Outfoxed (11 page)

Miles played his part to a T. “Why’d you direct that at Joy?”

When she didn’t answer, he turned her cheek to face him. “Gabby, what’s going on?”

Aware of her fascinated audience, she lowered her gaze. “I’m sorry. It’s not my place to say anything… But true love should never be denied. Miles, Dean is in love with Joy. You should know you can’t keep them apart.”

“
What?
” He swung accusing eyes to his sister, who looked like she’d rather be anywhere else. “Joy? You and Dean—
Chastell
—intend to mate?”

“What the fuck? Dean?” Burke’s voice could be heard from three counties away.

Rachel and Stacey entered from the back door and froze at the sight of Miles and Gabby, nearly arm in arm.

“What’s going on? What’s all the yelling about?” Rachel asked, then added, “What did Dean do now?”

Gabby sighed. “You should know, Rachel. It’s not a secret any longer, though they shouldn’t have had to hide their feelings for so long. Joy and Dean plan to mate. They’re in love.” Gabby knew she’d nailed it when Joy stammered and turned red, trying to answer.

Dean raced into the house with Burke hard on his heels. “Wait, it’s not like that…” He faltered when he saw Gabby sitting with Miles so close. “What the hell is going on?”

“That’s what I’d like to know. Joy Bermin?” Burke shook his head. “Nothing against you, Joy. But I always thought you and the boys were close, like kin. Brother and sister.” He looked baffled. “You’re in love? With
Dean
?” He took a whiff of his brother.

Her only weak spot in their charade. Joy and Dean didn’t smell mated.

Not like
I
do.

Joy was flustered, no two ways about it. The fox in Gabby snickered with delight when Joy obviously wanted to deny it but couldn’t in front of Gabby. “Ah, yes. Totally, utterly in love.”

Dean couldn’t take his gaze from Miles’s arm around her shoulder.

Burke frowned. “That true, Dean?”

“Huh? What? Uh-huh.” He blinked up at Burke then let his gaze meet the other astonished faces in the house. “Shit. Yeah. True love. All the way.” He turned back to Gabby, his expression suddenly inscrutable. “You know what they say. Love conquers all.”

She nodded at him. “I’m so glad you came out with the truth, Dean.”

His gaze narrowed. Maybe she shouldn’t have emphasized
truth
so hard.

Rachel intervened, thankfully. “But if Dean and Joy are an item, why is Grady freaking out outside?”

Gabby sighed and wondered if she’d made a mistake not majoring in theater. “Grady loved Joy before Dean stole her away from him. But Dean’s in love. It’s not his fault.” She drummed up a tear, encouraged when Miles squeezed her shoulder.

“Dear God. This sounds like something the raptors deal with on a daily basis. All the drama. It’s like a soap opera gone bad.” Burke squeezed the bridge of his nose.

“Very bad.” Miles took charge of the situation, bless him. “I don’t know why Joy thought she had to hide her affairs from me, but if she’s in love, I’m happy for her.” He gave her a loving smile, and Gabby thrilled at seeing the conniving cat flinch at such affection. “I’m no fan of Dean’s, as you well know, but I love you, Joy. I wish you all the happiness you deserve.”

Gabby choked on hysterical laughter and coughed to cover her mirth.

Miles continued. “Well, if the drama is over and the psycho cat outside taken care of, Gabby and I have plans.”

“Like friggin’
Peyton Place
,” Rachel muttered, looking around the room in confusion.

“We’re going to a movie. Don’t worry, Ty,” he interrupted just as her overprotective brother-in-law opened his big mouth. “I’ll be with her all night. Don’t wait up.” No one could mistake his grin as anything but carnal.

Julia chose that moment to enter through the front door. “Why is Monty holding Grady in a headlock out there? Because they don’t look like they’re playing.”

And end scene. Gabby stood with Miles and linked hands with him. “I have a date, sis. Don’t wait up.” Then with a gleeful twist of the proverbial knife, she walked with him past a stunned Monty and Grady to his BMW X5 and drove off into the sunset.

“What the hell did you do?” Burke yelled when Grady stepped through the front door.

Grady had cooled down enough that he’d convinced Monty to release him. He had to hand it to the gray wolf—Monty could hold his own when he had to. The whole loss of control he attributed to his cat. Seeing his mate in another male’s arms had driven him insane with jealousy. Perhaps if he’d been able to cement their bond, he might have been able to handle it better. But one, seeing a potential rival touching her, and two, having that rival be Miles…he’d lost his mind. Totally understandable.

Burke slapped him on the back of the head.

“Ow.” Understandable to everyone but his pride leader.

“What the fuck—excuse me ladies. What the
hell
is going on?”

Dean, Joy and Grady traded glances. Where to begin?

To everyone’s surprise, Stacey Bermin condescended to step into the thick of things. “Hillbilly,” she said to Dean, “why don’t you tell everyone just what you’re up to?” Her smile showed a lot of pretty white teeth. “There’s no one here to play for anymore. Just spill.” She studied her nails as if she couldn’t have cared less.

Yep. Pretty but cold. Not like his mate… Grady rumbled in the back of his throat, a scream of rage building once more, unable to keep thoughts of gutting Miles from intruding. He took a step back toward the door and found his way blocked by Monty and Ty.

“No going, Grady,” Ty said in his sheriff’s voice. The one he used when you really didn’t want to cross him.

“But—”

“Dean?” Stacey asked in a soft voice. “Now would be a good time to confess to being a man-whore.”

Rachel choked. Julia laughed out loud. The Bermins gasped while Ty and Monty shook their heads, apparently not surprised.

Burke groaned. “It always comes back to you, Dean.”

“It’s not my fault. It’s not.” He sounded less sure of himself. “Well it’s Joy’s too.”

“Oh good. Throw me under the bus, why don’t you?”

Stacey smiled, a secretive grin that threw Dean into a lather.

“What the princess meant about me being a man-whore…” he paused to scowl at her “…is that Joy and I only pretended to be a couple to get Grady into Gabby’s good graces.”

Silence filled the house.

“I so need a drink.” Burke wore the same look he’d worn throughout Grady’s high school years.

It embarrassed him to see it now, especially in front of the damn pride. “Stop. You want the truth? Fine. Here it is. Gabby’s mine. The stubborn woman would never give me the time of day. Then the genius and his sidekick over there—”

“Hey!” Joy protested.

“—decided to help me out without my knowledge. They led Gabby to believe Joy and I had been an item, but that she dumped me for Dean.”

Monty chuckled. “Really?”

“It could happen,” Dean snapped.

Grady talked over him. “Thinking she would give me a shot at a date out of pity.” So embarrassing to talk about, but in a way, it also felt freeing. “She and I grew closer. We mated,” he said bluntly. “Or at least, I think we did. I’m honestly not sure now.”

“I didn’t smell it.” Burke looked thoughtful. He and Rachel exchanged a look.

She nodded. “She’s masking it, but I scented it. And if you pay attention, it’s all over him.”

Everyone suddenly took note of Grady.

“What?”

“She claimed you back, dumbass.” Burke looked at the ceiling as if asking for divine intervention. “Honestly, we had the same parents. I’m not that dense, am I?”

“Not all the time, honey.” Rachel smiled kindly.

Hope unfurled in Grady’s breast, especially when Julia and Ty looked at him with shock.

“Oh my God. She did mark him. What a sneak,” Julia ranted. “I tell her everything, but does she tell me she claimed Grady? No. I have to learn about it from the other pregnant lady in the house. Now I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“Cats rule. Deal,” Rachel taunted. “And I still say my kid comes out before yours.”

“Not that your pregnancy competition isn’t funny in its own odd, little-woman kind of way,” Stacey drawled. “But I’d like to know how Grady can be so clueless. You’re mated, yet you’re letting my brother drag your mate around town? And why the hell would Gabby take another after mating you? Then again, she shows some sense going after a Bermin.”

Joy’s mouth dropped open. “She must have overheard us in the cabin.”

Dean blew out a breath. “Oh man. She pulled a fast one on you, bro.” Then he grinned at Ty and Julia. “Nice one. Score one for the silver foxes.”

Ty nodded. “We’re tricky. Remember that.” He rounded on Grady and slapped him on the back of the head, right where Burke had hit him.

“Ow! What the heck, Ty?” He rubbed his head.

“Treat her right or I’ll skewer you from your dick—um, er, innards—to your throat.”

“Nice save,” Julia murmured.

“What he said.” Burke nodded. “It goes without saying we approve.” By
we
he meant himself and Rachel. The two were inseparable, and now Grady knew what that felt like. “If I could give you a word of advice, tell her you’re sorry. On your knees, Grady. And mean it.”

“I am. I really am.” He felt like a grade-A fool, and the sympathy on the male faces around him told him he wasn’t alone.

“You’ll never be right again, you realize that, don’t you?” Ty gave Julia a knowing look.

“What?” She frowned at him, looking so much like Gabby Grady had to smile. Those silver fox females were so adorable.

Grady straightened up. “She’s complicated, I’ll give her that. And I deserved all this.” He rubbed his ribs and bruised cheek.

“But let’s not forget Joy and Dean’s part in all this,” Stacey spoke up. “Big sister has a penchant for trouble. Like the man-whore.”

Dean looked genuinely irritated. “Call me that again, princess, and you won’t like the repercussions.”

“Oh big word, Dean. But do you know what it means?” Trust Stacey to pull the lion’s tail.

Before Dean got into more trouble, Burke took him by the back of the neck while Rachel grabbed Joy, saving Stacey, who didn’t seem to realize the danger she’d been in. Then again, predator that she was, she’d have eaten Joy and Dean for dessert.

“Well, seems I have a stubborn mate to find.”
And get even with
. As much as he knew she’d been entitled to some payback, the vixen had nearly killed him by denying their connection. “I’m sorry for all this.”

Burke sighed and kept a hold on Dean, who continued to try unsuccessfully to get free. “I would say this is your fault, but when it comes to the female mind, we’re all a victim, Grady.”

“No shit.” Monty shook his head. “Poor bastard.”

Rachel, Joy and the other women frowned at him.

Ty and Burke shared a knowing glance and said as one, “Good luck.”

Miles walked with Gabby from the diner, still laughing. “Did you see his face? That cat was fit to be tied.”

She tried to laugh, but darn it all, Gabby had felt terrible ever since they’d left the Catamount Ranch. “Yeah.”

“Oh stop.” Miles rubbed her cheek with the back of his fingers. “He had it coming. Hell, Gabby. The only reason you now know the truth is because you overheard him. Though if Joy was involved, there was no way he could extricate himself from the mess without going down. But he should have trusted you before now.”

She nodded. “Miles? Grady and I…we’re mated. I know that.” She felt it with every pore of her being. “But Ac-taw can be mated and not be in love.” She’d seen enough angst in the silver fox clan to know that love didn’t conquer all. Lust and animal attraction could sometimes be enough to join Shifters as mates.

“So you’re not in love with Grady?”

“Of course I am. I meant him.”

Miles walked her to his vehicle parked way in the back of the lot, sandwiched between two large SUVs. The Fox’s Henhouse was always crowded, but tonight it seemed to be extra popular. She noted the number of SUVs in the lot and wondered what she’d missed. None of them looked familiar.

“Honey, if Grady was any more in love, I’d be dead by now. A good thing you had four Shifters to hold him back.” His grin was genuine, and it turned Miles from an aloof yet fearsome predator into a handsome, caring man. “Honestly? I didn’t know he had it in him.”

“What’s with all the animosity between you two, anyway?”

Miles sighed. “It’s a long story that goes back to the third grade. You see, there was this girl—” He stopped in his tracks and sniffed.

She smelled unfamiliar male cougar at the same time he did.

“Gabby,
run
.”

He moved at the instant a bullet struck him, hitting him in the shoulder instead of his chest. The noise had been muffled, but with so much going on, no one would think anything odd about a few men fighting. Instead of going down, Miles knocked her between his Beamer and another SUV. “It’s Ronnie, Lex’s brother. I can smell him.” The son of his old pride leader, and one of the men who’d tried to hurt Miles and his sisters. A weak little bastard who didn’t have the stomach, or the fortitude, to fight with honor—or so she’d overheard Miles tell Ty the other night. “He won’t be alone. Get out of here.” He shoved his keys into her hands.