Teddy reached out a hand to Nina to apologize. “I’m sorry, Nina. I didn’t mean to offend you. I was just…”
Nina frowned, her beautiful face scrunching up in disapproval as she set Lenny on Teddy’s bed. “You were just flappin’ those lips to flap. I get it. You’re a chick. You say chick shit. But I lost my damn vampy powers for a reason, and it’s not something you two insensitive shits straight outta Goldilocks have any business snarkin’. I stopped that lunatic bitch Angria from killing Toni because she’s my GD friend, and the hell I was gonna let some whacked-out, jealous queen take her out. Toni was some badass in Shamalot. Always lookin’ out for everyone but herself. You have no idea what she went through to get where she is. So don’t make light about something you don’t know a damn thing about. That shit happened, and your sister’s one of the baddest bitches in the land. Don’t ever make the ha-ha in front of me about it again.”
This side of Nina, this protective, almost mother bear side, not only intrigued Teddy, it made her long to have a female influence in her life just like her.
Okay, maybe all the swearing and threats could be left out of that wish. But Nina was fierce about her loyalties and her friendships, and it was evident in her tone. What was also evident was her selflessness. She’d saved Toni, if the story was true. Who did that for someone they hardly knew?
Nina was clearly still touchy about losing her vampiric powers, but she made no bones about the fact that she’d done it out of allegiance and, by her definition, out of friendship.
“Nina, I had no idea,” Cormac intervened, his voice gruff. “I mean, I knew you kept her from being killed, and you bit this Angria, and that by drinking her tainted blood you all surmise the act stole your powers, but I didn’t know how close you’d become to my sister. I’m sorry. I meant no disrespect for what you did for Toni. I’ll never forget that kind of loyalty. If there’s anything I can ever do, you just have to say the word.”
Nina tucked her hair behind her ears, her eyes narrowed. “Well, you might know if you didn’t spend all your time brooding in the corner. Your sister tried like hell to find you, pal—from the day those dick-knuckles took you. She loves you, and the guilt she felt over thinking she’d lost you was big, brother. Bigger than she is. She hated that she hid away in Jersey all that time. She was all torn up with guilt that she didn’t know what happened to you. That maybe there was something else she could have done to find your ass. Toni figured if she was alive, she could at least bring to justice the fuck that did you in, and she tried hard. Which was a fucking smart move. So here’s the score, Moody Blues, she can’t ever come back here if you don’t get off your butt and play an active part in taking these assholes out. So get the fuck up, Pooh Bear. No more mopin’. We have a Russian mob boss to bag.”
Nina turned on her heel, stalking off toward the entry to the basement and back upstairs, the slamming of the door the only sound.
Teddy puffed her cheeks out, intending to rise and get a move on. Even without powers, Nina was pretty scary. She shuddered thinking of the damage she must have caused with them.
Cormac grabbed her hand and voiced that very thought. “Imagine her with the strength of ten men.”
Teddy’s head fell back on her shoulders as she tried to stifle a giggle while Lenny settled next to her. “And fangs.”
Cormac laughed.
“I fucking hear you!” Nina yelled after popping the door open. “Imagine me coming down there and beating your face with your own leg after I chew it clear off. Get the fuck up here or I’m sending Wanda the Warden in!”
Both Teddy and Cormac looked at each other in panic. “No,” she whispered, mocking horror. “Not Wanda!”
Cormac’s chest rose and fell, barking more laughter as he slid from the bed and reached for his jeans.
That was exactly when more guilt set in. First, because she had to tear her eyes away from him. Second, because the guillotine was poised over her head, just waiting to hack it off. She couldn’t keep hiding her reasons for being here, and after Cormac had confessed what this Andre wanted from him, how could she keep something as vital as the information she had to herself? The time to come clean was here.
The news she was about to share made her grateful Nina was no longer a vampire.
She was pretty okay with her face, and she was sort of fond of her legs remaining attached.
Chapter 8
After a shower, wherein she stalled for as long as possible, she made her way back upstairs, where Carl greeted her with a hot cup of coffee and pointed to the kitchen table where everyone had gathered.
Heaps of food were piled high on plates, fluffy yellow scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages and croissants were in abundance, while Archibald, dressed as immaculately as last night, like some food maestro, orchestrated the meal. His joy at having everyone together was obvious in his twinkling eyes and spry step.
Teddy’s stomach growled in appreciation.
Until she remembered what she had to do.
Tell the truth.
As she looked for an open seat, Cormac smiled and patted the one next to him. The day was gray and snowy just outside the sprawl of big windows enveloping the breakfast nook, where Lenny napped on a pillow Nina had Archibald bring him, but it didn’t dull his gruff good looks.
His warm, inviting smile did things to her stomach, and her heart, somehow syncing up, creating a riot of unsettled emotions.
As she sat next to Cormac, he leaned into her and whispered in her ear, “You feel better?”
“Is Nina still going to eat my legs off?”
He chuckled, sending a ripple of awareness along her arms. “Nah. Well, maybe only one leg.”
Teddy shuddered, tucking her down vest around her. “Scary ex-vampire is scary.”
“So scary.”
“What are you two making googly eyes over now? Eat some damn food. You’re gonna need all your brain cells today, Teddy Bear. Nothin’ better to start the hunt for Russian motherfluffers than a good breakfast.” Nina shoved the plate of eggs at her, popping a piece of bacon in her own mouth as she did.
The heavy weight of her confession, one she’d practiced over and over in her head, began to blur and swim in her brain. Taking the eggs, she put some on her plate, listlessly poking at them with her fork.
“Hey, you’d better call your brothers huh?” Marty suggested, batting her eyelashes. “They’re probably wondering why you didn’t bring your life mate home.”
As pretty as the day before, Marty had let her hair down this morning. It fell in beachy waves around her beautiful face, artfully made up to enhance the deep blue of her eyes. She wore a cute pair of denim leggings and knee-high boots with a thigh-length cable-knit sweater in purple.
Looking down at her freshly laundered torn clothes, Teddy suddenly found herself feeling quite small. When she’d reached the age where clothes and makeup became important to her, her mother was already gone.
Her brothers had raised her from that point on, and they knew zero about clothes and all things girl, especially as young as they’d been when they’d taken the reins from their mother. They knew horses and running a ranch and a business. They’d done their best to give her everything she needed, and she loved and appreciated them more than they’d ever know, but sometimes…
Sometimes, she wished for a female influence—someone to tell her what color sweater made her eyes stand out or how she should wear her hair.
Instead, she pulled her own wavy hair up in a ponytail or braided it—because it was practical when working with the animals she loved so much.
“Teddy, honey?” Wanda leaned over the table and patted her arm. “Your brothers? Shouldn’t you call them?”
The last thing she wanted to do was call Vadim and Viktor with the kind of news she would impart. She’d lost a lot of cash…
She shrugged and swallowed. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be okay with it. But I guess I should, if you all don’t mind.”
Wanda tugged the en
d of Teddy’s braid and smiled. Just as perfectly made up as Marty, she was also equally as beautiful. “I’m sorry. I was pretty grumpy yesterday, wasn’t I?”
Hah. Just you wait, Wanda.
Teddy shrugged again, almost afraid to say anything. “It was a tense situation. I understand.”
But Wanda shook her head, smoothing back her updo with elegant fingers and a grin. “I was a bear, if you’ll pardon the pun. But I’d been listening to Marty and Nina argue with each other for four days while we tried to figure out Cormac’s exact location. Our directions were pretty vague. As you can imagine, the twins had drained me of my energy by the time we found him.”
Wanda was their peacemaker—that was as clear as the day was long. She was the leader of the pack whether she acknowledged it or not, this pack they’d created out of necessity, and the burden of keeping Marty and Nina from killing each other had to be on par with wrestling alligators every single day.
“I take it it’s been hard on you with this change for Nina?”
Wanda sighed as she sipped her coffee, the gesture forlorn. “It’s been hard for all of us, but Marty’s taking it the hardest. Maybe even harder than Nina. Nina seems to be just fine as long as she has food. But fear not, we’ll figure it out. In the meantime, go call your brothers and let them know you’re safe. I’ll feel better and so will you.” Patting her arm once more, Wanda turned back to the conversation Nina and Cormac were having about the Giants and the Steelers.
Giving her permission to call her brothers was like giving her permission to attend her own funeral.
Pushing the spindled chair out, Teddy reluctantly rose and made her way back to the great room where it was quiet.
She took a seat on the very couch she’d sat on last night, by the fire where it was warm, and pulled her phone from her pocket, turning it on.
There were tons of texts from both Vadim and Viktor. They began pretty lighthearted. “Hey, you okay?” and “Little sister, where you at?”
But they began to go sour after the first four or five. “You’re freaking us out, Teddy Bear!” and “If you don’t check in soon, we’re comin’ for you!”
The worst was, “Don’t do this shit to us, Teds! Not after last year. Get in touch now!”
She typically kept in pretty close contact with them whenever she was on a job. The total silence had them in a panic, and with good reason, after what had happened last year. Yet, she had no choice but to relieve their worries.
Oddly, there was no text about the job itself or the events that had unfolded last night. Probably because her treetop hit man didn’t want anyone to know what he’d done to the person he’d hired.
Finding Vadim’s number, she clicked on it and winced. Here went nothin’.
“Jesus Christ, Teddy, it’s been more than twenty-four hours! Are you okay? Do you need us? Where the hell are you and where’s Cormac Vitali?” Vadim shouted, his voice rife with panic and fear.
Blowing out a breath of pent-up air, she said, “I’m fine, Vadim. Relax. Everything is fine.”
“I’m putting you on speaker so Viktor can stop wearing a hole in the damn floor. Jesus and hell, Teddy! You scared the shit out of us!”
“Teddy?” her brother Viktor roared, curling her eardrums. “What in blazes is going on? Do you have any idea how worried we were? When I say call and keep in touch during a bounty, I mean call and keep in touch!”
She pictured Viktor and Vadim, pacing the worn length of the hardwood kitchen floor in their ranch house, running their hands over the light brown scruff on their faces, in tune with one another’s every move.
“Okay, okay! Wait, please! Just let me explain. Everybody calm down and let me talk. No interruptions. Agreed?”
“It better be good, Theodora,” Vadim hissed.
Most people couldn’t tell her identical brothers apart, but she didn’t have any trouble at all because their differences were distinct. Vadim was the less high-strung of the two; his swagger was more relaxed, his face less scrunched up in a frown, his overall vibe down to earth.
Viktor, on the other hand, was always wired for sound. Ready to go at a moment’s notice, all pent-up energy and motion. Both worried about her in equal measure, they just did so very differently, and right now, she wasn’t up to the interrogation.
Tucking her legs under her, Teddy sighed. “First, Cormac Vitali isn’t the bad guy here. Now, hold on…” She heard Viktor’s simmer, even over the phone. “Don’t start yelling about sympathizing or whatever psychobabble you two keep coming up with until I explain. And if you’re not going to stay calm while I do it, I’m hanging up.”
Vadim huffed into the speaker. “But that’s exactly what I’m going to do. What have we told you about sympathizing with the bounty, Teddy? Stop trying to figure everyone out and fix their damn boo-boos and just bring ’em in. That’s the job we gave you.”
“You’re not listening. I’m not sympathizing with the bounty. I’m telling you, Cormac Vitali isn’t the bad guy. That bastard of a client is! The one who hired us with his pathetic story about catching the guy who killed his friend! Know how I know? I’ll tell you how I know, brothers. That client tried to kill me last night. Kill me.”
She still had trouble believing it, but it was true. The man who’d been taking potshots at her last night was the very man who’d hired her to bring in Cormac Vitali.
There was a silent moment while Teddy allowed them to absorb her words. She’d stunned them speechless. That almost made her giggle. Except, that client had paid them a lot of money as a deposit to find Cormac, and they’d just lost a lot of money because he was dirty.
They had a mortgage to pay and a ranch to run. She’d have to find a way to make it up to them somehow.
“So you’re telling me, the client from Jersey, Arty McDaniels—”
“Probably not his real name,” she interjected.
“Okay, the guy with the potentially fake name who was carrying on about how Cormac had killed his friend, the friend he wanted justice for, was the same guy who tried to kill you last night?” The disbelief in her brother’s voice rang in her ear clear as a bell.
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you. Same guy climbed a damn tree opposite the room I’m staying in and took a shot at me just last night. I went after him and I saw him, Vadim. Saw him with my own two eyes. He got away, but it was the same damn guy.”
She was still parsing it in her mind, trying to make sense of all this. McDaniels told all three of them the sob story of his dead friend with real tears glistening in his eyes as he’d hired them. He’d told them all about how he was determined Cormac be brought to justice in honor of his alleged dead friend. All he wanted was for them to locate the mark and bring him in, where he’d gladly help her bring Cormac to the nearest police station.
That was when Viktor and Vadim had stopped him cold. They never asked for the emotional details surrounding a bounty—it was too personal. All they needed was the cash and the assurance that, once the bounty was found, the client agreed to let them aide in escorting the bounty to the police department. It was unconventional, yes. But their reasons for taking bounties to begin with were very personal.
But that wasn’t what Arty McDaniels had wanted at all—she knew it in her gut. He’d wanted Cormac found all right, he wanted him found so he could kill him, and she’d helped him find the man he wanted to murder.
The more she thought about it, the more she was sure she had a much better picture of what had likely really happened the night McDaniels’ “friend” was allegedly murdered, and it had nothing to do with Cormac.
He was damn well in cahoots with these Russians somehow. They needed to shut Cormac up before he found the right cop to listen to him—unlike the cops his sister had tried to convince.
“So all that bullshit about bringing Cormac to justice in honor of his buddy was crap? How the hell did he get this Vitali into the system to begin with? Did he hack it?”
Arty McDaniels had co
me complete with loads of information from official sites, all declaring Cormac was wanted for the murder. “I guess if he was willing to come to us for help in capturing Cormac with a fake name and a fake story, he’d surely be prepared to create falsified documents. And why else would he try to kill me if his story wasn’t bullshit? Why would he want me dead if I found Cormac for him? Did he get suspicious because I’d come to New York?”
“New York? What the hell are you doing in New York?” Viktor yelped.
Squeezing her temples, Teddy clenched her teeth. “It’s a long story, and I’ll explain in a minute. But what I’m sure of is, McDaniels wants anyone who came in contact with Cormac and might’ve heard the real story dead. He just needed him found. Was the plan always to kill us both after I’d found him, and make us disappear just like his buddy? No one would know the truth, right? You’d both think I got lost on the bounty. The forest is a big place, Viktor, but he needed someone who knows it like we do—like I do. Also, no one’s looking for Cormac but his sister, and she’s at the root of all this. She’s the one who saw what happened. So who’d know the difference?”
“What is the real story, Teddy? What happened with this guy’s sister and why the hell are you in New York?” Vadim asked.
As she explained what Cormac had told her this morning about Stas and Toni and why she’d come to New York, leaving out the part about Shamalot and life mates, her brothers listened in silence.
When she was finished, Viktor finally spoke. “That means this was all some kind of crazy setup. He just needed someone skilled to track Vitali. I’ll hunt his sorry ass down, Teddy. He’ll beg for death when I’m done with him!” he bellowed into the phone, followed by the slam of a fist. Probably on the center island, if the sound of plastic apples falling to the ground was any indication.
Then another wave of horror hit her. “You know what else this means, don’t you? If he came for me, he might come for you guys. He won’t want anyone left to identify him. You and Vadim aren’t safe.”
Bearly Accidental (Accidentally Paranormal Book 12) Page 9