Page 90 of Reclaiming Home

Twenty minutes after when the guys left on their patrol, I heard a vehicle. Carys was almost asleep, and grumbled when I got off the couch to go check.

Something inside me was immediately twitchy.

“Rian?” I called out, and with unnatural speed, he made it down the stairs and stood next to me in the hall.

“This is not good,” he said quietly as he peered through the side window. “Two cars.”

“Nudge her awake, I’ll go out.” I reached for the drawer where we kept the handgun and tucked it under my shirt in the back. I knew it wasn’t exactly the safest, but it would be there if I needed it.

Rian nodded, deferring to me with ease I hadn’t quite expected.

I took a deep breath, opened the door, and stepped onto the porch.

There were five of them in total. They’d arrived in two beat-up trucks, which seemed like the norm around people who looked like them.

All were unkempt. The one the others deferred to was in a marginally better condition. His clothes were cleaner, his hair shorter.

“How can I help you, gents?” I asked as I stepped to lean my hands to the porch railing.

“You the human bitch that took over from your sister?” The lankiest of them all spat out, getting a glare from the leader of the group.

He cowed and stepped back, and I grinned. I knew who these people were, of course. In a way, after Holden and Brodie had told us about the weirdness with Sheriff Gerrell, we’d been waiting for something to happen.

“What kind of wolf do you call yourself, taking instructions from a human? Didn’t your former Alpha teach you better?” I snarked, smirking when another one, likely the other beta, tensed and swayed toward the house.

“We came to make an inspection,” the leader said, taking a few steps forward and attempting casual with his hands in his pockets. “Where’s your guard dog?”

I tilted my head as if I was confused. “We don’t have any dogs, you must be mistaken?”

He snorted, and the two humans behind him with the betas chuckled.

“You know what I mean.Alpha McRae. Where’s he?”

Now this made me smile. “Oh, you aren’t that stupid. We both know very well where he is.”

“Maybe so. We also heard you have plenty of electronics and a girl here. Valuable stuff now that the meth is gone.”

The foursome behind him all smirked, clearly very impressed by their leader.

I didn’t take the bait, because I wasn’t afraid of them. “Really?”

He took a couple of more steps closer and tried an evil or threatening smirk, I wasn’t sure really. “Your guard dog ain’t here. What do you think you can do if we decide to come in.”

This time I laughed out loud. “I don’t need my Alpha, mymatehere.”

“Dog fucker faggot bitch,” spat one of the humans behind him.

The fact that the betas were with these guys now spoke volumes of their self-worth, really.

“And why is that?” the leader asked, sneering at me.

“Oh, I have them.” I nodded toward the two healthy wolves who had sneaked out of the woods behind them. “And them.” I pointed my thumb over my shoulder at the door.

Rian and Carys stepped out. Rian in his full vampire face was a fearsome fucking sight. He was grinning with his fangs fully showing, his long vampire claws flexing as he crouched ever so slightly, ready to pounce.

But the kicker was my sister—I needed to have a talk with Rian about what was suitable protection for her, really—who came to stand on my other side and racked a shotgun, then aimed it squarely at the asshole’s head.

I straightened myself from my casual lean and reached my hand to grab my gun. I took the safety off, but kept it aimed at the ground.

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