Using her own daughter’s brush with death to ease her way into the wild dogs’ home was beneath even Jackie’s usual depths. Maybe even Kyle’s!
The wolf easily carried her inside the wild dogs’ home and down the hallway until he reached an enormous kitchen.
Why the wolf was here at all, Toni didn’t know. Maybe she didn’t want to know. All Toni did know was that her life was getting weird.
The wolf placed Toni’s butt on the stainless steel kitchen island so that she was sitting up. “So what hurts the worst?” he asked.
“Shoulder.”
“That’s what I thought. Because it’s not really in its socket.”
Toni sighed. “Great.”
“The dog is doing well, though,” one of the wild dogs pointed out.
“And that’s what’s important!” Jackie cheered, but when both her children gawked at her again, she quickly added, “You’re a hero! My daughter, the hero!”
A blond female wild dog pushed her way closer through the other dogs until she stood in front of Toni.
“Wolf is right,” she said in a thick Russian accent, “about this shoulder. But we can fix. Hold her, wolf.”
“Now wait a—” Toni protested.
The wolf scrambled up behind her, both legs around her hips, hanging well past her own long legs, and his arms around her waist, holding her tight.
“Got her!” he announced
The wild dog pulled her fist back. “I make this quick, jackal.”
“Hey! I don’t want you—
owwwwwwwwwwwwww! You Russian cow!
”
“See?” the Russian noted. “She’s better already. Who knew jackals were so tough?”
Coop leaned in, her brother cringing in sympathy. “Are you okay?”
“No!” Toni snarled.
“Make her sling,” the Russian ordered the others. She looked at Toni. “You’ll be fine tomorrow. I’m impressed you don’t cry like sniveling cat.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to.”
“All that matters is that you don’t. I loathe weakness. Like I loathe cats.” Then without another word, the wild dog walked out of the room.
“I’m weirdly freaked out,” Coop muttered, “and turned on all at the same time.”
Toni nodded. “I know.” Glancing down, Toni said, “Why are you still holding me?” she asked the wolf.
“I’m giving you my invaluable support, and my immense charm.”
“More like your immense bullshit.”
“Now, now, darlin’,” he teased, annoying her more. “No need to get so nasty just because you’re confused by your feelings for me.”
“I do not have feelings for you, other than pity for your mental illness.”
The wolf laughed while Coop suddenly raised his brows at her, and Toni shook her head at her brother. Tragically, she recognized that expression. Recognized it all too well.
“Don’t even—” Toni began.
“I’m Cooper,” Coop announced to the wolf, grinning at him. “The younger brother.
Brother
. Not boyfriend.”
Horrified, Toni snapped, “Cooper, stop it!”
“How y’all doin’? I’m Ricky Lee Reed. So glad you’re her brother. I’d hate to have to fight you for her.”
“No worries there,” Coop volunteered. “My big sis is
very
single and not even thirty yet.”
“That
is
nice to hear.”
“And you already seem to know my very single sister.”
“I will kill you,” Toni warned. “I’m not afraid to.”
“I’m glad to know she’s single,” the wolf said, “but she’s playing hard to get while stalking me all at the same time.”
“I am not stalking you.”
“I feel like a little ol’ gazelle calf without its momma.”
Toni’s eyes crossed at that pathetic visual.
“Are you interested?” her idiot brother asked. “Because as I said, she’s very single, but she only deserves the best. I won’t hand her off to just anybody.”
“Hand me off . . .
what is wrong with you?
” Toni demanded of her sibling.
“I’m trying to help.”
“I don’t need help.”
“I tried to chat her up,” the wolf explained, “but she used y’all’s other siblings to confuse me.”
“Oh, the ‘are you my daddy’ move? Yeah. She’s been using that one for years.’
“You both are aware that I’m sitting here, right? In
front
of you?”
“She had a bad breakup,” Coop went on. “About a year ago. I was hoping she’d get over it sooner.”
“I can help with that.”
“That’s what I thought. I’ve had a few She-lion benefactors over the years, and they all say that wolves are great for that sort of thing. The casual hook-up, I mean.”
Toni looked around the kitchen. “Am I dreaming? Tell me I’m dreaming this conversation.”
“We’re real good for that until we find mates of our own,” the wolf explained.
“See, that’s what I’m thinking. Because her ex . . . not worth all this angst. Our father, who is a really great guy, still calls that man the ‘pimple on the cock of humanity.’ ”
“Fathers love me. I’ve got this winning smile.” And Toni didn’t have to turn around to know the wolf was showing that smile to her idiot brother. “Perfect Southern manners. I never cuss. I rarely get sloppy drunk and that’s only around my Pack if I do. And I treat my momma right at all times, and not just ’cause I’m afraid of her. Even though I kind of am.”
“That’s perfect.”
“Would you two stop it!” Toni, to her horror, started laughing, hating both males for making it happen. “I’m not looking for a boyfriend.”
“Not a boyfriend, darlin’. A hook-up.”
“I don’t need that, either from you or anyone else.”
“But—”
“Shut up, Cooper!”
The males fell silent for a few moments until the wolf noted, “You do seem tense, though.”
Toni’s brother, tall and lanky, stepped away from his sister. “You know what?”
“Cooper,” the She-jackal practically hissed. “Don’t you dare.”
“I should check on the kids. They’re probably worried.”
“About what? I’m sure they’re blissfully unaware anything has happened.”
“No, no. They could be very concerned. Yeah. I better check.”
“I’ll go with you,” she said, and tried to slip out of his arms, but Ricky had a real good grip on her and no intention of letting her go. He was just too damn comfortable.
“Absolutely not! You need that sling the wild dogs are getting you.”
“A sling? We can make a sling at home.”
“You’re right! I’ll go get you one!” Then the jackal took off, leaving his sister all alone.
Yep. Ricky liked that boy.
“This is a nightmare.”
“Now, now. Don’t be hard on him. He only cares.”
“By handing me off to a wolf he doesn’t even know?”
“He probably has a good sense of things. Besides . . . my charm speaks volumes.”
“Your charm makes me want to punch you in the nose.”
That made Ricky chuckle. “I’m not trying to piss you off, darlin’. Just trying to get you to give me a chance.”
“Why?” she had to ask. “I’m really not that interesting. I’m cute but not stunning. I’m not excessively tall. And sexually, I’m rather vanilla. So then what is it?”
Ricky decided to be honest with her. “I like your hair.”
She suddenly went tense. “You don’t have to be mean.”
“I’m not. I like the curls. If we have sex, can I play with them?”
“I don’t even know how to respond to that.”
“Just say yes and I’m in.”
She shook her head. “Look, I really have to go. I have an interview in a few hours.”
“You need a sling and someone needs to keep an eye on you to make sure you don’t get the fever.”
“From a thrown-out shoulder?”
“It could happen. My brother got the fever last night. But that was from the crushed jaw and nicked artery. He’s probably still passed out at the hotel.”
“If your brother got the fever, why are you here?”
“I had to escape. My sister wanted to talk to me.”
“Good God,” she said flatly. “What was she thinking?”
Ricky heard the sarcasm but chose to ignore it. “Exactly! What
was
she thinking?”
Toni tried to move away again, but Ricky held her a little tighter.
“I’ll make you a deal,” he promised. “We hang out together today so I can make sure you’re really all right. And if we get along . . . you go out with me.”
“For sex?”
“Hopefully, but I was thinking dinner to start.”
“And if we don’t get along?”
“You can hit me in the nose if you’re still inclined.”
Toni gave a little snort. “Something tells me I will be.”
“You forgot your dog outside,” a black female standing in the kitchen doorway stated. Toni looked to see the thirty-pound dog she’d yanked from in front of that truck sliding to a stop by the cabinet she was on. He tried to leap onto the top of it but couldn’t quite make it, so he seemed to take pleasure in grabbing Toni’s foot between his two front legs and trying to chew her running shoes off.
“Oh,” Toni replied. “Yeah. My dog.”
The female snorted a little and held up a strip of cloth. “I have your sling.”
“Thank you, uh . . .” Although she could kind of guess who this was.
“Toni,” Ricky said from behind her, “this is Jessie Ann Ward-Smith.”
“And you’re the daughter of my son’s stalker,” the wild dog shot back.
“Uh-oh,” Ricky softly muttered against her ear. “Watch yourself, darlin’.”
Now it was true that Toni didn’t need to involve herself in any of this. It was her mother’s thing, not Toni’s. But if Toni didn’t get involved, then she’d be forced to hear about this situation all goddamn summer. It would involve scheme after wacky scheme until her mother got what she wanted. Like most geniuses at Jackie’s level, she could focus on a problem and work it until her last breath. There was no getting bored for Jackie Jean-Louis. No “getting over it.”
So Toni did what she had to do.
She looked the wild dog over, quickly sized her up, and went right for the superior but straightforward approach.
“Let me tell you something”—and Toni felt the wolf behind her tense at her high-handed tone—“you’ve got two choices. You can let your son settle happily into life as a second chair in the Ice Capades orchestra, or you can let my mother work with him for the summer and open the door to not only first chair with the New York Philharmonic but more likely a solo career. My mother,” Toni went on, “is internationally
worshipped
. She doesn’t waste time with artists she thinks are really nice or cute or will stroke her ego. If anything, that’s what my dad is for. So what you need to know is that, yes, your son is talented. I know this not because I’ve heard him play but because my mother wouldn’t waste time with him if he didn’t have a substantial amount of talent. Substantial. There are people who’d do bodily harm to others just to have a quarter of the chance she’s offering your son. And, lady, if you don’t think having my mother’s name on your son’s résumé as his teacher, his
mentor,
is going to help him achieve unimaginable heights—then you’re an idiot.”
The wild dog stared at Toni and Toni stared back. When that went on for a bit, it seemed Ricky Lee began to get uncomfortable.
But as soon as Toni heard him begin, “What I think she means, Jessie Ann—”, she cut him right off.
“I don’t need you to clarify my statements for me, wolf, thank you very much.”
“Yeah, but—”
“I don’t even know you,” she reminded him.
Toni refocused on Jess Ward. “Look, if you really want to find out how my mother will deal with your son on a regular basis, you might as well go upstairs and check it out, because even I can hear he stopped practicing and I highly doubt she left your house.”
“Dammit.” Jess Ward spun around and faced the kitchen door. She started to go through it, realized she still had the sling in her hand, and stopped long enough to toss it across the room. The white cloth hit Toni in the face and sort of hung there, blinding her.
She didn’t bother taking it off.
Ricky Lee finally released his hold on the little She-jackal and slipped off the counter. He stood in front of her and pulled the sling off her face.
She had her eyes closed, and he left her that way while he fashioned the cloth into a proper sling for her.
After a minute or so, she eased one eye open and leaned around him to see if Jessie Ann had actually left the room. Once she knew they were completely alone, she leaned back, looked at him, and said something that Ricky Lee had never heard from a shifter female before. Not ever. Not once.
“I am so sorry,” she whispered.
Ricky froze, thought he’d misheard her.
“Pardon?”
“I said I’m sorry.” She continued to whisper, although with wild dogs and their oversized ears, they could hear anything they wanted to in their house. It made it impossible for their kids to get away with any of the crap that Smith pups managed to pull off back in Smithtown. “You know, for snapping at you.”
Ricky Lee looked the female over. She
seemed
sincere. And he didn’t see a weapon on her that would suggest she intended to cut his throat or anything when he turned around.
“Um . . . that’s okay.” He began to fit the sling on her, careful not to move her shoulder too much since he knew it still hurt her. “You do know,” he felt the need to point out, “that what just happened could have easily blown up in your face.”
“Yeah. It could have. But I didn’t think it would. She was already waiting for me to try to relate to her on her level. You know, talk about the
Lord of the Rings
movies or how my little brother Freddy is a baby hacker. This Pack might live in the lap of luxury now, but they had some rough years on the streets when they were younger. I had to go with a straightforward approach.”