He waited until the guys moved past him, a few stopping in front of him, expecting Vic to move instead, but he wasn’t about to move for anyone. Especially not hockey players, a sport he simply did not understand on any logical level.
Once the players cleared, Vic was able to see Toni rushing up to him. And ambling behind her, Ricky Lee.
“I’m so glad I found you,” Toni said when she reached Vic, her hand resting on his arm.
“What’s wrong?”
“I need your help.”
“Sure.”
“I need to go to Russia. Now.”
“Well—” he began, quickly searching for an excuse that would get him out of making a trip back to Russia as part of Toni’s security team. He still hadn’t found Livy, and until he knew what had happened to her, he wasn’t about to go anywhere. But he also didn’t want to alarm Toni by telling her that Livy had gone missing.
“But I just got a call,” Toni went on, a bit of panic in her voice. “Livy’s in jail.”
Shocked, Vic demanded, “What? What the hell happened? When did that happen?”
“It doesn’t matter. I just need to get her out.”
“No problem. I’ll post bail.”
Toni frowned, confused. “No, no. I need you to go to Russia. I’ll get Livy out of jail.”
Vic studied Toni a moment before turning his gaze to the wolf standing behind her.
Reed gave that annoying grin of his, which told Vic the woman was serious.
“You want me to handle negotiations with those Russian bears for a sport I don’t even respect?”
“Of course not,” she said, exasperated. And they’d only just started this goddamn conversation. “Just stall them until I get there.”
“I see. And that makes sense . . . how?”
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
“You want me to go to Russia to stall bears while you bail Livy out of jail rather than you going ahead to Russia and letting me pay her bail? How is that remotely logical?”
“Because I manage Livy when she gets into trouble.”
“No. You manage those ridiculous meatheads who fight while skating. You also manage your terrifying siblings. Livy you do not manage. Nor should you, since she’s a grown woman.”
“You say that, but where is she? Jail!”
“I didn’t say she was a grown woman who made good decisions. But I’m not about to take a seventeen-hour flight just so I can stall a bunch of cranky Russian bears while you bail your friend out of jail so you can then lecture her about how bad it is for her to go to jail.”
“I can’t believe you’re being so unfeeling!”
“Unfeeling because I’m simply not giving you what you want?”
“That’s exactly what I mean!”
Chuckling, Reed put his arm around Toni’s shoulders. “I know you don’t wanna hear it, darlin’—”
“No!” Toni snapped. “I don’t.”
“But Vic here is right. This deal is too big for you to walk away. You’re about to sign the most important deal this team has ever had. You don’t want to risk that.”
“But I’m not walking away. I’m just asking Vic to—”
“No,” Vic said calmly. “I’m not going to Russia. Not for this. Zubachev is expecting you, but if I show up?” Vic shook his head, thinking of the Russian shifter team owner’s reaction to that little change in his schedule. Ivan Zubachev, like most grizzlies—Russian or otherwise—was just not good with change. Any change. Ever. “I’d rather set myself on fire, Antonella.”
Toni stomped her foot, most likely ready to argue the point until she “accidentally” missed her plane. At least Vic was sure that was her subconscious plan.
“Vic—”
“Forget it, Toni,” Vic cut in, unwilling to continue this argument. Instead, he patted Toni’s head. His hand was big, so he pretty much covered her entire head and a good portion of her face. “It’s all right, little canine. I’ll take care of your friend for you.”
Toni slapped off Vic’s hand. “It’s not that easy, you know.”
“I’m sure it’s not,” Vic said as he walked away, choosing to ignore what he secretly called her “dog yapping.” He had to; the feline in him wanted to start clawing at things when her voice got so unbearably yippy. And absolutely no one wanted him to unleash his claws.
Toni continued to yell at him as he walked away, but he still refused to listen. He’d take care of the problem. What more could the damn woman want?
But once he was in the elevator, Toni’s hand slammed against the open door to keep it from closing. “You can’t just walk away,” she told him.
Vic pulled out a box of bamboo sticks that he always kept on him in case Shen ran out. The container resembled a pack of cigarettes but the marketing read “Bamboo for the Giant Panda on the GO!”
“Now,” Toni went on. “What you’ll need to do is—”
Vic tossed the box a few feet away. Toni stopped talking, looked at the box, and back at Vic, her eyes narrowing in warning. “I’m a jackal, Barinov,” she snarled. “I’m not some stupid Labrador retriev—”
A blur dashed by them, dove at the box, rolled a few feet away, bounced back to relatively small feet, and held the box up, triumphant.
“You dropped this!” said the pretty wolfdog as she bounced over to them. She held the box out to Vic and he took it, raising his brows at Toni.
The jackal closed her eyes, let out a breath.
“Hi, Toni!” the wolfdog chirped.
After a moment, Toni replied, “Hi, Blonde.”
Blayne’s smile vanished and her lip curled. “It’s Blayne!”
“Whatever.”
Blayne focused on Vic, her smile quickly returning. “So what’s going on?” she asked.
“Livy got picked up by the cops,” Vic told her, hoping one of Blayne’s overreactions to any situation that had nothing to do with her would distract Toni long enough for Vic to get away.
“Oh no!” Blayne’s hands briefly covered her mouth, her eyes wide. “I was afraid that would happen after the way she reacted this morning at the meeting.”
“What are you talking about?” Toni asked.
“She came to our meeting about the wedding and she went after Mrs. Malone like a rabid squirrel. And in case you weren’t aware, squirrels are way meaner than any predator I’ve ever met.”
“Why would Livy be at a meeting about your wedding?” Toni briefly closed her eyes before asking, “You didn’t ask her to be one of your bridesmaids again, did you?”
“Not after she threw that locker at me.”
Vic raised his hand. “I’m sorry. I need clarification on that one. Livy threw a locker at you? A locker?”
“Yeah. We were in the locker room after a derby bout. I asked her to be one of my bridesmaids—assuming she’d take it as the compliment it was—but she didn’t say anything. Instead she just walked over to the lockers, pried one off, and wham! Next thing I knew, I was dodging a locker.” She grinned. “Good thing I’m spry!”
Vic nodded. “Good thing.”
“So I didn’t ask her to be a bridesmaid.”
“Good,” Toni said.
“Instead, I asked her to be my wedding photographer!”
Vic stepped out of the elevator and grabbed hold of Toni before she could get her hands around Blayne’s throat, sweeping her up in his arms and holding the snarling, snapping jackal against his body.
Blayne stumbled back. “What the hell?”
“You,” Toni spit out. “You asked one of the great photographers of our time to be your wedding photographer?”
“I intend to pay her!”
“That’s not the point! Would you ask Ansel Adams to photograph your baby shower? Or Renoir to paint your bedroom?”
“Well . . . if they were alive today and available for that sort of—” Blayne leaned back as jackal claws nearly slashed her face off. “You’re being unreasonable!”
Vic moved
back to pull Toni farther out of claw range, and he nearly walked into Ricky Lee.
“What’cha doin’ with my woman, hoss?” the wolf asked calmly.
“Keeping her from killing Blayne.”
“Who’d wanna kill Blayne?”
“Blayne asked Livy to be her wedding photographer.”
Ricky Lee shook his head. “My Toni gets real protective of her family’s talents. And she considers Livy family. Blayne’s lucky you were around. I’m not nearly as speedy as you. Now, why don’t I take her.” Ricky Lee put his arms out and Vic transferred the jackal over. “And I’ll get us both on that plane to Russia. You handle Livy.”
“Will do.”
Now safely in Ricky Lee’s arms, Toni pursed her lips and glared at both men. “This is ridiculous. Put me down, Ricky.”
“Nah.” He leaned in, kissed her cheek. “Let’s get you to the airport, darlin’.”
“Wait—”
“I’ll take care of Livy,” Vic promised, knowing that was what was bothering her.
“You can’t just take care of Livy. You have to get her and her cousins out. Trust me when I say, you can’t leave Kowalski cousins in lockup. They don’t like being trapped together. They’ll tear each other apart and end up in actual prison.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got this all covered.”
“And,” she went on, “you’ll need to keep Livy away from Melly once you get them out. She’s really cranky when she’s been in jail for a while, and Melly knows every button to push to make Livy snap.”
“I’ll deal with it. Now go before you miss your plane.”
“Vic—”
“Go.”
“She’s erratic when she’s upset,” Toni warned as Ricky Lee walked off with her. “And being asked to be some heifer’s wedding photographer is bound to make her upset!”
Blayne stamped her foot. “You’re still being unreasonable!”
“This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” Melly accused, her eyes locked on Livy across the cell they were sharing with their cousins and several other full-human women Livy didn’t know. “To see me back here. Where you think I belong.”
“Where I think you belong is in rehab or a maximum-security mental hospital.”
“You are such an evil bitch, Livy!”
“I’m evil? You trashed my apartment.”
“I had a little party with family and a few friends. Why are you so uptight?”
“A little party does not involve cobras and puff adders.”
“And black mambas,” Livy’s cousin Jocelyn muttered.
Livy closed her eyes in horror at the thought of one of the deadliest snakes in the world skittering through her defenseless neighbors’ plumbing. “You have to be,” she growled at Melly, “the dumbest twat this side of the universe.”
“I was hungry!” Melly screamed back.
Livy held up her hands. “I can’t with you, right now. I’ve got a lot on my mind and—”
“Boo-hoo,” Melly singsonged, her voice a nasty sneer. “My father died so everybody must pity me.”
Jocelyn’s eyes grew wide. “Wow. She went there,” she said to the other cousins. “I mean . . . she actually went there.”
“Shut up,” Melly snapped at Jocelyn.
“But who the fuck says that to someone who just lost their father?” Joce demanded. “Who?”
“Livy’s always been a bitch. Uncle Damon dying doesn’t change shit about that.”
Livy didn’t say anything. She didn’t move. She didn’t growl, snarl, or hiss. But a true honey badger never actually needed those warning signs to know when a fellow HB was about to go off like a bomb. Quickly, Jocelyn knelt in front of Livy, placing her hands on Livy’s knees. “Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Livy.” Jocelyn cocked her head to the side. “I can’t let you.”
Studying her cousin, Livy asked, “Because you care if Melly continues breathing? Or because of her talents?”
“Don’t be silly, Liv.” Jocelyn, the oldest and most mature of the Kowalski cousins, reached up and gently petted Livy’s cheek. “If she didn’t have talents, I would have killed her myself before she graduated kindergarten. But this goes beyond our instinctual need to destroy the weakest of our kind. So I can’t let you. Understand?”
Livy let out a breath, nodded. Besides. If she was going to kill her own cousin, she should do it without surveillance cameras and so many witnesses.
Jocelyn, satisfied by Livy’s nonverbal response, smiled and stood. When she turned, Melly was standing there.
“You would have killed me in kindergarten?” When Jocelyn didn’t reply, Melly began to sob.
Jocelyn, disgusted, glanced back at Livy, eyes crossed.
“I can’t believe we share blood,” Jocelyn whispered at Melly before she walked off.
Livy heard someone sniffing, and she looked at the bars she was trapped behind. She recognized the face of the polar bear standing there, sniffing the air. Slowly, dark brown eyes focused on her.
“Olivia.”
“Crushek.”
He gestured to a uniformed cop. The door was opened and Livy stood. “I’ve gotta bring them,” she said, motioning to her cousins.
“Then bring them.”
The bear turned and walked off. With a shrug, Livy and her cousins followed. They were near the elevators when another plainclothes cop ran up to them.
“Hey! Crushek! You can’t just—”
Crushek faced the man, stared down at him.
“I can’t what?” Crushek asked.
The full-human swallowed. “These . . . women . . .”
Crushek blinked. “What about them?”
“They put two of our officers in the hospital.”
Crushek looked down at Livy. “What did you do?”
“They got between me and my cousin, but it wasn’t that big a deal. Couple of busted noses, a few broken fingers, and some bruised egos . . . but everybody’s alive.”
“Don’t do that anymore,” he told her, pointing one, big, blunt finger. “Understand?”
“Yes.”
Crushek looked back at the other cop. “They won’t do that anymore.”
“Look, Crushek, you can’t just take people out of here . . .” He cleared his throat, tried again. “Take people out of here . . .” Another throat clear. “Whenever you feel like . . .” He gawked up into that unrelenting polar bear stare and, after a few moments, threw up his hands. “Do whatever you want,” he snapped before walking off.
Frowning, Crushek asked Livy, “What was that about?”
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Livy offered.
“Yeah. You’re probably right. Let’s go.” The polar walked toward the elevators.
“He has no idea, does he?” Jocelyn asked.
“Like most bears . . . he’s completely oblivious.” Livy shrugged. “That’s kind of what makes him cute.”
Her cousins moved off and Livy was about to follow when she looked over her shoulder at Melly. The little idiot was talking to a cop. She had her butt on his desk and was leaning down so that her top was probably giving him a very nice shot of her braless tits.
Livy briefly entertained the thought of leaving the bitch here, but she didn’t want to hear about it later from her mother. So she walked up to her, grabbed Melly by the back of her head, and yanked her off the desk by her hair.
Instead of fighting while Livy dragged her ass across the floor toward the elevators, Melly waved at the detective and called out with a giggle, “Call me!”
CHAPTER 11
Vic, leaning back against his SUV, glanced over at the full-human female standing next to him.
“I really appreciate you guys helping me with this,” he said.
Dez MacDermot smiled up at him, squinting one eye closed against the midday sun. “It’s no problem. Things are pretty quiet right now for me and Crushek anyway.”
“You know, I heard from Dee-Ann that her bosses and Cella
’s have had them back off the Whitlan case. Any idea why?”
“Nope. But our department hasn’t been pushing us, either. Which is weird, because for a while there, that’s all they had me and Crush working on. But Dee-Ann quietly mentioned that you were looking into it for us.”
“Yeah. Just seeing if I can find out anything on my own.”
“Well, just let me know if me and Crush can help you. It bothers me that Whitlan might be able to get away with all this bullshit. I’ve heard rumors there are a lot of fellow law officers who don’t want Whitlan caught. Some high-level guys whose careers will be very hurt if Whitlan’s brought in.”
Frankie “The Rat” Whitlan had turned out to be quite a piece of work, using cops to protect his illegal business by turning rat on fellow criminals who were in his way.
Yet none of that was why shifters of every breed and species had been after the son of a bitch. It was because he’d run one of the most successful shifter-hunting businesses in the world. For an exorbitant fee, Whitlan could arrange a hunt involving anything from lions, bears, tigers, wolves . . . any type of shifter. And for hard-core hunters, shifters were the ultimate prey. The power and strength of the predator combined with the intelligence of thumb-possessing humans.
The fact that an untold number of shifters were stuffed and on display in rich people’s homes was what made Whitlan “most wanted” among their kind. So for any of the protection agencies to be backing off this guy was strange.
“You don’t think that’s what’s happening here, do you? That someone from our side is trying to protect Whitlan?”
Dez jerked a bit in surprise at Vic’s question. “No. I wasn’t thinking that at all. Are you?”
“No. But I do feel something’s going on.”
She snorted. “There’s always something going on. You guys are always involved in such complicated politics.”
“True.”
Crushek walked out the side door, Livy and six other honey badger females behind him.
Vic studied Livy as she caught sight of him and began to move his way. Despite some already healing bruises on her face, she appeared to be just fine.
Bite Me Page 10