Smitty sized him up again, and Mitch could see him trying not to laugh. “You better keep her happy, feline, or I’m gonna let Sabina use her knives to cut your balls off.” The males winced. Mostly because they all knew it wouldn’t take much to talk Sabina into using her knives on anyone. Of Jessie’s wild dog Pack, she was the most…rabid.

“I won’t be here after the trial.” And suddenly, he again had the attention of the entire New York Pack.

“Come again?”

He cleared his throat, and Bren stared at him like he’d lost his mind. But he didn’t want Smitty thinking he’d lied to him. “I go into Witness Protection after the trial. I won’t be back for Sissy. I won’t be back here.” And it was killing him.

But before Smitty could say anything, Travis burst back out onto the porch. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I thought you guys knew this.”

“What about my sister?” Smitty growled.

“What about next year’s game?” Travis snarled.

Smitty looked at his brother. “Game? You’re talking about your goddamn game when this is about Sissy’s future?”

“Let’s be realistic, Bobby Ray. It ain’t like Sissy won’t jump on the next steed that comes along. This boy’s just a way station.”

“Hey!” the Shaw brothers said in unison.

“No offense, hoss, but you can’t really think my sister has serious feelings for you, or any man.”

“You got something to say to me, Travis?”

They’d been so wrapped up in their own bullshit, none of them had realized the New York Smith Pack She-wolves stood in front of the house. The men looked down at them from the porch. Jessie Ann, the cute little one in the middle, waved her hand at Smitty. She looked lost in the mass of all those much taller and bigger angry She-wolves.

“Well?” Sissy demanded, walking up the stairs with Ronnie right behind her. “Say whatever you’re gonna say, Travis. To my face.”

Travis glanced at Mitch and shook his head. “No. That’s okay. Maybe another time.”

“Don’t worry. Mitch will play. And he’ll play well. I’ll make sure of it. So just say it.”

“You don’t want me to do this here, Sissy Mae.”

“No,” Sammy cut in. “I don’t want you doing this here.”

“It’s all right, Sammy. Really. I’d like to hear what he has to say. Go on, Travis. Say it.”

“Fine. We all know that you could care less about this boy other than the fuck he can give you at the moment. When he’s gone, there’ll be another and another and another. Just like always. Ain’t nothin’ changed. Although I was praying you’d keep this one for afew years since he does play some mean ball. But you’re the same whore—”

It was the word whore that seemed to tip him over the edge, his fist slamming into Travis’s face, knocking the bigger man to the ground. And as they stood around, stunned, Sammy grabbed his older brother by the T-shirt, lifted him up, and slammed his fist into Travis’s face again…and again…and a few more times for good measure.

Finally, Bobby Ray and Sissy had to grab him and pull him back. Sissy had her arm around his shoulders, and she kept telling him, “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

But good-natured Sammy apparently had his own boundaries, and Travis had just crossed them.

“I warned you what I’d do if you called her that again! I warned you!”

Travis sat up, his back against the porch railing. Blood covered a good portion of his face from his shattered nose down.

“You act like she hasn’t been called that before,” Travis snapped, trying to maintain some of his dignity.

Sammy went for him again, but Bobby Ray held him back, although Mitch had a feeling he wanted to beat the hell out of Travis himself.

Travis gave a small, taunting smile. “And Lord knows, she’ll be called that again.”

It was something in her eyes that Mitch caught. That split second of getting fully fed up. He reached for her, but she grabbed hold of the football helmet that one of the players had dumped by the front door. She brought it up over her head, and then as she went down on one knee, Sissy brought it back down.

The helmet connected with Travis’s knee, and they all jumped and winced at the same time as they heard that bone shatter. Then that wolf howled in pure agony.

Panting, anger coming off her in waves, Sissy stood back up. “I promised Mitch would play for you tomorrow. Never said nothing about you getting to play. Good thing Bobby Ray is here to help out.” She tossed the helmet to Donnie, who grabbed it but smartly kept his distance.

Sissy brushed her hand across Mitch’s arm before she walked off, her She-wolves following behind her.

Brendon stared down at the crying, screaming wolf at his feet. “We better get him to the hospital. They’re gonna have to set that.” He looked at Smitty. “But we better get your wife out of the tree first.”

“Out of the…” Smitty looked at the big tree closest to the railing. “Jessica Ann!”

“Don’t yell at me,” she snapped. “It was instinctual!” She leaned down a bit so they could see just her head, the rest of her still buried in that tree. “Angry-Sissy means I run for the hills, but I wasn’t in the mood to run. Did the next best thing.”

Mitch smiled. “I’m impressed a dog can climb trees.”