“I wish I’d been there,” David said. “I would have ripped their hides off.”
Personally, Dakota thought he would have peed himself and then fainted, but Macy patted him on the shoulder and said, “You sure would have, babe.” He seemed like a nice guy, in a wimpy, artsy kind of way.
“So we can’t stay at the cabin anymore,” Dakota said, setting her suitcase down on the ground. “The next time, those guys might come back and rip the door off its hinges. Or just, you know, blow on it and knock it down.”
Macy frowned in thought. “You should go stay on the Fenris Pack property like Miles asked you to. He may be a jerk, but he’s the bad-assiest jerk in the territory.”
“Assiest? Okay. You’re right, even if your grammar is wrong,” Dakota said reluctantly. The cubs’ safety came before her own desire to avoid Miles and the dark, hungry desire he stirred up inside her.
As they drove, they scarfed down the egg and bacon sandwiches that Macy had brought for them. The Fenris Pack property was a couple of miles from the town center, at the end of a long dirt road that was hemmed in by trees and thick underbrush on either side. David and Macy dropped them off at the clearing at the end of the road and headed back towards town.
“Well, this is much nicer, at least,” Dakota said, looking around.
“Also less serial killery,” Naomi observed. “There was a definite serial killer vibe back at that cabin. Very creepy.”
There were cabins scattered around in the woods facing the clearing. In the center, there was a fire pit with a circle of chairs around it, and a big barbecue grill. Near the grill were half a dozen picnic tables with benches, and big steel trash cans. The grass had been mowed and the setting was rustic, but clean and pretty.
Dakota found herself scanning the area for Miles, without really meaning to. It was pretty clear which cabin belonged to him; it was the largest, and it sat on top of a hill. There were two other cabins set on either side of it, which most likely belonged to his Beta and Omega, if this was a traditional pack arrangement. There was also the usual meeting house off to one side of the clearing, a smaller version of the one in the center of town.
Miles himself was nowhere in sight, but she saw Anders and a few other shifters at the top of a hill cutting up a felled tree with a chainsaw. Anders looked up and waved at them. She waved back.
As they trudged through the clearing towards the hilltop, a pretty blonde in tight jeans hurried out of the meeting house and blocked their path.
Ugh. Destiny. The nasty blonde bully from the day before.
Dakota tried to walk past her, but Destiny moved to block her again.
“Figures you’d show up here. You’re the welfare case that Miles was complaining about. The fat one with all the kids.”
Dakota felt as if she’d taken a blow to the gut. Miles had said that about her? It wasn’t that she wanted to date him or anything, but she didn’t want him to think of her like that either.
“Things didn’t work out with your boyfriend Mickey?” she retorted. “That was fast.”
A spark of anger flared in Destiny’s eyes, but she quickly recovered.
“I’ve got my eyes on a bigger prize.” She smirked at Dakota.
Miles. Of course. Who wouldn’t want to be with the Alpha Prime?
“I don’t like the lady with the yellow hair,” Mary said to Naomi.
“Join the club,” Naomi muttered.
Destiny flicked a bored look at her, then returned her attention to Dakota. “Miles changed his mind about letting you stay here. He felt sorry for you, but then he thought about what a drag it would be having you and those whiny little brats around all the time. Run along, now.”
“Can’t I bite her?” Mary pleaded.
“Yes,” Sarah said.
“No,” Dakota said at the same time. “We do not solve our problems by biting.”
Sarah flicked her a dirty look and snorted in contempt. “That’s true,” she said. “Sometimes stabbing works better.”
Dakota looked for Anders and the other shifters, but they had vanished into the forest. Letting Miles’s new squeeze do the dirty work?
Well, this wouldn’t be the first time a guy had considered Dakota…and then found her wanting. She sure wasn’t going to stick around and beg for a place to stay, and the cubs shouldn’t be somewhere where they weren’t wanted either.
“Let’s go, Naomi,” Dakota said shakily. She turned and walked off quickly before the blonde could see that her eyes were full of tears. The kids were apparently used to getting shuffled around from one place to another; they sighed in exasperation and trudged after her.
