Etienne (The Shifters of Shotgun Row Book 1)(37)

“Um, pansy?” I asked, more curious than perturbed.

Etienne all but growled. Good man. Pansy? Wasn’t that like offensive?

“Yeah, your mate said I can’t call you panty anymore so pansy is close.”

So not the way I thought it was offensive, but offensive for the win.

“Or there is my name—Tansy.” I countered knowing it was a losing cause.

“Which means a kind of pansy,” Justice appeared out of nowhere, thankfully clothed this time. “So, I’m with Callum. And I like your cooking.”

“For serious, guys?” My exacerbation almost comical. “Fine. Call me whatever you want, but if I’m cooking, you’re cleaning.” At least I could get out of dish duty, since it looked like the Tansy cooking pressure was being turned up a notch.

“You bring dessert?” Justice asked hopefully.

“Etienne did, and it’s for me only.” And I was so going to enjoy it.





Etienne



“That never happened, and you know it, you dumb som-bitch.”

There were no lies in the air, so either both of us were right, or both of us truly believed we were telling the truth.

I tended to believe the latter.

“I’m not even fucking with you, Tans.”

Loic was now calling Tansy, Tans, and even made a joke about her being the Tasmanian devil in bed.

I couldn’t wait to see. I bet she was a hellcat.

It didn’t take long for all the boys to come in. I knew once they smelled food cooking in my house, they would be over.

They needed to know my mate, and she needed to know she was safe with them even though most of the time I wanted to shove my foot up their asses.

“I bet it was cute,” she cooed over Loic’s story of me supposedly wearing a Wonder Woman costume to school on Halloween. I would go to my grave saying it was Superman.

“At least it was better than Justice. He wanted to be the Grim Reaper for like seven years straight. Claimed he could talk to the dead.”

Fuck. My eyes darted to Tansy. I needed to kick my own ass for saying stupid shit.

“Man, that would be a trip, though. Talkin’ to dead people and shit? Yeah, I bet they wouldn’t let you sleep or anything, like that dopey-looking kid on that movie with Bruce Willis.”

He did an impression of the kid in the hospital bed, delivering the line. Everyone knew the line.

“They do let me sleep. But, I have had some visit me in the shower.” Tansy twirled her fork in the plate of spaghetti in front of her while she spoke. Her hesitance was thick in the air. She wanted them to accept her.

And she trusted my brothers enough to share her secret.

“A gifted one. I knew there was something but couldn’t put my finger on it. Not a typical human, after all.” Callum always sounded like his sentences had been put together a century ago, and he was just the mouthpiece to deliver the knowledge.

Tansy shrugged, still not sure.

“Fuck me. Dead people? Etienne, why didn’t you tell me?” Justice asked.

“Not my story to tell. My mate needed to trust you first.”

Lazare jumped from his chair. I stiffened, thinking he was going to set a fire or take his pants off. You never knew what was going to happen with the coyote.

“I need a nap. Just get your gloves on. I’ll wash and you dry.”

They never missed a beat. My mate just told them she talks to dead people. She might as well have said she blows her nose for all they cared. She belonged to me, and she clicked with my crew. That was all we needed to know.

“A nap?” Tansy said, looking at her watch.

Loic leaned over. “He doesn’t sleep like the rest of us. He just naps like he’s on crack or something. It’s coyotes for you. Too much energy.”

Tansy wasn’t allowed to help with the dishes or the cleanup. She watched on and tried to help two or three times before I put her over my shoulder and carried her out into the living room to stew.

The boys filed out after everything was clean.

She got a lot of “thanks, Pansy” and one ‘thanks, Tasmanian devil’ from the boys before she shooed them out of the house.

“Come on, just one more slice of pie,” Justice whined. Why did I have to cave and whip up a pie?

“Nope. Etienne and I have plans.”

His eyebrow furrowed. The dork. He just wasn’t getting it.

“Plans with my mate and my mouth and his…”

That’s when I put my hand over her mouth, tossed her over my shoulder again, and shut the door in Justice’s face.





Tansy

“Pecker,” Loic shouted through the door. “She was gonna say pecker.”

Etienne tensed up behind me as I tried in vain to contain my giggles. My cheeks were burning, but it was oddly comforting to hear him comfortable enough with me to torment Etienne through me like that.

“Etienne, you lucky son of a bitch,” Callum called out. They were all still on the stoop from the sounds of it. How they were not busting a gut was beyond me.

“I call bullshit.” Justice was loud, but his voice getting farther away. “She was gonna say cock.” Farther away to get a head start from my mate, who swung the door open, pushing me behind him as my laughter poured out.