Dom wandered into Nick’s diner during the lull between the lunch and dinner rushes. The waitress on duty, Beth Anne, grinned at him and motioned him to the counter seats.
“Hey, Dom.”
Her eyes twinkled in a way that made him frown. Beth Anne was in her early twenties, in a steady relationship with Charlie Sanchez’s great grandson, according to Tiana, and one of Jane’s neighbors. The smirking grin Beth Anne was giving Dom didn’t bode well for his and Jane’s night together having gone unnoticed.
Well, it was a small town after all. And he was about to become a regular resident. His relationship with Jane wouldn’t be secret from everyone for much longer.
“You want some coffee? Anything to eat?” Beth Anne asked, wiping down the counter in front of him.
“I can always eat. Nick in the kitchen?”
“He is. I’ll tell him to surprise you. He’s been working on a few things.” She winked and wandered back to the kitchen instead of putting an order through the window.
Charlie Sanchez, in his usual seat at the edge of the counter, gave Dom a nod topped off by a gummy, smug-looking grin.
Dom snorted a half-laugh and nodded to Charlie. He’d have to get used to small-town living. Eirene was unique as far as small towns went, at least in Dom’s experience. The townsfolk were good at letting a person keep their secrets. No one dug into your past if you wanted to keep it quiet. And no one pushed for more than you were willing to give. But that didn’t mean they didn’t notice everything everyone did.
Hell, apparently, they all knew about werewolves. Dom had a feeling the people of Eirene would take just about anything with an easy acceptance. Jane had told him once that she thought of this place as the Island of Misfit Toys from an old Christmas cartoon. He’d always liked that description.
He liked it even better now that he was going to make this town his home.
Nick came out of the kitchen a few minutes later, carrying a plate piled high with food—beef roast covered in a rich looking sauce, potatoes, cooked winter vegetables and a bowl of something…black. Dom frowned at the bowl when Nick put it in front of him.
“I’m experimenting with squid-ink pasta again,” Nick said. “Trust me, this is tasty.”
“Which is why you also brought me a plate of meat and potatoes?” Dom said with a smirk.
“A bribe to get you to try the pasta.”
Dom chuckled and dug in. He wasn’t actually surprised that the pasta dish was delicious, with a strong briny fish taste that came as much from the sauce as the black pasta. Nick was a superb cook. But he could see why Nick had trouble getting a dish of black pasta past most of the diner’s patrons.
“Good,” Dom grunted.
Nick grinned as Dom moved on to the meat and potatoes after cleaning the pasta bowl.
“Finally! Someone with good taste.”
“Does Tiana like your experiments?”
“Yes. And not just with food.”
Dom raised a hand. “Don’t say anything more. I don’t want to know.”
Nick laughed again. But his smile fell away and a furrow formed between his brows, his gaze shifting to the diner’s front windows.
“What’s wrong?” Dom asked, glancing over his shoulder briefly but not seeing anything.
“How did you know?”
“Years of practice. Is this about me moving here?”
From the kitchen, Beth Anne squealed.
Nick rolled his eyes. “Now you’ve done it. You better talk to Jane soon. I’m not the one who’ll spill the beans early.” He nodded over his shoulder.
Dom sighed. “I’ll go see her after we talk.” He could hardly wait to see her anyway. He was supposed to be calling, to set a time for their date. But a phone call wasn’t enough for Dom. He wanted a pre-date kiss if Jane would let him steal one—and maybe more if Ben wasn’t home.
“But it wasn’t you moving here that had me frowning,” Nick said. “I just saw Adam Walsh’s car roll by.”
Dom went onto immediate alert. He liked the pack beta, but he didn’t trust any of the wolves at the moment. What had happened last night…that went way beyond the pale, especially inside Nick’s territory. The tension that had dissipated at the meeting between Nick and the alpha the night before had ratcheted up again after Jane’s kidnapping. And only because this was Nick’s territory, and Dom wanted to move into it, did Dom keep his seat and not go looking for the pack beta. He wanted answers and consequences. If the werewolf leaders hadn’t done enough to punish the bastards who’d endangered Jane and Ben, Dom would go hunting, and would ensure punishment himself.
He didn’t doubt his brothers would hunt with him.
“Adam will be here as soon as he finds parking,” Nick said. “Might want to finish up that meal. This could get…interesting.”
“He’ll come here?” Dom asked. “He’s not just in town to see his sister?”
“After last night?” Nick said, so quietly only Dom would hear. “He’s here to talk.”
Dom shoveled down the rest of his meal as they waited.
*****
Jane puttered around the house, cleaning and doing laundry and mainly trying to keep busy so she didn’t think too much. Not that it helped. She still spent entirely too much time thinking. And whenever Ben wasn’t in the room, she’d find herself remembering—in entirely too much detail—her night with Dom. Making her bed had only made things worse since Dom’s smell was all over her sheets and pillows now. God, the man smelled good.
She kept herself busy until mid-afternoon, then gave in to her restlessness. “I’m going to see Joe Sanchez,” she told Ben. “You need anything while I’m out?”
“Nope. Think Nick will make me a pizza for dinner?”
She smiled and shook her head because Ben was staring at his tablet and couldn’t see her face. Nick had made the mistake of letting Ben make special requests for food. Now Ben thought Nick was his personal chef—especially for pizza. She had to admit, Nick did make a mean pizza.
“If you ask nicely, I’m sure he will. Be sure to bring the leftovers home for breakfast. I’ll be back in an hour.” She kissed him on the top of the head. He patted her hand but didn’t look up from his game.
She grabbed her coat, purse and keys, but before she opened the front door, Ben called to her.
“Be careful, Mom.”
Even though she couldn’t see him, she heard the tremble in his voice, and it broke her heart. “I will, baby. You be careful, too. Keep your phone handy and text me if you need me.”
“’Kay.”
She locked the door behind her, angrier than she cared to show Ben at the fact that he was scared for her now. It wasn’t his job to worry about her. It was her job to worry about him. That was the natural order to things.
She didn’t bother with her car since Joe’s pharmacy was along Main Street. It was easier to just walk than find parking close by this time of year, especially with a fresh snow and the street plow pushing all that extra snow up against the sidewalks. She mostly walked to and from work as well—one of the many things she loved about where she lived.
She turned onto Main Street, heading in the opposite direction of Nick’s diner, her hands stuffed into her coat pocket, the clean cold air making puffs of smoke out of her breath. The holiday lights in the trees were already on, soft bright spots that would come to glowing life in a few more hours along with the snowflake decorations strung over the street. The mid-winter daylight was fading to darkness fast, filling the air with that strange twilight dimness that was harder to see in than full dark. The shop windows were bright and homey in contrast to the gray skies.
Jane pulled in a deep, cold breath and let it out slowly, savoring the feel of her beloved town. She pushed into the pharmacy a lot less angry than she’d been just fifteen minutes earlier—though no less determined.
“Hey, Jane.” Joe waved from behind the pharmacy counter and came around to meet her. “Hear you had an interesting night.”
“Oh?”
“You and Dom finally…” He winked. Jane scowled. He had the grace to blush.
“None of your business, Joe Sanchez. I’m here to talk about those things your grandfather taught you to make. I need a box.” She didn’t want to risk scaring the tourists, so she kept her voice quiet and her request vague on purpose.
His eyebrows jumped up. “I thought everything with them was settled, thanks to Nick.”
“Well, there’s some trouble. And I need a box. Good for my shotgun. You got something that’ll work?”
“You sure you need that many? I gotta charge you for them. They’re expensive to make. Silver doesn’t grow on trees.”
“A whole box,” she said firmly. “And you might want to make up some extras. Just in case.”
“You think we’re gonna have the same kind of trouble we did before?” Joe asked quietly, all seriousness now.
“Not sure. Not taking any chances after that confrontation Nick had with those two thugs yesterday.” She didn’t want to scare the town by letting them know about her kidnapping. That had really been between the wolves and the Chernikovs more than the people of Eirene. But trouble had come into her house and scared her son. That wasn’t going to happen again.
Joe nodded. “Siobhan Walsh has been having some visitors lately,” he said, acknowledging what they all knew—Siobhan was a werewolf and her “visitors” were the wolves that had harassed the town before.
They all liked Siobhan and her shop well enough. None of them liked the trouble her “relatives” could cause.
“Let me go check what I’ve got here,” Joe said. “I’ll be right back.”
Jane hovered near the back of the pharmacy as she waited, nodding hello to people she knew. The Sanchez family had been making silver bullets for generations, but for the last thirty years or so, the precaution hadn’t been necessary so their stock had dwindled down to nearly nothing. After the last bout of trouble they’d had with the wolf pack, Joe Sanchez had started producing more, stocking up again. Just in case. No one wanted to make Nick completely responsible for their safety. It wasn’t fair to him. He’d done enough, helping them when they weren’t at the ready to help themselves. Now, everyone was prepared. Most people in town with a gun had at least two silver bullets in the house. The sheriff and deputies had several boxes in different calibers, so Jane understood.
Jane asking for a whole box was gonna start a Christmas run on the things. She doubted Joe would complain about the extra income. But none of them wanted to have to use that particular ammunition.
Joe came back out with a paper bag wrapped around a box. “There’s only about ten in here,” he said. “I’ll get you some more in the next couple of days. I’ll have to make them.”
“When you can,” Jane said. “This’ll be enough for now. Thanks. What do I owe you?”
They settled the tab and Jane left feeling significantly more prepared for the damned wolves now. Let them come back to her home again. She’d teach them to mess with a protective momma.
*****
Adam Walsh walked into the diner like any other customer, but his shoulders and scent were full of his tension. He nodded a greeting to Dom and made a hand gesture to Nick, silently asking where he should sit.
Dom didn’t hesitate to join the conversation. After all, Adam’s pack had endangered Dom’s mate. That meant something in their world. And it put Dom square in the middle of this situation.
In a wolf show of contrition, Adam kept his gaze averted from Nick’s as they settled in a booth near one of the diner’s front windows.
“How’s the woman?” Adam asked quietly, keeping his voice at a level that would be almost impossible for any of the surrounding humans to hear.
“Jane Emmerson,” Nick said. “She’s my head waitress.”
“And my mate,” Dom added.
“I figured that last part out,” Adam said, without cracking a smile. “Frank only targeted her because of her relationship with you.”
That didn’t make Dom feel any better about the situation. But he wasn’t going to take the blame either. “Is he dead?”
Adam blinked, and Dom frowned. The wolf’s scent was full of things Dom couldn’t quite read, but Dom’s comment had brought up a hesitance in the beta’s body language.
“No,” Adam said slowly. “Gabriel decreed something that in the wolf world is considered much worse.”
“But we’re not going to like it, are we?” Nick asked.
“Depends. Frank has been banished from the pack. No other pack will take him now. He’s…ostracized, outcast.”
“Yeah, I don’t like it,” Dom said. “He threatened a human’s life, and her son. Out of spite and maliciousness. Just to call me out for a fight. That put your entire pack in danger. He should be killed.”
“He would have been if he’d been a tiger,” Nick added. “Or at least locked up for years.”
Neither Nick nor Dom brought up their father, but it hung in the air between them. Their father had been locked up for killing a human—a man who’d been beating a woman who bore a very vague resemblance to their mother. In the tiger world, that usually brought an automatic death sentence, especially because their father had killed the man in tiger form.
The only thing that had saved his life was the fact that his mother was an elder. She’d paid a lot of money for leniency, sacrificed a lot by way of her grandsons’ status in the community, and the killing had happened before human forensics had really taken off.
These days, their father would never have survived his crimes. As it was, once he was out of confinement, he’d started stalking another human woman who looked vaguely like his lost mate. He went back to confinement, and once he was out, left the country. None of them had seen their father in years. Mostly, they’d been glad of it.
“You have to understand,” Adam said, “with wolves the pack is everything. Without a pack, a lone wolf is…not just vulnerable…” He raised his hands in a kind of helpless shrug. “It’s hard to explain if you’re not a wolf because it’s instinctive, part of our very makeup. We need to belong to a pack. Lone wolves suffer mentally if they remain outside pack structure for too long. They also become targets of other packs, so they’re constantly on the move. They can’t rest. They feel a constant state of edginess and fear. A fear they can’t really control or master. Their brains won’t let them. Even strong wolves end up going insane.”
“Isn’t that dangerous? To humans. To the world at large?” Nick asked.
“Especially if they’re criminals,” Dom said. “They’d be incredibly dangerous in that state.”
“Which is why other pack’s hunt and kill them. Lone wolves don’t survive long. And in the time they are alive. They suffer. A lot. That’s why it’s considered such a severe punishment. Most wolves prefer a clean death as punishment for a crime.”
“Gabriel was sending a message, then,” Nick said.
“He was. The people of Eirene are off limits. Period.”
“What about the wolves that helped Frank?” Dom asked. “The ones Mitch and I fought.”
“They didn’t directly harm or threaten a human. And Frank took the full blame for that crime. Fighting another shifter in neutral territory isn’t necessarily a pack crime. So their punishment is for being associated with someone who threatened pack safety. They’ll be caged and beaten for a month.”
“Jesus,” Nick said. “We lock up our own when they commit a crime. We don’t beat them outside of an actual fight, certainly not when they can’t defend themselves.”
“Our world is harsh,” Adam said with a shrug. “Especially when it comes to maintaining pack order.”
Nick and Dom exchanged a look.
“And I thought our people were merciless about some things,” Dom said.
Nick snorted. He frowned at Adam. “If Frank is now turned loose from the pack, what’s to keep him from coming after Dom or Jane again? Why isn’t he still a threat to us?”
“He can’t get into our territory now,” Adam said. “Think of it as alpha magic.”
He smiled a little, and Dom and Nick nodded in understanding.
Shifters didn’t really do magic in the conventional sense. Their natures were just what and who they were, no real magic involved. But pack-oriented shifters, like wolves, did have some tricks that could look like magic from the outside. Dom didn’t know the details, and didn’t care enough to ask, but he got the idea. Gabriel could literally prevent Frank from reentering his territory, by his power over the wolves as an alpha.
“Will that keep him out of my territory?” Nick asked.
“Not all of it, but most of it since your territory actually used to be part of ours and the transfer was done by money instead of wolf combat. Gabriel’s influence is strong enough to cover most of this area—including Eirene. The town is safe now.”
Dom let out a small sigh, his only outward show of relief. So long as she stayed in Eirene or was with him when she was outside of Eirene, Jane would be safe. He’d have to consider Ben’s safety at college—Frank might be a threat to Ben in the future. But for now, the people Dom loved most were protected.
“Fair enough,” Nick said. “But you should know, if he comes here again, if he finds a way back into Eirene, banishment won’t be my punishment.”
“He’s fair game now,” Adam said. And for the first time since entering the diner, he met Nick’s gaze. “Kill him if you like. There won’t be any retribution or consequences from us.” He let his gaze slide away again after that, continuing to show deference to Nick.
Nick glanced at Dom. “What do you think? Good enough?”
“If I can kill him on sight without consequences,” Dom said, “and if he’s physically not allowed back into Eirene, I’m good with the punishment. For now.”
“Gabriel would also like to make financial reparations for the threat to your mate,” Adam said to Dom. “The only problem is, we’re still in a bit of a financial bind after our last alpha.”
Dom waved away the offer. “I don’t need your money. Keep it to make your pack healthy. That’ll pay me back more than money.”
Adam’s shoulders dropped with a release of tension. “Thanks.”
Nick also relaxed his posture and leaned forward, his arms resting on the table. The mood of the meeting shifted from serious business to a friendly chat in that simple gesture. “Can I ask something that isn’t my business, but I’m curious about now?”
“I’ll answer if I can,” Adam said.
“Your pack took in converted wolves who didn’t have a pack, right? Chris’ father brought in…lone wolves?”
“He did. They were abandoned by their creators, and usually hadn’t asked to be changed.”
“So would they suffer without a pack, the same way an outcast wolf would?”
“Exactly the same. Maybe worse because they’d have no idea why they’re suffering since they don’t understand their natures innately, the way a born wolf would.”
“Is that why Doug Corwin took them in? To prevent them from going insane and endangering your whole species.”
Adam smiled a little. “Doug was much more compassionate than your average alpha. Most alpha’s kill rogue converted wolves that have been abandoned, working under the logic that they were abandoned because of some irredeemable characteristic that followed them into their wolf forms. Which makes them a threat. And threats are killed.”
“Why did Doug take them in, then?” Nick asked. “If they were a threat.”
“Some obviously remained a threat even after being taken in,” Dom added, thinking of Frank.
“He thought they should be saved, helped. That no one was irredeemable and it was our responsibility to help them if we could because they didn’t make the choice to become wolves.”
“What if they had made the choice?” Dom asked.
“He would still take them in. He claimed that to abandon a wolf you’ve made is the height of cowardice, like abandoning one’s entire pack if you were an alpha. He was big on people living up to their responsibilities.”
“His efforts put his pack in jeopardy,” Nick pointed out.
“Wouldn’t have if his son had been a stronger alpha,” Adam said. “If he’d been able to assert proper alpha control, rather than playing the ‘bad boy’ and giving the less civilized among our pack free rein.” Adam sighed, his gaze wandering over the street outside the diner window. “We’re still paying the price for letting Chris remain alpha for so long.” He waved away the comment. “Anyway, you don’t care about our problems.”
“Only in how they affect my town,” Nick said honestly.
“They shouldn’t much anymore,” Adam said. “Gabriel handing down a banishment has quieted most of the discord. At least for now.”
“Good,” Nick said. “I have to get back to the kitchen. You want something to eat?”
“I’m good. Thanks. Though, I am coming back the next time Lulu is on duty. Siobhan can’t stop talking about the woman’s sandwiches.”
Nick chuckled.
Dom grinned at his brother when he said, “Better get one soon, before Nick decides to give Lulu her own restaurant.”
Nick gave Dom a deadpan look. Adam laughed.
They watched the beta leave in silence.
“You think this took care of things?” Dom asked.
“Better have. I won’t have any more trouble in my territory. Not now that Tiana and Chrissy are here.” He glanced at Dom. “Not now that my brother is moving in and has a mate here.”
Dom clapped Nick on the shoulder. “I’ll back you up, no matter what.”
“Always have. So what’s next for you and Jane?”
“We have a date tonight. Dinner. Vail—your previous cook’s restaurant?” Dom grinned when Nick rolled his eyes.
“I’ll give her a call and see if I can get you a table tonight.”
“Thanks,” Dom said. “One more favor. Could you…invite Ben over? I know things are likely settled with the wolves and the threat is low, but it’ll help Jane relax if she knows her boy is safe.”
“Of course. We love Ben. I’ll bribe him with homemade pizza, so he doesn’t think we’re trying to babysit him. He’s been touchy about that since he turned eighteen.”
“That’d be great.” Dom had never been so grateful for his brothers before. They might have had a tough childhood, but they’d always had each other’s backs, and he loved that he could still depend on Nick and Mitch, no matter what.
“So,” Dom said. “Any thoughts on houses for sale?”