Dannika Dark - Six Months

At first, Maddox wouldn’t accept his money but wouldn’t give a reason. Reno didn’t relent. He called him two days later, and after a heated discussion, Maddox said he’d do it for double the amount. Maybe he’d been testing him, but Reno had never flunked a test in his life.

He’d paid the full amount, but he had conditions of his own. The first being Maddox wouldn’t tell her about their arrangement. She could never find out about Reno’s involvement under any circumstance. April would then feel like she owed Reno, and he wanted to give her something she’d never had: financial freedom. A person deserved a clean slate in life at least once, and she had more than paid her dues. The second condition was that Maddox had to cut her loose immediately and tell her it was for personal reasons.

Maddox thought Reno was a crazy sonofabitch, as he put it, but he’d agreed. All men have a price. Reno had received the call the other day to confirm it was done, but Maddox had no clue where she’d gone.

Reno tapped into a few resources to track her location; he wouldn’t sleep easy until he knew she was in a good place. He found her sister’s number and called under the guise that he was a friend who owed her some cash. Rose said she hadn’t heard from April in a month and feigned concern. She also told Reno if he happened to run into April, to let her know she was canceling her Christmas trip and going to Vegas instead. Rose didn’t seem worried about April’s whereabouts, but she was young and a little full of herself.

Jericho spun a silver lighter in a circle on the bar in their game room. “You gonna play with yourself all day or help Ivy put up the tree? I don’t see why they couldn’t get one of those shiny plastic ones at the store,” Jericho grumbled. “That thing they hauled in is so fresh I thought I saw a squirrel’s nest in it.”

“Why don’t you put it up?” Reno muttered from the beanbag chair that was too damn small to fit his frame.

“Because I have a gig tonight and I’m not breaking my neck over a commercial holiday that bleeds your wallet dry.”

Reno still had his hands locked behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. “I seem to recall a different Jericho who once got up in the middle of the night and stole all the neighbor’s lights and put them on Dad’s house.”

Jericho chuckled with a look of nostalgia. “I think Dad was more pissed I was on the roof than the fact I stole the lights.”

“You were eight.”

“Yeah, well.” He took a long drag of his smoke and looked reflectively at the cigarette. “Time changes people. We’re only putting it up because of Maizy.”

“She’s a kid. Let her enjoy it while she can. That’s what pack life is all about, Jericho. Family. Kids. We have to do right by them.”

“Mr. Reno!” Maizy yelled out. She stomped into the room, out of breath and grinning excitedly. “Miss Ivy wants me to tell you that she’s… that she wants you to help put up the Christmas tree. Mommy has our decorations in a box and are you coming?”

Reno swung his legs around and sat up, looking at Jericho. “Where the hell is Austin? I’m not up for this.”

Maizy flew out of the room. “He’s coming!” she yelled.

“Christ,” Reno muttered. The twins had volunteered to cut down the tree and Denver had hauled it to the house in his truck, leaving Reno with the final honors of getting sap all over his hands to stand it up.

When Reno ambled downstairs, he couldn’t help but smile at Maizy. She was wearing a red dress and sitting in the middle of the room, surrounded by a string of white lights and tapping her wand on the floor. The women had moved the furniture, cleaned, and decorated the house.

“Great timing,” Ivy said, out of breath.

She didn’t have on her usual skirt or dress today, but a pair of baggy overalls and a beige sweater. Ivy still wore a braid—it was her trademark. None of the men in the house had ever seen her hair loose, but they never asked why. Women were a mystery unto themselves.

Reno pulled out his pocketknife and began to cut away the rope.

“I broke off some of the lower branches, but I don’t know how to get it up on the stand,” she said.

“Jericho, give me a hand,” Reno barked out, lifting the tree by the top. “I need someone to hold the other end. Grab the trunk and ease it into the middle. Once it’s straight, you need to screw it in until it’s tight.”

Jericho chuckled and swiped his tongue across his bottom lip. “Hmm, that sounds all too familiar.”

“Where’s Austin?” Reno repeated, feeling an itch on his neck where a bristly needle was rubbing.

Ivy held the base of the stand and looked up. “He went with Lexi and Lynn to pick up some ornaments for the tree. Lynn said the ones she had reminded her of… well, you know,” she said, eyes darting toward Maizy.

Yeah, the bastard of a man who’d fathered that child and left her. What a pathetic excuse for a human.

“I say we don’t need a tree. Just put Peanut in the middle of the room and wrap her up in lights,” Denver suggested.

Maizy poked her tongue out as he eased into a chair with a wide grin.

“You got it?” Reno yelled out. “When I push it up, I need you guys to stabilize the base and tighten the pins.”

Someone had already cut the trunk and prepped it. He slowly eased the tree up and Jericho secured the bottom. After a few minutes, they had it righted and Ivy plopped backward on her butt and wiped her hands off.

“What’s wrong?” Denver suddenly asked.

Everyone turned to look at Maizy—her blond hair illuminated by the white lights and her mouth turned down in a pout.

“There’s not enough,” she whined, holding the small strand of lights and gazing up at the monstrous tree.

Denver shot to his feet and opened a small closet by the front door, then pulled out his jacket. “Come on, Peanut. Let’s go buy you some twinkle lights.”

She stared at him dumbfounded.

“Get your coat and shoes,” he said in an animated voice. “I’m taking you to the store so you can pick out every pretty light in any color you want. Skedaddle!”

Her face lit up and she flew up the stairs. They might have been a pack of males, but wolves had an instinctual reaction to look after children and make sure they were happy. Yeah, maybe that little girl got spoiled now and again, but she’d grow up knowing every last one of these men would bleed for her.

“Damn. My wolf has to go for a run before I head out tonight,” Jericho announced, kicking off his shoes and peeling away his Pink Floyd shirt. “If I’m not back in an hour, come find me. I can’t be late. I go on stage at midnight.”

In a fluid motion, Jericho shifted into a brown wolf mixed with cream and orange. His milky green eyes wandered up to Reno, who opened the front door and let him out.

“You going too?” he asked Ivy. She rarely let her wolf run with one of them. Ivy had gone through the change not long after her arrival, and Austin had carefully introduced her new wolf to the pack, as was custom. But since then, Ivy’s wolf kept to herself.

Despite her demure behavior, Reno liked Ivy. Lexi’s sass kept everyone laughing, while Ivy kept the men grounded. He didn’t know much about the pack she came from, but he wondered how they treated their women because of some things he noticed, which were uncharacteristic for a female Shifter. For one, Wheeler had walked by her once while yelling at Reno and lifted his hand angrily as he drove his point home. Ivy had flinched. No one said anything about it, but Reno and Austin made a mental note. She was outspoken with her opinions and the men didn’t seem to intimidate her otherwise, so Reno couldn’t be certain if her pack had abused her. He’d never met such a graceful and easygoing woman, but her wolf was skittish and easily frightened.