Max flashed me a wicked grin.
“It’s my wedding night. And he knows me.”
I found that last bit a little unsettling. It made me think of other women who Max had been with before me – so, obviously, I wasn’t the first woman whose clothes he’d ripped off.
Who were these other women? How many had they been? Were they prettier than me? Skinnier than me? Did he still talk to them? Were they from his pack?
I did my best to banish the thoughts from my mind. Fake marriage, I reminded myself. I can’t stake a claim here.
I went into the bathroom to take a quick shower, then ran a comb through my tangled hair and came out looking reasonably presentable, or at least less frightening.
Max met me with a steaming mug of coffee when I came out of the bathroom and kissed my lips. “You look beautiful,” he said, and bless him, he really sounded as if he meant it.
“You look sexy as hell, and I hate that you wake up looking like that,” I said sincerely.
“Life’s just not fair, is it?” He flashed that sexy smile at me and I wanted to drag him into bed and ravage him all over again.
Instead, I took the mug that he held out, and sucked down the coffee greedily. “Where are we going? Breakfast?”
“We will definitely get breakfast,” he said. “First, I thought you might want to go bail your friends out of jail.”
“My friends – Oh my God.”
I followed him out the door to his pickup truck, heart pounding in my chest. Bess and Corwin. I had totally forgotten to call or text Bess and tell her not to come get me at the Gas N Gulp. How could I have done that?
Because I’d let lust hormones fog my brain, that’s how.
“What happened? How did they end up in jail?” I said, as we drove out of the Timber Valley pack’s area and towards the town of Timber Valley.
I pulled out my phone and looked at it as we drove. I winced. 76 text messages, all from Bess and Corwin. Awesome.
“Your friends came to the front gate of our property and demanded to see you immediately, claiming that we’d kidnapped you.” Maxwell, thank God, looked amused rather than furious. “When the guard on duty refused, they pretended to leave, but they just drove up the road a ways and shifted and tried to sneak on to our property. They’re not very good at sneaking. They were apprehended and taken into town, and jailed for trespassing.”
“Oh. Dang it, why didn’t someone just come to our suite, and…I don’t know…”
“Interrupt the Alpha on his wedding night?” He barked out a laugh. “Because the shifters in this pack have a strong survival instinct.”
Timber Valley was a beautiful little town. It mostly consisted of a big circular road called Green Street, off the main road, with little shops and restaurants and a feed and grain store lining the circle. In the middle of the circle was a park with a gazebo and benches and trees. Couples strolled hand in hand, or lolled in the grass in animal form. Shifter cubs played in the trees; I saw a leopard cub chasing a wolf cub along the branches, with a shifter mother standing by the tree, hands on hips, yelling at them to get down.
“Does Kray’s pack hang out around here much?” I asked nervously.
“Not any more. They used to, but since Kray took over, they’ve gotten in so many fights that we told them to stay out of our territory. Now that we’re allied, Kray may want to change that, but for right now we don’t have to worry.”
We pulled up in front of the sheriff’s office, halfway round the circle. It was a red brick building with broad marble steps leading up to it; the jail was in the back of the building, Max told me.
As we walked in, we were greeted by the sheriff. The sheriff, if I do say so myself, was quite hot. He was also a Battle, according to the name tag on his broad chest.
Sheriff Steele Battle, to be specific. He was big and burly and had straight, close clipped black hair. If I hadn’t been with my husband, I would have been tempted to fan myself and simper at the sight of him.
He touched the brim of his cap and nodded politely to me. “Pleased to meet you, ma’am. Congratulations,” he said to me. “Sorry to interrupt your wedding weekend.”
“Oh, no problem at all. And thank you,” I said.
Steele flashed a grin at Max. “Let me know if you want to borrow my handcuffs.”
Argh! I blushed, but Max just laughed. “Please. I’ve got my own. Do come out here this weekend, though. Good times to be had. The band is still there, the feast’s going on. Hot women everywhere. Leave one of your deputies in charge for once, for God’s sake.”
“I may do that,” Sheriff Battle said. Then he led us through the building to the jail, where Bess and Corwin were locked in a small cell, sitting on a bench and glowering sullenly.