Mine.
My inner Devil had been stuck on that particular one-word loop ever since I stepped foot inside the Devil’s Food Bakery this past Wednesday to pick up the order of cupcakes Mrs. O’Hare had apparently put in for me.
Did the old Witch know Penelope was mine? I had no idea.
But how fortuitous that my future mate had a certain affection for the very same characteristics that gave my kind our name.
I licked my lips, not listening to a word Emmet was saying.
“Max, I need you to pay attention,” the Wolf growled.
I flitted my gaze over to the plans the man had spread out across the dining room table. My stomach growled, and I frowned.
Ever since Mrs. O’Hare abandoned me, I’d been left to my own devices when it came to food.
I was so sick of peanut butter, frozen pizzas, and cold cuts. But eating was essential to a creature like me, and a hungry Devil was an ornery one.
“Boss!”
I snarled at Emmet who held my glare for all of two beats before he averted his gaze.
Shit.
That wasn’t good. I didn’t mean to be aggressive with my men.
Shifters had Packs and Clans to manage their need for hierarchy. But Jersey Devils, well, we were different. This was new for me.
My inner beast was a mixed bag. A cryptid, yes, but not a true Shifter or Witch or Demon. More like a combination of all three.
And of course, I could not forget my human side as well.
Dominance was not something I measured or questioned very often. But seeing Emmet show me the respect he might give an Alpha, well, that was something I had never really thought about.
“Hey Emmet, am I the Alpha here?” I asked.
“Alpha? Here? On the Motley Crewd Ranch?” Emmet asked, raising his eyebrows like he hadn’t considered that, either.
“Yeah. Here. Am I the Alpha?”
“Well, Boss, I suppose the answer is yes. I mean, my Wolf was fine right now with you saying it aloud,” Emmet replied.
“Thank you, Emmet. It’s not something I am used to. If I fuck up, I’ll need you to tell me,” I told him.
“Sure, Boss,” he replied, his voice quiet.
“Guess if I’m Alpha, you’re Beta,” I told him, and felt a tendril of excitement wind itself around the Wolf.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I mean, working with pure Shifters makes it kind of necessary to establish a pecking order. If I am the Alpha, then you, Emmet, would by far be my Beta. The guys look up to you.”
“Thank you, Boss,” Emmet said, meeting my gaze for a beat longer than normal.
Pride seemed to roll off the Wolf, and I nodded my head. We probably should have a meeting about it.
“Okay, Beta, explain your plan,” I said, nodding at the papers.
“Uh, okay. Well, we are getting some new does in, that’s breeding females for the herd.”
I looked at him blankly.
“Does are female goats,” Emmet inserted.
I blinked again.
“You know, so we can increase production of the goat's milk y’all are selling? Fucking shit, Max, do you have any idea what I am talking about?”
“Uh, do you really want me to answer that?”
Okay, so there were still some quirks we had to work out with this whole Motley Crewd thing. I didn’t know shit about fuck when it came to this new country lifestyle I was suddenly living.
But I was trying, damn it, and that had to count for something. Day in and day out, I had been pushing myself. I had the bumps and bruises to show for it, too.
Although the last couple of days, that was hardly my fault. Admittedly, my mind had been elsewhere.
Stuck on the cinnamon honey scent I’d picked up coming off my future mate’s skin. Wondering what she was hiding beneath her baggy chef’s coat and aching to get to know those curves up close and personal.
There was no doubt in my mind, Penelope Abruzzi was my promised. I just had to convince her of that before I revealed the whole, by the way I’m a real live Jersey Devil thing.
No biggie, right?
Only, I thought it was. A big deal, I mean. From what I could tell, my sweet little Sugarplum was a normal and before I could reveal exactly what I was to her, I needed to help her see the truth, that she was mine.
All mine. Only mine.
Easy there, I told my inner Devil. That dark part of me had been riding me hard, pissed off and mad as hell that I hadn’t claimed the woman the second I saw her.
It wasn’t the last quarter moon yet, so I had time. A few days, anyway, to convince my palatable Penelope that I was the only man for her.
I can do that. I plan to.
“Okay, moving on,” Emmet continued, and I turned my attention to my foreman and Beta.
“The cornfields are overgrown, and we have some sections that spoiled due to not being picked at the right time. But I got Dante seeing to that. Kian moved the milk cows to the second pasture this morning, and Jed was asking for some improvements to the milking parlor. Also, he wants to build a second parlor for the goats. With the new animals we’re getting, the stands we have in place won’t be enough,” he said.
“I’m sorry what is a parlor?” I asked.
“It’s where he milks the fucking animals, Boss,” he explained with a snarl.
I shrugged it off. Hell. Life was certainly different from what it looked like a couple of weeks ago.
I wasn’t the kind of man to be embarrassed by my lack of knowledge.
How was I supposed to know what the fuck he was talking about unless he explained it?
I’d never done anything like this before. Besides, experience was the best teacher, and I was learning hands on how to run a ranch/farm/thing.
“Moving on again. Where were we? Yeah, so we’re gonna need more goats. More building supplies. Oh, and the guys have decided on their housing.”
“What housing? Aren’t you all staying in one spot?” I asked, remembering something about a bunkhouse on the property.
“Hell no. That old bunkhouse stinks of goat shit. Seems like old Jed had some of the old ones living inside with him. Man’s too softhearted to put them down,” Emmet told me with a shake of his head.
“So, where have you been staying?”
“Cabins. We’re all big, dominant animals, Boss. And we ain’t getting along too well,” he murmured.
“No? How come?” I asked, perplexed.
“You surprised? We’re the fucking rejects, man. No Pack or Clan will have us.”
I knew that much already. And it shouldn’t surprise me that they were having a hard time. I rarely saw the men myself.
The way we had our schedules set up, everyone worked on different parts of the ranch simultaneously with little crossover. For humans, it wouldn’t be possible, but we were not human.
Our workload was probably five times that of the average farmer or rancher, but I was only guessing.
Still, was it healthy? All this separation.
“Look, you got six spare cabins on the property and well, this is me asking you for permission to fix up the ones we took.”
“I see,” I said, looking at the map of my land.
The cabins weren’t being used, and yes, they were spread out strategically so each of my new Crew could watch over a different section of the land.
“Looks fine to me, but—”
“Fantastic. But we do need to make some repairs. Sign this purchase order,” Emmet said, handing me his phone for an e-signature.
Now that I could do. I was good at spending money. And there was nothing in the rules that said I couldn’t.
“Okay. But I am concerned about the Crew not getting along, Emmet. I think we need to have a meeting,” I said.
“You sure?”
“Yeah. Why?”
He was looking at me like I was nuts, but really I didn’t see the harm.
Stupid me.
“Okay. It’s your funeral. CREW MEETING!” Emmet screamed, and I hunched my shoulders and covered my ears.
Fuck me, that was loud.
“What the fuck is going on?” Kian asked, all out of breath.
He came running into the barn where Emmet and I were conducting our little meeting.
“Crew meeting. Alpha’s orders,” Emmet said, standing straight.
“Alpha? Shit, he said yes?” Kian asked with a grin.
Emmet nodded, and then it was Kian’s turn to yell.
Ten minutes later, I was stunned by what I saw. Emmet, Kian, Dante, and Zeke stood in a semicircle while I laid out my plans for the immediate future.
“It’s come to my attention that you all need more than jobs. You need permanence, and well, so do I,” I said carefully.
“My Bear needs to know we can trust you not to cut out on us,” Dante murmured.
I kept my gaze on his, then looked at each one of them in turn. Even Zeke nodded and agreed.
“Same,” the younger looking man said.
“Same? You don’t smell like Bull?” Kian snarked.
“Cause I’m not a fucking Bull, man,” Zeke replied with a snarl.
“Well, what are you?” Kian asked.
“Not a Bear,” Dante grumbled.
“Who gives a shit about Bears, Smokey?” Kian snarked.
“Maybe he’s a Hawk?” the tatted up Wolf Shifter, now my new Beta, asked.
“Why does everyone want to know what kind of monster I am? Are we gonna fuck or something?” Zeke spat.
I felt the air crack with testosterone and pure male energy.
Shit.
This was not going to end well. I heaved a sigh.
“Fuck you, bro!” Kian growled.
But Dante was the first one to raise his fists.
That man harbored a monster inside of him. It only took about three seconds for the big motherfucker to shift into an enormous brown Grizzly Bear.
Kian followed. His angry Bull kicked out with his hind legs and broke through the side of the old barn.
I cursed as Emmet shifted. He was trying to force the Bear back with his snapping jaws. But Dante wasn’t afraid.
Claws raked over fur and skin and fangs tore into flesh as one by one my new Crew beat the shit out of each other. The sounds of roaring and growls were so loud, my inner Devil was going nuts.
“Do something,” Zeke hissed, and I snapped my eyes to where he stood as far back as he could, shaking from head to toe.
“I can’t control it much longer,” he begged.
“Fuck!”
I knew what he was. Recognized his monster was bigger than theirs.
The only thing I really had going for me if that fucker should have an uncontrolled change was my magic.
Then again, Dragons had magic too.
Fuck.
I did not know for sure what kind of Dragon Zeke had inside of him. But I’d smelled it on him the second I saw him.
Until I knew, I couldn’t take the chance that he could just change and kill us all.
Next thing I knew my wings and tail ripped through my clothes as my body broke apart and reshaped in the blink of an eye.
Where Shifters had to painfully experience each breaking bone and cracking muscle, my change was more fluid.
But then again, I was not a true Shifter. I was a cryptid with magical powers.
Jersey Devils were born of a mating between a Witch and a Demon and my witch from my human skin to that of my red Jersey Devil reflected that.
Pure, undiluted joy raced through my veins as I embraced my Devil. The monster in me loved a good fight. He liked to brawl and chase, to hunt and kill. Not that I allowed that to happen.
It was part of the whole balance thing. Why I needed to find my mate before this very special last quarter moon.
Magic hummed through me, and I threw my head back and roared long and loud. In this skin, I looked barely human. My skin was a dark, burned red. My face took on a draconian moue.
Long black claws sprung from my fingertips and my legs transformed into something very similar to the hindquarters of a goat covered in thick, black fur and ending in sharp cloven hooves.
A pretty impressive rack of antlers curled upwards towards the ceiling from either side of my head, and enormous bat-like wings unfurled from my back. My tail whipped back and forth as I stood to my full height, roaring again.
The Shifters stilled.
“Stop this,” I hissed.
To my utter surprise, one by one, they did. Emmet shifted back first, standing before me, he averted his gaze and exposed his neck.
“Sorry, Alpha.”
Dante, Kian, and Zeke followed in that order.
“W-what are you?” Kian asked, his eyes huge in his chest.
“H-he’s Max,” Emmet said, but from the way the pulse in his neck was racing, I knew he needed answers, too.
Truth was, I hadn’t been upfront about it at first. I faced each of them, pausing on one then the next in turn.
Dust motes danced in the air, and I briefly let my mind wander to the fucking mess they’d made all around us.
At least the breeze was cool, coming through where Kian busted the wall.
How could they not know what I am?
But I could not blame them. The supernatural world had just as many hangups as the human one did. Normals weren’t the only creatures with prejudices.
Besides, a lot of us tended to keep to ourselves. No point in calling attention when there was always a bigger monster somewhere out there, and many with less self-control than we had.
But right now, my Crew was standing there, looking at me for answers. I owed it to them, I supposed. I had to give them my truth.
So I did.
“You know my name. I am Maximillian Leeds, descendant of the first Mother Leeds, and a true Jersey Devil.”