Howl My Name (BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance) (Grayslake Book 5) (8 page)

“We need to talk about this. I won’t be silenced because your wolf gets pissy.”

Once again she was the focus of his glare. “People don’t argue with me.”

Evelyn raised a single brow. “Really? Good thing I’m not people. I’m your mate.”

He grunted. “At least you know and admit it.”

“I admit you’re being a jerk, too.” She tilted her head toward the end of the alley. “He’s still kneeling and I know from experience it’s not a comfortable position.”

Another grunt.

“Let him up.”

“He’s weaker.”

“Doesn’t mean you have to be an asshole about it.”

He pressed his lips together. “Did you just call me an asshole?”

“No, I said you’re being an asshole. There’s a difference.” Not much of one, but there was. Of course, she’d tried explaining that to her father and the first time she said it to anyone in the clan was the last time. That was when she’d learned the pain of kneeling on rocks and asphalt. For hours. Not the worst punishment, it didn’t involve blood, but one she remembered clearly.

“You gonna be like this the rest of our lives?”

“You mean call you on your bullshit and keep you from flipping out for no reason?”

The look she received was fierce and filled with an urgency and determination she hadn’t seen from him. “There is always a reason. No one may understand them when the time comes for action, but there’s a reason.”

And she believed him.

“Okay,” she easily agreed. “I’ll always support you, Reid. You just may need to stop and explain things now and again.” She tilted her head toward the still kneeling Carter. “Your bear came to check on you. To make sure we were okay after we tore out of the driveway. Because that’s his job. He’s meant to take care of the clan and that includes you. So he’s got your back and when he thinks you need help, he’s gonna step up.”

He didn’t say a word, so she kept going. “And if that’s not what you want, you need to explain it. Snarling won’t solve the problem. It instills fear. When you need him next, he won’t know if he should come forward or hang back and that could end up with you dead.” Reid snorted so she upped the stakes. “Or me.”

That had him reacting with a rumbling growl, the sound deep and threatening as if danger and death stood before them. “Never.”

“Then tell him why he should have stayed back. You say you have to lead the clan as if they were children. Well, act like a damned parent, then.”

“I don’t like your tone.”

She rolled her eyes. “And I don’t like that you’re being a dick, so we’re even.”

Carter, god love the male, snorted.

So not a good idea, Carter.

“Reid?”

“What?” he snapped, glare still on the kneeling bear.

“Tell Carter to get the hell out of here because I’m hungry. You can explain things to the guards later.”

He huffed and finally spoke. “Fine,” he grumbled. “Carter, you can go. If I’m with Evie and you scent pain, fear, or violence, you interrupt. Otherwise, I will gut you where you stand and send a letter of apology along with your body when I return it to your family. We clear?”

Carter’s swallow was audible. “Yes, Itan.”

Reid grunted and Evelyn felt the need to translate. “Thank you, Carter. We’ll see you later.” The male immediately rolled to his feet and disappeared from sight, leaving them alone once more. And… that was about the time her stomach growled. “Feed me, Reid. Then explain why the
love of your life
is itching to come to the den and could show up at any second.”

He curled his lip, disgust replacing the anger in his scent. “Love her? I hate her. Would have killed her a long time ago if I didn’t need her.”

“Who is she?” Evelyn raised her eyebrows, hoping he’d answer.

Another grunt. Then a sigh. “My therapist.”

Evelyn didn’t look at him like he was crazy. That was always a plus.

She also kept him from gutting Carter for interrupting, which meant Clary wouldn’t come down hard on him for killing someone. Again. He already had three strikes against him, and then when he found Ezekiel…

Unfortunately, telling Evie about Clary meant he had to explain other shit. The thought of that, of revealing himself to her, made his skin itch and the wolf pressed forward. It wanted to talk even less than him.

Evie wiggled, reminding him he had his mate wrapped around him all warm and sexy and he really wanted to get to know her… intimately.

And he wasn’t talking about talking.

Her stomach grumbled, reminding him she was hungry. He might be an asshole but he wasn’t negligent. Wolf wanted to feed her more than he wanted to hide.

“C’mon,” he grumbled. “Lemme get some food in you.”

Hating every second of it, Reid lowered her to the ground, carefully easing her legs from his waist and holding her tightly until she took her own weight. She was still pressed intimately against him, those curves snug to his body, and he absorbed her heat, basking in their closeness. And her scent. So sweet and musky, it consumed him, aroused him, and gave him a satisfaction he’d never known.

He had plenty of women in his past but Evie was everything they weren’t—his.

Forcing himself into motion, he stepped away and put some space between their bodies. Otherwise he’d pin her to the wall once more and take everything she offered. Hell, if she was game, he’d claim her then and there. Take her in front of every male in town so they’d know she belonged to
him
.

He didn’t do that sharing shit.

Grabbing her hand, he led them back to the street and resumed his path, pulling her toward the only diner in town. All reports said the food was decent, if simple, but a shifter just needed meat to be happy, so he figured
Come and Get It
was good enough for now. Later he’d wine and dine her, give her everything she deserved.

Like, after he destroyed the last threat and slit Ezekiel’s throat. He’d tear the male into tiny pieces first. Clawing his flesh from bone seemed like a good idea. Maybe—

A light tug on his hand had him abandoning his ideas and focusing on Evie once more. He met her gaze and raised a single eyebrow. “Yeah?”

She rolled her eyes. “We can’t eat unless we go inside. Funny how that works.”

Evie wasn’t afraid of him. At all.

And he loved that shit.

Reid just snorted and snagged the door, pulling it open so she could go ahead of him.

“Brat,” he murmured in her ear as she passed and got a smile in response.

“And?”

He shrugged. “And nothing.”

“Hmm…” She strode into the diner and waved at the woman behind the counter.

The woman first smiled widely at Evie in welcome until she met his gaze and then that grin vanished as if it’d never existed. That earned him a flick on the arm from Evie. “What?” he grumped. “Not my fault your bears wanna piss themselves when they meet me.”

“Yeah, it is.” Then she softly patted his chest. “But don’t worry. I’ll fix it.”

“What if I don’t want shit fixed?”

Midnight eyes met his gaze and her voice dropped. “You do. I know you do. Even if you won’t say it out loud.”

He wasn’t saying shit out loud. Ever. Not around these people.

Instead of answering, he nudged her toward an empty booth at the back of the diner. “C’mon. Need to eat.”

The diner quieted as they made their way through the building to the table he’d chosen, conversations going silent and not picking up until they passed. Evie seemed to think that kind of shit would end eventually.

He didn’t want to tell her she was wrong, it’d never happen. When she smiled at him, those plump lips parting with joy and happiness filling her eyes, he decided he wouldn’t tell her anything for a long while.

Eventually they found their way to the booth and Reid slipped in, his back to the wall and eyes able to see the whole diner. If someone came at him, he sure as hell wasn’t gonna make it easy.

Evie didn’t seem to notice—or pretended not to notice—that the diner was a hell of a lot quieter now than when they’d arrived. Nope, she snatched up her menu as if everything was normal and skimmed the list of available food.

Meanwhile, Reid kept his attention trained on the room at large, gaze drifting over the open area as he searched for any threat. His bears—a couple from Grayslake that filed in after them and a few Brookfield natives—filled over half the place while the rest were humans. Humans who sensed enough to be wary.

Smart.

“What do you want?” Evie’s soft question brought him back to her.

“What?”

“Food? What do you want? This is the shifter menu, but I can ask for the other if you’d like.”

“Beef.” Deer in a pinch, but Reid was a sucker for a cow. Screw chicken. They were a pain in the ass to hunt and bland when compared to a nice steak.

“Burger? Fajitas? Tacos?” She raised her eyebrows and he finally glanced at the menu. Damn, the Brookfield bears cooked their beef in more ways than he could count. Hell, they had a nice deer menu, too.

And duck. Well, at least duck wasn’t chicken and it had some nice fat on it.

Then he got to… “The fuck?” He curled his lip and met Evie’s stare. “Fruit?”

“You’re mating a bear, Reid.” She rolled her eyes. “We do enjoy more than one food group.”

A high-pitched squeak followed by an equally high-pitched “mate?” had both of them looking at the newcomer. A woman, all curves and curls that would have drawn him before he met Evie, stood nearby. Her stained apron and nametag had him pegging her as their waitress.

Evie turned in her seat and his mate’s smile lit up the whole place. “Lottie, how are you?”

“Evelyn, is he your… You…” Reid scented the air, drawing in the surrounding scents and realized the woman was human. Mostly. She had a little something extra in there that he couldn’t quite place. The female shook her head and then sadness and pity filled her gaze. “Your poor face.”

That had the smile on his mate’s lips vanishing in an instant, one fluttering hand raising to draw her hair forward.

Screw that.

Reid growled low, the rumble starting deep in his soul and slinking forward until it vibrated the air in the entire diner. The shifters dropped their gazes, necks bared, while the humans huddled close to one another.

The waitress held her ground—barely—and squeezed her eyes shut.

He kept the sound going, rolling on and on until… Evie half-stood, reached across the table and flicked his ear. “Dammit, woman.”

“Quit. It’s fine. I…” She swallowed hard, face paling as her fingers traced the scarring. “I forgot. That’s all. I’m just not used to them yet, but I’ll get over it.”

“You shouldn’t have to,” he grumbled. “None of them should say a motherfucking word about those scars.” He glared at the room, his fury eating at him. “That shit happened because not a single one of them would speak up. No one made the call. How long did it take, Evie? To make a call and leave a message?”

“Reid…” she whispered and he shook his head, fighting the bile that rose in his throat.

Wolf liked blood as much as the next shifter, but the memories of Evie’s covering the tile made him sick. “No. You made a call and suffered for it. They tortured you, Evie, and I’m not gonna sit here while the assholes start making you feel like you’re not gorgeous because of ’em.”

“She’s not—”

“I’m not judging her and she still is beautiful. I can feel bad that she was in pain, though,” the waitress snapped and he had to admire the woman’s grit. “And I can apologize that she felt it, but that’s it. I resent the implication.”

If the woman had fangs he imagined she would have snapped them at him.

“Lottie!” Someone hissed and then a massive male, more pudge than muscle, tugged her away. He was older, with graying hair and quite a few wrinkles. Father or grandfather. The scent was similar and yet…

It clicked.

Reid grinned and turned his attention to Evie. “That mouse has one hell of a roar.”

The mouse’s squeak came a split second before Lottie was back again. “And if you think—”

He shook his head, not sure what was wrong with him, but his normal fury that came from disrespect was nowhere to be seen.

Because she may be defending herself, but she’s standing up for Evie and the clan too. Gotta respect that. Especially from a mouse.

“I think I’m hungry and my mate is eyeing that fruit platter.”

The mouse glared at him, beady eyes narrowed, but spun on her heel and disappeared behind a set of swinging doors, the older male flashing Reid the same look before chasing after her.

With them gone, he refocused on Evie, wondering what he’d have to say if she still had that sad, wounded look in her eyes. Except he found her grinning widely, the worst of her scars tugging at her lips, but not marring her beauty.

“What?” he barked.

“Nothing.” The grin remained.

“What are you smiling at then?” The shit made him uncomfortable.

“You. You got pissy and didn’t threaten to eat her for lunch.”

He shrugged and refused to talk about why. “She’s not enough for a snack let alone lunch.”

Another squeak, this one from the other side of the room but it didn’t sound so mouse-like. More like frightened human.

Evie laughed, the sound tinkling and filled with happiness. “You don’t mean that.”

He glared. He didn’t and he hated that she knew that. “You think you know me.”

She shook her head, that dreamy smile he really loved in place. “I don’t need to know you, not all of you, to know you weren’t a threat to her.”

“You sure about that?” Because he sure as hell wasn’t.

“Yeah,” there was so much faith and shit in her expression. Like she
believed
what she was saying and… dammit, he wanted to be that man for her. “Yeah, I really am sure.”

Well, shit.

That was how the rest of the afternoon went. Reid growling and Evelyn poking and prodding him, showing the clan that he wasn’t all bad, just snarly.

And it was
exhausting
. She liked the guy—inched toward more than liking him—but her mate saw everyone as a threat.
Everyone
. Even Sam in the hardware store who had to be near eighty and half-blind.