“I guess I shouldn’t have thrown our dinner on the floor,” he said sheepishly. “I’d heard that claiming left you pretty hungry.”
Dakota laughed. “We’re in a restaurant,” she reminded him. “I’m sure I can rustle something up.”
She had to laugh again at the look of abject horror on his face.
Chapter Twenty-One
The next morning, the Early Bird restaurant was packed, but Dakota, Miles, Naomi, Baldwin and the cubs managed to find a table. The claiming mark on Dakota’s neck ached pleasantly, and she glowed with pride as she stroked it with her fingers.
“Eww, gross,” Sarah said to her. “Stop it. You’ve got that ‘I’m in love’ look on your face, and I’m about to eat.”
Bryant and Anthea sat across the room from them with a bear family, devouring enormous mountains of pancakes. Bears had huge appetites.
“I’m going to have twelve pancakes,” John announced, looking over the menu. “Look, I can read the menu! Kind of. I know they have pancakes.”
“That’s because they have a picture of pancakes,” Mary said, and stuck her tongue out at him. He tried to hit her, and Dakota yanked her out of her chair.
“No hitting, or no breakfast. John, I am proud that you’re learning to read. And you will start with two pancakes and some bacon, and if you finish them, you can have some more.” She set Mary back in her seat.
Miles looked over his menu. “I’m going to have…” He trailed off and let out a low growl. His eyes sparked with anger.
“What is it?” Dakota asked, and then she followed his gaze out the picture window.
Fifteen male wolves walked in, and Dakota heard Sarah suck in her breath. Dakota didn’t recognize most of them, although she saw Fargo lurking at the back. She had a feeling the rest of them were the wolves who’d arrived on the bus and gone into the eastern territory the day before.
“Leave, now,” Sarah said in a low voice to Dakota. “Go out the back door. Quickly.”
“What? Why? I’m not going to leave you guys – it looks like there might be trouble.”
The apparent leader of the group was a tall, burly shifter with salt-and-pepper hair and a scarred, sunburned face. He radiated the power of an Alpha Prime. His arms were criss-crossed with scars too, and a beer belly hung over the waistband of his stained, ripped blue jeans.
He stalked towards them, and the rest of the group trailed behind him. Sarah sucked in her breath and stared down at the table, and Miles and Baldwin jumped up and blocked the man from getting any closer.
Bryant and several wolf shifters from other local packs joined up with Miles and Baldwin.
“You picked the wrong place to start trouble,” Miles growled.
“And you picked the wrong pack to mess with. I am Ludwik Torville, Alpha Prime of the Montenegro Pack, and Sarah is my property, to do with as I please. We’ve moved up here, and we’re taking over the eastern territory. We’ve heard your ridiculous rules, and we reject them. We’ll come into town any time we fucking please. You can hand the girl over to us now, or we can have a pack war,” Ludwik announced, his voice booming through the café.
“It’s been heading that way anyway,” Miles said with a casual shrug.
“Tomorrow morning, then. We’ll meet up with you and anybody who’s not too fucking scared to face us.” His men all chortled, letting out forced laughs that gave Dakota a pretty good idea of what would happen if they didn’t pretend he was hilarious – and what life was like in his pack.
“Sarah, get over here now and I’ll only whip you ’til you bleed. You disobey me and I’m gonna whip you and cut off body parts,” Ludwik growled. “Don’t care if it lowers your bride price. Nobody disobeys me.”
“Talk to her like that again and you die right here – I won’t wait for the packs to meet. Kids, go to the back of the restaurant with your aunt and stay there,” Miles called.
Dakota stood up quickly, in front of the kids.
“Why are you calling her their aunt?” For a moment Ludwik looked more confused than threatening.
“Jamie Roberts? Because she’s their aunt. She’s the one who drew the short straw and had to come up here.”
“No she isn’t.” Ludwik scowled. “I’ve met Jamie, and this woman looks nothing like her.”
“Jamie?” Naomi looked at her in confusion. “He’s lying…right?”
Dakota’s heart sank. Son of a bitch. Now, of all times… She’d been planning on telling Miles tonight, and praying he wouldn’t be too mad.
