Naked, Brendon walked out of his bedroom, quietly closing the door behind him, and cut through the living room of the presidential suite of his hotel, the Kingston Arms. Since shifters hadn’t had one of their own in the White House since 1909, he used the suite for himself and his family.
Unfortunately for Brendon, his “family” had grown beyond what he’d exactly been hoping for.
Stopping in the middle of his living room and, sighing greatly, he looked over at the kitchen bar where one of Ronnie Lee’s worthless brothers stood, eating yogurt and staring at him.
“Mornin’.”
“I thought I made it clear to you and your idiot brothers that you were not to just drop by.”
“Now, now, big kitty. We’re all family. And family is family.”
“What the fuck does that even mean?”
Instead of answering, the wolf held up his bowl. “Yogurt?”
“I don’t want yogurt. And I told the staff not to stock my refrigerator with that crap anymore.”
Brendon had thought by not having the yogurt, he’d have fewer visits from Ronnie Lee’s Pack and family.
“You did ask them,” the wolf replied. “But we just talked to the wolves on staff and they made sure to set us up right. It was either that or we mock them with our howls at night.”
The wolf gestured at Brendon. “Guess you’re going to have to start wearing some pants to bed, hoss, once that baby comes along.”
Which brother was this again? Oh. Yeah. The middle one. Ricky. He was a little less irritating than Reece Lee and definitely not as uptight as Rory, but he was still a male canine in Brendon’s house.
“Eat your food and get out.”
“As ya like.”
Thinking about changing the locks again but knowing it would be a waste since wolves could pretty much unlock anything they wanted to, Brendon started off again. But he’d barely walked ten paces when the front door opened, and a few seconds later, another one of Ronnie Lee’s wolf kin invaded his home.
“There you are,” Reece Lee said when he spotted his brother. He stepped into the sunken living room, briefly stopping by Brendon to note, “Guess you’ll have to start wearing pants once Ronnie’s baby comes.”
“It’s also my baby, though you and your brothers seem to enjoy forgetting that part.”
“Hope your pup—”
“Cub.”
“—ain’t born with a snaggle-fang like Bobby Lee’s mixed-species cousin out of North Carolina. Pretty girl until she shifts, then it’s a whole other thing.”
“Maybe there’ll be tusks like Novikov,” Ricky suggested.
“I hate both of you.” Brendon sneered.
“Ya can’t.” Reece patted Brendon’s shoulder. “We’re all family now. Ain’t we?”
“Come and get some of this yogurt, little brother. There’s even summer berries in the fridge for mixing in.”
“But I like my yogurt the way I like my women,” Reece said with a huge grin. “Plain and sour!”
Rolling his eyes, Brendon walked toward the laundry to get some clean clothes and consider the benefits of private schools in Switzerland before the Reed Boys had a chance to spread their Southern logic to Brendon’s vulnerable child.
After fixing his own bowl of yogurt, his brother settled down beside Ricky at the bar.
“Where’d you go yesterday?” Reece asked.
“Met a girl,” Ricky said around a mouthful of yogurt.
“Anyone I’ve already fucked?”
“Not this time. You’ve met her, though. She’s one of the new directors for your team. Travel and promotion, I think.”
Reece dropped his spoon. “That little rich jackal?”
“Yep.”
“You and some rich girl? Daddy would call that a sign of the End of Days.”
“Daddy just don’t like rich people.”
“True. Still . . . she don’t seem your speed, big brother. Kind of slow lane for a Reed.”
“Never needed a fast car to keep my interest.” Ricky finished his food and pushed the bowl away. “Is that why you’re here? To ask me about that?”
“Nah. Rory wants us at the office for a morning meeting.”
“Why?”
“Big client coming in from the Sports Center. I think they want us to evaluate their fancy security systems.”
Ricky nodded. “Perfect. Was planning to go over to the Sports Center anyway and spend some time with my jackal.”
“Momma says jackals do the Devil’s work.”
“My jackal says that’s just propaganda.”
The pair watched Brendon Shaw walk through his living room, thankfully now wearing sweatpants.
“What about what Momma says about cats being agents of Satan himself?”
The cat stopped, glared over at them.
“Out, canines!”
he roared.
Winking at his grinning brother, Ricky replied, “I’d have to say that Momma was probably right on that one.”
A brief knock on the door and Coop walked into Toni’s room. “Heard you were up here raging about TVs and wolves. Kyle thinks you’ve had a mental breakdown from your new job that he insists on calling stupid.”
Toni, fresh from the shower and having put on jeans and a T-shirt, quickly combed her wet hair off her face before grabbing socks and her running shoes. “It’s nothing.” She didn’t want to get into it. She didn’t want to talk about what had happened between her and that useless wolf.
She sat on the wooden bench by her bed to put her shoes on. “Look, Coop, I have to go into the office, but as soon as I get back—”
“Don’t worry about a thing, big sis. I’ve got it all handled.”
Toni stopped tying her laces to look up at her brother. “What do you mean?”
“Cherise and I canceled all our concerts for this summer. We’re staying home to take care of the kids.”
“You did what?”
“No, no. Don’t get upset.” Coop crouched in front of her and finished tying her shoelaces for her. “I know what you’re thinking, but I needed the break. I’ve been going nonstop for months. And Cherise . . . let’s put it this way. When I made the suggestion, she threw herself into my arms and kissed my face like I’d rescued her from a sinking boat circled by sharks.”
“But Coop—”
Done with her laces, Coop placed his hands on her knees and looked deep into Toni’s eyes. “You, big sis, deserve this. You
deserve
this. You’ve taken care of us, now it’s our turn to do the same for you. Let us.”
“But weren’t you supposed to play for the king of—”
“If you’ve played for one king, trust me, you’ve played for them all. Our family is more important. And although Aunt Irene is trying to help, she terrifies the kids.”
“I know.” Toni sighed.
“And a crap-load of computer stuff arrived yesterday and she was up all night in her room putting it together with Troy and Freddy.”
“Troy and Freddy were up all night?”
“Only until three, but that’s when they usually go to sleep anyway.” Very true. Toni tried to get them on a more normal schedule for kids their age, but their minds never stopped turning, never stopped going. When she did order them to bed early, all they did was stay up all night thinking until Freddy began to work himself into an ulcer and Toni found that Troy had written equations all over his bedroom walls. “So I don’t forget!” he’d told her when she’d found him at six in the morning with a tiny stub of blue crayon in his hand and wild eyes.
“And you know how Aunt Irene is when she gets into her work,” Coop continued. “So you need me and Cherise here. We can help each other and help you. For once.”
Toni thought about telling her brother that she was only going into the office to quit the job she was so ill-prepared for, but she didn’t have the heart. He was just so damn proud of himself. She hadn’t seen him look like that since he was ten and was asked to perform for Queen Elizabeth of England in London. Although he did ask Toni later, “Is that the redheaded one?” Then he’d whispered, “Isn’t she dead? Will I be playing for a zombie?” Her fault. She’d let him stay up with her so they could watch
Night of the Living Dead
while their parents were out of the house, and the babysitter was clueless.
“No,” Toni had explained. “This is that Elizabeth’s, like, great-great granddaughter or something. She was born, like, a hundred years ago or whatever.”
Thankfully Toni’s understanding of history had improved with age.
But whichever Elizabeth that had been, Coop had had a look on his face of pure pride then, and he had the same expression now. It meant a lot to him to help his family.
So although Toni was going to quit this job because she was woefully under-qualified, she didn’t have to tell her brother that. And maybe, if she was lucky, she could find a job better fit for her skills and Coop could spend the summer helping with the rest of the kids.
Hell, if it made her kid brother happy, who was she to argue?
“Thanks, Coop. I appreciate your help.”
“You’re welcome.”
Toni stood, picked up her backpack. “We’ll talk later, okay?”
“Don’t worry about it. I know that new job will keep you busy.”
“Yeah.” Toni started to walk out but stopped. “Can I borrow your phone until later?”
“Sure, but Freddy didn’t take that new one you got apart, too, did he?”
“No, no.” She took the phone from her brother. “But I don’t want to talk about what
did
happen to it.”
Toni left the room and walked down the two flights of stairs to reach the front door. With her hand on the knob, she glanced back down the hallway and saw Oriana, Kyle, and Troy suddenly dive into the living room. Only Freddy stood his ground. He waved at her, and Toni smiled, winked, and blew him a kiss.
She walked out of the house and stopped when she came face to face with Delilah.
“Are you just getting home?” Toni asked, glancing at her watch.
“Mhmm.”
Delilah tried to move around her, but Toni cut in front of her and asked, “Where have you been, Delilah?”
“Just walking.”
Delilah tried to step around her again, and again Toni moved, blocking her. “Walk around where?”
Slowly her sister raised those blue eyes of hers to look at Toni. “Just around.”
“You’re being careful, right? Manhattan isn’t Seattle.”
“I know.” She gently patted the oversized shoulder bag she always had with her. It kept her drawing pad, notebook, and pencils. It was her ability to draw like artists thirty years her senior that had made Delilah a prodigy. But that wasn’t why Toni still kept a close watch on her eighteen-year-old sister. No. It wasn’t her skills as an artist that made Delilah so unique . . . and they both knew it.
“Don’t worry about me, Toni.” Delilah stroked her fingers gently down the side of Toni’s face, and it took all of Toni’s strength not to flinch away from that touch. “I’m always careful.”
“I know.”
With that soft smile, Delilah moved around Toni and headed inside.
“But it’s not really you I’m worried about . . . is it, little sister?” Toni said to Delilah’s back.
In the doorway, Del slowly turned around, her head dipping down a bit as she focused on Toni. Her smile spread—stretched—into a leer before she closed the door in Toni’s face.
Toni released the breath she always held whenever she attempted to figure out what the fuck her sister was up to.
Deciding she didn’t have time for this, Toni headed down the steps but stopped when she reached the second-to-last step and saw Johnny DeSerio standing in front of the wild dogs’ house and staring across the street. He was a young wolf and yet he wasn’t moving. That seemed strange. Young canines were known for their high energy.
Concerned, Toni waited until traffic cleared and jogged across the street until she reached Johnny.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“My feet stopped moving,” he muttered. “I’ve lost the ability to walk.”
“Okay. But you are standing. Standing is good. So there’s been no damage to your spinal cord.”
Toni moved around until she stood right beside him.
“I see you have your violin,” she noted.
“Do I? Maybe I should leave it inside. I’m not very good.”
“That’s not what my mother says.”
“Your mother is a foolish woman!”
he suddenly exploded, and Toni had to move fast to stop herself from laughing. Biting the inside of her cheek definitely helped. When she finally got control, Toni placed her hand on his forearm.
“Would you like to get a cup of coffee with me?”
“I want to hide in my basement.”
“I know, but I think coffee and maybe some breakfast would probably be better.” She tugged his arm. “Come on. There’s a coffee shop down the street.”
“You really have nothing better to do than have coffee with me?” he asked.
Toni shrugged, figuring she could quit at any time. “Nope. Nothing better to do.”
C
HAPTER
T
WELVE
T
hey ended up in a Starbucks at the end of the street, and Toni not only got the wolf to drink a large cup of coffee, she also got him to eat several cinnamon buns and three pieces of coffee cake. Not the healthiest breakfast, but she was sure he’d work it off.
“So what is it?” she asked him when she knew Johnny was calmer. “What has you so worried?”
“Everything.”
Toni smiled. “Everything, huh? So . . . the economy? Wars in other countries? Who’ll win this year’s Super Bowl? That everything?”
“Since I don’t care about any of that . . . no.”
“That’s what I figured. So what is it? Really?”
“What if I’m not as good as your mother thinks?” he finally asked, taking a huge leap of faith in showing Toni his weakness, his true fear.
“You have to be,” Toni stated bluntly, “because when it comes to
this,
my mother is never wrong. She’s completely useless at the most basic things like math, keeping the tenses straight when she’s speaking Italian, and unless she’s making breakfast, she’ll most likely set the house on fire if she tries to cook a meal. But when it comes to music . . . when it comes to what you do . . . my mother is never wrong.”
“But”—he shoved another bit of crumb cake into his mouth—“what if she’s wrong
this
time? About
me
?”
“Because you have that kind of power, right? Quite the narcissism you’ve got going there,” she teased.
He gazed at her for a long moment before admitting, “You’re right. I’m pathetic.” Then he dropped his head to the table and sighed . . . dramatically.
Crossing her eyes, Toni eased her brother’s cell phone out of her pocket and, keeping it under the table, quickly texted her mother. It was a skill she’d developed over the years . . . texting without looking. She’d learned it from Oriana, and it was a skill she was glad to have because of times just like these.
Starbucks on corner. It’s Toni.
Need you. Another stu bout 2 b destroyed
By yer awesomeness
After a few minutes of staring at the top of Johnny’s head, Toni saw her mother rushing down the street. She skidded to a halt when she reached the Starbucks doorway, took a breath, pushed her hair off her face, and calmly sauntered into the café.
Again, Toni only managed not to laugh by biting the inside of her cheek.
Jackie casually ordered a chai tea from one of the baristas before
casually
sauntering over to their table.
Her mother had become the queen of being casual after lots of self-training.
“Hey, baby,” she said to Toni. “What are you doing . . . wait. Johnny? What are
you
doing here?”
The wolf’s head came off the table, and he blinked wide, panicked brown eyes at Jackie.
Jackie pretended to think, her forefinger tapping her chin. “Don’t we have an appointment right now?”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Jean-Louis. I . . . I . . . it’s just . . .”
“Don’t worry about it.” Jackie waved Johnny’s panicked stuttering away. “I’m terrible with appointments myself. That’s what my mate helps me with. Right, Toni?”
“Sure,” Toni lied, because her father would probably be late to his own funeral if Toni didn’t make sure he wasn’t.
Jackie went to the counter and picked up her tea, then returned and sat down next to Toni.
“So,” she asked, cupping her chai tea, “what are we talking about?”
Johnny looked at Toni, his eyes begging her not to say anything.
“Movies,” Toni lied. Honestly, Toni would only lie this much to help her mother.
“I love movies,” Jackie stated. “What are your favorites, Johnny? Are you into sci-fi or stuff with lots of big explosions? Personally I hate chick flicks or anything that’s clearly trying to make me cry. I hate that.”
Knowing her mother could handle things from here, Toni picked up her backpack and slipped out of her chair.
And now, after handling this little drama, Toni knew it would be easy as hell to quit her day job.
Ricky leaned against one side of the office doorway and Rory leaned on the other while Reece stood between them, his arms crossed over his chest. Together they watched a big male lion play grab ass with his wife. Of course, it was his right. The company was partially his.
“Mace!” the full-human giggled-squealed. “Stop it!”
He had the poor little thing pinned against his desk with his big lion thighs while he man-handled—or in this case,
lion
-handled—Desiree MacDermot-Llewellyn, detective first grade for the shifter unit of the NYPD.
“Come on, Dez,” the big cat pushed. “Just give me ten minutes.”
“That sounds highly unimpressive for a former Navy man.”
“Unlike your Marine brethren . . . Navy SEALs know how to get the job done—quick, fast, and to everyone’s satisfaction. We don’t just storm the beach, baby. We take the whole damn country.”
Ricky looked at his brothers, and both of them crossed their eyes in disgust. Cats were bad enough, but military cats could be the worst. Combining that mane along with the ability to protect their country just made most of them completely unbearable.
“What are we doing?” a voice asked from behind Ricky and his brothers, and, he was ashamed to admit, they all reacted as any sane person would react when they suddenly had a large polar bear sidling up to them—they screamed like little girls and spun around, fangs bared, claws out, ready to fight to the death.
Eating what smelled like seal jerky, Lou “Crush” Crushek stared at them, unfazed by their panicked reaction. Unlike grizzlies, polars didn’t fly off the handle at the slightest provocation. Of course, polars were also more likely to eat a person just because that beached walrus they could scent was miles away somewhere on an ice floe and, you know . . . that human was standing right
there
.
Crushek nodded at Reece. Ricky knew he was nodding at Reece because Reece was the only one of them who played hockey professionally. Reece wasn’t the best the Carnivores had, but he was the one who always seemed more than willing to sacrifice himself to get between the other team and their potential goal. The wolf had had more surgery than seemed right over the last few years to repair all sorts of damage, but he truly loved hockey and his personality made him a standout with the fans.
“How ya doin’, Crush?”
The bear shrugged. Crushek wasn’t much for, you know,
words
. But that was okay. His mate, Coach Cella Malone, more than made up for it because that chatty kitty didn’t know when to shut the heck up.
“Good,” Reece said, reading that shrug as a positive response.
The bear looked over at MacDermot, who was now glaring at Ricky and his brothers. “You ready, MacDermot?”
They didn’t seem a likely pair, MacDermot and Crushek, but the fellow detectives worked really well together and had closed a lot of cases for the NYPD since they’d been teamed up. A few cases that Ricky and his brothers had been involved in because of their security company.
“Yeah. I’m ready.” She kissed her mate on the cheek and headed out, beautiful gray-green eyes glaring at the Reeds as she passed. The three brothers said nothing to her because they knew better. Even Reece. A full-human she might be, but Dez MacDermot-Llewellyn was always armed and always ready to shoot. In fact, she was one of the only full-humans he’d ever known who happily called Sissy Mae and Dee-Ann Smith “friends” and actually meant it.
She was almost past when she suddenly jerked toward them. All three jumped back, Reece immediately covering his face with his forearms since he felt that was the best part of him.
Sneering, she walked out the door and, chuckling, Crushek followed.
“Love you, babe,” Llewellyn called after her. “See you at home.”
“Love you, too,” she called back.
Llewellyn walked around his desk, and when he pulled his chair out, he noticed that the three wolves were watching him. “What?” He glared at them when all three tipped their heads to the side. “Look, I’m a lion male, but I can say ‘I love you’ . . . and mean it. Really.”
Toni sat down at the desk she was about to give up and opened up the e-mail program. She started typing, “Dear Ric,” but was worried that using his nickname was too casual. So she tried “Dear Ulrich” but thought that sounded too formal.
“This isn’t working,” Toni muttered, her entire body drooping in her very expensive ergonomically correct desk chair. “What do I say? ‘Thanks for the opportunity but I’d rather set myself on fire than fail on such a grand scale’?” No. That sounded tragically pathetic. Even for her. And she knew if she sounded pathetic that would only make Ric push for her to “keep trying!” He was a keep trying guy. A guy who thought everyone could do anything they wanted if they put their mind to it.
So she knew she had to find a way to quit and get him to not bug her about it. That would not be easy. Though he was a wonderfully nice wolf, Ulrich Van Holtz could be just as pushy as the rest of the Van Holtzes.
While she was debating the best way to handle her resignation, Kerri appeared in the doorway, a big grin on her face.
“I’m not staying,” Toni said immediately, and she felt slightly devastated when that big grin faded.
“But why not?”
“Kerri—”
“I know a lot of pressure comes with this job, but—”
“It’s not the pressure. Pressure I can handle. I’m just not right for this . . .” Toni’s words faded off when she saw the pretty black woman standing behind Kerri but staring down the long hallway.
“Can I help you?” Toni asked.
Her eyes still focused down that hallway, the female replied, “Uh . . . yeah. I was coming in here to say thanks but . . . uh . . .”
Toni sniffed the air and almost audibly sighed. The female was a wolfdog. One of the more annoying hybrids in Toni’s estimation. They were just . . . all over the place. No focus. No clarity. No sanity.
“Sweetie . . . ?” Toni pushed, frustrated because she wanted to talk to Kerri.
“Yeah. Sorry.” The She-dog focused on them. “Do you guys know who that lion male is who’s wearing the Los Angeles Raiders T-shirt?”
“Oh,” Kerri replied, “that’s the new player Coach just brought in. He’s from Los Angeles.” She lowered her voice. “He’s very tan.”
“Did Malone spend a lot of money bringing him here?”
That seemed like an odd question, so Toni asked, “Why does it matter?”
“Uh . . . because he just invited himself to work out with Bo.”
“Novikov?”
Kerri looked at her, eyes widening in panic.
Toni shot out of her chair, charged around her desk, and tore off down the hall. By the time she reached the two males, Bo Novikov had the new guy in a choke hold that would kill most canines and smaller cats. Only lion males and hyenas could continue to put up a fight after two seconds of that.
The problem was, of course, that Bo wasn’t about to release the cat just because he was starting to pass out. The dumb cat had gotten in Bo’s way. Why did people never learn not to get in the way of those with true drive or focus? It amazed her.
What Toni assumed was the fiancée he’d been so desperate to get to now tried to pry Bo’s arms off the cat while begging him to “Let go, Bo! Please!”
But Novikov wouldn’t hear pleas. He wouldn’t hear begging. A man like Bo Novikov would only hear one thing . . .
“You’re late, Bo.”
Bo turned his head to look at Toni while keeping his grip strong. “What?”
“You’re late. For our meeting.”
“I’m never late,” he snarled. “And what meeting?”
“To go over promotion ideas for you? Remember?”
“There’s nothing to remember because we didn’t have a meeting.”
“We did,” Toni said, moving around so that she stood right in front of him with Kerri behind her. With her hand behind her back, Toni signaled to her assistant with her fingers. “I set it up first thing this morning.”
“We did not have a meeting.” He glowered at her. “I know when I have meetings.”
“It’s on your schedule.”
“I know my schedule. We didn’t have a meeting.”
“I’m not talking your personal schedule, Bo. I don’t have access to that. So I had schedules set up and sent to the entire team’s phones.”
Leaning around Toni, Kerri held up her tablet and said, “See? It’s right here.”
“I didn’t get anything on my phone.”
“Really? I sent you a follow-up e-mail.” Christ, she was really rolling with this lie of hers, but the lion was starting to turn blue. Seriously. Blue.
“I don’t get e-mail on my phone.”
“You can’t get e-mail or you don’t?”
“I guess I never set it up when the team got our new phones. But why should I bother? Malone calls when she wants to talk to me.”
“I have a lot to do and I need to be able to get in touch with you the easiest way possible. That way I can also send you travel info and if there’s a problem you can see it right away and get back to me so I can correct it.”
“Planning to make a lot of mistakes, are you?”
“No. I just assume others will fuck up, so I build in padding for that so I’ll have time to fix the problem myself.”
That was not the answer he’d expected, but she could see he was impressed. Not that he’d admit it.
“The phone buzzing all the time bothers me during training.”
“You don’t need to look at it during your training. You need to look at it when you’re done with your training. You also need to check out your team schedule, which should coordinate with your personal schedule. Right? This is about team business, after all.” She tapped the watch on her wrist. “And you’re late.”
The hybrid’s really big body suddenly loosened up, and he finally released his prey, the cat dropping to the floor while he coughed and slowly got his overly tan color back.