Okay, she was hurting. She wouldn’t solve anything by wallowing in her sorrow. The past was the past. She couldn’t return to it. She had no control over yesterday, but she had control over today, and tomorrow, and the rest of her life. She had a group of cubs who needed a home, and by God she’d provide that for them until she found some decent family they could live with. Maybe when she started teaching on Monday, the head schoolteacher would have some idea of where to place them.
And after that? She had no idea. She couldn’t stay here forever; she was living a lie. Thinking about her future just made her want to cry, so she tried to make her mind a blank and not think at all.
When she walked outside, she saw that the fight had moved out into the middle of the street, and the two men had shifted now and were circling each other, snapping and snarling. Shifters lined the sidewalk to watch.
“What happened?” she asked a grizzled older coyote shifter.
He pointed at the larger wolf. “That’s Fargo. The other guy bumped into Fargo by accident, Fargo punched him in the face, and here we are, afternoon’s entertainment provided for free.” He grinned, showing stained teeth, and she shook her head in exasperation. Macho shifters. She’d had her fill of them.
Baldwin’s voice right behind her made her jump. “What are you doing here? Miles was worried.”
She turned around.
“I just had some errands to run,” she said. “Is Miles with you?”
“He’s right there.” Baldwin pointed. Miles was striding through the crowd towards the two shifters who were fighting. He was still in human form, but he was projecting his dominance and anger, to the point where people on the edge of the crowd fell back and instinctively bowed their heads.
Dakota found herself moving closer to see what was happening. She saw women in the crowd casting admiring glances at Miles, and her fur itched to burst through her skin.
Inside, she felt her wolf pacing. Mine. Don’t look at him, he’s mine.
Right, she scoffed to herself. He’s not mine, and he never will be. Why did his sexy macho pheromones have to mess with her head like this? The last thing she needed was for her already bruised heart to be stomped on by letting Miles use her as his flavor of the day.
As Miles approached the brawling wolves, both shifters stopped fighting instantly. One of them immediately rolled over and exposed his belly and waved his paws in the air. Fargo hesitated, crouching low and glaring up at Miles.
Miles didn’t move a muscle, didn’t even bother to shift. He just scowled down at the remaining wolf, and suddenly a pool of urine dribbled underneath Fargo and he flopped to the ground, physically forced down by the strength of Miles’s fury. Fargo let out a howl of pain and fear, and Miles stood over him for what felt like an eternity before he kicked him in the side, hard. Dakota heard a crunch as Fargo’s ribs broke.
“Get out of here before I rip your throat out,” Miles growled down at the whimpering wolf. “Unless you want to challenge me right now. I’m sick of you idiots coming to town and starting shit for no reason. You are now banned from the western territory.”
Fargo scrambled to his feet, tucked his head low, and ran for it, limping and yelping with every pained step. His ribs would take a day or two to heal up, at least.
He was getting off easy, Dakota thought. Her father would have ripped his intestines out with his teeth, even back before he went crazy. It was surprising to see an Alpha Prime like Miles, who knew his own power but didn’t abuse it.
Baldwin shook his head. “One of those feral shifters from the east,” he said.
“How many are there over there?”
“About fifteen or twenty that are real trouble-makers, and then maybe another thirty that mind their own business.”
“Doesn’t Creel keep them in line?”
“Creel’s a loner. Doesn’t care about anyone but himself.” Baldwin glanced at her. “Don’t worry, the Fenris Pack has the upper hand.”
But for how long, if the human authorities kept sending the worst of the worst to the local territory?
Miles strode up to them, his eyes a dark, stormy color. His lips quirked up in a smile when he saw Dakota, though.
“Let’s go,” he said. “You can ride with us.”
They walked back to his pickup truck, and Dakota went to climb into the back, but Miles held open the front passenger side door for her. She hesitated for a moment as Anders scrambled into the back.
“Don’t worry, I bite.” Miles grinned fiercely.
She favored him with a bland, pleasant smile. “It’s not the biting I’m afraid of. It’s just that bad pickup lines make me break out in hives, and I’m fresh out of Benadryl,” she said sweetly, and slid into her seat. She heard Anders strangling on a laugh.