Cracking her neck, she shoved open the door and walked out into a large back alley. At the mouth of the alley, the scarred male leaned against a late-model Ford, talking to the other man Ronnie remembered from Shaw’s room. Each leaned over the roof, speaking in low tones.

Ronnie sauntered over, loving the cold December air against her skin. She always got a little hot and bothered when she stalked. Nothing she loved better.

Neither male realized she was there until she placed her hands on either side of the scarred male. Her fingers gripped the metal roof, and she barely held her claws in. She’d pull those out only when necessary.

“Well, hello, darlin’,” she purred in his ear.

Stunned, both men froze. The male facing her quickly saw the other females behind her as they slowly made their way around the car. Surrounding them as Ronnie surrounded the scarred human.

He slowly turned, gripped her hands, and pushed her away. “Can I help you?” Ronnie grimaced. The male’s New York accent was thick and powerful, grating on her sensitive wolf ears.

“I was just wondering,” she softly stated while stepping close again, her hands resting on his chest as she leaned into his lanky body, “what your fascination with Brendon Shaw might be?”

The male snorted, dismissing her. “Mind your own business, sweet cheeks.”

Using very little effort, Ronnie slammed the scarred human back against the car, then pinned him there with her body.

“I’m sorry. Maybe I wasn’t clear, darlin’.”

The She-wolves moved closer. Gemma climbed up on the hood of their car and Sissy Mae got close to the other male, sniffing his neck while she rubbed up against him. Any other time, Ronnie would bet the male would love that move. Right now, he looked terrified.

“What do you want with Brendon Shaw?” she asked again.

The male stared at her. They were of equal height, but Ronnie easily outweighed him. She felt the gun attached to his slacks, but she had no fear he’d ever get close to it if he tried.

“Nothin’. I don’t want nothin’ from Brendon Shaw.”

“I saw you at his hospital room. I know you were there.”

He smirked, so Ronnie leaned forward and snapped at him. She didn’t bare her fangs, but she added a little growl for effect.

“Answer me, boy. I’d hate to have to ruin that face any more than necessary.”

His smirk turned feral and he said, “Lady, get the hell away from me before I arrest you for assaulting an officer.”

Ronnie raised an eyebrow. “You’re a cop? You expect me to believe that?”

The other male pulled out the long chain hidden under his orange sweater. The badge hanging at the end of it blinked at her in the streetlights.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

Holding her hands up, Ronnie steppedback. Damn, but she really didn’t want to go to jail tonight. Although New York jails couldn’t possibly be any worse than the ones in Mexico and Russia.

“You’re cops,” she said flatly.

“Yeah, brain trust. We’re cops.”

With a motion from Sissy Mae, the other She-wolves slowly backed off.

The humans opened the car doors, but Ronnie couldn’t leave it at that.

“What do you want with Brendon Shaw? Why were you at the hospital?”

The male on the driver’s side ignored her and got into the car, immediately starting it up. Poor guy couldn’t wait to get out of there. The other looked at her and smiled. “Let’s just say,” he offered as he climbed into the vehicle, “we’re not here because of Brendon Shaw.”

“You know, the first time you ever spoke to me, you held a conversation with my tits.”

A lesser man would have spit his beer across the table. Brendon, however, choked it back and looked straight at a scowling Mace and smirking Dez across the booth they’d absconded.

With a shrug, he said, “What can I say? They’re so…there. It’s hard not to talk to them like they’re individual people.”

Dez’s eyes narrowed, but Mace grunted and turned away. It took her all of five seconds to realize he was laughing. “What’s so damn funny?” she demanded.

“Nothing.” Mace cleared his throat and looked back at her, trying, Brendon noted, not to let his eyes stray anywhere near her very prominent breasts. “Just thinking about how much I lo—”

Dez’s hand landed across Mace’s mouth so fast and hard, Brendon almost jumped.

“I thought,” she growled, “we had this discussion.”

Mace pulled her hand away and kissed her fingers. “You discussed. I didn’t agree to a damn thing.”

“Tricky cat.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing. Besides”—he nuzzled her palm—“you know you lov—”

Dez’s free hand slapped across his mouth. “Stop it!”

Sure, most people would walk away, give the pair some alone time. But Brendon was cat and, to be quite honest, he found the whole thing absolutely fascinating. Humans could be so weird. Especially human females. Didn’t they live to hear someone say they loved them? When did that change?

Really, give him a predator female any day. They were much easier to deal with and a lot less drama.

“Well”—Ronnie dropped into the booth next to him—“I almost got arrested again.”

Then, of course…there was Ronnie.

Taking a deep breath, Brendon asked, “Why did you almost get arrested…again?”