And that’s where Sissy was. Mitch had never seen her that angry. She had a finger-pointing thing going on with another male who Mitch didn’t recognize. The only thing that prevented them from slamming those fingers into each other was the second male who stood between them, trying to calm everybody down.

Shaking his head and unbelievably exhausted, Mitch sat down hard on the steps. “Family,” he said to no one in particular. He knew from experience that only family could make someone that insane.

“Don’t think for a second, Jackie Ray Smith, that you can bring that fat ass of yours in here and tell me what I can or cannot do!” The wolf did have wide hips for a man.

“If I remember correctly, Sissy, this ain’t your Pack anymore. You’re here only as a guest.”

“That isn’t true,” the other male said, pushing his brother back. This one looked so much like Smitty, it was kind of weird. “Sissy is family and will always belong here.”

“Sissy is a whore, bringing some—” He didn’t get to finish that statement as the Smitty look-alike slammed his fist into the other one’s mouth. Good thing, too, otherwise Mitch would have had to do it himself because that had just been a damn rude thing to say.

“Get out,” the wolf told Jackie with deadly calm. “Get out right now.” Mitch knew who’d win a fight between these two. And apparently, so did Jackie.

“This ain’t over,” Jackie warned, inching toward the door

“It amazes me you have a college degree.” Sissy waved him off. “Go on. Go run over and tell Travis like the big, fat baby you are.”

He slinked out. If he’d had a tail, it would definitely be tucked between his legs.

Once the door closed, the wolf turned back to his sister. “You all right, darlin’?”

“Yeah.” She shrugged. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

The big wolf wrapped his arms around Sissy, burying her head against his chest. “If it helps any, I’m glad you’re home.”

She laughed. “That’s better than nothing, I suppose.”

“You’re going to have to talk to Travis at some point. With Daddy out of town—”

“Yeah, I know.” Sissy’s head suddenly lifted from the wolf’s chest, and she sniffed the air. She looked at Mitch and blinked in surprise. “Mitch? What the hell are you doing out of bed?”

He didn’t have it in him to yell that answer across the room, so he waited until Sissy stood in front of him, the big wolf behind her. “I heard a fight,” he explained. “Thought you were in trouble.”

“And you were gonna help?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “You can’t even stand.”

“I brought a gun.”

“You shoot with your right.” She took the gun from his hand and tucked it into the back of her denim shorts. They were tiny little shorts, too, and looked so amazingly good on her.

“You should have called for me,” she chastised.

“Why? Since you seem to have such a problem doing what I tell you to?”

Sissy’s head tilted to the side, and she stared at him. “What does that mean?”

“I told you to do one thing. One. Take me to Philly.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Sissy—”

“You said to take you home. So I did.”

Mitch glanced around again, staring through the stairway banister into the family room. It was a small house but cozy. Worn furniture that had taken a lot of abuse over the years but had held up well because it had been quality when purchased or made. There were dozens of pictures, some with humans and canines and some with canines only. A giant TV took up a good portion of the far wall. The kitchen wasn’t that big, either. It had a Formica table with eight matching chairs around it. But the unused living room was nice, yet still homey. Then he thought about Sissy’s room—that was not the room of an adult Sissy.

Taking a deep breath, Mitch picked up two important scents…canine and fresh air, and it all fell into place.

His eyes locking with Sissy’s, he barked, “I’m in Tennessee?”

“Well, where did you expect me to take you?”

“I expected you to take me to Brendon’s plane, and I expected the captain to take me to Philadelphia. I’m not sure why that was so hard for you to understand!”

Sissy’s jaw worked. “Stop roaring at me, Mitchell Shaw. I did what I thought was best.”

“If that’s your best, I’d really hate to see your worst.”

Hands fisted at her side, Sissy stepped back. “You wanna go to Philly, hoss? There’s the damn door.” She pointed toward the door in the living room, but each room had a door leading outside. “Have at it.”

“Fine. I will.”

“Fine!” She turned and headed back toward the kitchen.

Mitch pushed himself to his feet, stood there for a second, and then his whole body sort of quit on him.

Sammy Ray Smith stared down at the two hundred and…what?—fifty, sixty pounds of naked cat passed out in his arms. Simply put, this was one of those great things he’d get to tell his mate when they met for dinner later because it would make her laugh so hard.

Glancing over his shoulder at his baby sister, “Uh…Sissy?”

She barely spared either male a glance. “Oh, leave him there. Let him rot on those stairs for all I give a damn.”