Eggie stopped and slowly turned his head, scanning the crowd. It took a moment, but he caught sight of McMartin first. The bear nodded at him and Eggie nodded back.

“Who’s that?” Darla asked.

“A friend of mine.”

“A Marine?”

“Yep.”

“Well, go on and talk to him.”

“Come with me.”

“Eggie, I’ll be fine.” She pointed to a small group. “I think I know one of those girls over there.”

“Which one?”

“The coyote. We used to work together.”

“I don’t like coyotes.”

Darla laughed. “Go on with your Marine buddies so y’all don’t have to speak in code so I won’t understand what’s going on. ”

Damn, the woman was smart.

“I wanna look around anyway.” She went up on her toes and kissed his cheek. “Go on now. I’ll be fine. Maybe I’ll get something to drink.”

“Only unopened bottles and cans, Darla.”

“Uh . . . okay.” She headed off, looking over her shoulder at him and giving a little wave.

Eggie watched her for a bit until his teammates surrounded him.

“That’s her?” Taschen asked.

“Yep.”

“She’s cute.”

“She’s mine.”

“Told ya,” McMartin said to Taschen. “Saw it in his eyes when she was being treated by the doc.”

“And how does she feel about it?” Lloyd asked.

Eggie faced the three shifters. “What do I always say?”

“You hate chitchat?” McMartin guessed.

“Then why are you motherfuckers giving me goddamn chitchat?”

Darla had been right. She knew the coyote. She was a former Van Holtz restaurant sous-chef. Of course, after five minutes, Darla also remembered that she’d never liked the coyote that much. She was kind of annoying. Like now.

“Egbert Smith? You’re involved with Egbert Smith?”

Darla nodded while sipping her Coca-Cola. It was wonderfully refreshing.

Barbie Klein, currently covered in body paint and a bikini, grabbed Darla’s arm and nodded at her full-human friends. “I’ll be back.”

She pulled Darla off to the edge of the crowd and faced her. “Is there something wrong with you?” Barbie demanded.

“You’re covered in pink, green, and yellow body paint, and you’re asking me that?”

“Look, sweetie, I get it. I’ve been there. There is something about the Smith males that can be . . . enticing. Even I can admit that. But you’re not me and Egbert Smith is a . . . a . . .”

“Really nice guy?”

“He is not a nice guy, Darla. He’s a . . . a . . .”

“If you can’t say it, maybe youshouldn’t.”

“Sweetie, every canine from here to Istanbul knows about Eggie Smith and avoids him.”

“He’s misunderstood. Besides, you just don’t like Smiths.”

“No one likes Smiths, Darla, except other Smiths. They’re like the wolf version of the Manson family.”

“I can tell you for a fact that’s not funny and it’s not true.”

“They’re not a Pack, they’re a hillbilly cult filled with criminals and ’shine runners. You have to be careful.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about and I’m not going to stand here and listen to another word of this utter bull-crap.”

Angry, Darla turned to go but stopped when she saw a full-human man standing in front of her. He wore a leather jacket with emblems and things on it.

“Sorry,” she said, distracted, and took a step to walk around the man. He took a step, too, blocking her.

She looked at him again and the man smiled, which only made things worse. A smile like that never boded well for anyone. She glanced back to look at Barbie but typical coyote that she was, the little deserter had run off and left her!

Darla also realized that she’d quickly become surrounded and now had males and females in front and behind her. Most of them wearing the same leather jacket as the first. And wearing them in this heat meant they were sending a message.

No . . . this probably wasn’t a good situation.

Eggie stared at Lloyd. “Are you sure?”

“Positive. And they’re pushing hard to find her. Her boss knew, too. That’s why he sent her home. Although I don’t think he meant for her to hitchhike there.”

Eggie blinked. “She hitchhiked from San Francisco to North Carolina?”

“Apparently she does it all the time.”

Eyes crossing, Eggie realized he’d be working very hard to keep this She-wolf safe just from herself.

“All right, all right.” He let out a big breath. “What I’ll need you to do is . . .”

Eggie’s words tapered off when he realized none of his team was paying attention to him. He looked next to him and saw why. A female coyote in a bikini and body paint stood nearby, staring at him. The one that Darla had pointed out to him earlier. But where was Darla?

“What’s wrong?” he immediately asked.

“Darla needs you.”

Eggie spun around, his gaze searching the area. When that didn’t work fast enough, he sniffed the air, caught her scent. He motioned to his team and they vanished into the crowd. Then he went after his woman.

“Come on, baby,” one of the men coaxed and Darla remembered how much she hated when men called her baby, “can’t you be a little friendly to our buddy Will?”