But Sissy had a way of bringing out the “fun” side of anybody if she’d a mind to. To quote Janie Mae, “Sissy came out of my womb with her middle finger raised.”

Mitch walked up to the women, his glare for Sissy and Sissy only. He’d gotten some of his color back, and he was already popping a piece of chewing gum in his mouth—yeah, he’d lost his cookies behind the garden outlet, she realized with a smile.

Sissy grinned up at him. “How ya doin’ there, Mitchy?”

Gold eyes narrowed, and Sissy, to Dee’s shock, tried to make a run for it. But Mitch caught her, spun her around, and suddenly, his hands were in the waistband of Sissy’s shorts.

“Mitchell Shaw, don’t you—ack!”

But it was too late. He’d already reached inside the back of her shorts and yanked up, giving her the wedgie to end all wedgies.

Sissy’s squeal hit notes Dee never knew her cousin capable of, irritating every shifter in the building, before Mitch stepped back, briskly brushed his hands against each other, and grabbed a shopping cart. “All right, ladies. Let’s go get me some supplies.”

Trying for a modicum of dignity, Sissy tossed her hair back and kept her spine straight as she headed toward the bathroom so she could dig her underwear out of her ass.

And that’s when Dee realized that she’d never met a man brave enough to give Sissy Mae Smith a wedgie. Beyond the entertainment factor alone, Dee found the whole thing kind of interesting.

Mitch slowly pushed his cart down the meat aisle. He loved shifter-friendly stores. Not only could he find the largest cuts of meat anywhere, but he could also find the most interesting.

Yumm. Impala. It had been ages since he’d had impala.

Grabbing a frozen rack of rib meat, he dropped it into his carriage and moved on.

He was eyeing the leg of zebra when he realized he was being eyed the same way, and he turned to find three extremely hot lionesses standing behind him.

“Hey,” they said in unison.

Mitch grinned. “Hi.”

“I’m Paula Jo Barron. These are my sisters, Lucy and Karen Jane.”

“Hi. Mitch Shaw.”

“You’re new to town, huh?”

“Yup.”

“Any chance you’re planning on staying?”

“Well…” Mitch watched their expressions change as they looked to his left side. He followed their gazes and stared into the big, dumb dog eyes of a wolf. Another male. Who were all these males? How many did they have in this area anyway?

“What?”

“Sissy with you?”

Mitch felt the desire to bare his fangs. “Why do you ask?”

“Just wanted to say hey.”

Then he stood there, saying nothing. Smitty did that sometimes. And the Reed boys.They’d just stare for absolutely no reason whatsoever. It was irritating.

“Well, she’s not here at the moment.”

“Is she staying at her parents’ house like usual?”

“You’re gonna walk away now, and I won’t hurt you because you walked away.”

The wolf nodded. “Fair enough. Tell her Lou said hey.”

The wolf ambled off, and Mitch shook his head. What weird Southern shit was that?

Mitch heard a throat clear, and he looked up into three sets of gold eyes watching him. “Yes?”

All those gold eyes blinked in surprise, but before Mitch could figure out why, another cart slammed into his.

“If you think,” Sissy Mae snarled, pulling back and slamming her shopping cart into his again, “for a damn second I’m paying for zebra meat, you’ve lost your goddamn cat mind!”

“That’s impala. I haven’t even grabbed the zebra yet. And you are too paying for it. And who the hell is Lou?”

“Who? And what makes you think I’m paying for shit?”

“Because I want it.”

“I want world peace and not to have you around. And yet we don’t all get what we want.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’ll pay you back, you whiny canine.”

“We can hunt deer down right in the backyard,” she told him, exasperated.

“Hunt? Me?” He placed his hands on his hips. “Your job is to bring me food. Why haven’t you grasped that concept?”

“I can bring you a fist sandwich.” Then she put her fist under his nose. “It’s my specialty.”

Just to disgust her—and because he kind of felt like it—Mitch dragged his tongue across her knuckles.

“Eww!” she quickly wiped her hand on his T-shirt. “You’re disgusting!”

“You have one job, canine. Tend to all my needs and wants.” He glanced at the lionesses still avidly watching. “Tell her what her role is. And how she should adore every minute of catering to my needs and wants.”

Sissy eyed the lions. “Paula Jo.”

“Sissy Mae. Having fun?”

“No!” She turned back to Mitch, putting her hands on her hips, imitating his stance. “I’m not having a good time. How do you put up with them?”

The lioness shrugged and admitted, “It’s their sperm. We put up with a lot to get that.”

“Or I could simply have a specialist remove his sperm and toss him out of my house just like y’all would.”

Mitch sniffed, wiped a nonexistent tear. “That was cruel. You’ve hurt me deeply.”

“No. I hate you deeply. There’s a difference.”