She muttered something mighty offensive and stormed out of the house. Smitty started to follow when his phone rang.
“Yeah?”
“Hi. It’s Jess.”
His very soul immediately soothed just from the sound of her voice, Smitty smiled. “Hey, darlin’. What’s up?”
“I hate to bother you and you can say no—”
“What do you need, Jessie Ann?”
“Wilson contacted me.”
Smitty let out a breath. “And?”
“And we either pay him or he’s going to try and take Kristan. That can’t happen.”
No, it couldn’t. He’d met the Wilsons and he’d met Kristan. No way would he let that sweet little gal spend ten seconds in Wilson territory.
“Background noise when he called makes me think he’s in New York.”
“But Mitch has had a hell of a time finding him.”
“I know. So has Phil. But if our best trackers can’t find him... ” He could hear her pacing, sense her anxiety through the phone. “And it worries me that we can’t find him. It means he’s hiding. Why?”
“We both know why, Jessie Ann.”
“Yeah,” she said with deep resignation. “We both know why.”
“Tell me what you need, Jessie.”
“Look, I wouldn’t bug you about this—”
“You’re not bugging me, Jessie.”
“—but my Pack is about three minutes from doing something really... not good. Something I think the Smiths will never be able to forgive us for. Either I stop this now or I let them off-leash.”
“Don’t do that. I can help.” He just didn’t know how. But knowing her Pack as he now did, he had no doubts they could and would do some serious damage that would and could cause a Pack war between the Smiths and the Kuznetsovs. He couldn’t let that happen. He had to come up with something fast or...
Ronnie Lee rushed back into the living room. “Would you stop barking at me!” she yelled toward the front door. “I’ll be right out!” She smiled at Smitty before digging through the couch cushions. In a few seconds she found her MP3 player and headed back the way she came.
“Hey, Ronnie Lee?”
She stopped, staring at him expectantly.
“Your aunt still live out here?”
“Yeah, but she’s in Nassau County.”
“Think she’d mind if I dropped by?”
“Of course not! She’s always loved her some Smiths, Bobby Ray.” Ronnie grinned and grabbed a pen and piece of paper.
“Jessie Ann?”
“Yeah?”
“Wanna go for a ride, darlin’?”
“Bobby Ray Smith!”
Jess stepped out of the way as the forty-something woman threw herself into Smitty’s big arms.
“Morning, Annie Jo.”
The infamous Annie Jo Lucas. Jess remembered her fondly. Why? Because the other females hated the She-wolf. She’d worked her way through every Smith male in at least four counties in three states. She took what she wanted, and she always walked away without looking back. A few males tried to get her, but none of them could handle her. And once their mates found out they’d been with Annie Jo at one time or another, jealousy made for a few nights in a cold bed.
On the drive over, Smitty had explained how a nasty argument between Annie Jo and her older half-sister and Ronnie Lee’s mother, Tala Lee Evans, had led to Annie Jo’s break from the Pack and her move to Long Island, of all places. But Annie Jo never forgot family or the Pack she left behind. Except for her sister, all Smith Pack members had open invites to stop on in and say “Hey.” But you couldn’t stay. Not for longer than a night. As always, Annie Jo remained the classic lone wolf.
“I should have thought about talking to her in the first place,” Smitty had said as they’d sped down the Southern State Parkway, “but I had this hot little wild dog on my mind. So I was distracted.”
For a long second she wondered what “hot little wild dog” he was talking about and how long before she could track the bitch down and tear out her long intestine. Then he smiled at her and she realized he was talking about her.
Duh.
Now they stood on the doorstep of Annie Jo’s house and the She-wolf didn’t seem to be in any great hurry to let Smitty go. Jess normally wouldn’t mind all the hugging if the woman wasn’t still unreasonably hot.
“Look at you,” Annie Jo finally said, leaning back to get a good look at Smitty but not actually releasing him. “Don’t you look good? Remind me of your Uncle Eustice. Handsome, handsome, handsome. How is handsome Eustice?”
“Doing twenty-five to life in West Tennessee State Penitentiary.”
Annie Jo blinked. “Oh. Well. Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.” She finally released him and stepped back. “Now y’all come right on in this second. Come on.”
They walked into a small but tidy house with comfortable, well-worn furniture and lots of pictures on the mantels and bookshelves. A small piano filled one corner of the living room and Jess remembered how Annie Jo used to give lessons. Once she left town, the number of boys taking piano lessons dropped dramatically.
“Annie Jo, this is—”
“Jessica Ann Ward. How could I forget such a pretty face?” Annie Jo hugged her and Jess grudgingly let her. “I see you’ve grown up even prettier.”
“Thank you.”
“Y’all want some coffee or hot chocolate?”
“Love some.”
Annie Jo led them to her kitchen and sat them down at the breakfast table. She put out fresh cinnamon rolls while she brewed up some coffee and made Jess hot chocolate from scratch.
When Jess took that first sip all she could think was, Marry me.
“So what can I do you for, my darlin’ Bobby Ray?”
Smitty put down his coffee. He’d already devoured three sweet rolls in the time it took her to brew the pot. Now he was reaching for a fourth.
God, the man is a bottomless pit.
“I need your help,” he said.
“Help with what?”
“I’m trying to track someone down.”
Amber eyes that were so light they looked more yellow and doglike than Jess remembered watched Smitty closely. “You mean Walt Wilson?”
Smitty stopped in the middle of licking icing off his fingers, which did nothing but drive Jess crazy. How was she supposed to focus when he insisted on doing that? “You’ve heard from him?”
With a sigh, Annie Jo got up and went to her refrigerator, pulling out cream and sugar from her cupboard. She offered some to Smitty, who passed, and put a small amount in hers before she spoke again. “About four weeks ago he and that mate of his showed up here looking like they’ve seen better days. I know he was hoping I’d let him stay, but I got one rule. You can spend one night and one night only. Otherwise, I’d never get rid of any of ’em. I’d have Smiths acting like this was a bed and breakfast while they were visiting New York.” She returned the cream to the refrigerator before dropping back into her chair and focusing on Jess. “I know his daddy, you see? Took a turn with him when I was eighteen or nineteen.” She shrugged. “It wasn’t the best ride I had, but it wasn’t the worst. At least Walt Junior is smarter than his daddy. But not by much. Anyway, the next morning, about three She-wolves and a male showed up and off they went.”
“Do you know where?”
She sipped her coffee, those shrewd eyes watching Smitty. “Why you askin’?”
“Because of me,” Jess cut in. “Because I need to find him.”
“You know, he left something behind.” She stood and disappeared from the room, but she yelled back through the doorway, “He called about it a day later and I said I’d already thrown it out because I didn’t want him back here.”
Annie Jo came back in. “I thought it was strange he’d call about something like this, so I went through it. And found this.”
She placed the issue of Wired Magazine on the table. “Isn’t that you, Jessie Ann? In the background? With the sword?”