Half an hour later, they dumped the female jackal’s dead body over the border of Quinn’s territory with a sheet of paper taped to her chest that said, “You bring shit to my door, and I’ll bring shit to yours.”
Marcus had to admit that Roni’s idea was a good one. If Quinn weren’t involved in the attempt to kidnap her, he would certainly be confused by the message and would undoubtedly call Marcus to ask what was going on. If he were involved, he’d now be very much aware that they knew, and he would sit and sweat about what they would do to retaliate and when exactly they would do it. Lola would do a lot of sweating too. In addition, it would mean that Lyle would definitely see the body at some point, because the Alphas were bound to tell him. “Smart little shit, aren’t you?”
“So my mother tells me. Come on, let’s go.”
“Yeah, I’m hungry.”
She rolled her eyes. “Only you would have an appetite after dumping a corpse.”
Once inside the Toyota, he said, “You do know that the interrogation I just witnessed was the most hilarious one I’ve seen, right?”
“It wasn’t funny. It was imaginative. Creative. Brilliant.”
“It was hilarious, freaky, and shocked the shit out of me when it worked.”
She sniffed. “You’re just jealous because you didn’t get to join in.”
“Maybe a little.”
After a short journey, they arrived at a diner that Roni thought would look right at home on the Grease movie set. It was kind of charming, and the most delicious smells were wafting from it.
“You ever been here before?” asked Marcus as they made their way toward it.
She shook her head, wondering at the strange twinkle in his eyes. “You?”
He smiled. “You could say that.” His smile disappeared at the long appreciative whistle that split the air. A guy who was leaning against a motorcycle was eying Roni from head to toe. Marcus growled warningly, making the human pale and turn away. He noticed Roni staring impatiently at him. “I don’t like it when people want what’s mine.” Her little huff made him grin.
Possessiveness usually irritated Roni, but she actually found it kind of amusing—even a little satisfying, if she were being honest—when it came from Marcus. Her amusement didn’t last long, since they hadn’t been inside the building for more than five seconds when someone squealed excitedly, “Marcus!” Then a dark-haired female was circling the counter and hugging him tightly—and he was hugging her back. Huh. Roni wouldn’t have thought that Marcus was curious about having his balls sliced off and dumped in a blender, but apparently so.
Marcus held his hand out to Roni. “Come here, gorgeous. I want you to meet my sister.”
Oh. Taking his hand, Roni stepped forward and offered the female an awkward smile.
“Roni, this is Teagan—she’s the oldest. Teagan, this is Roni. She’s mine.” That, he knew, would say all there was to say. He didn’t claim females, and Teagan knew that.
Eyes wide in pleasant surprise, Teagan nodded at Roni. “Very nice to meet you. Come. Sit.” She ushered them over to a corner booth.
Marcus slid in beside Roni, which she was glad of since she felt weird while his sister stared at her in open fascination. There were two more squeals, and then two identical dark-haired females were racing toward them. Marcus stood and hugged them both as they nattered to him. When they finally noticed Roni, they both froze and looked at her in pure amazement. Great, more attention.
Marcus returned to his seat and took Roni’s hand. “This is Deana and Trish—my other sisters. Girls, this is Roni.”
Deana gasped and put a hand over her heart. “You’ve brought a girl. I’m so proud.”
Trish nodded. “Never thought I’d see the day.” Then all three sisters grabbed chairs and gathered around them. Worse, they started launching questions at Roni.
“So, Roni, are you a Phoenix wolf too?”
“Do you have a role within the pack?”
“How old are you?”
“How long have you been dating Marcus?”
“Where did you get that T-shirt? I love it.”
“What’s your last name?”
“Can you cook? Because Marcus needs constant feeding.”
“Are you open to imprinting?”
Overwhelmed and out of her element, Roni did what she always did when that happened. She cocked her head. “Did you know that—?”
“Roni.” It was supposed to be an admonishment, but he knew it was filled with too much amusement and affection to be even close to stern. Of course she was the personification of innocence when she looked at him.
“What? What did I say?”
Marcus just shook his head. Then out came a lollipop. Typical. It made him realize how long it had been since she’d pulled the lollipop or useless fact stunt on him. That sure made him smug. He turned to his sisters. “Her name is Roni Axton. She’s not from my pack, she’s from the Mercury Pack. She’s an enforcer. Now could you stop interrogating her?”
“I’m sorry, Roni,” said Teagan. “It’s just that he’s never brought a female to meet us before.” At that moment, some customers arrived.
“We’ll be back in a few minutes.” Deana and Trish scuttled off to take their orders.
At the same time, Teagan jumped up from her seat. “Time to feed you. Marcus, I take it you want the usual?” He nodded. “Roni, what will you have?” Teagan wrote down her order and then disappeared.
“I’ll bet it works out nicely for you that your sisters work in a diner. Lots of free food.”
Chuckling, Marcus threaded his fingers through hers and nuzzled her neck. “The diner’s theirs. Although they live in different packs, they run the business together. And I do admit to taking advantage of the free food.” Seeing his sisters exchanging knowing smiles, he said, “They like you.” That was important to him, because it was mostly his sisters who had raised him.
“They don’t know me. And if they did, they definitely wouldn’t like me.”
“You make me happy. They see that. Therefore, they like you.”