Dirty Looks (Dirt Track Dogs: The Second Lap Book 1) (6 page)

“How ya doing, Gracie?” he asked roughly, barely patting the girl’s head with his palm.

“Well, I would say life was pretty good before. But now that you’re home, I’d say it’s
mag-ni-cifent!
” She was still wrapped around Aaron’s leg like a cute little barnacle, and her mispronunciation of magnificent had Lexington giggling.

“Magnificent you mean,” Aaron corrected, and Lexington thought he might be having trouble not smiling himself.

“Yeah,” Gracie nodded. “Absotutely magnicifent.”

“She’s learning the big words,” the man with the dreads murmured amused, and then he let out a sharp whistle. “Down Gracie-girl. Take Artie and run along. Tell Uncle Drake to come here, will ya?”

Reluctantly, she untangled her arms from Aaron and faced the other man with a long, loud sigh. “I’ll tell him, Uncle Beast, but I’m not so sure he’ll listen to me since he’s the boss and everything.”

The man—maybe his name was Beast, but Lexington couldn’t tell because Gracie had called Aaron Uncle Scrooge—crouched low so he was at her eye level.

“I know he’ll listen. You know why?”

“Why?”

“Remember what I told you? You’re the secret alpha of this pack. You say jump, we’ll listen. Have to. Our beasts will make us.”

She giggled loud, and damn if it didn’t have a slight maniacal ring to it. Good girl, Lexington thought. Strong girl.

The man bopped her nose with the tip of his finger. “Now, go on.”

“Come on, Artie,” she said, trotting toward the door. “Let’s go get Uncle Alpha.” She glanced back at the man and he winked. “Make that Uncle
pretend
Alpha.”

As Lexington watched her walk away, she couldn’t help the flood of hope that filled her middle. This wasn’t their home
yet
. And DTD wasn’t their family
yet
. But this was
exactly
what her and the girls were looking for. What they needed. And it went beyond protection. They needed the communion. Their animals needed to bond with others, to contribute and feed off mutual affection. Otherwise they were just existing instead of living.

It wasn’t good for any of them, but most especially not for Kit.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. They were strays asking to be taken in, and it hurt her ego bad. But it didn’t hurt as much as it would if they carried on the way they had been.

Lexington straightened her shoulders. She’d do anything for her vixens. And somehow, someway, she was going to secure them a forever home with this pack.

Chapter Six

“Beast, ya bastard,” a deep voice rumbled past the garage door. Drake was here. “You better have a damn good reason for interrupting me. I was nose deep in pie. Now, I won’t tell you if it was literal pie or that other kind, because as my mighty fine mate likes to say, TMI and shit.” He pushed through into the shop, and he was everything Lexington expected and more. Tall and rugged and exuding authority like he’d sweat it from his pores. “Either way though, I was
busy
.”

Drake stopped short when he saw they weren’t alone. There was a beat of
what the hell
, and then his countenance changed. The playful expression that accompanied his banter was replaced with a hard-jawed look of steel. In the next few seconds, he even seemed to grow taller, more sturdy, and his eyes glowed eerie with the nearness of his animal.

Lexington’s fox reacted, even though she had a tight rein on it. She clenched her hands to fists, willing the animal to calm down and quit shrieking and clawing. The wolf inside the alpha was sending out threatening vibes and her fox was screaming to fight.

Or retreat.

Fight or burrow. Those were her instincts.

The human part of her was spinning at the change in atmosphere. The shop had gone from family friendly to war zone tense in a blink.

The Beast man crossed his arms over his chest, standing tall next to the alpha. Clearly his wolf felt the urge to fight too. And then there was Aaron, stiff as an oak beside her. Almost… in front of her. Did he think she needed defending? Were they that biased against foxes? Or was it just any shifter that wasn’t theirs? Would they not even hear her out, or was this the end?

Over before it began.

Lexington cleared her throat. “I’m Lexington, leader of a lone clan of vixens,” she began, but the alpha cut her off.

“I’ll get to you in a minute.” His voice was hard, but his eyes were glued to Aaron. “First, me and the hunter have some unfinished business.”

Hunter?

Before she could question him, Aaron stepped forward. “Yeah, okay,” he muttered, shaking out his shoulders. “Let’s get this done then.” He lifted his fists like… like…

They were going to
fight
.

What the hell?

Drake cracked his neck as if he was fixing to smash a bug real quick before getting back to his pie. “It’s gonna hurt, human,” he promised.

“‘Course it will. I’d lose all respect for you if it didn’t.”

“Respect,” Drake spat. “What respect?”

And then he charged forward and slammed his fist into Aaron’s jaw, sending his head flying backward.
Shit
. He stumbled a few steps before recovering. Slowly his lips curved up in a rueful smile.

“That all you got?”

Drake punched again, but this time Aaron was ready, ducking and weaving around the alpha’s volley before bringing his knee up to catch the wolf in the soft part of his side.

Lexington looked for Beast. He was standing to the side, watching intently, but nowhere near jumping in. Good. Because damn, she didn’t want to have to join this fight to make it even.

“What is this?” she yelled over at him.

He glanced at her and back at the brawl, eyebrow arching. “Brothers fighting,” he said simply. As if it was obvious why two grown men were pummeling the shit out of each other.

“There’s no reason?”

Beast pursed his lips, thinking. “Maybe. Maybe not. Don’t matter though. They both need this.”

Lexington rolled her eyes.

Was this one of those let off steam things. Because if it was, she was putting a stop to it. She didn’t have time for this. They were cutting into her first impression with their tantrum.

Or were they working through a problem? She couldn’t tell and Beast wasn’t volunteering the info.

Drake shoved Aaron into a stack of car parts and they crashed into a heap on the floor, rolling and kicking, fists flying and connecting.

Lexington sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. There’d be no breaking this up until they were finished.

Another wolf shifter slid up beside her. This one less threatening than the two males she’d already met.

“Boys,” the female sighed, shaking her head and looking on.

Lexington shared a look of commiseration, and the two of them settled in to ride the spat out. There’d be time for introductions after.

***

The alpha wolf had a right hook that felt like being walloped by a cinder block. But it didn’t matter, Aaron deserved what he was getting. If the tables were turned and Drake had been a danger to his family and home, kept it a secret from him, and then took off without an explanation… Aaron would beat his ass a good one too.

It dawned on him that he was epically good at one thing: running away. From his sister, from his friends, from the pack. That ended now. Had to if he ever wanted to look at himself in the mirror and like what he saw.

Yeah, he deserved it, and wasn’t taking anything lying down. For one, he’d been trained better than that. Take it like a chump, and your respect level will be zero.

And damn, he needed the pack to respect him if he was going to make it here in Cedar Valley, but that wasn’t what was driving him.

It was that sexy little fox shifter and her sassy mouth, and the fact that on the way over here, he’d learned way too much about her.

Aaron had good instincts about people. It’s what had made him a good hunter. And he’d read Lexington like a book. Well, maybe not a book, but a scrawled story written on a diner napkin. He’d gotten the cliffnotes.

She needed something from the wolves, and it wasn’t racing advice or a place to stow her crew’s equipment. She was throwing off nervous vibes like all hell. Ballsy as she’d been at Red Cap, she was all
yes sir
here with the wolves. Whatever she was after, it felt life-or-death important, and Aaron was going to figure out what it was.

And maybe even help her get it. Anything to see that smile she’d tossed out in his truck on the way over. Damn, the woman had a face that could make a grown man weep and sing hallelujah.

Drake caught him again under the chin, and Aaron mustered a smile. He tasted blood. That was a good one.

“You still with
them
?” the alpha growled as Aaron landed another blow to his gut.

“If I was…” Gut punch returned, and with extra postage. Aaron coughed to make his diaphragm work again. “If I was, you think I’d be here?”

“Expect me to believe they just let you go? Let you quit hunting down shifters?”

“They didn’t make me do it,” he wheezed. “My choice.”

“Even worse,” Drake snarled, his fist connecting once again. “How many innocent shifters did you hurt?”

That one he felt all the way to his back, drawing Aaron up.

“Shit,” he hissed through a gurgle of blood. “
None, okay
? There were no innocents.” Somehow, he shoved Drake off and stumbled to his feet, but the wolf was right there with him. “You were the first innocents I ever encountered, and that’s the goddamn truth,” Aaron rushed out. “Shook everything I knew, finding changers that weren’t eating through the human population like a bunch of piranhas. That’s why I left the hunters. Why I’m back here. I’m not one of them anymore. I’m… I’m… me.”

Drake spit blood on the concrete and his broken up hands went to his hips. “Wait a minute. They were
eating
them?”

Aaron swiped at the blood running from his nose, and caught the shop rag Beast tossed to him.

“No, not literally. But lording their power over humans, making them do things they don’t wanna do. Think mafia, but with the ability to become an actual beast. They’ve taken over Memphis and people are scared. The hunters helped keep the scales level. We were defenders of the innocent, not the other way around.”

Drake’s frown deepened. “So why not just stay there if they need you so bad?”

Aaron shook his head, his eyes briefly finding Lexington. She was staring at him like he was Hannibal Lecter. Like whatever fond conclusions she’d come to in their short time had been obliterated.

Damn shame. Maybe he could change her mind later. Because the idea of the fox thinking he was a monster left him feeling ill. Sick deep down inside where no one had reached in a very long time.

He sighed, pain making it hard to breathe.

“Something happened in the last month. Power has shifted, no pun intended. The changers running Memphis… one group of them, the Alley Cats, have been crippled. No one knows how, but they can’t shift anymore. They’re no more a threat than any normal human so the hunters aren’t stretched thin anymore. They can handle things. And…” His eyes caught on Drake’s mate, Ella, where she stood next to Lexington. “I can’t do it anymore. Can’t be a soldier for that army. Not when I’ve seen how you guys live here, how you’ve cared for my sister. How you’re a family. The hunters mean well, they do, but they can’t see the difference between a peaceful shifter and what they’ve come to expect you to be. And I can’t be a part of that. Ya understand what I’m saying?”

Drake nodded slowly, tonguing the inside of his lip that was clearly split. He glanced at Beast, the corner of his mouth eking upward a millimeter. “You boys were right,” he told him, and the dreaded up brawler lifted one shoulder as if to say
of course
.

“Right about what?” Aaron asked, shoving the rag under his nose to catch the blood.

Drake pegged him with his eerie wolf glare. “That you’d do the right thing in the end.”

“Yeah, well, thanks for the faith,
Alpha
.”

Drake smirked. “Please, asshole. Not killing you was my show of faith.” His voice dropped, serious. “I had to be sure. The pack is always my top priority. My mate and family. Always will be. If hunters were coming after us, I had to be ready.”

Aaron nodded. He knew Drake had the responsibility of the pack on his shoulders. And he was glad he was a hardass. Made him a damn good alpha.

“All right,” Ella spoke up. “So we’re calling this settled, right? You did your male thing and punched it out real good, and now it’s finished, right?”

Drake grunted some kind of affirmation.

“Sounds good to me,” Aaron agreed.

“Great. It’s good to have you back, Aaron.” She grinned big. “Maybe you can introduce us to your friend now.”

Her gaze went to Lexington, curious but friendly, just like she’d been the first time she’d met Aaron, even knowing his unreasonable bias against shifters. Those days felt like ages ago when really it was only a handful of months. But all the Dirt Track Dogs had given him a chance. They hadn’t judged him right out the gate, which went a long way to vouching for their character.

Now Lexington and her vixens had the same chance. Whatever she needed from the pack, there was a good chance she’d get it.

Aaron gestured for her to go ahead, but she just stared, her eyes dancing between him and Drake and the other two. She cleared her throat roughly, jamming her hands in the back pockets of her jeans.

“I’m Lexington,” was all she said.

He squinted through his swollen eye at her. She didn’t look afraid. She looked angry. Certainly not the way she had before Drake walked in. Before she’d seemed…
hopeful
. She’d looked how he wanted to feel. Like things were finally going to be all right.

Ella popped her hand out and introduced herself as well as the others, but Aaron couldn’t take his gaze off Lexington. Something was wrong. Something had changed.

“How do you know Aaron?” Ella asked.

“I don’t.” Lexington shook her head and even took a step away from him. “I don’t know him at all. Just met him at Red Cap. I barely know his name.”

Beast whistled low and cocked that eyebrow like he was making assumptions.

“It’s not… I mean, it’s not like you’re thinking.” She frowned hard. “We weren’t… I’m not
with
him. He just gave me a ride. All I know is his truck looks like it contained a small tornado.”

Aaron narrowed his gaze at her. What was happening here? Was she ashamed of him? He didn’t like it. He wanted to get her alone for five damn minutes and show her his value. He’d start with those kissable lips. Work her mouth so good it would make her squirm.
Then
let her try to be ashamed of him.

“Not surprising,” Drake muttered. “Well, in that case, sorry you had to see our little scuffle.”

Ella snickered, shaking her head.

“Aw, hell. Who am I kidding?” Drake said. “I’m not sorry. This asshole had it coming.”

Aaron shot him a middle finger.

“Awright, Lexington.” Drake bent to start picking up the mess they’d made. “What can I do for you? You just passing through Cedar Valley? We don’t see many shifters around here. Too small. The way we like it. What business do the foxes have in our town?”

Lexington straightened her shoulders. “We’re here for the race,” she said.