Gabby laughed.
Meghan fumed. “Shut up, Julia. You’re such a snob.”
Julia’s eyes widened. Meghan couldn’t be serious. “I’m a snob? Meghan, they have mounted animals on their walls! Bears, mountain lions…foxes.”
Meghan sniffed. “It’s not like that stuffed fox was Uncle Pete, for cripes’ sake. We’re predators too, Ms. High and Mighty.”
Gabby shifted, clearly uncomfortable with the all-too-common disagreement. “Actually, Meghan, that kind of freaks me out too. I like Jason, but I’m worried about you.”
Gabby liking Jason seemed to ease some of Meghan’s tension. Julia’s doubled. She’d thought Gabby was on her side.
“Don’t worry about me. I know what I’m doing.” Meghan tossed her hair and flounced out of the room.
Gabby rolled onto her back on the bed and stared at the cracked ceiling. “Oh yeah, that went well.”
“‘I like Jason?’ What the hell, Gabby? I thought we were in agreement. Meghan doesn’t know what she’s doing. She’s twenty-two going on twelve. She’s in heat for some boy and she thinks it’s love. If he doesn’t screw her over for some bimbo in a few years, his family will hunt her down and mount her to their wall.” Outsiders were nothing but trouble.
“Come on, Julia. He’s not that bad. Jason’s kind of nice. He’s a year older than Meghan, but he acts a lot more mature. And he’s not the hunter his family is.”
“Thank God for small favors. Still doesn’t change the fact he’s close to them. How long do you think Meghan can hide herself from Jason? The minute she tells him she’s Ac-taw, he’ll tell his family. And you can’t tell me you like any of the Williams men.”
“Ah, no, I don’t. And speaking of which, that sounds like a truck. Ned’s truck, I bet. What did you do to the guy to make him so hot and bothered for you?”
Julia paused, cocked her head and heard Ned Williams speaking over the rumble of his muffler. Through the window of the bedroom she saw him park his truck and approach the house. Oh, please, not now. She’d been hoping to avoid him on this trip, since her last visit to Nowhere had ended in a near mauling when she’d refused his offer of a quickie behind the Gas An’ Go…again.
He strutted ahead of his two younger brothers, Itchy and Snitchy, as she’d nicknamed them. Bob Williams scratched his crotch whenever the need hit, and considering how often his hand strayed to his zipper, she wondered if he had a venereal disease. Dave Williams couldn’t keep his mouth shut to save his life. She now knew more about Ned than she’d ever wanted, including how many times he jacked off when he thought about her. That Ned found it natural to share such information gave her pause. Just how the hell close were these brothers?
She cringed. That thought she could have totally done without.
Half of the Williams family made a living at the local garage and hardware store, while the other half worked at the nearby lumbermill. Cutting down trees seemed right up their alley along with shooting wildlife, bullying the townsfolk and bothering strangers who wanted nothing to do with them. Well, except for Meghan. She apparently loved Jason Williams, the baby of his family, and a piece of the Williams puzzle that didn’t seem to fit.
Unlike the burly, bulky Williams men, Jason was tall but slender. He trimmed his facial hair, looking less like a wild mountain man than a thoughtful, attractive college student. Like Meghan, he’d recently graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle. Little had Julia known that Meghan’s foray away from Cougar Falls would turn into a permanent one.
Julia and Gabby had spent a year trying to convince their sister to leave Seattle behind and return home. Meghan talked about nothing but Jason. Jason this, Jason that, until the young fox had mentioned an engagement and a permanent move to the West Coast in the same breath.
But until Meghan received permission from the clan to marry Jason, she’d never be welcome in town again. Julia wasn’t sure, but rumors about the magical totem that protected the town from outsiders led her to believe the Silver Fox Clan could actually make it impossible for Meghan to come home again.
To most Shifters, family and clan meant everything. For years, Julia had done her best to provide for her sisters, her only real family. Her uncle and aunt tolerated her because it was expected of them, and it made them look good in the eyes of others. Were it not for her desire to make her sisters’ lives better, she would have left the Silver Foxes long ago.
Then again, Julia and her sisters needed the security belonging provided. No clan, no life in Cougar Falls. And if the rest of the foxes knew the truth about her mother and father, which her sisters, aunt and uncle dutifully protected, the Easton girls would be ass-out in no time. Just one more stressor she didn’t need to dwell on, not with Ned knocking on the door.
“Yo, honey, open up.”
Gabby snickered and rolled off the bed. She nudged Julia out the door into the living room. “Go on, honey. Tell your man to get lost.”
“You know, you’re becoming as big a pain as Meghan,” Julia grumbled. Meghan, she noted, ignored her and talked to Jason on her cell phone—the same cell phone Julia paid for on a monthly basis. Perhaps the time had come to play hardball. Meghan wanted to act like an adult? Fine. She could start by paying her own bills.
Julia opened the door, needing the confrontation to get her mind off her baby sister wanting to marry. Damn Jason and his need to bond with family before making a permanent move to Seattle. He and Meghan had visited back and forth over the past six months. Her sister and an outsider. What was Meghan thinking?
And now another outsider thought he could charm her—a silver fox from Cougar Falls? Not just no, but hell no. Studying Ned from his shaggy brown hair to the tips of his steel-toed boots, she snarled. “Terrific, another headache. Just what I don’t need.”
He chuckled.
Subtlety had never worked on the man. Apparently obvious loathing didn’t either.
He grinned and leaned against the doorframe. “Come on, baby. Let’s hit the church and you can meet Pastor Reynolds.”
Julia frowned. “I’m sorry?”
Ned grabbed her in a bear hug before she could move. He outweighed her by a hundred pounds at least. When he squeezed, he choked the breath out of her. “I knew you didn’t mean all those things you said. Damn, you smell good.” He changed topics like the wind, unable to hold a thought in his stubborn head. Trying to convince him she couldn’t stand him had gone from difficult to downright impossible.
“I’m not sorry. I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. What pastor? What church?” Oh God, had Jason and Meghan already set a date? She could have sworn Meghan had mentioned a prolonged engagement.
“You and me, baby. I think I get it now. No sex without a ring. Heard that a time or two,” he said with a laugh. “And I’ve been thinking on it. You know, I think it’s time for me to get hitched.”
Meghan closed her cell phone and stared in shock. “Julia, I had no idea you and Ned were dating. And you have the nerve to talk about me and Jason.”
“I’m not dating Ned,” Julia snapped, and prayed for patience. She wiggled until Ned dropped her to her feet and put some distance between herself and the large man. “I’m here to drag you home where you belong. Ned, back off. I’m not marrying you today, tomorrow or any other day of the week.”
But Ned being Ned didn’t hear her. “The boys are here to help Meghan with whatever she needs. Geekboy is at the mill until five.”
For all Ned’s faults, he was loyal to his family. Though she sensed he didn’t understand his youngest brother’s need for a higher education, he didn’t degrade him in front of others. In front of family was another story. Jason had told Meghan horror stories about how nasty Ned could be when he didn’t get his way, and he hadn’t wanted Jason to go to school. He’d recently begun to support Jason’s decision to graduate college, but only because of the money Jason made running his own programming company, money Jason shared with his family.