Page 31 of Remy & the Wildcat

When the door shut behind them, Thyme stepped off the concrete stairs and onto the sidewalk and looked inside the shop. Every eye was on them.

“I don’t get it,” she said.

“That was like something out of the twilight zone,” Remy said.

“Yeah.”

As they walked back to the car, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very wrong with the scene in the shop. She’d always been welcome there as the alpha’s daughter, and now that she was the future alpha, nothing should have changed.

Someone hissed nearby, a psst sound.

She leaned forward a little bit and saw Marty’s mate, Mila.

Mila motioned her over. Thyme and Remy walked to the edge of the building where Mila was hunched over like she was afraid to be caught.

“It’s your half-brother,” Mila whispered.

“My half-brother what?” Thyme asked.

Mila shushed her, her gaze darting around wildly like someone was coming for her.

“Sorry,” Thyme whispered. “What about Leif?”

“After you met with the alphas and family leaders yesterday, his grandfather started spreading rumors that you were trying to destroy the pride by moving us to a dilapidated town where all the businesses would fail and our people would die out. He also said that you mating a wolf was against our laws and it means that you plan to bring wolves into the pride.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Thyme said. “Copper Creek is perfect for the pride, and Remy’s joining us by himself, not bringing a pack along too.”

Mila nodded. “I know. Marty knows that too. He stood up for you against Leif’s grandfather. And then this morning, we came into the shop to find it had been broken into. The cash register and safe were emptied, most of the equipment was destroyed. It was just lucky that we had some equipment at the house to bring in so we could open today.”

“It was Leif?” Remy asked with a low voice.

Mila nodded and brushed at tears on her cheeks. “He showed up when we opened with some of his buddies and made sure we knew that worse would happen if we supported you two as the new alphas.” Mila grasped Thyme’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “It’s why Marty rushed you two out, he’s afraid to take chances. I’m scared for you, honey. You’ve been like family to me and Marty, and he’s just sick over what happened. But he’s afraid we’re going to lose everything if we don’t go along with Leif. If…you aren’t able to take over as alpha, we’d be screwed.”

Thyme looked up at Remy helplessly.

It was one thing when it was Leif and his mom messing with things, but an entirely different thing to bring in one of the more influential families in the pride to cause trouble. Brilla’s family could definitely turn people against them.

Remy’s gaze hardened. “Thanks for letting us know, Mila. We’ll take it from here.”

Mila nodded and hurried back into the shop.

Thyme followed Remy to the car, neither of them speaking until they were back at the house.

“This is bullshit,” Thyme said as her cell buzzed in her pocket. She looked at the screen before she answered and a knot formed in her gut. She just knew it was going to be bad news. “Mayor Applebaum?”

Remy listened in stunned silence as the sweet Copper Creek mayor told on them speakerphone that someone had broken into her house the night before and trashed it.

“Fortunately, I wasn’t home, I was visiting my sister and away for the night, otherwise who knows what I might have encountered.”

Thyme looked at Remy with wide eyes. “Holy crap, I’m so sorry to hear about that! Do you have any idea who broke into your house?”

“Well, I do have security cameras, but they were broken right after the people appeared. Most of their faces were covered and the two police officers we have on staff weren’t able to use facial recognition.” There was a long hesitation, and then the mayor said, “I’m really sorry, Thyme, but it appears that whoever did this is trying to discourage me from allowing your pride to move into town.”

“What? What makes you think that?”

An image appeared by text, which showed that someone had spray-painted across the front of the garage, “Keep Copper Creek Shifter Free or Else!”

“I’m so sorry that happened,” Remy said. “We’d like to come help clean it up.”

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