Havoc Read online

"You have a good nose," I told her.

  She swept into the room and sank into a chair. "Currant scones?"

  "The very same," I answered.

  "Ohmygod," she said in a soft moan. "I haven't had a currant scone in…"

  "Four years?" I suggested.

  "Oh Havoc, it's so good to have you back."

  "Thanks, Sam."

  Samantha was still at school, studying Veterinary Science. I guess it takes a long time to become a doctor, even an animal doctor. And you have to be really smart. Those smarts had come in handy more than once over the last four years since—as the pack leader's lass—she had the final say in decisions whenever the pack was split. Sam had used her responsibility wisely, giving me great confidence in the future of the pack leadership.

  "What's going on?" Camie asked when she arrived a few minutes later.

  "Havoc's back," Samantha sang. "And he's baking!"

  "Scones," Torrie added. "And rosehip buns."

  "What's a rosehip?" Camie demanded as she leaned back against the black and white tiled counter. "And does it taste good with coffee?"

  I poured a cup of black coffee for Force's girlfriend and put it in her hand. "You're such a city girl," I said with a laugh.

  Camie was working toward a law degree and had several more years to go. In the meantime, she still did the rounds of the thrift shops and garage sales, looking for stuff to sell online. Her friend Leo dropped by the house at least once a month and the two of them usually spent the day scrounging around the city for deals. At first, Force was jealous of Leo…until he realized Leo was more likely to be in love with him than with Camie. After that, he was okay with it.

  Elaina was the last of the pack lasses to stumble into the kitchen. I filled her mug to the halfway mark with cream, scooped in three teaspoons of sugar, and topped the mug off with coffee.

  "Thank you," she murmured, cupping the mug with two hands and lifting it to her lips. "How'd you know that's exactly what I wanted?"

  "I know my girls," I answered with a grin.

  Elaina and Reason had both finished their art education and had started a design company; they picked up enough freelance work to get by.

  Reason's the only one in the family who did the college thing but I hoped to follow in his footsteps because—you guessed it—university is a great place to meet girls. But before that would happen, I'd probably need to get citizenship or at least some kind of ID because universities are picky that way. They don't just let any old body in. Reason had gotten lucky when the school overlooked the fact that he appeared to be an illegal alien. I guess it helps if you're an incredibly talented artist and you're applying to the School of Art that's probably run by a bunch of nonconformist old hippies. I imagine the professors got a kick out of breaking the school's rules.

  "How're things going with your Dad?" I asked Camie, joining the girls at the table with a basket of scones covered with a checkered blue dishtowel.

  "Great, since he got that sponsorship," she answered with a grin. "He's gone a lot, though. Traveling all over the country with his Camaro."

  "I saw him in that yogurt commercial," Elaina spoke up. "He's pretty cute for a dad. And I love his car."

  "That white Camaro of his is pretty popular," Camie admitted.

  "I'd like to own a Camaro one day," I mused, juggling a hot scone in my hand and maneuvering it onto the plate in front of me.

  "Nothing wrong with that idea," Camie said. "Just don't use the name on your kids."

  "Got it," I said, smiling at the girl who was named after her father's favorite car.

  "Did you hear about Chaos's sponsorship?" Torrie asked.

  "What? Nay," I exclaimed.

  It turned out Chaos had recently been offered a sponsorship…for skateboarding! It was just a local backer and he didn't have to travel much—yet. But the guy had some real talent going on. I was in a state of total envy and had four years of catching up to do. In the meantime, I was probably going to have a hard time keeping up with Torrie at the skatepark. It didn't hurt that she had a gargoyle's strength to help with her speed and kicks.

  "Is payment going to be an issue?" I asked tentatively. Getting paid was another thing that was hard to do without identification.

  Torrie came back with, "What payment?"

  I tilted my head enquiringly.

  "He isn't getting paid…in anything other than clothing and equipment."

  "Ah," I murmured. "I guess that works, doesn't it?"

  "It works for now," she agreed cheerfully.

  Jumping up from the table, I pulled a second tray of scones from the oven. The soft morning light spilled in through the kitchen window while we ate hot buttered scones and did some more catching up.

  I knew that Defiance had received a glowing reference when he left Pegasus stables in Pine Grove. But he hadn't been able to land a job in Boulder, despite the fact that there were plenty of stables around. None of them were willing to take on an employee with no ID and no social security number. It was unfortunate for him because—like Whitney—he'd always been interested in horses. In fact, the only thing Defiance liked as much as horses (not counting Whitney) was that old Indian motorcycle Peggy had given him.

  I wondered if he'd let me ride it now.

  Probably not, I decided.

  The rest of my family had kept busy over the last four years building and selling bows. The online business had grown steadily during that time and the pack's hand-crafted weapons were in high demand by American hunters.

  As we poured more tea and started a second pot of coffee, the rising murmur of conversation woke up the rest of the pack. My brothers and cousins wandered down to the kitchen and filled the empty chairs. And when all of the chairs were taken, couples shared seats.

  Force was one of the first pack lads downstairs so there was actually an empty chair available when he got there. But in typical alpha-male fashion, he took the chair and the girl, lifting Camie onto his knee. Mind you, Camie wasn't complaining as I got back to work and mixed up a batch of rosehip buns. Lorissa tied on an apron and joined me at the counter, pretending to help but secretly stealing my recipes.

  As I rolled out the stretchy dough, I slanted a look at Lorissa's arm where a brand new rune glowed against her skin. It had taken three years, but Courage had successfully milked the rattlesnake poison from his veins. He was a wreck when Lissa finally started taking his diluted venom. She began with one drop mixed in a gallon of water and worked her way up from there. Four weeks passed before Courage was convinced his poison wouldn't kill her. The whole building-up-a-resistance process took almost a year.

  They were still hell-bound-and-leather-bent to own their own ranch one day. And the pack was backing them for all sorts of good reasons. After all, when the first baby gargoyle was born, it would be best to be in a place where the neighbors didn't live too close.

  But we were looking at land in Colorado rather than Montana or Wyoming because we'd probably need the help of Whitney's father delivering those babies. And the pack needed a doctor for injuries that Mac couldn't fix. Like if Chaos fell off his skateboard and broke a bone. But if Whitney and Defiance had any say about the livestock on our future ranch, we'd be raising as many horses as cows.

  After breakfast was out of the way, I left the others with the dishes and moseyed out to the wide front step just to soak up some rays. Sunshine's the number one thing I miss when I'm in my stone form. But Colorado's a great place for a gargoyle. I think the state gets like 359 days of sunshine per year.

  In the front yard, the grass was coming up green on either side of the curved drive. And the big blue spruce Alexa had knocked over (when she tried to cast that spell that would make Victor kiss her) had re-rooted itself. The grand old lady appeared to be thriving.

  Valor came up behind me with a dishtowel over his shoulder.

  "The tree looks good," I remarked.

  There was a quiet smile on my brother's face. "When Kenz needs a power boost for a tricky spe
ll, she always goes to the tree we saved."

  I nodded.

  "It's only too bad she couldn't heal her own ankle."

  Mac couldn't heal bones. And she was still limping after her fight with that harpy over four years earlier. But she made good use of the staff Valor gave her on her seventeenth birthday. "There's nothing like a long walking staff to give you an aura of wisdom," I offered.

  "We call her Gandalf the red," Valor murmured.

  "Who calls me Gandalf the red?" MacKenzie questioned as she stumped her way across the foyer behind us.

  "Everyone but me," Val answered, pulling her gently into his arms and rubbing his lips behind her ear. "I call you darling and sweetheart."

  "And Kenz," she added.

  "And Kenz," he agreed, nibbling on her ear. "All the really romantic stuff girls like. Because I adore you. Absolutely. Completely."

  Honestly, it was like I wasn't even there. They were so focused on each other, I might have been a coat stand for all they noticed. I took a seat on the sun-warmed steps. "How's Sophie doing?" I asked just to break things up.

  I knew that Mac saw Sophie quite often, driving to Denver every other Saturday to spend the day with her younger stepsister. And it sounded like Sophie was getting on well from the news Mac brought back. She was the star long-distance runner on her high school track team. And she landed a big part in the school's Christmas Musical. The entire pack had gone down to see the play.

  MacKenzie lifted her head, a dreamy look in her eyes from all the ear-nibbling going on. "She was brilliant in the part of Anita."

  "Brilliant," Valor agreed in a husky murmur, his gaze fixed on MacKenzie's mouth.

  "She asks about you all the time," Mac added before Valor swooped in for a kiss.

  "Naturally," I answered and waited for the kiss to end.

  Which took a while.

  "I told her you'd taken a four-year apprenticeship at a fine restaurant in London," MacKenzie said when she came up for air.

  "Good story," I said while I had the opening.

  "But I assured her you'd be back in time to take her to prom."

  This didn't require an answer so I conserved my energy and let the two lovebirds go at it, scratching the top of Hooligan's head when he glided from the house and flopped down beside me.

  "Are you ready to go?" MacKenzie asked when Val finally gave up possession of her lips.

  "To prom?" I asked lazily, closing my eyes and lifting my face to the sun.

  "No," she laughed. "Are you ready to go shopping for your prom clothes?"

  "Clothes?" I said sharply, opening my eyes. My gaze snapped in Mac's direction.

  Valor was grinning down at his girlfriend. "I think you just used one of Havoc's favorite words," he said.

  Chapter Three

  So, with a week left until Sophie's prom, the girls took me down to the rental shop in Denver. 'Course, they'd done the whole prom thing before so they were the experts. But—my word! You should have heard the argument that broke out over my pocket-handkerchief. Mac said it had to be white. Elaina insisted on red. But Whitney won the day because—really—she's the girl boss. And the pale green handkerchief she picked out matched my eyes perfectly.

  By the time I was finished, I looked like Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice. Except I was better looking, of course. I'd rented one of those tailored gray jackets with tails. My shirt sported a white linen cravat at the neck—tied into a smart bow—and gold cufflinks on the sleeves. A pair of closely fitting black slacks completed my ensemble. (The high leather boots were my own.)

  I'd considered cutting my hair but ended up pulling it back in knot (which, believe it or not, was pretty much the rage at the time).

  A pair of the latest sunglasses finished off my look. They were the kind that are always shaded, but you can still see out of them just fine, even when you're in a dark room. Everyone was wearing them. At least all the guys. All the time. Night and day.

  I was the perfect combination of romantic era and latest trend as I turned my back on the three-way mirror in the tuxedo shop and faced my audience of girls.

  "Well, that's it then," MacKenzie proclaimed as she looked me up and down. She tugged at the edge of her blue knitted hat. "I don't think we can do any better."

  "No," Mim agreed with a pleased smile. "We couldn't possibly do any better."

  "Ladies," I declared in my most civilized tones. "Thank you for your assistance. I couldn't possibly have accomplished this level of drop-dead-killer without you."

  "All the girls are gonna want to dance with you," Torrie remarked.

  "And at least half the boys," Camie added with a snicker.

  I grinned back at Force's tall girlfriend.

  Naturally, Whitney got jealous when she caught me paying attention to Camie. The willowy blond crossed the dressing room floor in three graceful steps. "You're just so cute," she exclaimed when she reached me, smiling up at me like a proud mama and pinching my cheeks.

  I hated it when she did that. "You're just so twenty-something," I mimicked in a high voice.

  She went up on her toes, obviously meaning to plant a kiss on my forehead. But I intercepted her lips on the way there, pressing my mouth against hers and startling her.

  Her cheeks turned an adorable shade of pink. I'm sure she came close to fainting from the effect of my kiss which must have been earth shattering. But when she recovered, she gave me a stern look and wagged her finger at me.

  "You're a naughty boy," she said.

  "And you'd be wise to remember that," I countered, straightening my cufflinks like I was James Bond.

  "Sophie's SO gonna fall in love with you," Mim predicted, beaming one of her beautiful smiles at Mac. "Am I right, MacKenzie?"

  I gave Mim a noncommittal smile and hoped she was wrong. I didn't want to break anyone's heart. On the other hand, I didn't want anyone—not even sweet little Sophie—holding me up. I wasn't looking for commitment at that point in my life; I was too young for that sort of thing.

  But MacKenzie looked a little doubtful about Mim's prediction and Elaina picked up on it right away. "Whaddya say, Mac? Is Mim right?"

  "I don't know," Mac answered, looking almost guilty. "Not that Havoc doesn't look great. He does. But Sophie…well, she might have moved on."

  Elaina tossed her dark ponytail and sent MacKenzie a sharp look. "What do you know that we don't know?"

  MacKenzie gave a little shrug. "Just that Sophie's a pretty girl and she might have a…boyfriend by now."

  "Sophie has a boyfriend?" Elaina exclaimed, jumping to conclusions right away…which was so like a girl.

  But I didn't want MacKenzie to worry about me. Especially when there was nothing to worry about since Sophie having a boyfriend would fit my plans perfectly.

  "That's okay," I cut in swiftly. "I'm good with it."

  Mac gave me a long look then sighed. "Oh Havoc," she muttered, "I'm not sure you're gonna be so good-with-it after you see her."

  I grinned down at her and tussled my hand through her thick coppery hair. "Trust me, Mac. I'll be fine."

  "He'll be fine," Torrie agreed cheerfully as I made my way to the counter and paid my bill with cash.

  "He'll be fine," Camie echoed like she had nothing but confidence in me.

  I love it when my girls back me up.

  I was so pleased with my appearance that I wore my outfit out of the rental shop, playing the whole lordly gentleman part to perfection, bowing when the girls introduced me to some friends in the mall, waving my pocket-handkerchief around with an air of grace, handing the girls up into Whitney's van, and m'dearing everyone all the way home in the car. I had the girls in stitches as we pulled into the drive of the grand old mansion we had made our home.

  I was the first out of the van, helping each of the girls from the side door then racing around to the driver's side to offer Whitney my arm.

  The light touch of her hand on my forearm was a perfect end to the day's outing.

  I leaned
my head toward hers on the way to the front door. "I won't tell Defiance what happened back there at the tuxedo shop," I promised her in a whisper. "He doesn't need to know you're in love with me."

  Whitney just rolled her eyes as we walked through the foyer and into the living room where three brown leather couches formed an open rectangle with the television at one end.

  Defiance and Valor were slouched on one of the couches watching Dare play Zelda. One by one, the rest of the guys appeared in the hall and made straight for their lasses. Mim and MacKenzie snuggled in beside their boyfriends but I took command of Whitney's elbow before she could slip away in Defiance's direction.

  Of course, he'd overheard my whispered conversation with Whitney…which was exactly my intention. "Did Havoc try to kiss you while you were out?" he asked Whitney, acting all superior and bored as he turned his head in our direction.

  "Why do you ask?" I spoke up before Whit could answer. "Are you jealous?"

  "Of you?" he cut back on a sharp bark of laughter.

  See? This is what I'm talking about. Nobody took me seriously anymore. Four years earlier, Defiance would have been insanely jealous. He would have been grinding his teeth to a powder over my flirting with his lass. Now I barely made it onto his radar.

  "Those days are over," he said, gliding up to his feet and pulling Whitney into one arm then twirling her across the floor to the other side of the room.

  Then pinning her against the wall.

  Then kissing her.

  For a ridiculously long time.

  Finally, he lifted his lips from her mouth and smiled down at her while he said to me, "Maybe one day you'll grow up and find a real girlfriend."

  I just cursed him in Spanish. I called him a broken down car and a rotten tomato…which sounds much more impressive in Spanish, believe me.

  But Defiance wasn't impressed. With his long fingers locked around Whitney's hand, he towed her back to the couch and pulled her into his lap. But he wasn't done with me. He lifted a finger and waved it in my direction. "So, what kind of get up is that?" he snorted, obviously referring to my prom clothes.

  I threw back my shoulders and peered down my nose at him. "This is my prom attire."