“I hate you.”

“How could you hate this face?”

“Easily.”

“But I’m adorable.”

“More like psychotic.”

Feeling ill at how much this single food bill came to, Sissy signed the receipt while Dee stared at all the food the two grocery clerks bagged. “We’re not going to get all this in the Camaro.”

Sissy wasn’t exactly surprised. They’d filled up three large carts with all the food they’d purchased. She wasn’t exactly sure where she was going to fit it all in her momma’s house either. They only had two freezers.

“Sissy could walk home while you drive me and the groceries back.”

“Or,” Sissy countered, “I could gut you here and let your rotting corpse attract the hyenas while we go home and enjoy a nice, quiet meal at my parents’ house.”

Mitch thought about that a moment but finally shook his head. “That doesn’t really work for me.”

“Then shut up.”

It took some work, but eventually, they managed to get all the food and all three of them in the car, although Sissy ended up driving because Mitch couldn’t fit in the backseat with all the groceries and she refused to get in the backseat since she refused to look weak. It really was never easy to be an Alpha wolf. Mitch suggested he could drive, but Sissy and Dee only laughed at him.

But if Sissy even went above sixty, Mitch started roaring, which got real old real fast…and did nothing for her sensitive ears.

Once they got back to her parents’ house, she and Dee spent another hour trying to figure out where to put all the food. Of course, Mitch wasn’t much help there either. “I’m too hungry to think,” he’d claimed and ended up sitting on her parents’ couch, eating a big bowl of Frosted Flakes and milk.

“Okay. On my count…one, two…three!” The cousins slammed the door on the chest freezer, and somehow, it sealed shut.

Sissy let out a breath. “Good. We got it to fit.”

“You know, in two more days, you’ll be buying more food for him.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

They walked back into the kitchen. “You want to stay for a while?”

“Can’t. Promised Momma I’d be home for dinner.”

“Stop by tomorrow if ya want.”

“Okay.” Dee started out the door. “And remember to watch your back.”

“Don’t I always?”

“Watch it more,” Dee told her before slamming the door closed.

Sissy shook her head. “As always with that girl…clear as mud.”

Mitch cleared his .45 and checked the clip. “Did you bring any other ammo with us?”

Sissy walked in from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel. He didn’t know what the hell she was cooking in there, but ChristAlmighty, it smelled so freakin’ good.

“Wha?”

He held his clip up. “More ammo? Or is this it?”

“That’s all I brought from New York.”

He winced. “This isn’t much.”

“I know.”

They stared at each other for several seconds. Finally, Mitch said, “Thanks for your high level of concern.”

“It doesn’t quite live up to your high level of whining.”

“I’m not whining, I’m concerned about our safety.”

Sissy tucked part of the dish towel into the waistband of her shorts and walked across the room. She pushed aside a wood shelf holding all sorts of little curios and things. Stuff that Mitch would only accidentally break so he never had any of it in his own home.

Sissy didn’t remove the shelf attached to the wall; she simply pulled it open. That’s when Mitch saw the false wall behind it. She moved that aside, revealing a serious safe. He knew the make. It was one of the high-end kind. Sissy punched a code in and pulled down the handle. She opened the door, and Mitch let out a choked breath.

“Holy shit.”

“This is Momma’s stuff,” Sissy said as she stepped back so he could get an even better look at the arsenal behind the wall. “You can use anything in here but her blades. Don’t mess with her blades. I nicked one once when I was twelve, and she tore my ass up. And since she seems to like you, I’ll be the one to suffer.”

When Mitch simply sat there and stared, she motioned him forward. “Come here. I’ll show you what she’s got. Then I’ll show you Daddy’s upstairs.”

Slowly, Mitch stood. “Can you guys legally have this stuff?”

“Hunting is a way of life around here.”

Mitch reached into the eight-shelf safe and pulled out the Tech Nine semiauto. “And what, exactly, do you hunt with this, Miss Smith?”

“Anything,” she said simply, “that ain’t supposed to be on our territory.”

And Mitch knew she wasn’t talking about any damn deer.

Chapter 7

Sissy didn’t know feeding Mitch would be so enjoyable—except for the expense, of course. He’d pretty much groaned and purred during the whole meal. Everything she put in front of him made him smile, and then he’d feed like he hadn’t eaten in days.

It had done her ego a world of good and took the sting out of all the money she’d spent earlier. She so rarely cooked these days, she forgot what it was like to have someone appreciate her efforts.

Of course, she did make him clean up the dishes while she took a shower. He’d tried to fight it, but when she promised him zebra stew for the next day, he’d shut his mouth and gotten to work. When she’d walked through that kitchen an hour later, it sparkled like angels had touched it.