. Liable to cause accidents when people couldn’t stop staring at him and walked into walls.
Austin was dangerous, that’s what he was. He should have a “Warning: hazardous materials” label slapped on his forehead.
As she walked over, she saw that there was an empty plate in front of him, with a shred of lettuce on it. And a twenty-dollar bill.
So. Austin was an insanely generous tipper. Damn it, couldn’t he just be a jerk all the time?
As she reached the table, Austin flashed her an enormous, taunting grin.
She slid her hand into her pants pocket.
He stood up, threw his arms around her, and murmured in her ear, “Is that a Taser in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?”
Now how the hell did he know that? And why did he have to smell so delicious and feel so good? His body was so solid it might as well have been carved out of marble, except marble wasn’t warm and musky.
She wriggled out of his grasp, praying that he hadn’t felt her diamond-hard nipples pressing into his chest. But he probably had, because nothing got past him, the bastard.
Before she could inflict grievous bodily harm on him, her mother stood up too.
“Your friend came by here with half of the bounty from the other day, from that fellow who ran off,” she said, putting way too much emphasis on the word friend. What had Austin told her? “And he insisted on buying the Haymarches’ lunch and paying their full tab. And treated Anthony to an extra lunch and dessert. Wouldn’t take no for an answer. What a sweetheart!”
Her jaw dropped. Their full tab? That had to be hundreds of dollars. Close to a thousand, probably.
Anthony was sitting at the counter, with an empty platter in front of him, next to three empty pie plates and an empty milkshake glass.
Savannah looked at Austin warily, and he rewarded her with a sunny, innocent smile.
“I don’t owe you guys anything any more, so you can’t give me a hard time,” Anthony called out, and he stuck his tongue out at her, then turned and ran for the kitchen.
Normally, Savannah would have chased him and smacked him, but she was too busy being shocked right out of her shoes.
“Half of the bounty?” she said suspiciously to Austin.
“Yep.” Austin’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “I know we were going to split it, since you did half the work. And since it was my fault that he escaped, I figured I owed you.”
What the hell was he playing at here?
“I tried to tell him that he didn’t have to pay you, since the guy ran off and neither of you got the bounty,” her mother added.
“Of course you did.” She rolled her eyes. They were broke as a joke, and her mother still insisted on being painfully, scrupulously honest.
“Savannah, you never told me your mother was such a wonderful cook.” Austin grinned at her, then put his arm around her shoulders. His muscular arm felt so good, so right. She fought the urge to rub up against him and purr. Foxes don’t purr. What the hell was the matter with her?
She shrugged him off and stepped away, shooting him a look that dared him to touch her again.
“And you never told me that you had such a charming boyfriend,” her mother burbled to her. “A Bronson, at that! I did a couple of quick internet searches after he told me. Just on my phone. So far, he checks out completely. And it was so sweet of him to move all the way across the state to be closer to you, I almost forgive you for not telling me sooner.”
“Hey, is that your boyfriend?” Jessamine had emerged from the kitchen, and she was standing in the doorway, using her outside voice. The one where she yelled really loudly. “Are you dating a wolf?” she called out across the room. “Is it true what they say about wolves?”
Savannah didn’t want to know what they said about wolves. She wanted her sister to explode into flames. “If you want to keep your scalp attached to your head, you’ll shut up,” she yelled back. Everyone in the entire restaurant was staring at her with intense interest.
She returned her attention to Austin, staring up into his eyes. “Austin, dear, we need to talk.” Savannah fluttered her lashes at h
im. “Can we step outside for just a minute?”
“Oh, now, don’t go giving your boyfriend a hard time just because he was actually respectful enough to come introduce himself to your mother,” Laurel chided her. “And you and I are going to have a little chat later.”
“I see where you get your good looks and charm from,” Austin said to Savannah. He winked at her mother. “Miss Laurel.”
“Oh, you!” Her mother actually giggled. She giggled. “Don’t forget that you’re coming to the barbecue dinner tonight!” she called out as they headed towards the door.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world!” Austin called back.
“Acck,” Savannah gurgled. He was coming to the restaurant fundraiser?
Everyone in the entire town would be there. This was so great. Just really, really great.
Savannah, straight-backed, hurried outdoors, biting her lip. Austin followed her.
She kept walking, past the picnic tables outside and into the woods.
She stopped behind an enormous oak tree.
“Your sister’s weird as hell, but your mom seems nice,” Austin mused, leaning against the tree, a lazy grin curling his lips.
Moving faster than she ever had before, she slapped his face so hard it stung her hand.
“You motherfucker!” she yelled at him. “Do not mess with my family!”
He rubbed his face. “Ouch. Yes, about that. Sorry. Sort of. I came here to give your mother the money, and then I kind of got carried away with all the boyfriend-girlfriend talk. I just can’t help myself. Something about you makes me want to torture you.” She gave him a sidelong glance. “I mean, not in a Silence of the Lambs way,” he said hastily. “In a fun way. You know, like dipping your pigtails in an inkwell.”
She stared at him. “Who says pigtails? Or inkwell?”
“You’re welcome for the money,” he said reproachfully.
She took a deep breath, counted to five, and let it out slowly. His gaze wandered over her chest as she did, making her cheeks heat.
The Billion-Were's Foxy Forever Page 5
