Outfoxed

Epilogue

Gabby stared from Dean to Stacey, not sure why the two of them continued to argue with one another when it was clear to anyone with two X chromosomes that Dean had it bad for the haughty feline.

She glanced at Grady, who bit his lip to keep from laughing and focused on his cards. Thursday night poker had resumed a month after the incident with the Miami cats. The entire town council had caught wind of it and called a special meeting. Now anyone not already a resident of Cougar Falls had to check in with the council to get permission to visit.

Not a popular ruling with the majority of the town, but it kept Ty and Burke happy. Until their mates had their babies, the men were acting like possessive, protective idiots. Yet Gabby had never seen her sister as content as she was with Ty.

Gabby stood behind Grady and stared at his royal flush. He had a winning hand. Hell, he had her.

She grinned.

Monty scowled at her. “Quit distracting me. All that red hair, those flashy grins.” He grumbled to the others, “Shouldn’t she be in with the women watching that stupid movie?”

The Ac-taw at the table were too smart to answer. Miles said nothing. Burke wisely kept his eyes on his cards, though his lips quirked. Joel—the lone bear—still sulked because he’d been in Florida when all the action had gone down. A few of the raptors sitting in looked from wolf to cat and muttered under their breath about illogical land dwellers.

She ignored the wolf and his bad luck. “Good luck, sweetie.” She kissed Grady on the cheek and sauntered out of the room.

When Monty swore, she knew Grady had beaten him, finally. They’d been working on his game. Sadly, her honey could hunt, fish and track like a pro. He couldn’t cook, dance or—until Gabby—play cards worth squat. But she’d helped him, because Gabby liked a mate who wanted to win.

When the theme song for the old Scooby-Doo cartoon sounded, she dragged Sophie out of the living room to the poker table.

“What’s up, Gabby?” the pretty wolf asked. “Oh no. Not more Scooby-Doo?”

Grady’s laughter reached her before the others. “Quick, Dean,” he shouted. “Grab the top hat and tie and put it on the wolf. Monty, I believe the phrase is, Sophie, to go with your personal theme song, a magnificent serenade. Hit it, wolf.”

Sophie looked perplexed as she watched a wolf with rhythm, wearing a top hat and bow tie, jamming to Scooby-Doo’s theme song. Grady looked so happy she thought he’d burst. He winked at her and mouthed, “I love you.”

She had a smug mate. She was surrounded by friends and family. Gabby patted her belly—in another eight months, they’d have a baby. Yep. She could more than handle this life…so long as Grady didn’t dance.