Howl for It by Cynthia Shelly; Eden Laurenston

Understood it. And, as she reached down and grasped his blood-covered hand with her own, slightly calloused and scarred from baking and cooking over the years, Darla accepted that about him.
    She had to because she knew now that she was in love with him. Whether she wanted to be or not, she loved him.
    Of course, her sisters would call her foolish. Not because it was Egbert Ray Smith or because he was one of the Smith boys, but because he was her first. Because for Darla, there was no separating love and sex. They were one and the same for her, always would be.
    She smiled into Eggie’s angry face, knowing his fury wasn’t directed at her, knowing without doubt or concern that she was safe with this dangerous, deadly wolf.
    “Come on,” she said. “I’m starvin’.”
     
    They came out of the woods after using a rag that Lloyd had on him to wipe their hands free of blood. It didn’t help with the scrapes and cuts they had from beating the men but that was all right. Maybe, if Eggie was lucky, no one would find the three and they’d die of their wounds. He knew why Darla had stopped him but he also knew men like that. Predator full-humans were, in Eggie’s estimation, the worst. Because food or survival had nothing to do with why they hunted. Absolutely nothing. But if there was just one female who could rein in Eggie’s love of putting down useless humans, it was Darla Mae Lewis and only Darla Mae.
    As they cleared the woods, a large group of wolves suddenly stalked up to them and, going on training rather than instinct, Eggie and his teammates pulled their Smith & Wesson Model 59 semi-automatic pistols and aimed them at the wolves. The Pack skidded to a halt except for a darker-skinned She-wolf who kept coming anyway, but a tall male caught her arm and yanked her back, keeping her at his side.
    “Darla?” the male demanded.
    “Egbert Ray,” Darla sighed. “They’re my friends.”
    Eggie sniffed the air and growled out, “Magnus Pack wolves are your friends?”
    “I have lots of friends. Weapons down, gentlemen,” Darla ordered.
    Eggie nodded at his team and he tucked his gun in the back of his jeans, under his denim jacket.
    “Are you all right, Darla?” one of the Magnus Wolves asked.
    “I’m fine. Just fine.”
    Another one of the wolves pushed through the Pack, and stepped forward. And, with one look and a nod, Eggie recognized him as one of the Navy engineers who helped his team blow up shit when necessary. “Thorpe.”
    “Smith.”
    Ezra Thorpe had been part of the Magnus Pack since he was sixteen but he’d joined the Navy when he was twenty. He was, from what Eggie could tell, one of the best demolition experts he’d known. The wolf could take down an entire block with only a couple of strategically placed sticks of weak dynamite. He wasn’t real friendly but that’s why Eggie tolerated him. He hated real friendly.
    “Smith?” the Pack leader of the young wolves snarled. “Egbert Ray Smith ?”
    Darla smiled and nodded. “It sure is.”
    Eggie could be wrong, but it sounded like he heard pride in her response.
    “Egbert Ray,” she went on, “this is Bruce Morrighan of the Magnus Pack.”
    Eggie grunted at the wolf, staring until the rest of the wolf ’s Pack became antsy. But the wolf didn’t seem ready to move until his female tried to charge Eggie again. Good thing Morrighan was fast, though, or Eggie would have had no qualms about knocking this female out. He knew crazy when he saw it and that She-wolf was crazy.
    “You’ll be all right?” Morrighan asked Darla while his Pack began to wander off.
    “I’ll be just fine. Thanks, Bruce.”
    “Howl if you need me,” he said before he walked away, dragging the She-wolf behind him.
    Thorpe grinned and began to follow after the rest of his Pack.
    “Hey. Thorpe.”
    “Yeah?” he asked without turning around.
    “You staying in Tennessee for a while?”
    “Maybe.”
    “Good.” And Eggie filed that away for later use.
    When