“Smith shrugged and came over to Cella and Crush. Another shifter, a black bear, waited to lead them out, the security cameras conveniently and temporarily turned off.“What did you really do to him?” Cella had to ask her.“Nothin’.”“Smith,” she said, stopping by the bear. “The man shit, pissed, and vomited after spending less than thirty minutes with you. There has to be a reason.”“Got me. All I did was stare at him until he told me something I could use.”The bear looked Smith over. “Did you stare at him with those eyes of yours?”“I have my daddy’s eyes.”“Annnnd, we now have our answer,” Cella announced before they made their way out of the maximum security prison and headed home.”

“Smirking, Cella stared at the five males in the elevator before asking the women with her, “Show of hands for anyone else who’s had this fantasy before.” He wasn’t exactly surprised when all those hands went up.”

“Understand?”“Sure.”“Good.”“’Cause I always love a challenge.”He’d caught her with that when she was halfway in the cab. With one foot in and the other still braced against the curb, she stared at him. “What challenge?”“You’re challenging me to get you back into my life.”“No, I’m not.”“Your exact words were ‘I challenge you, Bobby Ray Smith, to get me back into your life.’”“I never said that.”“That’s what I heard.” The beauty of wolf hearing. You heard only what you wanted to, made up what was never said but should have been, and the rest meant little or nothing.”

“I’m not talking about them. We told you before, Smith, we wouldn’t play if her”—he pointed at Sissy—“or her”—he pointed at Ronnie—“were playing.” Mitch looked at her. “Uh…Sissy?” Sissy rounded on the coach. “I can’t believe you are still holding that against us. It’s been years!” “He was in traction for three months. A shifter! In traction!” “He was in my way!”

“Have you realized" MacRyrie asked her, "that you're just like Novikov but with more charm and no OCD?""The direct thing?""Yeah," both bear and wolf said at the same time. "I like being direct. Then no one can hold shit over your head. Like when I got pregnant in high school. I ran around telling everybody. The nuns were horrified. But no one could shame me because I'd already put it all out there. For everybody!”

“Either Mitch goes with me…or get used to finding your wife hiding in trees.” “That’s just mean.” “I’m a Smith. What did you expect?” “Good point.”

“He made it to the front door before he looked back at her. Then his eyes grew wide. “Oh! I almost forgot.” He came back over to her and handed her a card. “These are my numbers, e-mail addresses, business URL, physical address, and mailing address. You know…if you need to get in touch with me.” Get in touch with him? But he left out his social security number, his date of birth, and his high school GPA.”